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Device Manager (gnome)
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Popular ideas Here are the most popular ideas ever about Device Manager (gnome).

Unmount multiple partitions with one click  
Written by cenora the 16 Mar 09 at 21:56. New
As it is, a device (example: cell phone or pendrive) when connected mounts multiple drives if it has multiple partitions.

If you want to unmount a device with multiple partitions, you must unmount each one individually.

The unmount (safely remove hardware) should allow a ONE-CLICK option to unmount the device completely.

See the windows implementation here (with a card reader with 4 particions).
http://softporal.ucoz.ru/Images6/USBSafelyRemove_wm.JPG
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_ruMCAJda6B0/R4sTELk8_9I/AAAAAAAAABc/Oq8qvjrOLF0/s320/ Portable%2BUSB%2BSafely%2BRemove%2Bv3_3_0_611.png
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Solution #1: Add option in unmount to remove the DEVICE completely and safely
Written by cenora the 16 Mar 09 at 21:56.
To unmount the actual device and not only each individual partition.
109
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Solution #2: If the device is in use by other programs, ask user to Wait or Force removal
Written by cenora the 18 Mar 09 at 21:18.
From what I understand, ext3 waits to write files to a device.

If you try to eject the device, there could be files waiting to be written or deleted.

System should say: "Program X is using the device" [Wait] [Force Eject]
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Solution #3: Tell me which App is blocking device removal
Written by elias1884 the 20 Mar 09 at 00:00.
I am regularly told, that an application is blocking device removal. It would be great if I was also told, which app that is.

We can't expect users to user lsof to find out, how to get their USB pendrive released. The greatest solution I could imagine would be, if the notification app asks me, if I want to be taken to the blocking application, so I can close it or whatever. Taken in the sense of switching desktops and bringing the app to the front, if it is a GUI app.
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Solution #4: Device information dialog.
Written by Lachu the 21 Mar 09 at 14:35.
Add to device icon menu "device information dialog". We can display on it all partition on this device(name and size). We can allows to unmount whole device. Another feature is to display all programs, which are using that device.

See the 2 comments or propose a solution >>

Too Many places to look for information on drivers / devices  
Written by mattmyers83 the 8 Aug 09 at 16:20. New
It seems very hard to find out information regarding drivers and hardware. For system device info you need to install the Gnome Device Manager, for proprietary driver info you need to view the hardware drivers application. Why cant these functionalities be one in the same? You could have one application that shows information pertaining to both.

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Solution #1: Add additional functionality to the hardware drivers application
Written by mattmyers83 the 8 Aug 09 at 16:20.

Maybe you could add more functionality to the administration/hardware drivers application to include a centralized point for all hardware related configuration / information.

You could view all of the hardware for the system and see what drivers are installed for that device. whether it be proprietary drivers provided by the current hardware drivers application or a built in driver.

You could have all information including detected chipset, IRQ, etc.

Add a comment or propose a solution >>

Wizard or prompt to configure/detect/select usb audio  
Written by corq the 28 Feb 09 at 14:10. New
USB Speakers are becoming more popular as lower-energy options for external sound support on computers.

However, while Ubuntu Intrepid detected my usb speakers, choosing the spekers as primary in System > Preferences > Sound resulted in wildly inconsistent results, or else defaulted to the inboard speaker on my laptop.

I can only assume similar issues with USB headsets, as typically Ubuntu sees these as a supplemental audio device.
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Solution #1: Wizard or brief prompt, upon device detection.
Written by corq the 28 Feb 09 at 14:10.
I suggest a small wizard or prompt, after detecting the insertion of the usb speakers or headset, "USB Audio detected; Would you like this device to be your primary audio speakers? With, perhaps a checkbox for "Only this session" for folks who might just be using a headset for Skype meetings and such.

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Solution #2: Be able to set the order of soundcards
Written by Cé the 1 Mar 09 at 09:24.
This is a problem for everybody with multiple soundcards, Create a gui to set wich soundcard is primary, secondary and so on.

Best regards,
Cedric
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Solution #3: Do nothing
Written by Seph_VII the 6 Mar 09 at 18:12.
My USB-speakers(Logitech Z-10) are detected and work perfectly in Jaunty, so I assume the problem has been fixed.

See the 1 comments or propose a solution >>

Allow quick-editing of external drive labels.  
Written by tiede the 9 Apr 09 at 18:23. New
Currently, if one wishes to change the label for an external drive, say for example a simple USB Flash Drive, they must following this: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RenameUSBDrive

It would be better if such a simple task did not require extensive command-line usage...
A very easy, and quite intuitive way, would be to allow the user to select the drive in nautilus' My Computer window, and rename it from there.
Finding the filesystem type and using the appropriate command could then be executed in the background (read seemlessly), by the OS, or some handler application.

This helps the user in quickly identifying his external drives, either in his personal PC or elsewhere, as opposed to just selecting mount points with serial numbers, which would only work locally on his own computer.
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Solution #1: Modify gnome-device-manager to listen to such a request via dbus
Written by tiede the 9 Apr 09 at 18:23.
Nautilus could send such a request to gnome-device-manager or even hal, if needed, and that program (preferrably gnome-device-manager) could then call on mtools, e2label, or other such program, to accomplish the task.
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Solution #2: Offer simpler instructions for changing a drive label using GParted
Written by jamesisin the 10 Apr 09 at 07:44.
I used a much easier method for changing drive labels than the one the op links to above. It is found in the first segment of this blog post:

http://www.soundunreason.com/InkWell/?p=918

What could be improved in this method is making it easier to remount an unmouted drive using GParted.
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Solution #3: Easy solution
Written by sighK the 22 Apr 09 at 18:55.
read man zenity --list
parse the mount command for block devices
show these in the zenity list
then use parted with the return of zenity with gksudo to write the device label.

See the 1 comments or propose a solution >>

unique behaviour for each external storage  
Written by antalar the 3 Dec 08 at 08:21. New
As I understand, system could distinguish one external storage from another. So, I think it would be useful to set unique after-plugging-behaviour for each device.

For example, I use 4gb apacer flash only for backup. So the only thing I want to do with it is to run appropriate script and then unplug.
Another my USB device is my 2gb transcend pleer. Every time I plug it, I want only to sync contents of my ~/music/2pleer/ folder with it. So, may be you could find some solution (preferably GUI-based) for this?
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Solution #1: Auto-generated solution of idea #16169
Written by antalar the 3 Dec 08 at 08:21.
Ubuntu Brainstorm was updated in January 2009. Since the idea #16169 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 2 comments or propose a solution >>

No automount from ntfs disk's with an "dirty-Bit"  
Written by Silvercircle the 21 Mar 09 at 18:11. New
While mounting an external disk with NTFS and dirty-Bit under Ubuntu some friends of mine encountered problems and received errormessages.
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Solution #1: Create a "forcebutton" for mounting NTFS disks with the -o force option
Written by Silvercircle the 21 Mar 09 at 18:11.
The solution for the problem (mountcommand with the -o force option) also is pointed out under details, but most users don't bother to click on details, so why don't you just create a buttion "Use Force" which runs the mount command for you?

Soultion=> Add a forcemount button to the errordialogue

Add a comment or propose a solution >>

Checkbox-gtk test your hardware and can propose howto config it better  
Written by shawe_ewahs the 20 Sep 09 at 11:51. New
Checkbox-gtk test your hardware for know if it works correctly or not, it can be used for know existing hardware in the world, and have information for how to configure it more correctly.

It can be implemented with a DB with information from hardware tested, and information like launchpad for how to configure it better than default config.

With a lot of people trying have it better configuration for hardware, can be able to have a database that also can autoconfigure hardware with little scripts and Checkbox-gtk can propose to configure it if exists a better way to configure it.
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Solution #1: Better Checkbox-gtk
Written by shawe_ewahs the 20 Sep 09 at 11:51.
Can be possible do a better work with checkbox-gtk, if it proposes to users of Ubuntu do a Checkbox-gtk test in here first run, Ubuntu can have a database of existing hardware in use, and people can contribute to have a better configuration of it.

A lot of people have problems with here graphical card, bluetooth devices, sound cards, ... and a lot of times, the reason that it don't work correctly are stupid things, like this:

* Add on "/etc/rc.local" this line "hciconfig hci0 reset"
* Add on "/etc/modprobe.d/nano alsa-base.conf" this line "options snd-hda-intel model=vaio". These occure with a lot of laptops and different soundcards.

And also can be solution for more complex problems with hardware that don't work well or need patches for the moment. Like my graphic card, that can control brightness by default, but exists differents ways to try to do a partial solution, that almost "work", it hasn't the best way, but almost "work".

Add a comment or propose a solution >>

Using serial input methods (eg. Mouse)  
Written by kevinp93 the 21 Feb 09 at 21:39. New
Well, as a computer enthusiast I have some old accessories (like my serial Microsoft Mouse). I would like to be able to configure the settings without going into the command prompt and all that hassle. I just want to go to settings and select the input method. Thanks.
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Solution #1: Create a user-friendly device manager
Written by kevinp93 the 21 Feb 09 at 21:39.
At the moment, I am thinking of seeing a user-friendly device manager. Click on the hardware, and change the settings, without even using any commands.
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Solution #2: use the same as m$ win 7
Written by wouter215 the 22 Feb 09 at 21:12.
a device manager like this:
http://i.zdnet.com/gallery/249310-480-360.jpg
this makes it easy to oversee all devices that are connected.

See the 2 comments or propose a solution >>

Write device drivers in Java  
Written by dhillonv the 20 Oct 09 at 00:11. New
Alright, so as the hardware companies keep making new hardware, the drivers have to be made over again. Now think about this, we have an installation of JVM and then we install drivers that route through it and then integrate it with the kernel. Now we won't have to make device-dependent drivers, it would be architecture free. This has been done before in an OS called JNode and I am currently working on this idea here: http://sites.google.com/site/autoubuntudrivers/proposal

I wanted to bring this idea to more people and thus Ubuntu Brainstorm seemed to be good idea. I would appreciate comments regarding the rationale of this project.
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Solution #1: Use a classifier
Written by dhillonv the 20 Oct 09 at 00:11.
I think this can be solved if we make a classifier in Java. This classifier would modify existing drivers and mold them to fit the new device by trail/error. The success rate of this classifier would increase based on training and also the quality of the code. Increasing both give us a classifier capable of making good device drivers :)
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Solution #2: Bound this only to USB devices.
Written by Lachu the 24 Oct 09 at 14:06.
It's great idea, but should be restricted only to USB devices. USB port are cross platform port, but we don't have cross platform drivers.

See the 4 comments or propose a solution >>

X server switcher  
Written by milanchez the 12 Oct 09 at 21:16. New
New ATI drivers for older graphic cards (example series 1650) are not compatible with new x server
After installing ATI drivers system is unusable.
Solution is to downgrade xserver-xorg*, fglrx*, xorg-driver-fglrx, libdrm2, gnome-session, and fast-user-switch-applet packages. But why to do that?
Is it possible to implement x server switcher, which could activate one group of packages compatible with given hardware?
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Solution #1: Side by side versions of packages
Written by milanchez the 12 Oct 09 at 21:16.
Side by side versions of packages which are activated/deactivated (after reboot).
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Solution #2: Create DBus API...
Written by Lachu the 14 Oct 09 at 08:41.
Create DBus API to support switching of VT. It can work in simple way. Deamon loads X driver and only switching screen. X Window System will load driver for new DBus API. It could allow to use newest drivers by older X Servers and prevent to X Window System problem, which causes older architecture. I know it's hard, but it can be great.

Add a comment or propose a solution >>