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Contributor JustAboutRealJAR on the Hardware support category

Makes Installation of hardware (Webcams, Scanners, Printers, etc) easier  
Written by RichardLinx the 25 Feb 09 at 08:37. Global category: Hardware support. New
I was on IRC today when a user asked for help with a webcam problem. He had to compile the source code of his webcam drivers and when he tried he got the following error message:
http://pastebin.com/d6d04a18c

I posted a link because it's quite a long one. Now imagine you get a long error message that shows a bunch of numbers, your going to be pretty put off. It's a simple compilation error. All the person wants to do is install there webcam but because the driver installation isn't "user friendly" he's unable to without a fair bit of trouble.

My Idea? I know we have Getdeb.com which offers pre-compiled software for Ubuntu in the form of .deb files, but what if we had a similar site or section on getdeb.com which offered precompiled drivers for things like webcams, printers, etc? It would make life and Ubuntu much more enjoyable. There wouldn't be countless hours spent trying to get something as trivial as a webcam working.

Honestly, how many new Ubuntu users know how to compile a driver from source? Not many I bet. Imagine a user that didn't know how to use IRC or forums? That would be an even bigger problem for someone that was use to installing drivers through a simple installation wizard.

Anyhow that's my idea and this is my first step towards getting it implemented. I'm very willing to help get this started. If your interested let me know.
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Solution #1: Precompiled .deb Drivers
Written by RichardLinx the 25 Feb 09 at 08:37.
Didn't know there was a seperate section for a proposed solution. (First time Brainstorm user).

Proposed Solution:

Basically have a dedicated website similar to GetDeb.com
(Or dedicated section on GetDeb.com) - It would be much easier to maintain and have the latest up to date drivers for all sorts of hardware (eg. Webcam, Scanner) because users could post there pre-compiled drivers.

Drivers that were confirmed stable could be added to the Ubuntu repository.

See the 6 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 15 May 12 at 07:15) >>

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. In development
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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Selected 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!
55
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Selected 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.
29
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Selected solution (#3): Get behind Conduit and make it shine
Written by socceroos the 23 Oct 09 at 00:04.
Conduit seems to be a worthy step in the right direction to solve this particular issue. I would suggest that Canonical puts some muscle behind this and kill off this issue once and for all.

http://live.gnome.org/Conduit
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Selected solution (#4): multisync
Written by sn0m the 11 Dec 09 at 19:34.
multisync seems to work fine, it just needs fine tunning with ubuntu and evolution.
All we need is contacts, calendar and notes to synch, who cares about sending text or making calls through whatever.
12
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Selected solution (#5): Create a Syncing API for better syncing between different programs and devices
Written by AdlerHorst the 27 Dec 09 at 13:38.
I Think this API should store a Database on local or Ubuntu One in that the Data should be stored in the most detailed version.

eg: The street of the address should be split in the Data base into Streetname and houseNr.

Sync modules for connections and Data fields and merging/split should give the access on other devices.

This tool should not only could be used for Contact, Calendar, ToDo, Notice and Messages. File Syncing like rsync should also be possible to use with.

See the 72 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 10 Dec 11 at 13:55) >>

multi touch screen features?  
Written by jayjayn the 26 Feb 09 at 18:00. Related project: Compiz. New
I have a HP tx2z multi touch tablet pc and was able to get ubuntu running great on it, but it doesnt have any type of features/support for the new multi touch screens.
123
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Solution #1: multi-touch gestures on tablet pc
Written by jayjayn the 26 Feb 09 at 18:00.
My idea is it would be great if there was some type of implementation for multi touch screen gestures such as two finger scrolling or two finger swipes to the left and right to activate switching between view ports like in compiz. as well as resizing images and rotating images using two fingers.
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Solution #2: MPX
Written by Daniel Antony Demski the 2 Mar 09 at 03:51.
Multiple Pointer X should be integrated into Ubuntu along with reasonable behavior for interacting with things using multiple mice. That way people without touchscreens could even test out touchscreen behavior by using multiple mice at once.
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Solution #3: Add a GUI for Multipe Pointer X
Written by niallabrown the 12 Apr 09 at 02:54.
Make a GUI to configure Multi Pointer X. One that allows you to assign a new cursor to a second USB mouse or activate multitouch for touch screens.

See the 5 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 22 Mar 11 at 03:37) >>

Somehow include battery capacity in the battery charge applet  
Written by deadowl the 14 May 08 at 17:06. Global category: Hardware support. New
I get messages telling me my battery capacity when it's low. Good to know, but why not include this information in the charging applet somehow?

Perhaps, but not necessarily, alongside tips to increase battery life.
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Solution #2: Improve appearance of power manager or battery charge monitor applet
Written by sucotronic the 21 Feb 09 at 17:08.
There is a windows application that has a good design and show the info in an easy to understand way:



In the bar there is a bar image with the time remaining and when you pass the mouse over it appear a tooltip with more info.

It would be great to copy this look for power manager or battery charge monitor.
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Solution #3: Just add time in minutes into battery bar
Written by grofaty the 23 Feb 09 at 15:56.
Show only info about minutes battery has. See for example number 22 in following pictures as 22 minutes to end of battery.

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Solution #4: Visualize time left
Written by cyberix the 23 Jul 09 at 11:35.
Currently the visuals show how full my battery is. I need this information when I want to know, if my battery is full or not. How about concentrating on visualizing time left, and using some smaller clue to show whether or not the battery is full. I'm thinking about showing a pie chart that works as an analog clock.


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Solution #5: option to show battery percentage
Written by theQxQ the 26 Oct 12 at 02:40.
I like in macs the option to see the percintage of battery life left. I would like to see this implementeds in ubuntu also. or show a pie chart (like in solution #4) showing how much battery life is left. a pie chart takes less time then text, and give just as much visual info.

See the 1 comments or propose a solution (latest comment the 23 May 08 at 13:50) >>