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Provide a simple graphical interface to manage _any_ type of network connection

Ubuntu

In :
Priority :	Medium
Definition :	New (Needs guidance)
Implementation :	Unknown
Assignee :

Written by Alan Pope the 28 Feb 08 at 13:50. Global category: Internet & Networking. In development

A single unified tool should be provided which allows the user to connect to a network (or internet) via any supported method. It would also be useful to provide an extension to this tool to manage firewall rules and network connection sharing.

Developer comments

We’re currently designing this graphical interface, with the Internet connection part powered by ConnectionManager.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NetworkSettings

—mpt

8497
votes

113
votes

64
votes

83
votes

69
votes

Selected solution (#6): Add "Automatically connect to VPN..." option to wireless network settings

Written by nickpick the 29 May 09 at 18:54.

Add a drop-down list (or another similar way) allowing the user to select a VPN network he wants to connect to automatically -once the connection with the specified, not just any, WiFi network- has been established.

Example:

+ Automatically connect to VPN...
-- none (default)
-- University_VPN_Example
-- Corporate_VPN_Example
-- Home_server_VPN-Example

42
votes

55
votes

41
votes

64
votes

66
votes

Selected solution (#11): Sharing Internet and network configuration automatically.

Written by nq6 the 13 Aug 09 at 02:39.

#view the outline of the idea.

The new user can not share your internet with other computers or put two computers with Ubuntu in a network easily.

Below is the commands for the user to perform these tasks. This is not simple for a new user. Install packages, use the terminal, set the ip manually, type in the link of the Nautilus Ip of the other machine.

#commands to the two computers
sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba

#commands to the computer that shares the Internet
sudo su
modprobe iptable_nat
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/ipv4/ip_forward
iptables -t nat -A POSTROUTING -o eth1 -j MASQUERADE

[...]

#command to view the other ubuntu in the network - the PC 1
sudo su
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.2 up
smb://192.168.0.1/

#command to view the other ubuntu in the network - the PC 2
sudo su
ifconfig eth0 192.168.0.1 up
smb://192.168.0.2/

Who has two network devices, you want to share internet and create a network between two PCs, it has to be experienced and know many commands. This is not ideal. The Ubuntu aims to ease.

-16
votes

Selected solution (#13): Create something like in Win XP

Written by viejoyoda the 13 Feb 10 at 14:54.

Last time i have to connect two computers with a regular ethernet cable, was really imposible to share internet and folders... finally i have to restart from my windows xp partition and then apply the network configuration assistant, it was like 20 secs. for success!!!
Regular users don't have to manage a cybercafe or protect a meil server or a bank from "attacks", why is it so difficult!
By the way it could be useful to choose between "network-manager" and "wicd". I prefer Wicd.

See the 122 comments or propose a solution >>

Power Management

Ubuntu

In :
Priority :	Low
Definition :	Pending Approval (Needs guidance)
Implementation :	Slow progress
Assignee :	Amit Kucheria

Written by jsmidt the 28 Feb 08 at 16:49. Global category: Others. In development

Ubuntu needs to go green. Powertop, Lesswatts and other tools have finally hit the Linux scene to pave the way for better power management. It needs to be said, "if you want your battery to last longest, or have your energy bill be the lowest, you better use Ubuntu Linux."

Merged from 18976:
Power management still isn't very effective in Linux and it still puts a lot of laptop users off Linux. While Linux has come on a long way thanks to the work of Intel with PowerTOP informing developers when their software breaks the idol state unnecessarily so they are doing their part as well as the kernel developers now we still have a long way to go to compete with Windows and I'm looking at ways for Ubuntu to do this.

One of the benefits of Linux is that is very easy to customise and a lot of its users love to tinker. Ubuntu should therefore use this to its advantage by allowing its power users to easily have access to the latest developments in Linux power efficiency. This would also be useful to Ubuntu as power users could submit results on what settings are most economical for specific hardware. This would give Ubuntu the chance to market itself on its power efficacy over other operating systems by it silently implementing these settings on the detected hardware setup for new users.

To give users these advantages Ubuntu should help more on Intels Lesswatts projects as these are Linux's best bet on beating windows power management. The problem is the solution to effective power management needs to simple enough that it works for a new user that wont even know its active but also very easy for power users to modify and test their own setups from one central tool.

http://www.lesswatts.org/

8015
votes

336
votes

663
votes

333
votes

2
votes

Selected solution (#6): Develop/Intergrate WattOSPM (GUI laptop-mode/Powersaving) in2 Gnome-power-manger

Written by chappell101 the 1 Apr 09 at 15:16.

This is taking Solution #3 to prevent conflict and expanding to give Gnome-power-manger 2 modes, simple for average user and button to reveal an advance set of options for power users based off the options in WattOSPM and PowerTOP.

To stop average users completely breaking their system with the tool only include safe things to disable in the simple mode in an on/off switch manor such as the optical drives and sound chipsets which aren't necessary to all users on the go but still waste power, Also this is a feature possible in windows for a long time now! The advanced mode could log user results of all their changes and show on a graph similar to Gnomes current power chart and have the option to submit the best back to Ubuntu so they can be set as silent defaults values for specific hardware for less technical users.

WattOSPM is already an effective little python tray-bound GUI to enable fast changing of laptop-mode-tools, X-backlight, and Powersaving settings to optimise many parts of your system for battery consumption and performance. So it would be nice to see it assisted by Ubuntu developers to add more features while it is integrated into Gnome to give back to the whole Linux community. These changes could be those found in Rightmark CPU Clock Utility for Windows Eg.CPU performance states editor, Thermal throttling values, and CPU PLL lock time these could be accessed through the Gnome CPU Frequency Scaling Monitor applet in the tray if cpufreq-selector is installed by default.

[...]

Also get Ubuntu to look at some of the power/speed measures used in the Ubuntu derivative distribution WattOS and port them back to the main distribution where possible.

How to Install http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=6362540&postcount=103
Review http://www.raiden.net/?cat=2&aid=539

138
votes

Selected solution (#7): Write a simple GUI to control laptop-mode-tools.

Written by andrew.p the 19 Mar 09 at 22:03.

Here are some parameters of /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf that sometimes should be customized not only by greatly experienced users: readahead size, disk spin down timeout, maximum time to keep data in memory, low battery level to write data to disk, whether to enable all of this on AC power. There IS a reason for it, for example optimal readahead can be very different on machines with different amount of RAM. Also, this is a way of locking some values (for example the tool should not allow to set readahead >RAM/50).
Also there should be a global Enable HDD Powersave Tools checkbox controlling /etc/default/acpi-support ENABLE_LAPTOP_MODE.

And I also think there should be an option (with warning) to set hdparm -B to 254 in all modes (this fixes ustoppable spinning down on battery for some laptops).

18
votes

57
votes

Selected solution (#9): Expand the capabilities of gnome-power-manager

Written by brand0con the 12 Mar 09 at 01:27.

Gnome power manager is a great tool but I think it could use some expansion. Namely, I'd like to see it logging (and eventually graphing) the system's battery history over the long term (not just a session) to give a more accurate picture of how a user typically uses his or her machine battery-wise and to give a sense of the machine's capabilities.

Ideally, the app would mature and after a set interval of recording this data, it would be able to provide a few basic suggestions based on power related events as to how the user can get the most life out of their battery in the long and short term.

5
votes

Selected solution (#10): "Green Software" Logo

Written by MX the 27 Mar 09 at 12:44.

To increase visibility and to be supported by facts: e.g. increases battery life by x% on average (for notebooks) or reduces average energy consumption by x % (for Pc's).

From my experience proper, non-technical and business oriented communication is key to reach most users and convince them about the usp's of a product.

Thinking of a usp - energy efficiency has a high impact.

Appreciate your thoughts and keep going!

159
votes

85
votes

Selected solution (#12): Automatic charge/discharge

Written by Mondane the 9 Feb 09 at 14:26.

The user shouldn't be bothered checking his battery and/or removing the battery when on AC power. Make the OS drain the battery on intervals so the battery stays intelligent when the laptop is on AC power.

The user should have the option the interrupt and revert the draining if he knows he needs a full battery and is leaving in a short time.

25
votes

Selected solution (#13): Set the maximum battery charge on AC power

Written by mathieu the 5 Feb 09 at 18:36.

In order to preserve its battery's life, I would like to set the maximum percentage of charge (60% or 80% for example) when I'm not using it outdoor.

But if I have to use it outdoor, I want to release the limitation easily to get the maximum charge.
Finally, when I come back at home, I would like to use the battery power if the charge level is over the limitation setting, even if I have plugged the AC cable.

This trick will increase our Li-ion battery lifetime. Because if it is always completely charged when the laptop is running on AC power, its charging/discharging capacity will decrease quickly than if it is set on a lower value.

0
votes

See the 86 comments or propose a solution >>

Fix Suspend and Hibernate

Written by tighem the 28 Feb 08 at 17:22. Global category: System. Not an idea

Suspend and hibernate still seems to be a big issue based on forum posts.

Developer comments

“Fix suspend and hibernate” is not an idea; it is not something that a developer could ever mark as “Implemented”. Suspend and hibernate work for many machines, and making them work for more machines is a matter of fixing individual bugs, not of implementing an idea.

This page has (as shown by the “Mix of improvements” suggestion, and the highly varied “duplicate” ideas) become a vortex for many unrelated ideas. Some of these ideas are good, and some are not so good. They should be separated out and voted on individually.

—mpt

7476
votes

78
votes

Solution #3: Mix of improvements + Solution #1 (letting the user choose)

Written by franco.valoppi the 26 Aug 09 at 03:47.

I think that even using proprietary driver may make it more compatible, always let the user to choose.

On the other hand I have some other ideas to improve performance (probably already implemented):
- Memory trim and garbage collection, before hitbernating.
- Memory Defrag.
- Exclude System Prefetched data from hibernate files. I mean memory used with programs already closed but still in memory in the case you want to open them again.

-31
votes

Solution #4: Add an idle option

Written by qwerty800 the 19 Sep 09 at 14:54.

As a temporary solution, we should add an "idle" option to ubuntu.

Since suspend and hibernate both invole creating a system image and storing it in the ram/in the swap, until we fix this, we need to find another alternative to this.

The only alternative remaining is to leave your computer open during all the night!

Well, my idea is to add an "Idle" option, that would:
-Suspend most of the programs
-Lower the CPU clocking (If possible)
-Lower the fan speed (If possible, trying to emit the less noise possible)
-Lower the HDD speed (If possible)
-Lock the screen

That way, we could still avoid energy wasting, while waiting for a working sleep mode.

136
votes

99
votes

-32
votes

Solution #7: Create solid aternative for laptops where suspend/hibernate doens't work.

Written by FeraTech the 21 Mar 10 at 04:47.

For those laptops where suspend and hibernate do not work Ubuntu should automatically default to an alternative.

A good solution would be to simply have the previous state stored onto the hard drive including all running applications. The laptop would boot normally and all of the previous state would just be stored and controlled by the operating system.

30
votes

-27
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10
votes

Solution #10: investigate why suspend works in other distros and not ubuntu

Written by DonnyDonNothin the 22 Nov 10 at 15:36.

investigate why suspend works in other distros and not ubuntu. 's2ram -f' in another distro works flawlessly, but what ever ubuntu uses causes my touchpad to freeze. ask the community to contribute to a list of what hardware and applications work in suspend. much like the voting system here. for example:
XXX touchpads freezing after suspend +6 votes
window contents lost on ati drivers +X votes

0
votes

See the 280 comments or propose a solution >>

Clean up Preferences and Administration.

Ubuntu

In :
Priority :	Undefined
Definition :	New (Needs guidance)
Implementation :	Unknown
Assignee :

Written by writser the 28 Feb 08 at 16:49. Global category: System. Implemented

First of all: What is the difference between Preferences and Administration? For example: why do I see 'Encryption and Keyrings' in Preferences and 'Keyring Manager' in Administration? What is the difference between 'Default Printer' and 'Printing'? Why do I have to disable the Tracker under Sessions and not under Search and Indexing? And why are these menu's so large? I have 24 items in Preferences (they don't even fit on my screen!) and 18 items in Administration. To put all this stuff in a popup menu is bad interface design imho. Besides, the number of option should be much smaller. A few suggestions:

Below are all settings I can visit via the System menu. This is just way too much.

-- Preferences --
Universal Access
About Me
Appearance
Bluetooth
Default Printer
Encryption and Keyrings
Keyboard
Keyboard Shortcuts
Main Menu
Mouse
Network Proxy
PalmOS Devices (I don't have one)
Power Management
Preferred Applications
Remote Desktop
Removable Drives and Media
SCIM Input Method Setup (What is this?)
Screen Resolution
Screensaver

[....]

Developer comments

* 'Screens and Graphics' has been dropped in favor of just 'Screen Resolution'

6065
votes

120
votes

Selected solution (#2): Fedora 10 inspired solution

Written by yule the 18 Jan 09 at 17:28.

I believe the "Preferences" and "Administration" sub-menus of the "System" menu should be re-structured similarily to "Fedora 10", splitting the items into categories of interest: Look and Feel, Input Devices etc.

Also, but this is probably a generic Gnome defect, items like "Screensaver", "Appearance", "Screen Resolution" should be merged together.

-153
votes

Selected solution (#3): Most important things in Preferences/Administration and everything in control p.

Written by jeypeyy the 18 Jan 09 at 21:05.

Put the most important things that a user will need in Preferences and Administration. If the user want to change less important stuff he/she could go to System->'control panel' where the user can change everything that is configurable.

What I mean with important is something like "screen resolution" while "Sun java 6 policy tool" is less important.

75
votes

Selected solution (#4): Add a shortcut to the gnome-control-center in the system menu

Written by c0p3rn1c the 6 Feb 09 at 15:33.

I'm not asking to remove the existing shortcuts in the system menu just to add a shortcut to the gnome-control-center, this makes it much easier for beginners to find what they are looking for. Especially when users are coming from Windows or Mac they are used to a having a control center.

On top of increased similarity to the most popular commercial OS's gnome-controle-center also adds extra functionality with the search box for people who are not used to Ubuntu yet and or are not yet using gnome-do.

Please try the gnome-control-center menu before you vote against it.
It's really a matter of choosing increasing usability over the possible redundancy issue.

191
votes

Selected solution (#5): All in one Gnome Control Center

Written by dael99 the 14 Feb 09 at 00:56.

All the administration task should be done in the Gnome control center, but nowdays it's just a launcher for gnome-conf apps.

The Gnome Control Centre should be a homegenius way of do things, use the same windows for operations and provide a back button, just like a file explorer (more intuitive no?)

Instead of launching a new windows it show be showed (not nested) to the main area of the Centre. This way we could compete with MS, KDE and MAC in terms of a nice control center.

(also we save some space on the gnome pannel)

85
votes

-110
votes

109
votes

18
votes

Selected solution (#9): Restructure the System menu similarly to the Control Center

Written by Endolith the 9 Mar 09 at 14:35.

Like solution #6, except without sub-sub-menus. Just put "Personal", "Look and feel", etc. directly under the System menu.

"Use submenus sparingly, as they are physically difficult to navigate and make it harder to find and reach the items they contain." "Do not nest submenus within submenus. More than two levels of hierarchy are difficult to memorize and navigate."

http://library.gnome.org/devel/hig-book/stable/menus-types.html.en#menu-type-su bmenu

61
votes

Selected solution (#10): Grouping of the listings.

Written by wish the 5 Mar 09 at 19:25.

1. For example, the Network configurations, Network Proxy and Remote Desktop can be grouped under a single listing Network.
2. Similarly, Compiz Settings Manager, Appearance, Emerald, Screen Saver, Screen Resolution, Windows etc can be grouped under GUI or some other better name.
3. Bluetooth, Printer, Mouse, Palm, etc can be grouped under devices.

Preferences and Administration should also get the option to be open in separate windows where they will not be cluttered.

67
votes

105
votes

68
votes

10
votes

Selected solution (#14): Unified menu for all settings

Written by probono the 4 Mar 09 at 22:09.

The separation between system-wide and per-user settings is not necessary. Neither Windows nor Mac OS X have this kind of separation, as it confuses the user more than it helps. I've observed many people to constantly search for a setting in the wrong menu, because nobody remembers in which menu a certain setting is. Hence, I propose to unify all settings in just one menu, as demonstrated in http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AF2-JHF6v10

Also, the number of menu items should be brought down by combining multiple of these that fall under the same topic, as it is done in Mac OS X. For example, "Keyboard" and "Keyboard Shortcuts" could be tabs of the same panel. The same is true for "Software Sources" and "Synaptic Pagage Manger", to name just two examples.

-47
votes

-64
votes

Selected solution (#16): Make the Menus Self learning

Written by hariks0 the 7 Apr 09 at 18:37.

If the menu preference could be set in a way that only the recent or frequent items are shown and the others only after a preset delay. Also the "Edit Main Menu" could be used to eliminate the unwanted items from popping up [by the user].

There should be a screen during installation letting the user select which applets they want to install with some tool tip for each of the items.Another requirement is an option to replace the default "menu Bar" with "Main Menu Icon" in initial setup from live CD ,which makes the desktop cleaner.

My third suggestion is to open the two menu items of"System" tabbed in to a window named "Preferences" the other "Administration". The applets/ items could be represented by icons and in alphabetical order.

990
votes

Selected solution (#17): Develop according to the examples below

Written by nq6 the 24 May 09 at 21:35.

Below I developed some screens to explain better my idea.

Reduce the number of options available to facilitate the choice by the user. Decrease from 39 to 16 items.

Scheme simplification.

idea of how many icons can become one. view of the behavior of windows with the merger of these icons.

overview of the idea. In this picture you can see the whole blueprint at once.

[...]

Simplify the menu to facilitate usability. Below the simulation of how the menu of Ubuntu can be. Much simpler, less polluted Visually, and easier to find what you want.

The Ubuntu is an excellent system, more needs to move forward in some areas. One is the simplification of the options that the user faces. The current options make Ubuntu confused. I think that my idea is to improve usability.

-224
votes

5
votes

8
votes

-31
votes

Selected solution (#21): Implement or modify mintMenu

Written by je1403 the 14 Jul 09 at 23:41.

Linux Mint is an Ubuntu-based distribution. It is especially beginner-friendly. One of its best features is the mintMenu. This replaces the gnome-menu, but is categorized in the same way. It's pretty difficult to explain it by text, but check out this image: http://www.jessture.com/images/linux_mint/lm3-1_mint_menu.png
The menu is divided in several sections. The "Applications" section is categorized with the average "Office", "Internet", etc. Instead of having the pop-up menus, the menu has a fixed width and height, using scrollbars when the listed items dont fit. Mouseovering the categories shows their contents. The best part is the search bar. If you type "screen" it will filter the results and show you screen resolution, screensaver, login screen, for example. Watch this video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePEbfsV2yQw

0
votes

Selected solution (#22): Redistribute into better categories

Written by Aielyn the 26 Oct 10 at 13:15.

Instead of the current split into Preferences and Administration, have the System menu split into parts of the system. And then, on each submenu, the list would be split so that Preferences go on the top of the submenu, and Administration goes on the bottom, with a divider between them, thereby making it easier to distinguish between them, while being able to see both.

EXAMPLE LAYOUT - NOT PART OF SOLUTION ITSELF, JUST A POSSIBLE LAYOUT:

- Software
- Interface
- User
- System
- Third Party

Software would contain everything to do with software - Update Manager, Synaptic Package Manager, Software Sources, Computer Janitor, and Preferred Applications would all be examples.

Interface would contain everything to do with the User Interface - Mouse, Keyboard, Monitors, Audio, Menus, Appearance, etc.

User would hold things that are relevant to the users themselves - Languages, Passwords, About Me, E-Mail Settings, and Users and Groups as a few examples.

[...]

System would contain everything to do with system settings and underlying system operation - Time and Date, Drivers, power management, Startup Applications, System Monitor, etc.

Third Party would then contain anything introduced by third-party programs and dealing specifically with those third-party programs - for instance, Opera Widget Manager, Wine settings, etc.

TO BE CLEAR - THE ABOVE IS JUST AN EXAMPLE, NOT PART OF THE SOLUTION ITSELF. It can serve as a discussion point regarding how to best implement the Solution, but the Solution itself is only concerned with splitting it into categories and then dividing the resulting submenus into Preferences and Administration segments.

2
votes

See the 112 comments or propose a solution >>

Drag & drop with Atl + Tab

Ubuntu

In :
Priority :	Undefined
Definition :	New (Needs guidance)
Implementation :	Unknown
Assignee :

Written by netiauga the 28 Feb 08 at 19:05. Global category: System. New

I'm so frustrated. I can't use Drag & drop with Atl + Tab to move files.

1551
votes

138
votes

135
votes

Solution #4: Do both - and expand the functionality to make it easier to use.

Written by jharris1993 the 24 Jan 09 at 22:00.

Both of these solutions have merit.
Being a (eek!) Windoze user, I am used to being able to hover over a window and drop there even if the window doesn't have focus.

What I would like to see:
(a) Allow Alt-Tab as above
(b) Allow Hover as above
(c) Allow "edge awareness" when dragging.
(i.e. If the place you want to drag to is not visible within the window, dragging to the edge where it's hidden should cause the window's viewport to scroll in that direction.)

I have noticed this a number of times - especially when trying to select text by dragging - that the selection process simply STOPS at the edge instead of scrolling the viewpoint.

What say ye?

Jim

See the 7 comments or propose a solution >>

Network Manager must have Wireless Refresh (Or Search button)

Written by Kosimo the 10 May 08 at 13:16. Related project: Network Manager. Not an idea

When a new wireless network is activated, the only way to see it in network manager is waiting 'till the system find it... Why not adding a simple (refresh) button to make a new search and find all Wireless Networks?

1466
votes

823
votes

-211
votes

-189
votes

357
votes

Solution #5: Automatically show new wireless networks without any user interaction

Written by Endolith the 2 Feb 09 at 07:47.

If there is a problem with Network Manager not showing new networks when they have changed, then fix that problem.

We should not be adding "Refresh" buttons to things that should always be up-to-date. When would you *not* want the list refreshed? Never. If Network Manager were functioning optimally, the button would serve no purpose, so there is no reason to add it.

Let's make things function correctly instead of adding poor workarounds.

70
votes

Solution #6: Solution in place in 0.7.3 or so: Rescan on startup and if the applet is used.

Written by tchalvakspam the 18 Feb 09 at 20:04.

I'm paraphrasing the solution that one of the developers has implemented (I believe in a version slightly after 0.7) for the purpose of clarifying the brainstorm understanding of what the developers have done to solve the problem.

One of the developers has said that more recent patches to NetworkManager will result in the following behavior:

- When a user interacts with the applet, a rescan will occur immediately if one hasn't within the last 20 seconds. For two minutes thereafter, it will do 20 second interval rescans, then drop to 120 second scans.

- When the applet starts up or the wireless card is re-enabled after being disabled, NetworkManager will do 20 second interval scans for two minutes, and drop back down to 120 second interval scans after that.

So by NetworkManager version 0.7.1 or 0.7.3 or so, any other behavior that doesn't get a rescan as fast as that should be some kind of bug.

15
votes

Solution #7: Integrating WifiRadar into network manager

Written by hemanth.hm the 8 Mar 09 at 18:27.

WiFi Radar is a Python/PyGTK2 utility for managing WiFi profiles.It enables you to scan for available networks and create profiles for your preferred networks. At boot time, running WiFi Radar will automatically scan for an available preferred network and connect to it. You can drag and drop your preferred networks to arrange the profile priority.

17
votes

8
votes

Solution #9: Configurable Intervals and scan optons

Written by tz the 4 Dec 09 at 17:27.

20 seconds is longer than it takes to load most complex web pages, yet that is what everyone is stuck with, but it might actually be 2 minutes.

I would like the option to scan every X seconds when the applet is active, and Y seconds when it is in background. If you constantly change APs, the current settings are too long, but if you are always using the same one they are too short.

Some hardware does bad things (e.g. can't receive or transmit) when you initiate a scan, so you might not want it more frequently, but if I have a good adapter I should be able to unlimit it.

10
votes

Solution #10: Show received AP Beacons immediately without a scan

Written by tz the 4 Dec 09 at 17:48.

Most wireless cards can receive beacons without a scan and most APs ("visible") send them a few times per second. The list returned by the scan includes these - but I think there is a call which returns the result WITHOUT DOING AN ACTUAL SCAN (sending query packets, etc.).

For wireless cards which support this feature, the display list should be updated every second from the list of visible beacons without doing any explicit scan.

5
votes

See the 16 comments or propose a solution >>

People forget to empty their trash and get problems with space

Written by sucotronic the 18 Feb 09 at 17:00. Global category: Accessibility. New

I've observed in my job that most of the users forgets to empty their trashes regularly, and suddenly one day they start to have problems due space limitations, or they don't know where is used their hard drive space.

809
votes

-477
votes

-380
votes

-338
votes

171
votes

291
votes

Solution #6: Don't put unnessecary distractions in the system!

Written by kapipi the 21 Feb 09 at 21:17.

This solution is a response to solution #1. Solution #1 is great, except that as a default the user should not be notified about the size of trash, unless space on the partition is getting critically low.

The rationale:

- We don't want to distract the user's attention unnecessarily
- We don't want to force or lure the user to empty his trash unnecessarily.

358
votes

777
votes

-347
votes

173
votes

37
votes

Solution #11: Use the desktop icon to provide information

Written by Menti the 7 Mar 09 at 12:23.

As proposed in idea #14699. Desktop icons in general are static and do not provide any useful information. Trashcan icon is slightly dinamic: it has an empty state and a full state. Let the icon change to show how much trash there is. There could be a (configurable, with a sane default) max limit to the trash size, and the desktop icon could show what percentage of that limit is already in use.

This way, we could have more information without actually adding anything to the current setup, no more clutter; only better use of an already existing and underused graphic element of the desktop.

-82
votes

Solution #12: Put the trash icon on the desktop

Written by dubrict the 10 Mar 09 at 06:19.

The reason people forget is because by default, the trash icon is as tiny as can be and hiding in the corner. Placing it on the desktop instead puts it more directly in the user's conscious, reminding them to empty it while not being obtrusive or complex.

The "running low on free space" reminder is reasonable, because it would solve this problem while taking on another. There's no reason to add any complexity to the system beyond this.

-119
votes

39
votes

Solution #14: make gui to let the user decide

Written by linuxrules the 12 Mar 09 at 23:28.

settings dialog _ +/- X
=============================================================
put trash icon on desktop "on/off"

Empty Trash On system Shut down "on/off/ask/auto"

Use the desktop icon to provide information "on/off"

auto-remove when disk-space is low "on/off/ask/auto"

Notification with "Delete now"-Button "on/off"

Trash with maximum size & if to delete when size limit is exceeded "on -size-/off"

Compress old files "on/off/ask/auto"

Add a configurable reminder "on/off"
|advance..|

216
votes

Solution #15: Beyond Icons

Written by trustno1uk the 16 Mar 09 at 20:02.

Icons that represent valuable information at first glance can really save you some time.

Some users don’t care about emptying their thrash and also use it as another folder at times, this will remind them to empty it.

trash

REF: http://www.kumailht.com/blog/linux/10-features-ubuntu-should-implement/

-6
votes

Solution #16: Automatically delete after 30 days

Written by OrelEagle the 5 Dec 09 at 20:38.

I'm using a script to delete files permanently after 30 days spent in the trash:

find ~/.local/share/Trash/files -maxdepth 1 -ctime +30 -exec rm -r \;
find ~/.local/share/Trash/info -maxdepth 1 -ctime +30 -exec rm -r \;

This way the user doesn't have to worry about emptying the trash but still has a "second chance" in case a file was deleted by mistake.

3
votes

Solution #17: Provide a suite of tools for the user to save/recover disk space

Written by yoda2031 the 28 Mar 11 at 17:26.

Computer Janitor already fulfils the requirement to recover disk space from files which are temporary/cached/etc.

Squashfs more-or-less fulfils the requirement to conserve space, but should be provided as an option on installation ("compress home directory" and "compress system directory" options)

A utility to automatically compress/remove components which have not been used for more than 30 days.

A utility which lists your installed applications in order of size and last used date. Allows the user to remove the bigger, unused packages.

A utility which allows you to "reorganise" your partitioning scheme.

Where applicable, these solutions should be accessible under an umbrella utility, possibly as an extension to the existing Disk Utility, or as a stand-alone utility.

See the 17 comments or propose a solution >>

There should be a simple GUI to do basic disk maintanence tasks

Written by diegoj the 30 Dec 08 at 12:57. Related project: Nautilus. New

The ability to perform basic disk and maintenance tasks are sorely needed.

Nautilus could be used as well as a new external program or Gnome format

The other day was my birthday and they gave me a USB-external-harddrive. It was in FAT32 and I have not got any idea on how I can format it to ext3. OK, I know it can be done with terminal but some users (like me) see that disgusting and old-fashioned.

Thus, I had a problem while transfering some files. Now I have some consistency problem in the disk that prevents me from creating some folders because they exists. I decide to perform a file system check but... I didn't know how to do it. Terminal again.

Conclusion: avoid using terminal for some commong tasks over USB external drives.

780
votes

Solution #1: Make Nautilus do it

Written by diegoj the 30 Dec 08 at 12:57.

Goal: integration on Nautilus of some common tasks.

Nautilus should perform these actions over removable devices (like pen drive and USB disks).

+ Basic tasks:
- Change the name of the disk.
- Format the disk with FAT, ext3, ext4 or NTFS.
- Show % of free space in disk.
- Perform a file system check or scandisk over the file system.
- Show hardware propierties: hardware company, etc.
- Clean hidden folders: .thumbnails, .trash, etc.

+ Advanced tasks:
- Encription of the disk.
- Make the disk have a quota (to warn users when using more space than configured).
- Make a USB live disk with Ubuntu.
- Make a backup of the disk.
- Index files for faster file searching.

All this tasks should be "centralized" in Nautilus to avoid using multiple programs to do them.

87
votes

199
votes

Solution #3: Include Gnome-format in Ubuntu (easy format tool)

Written by torkiano the 14 Jan 09 at 06:43.

A New, Easy To Use Disk Formatter For GNOME

GParted is an excellent GNOME program for editing partitions, changing file-systems, and performing related disk tasks. However, GParted is not exactly the ideal program for new Linux users to familiarize themselves with if all they want to do is format a USB drive or external storage device. Fortunately, a new GNOME utility has come about that supersedes GFloppy and is designed to be a simple yet powerful disk formatting utility: GNOME Format.

Webpage: http://live.gnome.org/gnome-format

See a review here: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=gnome_format&num=1

115
votes

7
votes

21
votes

Solution #6: Make use of Devicekit (from Fedora)

Written by diegoj the 26 Jan 09 at 15:36.

From the web of DeviceKit:
DeviceKit is a simple system service that a) can enumerate devices; b) emits signals when devices are added removed; c) provides a way to merge device information / quirks onto devices. It is designed to partially replace hal and overcome some of the design limitiations of hal. DeviceKit functionality is provided in the form of dbus services on the system bus.

NOTE: proposed by bpepple in comments.

See the 25 comments or propose a solution >>

Usplash when going down for Hibernate or Standby

Written by opu.e the 22 Nov 08 at 13:16. Global category: Graphics. New

Would look more serious and professional!

778
votes

See the 8 comments or propose a solution >>

When abbreviating filenames, cut out the middle, keep the beginning and end

Written by Endolith the 19 Nov 08 at 02:40. Related project: Nautilus. Implemented

If you view long file names in Nautilus List View, it truncates by cutting off the end. But the vast majority of the time, if there are similar filenames, the part that differentiates them will either occur at the beginning or the end. If you cut off the end in this case, they will look identical and you will be forced to scroll or enlarge the text field to identify the one you want:

This is a file.txt
This is a long filename which is c...
This is a long filename which is c...
This is a long filename which is c...
This is a long filename which is c...
This is a short filename.jpg

770
votes

Selected solution (#1): Cut out the middle and leave the ends

Written by Endolith the 19 Nov 08 at 02:40.

A better way to shorten filenames is to cut out the middle and leave the ends:

This is a file.txt
This is a long f...is number 001.jpg
This is a long f...is number 002.jpg
This is a long f...is number 003.jpg
This is a long f...that it ends in.htm
This is a short filename.jpg

This should be the standard way to do it in Nautilus as well as other apps. It applies to any list of strings that go past the edge of the viewing area, really.

Of course, the *best* way to do it would be to keep track of subsequent file names and display just the parts that are different, no matter where they appear, but this would be significantly more complex and usually isn't necessary.

-18
votes

32
votes

16
votes

Selected solution (#4): Solution #1 + Full name expansion as mouse-hover state

Written by seeminglee the 23 Mar 09 at 11:30.

Same as solution #1 but with add a mouse-hover state which shows the full name as a label. Would be awesome (maybe configurable as option?) to hover and show fullname for files in the entire column (for the list and compact views)

Fullname labels expansion ideally displays as layer in place but on top of the UI (as opposed to liquid expansion of the of column which can be jarring)

See the 21 comments or propose a solution >>

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