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There's no unified way of reporting progress in Ubuntu  
Written by amrhassan the 7 Mar 09 at 23:30. Global category: Look and Feel. New
Filesystem operations (copying, moving, deleting files and directories, etc...), importing music into a media player and so on should be displayed in a unified way all throughout the desktop environment.
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Solution #1: Work progress reporting into the new notify-osd
Written by amrhassan the 7 Mar 09 at 23:30.
Like in this mockup:


Progress reporting can be done in a notify-osd bubble and have it always-shown along with the other maximum of two notification bubbles. This progress bubble can have other operations concatenated to it while it's on, so we don't have to need more than one extra bubble for all the progress reporting.
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Solution #2: use the file-transfer's style
Written by yzarc the 8 Mar 09 at 23:16.
use the file-transfer's style. as it's already done by the nautilus on the file transfers, make possible to other programs to report its progress (and some controls) on this panel too.

in this case the icon should be replaced for a more generic one rather than the nautilus'. if possible a composed icon that indicates the global progress by a small pie or bar chart.

use notify-osd just to alert when one task is done.
I believe the look and feel of the nautilus progress panel will be improved to match the notify-osd level soon.

mockups below:

icon state
Photobucket

on mouse over state
Photobucket

windowed state. (after one mouse click)
Photobucket

edited: I found fair to point the image from where I took the main part of my mockup - http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/May-B?content=45837
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Solution #7: A mix of #1 and #2
Written by Joshua Hesketh the 16 Apr 09 at 14:01.
Similar to how notifications disappear into the task bar, actions (or progresses) could disappear (/fly) into a process queue (rather than a message queue). This way a nice notify-osd message can come up when you commence copying a file (in a very un-obstructing way) and then it is still accessible through the detailed list. You could even have the action fly out to notify-osd upon completion.
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Solution #8: Don't stop transfers when window is closed
Written by Clorox the 23 Jun 09 at 03:45.
Sometimes large file transfers are necessary. While a transfer is taking place, I close out of the Nautilus window because I want to browse the internet while I wait. Oops, the file transfer stopped, and my files are broken!

This could be prevented by Solution #2 running as a daemon.

See the 22 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:42) >>

Native Firefox on Ubuntu is even slower than on Wine  
Written by Dinth the 15 Feb 09 at 12:43. Related project: Firefox. New
This new benchmark shows that native linux version of Firefox is very slow comparing to Windows version, even when run on Wine.
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Solution #1: Compile Firefox with PGO by default
Written by Dinth the 15 Feb 09 at 12:43.
One of reasons why Firefox is so slow on Linux, is that Windows version is compiled with PGO - https://developer.mozilla.org/en/Building_with_Profile-Guided_Optimization . Ubuntu devs should compile firefox packages with PGO enabled to speed up Firefox on Ubuntu
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Solution #2: Compile Firefox with ICC (Intel compiler)
Written by Dinth the 15 Feb 09 at 12:46.
Propably compiling Firefox with ICC would greatly speed up this application.
It is a trouble when user must do compiling with so unusual compiler on his own, but Ubuntu devs can easly do it and put binary packages in repository, or at least PPA.
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Solution #3: Add native 64bit Java and Flash packages to PPA
Written by Dinth the 15 Feb 09 at 12:52.
There are avalible native 64bit Java and Flash versions on Suns and Adobe websites. ATM they are in beta state, but there are pretty much stable, so why dont package them to repo or at least PPA? This would greatly speed up Firefox on 64bit systems - now, sometimes nspluginwrappers takes 50% of cpu power when playing video from some sites.
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Solution #4: Help with Systemtap so that Developers can work out WTF is going on
Written by AndrewLuecke the 16 Feb 09 at 13:19.
Its simple, profiling tools on Ubuntu are WAY behind.

Ubuntu should join in on the Systemtap project so that we have a better tool available to help identify the reasons why Firefox is so slow on Linux.

Doing so will also speed up every other program in the repos.
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Solution #5: Work with Mozilla to Ensure Linux version is Perfomance Optimized
Written by lutimdale the 18 Feb 09 at 04:37.
There probably aren't as many developers testing the linux version as this isn't the biggest install base.
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Solution #6: Support the development of swiftweasel
Written by JanMalte the 19 Feb 09 at 06:56.
Support the development of the swiftweasel project.
This is an pgo compiled version of firefox.
http://swiftweasel.tuxfamily.org/
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Solution #7: Epiphany as default browser
Written by danielrmt the 26 Feb 09 at 20:11.
I have been using Epiphany for the last months, and I really enjoy it. I still miss some Firefox extensions, but it's ok. I think it is a good choice for Ubuntu. Maybe not now, but when it gets a stable webkit support.
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Solution #8: Support the development of Google's Chrome
Written by brownbat the 14 Mar 09 at 02:20.
The "support x browser instead" options are tanking, but I wanted to give everyone an option to vote down (or up?) Google's browser too.
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Solution #9: Port Firefox to Qt
Written by flammon the 14 Mar 09 at 22:18.
I love GNOME and use it every day, have been since pre 1.0 but I think that its weakest part is GTK/GDK. Qt is faster and GPL so perhaps it is time to start porting. Firefox is mostly written in C++ so using Qt shouldn't be a problem.

The project has already begun and I'm anxious to see the results.

http://browser.garage.maemo.org/news/10/
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Solution #11: Option to install firefox32 on 64-bit distributions
Written by sanketmedhi the 15 Apr 09 at 09:24.
Edit: I take this back. I upgraded to Janty 9.04 and Firefox works like a charm with the Flash 10 driver!

I have been using Ubuntu 64 bit versions for several years. And what I still don't like is that my system slows down pathetically when the browser tries to load a Flash or Java applet which are used on most pages on the Internet today, not to mention ads.

Although, its not exactly Ubuntu's problem that the sources providing these plugins do not entirely support x86_64 platforms, users should have the freedom to choose whether or not to use these packages and how to use them.

There should be a meta package that installs firefox32 and removes firefox64 on 64 bit versions of Ubuntu. Also, plugins for Firefox like Flash, Java, Adobe Reader, Shockwave, etc. should be replaced with 32 bit versions without any intervention.

See the 26 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:40) >>

Be able to choose any color for theme   forum
Written by Eldmannen the 28 May 08 at 17:07. Global category: Look and Feel. New
Now when you use the Human theme, you're stuck with brown.

You should be able to pick a color of your own likening so that you can choose blue, green, yellow, white, orange, black, gray, purple, teal, pink or whatever you like.

Check this awesome artwork that I made!
* http://img519.imageshack.us/img519/317/coloredthemeyz9.png
* http://img229.imageshack.us/img229/7682/colortheme2ls1.png
* Steel
* Rainbow


From idea #9139 (merged):

Currently the theming is all over the place and changing one place does not affect any other. Although that kind of tweakability is great, most users just want different default colors. (pink, blue, brown, black)

What we should be having:
A: wallpaper - changes every release
B: color-theme - human (easily configurable by user!)
C: splash-canvas - human (we need to create this)
D: gtk-engine - clearlooks with B as default colors
E: kde-engine - oxygen with B as default colors
F: icon-theme - tango with color-filter using B

From these we could generate:

[....]
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #9190
Written by Eldmannen the 28 May 08 at 17:07.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #9190 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!
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Solution #2: Make the SVG icon colors change to match the theme
Written by Endolith the 6 Mar 09 at 02:16.
There's no reason why the color of SVG icons can't be changed to match the theme. The files themselves don't even need to be changed when the color changes; you just need to change the rules used to render them.

By defining a "base color" in the SVG, and telling the renderer to use a color from the theme while drawing it, you can make the icons any color.

For example, I've modified some SVG icons from Ubuntu Human so that they use the "highlight" color instead of a hard-coded orange. Firefox extracts the "highlight" color from your system when it renders, so Firefox will display them in whatever color you use for your theme:

http://www.endolith.com/svgiconcolors/icontest.html

We should do something similar so that folders and the like match the theme no matter what colors you choose.

See the 30 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:38) >>

Better Wine integration  
Ubuntu

In :  
Priority : High
Definition : Review (Needs guidance)
Implementation : Not started
Assignee : Scott Ritchie
spec
Written by Abatrour the 29 Feb 08 at 03:48. Global category: Look and Feel. New
I think more Windows users would try out Ubuntu if they could just double click an .exe file instead of going into a command prompt, browsing to the folder and then typing "wine *.exe" to install the program.

I like how Ubuntu adds shortcuts on the desktop and the "start menu" after you install the program making it easy to run but installing Windows software needs to be easier.
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #762
Written by Abatrour the 29 Feb 08 at 03:48.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #762 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 47 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:34) >>

Encourage users to use BitTorrent to download the Ubuntu release.   forum
Written by FranciscoPadillaGarcia the 22 Apr 08 at 08:00. Related project: ubuntu.com. New
ADD BITTORRENT OPTION ON THE MAIN DOWNLOAD PAGE!

The Novell guys took the lead already: http://software.opensuse.org/

When Hardy Heron was released, the Ubuntu servers became overloaded with thousands of people trying to download it. Downloading rates of repositories and updates were so slow that some people had to leave the computer on at night only to find connection errors the next morning.

However, if Canonical had promoted the BitTorrent downloads, this wouldn't have happened. Everyone would have got a copy of Ubuntu without slowing the repository servers and producing a Denial-of-Service effect.

Moreover, BitTorrent has many advantages over direct downloads. For instance, the more people downloading at the same time, the more sources and lesser the wait. In addition, it ensures file integrity because it uses hash functions, that is, files cannot be corrupted (modified). Not to mention that transfers can be resumed if the connection is broken.

Therefore, BitTorrent downloading should be included in the Get Ubuntu page ( http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download ) with a succinct but clear explanation on how to use them.

The fact that this idea hasn't been implemented --despite all the votes in favour-- clearly shows a neglect and reluctance from Canonical decision-makers to do what is best for the community. The worst thing is that they aren't giving an explanation. I hope good ideas in this site don't come to die here in a puzzle of bureaucracy :(

The reason Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution is because developers listen to people. Let's keep that "humanity towards others" alive.

Download Desktop CD: http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.10/ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso.torrent

[....]

Developer comments
We do actually have a BitTorrent tracker and support BitTorrent downloads; you can see the .torrent files on releases.ubuntu.com, and every release features people eager to provide seeding.

I think the reason the torrents aren't prominent on getubuntu/download is that there are a lot of problems with the server-side tracker software; particularly around release time, it has to be restarted manually rather a lot as new files are made available, taking ages to reinitialise each time, and this makes our sysadmins unhappy. Our webmaster also wants the download page to be as simple as possible, and each option does add a level of complexity to the process.

That said, BitTorrent certainly can help to scale back server load (although so can using mirrors other than Canonical's - there's a reason there's a period before release when the images are available on our servers but we ask people to restrain themselves from posting links to them, and that's to give mirrors a chance to fetch the images first).

On 3 June, our webmaster added a note to the bottom of http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download on how to retrieve images by BitTorrent, which I believe was in response to this item. This ultimately takes you through to the releases.ubuntu.com page from which you can get the .torrent files.

Bearing in mind some of the constraints involved that lead to something of a compromise, I'm interested in whether that resolves this item.
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #7390
Written by FranciscoPadillaGarcia the 22 Apr 08 at 08:00.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #7390 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 34 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:33) >>

Use BitTorrent as primary protocol for apt-get  
Ubuntu

In :  
Priority : Undefined
Definition : New (Needs guidance)
Implementation : Unknown
Assignee :
spec
forum
Written by kevinfishburne the 28 Apr 08 at 19:10. Global category: Internet & Networking. New
This is an attempt at a unification of:

http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/7081/
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/7390/
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/7649/
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/7725/

I can't think, nor have I heard, of any showstopper reason for why BitTorrent shouldn't be used as the primary download method of Ubuntu respository packages. Although the specifics of the implementation of this idea will be different for ISOs and repositories, I feel they should be unified in the brainstorm because the goal is to allow the rapid, efficient, reliable, and available download of Ubuntu software.

Implementation Benefits

1) Speed. All Ubuntu downloads (ISO downloads, dist upgrades, regular system updates, and new application installs) will as a whole be faster. Generally torrent download speeds benefit from higher numbers of downloaders that seed, which Ubuntu users have demonstrated they are prone to do. BitTorrent is better able to absorb (and eventually use as an asset) large numbers of users attempting to download data at the same time, such as with the recent mad rush of Hardy downloaders/upgraders.

2) Efficiency. The BitTorrent protocol has proven to be one of the most efficient methods of distributing data amongst a large number of clients. It will harness the collective upstream of tens of thousands of Ubuntu users, from DSL and cable connections to the fastest of corporate connections.

3) Reliability. Checksums guarantee the integrity of BitTorrent downloads, so data corruption is much less likely to occur. Only the pieces that fail checksum are redownloaded, contributing to points 1 and 2.


[....]
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #7792
Written by kevinfishburne the 28 Apr 08 at 19:10.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #7792 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 65 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:32) >>

Better monitor support and configuration tools  
Written by No0ne the 29 Feb 08 at 00:37. Global category: Graphics. New
Better way to set monitor resolution and refresh rate. Majority of the new monitors are LCD type. User should be able to specify the native resolution and refresh rate during install.

Then Ubuntu/X must do WHATEVER it takes to stick to that resolution and refresh rate.

In case of multi-monitor setups, must be able to specify the configuration at time of installation.

Also, the login GUI must use same resolution as X. Why different resolutions?

Rant:
I have nVidia NVS440 card with Viewsonic VP2290b monitor. Video card must be set to 1920x1200 @13Hz or @41Hz refresh rate for each of it's four outputs. Desktop must be arranged in 2x2 matrix. Then monitor displays 3840x2400 @13Hz or @41Hz.

This worked very well in Ubuntu 6.06. Installed Ubuntu 7.04 and ended up with something like 800x480, even with nVidia binary drivers. Tweaked xorg.conf for weeks to get this to work. BulletProofX kept messing with my hand crafted xorg.conf file; which did work with 6.06. Eventually gave up and started using Windaz again :-( Will try again when frustration level has come down.

Developer comments
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #322
Written by No0ne the 29 Feb 08 at 00:37.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #322 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 19 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:25) >>

Better wi-fi support  
Written by neilneil2000 the 29 Feb 08 at 00:20. Global category: Internet & Networking. New
More support for more wireless chipsets out of the box and "Windows style" ease of set up.

I have spent may a day trying to configure wireless cards on Ubuntu, often without much luck!

Please also deliver more support for what they are both wireless PCI cards and USB, as it is currently very low base of drivers for such devices
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #295
Written by neilneil2000 the 29 Feb 08 at 00:20.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #295 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 58 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:12) >>

Enhance mobile devices sync  
Ubuntu

In :  
Priority : Undefined
Definition : New (Needs guidance)
Implementation : Unknown
Assignee :
spec
forum
Written by jherran the 28 Feb 08 at 15:01. Global category: Hardware support. New
There are lot of people having troubles syncing their devices (pda, smartphones, etc.) with ubuntu. At this poing there is only one solution available, multisync, and works for only a few devices, and it's very limited on their functions.

And I think, this is a very important point for lots of people.

**Suggestions from duplicate idea 397 work on that idea :

1) Clean up the Opensync and SyncML plugin packages to work properly with Evolution by default.

2) Set up an official Ubuntu SyncML server for Ubuntu users.

3) Possibly clean up open source SyncML clients for the different mobile platforms.

Developer comments
The current status of mobile devices synchronization in Linux is generally is quite shaky. It *can* work but it's a lot of work usually. There are a few efforts around but there's no single project that works in the majority of the situations.

This is also caused by manufacturers not using a single synchronization protocol. The most promising project now is OpenSync[1] which supports basically SyncML 1.1 and the Nokia variation and it works with several degrees of success between phones and desktops but the project itself is in a constant alpha state with a lot of issues, the GUI is simplistic and there are no integrated resources to sync with online contacts/calendars
like Google's. This can be overcome by preparing Evolution and/or Thunderbird to do it.

In short, despite the infrastructure is mostly there, we need work to make it a seamless experience for the user.
Bear in mind that this is a huge effort. Synchronization looks simple but there's a lot of factors and situations that need to be addressed like how to synchronize devices with different capabilities and how to keep 3 way synchronizations (desktop, online and mobile).
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #28
Written by jherran the 28 Feb 08 at 15:01.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #28 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!
8
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Solution #2: Sync both PC and phone with google calendar & contacts
Written by fc.truter the 2 Jun 09 at 20:27.
Instead of creating hardware interfaces for every phone/PC combination, Canonical could take different approach, and sync both devices to a online service such as Google Contacts/Calendar or perhaps even with Ubuntu One.

On the PC side, Evolution already supports this to an extent but the process can be made much more streamlined. From the phone side, projects like GCalSync have already started something like this but few have seen the potential in this, and there is massive room for improvement.

This could be the next step in cloud computing and could bypass all the device driver issues and unwilling hardware manufacturers, since most phones already support Java or a similar language.

See the 72 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:09) >>

Fix compatibility with webcams and microphone  
Written by dragonx the 28 Feb 08 at 17:30. Global category: Multimedia. New
In many cases, I can't configure my webcam or I have problems with the microphone. Now I can use my webcam but only with V4L2 and only 3 programas detect my webcam. It's a good idea can use my webcam in all programs as camorama.

Developer comments
That's pure driver issue in the first place. A big plus is to recommend UVC-based webcams to users, since it takes a lot of work off the shoulders of driver-developers. On the
integration-side proper support for v4l/v4l2 in webcam-related applications needs to be solidified. The ideal application to polish up is cheese of course.
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #97
Written by dragonx the 28 Feb 08 at 17:30.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #97 was submitted before this update, its rationale and solution are not separated. Please vote accordingly, and if you have the necessary rights, please separate the rationale from the solution. Thanks!

See the 40 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 20 Apr 09 at 21:04) >>

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