Where would you like to see Linux Desktop go? ie: Features and such.

[MetalMusicAddict]

I love that Ive finally been able to learn alot about linux thanx to Ubuntu and the many fine members here. :)

Im sure people have dreams about what they would like to see in Linux. Here are some of mine.

1. An accelerated desktop.
I believe OSX's desktop is accelerated. Using Quarts or Darwin? I cant remember.
This would help off-load all the eye-candy we all like to the gfx card instead of the CPU.

2. A non-distro specific universal installer.
This is something I though I actually read about some people workin on. Am I crazy?

3. Full NTFS and upcomming WinFS read/write access.
I know the WinFS thing is a long way off. Im just thinkin ahead.



There are small things I would like to see but I believe they will be solved soon. These 3 things I think apply across distros, at least for me.

I love Ubuntu and linux now but I feel that linux desktop doesnt progress as much as OSX/Windows because anyone can change it and take it off in a different direction. Also a lack of funds like MS or Apple has has something to do with it. It can be a good and bad thing.

I often wonder what linux would be like if there were well paid people developing the core parts of linux. With Apple and MS developing the next-gen GUIs that take advantage of current and upcomming hardware I wonder what will happen to the Linux desktop that we know?

I dont claim to know everything, these are just some thoughts of mine. ;)

What would you like to see?

[bored2k]

1. Little more polish [I'd hate to experience grub/xorg problems on my first Linux install]

2. I'd like Linux to be thaught in public schools and such, thus producing less computing neophytes for the upcoming *already here* tech-age <- I know it is being thaught in some, but I mean teaching it with the focus of removing the cliche of Linux being way to hard and such.

3. Community growth.

[cdhotfire]

1. More like Windows!!!!!
nah jk. :P
2. Probably more games, thats for sure.
3. I agree on the teaching idea that would be great. Unfortunally most schools use Windows, which can hacked very easily, thats not so bad, :P.
4. Last but not least, and key that least me make pop tarts in my floppy disk, that would rock. 8)

[panickedthumb]

2. A non-distro specific universal installer.
This is something I though I actually read about some people workin on. Am I crazy?

Unfortunately, I think you may be ;) nah, not really. But imagine trying to get people on the train for that. People swear by apt, by yum, urpmi, yast. Try getting them to switch.

There are some in progress to try and be distro-unspecific (is that even a word?) but I fear that they may not achieve their goals.

[somuchfortheafter]

well first off we need drivers that rival those used in windows for everything. configurations that make it like windows. let me explain i plug in any wifi card in xp and within 5 mins it works. this needs to be in linux, however letting everything be edited by hand should stay, and a distro should be able to offer great wizards for those who need it, with a walkthrough of how to get down and dirty under the hood so to speak of your linux system.

[BWF89]

If Linux was compatible with 100% of all printing, faxing, scanning, and mouseing hardware like Windows.

[bored2k]

well first off we need drivers that rival those used in windows for everything. configurations that make it like windows. let me explain i plug in any wifi card in xp and within 5 mins it works. this needs to be in linux, however letting everything be edited by hand should stay, and a distro should be able to offer great wizards for those who need it, with a walkthrough of how to get down and dirty under the hood so to speak of your linux system.
Looks like you're looking for Xandros desktop. "just like Windows -everything-"

[somuchfortheafter]

ehh well im not fond of xpde and i personally like doing some stuff in the command prompt i was giving the input in hopes that more distributions would eventually all do this.... even gentoo......

[Jesus Franco]

Easy way to install drivers...

Maybe when you plugin your wifi card a window pops up telling you it has found a new unconfigured wifi card, and it also asks you if you would like for it to download the binary drivers from the respritory and by clicking yes it also automatically configures it.

That would be nice....I do have a feeling linux will get there at some point in time. :grin: But for something like this to be possible a daemon would have to be running...and that can slow down your system....Like in windows ](*,)

Linux is faster because it has less services running and if it doesnt the services it runs doesn't require as much power as those on windows. Because linux has less automated features..but that is whats good about linux. Windows gets annoying, if u have something pluged in and its not installed...every reboot it will bother you with that installation screen.... That is what makes windows more annoying it states the obvoius.... And to me it is annoying. I consider myself a advanced user...the last thing i need is a OS telling me that something is not installed...Maybe I dont want to install it now! :p

Linux leaves you alone, although for n00bs this isnt very good. Witch is why they should stick with windows if they like to be botherd.

just my 2cents.

P.S. A easy way of making themes wouldn't hurt. But of course this is gnomes fualt not linux... :/ :roll:

[nocturn]

1. An accelerated desktop.
I believe OSX's desktop is accelerated. Using Quarts or Darwin? I cant remember.
This would help off-load all the eye-candy we all like to the gfx card instead of the CPU.


Isn't this supported already (renderaccel in XF86Config)?


3. Full NTFS and upcomming WinFS read/write access.
I know the WinFS thing is a long way off. Im just thinkin ahead.


I thought WinFS was dropped from the Longhorn roadmap (deferred again)?
Full NTFS support could be usefull for some people, although it should not steal focus from Linux-centric filesystems.

[nocturn]

1. A centralized user management/authentication system based on Kerberos and LDAP.

2. A secure network filesystem (NFS+kerberos / AFS)

3. Disconnected filesystems (like CODA)

4. More and better drivers (requires cooperation of manufacturers).


-- ALL of the above integrated in the distro setup --

[occy8]

definately better hardware support
priorities modems, wireless, printers

pressure on manufacturers
not saying nah its not supported but going back to them saying we have people who want drivers. They know hardware's got a short lifetime 2 maybe 3 years. Even with alzheimer I can and will remember that.

User interface
The goal shouldn't be to be different from windows but to take up best of both worlds.
"I always wandered why I can't eject a cd in linux when I push the eject putton on the drive"

[somuchfortheafter]

oooo support for wpa encryption

[`Mrk]

Windows-like, automated installers would be cool. :)

[tdell]

Hmmmm....more like windows? I thought we were trying to get away from windows.

Tom

[somuchfortheafter]

well we only want the good part of windows, ie multimedia plugins for any format, drivers, easy config tools for those who need them....

[jdodson]

well first off we need drivers that rival those used in windows for everything. configurations that make it like windows. let me explain i plug in any wifi card in xp and within 5 mins it works. this needs to be in linux, however letting everything be edited by hand should stay, and a distro should be able to offer great wizards for those who need it, with a walkthrough of how to get down and dirty under the hood so to speak of your linux system.

the kernel has the most native driver support of any os period. however, windows does beat it for vendor proprietary driver support. kind of a catch 22 i guess. if you think of the amount of hardware the kernel automatically detects, i think you might be surprised. EVERYTHING in my computer is detected automatically as opposed to me booting from a floppy disk(hello no sata support in xp sp1) which i wont do and don't run xp anyway.

if you mean proprietary driver support, then i agree vendors have aways to go.

what i would like to see:

*persistent clipboard
*gnome menu editor
*gnome memory optimizations so older computers can use gnome FAST!
*add another universe that puts all the remaining debian packages into it, there are many that are not available and i would like them.

honestly that is about it. i would love more cross platform games, but that is not a gnu/linux desktop specific thing. for my needs the desktop is MORE than adequate.

[sas]

Drivers, drivers, drivers
An IDE with the quality of visual studio.net 2003
a IM client with all the features and the way it 'just works' that MSN has

[Avi]

If I'll take the word "desktop" literally: One word - Enlightenment
Check out this (http://www.rasterman.com/files/e17_movie-02.avi) AMAZING video clip.

(In case you've missed the thread here.. :wink: )

[darkoptix]

Better hardware support, and companys producing both linux/windows/mac/anything else drivers or support.

Game companies other than EA :p to make games for linux and windows...

[telmo]

I'm hoping Linux becomes a bit like Looking Glass... in 3D That would be awsome!

[`Mrk]

I'm hoping Linux becomes a bit like Looking Glass... in 3D That would be awsome!
Oh, please, my old computer is begging for mercy. :mrgreen:

[ember]

Hmm ...

I would go with nocturn and jdong, so it's:

* better administration tools for central installation and administration
* a central clipboard with some number of buffers to cycle through
* a fully functional integration of diverse file systems (it should actually be completely unimportant, if I am accessing something via FTP, HTTP, NFS or whatsoever)
* really smooth integration between applications, I like a consistent look and feeling
* a continued evolution of mono - though I do not have much love for Microsoft, I do like .NET respectively C# and GTK#.

[defkewl]

1. An accelerated desktop.
I believe OSX's desktop is accelerated. Using Quarts or Darwin? I cant remember.
This would help off-load all the eye-candy we all like to the gfx card instead of the CPU.


Would Linux ever beat Windows in Desktop Computing? If that could happen than I would be glad coz I'm still using Windows for desktop. Hehe. I only use Linux as a server.

[Buffalo Soldier]

If Linux was compatible with 100% of all printing, faxing, scanning, and mouseing hardware like Windows.
I guess you could say GNU/Linux is already 100% compatible if all peripherals and accesorries. The free and open source nature of GNU/Linux leaves out the guessing parts in knowing about the inner working of it as an operating system.

It just depends on the hardware manufacturers whether they want to make their device compatible or not.

The main reason manufacturers are not making their device compatible with GNU/Linux is that their customer are mostly using windows.

The only way to speed up manufacturer support for GNU/Linux is through what we are all doing here. Developing, using, supporting and bug reporting GNU/Linux.

If everyone were to just sit at the side and wait for other people to contribute to this process... then it will only be much slower for the manufacturers to support GNU/Linux.