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Meta packages are not easily identified  
Written by xav0989 the 10 May 12 at 16:05. Related project: Ubuntu Software Center. New
Packages such as ubuntu-desktop, ubuntu-minimal and others are meta-packages, so packages that do not have any content in themselves, put rather depend on a number of other packages to provide a faster easier way to install common sets of programs. However, these packages are sometimes mistaken for regular packages, and users are wary of removing them (for instance, when apt-get tries to remove ubuntu-desktop, you may wonder if your desktop will start failing).
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Solution #1: Add a keyword to meta packages
Written by xav0989 the 10 May 12 at 16:05.
Add a keyword such as meta at the begining or the end of meta packages, so ubuntu-desktop would become meta-ubuntu-desktop, or ubuntu-minimal would become meta-ubuntu-minimal.
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Solution #2: Add a category in Ubuntu Software Center
Written by benoyanthony the 15 May 12 at 10:22.
Can add catogory named "Meta" in ubuntu software center to get seprate list of meta packages.

See the 2 comments or propose a solution >>

Add /home/* backup/restore capability to ubiquity  
Written by Resistance the 3 May 12 at 01:46. Related project: Live CD installer. New
This idea was proposed by the the Launchpad user bodhi.zazen, as part of a feature request bug against the update-manager package. Bug Squad members asked that this section be removed from the feature request in order to triage the feature request bug (which contained both minor and major change recommendations initially, with the idea in this post being the major change):

Idea:
Ubiquity looks for a backup of /home and offers to restore /home from backup. If no backup exists, it offers to create one, to be stored on external media or another partition.

Rationale: Many users out there who are not experienced sysadmins either install new versions of Ubuntu on top of older versions, or upgrade using the LiveCD environment. In both cases, people have an (occasionally) unexpected loss of data. This loss of data results in posts going to AskUbuntu.com or ubuntuforums.org for help in recovery, which can be very hard.
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Solution #1: Autodetect and ask
Written by Resistance the 3 May 12 at 01:46.
Incorporate a method into the installation system to detect if a version of Ubuntu already exists on the drive selected for installtation, offer to create a tarball of /home/* and/or other directories that can be selected by the user, create the tarball, and then have the user save to external media, or to another partition on the drive. This would then automatically back up the user's /home/* user data and any other items specified during the backup procedure.

As well, incorporate a method after installation to ask the user whether or not they have a backup of which they want restored to the newly installed system. Then, allow the user to choose the backup (in a tarball) to restore to the system, thereby allowing easier restoration of data for new users.

See the 4 comments or propose a solution >>

Make GRUB's menuentry for Windows partitions less geeky  
Written by brm the 9 May 12 at 21:47. Related project: Live CD installer. New
My wish is to simplify the language referring to Windows partitions in /boot/grub/grub.cfg. The current language is in terms that only a Unix geek could love: "Windows 7 (loader) (on /dev/sda1)." This does not contribute to resolution of bug #1.

I am an advanced intermediate user of Linux, so I know exactly what the line means. But a less experienced user of my multi-boot machine might well be confused. I would prefer "compromise" language: for example, "Microsoft Windows 7 (installed on /dev/sda1)."

This way, the *ix user knows which is the Windows partition; the Windows user sees a term that s/he recognizes.

Following an answer to a Launchpad question on this point, I am submitting this idea both to brainstorm and as a wishlist bug.
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Solution #1: Simpler language in GRUB menuentry
Written by brm the 9 May 12 at 21:47.
language such as "Microsoft Windows 7 (installed on /dev/sda1)" would be recognizable to a user more familiar with Windows as well as providing useful information to a more experienced Linux user.
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Solution #2: only an Ubuntu option without any extra string
Written by siddhantone the 11 May 12 at 19:26.
Instead of all three options i.e. Ubuntu, recovery mode and memory test, only an Ubuntu option will be better without any extra string i.e. (installed on /dev/sda1),(installed on /dev/sda2)
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Solution #3: More self explaining language in GRUB menuentry
Written by puxkggn the 13 May 12 at 14:22.
Thus getting something like:
"Microsoft Windows 7 (loader) (installed on /dev/sda1)"
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Solution #4: Add "Advanced options" at the bottom of the list
Written by turbolad the 22 May 12 at 11:14.
To make the GRUB boot options more user friendly and less daunting to new users, who have installed Ubuntu alongside Windows, a simpler GRUB could be implemented and the "technical" stuff available from "Advanced options". GRUB could look simpler by default, like this:
__

Boot options

Ubuntu 12.04
Ubuntu recovery and troubleshooting
Windows 7
Advanced options
__

Behind "Advanced options" could include the memtest86, previous Linux kernels and partition information can be shown, such as showing Windows 7 installed on /dev/sda1 and so on. Newbies don't understand what "/dev/sda1" means!

See the 3 comments or propose a solution >>