Got ideas for Dapper? Let the developers know! Posting here is not enough!

[UbuWu]

From Sunday 30 October - Thursday 10 November 2005 the Ubuntu developers will be discussing the future of Ubuntu and the goals for Dapper at Ubuntu Below Zero (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBelowZero). So what to do if you have some great ideas on how to improve Ubuntu? Some possibilities:

- Problems/ideas to be discussed there can be added to the BOFs for UBZ (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBelowZero/BOFs)

- Specific problems with programs you can post to Bugzilla (http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/) (for programs from main) or Malone (https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bugs). It is possible to post bugs but also requests for enhancements. (will soon all be Malone)

- Random ideas you can add to the IdeaPool (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IdeaPool) on the wiki.

- :KS Also Mark (Shuttleworth) announced that you can mail him personally:

In addition, if you have specific feature requests, now's a good time to
mail them to me. I'll be preparing for the Ubuntu Below Zero (UBZ)
conference over the next ten days, and ideas that come in before then
could make it onto the agenda for the dev team.
That is at: mark _at_ canonical.com

So all get off your seat and make Dapper rock even more! ;)

[Paulus]

I personally think it would be invaluable to sticky this. :)

[cpinto]

The wiki seems to have been slashdotted so here are my 2cents:
- more ZeroConf integration
- better ways to configure wireless lan profiles
- init-ng, which I understand from older posts won't be released in Dapper :-(

If you care for more details, please check this at my home-page: http://yimports.com/~cpinto/index.php/2005/10/13/wishlist-for-ubuntu-604.

I'll copy&paste most of the stuff there to the wiki as soon as it's available.

[OpposingForce]

Wireless, wireless, wireless...all I got to say..It was impossible for me to set up my DWL-AG530 wireless NIC on hoary, thought breezy would fix that but nope. No internet on ubuntu isnt gonna work for me, not being able to get upgrades, updates, packages and whatnot...sorry just not gonna work..the new ubuntu NEEDS better wireless support..

[idn]

Here's what I want for dapper:

Epiphany installed as default
Better multimedia support
Eye candy
Try to improve usplash to be more configureable, and to use more colours, look sharper
current work packed into 1 month release cycle! Make those devs work 24/7, no sleep, no sunlight, developers developers developers! - where have I heard that said before :) SB

[doclivingston]

Dapper will have Gstreamer 0.10, so hopefully the multimedia issues will be sorted out (besides the obvious "we can't ship this codec by default" issues). Personally I'm an Epiphany fan, but I imagine the Epihany vs Firefox as default debate will be interesting to watch.

[davegod75]

Wireless, wireless, wireless...all I got to say..It was impossible for me to set up my DWL-AG530 wireless NIC on hoary, thought breezy would fix that but nope. No internet on ubuntu isnt gonna work for me, not being able to get upgrades, updates, packages and whatnot...sorry just not gonna work..the new ubuntu NEEDS better wireless support..



I agree...we need better wireless support

[aboe]

Hardware support for tv-cards...ivtv drivers...in repository if possible...

[Wes24]

Definately better wireless support. So far I cannot use Ubuntu at the university, since i cannot access wireless.

[sander marechal]

Here's a good idea: Better support for OEM's or mass-rollout. The current OEM install procedure is not enough! It's nice if you build a few systems per day/week at most but not for rolling them out by the donzens/hundreds. You still have to answer questions during installation. It would be great if you could answer them once, create an image with those answers in it and then proceed to mass-install ubuntu. Insert disk -> boot -> all done. Ideally there should be no keypresses needed from beginning to end (that includes the reboot halfway the installation. Just open the CD player and proceed to reboot).

Also it would be nice to be able to easily distribute updates throughout a larger network. E.g. one PC getting the updates from the internet and the rest taking them from that one PC. This could have the added bonus of sysadmins delaying or denying updates if they so wish. It probabely boils down to easily be able to mirror the main ubuntu repositories in a network (point & click interface) and being able to easily set up alternate repositiries on the above large ammount of installed Ubuntu PC's.

The current OEM system is nice for small companies/OEM's but not for larger one's.

Edit:
The above idea's are just freewheeling on a possible solution. My point is that you could very well be pushing Dapper Drake at the likes of Dell or companies/governments with a 2500+ PC install base. IIRC Dapper Drake is going to be the version that's supported for 3 years instead of 18 months. You should make it possible to roll out and manage large ammounts of Ubuntu PC's with minimal effort.

Another thought: It should be possible to install Ubuntu complete with java/flash/decss/w32codecs etcetera. Not directly ofcourse (it's not free software) but I could imagine a way where a sysadmin would install one PC with Ubuntu, install the non-free software required at his company and then run a program that rolls the current install into a bootable ISO, ready for deployment on large ammounts of PC's through some nifty combination of partial installing (hardware detection) and partial ghosting (software stack). This would solve both the problem of non-free software as the problem of different software requirements for companies that wish to do a mass rollout of Ubuntu.

I don't need such tools personally (I can only wish that I were in a position to convert all 50.000 PC's here at work) but I would very much like to see Ubuntu make major strides in corporate and home use. I think it's stuff like this that is lacking in Ubuntu now to take those steps.

Maybe -- if I can gather my above ramblings and turn them into a coherent story -- I could mail mark about it as the first post suggested.

[kaktusztea]

- A long right click on Trash icon would empty the Trash without pop-up question.

[UbuWu]

Here's a good idea: Better support for OEM's or mass-rollout. The current OEM install procedure is not enough! It's nice if you build a few systems per day/week at most but not for rolling them out by the donzens/hundreds. You still have to answer questions during installation. It would be great if you could answer them once, create an image with those answers in it and then proceed to mass-install ubuntu. Insert disk -> boot -> all done. Ideally there should be no keypresses needed from beginning to end (that includes the reboot halfway the installation. Just open the CD player and proceed to reboot).

Have you tried kickstart from the repositories? It basically provides this functionality, but I don't how well it works combined with the oem mode.

See also:
http://archive.ubuntulinux.org/ubuntu/dists/breezy/main/installer-i386/current/doc/manual/en/ch04s06.html

[sander marechal]

Nope, haven't tried that one. It looks good enough though. Thanks for the link!

[cbudden]

I think wireless should be a high priority application to get right. I think a WPA encryption GUI should be intergrated into Ubuntu.

[Wolki]

- A long right click on Trash icon would empty the Trash without pop-up question.

I doubt this is a good idea. The right mouse button opens the context menu. There are reasons to hold the right mouse button over the trash applet, for example because the user might read the contents of that menu. (Yes, it would stay open if you let go of the mouse button, but with all context menus holding the button and releasing it on the item you want to activate is valid usage). A user interface should never have potential data loss on a action that is easy to trigger accidentally or unknowingly, without confirmation.
You could argue that the contents of the trash are usually not important, or the user wouldn't have moved them there. But a user is likely to read the context menu of a Trash can if he wants to know something about it, meaning when he's deleted something he wants to restore. He can't do it from there, but you can't expect every user to know that. So if a user accidentally triggers it, it's likely to be exactly when it's fatal.

And if you make that delay so long it won't accidentaly trigger, it's a faux shortcut, since using it would take longer than the normal way.

[Samy_Merchi]

My top three major issues with installing Ubuntu were:

* I wanted to install a dual boot system, keeping my two Windows partitions, resizing the bigger one to be smaller, and use the remaining space to make an Ubuntu partition. Pretty standard fare. The guided installer suggests something like "resize Partition #5 and use the freed space for Ubuntu", plus about four other options. The first option is a great one (and is the one I ultimately chose), but when you first enter guided install, there is no way to know which partition it means by partition #5. Thus, you can never select the first option right away, you have to go to Manual to check the partitions first. And actually, all the wiki documentation I read suggested that I should indeed use the Manual Edit choice and go that route entirely, instead of using the automatic option. So I messed around with the Manual and tried setting things up for a while that way, but I was just waaaay too nervous to commit to those changes (what's the difference between a Primary and Logical? Should I set the new partition to Bootable or not? Too many options!). So, ultimately I gave up on Manual, went back to Guided Install, crossed my fingers and selected the first option ("Resize #5, use freed for Ubuntu") which then turned out to do everything perfectly.

Solutions:

1. The documentation should point to this one, so that people who follow documentation will not be unnecessarily pushed towards trying the overcomplex Manual mode.
2. The first option "resize and use freed" should automatically tell the user from the get-go which partition it is going to reuse, without user needing to go to Manual first to figure out what partitions the HD has.

* Many mouses these days have extra buttons. I consider myself a proficient computer user, and I spend 1-2 hours fighting with the mouse to get a simple thing like thumb button to work. The average user will not do this work. At a bare minimum, thumb buttons should be easy to configure to work as Back in Firefox and Nautilus. (I only managed to get it working in the first.)

Solutions:

1. A better mouse Preferences. (Mouse Preferences is where users will look for the functionality to activate the thumb button.) An extra tab where you can enter the number of buttons your mouse has; it takes that number, and adjusts xorg.conf accordingly, installs imwheel, adjusts imwheelrc (insert entries for Firefox and Nautilus Back buttons at a bare minimum), and inserts xmodmap into startup routines. Better GUI configuration of extra buttons would not be undesirable, but at a bare minimum, Back in Nautilus and Firefox must be easy to enable.

* In a dual-boot system, people will want a partition that both OSes can read/write. Coming from Windows XP (as most people will, I suspect), I had both my Windows partitions as NTFS. It is not feasible to backup everything (100+ GB) from the Windows partitions, reformat to FAT32, then restore everything back onto them when the partitions have been reformatted. Too much data, 130+ CDs worth. If people will not be able to read/write their Windows partition (their documents, music, Thunderbird local folders...) from the Ubuntu side, they will just go back to using Windows. Read-only access to their files partition is not sufficient.

Solutions:

1. Implement read/write access for NTFS and/or
2. Have an utility on Ubuntu side that can change an NTFS filesystem into a FAT32 filesystem on the fly without damaging the data on the partition to be processed and/or
3. Have documentation point to a corresponding utility on the Windows side.

I've yet to venture to wireless, bluetooth etc, and I'm sure those are in need of much love, but IMO the above three issues are absolute top priorities if Windows users are wanted to be won over.

[Chareos]

Personally I consider mandatoryto findaway to let coexist 32-64bit apps with no fight at all. No more chroot or headaches Nowadays 32bit pcs are out of the market !

[gbusse]

Work with the Skype developers to ensure that Skype works out of the box with Dapper. Basically just install Skype and start chatting...

That would be cool as currently I find Skype to be basically unusable under Ubuntu and Linux in general. And considering all of the people who use Skype or want to use Skype this would probably make a lot of people happy.

[mithion]

-I would like to see a more explicit installer. Even though Ubuntu's text installer is not the most complicated i've seen, there is room for improvement. I was a little confused by the partitioning scheme especially.

-Also, I would like to see a good GUI based c++ compiler included in Ubuntu. I am a physics student and so I'm frequently required to write my own programs to accomplish my very specific tasks. A compiler would be appreciated.

-A more sophisticated PDF viewer should be included. Xpdf just doesn't cut it for me.

-A 64 bit browser.

-If a file requires root privileges to write on or use, it would be nice to be able to right click on it, and select "run as different user" directly from there.

Besides that, Ubuntu is pretty bleeding edge in terms of software. I like the toned down simplified desktop of gnome. KDE is nice looking, but can be a little over the top sometimes. And the rest in Ubuntu under the hood just works pretty beautifully. Laptop capabilties is not quite perfect, but has drastically improved. By Ubuntu 6.04, it should be pretty much set. This is best distribution I've used and by far. It's simpler, works better, it's pretty damn fast, the update utility is ridiculously simple, the package manager as well. From my point of view, I don't know what major changes they can do to make it better. It's only a sum of small little tweaks. Ubuntu is already very impressive and quite complete.

[DiESELMuSA]

I would really like to have a netinstall like Debian, there you download 3 floppies and install from FTP. That would be a very nice feature! :D

[Stormy Eyes]

Please please please please please get rid of ESD? I use an ALSA-capable card (SB Audigy2), and ESD just gets in my way. I know it's there as a means to provide software mixing for cards that don't have mixing implemented in hardware, but couldn't DMIX be used instead of ESD?

Pretty-please with a kitten on top?

[kleeman]

Please please please please please get rid of ESD? I use an ALSA-capable card (SB Audigy2), and ESD just gets in my way. I know it's there as a means to provide software mixing for cards that don't have mixing implemented in hardware, but couldn't DMIX be used instead of ESD?

Pretty-please with a kitten on top?

From the BreezyGoals webpage:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BreezyGoals

polypaudio still too unstable, so breezy will stay with esd; (2005-07-19)

So I would guess that the key to getting rid of esd is when polypaudio is stable enough.

[UbuWu]

I would really like to have a netinstall like Debian, there you download 3 floppies and install from FTP. That would be a very nice feature! :D

Already possible. Search the wiki for some howto's. It is even possible to install from Windows using no disks at all!

[redactech]

Support for

My small list :

1) better support for so called smart batteries (I got an acer 4002 and I don't want to patch the kernel...

2) Have enlightenment windows manager works, now you have to edit the menu files manually to get the menus (and maybe e17 in the repositories, it is so beautifull - check elivecd.org)

3) Skype, everybody around me use it, it is slow slow slow, and I'm pulling my hair with sound card because of this (audigy 2)

4) Better support for wifi, I'm always afraid in others computer that it won't work out of the box, and I can't ask my friend to check out www.linux-laptop.net all the time, WMA with gui is nice. Ndiswrapper GUI for the poor people who didn't check the compatibility of their network card (see 6 also)

5) Working beagle, really, I have to restart the daemon all the time...

6) network manager GUIS seems not to work with /etc/network/interfaces as well as gtkwifi. They store the profile somewhere then I don't know what happened, I use both shell and GUI for connecting to the many network (wifi or ether) I need to work on. Sometimes I would prefer to edit the profiles manually then have autodetection on...

7) MSN... I don't need but my daughter says she NEEDS msn 7 with all the bell and whistle and that's why she has to monopolize sometimes the only desktop with windows remaining in the house while she has a nice laptop in her room with wifi.

8) a children project hub and more gaming experience (don't say cedega - but it is still a choice) I would prefer native support

[doclivingston]

-Also, I would like to see a good GUI based c++ compiler included in Ubuntu. I am a physics student and so I'm frequently required to write my own programs to accomplish my very specific tasks. A compiler would be appreciated.

By GUI-based compiler, I assume you mean an IDE (integrated developerment environment). If you are using Gnome try out Anjuta, for KDE look at KDevelop.


-A more sophisticated PDF viewer should be included. Xpdf just doesn't cut it for me.

If you're using Breezy, Evince should be installed as the default PDF viewer.

[AlexandreP]

- A graphical installer. Even if the current (well, from the Hoary and Breezy preview; I don't know if it has changed in Breezy gold) text-based installer isn't that bad, I would still prefer to see a graphical installation process like for the Fedora Core or the Mandriva.

- A graphical installer for downloaded .debs. I sometimes have to download .debs from Internet for some softwares. A graphical tool that would install it by double-clicking it would be appreciated, instead of using dpkg in commandline.

- I too am supporting for Epiphany as the default browser in Dapper. So it may be utile to split for a new independant 'libgecko' package or something else.

(- A .deb for aMSN 0.95 CVS ? It supports webcam :-P)

- Put more stuff in the discs managing tool (in System -> Administration). If it can mount/unmount volumes and specify mount points, it cannot defines the mount options for a volume. This would be very utile, imo.

- I've had problem with my French Canadian keyboard in Breezy preview and I managed to solve it (thanks Bugzilla :-P). I don't know if the problem has been corrected in the Breezy gold installer... I hope so.

- Does Ubuntu have, by default, a data CD recording software (Graveman, GnomeBaker, ...)?

- Maybe Canonical can partner with well-known companies, like Canon and Sony, to develop Linux drivers for their peripherals. I have a Canoscan FB620U that never worked with Linux since no driver exists ; same thing for my NetMD minidisc walkman :???: Might be interesting to partner with gaming editors too.

[Parkaboy]

please improve multimedia support (it would be great to have mplayer). I also would like to have the kernel source if possible and some IDE

[jecos]

please improve multimedia support (it would be great to have mplayer). I also would like to have the kernel source if possible and some IDE

Those are all in repository(use synaptic or apt-get much???).. they arent needed for default cd installation anyhow.

[doclivingston]

please improve multimedia support (it would be great to have mplayer). I also would like to have the kernel source if possible and some IDE

Mplayer is in Multiverse and the kernel source is available in the package "linux-source-<version>" (main).

There are several IDE available
* KDevelop (KDE)
* Anjuta (Gnome)
* Eclipse (Java, and C++ if you install the CDT)
* Monodevelop (Mono)
* probably several more...

[jecos]

A network control daemon for wired and wireless devices, to get rid of the long boot process that tries to find a connection at boot.

[doclivingston]

- A .deb for aMSN 0.95 CVS ? It supports webcam

Usually distros don't have packages for cvs versions, because they normally have quite a few bugs.

- Does Ubuntu have, by default, a data CD recording software (Graveman, GnomeBaker, ...)?

Nautilus can burn CDs. Although it doesn't have amany of the feature of dedicated data-cd burning programs, it works fine if you just want to chuck some files on a cd.

[richbouchard]

A GUI for WPA wireless, please (obviously this implies built-in support for WPA rather than use of wpa_supplicant).

Also, a fix for the long wait at boot time for the network (although this one may be fixed if WPA starts working properly!)

Thanks for a great OS.

Rich

[Synt4x_3rr0r]

I dont know if it is the Ubuntu team that decides how the file manager looks or if it is the Gnome team.
But i just thought of a great idea. :p

How about using tabs like Firefox in the file manager.
That way, you could have lots of different directories in one window.

[keyes]

More compatible with Windows:
- An IM with Webcam support for MSN
- Skype working out of the box
- Installer automatically detect and add NTFS and FAT partitions to the fstab
- Captive-ntfs to write NTFS partitions: http://www.jankratochvil.net/project/captive/

Eye-Candy:
- Transparency and shades (just an option in the settings to active them will be nice)
- Better usplash screen (with more coulours)
- Add nice forms to Firefox by default (integrated with GNOME): http://linuxart.com/log/archives/2004/09/22/firefox-forms-work-in-progress/
- Replace the GNOME foot logo with Ubuntu's logo.

More easy:
- An option to active "Num lock" when the computer start
- Beagle as default
- GDM with a graphical account chooser (like the Mandriva KDM, can use icon and infos of the new "About me" dialog)

And of course, more and more hardware support (wireless, ...)

Ubuntu is really a good distribution, the best for "end users"! With some improvement Ubuntu can be better than Windows (Vista? :-P)!

[UbuWu]

- Replace the GNOME foot logo with Ubuntu's logo.


You mean for the applications menu? That has already been done for breezy.

[jarredmt]

Eye-Candy:
- Transparency and shades (just an option in the settings to active them will be nice)
- Better usplash screen (with more coulours)
- Add nice forms to Firefox by default (integrated with GNOME): http://linuxart.com/log/archives/2004/09/22/firefox-forms-work-in-progress/
- Replace the GNOME foot logo with Ubuntu's logo.

More easy:
- An option to active "Num lock" when the computer start
- Beagle as default
- GDM with a graphical account chooser (like the Mandriva KDM, can use icon and infos of the new "About me" dialog)


Eye Candy is very important to get a new users addiction. Its the truth... People want a “coolness factor” in there OS. Vista is going to look great and UBUNTU/LINUX needs to do the same.

[Jindro]

I started with experimental Hoary then switched to Breezy. I respect the work done for Breezy (gcc4, Xorg, ... ).

Ubuntu is strong for:

freshness of systems/applications
user forums
human oriented approach!


you are attractive for deskop users, don´t stress on server versions, And there are 2 main groups of desktop users:

linux fans, experimentators, home users
( they are here from Warty time)

they are intersted in the last versions
they like to play with the system, setiings, ...



users in organizations ( public, industry, ...) (this is a big potential)

they are interested in look&feel
stability
to eneter this market you have to be attractive for a big commercial player ( IBM, DELL,...).



my conclusion:

continue to support the last/new versions
stress on look&feel

as about me: i am interested in mosix technology but it is not a toy I understand.

[Mr_J_]

I'd like to see more out-of-the-box drivers supported.

Wireless support.
64bit support as well! More that is...

Sorta incorporate those wikis for diferent cards and other wiki based installs to be in the standart install, or repositories.

WEP and WPA support also out-of-the-box.
Like my ralink based card. It works fine if I follow the wiki.
Why not make it auto? Only make people get newer drivers if the previous ones don't work...

[ThirdWorld]

Pleaseeeeeeeeeeee make firefox plugins: realplayer, quicktime and windows media player work out of the box. if not in the installation at least could you offer an upgrade pakage after installation? please include a backup utility and 1 universal media player that could play divx, quicktime, wma and real in next release.

[Mr_J_]

Extra laptop support in a general way...
Power tools and all the stuff you hear around the cracks as wispers.

[ThirdWorld]

ahh also, hehehe.... (there is one more thing...) he he he :) also can you give us a file browser like konqueror (or something far more better) for the next release of ubuntu and a gnome version of amarok? what about a new team working on a media suite that look uniform and integrates perfectly with each other? like apple did with ilife? you can use open source proyects like amarok, mplayer, F-spot and integrate them. Because if ubuntu wants to compete head to head with windows that will be the next logical step in OS. Multimedia productivity and integration with the OS.
Why dont integrate everything into one thing?
Here is one idea: why dont you guys make a konqueror-like browser with diferent tabs (like firefox) each one for diferent media: to organize and edit fotos like iphoto, listen and organise your music like itunes, listen radio streams, record them, store them organize them. I was thinking about the same aproach of openoffice.org, a linuxmedia suite.org?

[jdawdy]

There's a gajillion little requests that everyone has, "it would be nice if..." but keep in mind the developers have a limited amount of time and resources, so they need to allocate these wisely.

I personally feel that there are some key areas that should be focused on for Dapper, that are not just "nice to have":

-Polishing the already implemented apps and look/feel of Ubuntu. In other words, fixing bugs, rather than implementing new features in this release. If Dapper were basically just Breezy 2.0, I would not complain.

-Increasing the user base by additional hardware support and key application functionality. There are a million people who will never switch to Ubuntu because they can't have webcam sex. Hey, it's the cold, hard truth. However, the same applies to wireless (a huge issue) and IP telephony. Webcam video, Wifi and VoIP are the "killer apps" of today and the next few years for a huge number of users. Any OS that doesn't support them as well as WinXP does is going to have a hard row to hoe.

-Some thought about multimedia: Ubuntu is 100% correct in it's decision to avoid legal entanglements by not including functionality for the popular multimedia codecs. However, the vast majority of people who boot ubuntu as a first time linux experience have no clue why they can't play their Mp3s, which brings me to:

-A Ubuntu tutorial-
If ubuntu really is "linux for human beings" it needs to TEACH, and not just by making people dig through forums and google searches to find out how to make something work. The first time you boot Ubuntu, you should be presented with a desktop Icon that says "Ubuntu Tutorial" that explains linux in some laymans terms ("there is no my documents..instead you have a /home directory") as well as explaining why you can't play MP3s.

This needs to be OFFLINE, not "wiki.ubuntu.com". A lot of "human beings" don't have internet access. Or even a good bookstore with the latest O'Reilly titles. What they do have is a schoolroom or office with a working computer and a free ubuntu disk. This is not hard to implement- just a good html document, not a fancy multimedia show. Ideally, someone who has never used linux should be able to install Ubuntu, run the tutorial, and have a working knowledge of the filesystem, access control, basic commands (sudo, apt-get, mount, dpkg, dir, sh, man, etc) as well as how to run binary files ("./firefox.bin" is NOT intuitive, especially to a windows user), as well as how the package manager concept works and what options there are to it (like precompiled binary packages for programs suche as Adobe Acrobat or Skype).

Jim

[UbuWu]

-Increasing the user base by additional hardware support and key application functionality. There are a million people who will never switch to Ubuntu because they can't have webcam sex. Hey, it's the cold, hard truth.

This will be greatly improved with gaim 2.0 :D

[Stormy Eyes]

-A Ubuntu tutorial-
If ubuntu really is "linux for human beings" it needs to TEACH, and not just by making people dig through forums and google searches to find out how to make something work. The first time you boot Ubuntu, you should be presented with a desktop Icon that says "Ubuntu Tutorial" that explains linux in some laymans terms ("there is no my documents..instead you have a /home directory") as well as explaining why you can't play MP3s.

I wouldn't mind helping to write such a tutorial, but since it's been so damned long since I've been a newbie, I really don't know where to begin. Even my wife had prior Unix experience before she moved in with me and ditched Microsoft in the process.

Who should I talk to in order to take a hand in writing The Ubuntu Manual?

[UbuWu]

Who should I talk to in order to take a hand in writing The Ubuntu Manual?

The documentation team:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam

[Stormy Eyes]

The documentation team:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DocumentationTeam

*purr* Thanks.

[DrinkYourOvaltine]

I think a wallpaper that updates itself with the UbuntuWorldWide map (http://people.ubuntu.com/~jdub/random/UbuntuWorldWideHuge.jpg) as it changes could be a pretty cool feature. Is this a something that I could set up myself?

[UbuWu]

I think a wallpaper that updates itself with the UbuntuWorldWide map (http://people.ubuntu.com/~jdub/random/UbuntuWorldWideHuge.jpg) as it changes could be a pretty cool feature. Is this a something that I could set up myself?

I think at the moment it is not possible to use an url for a wallpaper. But I did something similair a while ago with gdesklets, I created a desklet that would use the latest sattelite weathermap from weather.com and show it on the desktop.

[Rinnan]

Languages, Languages, Languages!

I've "converted" some of my Chinese friends away from pirated and legitimate versions of Windows to legitimate versions of Ubuntu.

One big problem we are running into is language support. Language is the "first protocol" that you use to communicate with your computer. Although they are all proficient at English, all use Chinese and sometimes other languages to communicate with their various contacts.

I've just installed Ubuntu 5.10. Under the Administration menu there's an option to install new languages. This tool apparently does nothing -- when I ran it and added some languages it accepted my input but did no action.

I did find, in the "Help", under "System", a section called "Ubuntu 5.10 FAQ" or somesuch (this is from memory). Under that, "Applications", under that "Fonts", under that section, was where it was described how to add Chinese input method support. No mention of Japanese (my homeland, Hawaii, is 1/4 Japanese) or Korean (about 3-4% Korean, and 7-8% Chinese) is mentioned. Too deep, too hard to find, too technical.

Remember, folks, most people outside of America, and many inside of it, use more than one language. It isn't enough to have an option, early in installation, to select one language and then just leave us hanging. Language support should be deep, and throughout the system. It should be easy to find (remember, you might be using what to you may be a second language, English, to search for it). I believe that general IM support (perhaps without any languages added at first) should be installed by default. When a user selects a new language to use, IM support for that language should always be assumed. There are few cases where a user wishes to read in a language but has no interest to write in it. If something reads "Japanese" support, for example, it should always just mean, fonts, input method, everything.

Right now the greatest inroads in open source are being made in countries where English is not the first language. And also this is where the proprietary venders are also making the most effort.

Language support! Personally I use Norwegian, English, and Chinese to communcate with the outside world. My first language is English, Norwegian is my (struggling) second language, and am learning Chinese.

Myself, and almost all of my friends, coworkers, and fellow students need multiple language support. Make it easy -- easy to install during and after first installation, make as much of it "default" as possible.

Erik

[Tetraptous]

Many of these suggestions are more under the domain of individual application developers than the Ubuntu developers.

Key areas I think need improvement:

Better support for laptop hardware. Many, if not most, laptops will not work properly with Ubuntu out-of-box, however, it is possible to get most laptops working properly; either through changes in xorg.conf, or kernel patches, etc... in some cases the installer won't even work properly without activating certain command line switches. Could we either autodetect which laptop the user has during install, and configure these options for him, or alternately, ask the user to select his laptop from a list of laptops, and tghen modify the installation/configuration scripts to suit? This would solve most of the problems commonly had by mobile Ubuntu users.

Better online help system... online meaning availible locally on the user's computer. Context sensitive help in various GUI configuration tools would be a great boon. Also, a Ubuntu getting started wizard would be a good idea... handhold the user through basic configuration options.

Integration of existing GUI configuration tools whenever possible. Some things, like wireless configuration, still lack a good front-end. bash is scary to most people.

[John.Michael.Kane]

Better driver surport. no standard programs install by default ie openoffice evolution ect. allow the user to decide what programs are installed. laptop surport ie: acpi. better use of 64bit as there has beenmany issues with it. maybe allow for choice of kernel's during the setup.

Ubuntu should only install what is really needed to get the system running nothing else. let the user down the files the need from synaptic.


just my thoughts.

[landotter]

ahh also, hehehe.... (there is one more thing...) he he he :) also can you give us a file browser like konqueror (or something far more better) for the next release of ubuntu and a gnome version of amarok? what about a new team working on a media suite that look uniform and integrates perfectly with each other? like apple did with ilife? you can use open source proyects like amarok, mplayer, F-spot and integrate them. Because if ubuntu wants to compete head to head with windows that will be the next logical step in OS. Multimedia productivity and integration with the OS.
Why dont integrate everything into one thing?
Here is one idea: why dont you guys make a konqueror-like browser with diferent tabs (like firefox) each one for diferent media: to organize and edit fotos like iphoto, listen and organise your music like itunes, listen radio streams, record them, store them organize them. I was thinking about the same aproach of openoffice.org, a linuxmedia suite.org?
Like Konqueror? Then install kubuntu-desktop and use KDE. Easily sorted. What you're talking about pretty much violates most of the Gnome HIG guidelines. You don't have to agree with the guidelines of course, but if you like Konqueror--then use it. :) The Swiss Army knife of Konqueror attracts a lot of KDE users and is something that repels a few of us. I'd rather use well made seperate programs for other tasks.

Another thing: Ubuntu is in no way competing with Windows. That's like saying that Kawasaki Motorcycles are competing with Ford Trucks. Both certainly use the road, and can take you to work, but they're different things after that. ;)

Amarok is usable in Gnome as it is.

Gnome multimedia via Totem, especially when totem-xine and the appropriate codecs are installed, is great. It's extremely simple and robust. That's sort of the goal of Gnome. Gnome is about ease of use, a bit of austerity, and usually has the unix-like theme of small programs for dedicated tasks.

There's nothing stopping developers from writing GTK2 programs that are incredibly complex and "integrated" and busy in the gui department--but those programs certainly won't become "core" Gnome software.

You sound like you'd be better served with the tighter integration and 'opt-in' philosophy of the KDE project.

[kairu0]

I would like:

- better wireless support
- better input method support
- better multimedia support (of videos)

and above all:

- selection of packages in the installer

[UbuWu]

Ubuntu should only install what is really needed to get the system running nothing else. let the user down the files the need from synaptic.


If you want that, you can easily do a server install and add gnome. I think most users (including me) will actually appreciate a complete desktop with applications for all basic needs installed right after installation.

[UbuWu]

Myself, and almost all of my friends, coworkers, and fellow students need multiple language support. Make it easy -- easy to install during and after first installation, make as much of it "default" as possible.


https://wiki.ubuntu.com/OneClickI18n

[John.Michael.Kane]

If you want that, you can easily do a server install and add gnome. I think most users (including me) will actually appreciate a complete desktop with applications for all basic needs installed right after installation.

I thought that gnome by default installed all the apps that you see like openoffice evolution ect. what i was thinking was that there could be an option during the install to choose which apps are installed. say if one wanted abbiword over openoffice ect. it maybe a far fetch thought this is all it is just a thought. i know there's more importain things for the dev's to iron out. and i hope they do.

again just my thoughts.

[zAo]

PLease do something for the people with a DSLR; RAW can only be opend in Gimp with a plugin. I cannot even see thumbs in gThumb2.

And _again_ support GimpShop.

[ThirdWorld]

Another thing: Ubuntu is in no way competing with Windows. That's like saying that Kawasaki Motorcycles are competing with Ford Trucks. Both certainly use the road, and can take you to work, but they're different things after that. ;)




The people in charge of the Ubuntu project have stated several times that the next release of Ubuntu will compete with the next release of windows (windows vista).
no offense, but looks like you have been living under a rock :)
why they are so diferent OS? both are OS for the masses, not just for a few geeks. if you want that kind of OS (if you hate user friendly - integration like apple, then install Redhat, or Fedora.
ubuntu and windows are competing for EXACTLY the same market share. The clueless-enduser (grandma-grandpa, mother, father):razz:

[Wolki]

I thought that gnome by default installed all the apps that you see like openoffice evolution ect. what i was thinking was that there could be an option during the install to choose which apps are installed. say if one wanted abbiword over openoffice ect. it maybe a far fetch thought this is all it is just a thought. i know there's more importain things for the dev's to iron out. and i hope they do..

Gnome does include Evolution by default :) Yeah, such an option could be included, but there's no room on the cd to include lots of alternative software, and the Install/Remove Applications tool already does a great job for users who want to customize their applications post-install. I see little reason to customize that in the installation already, especially since that will probably take more time than no-questions install everything and then go from there.

[Ali_Taimur]

Ok this is my wish list and since I exclusively use Kubuntu, it is focused around that.

• Please add Sort service menu to Konqueror, so that user can sort files by Name, Type, Size etc etc

• Sometimes when I install a new program, it takes me a while to locate where it has been installed. Whenever a new program is installed, it should be highlighted in kicker

• Easy SymLink creation: Please add One Click Symlink creation. Opening terminal and typing the whole command is tedious for Average Joe users like myself

• There are few service menu that already exist on Kde-app.org, I would like them to be added on the next realese. These are “Make Executable” “Open as Root” and “Run in terminal”

• Network configuration is much better in ubuntu as compare to kubuntu. Please add a program that makes it easier to configure eth0

Thank You

[John.Michael.Kane]

Gnome does include Evolution by default :) Yeah, such an option could be included, but there's no room on the cd to include lots of alternative software, and the Install/Remove Applications tool already does a great job for users who want to customize their applications post-install. I see little reason to customize that in the installation already, especially since that will probably take more time than no-questions install everything and then go from there.


I'm sorry you see no reason for what i thought. however it still should be an option to allow those user to choose what apps are installed by default. as for room they make a live and install dvd why not use that . then again my thoughts have no reason according to you. so i will back out of this thread, and only hope that things are ironed out as those with better knowledge of ubuntu feel.

[greenpenguin]

A graphical installer would be nice :D

Beagle installed by default, built in support for typing japanese (through scim?)...
nvidia-glx on by default, automatic support for ntfs drives (mounted as /media/windows?), and some more config tools...

Possibly some more gnome themes installed. Oh, and still as good as Breezy :p .

[kairu0]

Possibly some more gnome themes installed. Oh, and still as good as Breezy :p .

Yes, yes, yes! The Ubuntu team is doing well! I'm sure they'll pleasantly surprise us again in Dapper!

[alper_tr]

Better Wireless support. And we definetely need WPA-PSK for wireless.
WPA-PSK is so far default for security for year already, but we can't get that on Ubuntu still

[dudus]

since ubuntu is that big it would be great to inovate and work in metters that lack for years in linux. For exemple the lack of a good IM since gaim still sucks, a good bitmap editor (gimp can't handle well) and vector art editor (inkscape is not that good)...

With these three addoption for linux could be massive

[DocSnyder]

What about a "Print File" function within Nautilus (right-click context menu and/or main menu), allowing most files to be printed directly? Especially "newbies" print a lot and don't always know how to print this or that file.

Postscript, PDF, plain text and bitmap files can be handled directly via CUPS and just have to be fed into "lp". OpenOffice.org and HTML documents can be rendered via OOo/Firefox to throw the result into CUPS.

/.
DocSnyder.

[UbuWu]

For exemple the lack of a good IM since gaim still sucks.

There is a big update coming for gaim (2.0) in the next few months.

[essexman]

Like Konqueror? Then install kubuntu-desktop and use KDE. Easily sorted. What you're talking about pretty much violates most of the Gnome HIG guidelines. You don't have to agree with the guidelines of course, but if you like Konqueror--then use it. :) The Swiss Army knife of Konqueror attracts a lot of KDE users and is something that repels a few of us. I'd rather use well made seperate programs for other tasks.
.

Nautilus feature have expanded tremendously in 2.12 and my konqueror cravings have almost disappeared. Some of the Gnome people seem keen to cover any "but in konqueror I can..." objections. The new list feature Ctrl + L is a great improvement and so is the varaiety of views and tree listings. But I do miss finding what I want with out having to remember the name, and then opening up a terminal in that location with two clicks. I can't find out how to do that.

[essexman]

Sticking with the topic of Dapper requests.

Dear santa
I want:

grammar checker (can't get the link-grammer programme working in abiword yeat, and I'm not sure about the license.
kernal installation same as Debian 3.1. I know Ubuntu is i386, but it was cool to watch the Debian Installer detect my Athlon and install a K7 kernel (if only X had worked...). It is pretty impressive that Debian could detect it when my award BIOS can't.
Something to control installing new kernels or changing partitions with other distros or filesystems.
leggo set
Scalectrix
Subbuteo ;)

[Mrtn]

- Multimediaplayer which can play all formats from installation (or at least supply a codec download somewhere so it will work easily)
- Better browser integration of multimediaplayer. Totemplayer f.e. keeps on crashing.
- One mp3 player installed... not Rhytmbox AND xmms. I'd go for amaroK if it weren't so damn buggy and doesn't work. The features and looks are just so great.

And also, I don't know if it is possible though, a way so you can run 32 bit codecs / programs in the 64 bit version because I run 32 bit because of this and I'd prefer running @ 64 bit ;)

[Mrtn]

There's a gajillion little requests that everyone has, "it would be nice if..." but keep in mind the developers have a limited amount of time and resources, so they need to allocate these wisely.

I personally feel that there are some key areas that should be focused on for Dapper, that are not just "nice to have":

-Polishing the already implemented apps and look/feel of Ubuntu. In other words, fixing bugs, rather than implementing new features in this release. If Dapper were basically just Breezy 2.0, I would not complain.

-Increasing the user base by additional hardware support and key application functionality. There are a million people who will never switch to Ubuntu because they can't have webcam sex. Hey, it's the cold, hard truth. However, the same applies to wireless (a huge issue) and IP telephony. Webcam video, Wifi and VoIP are the "killer apps" of today and the next few years for a huge number of users. Any OS that doesn't support them as well as WinXP does is going to have a hard row to hoe.

-Some thought about multimedia: Ubuntu is 100% correct in it's decision to avoid legal entanglements by not including functionality for the popular multimedia codecs. However, the vast majority of people who boot ubuntu as a first time linux experience have no clue why they can't play their Mp3s, which brings me to:

-A Ubuntu tutorial-
If ubuntu really is "linux for human beings" it needs to TEACH, and not just by making people dig through forums and google searches to find out how to make something work. The first time you boot Ubuntu, you should be presented with a desktop Icon that says "Ubuntu Tutorial" that explains linux in some laymans terms ("there is no my documents..instead you have a /home directory") as well as explaining why you can't play MP3s.

This needs to be OFFLINE, not "wiki.ubuntu.com". A lot of "human beings" don't have internet access. Or even a good bookstore with the latest O'Reilly titles. What they do have is a schoolroom or office with a working computer and a free ubuntu disk. This is not hard to implement- just a good html document, not a fancy multimedia show. Ideally, someone who has never used linux should be able to install Ubuntu, run the tutorial, and have a working knowledge of the filesystem, access control, basic commands (sudo, apt-get, mount, dpkg, dir, sh, man, etc) as well as how to run binary files ("./firefox.bin" is NOT intuitive, especially to a windows user), as well as how the package manager concept works and what options there are to it (like precompiled binary packages for programs suche as Adobe Acrobat or Skype).

Jim

I think you have a very valid point.

[essexman]

- Multimediaplayer which can play all formats from installation (or at least supply a codec download somewhere so it will work easily)
- Better browser integration of multimediaplayer. Totemplayer f.e. keeps on crashing.
- One mp3 player installed... not Rhytmbox AND xmms. I'd go for amaroK if it weren't so damn buggy and doesn't work. The features and looks are just so great.

And also, I don't know if it is possible though, a way so you can run 32 bit codecs / programs in the 64 bit version because I run 32 bit because of this and I'd prefer running @ 64 bit ;)

Mrtn

This Thread (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=24575) might help. This is a long thread I have been trying to follow about building a 32-bit enviroment within 64-bit. It is a bit (no pun intended) beyond me, but you might find some pointers for what you want to do.

[glaze]

How about including scripts to install Flash and Java and put those scripts into the desktop or at least somewhere? That would be easier to newbies than reading forums first.

[greenpenguin]

Built in support for speedtouch modems would be brilliant :)
Also, config tools for:
-Configuring X - setting default screen resolution, keyboard type, mouse type, whether composite extensions are enabled etc...

[Shetil]

Improve the most important desktop applications:

- Firefox: GTK forms, performance,plugins.
- Gaim: File transfer, webcamera, sound.
- Evolution: Performance and UI improvements
- Multimedia: At least tell the users why some codecs aren't install and maybe offer solutions?
- OpenOffice2: Too slow and complicated? Make Gnome Office default?

Improve Gnome usability (have deteriorated lately).

I also like Ubuntu and the Gnome community at large to fully embrace Mono. By this I mean include Mono apps like F-spot, Muine (Banshee), Tomboy and Beagle in the default installation and maybe even use them as replacement for current defaults.
I think that full acceptance of Mono would make it easier for developers start hacking on Linux apps, or Linux compatible apps. And this will lead to better and more maintainale products.

And of course: improved Wi-Fi.

[landotter]

And of course: improved Wi-Fi.

I find using wifi with Ubuntu easier than on XP after I discovered the "network-manager". Install it, then run "nm-applet" (add it to the sessions for future autostart) and you'll be able to either autoconnect or simply sniff for other networks. Screenie: http://static.flickr.com/27/54470842_93048e050c_o.jpg

It should run by default if a wireless card is detected.

Support for various cards could be improved of course. :D

[rattaro]

I'd like to have full multimedia support like everyone else. I would be more than happy to pay for it too. Something like Linspire's Click-N-Run, to purchase proprietary plug-ins as an option. The base system would still be free in all ways, but the option to add proprietary stuff would be simple without potential legal troubles. Plus, they can make an extra buck.

[russelld]

just some simple stuff

1) right click on desktop brings up menu, like ice and enlightenment

2) able to attach hotkeys to aps the user chooses, rather than fixed list that is given by "keyboard shortcuts"

3) able to see where the keyboard maps keys to in default "keyboard shortcuts"
eg I don't know where key 0xbb is for the help browser, or even what XF86AudioPlay refers. Maybe more extensive help in this package.

4) to be able to have desktop wallpaper change every so often, where it selected from a directory of image files. Some distros already have this.

5) ipodder for daily audio feeds. To get this running I have to completly change previous ubuntu hoary install to a deb install, which meant changing python versions, and a few other major things. It took all weekend, going back to all debian sources and I was wreaked for work.
*Please* *Please* include ipodder, its much better that bashpodder and would be consistent with Ubuntu's cutting edge.

6) is it too much to have enlightenment?
the new one, D17? I've seen shots of it, looks delious with transparent windows.
or is this too much to ask?
or would it look to much like another disto?

Thanks for putting together a painless debian-based distro, its such a relief to have 99% working right of the bat. esp for a laptop. simply marvelous!

[kxs]

It would be great if there was a DVD version of ubuntu with installation that let you choose wich desktop (KDE/Gnome) and packages to install.

[TenPlus1]

Better wireless support is a must have... drivers for currently unavailable cards as ndiswrapper doesnt seem to work with them all (asus wl-138g)...

Easier installation of flash, java etc. for newbies, so they can have a usable system without the need for updating repositories and using console...

Better TV Card and Webcam support for multimedia systems...

Better Firewall support, Firestarter installed by default ???

and finally, full NTFS support to read & write to a partition...

THat's it... Ubuntu rocks and does everything else I ever needed...

[SGershon]

A change I think may be usefull:

Ubuntu installation ask the user many questions, then begins installing packages, and after a while, Ubuntu asks the user about his display preferences.
The user needs to wait a lot for this question, and then wait until it finnishes installing the packages.
I believe it would be more user-friendly to ask the display questions at the beginning, with all the other questions, and then install everything needed at once.

I also saw this remark on some article in the web, but can not locate it right now.

Oh, of course I'd love to see more laptop support, better driver support (I still can't connect my Marvell Yukon network device), and many other things. But I think this change is usefull and might be easy to implement.

Thanks for your attention!
SGershon

[jeremyk]

I think the following points are very important for newbies:

1. Out of the box, it MUST be easy to connect to Internet. Include GUI and support for all sorts of modems and WIFI cards.

2. Include a backup utility.

3. Arrange the sound issue. It is important to have sound for games too.

4. One VERY important point the following. Despite you cannot include restricted formats in the basic multimedia support, it is very important to include a metapackage that covers the whole issue at once (all codecs and plugins), even if one has to pay to install this package. This payement would be aimed at covering the royalties for redistribution. This does not mean that the distro is not free. This is just to make life easier for the most part of users, who need these codecs and plugins.

Eventually, let tell you that Ubuntu is a really great distro. Many thanks for your wonderfull work.

[poptones]

Despite you cannot include restricted formats in the basic multimedia support, it is very important to include a metapackage that covers the whole issue at once (all codecs and plugins), even if one has to pay to install this package

Actually, offering that stuff WOULD mean the distribution is "not free." If you'll look at the mission statement you will see one stated goal being to offer a distribution that is the same price to all:0 dollars; 0 yen; 0 rubles. If Ubuntu offered such a "kit" it would mean they have a different price for those who want a media package. It would mean ubuntu supporting *non free* software and technology.

No reason someone with the proper intiative couldn't offer something like this. I would not be at all surprised to see someone affiliated with the gstreamer project to do exactly this in the not-too-distant future.

[keyes]

Add an Equalizer !!!

[doclivingston]

No reason someone with the proper intiative couldn't offer something like this. I would not be at all surprised to see someone affiliated with the gstreamer project to do exactly this in the not-too-distant future.

You mean like Fluendo (http://www.fluendo.com/products.php?product=plugins)?

[Pekkalainen]

Dear Santa,

for xmas I want:

1. non-stoneage webcam drivers like pwcx 9 or spax00 since my logitech quickcam pro 3000 doesnt work with pwc and I dont know anything about modifying kernel modules.

2. latest stable version of Mercury (http://mercury.to) for my so called "webcam sex" needs

3. Bigger soundbuffer by default so the characters in my movies dont seem like they are dubbed like in some crappy german version.

4. New default theme in gnome.

5. the option to install Ubuntu without any software preinstalled, I dont use open office for example.

6. support for all 7 buttons on my mouse out of the box


to be continued...

[doclivingston]

3. Bigger soundbuffer by default so the characters in my movies dont seem like they are dubbed like in some crappy german version.

Normally that is actually caused by the sound buffer being too large, although it being too small can cause vaguely similar problems.


4. New default theme in gnome.

The default theme changed to Clearlooks in 2.12, so I think that it's not likely to change again for 2.14.

[ginkgo]

1. Include CK patches (http://members.optusnet.com.au/ckolivas/kernel/)
2. Clean up Gnome (eg 1. Don't display the menu until the icons are loaded, 2. It seems there is a problem with gnome splash, the font for window manager isn't consistent with the other fonts while loading. etc )
3. Better wireless support (eg Option in Networking for wireless-keymode "Open System / Shared Key" I had to enter wireless-keymode in /etc/network/interfaces manually. Also NetworkManager would be a great addition http://people.redhat.com/dcbw/NetworkManager/)
4. Speed it up (eg Do something about AisleRiot. Try selecting a set of cards other then bonded, and resize the window, even on my AthlonXP 2400+(2GHz) with an Nvidia GeForce 6200 256MB the redraw is quite slow. And redraws in general are quite slow on older hardware as well.)
5. Create a nice consistent theme(window border, style, iconset) default human style, with humility iconset is a great start.
6. Well just clean it up, let's not worry to much about features, we need fixes.

[Nirro]

I would like to have a better "Add Application tool".

Make it more eye-candy, add screenshots to each program that can be installed.
The main list in the left is not very usable.

Add the ability to rate a program and make a list of "top rated" or "top downloaded" etc.

Add a stable API and the ability to buy a proprietary software through the tool.

In each website of each program that can be installed, there should be an icon or link that says : "Install this software on Ubuntu" that invokes an installation tool and automagically installs this program in the computer (after getting the user's password).

Improve the "removing all unnecessary libraries when user uninstall a software" issue that was spoken about in breezy but wasn't implemented (as far as I know).




Thanks for a great distro.

[anaoum]

Ubuntu installation ask the user many questions, then begins installing packages, and after a while, Ubuntu asks the user about his display preferences.
The user needs to wait a lot for this question, and then wait until it finnishes installing the packages.
I believe it would be more user-friendly to ask the display questions at the beginning, with all the other questions, and then install everything needed at once.

I Agree. It would also be nice if the installer showed the "Time Remaining". Simple but Useful!

A graphical toll for handling .deb files would also be useful (esspecially for newbs)

[sourc3]

Pleeeeeeease! Make me able to kill that ugly Bill's OS by making better WIRELESS and WPA support!!!!! The only thing that blocks my way to the definitive switch to linux! Keep up the good work! :D

[cvmostert]

I would also appreciata better multimedia apps... video etc support already installed with the browser that is chosen.

remember.. the people that we want to convert are not programmers.. they need to be fed!

ta

[spoilerhead]

eyecandy:
use splashy (http://alioth.debian.org/projects/splashy/)
instead of usplash. its far more configurable, better looking and also in userspace
and this guys are doing a great job

the actual developement release is in http://splashy.alioth.debian.org/debian/pool/main/s/splashy/

in the splashy-themes file there're even included ubuntu/kubuntu splashes

Performance/experience:
include a special Desktop kernel, for better response of the desktop system. (take a look at the ck-performance-pachset)

[linbetwin]

A better Gnopernicus magnifier. One that really follows text editing focus.

[Berzehk]

i'm not sure this is in the right thread but..
pleaaase add other colors to the default ubuntu theme !

[anaoum]

i'm not sure this is in the right thread but..
pleaaase add other colors to the default ubuntu theme !

Good point, sometimes i too get sick of the default "brown" theme.

[badass101]

I'm new to Ubuntu and really impressed.
However, I'd like to see either the default action when inserting a CD become 'Play CD' rather than opening a ripping tool.
Or, a better solution would be to pop up a box when a CD/Memory Stick/Device is mounted offering some pre-coded actions like 'Rip CD', 'Play CD in ---', 'Browse CD', etc. like WinXP, with the option of choosing a default action.

I realise these options can be set from the Administration screens, but it's not very newbie friendly (and people without experience of Linux would stuggle to know how to change the Audio CD option from SoundJuicer to a music player)

[Wolki]

However, I'd like to see either the default action when inserting a CD become 'Play CD' rather than opening a ripping tool.
Or, a better solution would be to pop up a box when a CD/Memory Stick/Device is mounted offering some pre-coded actions like 'Rip CD', 'Play CD in ---', 'Browse CD', etc. like WinXP, with the option of choosing a default action.

Not sure about that. Soundjuicer in Breezy works ok as a cd player, and if I'm not mistaken the plan is to get rid of gnome-cd eventually now that both Totem and SJ can play cds. People rarely want to browse a Music CD I'd think (few interesting things to see ^^;; ), and if one application can play and rip we don't really need a dialog like we have for empty CDs.

Soundjuicer maybe could use some improvements as a cd player though.

Disclaimer - This is only meant as a part of the discussion and only my opinion. In no way do I intend to discredit your ideas.

[doclivingston]

Not sure about that. Soundjuicer in Breezy works ok as a cd player, and if I'm not mistaken the plan is to get rid of gnome-cd eventually now that both Totem and SJ can play cds.

And soon Rhythmbox will as well, which means that we will have:
* a media player, which plays audio CDs
* a CD ripper, which plays audio CDs
* a music player, which plays audio CDs

Hmm... choices.

[badass101]

Ok, that's cool.
I just found that to be one 'annoyance' for me.

I'd set my Dad's laptop up with Ubuntu and he complained that every time he put a music CD in, it started a CD-Ripper. When we played the CD in SoundJuicer it kept playing short burts of sound and then pausing. I figured the CD playback was rubbish as it's primarily a ripper. Tried CD player but got no sound at all.
However, switching over to XMMS worked fine and the CD's played fine

[Poiema]

How about an option to add Ubuntu to NTLDR for people in a position to not alter the booting sequence of the computer they are using. Maybe something like Amigo-XP or at least a tool that simplifies the process so newbies to Linux do not have to edit so much by hand to make things work. Just a thought.....

[MichaëlVD]

Wireless works for me, that's the biggest thing Breezy has done for me (also hibernating and lots of other stuff...) and it made me remove Windows!

The things that would make Dapper great:

- faster startup!
- faster terminal
- making sure that when I remove a program, all programs that came with it and which I don't need on their own are gone to

but faster startup is the absolute number one for me...

That said, I can't believe we're getting another new Ubuntu in just 5,5 months time! How fantastic is that?

[AndyCooll]

I think wireless should be a high priority application to get right. I think a WPA encryption GUI should be intergrated into Ubuntu.

Was just looking to see if this was mentioned. Completely agree!!! WPA encryption gui, definitely! :cool:

[jwolf]

I know I am echoing what others have said, but I feel that if enough people request this, the devs will realize that this is something that many people want.

I really think that it is important to have a veratile and easy-to-configure wireless setup. WPA, WEP, etc.

It is very important for me to be able to switch between networks with different SSIDs and different protocols at will. At work, my office wireless is secured with WEP and at home I use WPA2. I also will bring my laptop over to friend's and collegue's homes and need to connect to their wireless networks. Right now it takes a considerable amount of fiddling to switch configurations, especially if I am changing between forms of WEP or WPA. As things stand right now in breezy, there is no easy way to switch between the two networks and thier various settings.

PS: If you could make the ALPS touchpoint work properly (and get rid of the satanic tap-click) I'd be grateful too. :D

[Turgon]

Things I would like in Dapper:

- Some easyer way to edit the conf files in /etc (a control panel).
- Easyer w-lan. Ndiswrapper installed (with gui) by default.
- A movieplayer plugin for firefox that actualy works.
- A nicer default look.
- Picures of the apps in addapplications.
- Gaim 2.0 or at leats gaim 1.5 with different sounds.
- Beagle installed by default.
- A much faster bootup (breezy is extreme)
- A bootsplash that works even if you have a Hyundai Q17s LCD screen.
- Gui installer.
- Common extentions like adblock should be installed by default.

Keep up the good work, devs!

[jasongrieves]

I think gnome is trying to focus on better performance which will really help those of us who still seem to struggle with speed and bootup.

-the bootup splash image still goes away occasionaly which is odd. After 30 boots it does the good ol check and bye bye splash. Not a big deal, but kind of odd
-My opinion is we really should start working on transparency and such. I realize our current tools are pretty buggy, but I think the distribution that can match Vista's ONLY appealing feature to me, will really stand out of the crowd.
-gui installer. It really freaks some of the new users out...I can understand. Coming from windows, everything is gui (ok, the clean install of XP isn't exactly "gui" but a lot of users don't do that anyway)
-I still struggle with my totem, as many users are. I know its a gnome issue, I just hope we can get a lot of these ackward quirks out.
-Dapper gui upgrade. Simple GTK+ gui that would go update and also show new features and pictures of Dapper.
-new ubuntu theme (OK I know we're stuck with brown for a while, but thought I'd ask)


keep up good work

[tomski]

maybe some inclusion of enlighenment its small and lightweight and a lot of people have shown an interest plus it looks lovely

[kairu0]

maybe some inclusion of enlighenment its small and lightweight and a lot of people have shown an interest plus it looks lovely

Enlightenment is already included in the repos.

But, yes, E is very active now and once it settles down into a stable E17 it will be breathtaking.

[jmeadows111]

I think Ubuntu is great, and I like the feature updates in Breezy.

The only sour note for me is better detection of the monitor vertical refresh rate. It took some doing to get it above 60 hz in Hoary, and ditto in Breezy (where I am still struggling to get nvidia working).

Apart from that, very impressive!:smile: :smile: :smile:

[normf]

Things I would like to see.


Graphical Installer (like Anaconda) with a more user-friendly Partition Edit phase. If someone is setting up a single boot machine with a good sized harddisk, then the suggested partition setup should make optimum use of the room available. Try to make it more attractive to move away from dumping everything in one '/' mount point.
A phase during installation where you can tweak the resolution settings for the X Server. Again, a bit like Anaconda does.
The default media players for mpegs and mp3's don't work 'out of the box' (missing plugins). Make sure that, when a newbie with a fresh install double clicks a mp3 file icon, it plays the damn thing. :rolleyes:
My Dell Inspiron got so hot during install, it shut itself down. Do a 'modprobe i8k force=1' during install if a Dell Laptop is detected and also run i8kmon --daemon during installation. The good thing is the install resumed from the right place when I rebooted.
Kdevelop libraries for QT/Embedded applications available as standard.
Easier Wireless setup and a way or switching between different wireless setups. E.G. Different profiles with different SSID, WEP Key setups etc.
Easier setup for accessing Windows shares. The live CD I tried (OpenCD on this months Linux User Magazine) found my shares 'straight out of the box'. The Harddisk install took some tweaking.
More eye candy. Ubuntu wallpapers and themes installed as standard.
Oh.. And Wanda the Fish with a brown background. When you click the applet, it displays African Proverbs. Such as "A bird is in the air but its mind is on the ground (Mandinka)"


Don't get me wrong, now that it is installed, I think Ubuntu is very very cool :cool: and it is one of the very few distros that support my Wireless card from day one. I just think that, if a distro boasts that it is 'Linux For Humans', then it should be very easy and (dare I say) idiot proof to install.

Norm

[Quartus]

The only thing I'm interested in at the moment is an easy autostart function since the inet.d/skeleton-thing really isn't that easy (at least not for me).
Though I guess by simplifying it, it will lose it's strenght, so do whatever fits.

Kudos for a good distro.

[jasongrieves]

Here's a good idea: Better support for OEM's or mass-rollout. The current OEM install procedure is not enough! It's nice if you build a few systems per day/week at most but not for rolling them out by the donzens/hundreds. You still have to answer questions during installation. It would be great if you could answer them once, create an image with those answers in it and then proceed to mass-install ubuntu. Insert disk -> boot -> all done. Ideally there should be no keypresses needed from beginning to end (that includes the reboot halfway the installation. Just open the CD player and proceed to reboot).

Also it would be nice to be able to easily distribute updates throughout a larger network. E.g. one PC getting the updates from the internet and the rest taking them from that one PC. This could have the added bonus of sysadmins delaying or denying updates if they so wish. It probabely boils down to easily be able to mirror the main ubuntu repositories in a network (point & click interface) and being able to easily set up alternate repositiries on the above large ammount of installed Ubuntu PC's.

The current OEM system is nice for small companies/OEM's but not for larger one's.


I am trying to convince my old high school to roll out Ubuntu in a year or two :) Would love to see what your talking about. I haven't looked at the OEM stuff yet, but your idea about 1 PC which updates all clients is great.

[Remmelas]

By GUI-based compiler, I assume you mean an IDE (integrated developerment environment). If you are using Gnome try out Anjuta, for KDE look at KDevelop.




If you're using Breezy, Evince should be installed as the default PDF viewer.
hate to say it, but evince blows too. I don't view many pdf's in linux, so small problem for me, but it's not exactly what i'd call a full featured pdf viewer.

[benplaut]

i can't remember if it was in Breezy, but in Dapper, Smeg/Alacarte definately needs to be included, and gmenu taken out (worthless POS)

[gronja]

usbatm as module, please.

in ubuntuforumsl (http://ubuntuforums.org/archive/index.php/t-37252.html)

accessrunner (http://accessrunner.sourceforge.net/)

thanks,

[NeoChaosX]

I really would like to see GTKWifi (http://sourceforge.net/projects/gtkwifi/) be included with the distro itself, or at least included in the Dapper repos. Doubly so if NetworkManager isn't able to make it (again).

[dalani]

MAGIC four improvements so that DESKTOP power users use Ubuntu more

1. Firestarter as default firewall gui. I have it on my Hoary and it does exatly what I expect and is unobstrusive.

2. SEarchable help and man pages index!!!! I have yet ot see this implemented in Yelp or any distro. I don't always like posting newbie question on forums. Computer users in general don't always do or in the habit of posting in forums. I just can't picture a grandmother posting a newbie question on a forum to know how to burn a DVD . But a fully developed SEARCHABLE HElP index with examples would save time. Don't forget workplaces. I use computers at work for architectural CAD. Now if something computer related needs solving(like changing perms for a new seat), I would reach for builtin OS help files first. Forums are a last resort because there is no guaranteed answer. So a searchable man and yelp help files would do wonders for part-time in-house IT managers.

3. HAL that really works to check, and configure hardware.

4. At the next televised soccer match or NHL hockey game put a Ubuntu logo somewhere. That's correct: the more users who know and use Ubuntu the better it will become..

[ghostdog78]

at install will be nice to chose a codepage and download ttfonts to chosed

first login maybe can start with that setting

itt will be very usefull for non eng-us users because the special characters and more..

[welsh_spud]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and while installing software in Synaptic is very easy, I think it could be a lot easier for people who a totaly new to Linux.

Basically my idea is that a wiki is formed of all the programs in the repos. Screenshots added, ratings and details of the program, and other little things. A program of the week maybe?

I've drawn up a little picture to try and show what im think about:

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y37/jammie-dodger/ubuntusynapticsmall.png

Good idea?

[Sslaxx]

That looks interesting, Welsh_Spud... perhaps not as the default Synaptic mode, though?

[welsh_spud]

I think it would give synaptic a kind of all-you-can-eat online store feel to it.

Another idea is that it wouldn't show the library files by default like libglade and libgcc. Just show all the actuall programs.

[gronja]

That apt (Synaptic) use torrents

[Wolki]

I've been thinking about this for a while, and while installing software in Synaptic is very easy, I think it could be a lot easier for people who a totaly new to Linux.

Basically my idea is that a wiki is formed of all the programs in the repos. Screenshots added, ratings and details of the program, and other little things. A program of the week maybe?
Good idea?

Much of this was/is planned for gnome-app-install. I think the idea is a very good one, but it shouldn't replace synaptic, gnome-app-install or a web page would probably be better. Synaptic is a (rather) complete frontend for the apt system, while most users probably shouldn't need that, it's good that it exists.

https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+spec/finding-packages is the superceded spec, didn't find a new one on this yet.

[themacmeister]

I think the developers of The Dapper Drake should look at the support forums for Hoary & Breezy and seriously consider creating an Operating System that JUST WORKS!. I have an NT1PlusII USB ISDN modem, and the distros that support CDC-ACM and multilink out of the box can be counted on two fingers. Even FC3 required a kernel re-compile to get it working...

Windows just works (as does MacOSX) and drivers are plentiful and stable. My install of Hoary had non-working CUPSYS and CDC-ACM. I cannot see why you cannot get the hotplug/udev system working properly?!

Why not return to a full 2.4.25 kernel, and give people instructions on loading the needed modules with init.d/rc.d ?! That would certainly be less painful than subjecting them to the vagaries of udev...

Just my 2c... Each version is getting better, but you must keep some backward compatibility, I have killed my system a few times just updating glibc...

[farmer]

I'd say that dapper should be like a breezy 2.0. We shouldn't add too many features, but instead make it easier to use and work on the things that are hard for the next 6 months, like wireless and laptop support or iMac G5 support.

[SGershon]

Another simple and quick idea that result in a nice and welcome output:

Put a background image in GRUB. grub colors can be easily configured, and a background image can be added.
Red Hat, for example, uses a Background image, and this gives grub a whole new feeling.

Let's make ubuntu even nicer to use!

[beow]

SecuRemote client for Checkpoint's Firewall-1 VPN server. Whitout it it will not be possible for many to quit using windows at work. There are workarounds to do "firewall piercing" but these works only from work to your home or a static address. It must also work on the road. Checkpoint had a client for Redhat 7 a couple of years ago so it should be possible.

[dtfinch]

Some things I wish for every day:
* DMA enabled by default on every drive that likely supports it, especially DVD drives, unless blacklisted. If someone has a problem with that, they can type "linux nodma" at boot and then disable it permanently in hdparm.conf, or toss their substandard hardware into the nearest river.
* Fight to lighten the Gnome MIME sniffing insanity. Nautilus should never sniff a file that's identifyable by its extension, and it certainly shouldn't refuse to open a file with the default viewer because its sniffing fails to correctly identify every file format in the universe. It even refuses to open some of my .cpp files in gedit because it thinks they might not really be C++ source files. They claim it's for security, but there's nothing inherently more secure about refusing to open certain text files in a text editor. It's just a needless pain. I switched to Kubuntu last week after a year of dealing with this nonesense. I even made a donation, with a note detailing all the things in Gnome that bug me. Got a nice coffee mug in response.
* (almost) Never remove features. People rarely notice newly added features, but they always notice when a feature they like has been removed, like the ability to right click the desktop and choose "open terminal". That coupled with my inability to notice anything new that Hoary didn't offer made Breezy a bit of a letdown. Sure, probably more was added than taken away, but it doesn't feel that way.
* More themes, but only the good ones.
* Stronger focus on smb/cifs and ftp reliability in Gnome and gFTP. When I copy a large number of files over smb with nautilus, it'll sometimes finish prematurely, without any error messages. This is very very bad. When I copy a large number of files with gFTP, it'll often quit abruptly, again without any error messages. I gave up expecting nautilus to be a reliable ftp client long long ago. These problems combined make it very hard to reliably copy files to an Ubuntu system. If the server is another Linux system, I can use scp at the command line, but if it's a Windows system, I usually end up having to set up Samba on the Ubuntu system, then using the Windows system to copy the files.

[hoodwink]

Here's a good idea: Better support for OEM's or mass-rollout. The current OEM install procedure is not enough! It's nice if you build a few systems per day/week at most but not for rolling them out by the donzens/hundreds. You still have to answer questions during installation.

Yep, in Red Hat terms this would be a Kickstart file. Run the install once, capture a How-to-do-it file, tailor the file with pre and post stuff, and then setup to do any number of installs. That would be a most valuable addition.

[idn]

Another simple and quick idea that result in a nice and welcome output:

Put a background image in GRUB. grub colors can be easily configured, and a background image can be added.
Red Hat, for example, uses a Background image, and this gives grub a whole new feeling.

Let's make ubuntu even nicer to use!

Wasnt there talk of using grub 2? Development for grub legacy has now ceased. it would be cool to include grub 2 IMO although I'm not sure how stable it is

[Entropy]

My list..
- Better Bluetooth support (by default obexftp server..)
- Better wireless support ( a better way to manage "wireless profiles")
- Eye candy! (brown theme ... (sic))
- perhaps a firewall gui (like firestarter?)
- easy way to activate the video output in laptops
- Correct sound in flash plugin (there is a howto here to enable it something about a link..)
- Correct sound issues to let play more than one sound at once by default
- It's posible to get 3d hardware accel with a Intel xtreme graphics?
- Support by default for names with 'accents' from windows file system ( (invalid encoding) issue in catalan and spanish language )
- Anjuta IDE in official ?
- HP Laserjet support by default (in my case 1020, I must do a trick with hpjs driver modified)
- Automount of Windows NTFS and FAT32 partitions
- Disable some default system sounds (all ? :P)

well, sorry for my english , and thanks.

[kiddo]

A new GSTreamer and GST-Python
Ubuntu-express (graphical install) OR at least make the partitionning have smart defaults. This comes from experience of troubleshooting more than a dozen people that always called me for the partitioning (and those are regular Windows/Mac users)
A much much more eyecandyish usplash
Initg, and lots of gnome speed enhancements
PiTiVi and GNonlin ;) this is why I'm requesting the latest gstreamer
iFolder?
Humility/whatever name it has become in dapper BY DEFAULT
Round window corners
Xchat-Gnome : it is MUCH better integrated, and easier to use IMHO
and most important of them all: GTK2 Audacity! I think 1.3 is about to be released from my understanding of the mailing lists
xnest + fast-user-switch applet, nautilus-open-terminal
a better gnome control panel. I think SUSE already did one that seemed easy and clean: http://shots.osdir.com/slideshows/464/37.gif (I am not talking about YAST)

[jvictor]

My 2 cents..

1) DMA support for CD/DVD writers. AUTODETECTION and ENABLING/DISABLING is a must.

2) A dedicated CD/DVD writing library like that of NeroLinux

3) One stop integrated multimedia app, which provides 'hints' to users who want to install 'other os codecs'

4) Better SATA support

5) Better 64 bit support

6) Wireless !!

6) IPV6 capabilities auto detection and setting

7) Web cam support

[niko_]

1. initng implementation
2. selinux security
3. webcam program
4. upower or usplash improved
+ splash when shutdown
+ many splash themes
5. easy gui grub theme changer or creator
6. user friendly firewall (iptables) gui configurator
7. more themes for gdm, gnome, kde
8. support for latest fglrx and nvidia drivers
9. always latest kernel
10. use of mplayer with all codecs + latest mozilla mplayerplugin
11. complete user friendly graphical installer and configurator
12. enable disabling some of rcS.d services in bum (like ntpdate)

[nocturn]

I see a lot of people posting wishlists here, which is fine, but the thread was just pointing out that this is not so usefull.

Basicly, what your posting here is being read by other users only, to make feature request, you need to put your ideas in Bugzill, the Wiki etc.

[f76]

I prefer to post here incase my requests are basically based on a missunderstanding.

1. Better DHCP support on startup. Now it malfunctions 90% of the time. Dosn't get ip from dhcp -> i have to start network setup wich is slow and forgets setup for both eth:s on every startup.
2. Better network setup app in regard to dhcp.. Commandline dhcp app works faster and is more reliable..

[Arktis]

-A toggle option that sets numlock on after boot
-GUI toolset for the most common post-install tasks
-GUI interface for setting up xorg.conf, for things like 3d accel, dual screen, etc.
-Dump gnome-bittorrent for gtk2 enabled bittornado as default bt client.
-An app that keeps track of unused packages and dependancies for removal purposes <- this would be really neat. Please don't make it depend on popularity-contest, I hate the very idea of it and always remove it after installing ubuntu.

[avilella]

Beagle should be nicer with the IO: kernel-2.6.13 comes with "ionice" for that.

[TheIdiotThatIsMe]

Sticking with the topic of Dapper requests.
kernal installation same as Debian 3.1. I know Ubuntu is i386, but it was cool to watch the Debian Installer detect my Athlon and install a K7 kernel (if only X had worked...). It is pretty impressive that Debian could detect it when my award BIOS can't.

I cannot agree enough with this. For many with users with modern CPU's this can noticeably (spelling?) affect the performance of Ubuntu. I used Ubuntu for about 3 months before I realized I could improve performance by using a 686-smp kernel over the default 386. Having the installer automatically detect what type of kernel to install would make it so the end user doesn't have to figure out later what kernel they need, why they need it, and how to install it.

[crobruncato]

I'd like to join in requests for

1) better wireless support
2) better hibernation.
3) Quicker boot

I've been using 5.10 on an IBM R31 laptop. I've been quite impressed, and it is now my regular OS on this machine. The hibernation is finiky, and often doesn't work (just brings me to the login after a screen saver) Mind you, it's alot better than HH. The startup takes a very long time, and it would be nice if that were quicker as well. It is a very impressive product, however, and I'd like to congratulate the builder/designer team - Thanks!

Rob

[Spyware]

I have Wireless Card SMC 2802W and SMC2870W Wireless Adapter will it be ok for ubuntu? Breezy Badger ?

Will i be able to use internet?

thanks in advance for help

call to all ubuntu developers

please support Wireless Card SMC 2802W and SMC2870W Wireless Adapter in this ubuntu release

[Spyware]

Wireless, wireless, wireless...all I got to say..It was impossible for me to set up my Wireless Card SMC 2802W and SMC2870W Wireless Adapter on hoary, thought breezy would fix that but nope. No internet on ubuntu isn't gonna work for me, not being able to get upgrades, updates, packages and whatnot...sorry just not gonna work..the new ubuntu NEEDS better wireless support..

I have Wireless Card SMC 2802W and SMC2870W Wireless Adapter will it be ok for ubuntu?

Will i be able to use internet?

thanks in advance for help

call to all ubuntu developers

please support Wireless Card SMC 2802W and SMC2870W Wireless Adapter in this ubuntu release

[Peter76]

Make a printing (meta?)package for synaptic/apt, which installs all packages needed for setting up printing. I've been doing quite a few custom installs now on older hardware, and it would be easy to just be able to install one package wich sorts this out, instead of going through all the files.

[kairu0]

Wireless, wireless, wireless...all I got to say..It was impossible for me to set up my Wireless Card SMC 2802W and SMC2870W Wireless Adapter on hoary, thought breezy would fix that but nope. No internet on ubuntu isn't gonna work for me, not being able to get upgrades, updates, packages and whatnot...sorry just not gonna work..the new ubuntu NEEDS better wireless support..

I have Wireless Card SMC 2802W and SMC2870W Wireless Adapter will it be ok for ubuntu?

Will i be able to use internet?

thanks in advance for help

call to all ubuntu developers

please support Wireless Card SMC 2802W and SMC2870W Wireless Adapter in this ubuntu release

Please do not abuse forum fonts. Your message is very tiring to read and kind of looks like spam.

[rkinder]

Stable applications - evolution I'm looking at you :) Good looking is nice, but definitely non-essential. Stability stability stability is the call from me. Make the applications unbreakable and I'll be a happy camper.

Oh, and nice gui support for wireless authentication (wpa_supplicant wrapper should be adequate in the short-term, with LEAP, EAP-FAST, EAP-TLS, etc.). This is the one major 'enterprise' piece missing from my laptop - everything else is fully covered.

[XXFCTEXX]

A video player.............that actually plays video!!!! :rolleyes:

Mainly problematic WMA files, but the others simply crash less.

Other than that Ubuntu has been grand. This is the first Linux distro I havent given up on. (Fedora can burn in hell and die) I felt so comfortable with Ubuntu's ease of use that I finally took the leap and left Windows. Ubuntu went from my test box to my main rig in only 3 days.

I hope Dapper continues the progress of this outstanding distro.

[RagingFuryBlack]

I too would like to see a working video player....maybe an exception handler when you attempt to load them, rather than having the application crash. Maybe an alternative to firefox, offering opera as an option on install wouldn't be bad either, or at least having it listed in apt.

[NiN]

How about including a graphical cron frontend like gnome-schedule by default?

It would be nice to have this option enabled without installing additional software.

This and a better integration of cups-pdf (no more root hacks and a file-chooser dialog to safe the file).

What do you think?

[lzfy]

I haven' t read the whole topic so this might have been posted before. Since Ubuntu is for avarage users try to disable all the system messages at boot up and shutdown, this will make it look less geeky and more userfriendly. Also a bootloader like the one Suse has would be great (we need eye candy all over the place). And why can i not acces my NTFS drives???? it says that i don' t have enough permissions, this " problem" should be fixes with the next release.

And maybe (i say maybe :rolleyes: ) we can have something like this (http://www.pcbsd.org/?p=pmscreens&screen=5)

[mnasimh]

I failed to install 5.10 in my new iMac G5 1.8GHz. Actually, it was installed but it cannot run after boot. So all I ask is better support for this machine. I miss my Linux in this machine. pleasssssseeeeeeeee..........

[uggeli]

Well I didn't read the whole thread eather, but here are some of my thoughts:

1. Better multimediasupport, make it so good that there is no need to install mplayer or something else.

2. Better laptop support (I know there is testingteam to work on this).

3. Better webcam support, so that there would be more webcams working out of box (maybe even some laptops built in ones).

4. After webcams are working with defaultinstall, or quite easily after that (so that even newbies can make those working), then it's time to focus on gaim-vv. Or will those features (video&voice) be in "normal" gaim by those days.

5. Gnome Translate (http://www.nongnu.org/libtranslate/gnome-translate/) to be on defaultinstallation as well as Graveman or Gnome Baker.

Btw. Is it possible to burn Video-DVD with those two programs? I have found that option in K3b, but not in those programs. I must be blind. But one of the reasons is that I still use Nero often in XP. Will throw XP away when I get ubuntu-laptop.

Edit: After writing that message I took a look at those programs again, and it's not possible to write video-DVD (yet). But since Graveman homepage (http://graveman.tuxfamily.org/) says: "Graveman! cannot (but will): copy dvds (DVD9 to DVD9, DVD9 to DVD5), burn data cd and dvd on the fly, burn mixte cd, burn .bin/.cue, burn video DVD, view past sessions in multissessions cd" I give my vote for Graveman to became in defaultinstallation.

6. Not sure is this in ubuntuteam hands, but would be nice to be able to install 32bit wine on 64bit system without any hassle on chroot or something. Or if there is wine64, then I think we must hope that DVDShrink64 will come out soon. That would help much in my case, but sure there are still many people who needs to run 32bit windows programs.


At this moment I can't imagine much more to improve. Ubuntu is great OS and I just need to learn much more of it before I can say more. But one thing I can say to ubuntuteam. Thanks! :)

[sethmahoney]

How about including a graphical cron frontend like gnome-schedule by default?

It would be nice to have this option enabled without installing additional software.

This and a better integration of cups-pdf (no more root hacks and a file-chooser dialog to safe the file).

What do you think?

I'd also like to see both of those, especially a *good* graphical cron frontend.

[sethmahoney]

Another peeve of mine, that I heard was being worked on for Breezy (and which I know is, in the end, a Gnome issue), but I didn't really see a difference, is consistency in the way Gnome panels are drawn. Applets, menus, the clock, taskbar, and icons in the notification area all seem to be drawn according to some different scheme, so if, say, you manually set an image as the background for a Gnome panel, the menus and some of the applets have backgrounds drawn according to the GTK theme, while some of the other applets seem to draw their own background that doesn't even have anything in common with the GTK theme! Defaulting to no background would, I think, be preferrable, so that the icon or menu text or whatever just gets drawn on top of whatever image or background happens to be in the panel.

Also, more easily customizable Gnome panels would be nice...

[anatole]

i came up with an idea that i call a "logoutsplash". the cause i think it would be nice or even necessary, is that i'm not happy with the look of logging out.
when you hit "logout" or "shut down", here is what you see: the pager exits, so all your desktops collapse into one, so you see all the apps left on various workspaces merge into each other... then the windowmanager stops, so you see these apps without borders, all over one an other, for a moment, till screen blanks and then either gdm comes up or the console showing the process of shutting down. and this is not nice. it would be a lot niftier, that in the instant that you click on "logout", some splashscreen would come up and cover the not-so-elegant process as your desktop environment exits. (alternatively with a timeout setting so if something hangs during logout you could see what is it - did never happen to me but oh well.)
opinions?

[Norradj]

Multimedia support
Gstreamer/totem/rhythmbox - improving in breezy, but far from functional, especially streaming media with Firefox which doesn't work. (Yes, I've tried ogg)
Xine/gxine worked (almost) fine