IdeaPool

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 * Workspaces is a very useful tool but is located in one side of the screen (in the right), because the idea is to work with many screens, locate it in the middle of the bar will add some kind of "orientation" I mean something like I put that window in one screen to my right or to my left or maybe the first of my right hand and not only I put in the first or the second
 * Sometimes I open an application in one workspace and I want it to stay there but as soon as it is opened it interrups the activity I am doing in other workspace, maybe it would be useful to select if we want this behavioral o maybe to open the application in the same window where we clicked to open it

This page is for everyone to contribute ideas for projects, bounties, enhancements and proposals. Please contribute your feedback on ideas here and add a link to your page on the wiki or add your mail address, so people can get back to you.

Please see http://www.ubuntulinux.org/community/participate for information on where and how you can get involved. Make sure you also visit AcademicInvolvement and http://www.ubuntulinux.org/community/bounties

TableOfContents()

Instructions

Do this before adding your own ideas

Adding ideas

Ideas

Doing the Basics Right

The most obvious idea for improving Ubuntu is to do the basics right. Everything that users expect just happens and they can get about their business. Clearly this is happening at the lowest level through the ongoing bug fix process [http://bugzilla.ubuntu.com/]. Please continue to contribute your well documented bugs to the system. In addition, with each release new packages are introduced throught the package selection process by the TechnicalBoard. In addition, there is the ongoing improvement of the underlying software through the evolutionalry nature of open source development. We also need to ensure we address the needs of the average computer user out of the box. For more thoughts see WinningTheDesktop, ReallyWinningTheDesktop, WhatWindowsUsersWant and IssuesAsNoviceUbuntuUser. For simply dropping impressions visit: NewUsersImpressions.

Here's one I've just discovered: you can fill a Ubuntu disk to the point that it can't reboot! This seems to me to be a basic OS issue: no OS should allow a disk to be filled to the point that it can't reboot. Is there not a way to protect enough space for space for reboot? I found one entry on the question: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=38715&highlight=disk+full+recover. But this is not really a solution.

  • Kernel upgrades can fill the /boot partition causing kernel panic. Maybe more than one upgrade old kernels should be deleted automatically. That way upgrades wouldn't clutter the boot menu and it would still provide a way to use a backup kernel. Users shouldn't be forced to delete kernels manually! - AleksiNurmi

    • In case the machine goes for months between reboots, better make sure the currently-booted kernel doesn't get deleted. -- GraemeHewson

For people like me the iso image is no longer available for BitTorrent after I reload my machine. Could we put something in that would make the Ubuntu files available for BitTorrent on new installs.

Specifically for ex-Windows users, I would like to see the approach "Let's not give them an excuse to boot back into windows". The first thing people need to manually re-create their favourites and configure their email etc, etc. Why not ask if they want their Windows installation read (if they have one) and pull in all their settings? Surely, this would prevent people from booting back into Windows - are there any other similar ideas out there?

Searching Help Pages

  • Please could Ubuntu add a centralised help facility and a search facility for help like MS Word? -- Bhante Santi bh.santi@gmail.com

Additional Drivers

Can an Ubuntu Linux driver for a USB wireless adapter with a Zydas - zd1211- chipset be available in Ubuntu? I have tried so many Linux distributions without any support for my wireless adapter. I really like Ubuntu and would really want to switch all my development to it, except for the limiting lack of internet connection due to unavailable driver for the Zydas chipset of my wireless dongle adapter. I know so many people are looking for this driver because of my google search, and further search in many Linux forums. I believe it will be a big boost if available.

Actualy Ati remote wonder I&II is incomplete:

  • Play, pause, FF, RW eject cd-rom
  • Ok button isn't working
  • Double click work 1/5 times

  • Numpad keys display: &é"'(-è_çà

If some peoples had time to fix it I would be grateful (Tenshu_AT_gmail_DOT_com, Paris France)

Ubuntu needs to support ADSL modems (with eciadsl, for example). Furthermore, connecting to the internet shouldn't require sudo.

I agree with this guy! Please, please, add support to the accessrunner usbatm driver! (precompiled module) http://accessrunner.sf.net

  • since Lifebook touchpads are supported by kernel psmouse module natively, the corresponding xorg driver (evtouch) should be in the distro --- at lest in universe, since its autoconfiguration is unlikely currently. It is packaged for Ubuntu by Soren Hansen already: http://www.warma.dk/ubuntu/ . The lbtouch driver mentioned in the description is superseded by the psmouse module [VáclavŠmilauer]

Is there any chance of integrating the Win4Lin 9x patches into the kernel and having the mki-adapter module either in the base linux-image or linux-restricted-modules package. (I realize that this is a bit of a controversial subject given the DCC reversal on Win4Lin.)

Software Investigations

General

  • Tweak Wine configuration and version to run more multimedia software. Previous versions of Wine (current: 20050419) did run a lot more than the current one and the standard configuration file of the wine package isn't well tweaked.

  • Add Jedit to the Ubuntu package list. It is alot more powerful than most of the other editors available, open source and with a plugable architecture. http://jedit.sourceforge.net

  • In the light of the recent Ubuntu DB2 certification I think that an Oracle certification for Ubuntu Server would be highly appreciated. ( vali.dragnuta at inode dot ro )
  • "Low disk space notification" should appear only for the root and home partitions. This notification should never be displayed for read-only filesystems.
  • There should be an "undo" for desktop and nautilus. For example, if I accidentally rename a file on my desktop, there is no way I can get back it's previous name. Same case for Nautilus.
  • Nautilus: Nautilus should have a drop down selection menu for mounted drives and folders, just like gthumbs.

Office

  • Make some sort of bibliographic reference manager available as add-on under OpenOffice.org2. "bibus" is written in Python and available, just a PITA to install. (See also my edit on AcademicInvolvement for details/background)

  • Evolution: Should be able to minimize to system tray. Also should be able to produce popup snippets of new incoming mail.

CD/DVD Ripping/Burning

  • Coaster (libburn) - GNOME/GTK alternative to K3B http://www.coaster-burn.org/

  • Gnome Baker - K3B clone using GNOME/GTK http://gnomebaker.sourceforge.net/

  • Graveman! - a newer GTK2 application, cleaner and less complex than Baker or K3B but still quite powerful http://graveman.tuxfamily.org/

  • Thoggen - A simple and elegant DVD backup app using Ogg Theora and Gnome/GTK http://thoggen.net

  • Port K3B http://k3b.sourceforge.net/

  • Sponsor a unified cd burning lib, whether it's libburn or freedrtools or whatever

  • (maybe this should be a bug report) Ubuntu does the wrong thing when you insert an audio CD. It opens the Gnome CD player (I believe this is the default Ubuntu config). Sometimes this is correct, but often what the user wants is to rip the CD or to copy the CD (play, rip and copy are the three main actions I think a user might want when inserting an audio CD). So a lot of the time the user ends up thinking Ubuntu is trying to be smart but messing up, and has to close the CD player and manually open the app they want. We could open SoundJuicer by default, but this would be just as bad. We could use Goobox (currently in Hoary universe) instead of gnome cd-player and sound juicer. This would be an improvement because opening Goobox is the correct action more often - Goobox is both a CD player and a ripper. It'd also be an improvement because I think Goobox is a better CD player than gnome-cd (nicer UI, show album photo) and a better ripper than sound juicer (see above). It's still incorrect if the user wants to copy the CD however, and I don't think an app that combines CD playing, ripping, and copying is necessarily a good idea. Perhaps a popup dialog asking whether to play, extract, copy or do nothing?

  • Just to add some more weight to the Goobox issue, I have just upgraded to 5.10. I inserted a CD and was presented with what I considered a complicated interface for just playing a cd. I use a Logitech Cordless MX Duo, and even though the keyboard shortcuts were correctly detected, the media buttons had no effect on sound-juicer. I installed goobox and set it as my default with the --play --hide-show options. What does this have over sound-juicer? A nice notification-area icon to control the cdplayer and show that it is running, and my media keys just worked! I think this is a superior way to have a cd player work. John Collaros <timefantom@gmail.com>

  • Perhaps the lack of DMA should raise a few warnings and the user should be provided information how to enable it, because at worst it can break the burning functionality completely. Also, the cdrdao library is not installed by default in 5.10, so some Gnome burn tools (installed by default) don't work right from the beginning. - AleksiNurmi

Archiving software

  • unrar included in Ubuntu is broken. Using original unrar would help but is non-free. Ubuntu's unrar doesn't unpack any modern rar archives.

  • p7zip http://p7zip.sourceforge.net/ could provide every functionality needed for archiving, included those provided by unrar. It supports: 7z, ZIP, CAB, RAR, ARJ, GZIP, BZIP2, Z, TAR, CPIO, RPM and DEB. And it has already been packaged for Debian experimental.

  • [http://fileroller.sourceforge.net/ File-Roller], when using drag-and-drop, should start extracting the files when the user drops the file somewhere, ""not"" when he/she starts dragging.

  • Consider integrating archive management into Nautilus such that archives are simply opened and handled like directories (by using GnomeVFS?).
  • Fileroller is just too slow, maybe it could be improved or replaced by another archiving program.

  • Fileroller: possibility to extract files with a drag&drop to the desktop.

Mind Mapping software

Multimedia

  • Ubuntu or a third party should consider giving new/novice users the option to pay for and legally install all software to play restricted multimedia formats. For example, the default Firefox start page could explain to the new user why restricted formats can not be supported out of the box in a free/libre OS but then provide the user with, say, a link that gives him/her the option to pay for and download the necessary software to play such formats -- in a fully legal manner. Doing this would help Ubuntu overcome a significant barrier to adoption faced by quite a few would-be users considering a switch from other OS platforms, while keeping Ubuntu fully free (in all senses of the word). (Note that this is similar to what has already been done with the "restricted" repositories; the idea here is to give users an easy way to install "restricted and not-free-as-beer" software).

  • Put sound volume applet in the upper right, and make it extremely easy to turn down volume. I suggest you just move your mouse to the upper right corner, click and hold the button, and then move downwards. This is not possible in breezy.
  • Provide a clickable script on the desktop of every new installation that will automatically install multimedia/non-free support (mplayer/mp3/java/flash/nvidia/etc) but warn the user about the legal implications beforehand. Adding support for all these non free features is crucial for a fun and usable desktop, but it is very hard for a novice to do as of now
    • Right now, we use Rhythmbox for listening to streaming music, Totem/VLC for playing files on our computer, CD Player to play CDs, Soundjuicer to rip CDs and Serpentine to create CDs. Fact remains that we can REALLY combine all these features into only one player, and let it be the default official multimedia player for Ubuntu.

    • Realplayer: also a better integration/installation of RealPlayer codecs could be provided and in general more "outofthebox" multimedia plugins for firefox -- Lyly lyly_at_bigfoot.com

    • Nis is trying to do that here http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=22860

    • As is Ubuntu Geek here http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=22646

    • there is an unresolved (?) legal issue about aiding people to break the law (?)

    • RealPlayer installer included with Dapper installs RealPlayer 8. Please let it install 10 instead of 8.

    • Totem support for CDemu, http://cdemu.sourceforge.net

    • It would be great if Totem could open a cue/iso file as an play movies from them instead of going through the mount sequence like you have to do in Windows using DAEMON Tools. --- TrondAndersen

  • Provide a version of totem compiled as i686, i386 performance on proprietary nvidia drivers is horrible, if this is an xv issue with the binary driver, provide a download of totem compiled against it
  • Build in MythTV for ease of use. Support as much hardware as possible.
  • Incorporate the Demudi (www.agnula.org) music software integrations, audio workstation (Like Garage Band) is a killer app.

  • Praat - doing phonetics by computer. GPL, new release a couple of times a month. http://www.praat.org/

  • Reduce multitude and confusion of multimedia applications. The needed functionality is currently divided between five applications with significant overlap (Totem, CD Player, SoundJuicer, Serpentine and Rythmbox). The following use cases should be considered:

    • Use case 1: A CD or DVD is inserted; the content is presented; items (Audio/Video) can be selected for playback or storing in the media library (ripped).
    • Use case 2: The multimedia application is opened from the menu; the media library is presented; items can be selected for playback or burning to a disc.
  • This could be good but also annoying for more advanced user. Maybe a better symbiosis between these programs can be a solution.

  • People generally don't like Windows Media Player. I think separate programs might be a more successful approach. Maybe even separate programs for music and video: Video does not need playlists or libraries. Music needs them, but does not need a visualization box. Media library may just confuse things. -- AleksiNurmi

  • Kino wouldn't overlap with anything, and it uses a consistent GTK2 GUI. Besides, I think Mac has a bundled video editing program, why not Ubuntu? -- AleksiNurmi

  • Consider integrating Cinelerra as a "professional video editing" application. The point of having Kino is a great deal, just needs a QDVD Author ported from KDE to Gnome to get the DVD video editing and toasting something to be done at home with no need for a windows or apple machines. -- xerman ( info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com) Consider using Nautilus for everything besides playback.
  • All program in "main" should be esd compatible. making "killall esd" before using gnomemeeting is not a solution for real OS. Lyly lylyatbigfootdotcom

  • Consider integrating MMS (http://mms.sunsite.dk/) as a multimedia center.

Accessories

  • xterm, enable 256 color support (--enable-256-color) or add 256 colour support to gnome-terminal? Vim looks great on 256 colours over ssh.

Internet

Graphics

  • Make xorg-edit (http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=156243) included in gnome administration menu - <motin AT demomusic DOT nu>

  • Make xorg.conf shipped with explanations a la xorg.conf.fancy (http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jlido/linux/xorg.conf.fancy) - <motin AT demomusic DOT nu>

  • I found an excellent GPL post-processing utility for scanned documents. It fixes them up, aligning them, removing artifacts etc. It's called unpaper and is located at http://unpaper.berlios.de/ I couldn't find it in the respitories, so it would be a great idea to add it.

  • Pre-installed pdf printer - similar to adobe distiller - installed by default for printing webpages, non-open office documents, etc.
  • Help gimp move to gleg.
    • Could someone explain what gleg is, or where to get info about it?
  • How about just adding some (or all?) installable gui-applications to the gnome application menu (maybe with a shaded icon and a different text-color)or maybe a submenu-structure "installable applications", and install them on first use? That would make package management a trivial task even for grandma.
    • Sounds a good idea to me -- the way Windows hides infrequently used menu items seems a sensible way to do it to me. It would need to be done in such a way that it can be enabled/disabled easily and made very obvious how it can be used to install apps in the first place.
      • Hiding menu items is not intuitive to new users, and cranky old users like me don't like it.

  • include a gui html editor (nvu?) (See WhatWindowsUsersWant)

  • Port xdraft http://sourceforge.net/projects/xdraft/

  • Include Inkscape in the default install.
  • Preinstalled integration of evince as firefox plugin for PDF and PS files. -- Lyly lyly at bigfoot.com

  • Ubuntu doesn't have a photo album application, something most users need. F-Spot http://www.gnome.org/projects/f-spot/ is coming out great. It should be included by default. - Carlos Gaona <carlosgaona@gmail.com>

    • Yes it does - have a look at gThumb. - ["Madpilot"]
  • F-spot has great potential but is still in its early stages. Draggin a folder from nautilus to the F-spot window causes F-spot to quit, though next time launched, the images inside the nautilus' folder appear in F-spot but not classified. This is a nice option, but needs the mono runtime, and this is still in its early stages too. The future looks interesting, but needs some tweaking for stability. -- xerman ( info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)

  • Ubuntu could rearly use a default program for webcams. It's too confusing for new user's to go into the preference settings for Ekiga, Wengo etc. just to test if their webcam works. How about camorama-http://camorama.fixedgear.org/ or POWA-http://powa.sourceforge.net/. Both are easy to use & would blend in well with the Gnome desktop.

  • All of Linux, not just Ubuntu could use a unified colour management system. One program that you can set your colour profile in (output to screen & printer), that all programs can work with & use. If you set up the program to match your printer & monitor output, then all programs will have printout's that match what you see on your monitor. This will save people a lot of messing about in trying to configure their printers settings to every different program that they use.

Supporting the DRI-Team

  • For desktop users it is getting more and more important to have working 3d acceleration. Especially in the light of the latest Gnome and Kde features (transparency and other beautiful or useful gimmicks) it is quite important to have this working. While some card manufacturers deliver binary drivers, those are of varying quality and no use for some platforms (ppc...). The work of the DRI project is of great importance for Linux on the desktop and thereby for Ubuntu. Maybe it would be a good idea for canonical (if there are resources left for that) to hire some of the DRI folks or at least support them financially, because they don't have enough time to develop, because they have to do it in their spare time.
    • This really is important; the use of proprietary drivers hurts Free software. -- ["Jeroen"]
  • Convert the utah-glx drivers to the dri format. While the cards currently supported are rather old it provides a solid basis for further nvidia drivers

  • http://r300.sourceforge.net/ (R300 3d acceleration engine)

  • http://dri.sf.net/ (DRI Project Homepage)

  • http://www.livejournal.com/users/anholt/15633.html

Developers, Developers, Developers

  • I believe development tools should be kept to a minimum, because wannabe programmers should know their Synaptic/apt-get anyway -- AleksiNurmi

  • Could Ubuntu become the ultimate Python development environment? All the batteries included. Major cross-platform tookits should be taken into account. Also... Ubuntu projects using python should be more visible, maybe some shortcuts to relevant source files or at least a wiki page listing all the Ubuntu python related projects. A programming menu item should be default, contributions via Python should be encouraged. Maybe add [http://gvr.sourceforge.net Guido van Robot] for wannabe programmers.

  • ipython installed
    • vi/emacs with python syntax highlighting turned on by default (also other scripting languages)

  • Port Eric3 http://www.die-offenbachs.de/detlev/eric3.html

  • Improve Nautilus support of SVN, CVS source control. Develop integrated clients like TortoiseSVN and TortoiseCVS, which have developed into very usable clients that overlay desktop icons. Hide CVS folders by default. bpilgrim1979
    • Ubuntu's gnome already has launcher emblems for cvs-added cvs-modified, etc!
  • Develop control panel for starting/stopping LAMP services--"Changing user..." dialog first, then control panel stays open. Allow command line switches. bpilgrim1979
  • Not all developers are Linux geeks, and not everybody who developes developes the application on the whole. Maybe there is a team of developers, some dealing with interface, some dealing with forks, or whatever. There should be something like this:
    • Build essentials installed by default. I don't know nobody using ubuntu who hasn't needed build essential to install an app from source, so why have it as an option?. Once all apps are in the repository, there is no need, but in the meanwhile, have it as standard.
    • Segregate Developer Applications as:
      • Basic Linux Programming: anything needed to develop for console. We asume the editors would be Gedit/Emacs/Xvim...
      • Gnome Programming: anything needed to develop for Gnome. This item should have subitems, each of them dealing with either specific programming language or specific IDE. Let's say, if I want to write a program in C++ using anjuta, then all the libs, headers, apps taken as necessary should be installed, besides, Anjuta and its dependencies so Glade and its dependencies too. If I want to use C# and monodevelop, the same. And this with stability.
      • KDE Programming: idem as Gnome programming, but with KDE apps. -- xerman ( info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)

FPC and Lazarus
  • As an amateur Delphi programmer, I'm a sucker for visual interfaces... and I've got no idea how you people get anything done with KDevelop!
  • I'm asking that these two applications be included as standard in - at least - the Universe repository. Since it's all GPL, it could conceivably go into Main, however...
  • They are a basically a drop-in replacement for Delphi... that is to say, a completely visual, object-orientated, cross-platform, RAD tool with integrated IDE, debugger and compiler written to take advantage of one of the easiest languages ever known - Pascal.
  • RPMs for Linux AMD64 and i386 already exist... it is trivial to port these to deb (with alien).

  • I can confirm that the AMD64 27/3/2006 CVS releases all convert to debian fine, and install through dpkg. There are three required packages - fpc, fpc-src and lazarus - which can all be found [http://www.de.freepascal.org/lazarus/ here]

  • This thing works! It has GTK and (upcoming) QT widget support, and can be used to write everything: libraries, visual applications (including games!), console apps...

  • Summary - minimal work, maximal benefit Big Grin :) -- [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Nick37 Nick37];

Security/Anti-virus/Firewall

  • Is there a way to implement file access so that they can be edited by regular users. For instance, if you want to edit /etc/X11/xorg.conf manually using gedit, could you have a pop-up requiring you to enter the appropriate password? What if you opened it up using nautilus -- could you double-click xorg.conf and be able to edit it? I think that would make it easier for "newbies" to follow some instructions on editing config files.

  • There's currently no anti-virus software or software firewall installed by default - would it be difficult to integrate the ClamAV and Firestarter packages? -- TomInglis

    • Linux doesn't need anti-virus and Ubuntu has been configured by default not to listen on any ports, so a firewall isn't needed too. There are ClamAV and Firestarter packages in the archives though, those who feel the need for such a thing will usually know how to use them. For the server installs, a default setup with mailserver linked to ClamAV or F-Prot would be nice though. -- RubenVermeersch

      • Any operating system needs virus protection. Just because Windows it the most vulnerable, doesn't mean that other OSes aren't vulnerable at all. Also, a lot of Linux users download Windows files for their own Windows box. Scanning them for viruses would be a good idea. ClamAV does this.

      • A firewall is also a good idea. Ubuntu may supposedly not listen on any ports, but what if a user wanted to open up a port for a particular pieces of software? Linux does come with a firewall. It's [http://packages.ubuntu.com/breezy/net/iptables iptables]. However it has a CLI and is not "user-friendly". [http://packages.ubuntu.com/breezy/admin/firestarter Firestarter] (GNOME) or [http://packages.ubuntu.com/breezy/net/guarddog Guarddog] (KDE) are both good GUIs that run on top of iptables. It would make sense to include them in the default installation. -- Angrykeyboarder

      • And this is why Linux will be hit as hard or harder than Windows did with MSBlaster. I agree Firestarter should be included by default as it's quite small , easy to use, and based on the kernel firewalling. As far as virus protection, good luck. There really isn't a good one. -- JoeTennies

    • Ubuntu definitely comes with a firewall -- IPtables (1.2.9 in Warty). IPtables is a very powerful, low-level, highly scalable firewall. It can preform basic filtering tasks, or all out stateful packet inspection. I'll admit there is quite a learning curve for configuring it Knowledge of networking protocols is a must. If you were talking about a little firewall app with a pretty UI, then RubenVermeersch was correct, it is not needed. Ubuntu is very secure out-of-the-box. -- AdamKaplan

    • As for virus protection; I dont know of any practical Linux viruses. It would be difficult to write a "virus" that does anything but annoy the user or delete their dot-files :-). A Linux OS virus would likely require the user to become superuser (or sudo) and manually install it. If you do that, you deserve the virus. -- AdamKaplan

      • If the virus imitates a login screen, the password is easily gotten. This sort of thing needs to be thought about. Also, 'it can't harm the system' is a sysadmin mindset - a userspace virus is worse as it can remove all the users documents. The system is the easily replaced bit. -- EdMack

      • It is quite possible for a virus to use a known kernel hole (probably already patched upstream but not fixed on what people have). Remember Linux doesn't need to reboot as much as Windows. My personal computer probably typically runs a kernel from a month or two ago. This is just because I haven't rebooted since then. -- Joe Tennies

    • I am aware that there's no substantial risk of viruses infecting a Linux computer, because there are a number of features making it inherently more secure, but there is always a risk that a computer which has not been updated with the latest packages / kernel patch can be infected (although Hoary's update manager goes some way to prevent this). Also, when I'm running a Linux computer within a network containing mostly Windows computers, and want to share executable files, it's fairly considerate to make sure I'm not infecting all of the other machines. Hoiw is Ubuntu secured sufficiently so as not to need a software firewall? -- TomInglis

      • For Viruses: What types of files would you be sharing from Linux that could be infected with windows viruses? As far as I am aware, the common movie, audio, and document formats cannot be virus infected. So unless you are sharing windows executables, windows scripts or other potentially ducious windows files, your Linux cannot infect windows machines. Such files are useless on Linux anyway (at least without wine or mono). As for a Firewall: As previously stated, Ubuntu listens on NO ports for NEW incoming connections. Therefore, it would be extremely difficult to do any remote exploit on a default Ubuntu install. Even if you run a dozen servers on your Ubuntu, a firewall is still mostly useless. What will it block? connections to your servers? just don't run them! non listening ports? whats the point in that? You need a firewall if there are special advanced rules that you need to implement, if you wanted to restrict some types of connections or for logging.
    • Desktop: virus scanning of files downloaded for using on windows should be possible. email scanning would be a good thing too. users should have a credible way to identify malware, even if it is not direct threat to the linux. -- TadasZ

      • have a look at aegis-virus-scanner - maybe this is what you're looking for. -- DanielHolbach

    • Server: virus scanning of any incoming mail is required at least. this means a required up-to-date antivirus available. see http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=12866 -- TadasZ

      • amavis-ng with spamassassin and clamav is easy to implement with postfix - have a look at those packages -- DanielHolbach

    • Server-firewall: i strongly prefer/recommend [http://firehol.sourceforge.net firehol] for server use. please include in main Wink ;) -- TadasZ

    • Ubuntu should provide a graphical frontend for Iptables installed by default during installation; such an example of a program is Guarddog <http://www.simonzone.com/software/guarddog> --chrispgskn

*What about rootkit removal of vira. If the user gets a suspicion that a rootkit is installed, it should be possible to boot from the install cd and choose remove viruses and spyware. Maybe also a trusted mode should be possible, where the computer always boots with the CD, and ensures that no vira is installed in any packages. I guess it should just happen automatically, whenever a user boots with the CD, but chooses to run Ubuntu. All we need is a single trusted hash of a list of all files. If this checks, every file is just checked the first time it is opened. Also note that updates can be perfectly handled by this scheme. The only thing that is needed is a small kernel, that can load other kernels (from /boot), and can check a public signature. Then it just checks if any kernel is installed and signed by Ubuntu - and then shows it as a boot option.

*Firewall & Antivirus: Firestart works great and is very easy to use. It should be installed with some sane default configuration -please, don't lock the user with paranoid settings- the frustration factor they could get with things not working is a very big risk. Antivirus? Don't know. How much Linux viruses are in the wild targeting desktops applications? Sure, there is some -very few anyway- worms attacking Linux software, but they are targeting server apps. Not our user case i think. One of the biggest selling points of Ubuntu, in my experience, is the "virus free" thing. Putting and antivirus for a "theoretical" threat could hurt the user perception on Ubuntu advantages as a desktop OS. - Carlos Gaona <carlosgaona@gmail.com>

  • When the password has been incorrectly inputted to access synaptics (or the like) could there be an option to retry?

CiaranMooney (ciaran.mooney{at}gmail.{com})

  • Ubuntu needs to try & start intergrating some sort of parental controls into the sytem. Good parental controls will go a long way into making it a viable option for family pc's.

  • There should be a way to encrypt your file system through using graphical tools, including swap. -jhennATgnook.org

Games

Desktop Enhancements

  • I think it would be nice to maximize the user space on the desktop, avoiding bg panels for example. Do users still need a window-selector when they have a desktop-switcher. I have never been using AfterStep or NextStep but I think their design might be more adapted to full 3d accelerated environment (Xgl). Going down to the analogy desktop<->"real" desktop, windows<->sheets of paper, I enjoy a clean desktop... What do you think ? - Xav

  • "Send to" menu should include mounted drives (floppy, writable CD, USB disk, mounted windows partitions etc)

  • "Notes" in the file properties dialog box in Gnome should be displayed on the vacant space in the lower part of "Basic" tab in file properties. [http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=140848] see picture there. This way notes would prove more handy. Also, notes should appear as a popup when I point to a file for 2 seconds or so. These options for displaying notes should be configurable (time delay before note display, turn off notes popups).

  • It would be quite useful to add the bluetooth vfs module to Nautilus, enabling a GUI location for accessing bluetooth storage devices for GNOME (Kubuntu users already have this functionality in Konqueror). - jeremy.thornhill@gmail.com

  • Altough not very impressed by the upcoming windows vista, there are several features which should be included, just because they make sense and improve usability. Additionaly this could be very impressive when recruiting new users who say "but i heard the new windows os will do this and that, so i will stay there". We could just say "look, we have done this already!". In my opinion we shouldn't avoid doing things just because others did them already. I think it is really important to clone good features from other os'es, if necessary, and throw bad ones out. <soc äT krg-nw d0T de>

    • Integrated search (BEAGLE???) in panel (top) or menu. (maybe even on the desktop like gdesklets? or an auto-hiding panel on the left side?) Important is that it reuses occupied screenspace instead of opening new windows. When you search it should use space on your screen you don't need at that moment. http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,1205,l=&s=26945&a=167795&po=5,00.asp

Also see Macintosh Spotlight[http://www.apple.com/macosx/features/spotlight/]

  • You can do this in dapper if you install beagle and add deskbar to the panel.
  • A smaller/clearer default font, to waste less desktop space

  • We need a good interface in GNOME for tweaks to xorg.conf, maybe written in Python or something, but browsing through the forums, many articles are just on (XTweakThatShouldBeSimpleA-Z). Windows users have a dialog to control their entire video setup, I think we need something that at least provides adding non-standard video resolutions, setting up Dual Display (nv or ati), enabling compositing and whatnot. If we're going to pamper windows converts, they should NEVER have to see the X config. --JamesGolden

  • I'd like to add to the above comment. Better support for multiple graphics cards, and multiple monitors. In Hoary I had 2 cards each with it's own monitor. Now I have 1 card and 2 monitors running off of that. Windows manages to handle them just fine - after a few reboots - but I have to do research to figure out how to edit xorg.conf to set them up right. dpkg-reconfigure xserver only sees one card and monitor. - [http://www.ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=7215 RudolfVavruch]

  • Especially such a basic task as changing the login screen resolution (maximum resolution of X) should have a graphical tool -- AleksiNurmi

    • we need a "yust work"-interface to configure VGA/DVI output for beamer presentation

  • Proprietary (video) drivers need a more end-user install. Yes, apt-get install (nvidia-glx) is easy, but I hear complaints that people tend to go to the nVidia website and try to install the compile to X driver. Maybe in the Add/Remove synaptic frontend, add some proprietary driver entries? (And convert the packages to enable themselves automatically, not having to run a command). Or maybe even the next step up? On first boot give a welcome screen that helps with first-time configurations and guides to Ubuntu Communities. --JamesGolden

    • What about detecting the hardware in the installer and having a mapping from USB or PCI device numbers to driver packages, probably in the Packages-list and the deb-file itself. The installer would automatically install the drivers for the installed devices. When a new USB / Firewire / whatever device is hot-plugged, which is unknown in the system the installers pops-up and proposes to install the driver he finds in the database. --Johannes2
  • There is no good gui for power management config.

    • Edit: Dapper includes this: System--> Preferences--> Power Management

  • The multiple desktop selection in the bottom right corner is nice, but people like my mom often accidentally click on places you would never think of, I don't think she would understand where her window has gone. I would suggest make it less accessible those desktops, even if power users like it more the way it is now. Maybe make a double-click necessary. Also the calendar should disappear more easily in the top right corner when you accidentally click on it, instead of requiring to click on the button again.
    • Comment: Single click is good. Workspace switching needs a different idea for your mom.
  • Wastebasket icon is perhaps too close to the workplace switcher. Many times I click on wastebasket instead of a workspace. Maybe we can place wastebasket as an "icon on the desktop" by default, rather than in the panel.
  • Workspaces is a very useful tool but is located in one side of the screen (in the right), because the idea is to work with many screens, locate it in the middle of the bar will add some kind of "orientation" I mean something like I put that window in one screen to my right or to my left or maybe the first of my right hand and not only I put in the first or the second
  • Sometimes I open an application in one workspace and I want it to stay there but as soon as it is opened it interrups the activity I am doing in other workspace, maybe it would be useful to select if we want this behavioral o maybe to open the application in the same window where we clicked to open it

  • Gnome: Different wallpapers for different virtual desktops, so it's easier to tell where you are. - [http://www.ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=7215 RudolfVavruch]

  • Related actions like: changing wallpaper, changin screensaver, changing window themes/decorations, changing icons and changing mouse cursors: should all be in one window.

  • Gnome Save Dialog: I've noticed that GNOME's Find dialog has an icon that can be dragged to the desktop or other Nautilus windows to save the search. Why not add this feature to the GNOME save dialog, so you can just type a filename and drop the icon in a folder? -- NickBooker

  • Nautilus: Right-click option to Mount an iso, displaying an icon for the mounted image in all the usual places. Thought it would be useful for downloaded ISOs to be able to just use or check them from the GUI rather than having to burn them -- NickBooker

  • Nautilus: Right-click option to play media files in a folder, and if the folder contains jpg's i.e. album covers, these jpgs be ignored and not included into music player playlist.

  • Nautilus: Faster indexing of files and smarter way of displaying items with very long names, at the moment Nautilus displays the full name, however, this should be restricted to a max number of charctecrs, or having an option in Nautilus under Menu-->View-->full name display/short

  • When you rightclick on windows on the taskbar, the "Close" option should be at the bottom. People are used having it this way.
  • Is there a way to enhance GNOME file management so "newbies" can use their files with fewer disruptions caused by permissions problems? For instance, when they try to open a file that they don't have permission to open there could be a dialog saying, "you don't have permission to open this file. it is only accessible from _the user who owns it_. If you would like to open this file please enter this user's password: " -- or, if the permissions are wrong, "this file is a movie file but had been disallowed for reading. would you like to change the permissions?" Anyway -- we could have much more user friendly file handling in GNOME/Ubuntu/Nautilus. It could be intelligent and helpful.
  • When you download a file from the Internet you get an "Open With?" dialog. It suggests an application. If the application you want isn't in the list, then you have to navigate /usr/bin to find it. Couldn't it be made so you can select the application you want from the applications menu or some other more user-friendly way?

* The "remove file" option on nautilus should be activated as default, and ¨shift delete" be its default shortcut.

  • A GNOME client for the UNIX messaging system (wall, write, etc) should be created and running. If you are not running a console and only X, you will miss out on useful broadcasts and messages. This is especially important if your running Ubuntu on a network or as a multi-user system. LukasSabota (punkrockguy318 _at_ comcast _dot_ net)

  • Graphical Tutorial Program For Kids And Adults. There is Wink. It can create tutorials: http://www.debugmode.com/wink/. You can render/export files to swf, pdf and html.

  • Permissions when copying from read-only media.
    • Currently when a file is copied from read-only media, like a cd-rom, it's permission stays read-only. This can be very frustrating to new users who are not familiar with the concept of different permissions for different file operations. Ubuntu should default to setting the permissions to read-write when copying into the user's Home directory.
  • It would be nice to adjust the amount of lines being scrolled by using the mousewheel. Some people want to scroll fast (like me), while others like to scroll slow. If you can adjust this, it wil give your Ubuntu installation a more personal touch. This is possible in Windows and KDE, however not in GNOME. So if someone can add this function to the mouse settings window (where the speed of the cursor and doubleclick can be adjusted) it would really help me and a lot of other people too (I hope). -- Thomas de Hoog
  • Touchpad configuration -- This doesn't exist on the ppc version. I couldn't change the touchpad to let me tap to click, or change acceleration/etc.

  • Instead of application icon in Nautilus top left corner, icon for "up" could be used. When you click on it, Nautilus would go back to previous directory. (Same as pressing "Backspace" key). That is, when using Nautilus in spatial mode. This is also filed in bugzilla: http://bugzilla.gnome.org/show_bug.cgi?id=303173 .

  • KeyTouch, a program to configure the extra function keys of your keyboard with: http://keytouch.sf.net -- Marvin Raaijmakers

  • It is hard for desktop publishing users migrating from windows to make thumbnails,using image resizer tool is good option as it will make multiple copies of images with custom sizes. This feature is also included in Windows XP power toy. I suggested this utility so many times to Gnome community but got no reply. If you want I can give idea how it works also can give you MS vc++ Code. Any developers contact

--maheshkale

  • Many users of Ubuntu complain about the primary colors, the reddish brown color, of the default Ubuntu theme. Why not design a series of default themes as used now, but set of simple and bright colors like red, orange, green, blue, purple, and so on. This would allow Ubuntu users to find a theme, in terms of color, that would fit their taste easily.
  • The above idea is nice and/or a default theme that is more in line with the look of the Ubuntu web site. Predominantly tan instead of brown. Tan is a much more neutral color. Brown is just not very popular with most people (regardless of where it's used). --Angrykeyboarder

  • How about having a default input engine that allows input for Chinese Korean Japanese Languages. SCIM does that, http://www.scim-im.org/ Making the adding of a different Input language easy as in Windows. kirillrdy@mail.ru

  • When you drag a file with the middle mouse button you only get a small set of options. I suggest this could be enhanced depending on the type of file you drag, for instance if you drag a compressed file, add

an option to extract it to the destination folder you are dragging it. Other options could be included depending on the type of file. This is something windows users miss.

  • -- It would be nice if there was an option to move all the 'Drag/Click and drag with Middle Mouse button' menu items into one right click menu. This would really help laptop users or mouse users with only two mouse buttons. Very confusing. Also prevents people using the advanced 'Modfier + MiddleClick' for resize and move operations.

  • Default key strokes across Gnome. For example, ctrl+w closes a window in some programs, others it does not. A default set of keystrokes should be defined, at least for basic open/close/save/quit/new/etc. operations.

Emblems and folder/file colouring for Work space and improved workflow

  • Having easier access to the emblems and colouring coding folders/files to help in organizing the workspace, having colours assigned through the right click menu, and then an option saying assign emblem, I think assigning emblems through the properties adds way to many steps for a user. I strongly recommend having the assign colour as First and then assign emblem a Second,
  • A great idea for gnome is placing the auto-mounted disk's icons in the status tray and not the desktop. I haven't see this anywhere but i'd love it.

--Oceanelement

  • Side buttons (buttons 4,5) on popular mice models should work as forward/back buttons in browser windows (eg: Nautilus, Firefox) by default. Currently this is only possible using external programs such as imwheel, which require a moderately technical setup and configuration process.
  • There should be an option to set to number of lines a mousewheel scrolls by default. It is possible to set this for specific programs such as Firefox, but it is not possible to set a system default that works in Nautilus, Epiphany etc and other programs that do not offer this option. Currently KDE and Kubuntu offers this, but Ubuntu(Gnome) does not.
  • The ability to minimize full-screen applications with a simple command such as alt-tab in Windows. Currently it is impossible to easily minimize any full-screen application, including but not limited to games.

--David O'Connor

  • Temporized pc shutdown option, in Log Out menu. Shutdown pc in x sec --BigSus

  • How about using tabs in Nautilus like Firefox does? That way you could easily have many folders open and navigate between them, in just one window. If you wanted to drag a file to another folder, you could have two tabs. One with the file, and one with the folder where you're gonna put the file. Then you just drag the file to the tab(without releasing the mousebutton) and Nautilus would switch the tab so you can see the folder. Then you drag the file from the tab to the folder and release the mousebutton, and Nautilus begins to move the file. --Robban aka Synt4x_3rr0r. shadows88@gmail.com

  • I can right click on the bars at the top and bottom of the screen and change their properties. A right click on the desktop itself gives a menu to lauch a handful of apps and to change the background. This seems inconsistant to me. Perhaps, in addition to background change, include options to change themes and the screen saver. Side nit: Windows allows pretty extensive customazation of the desktop through the right click access. Counter argument: It's all there in the System menu at screen top. So do you put this stuff where it can be easily found or where the user is concentrating when they want to make a change? -- MichaelRasmussen

  • Gnome: to get the best out of the user experience we should think about casting shadows from windows. I understand that having multiple desktops could get you to say that one could have as many desktops as apps one uses to work with. I rather have the apps not in "full screen" and have them in window mode. So I think of casting shadows from the window in front to the window behind and so on until desktop is reached. Shadows should cast along all borders as in a 3D space where light source is the user's head and raytracing to the screen and through the pixels. Besides windows behind the active one could be alphablended (think is this what I want to say) so attention is locked on the frontmost. I presume windows have certain index to make Xorg know which one is in front and which one is behind, this priority could be used to set the alphablend property; shadows would be always shadows. This is a mockup: (http://www.xsproxectos.com/temporal/x0imaxes/Pantallazo1024.png) -- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)

  • Gnome: Spring loaded folders could be of interest. Besides, if tabs are included in nautilus, spring loaded tabs could be interesting too, and so, Spring loaded favourites in nautilus. Draggin a file from a tab window to another tab not in front causes the destiny tab to get the focus to see its contents, then drop there the file. Draggin a file from wherever to a folder causes the folder to open in a new nautilus window(or in the same if it is already in a nautilus window - or maybe a tab if nautilus is tabbed) to look at its contents. Draggin a file from wherever to a Favourite in Nautilus window (left, under devices) causes that favourite folder/device open in the same window of nautilus, another window or a new tab. -- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)
    • -- Sincerely seconded, KDE and OSX have had this functionality for a long time and it was discussed by the GNOME guys a while back and nothing came of it.
  • Gnome: HIG is a need to make the user experience before the computer something really fun even if the user is working. At least, don't make the use of a computer painless. Certain windows, now I think of Gimp "Save as PNG" option causes a dialog window to appear, where one chooses the parameters of PNG file to be saved; it's nonsense that this dialog window covers my entire desktop at 1280x1024, and gets over screen at my 1024x768 iMac G3 15inch. This due to oversized buttons. I've seen many dialogs/preferences windows expand too much, more than needed. This should be arranged setting standard wide and maybe scrollable height. Besides, this dialogs/preferences appear when selected from the parent application, then they shoul appear in the center of the screen to get attention. -- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)
  • Gnome-Nautilus: it would be nice not to have 17 copy windows while copying 17 files from one location to another. It would make less clutter to have just one window with all the copies docked. -- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)

  • Boot to windows button: http://www.pcworld.com/howto/article...,118200,00.asp - if you read the article, follow the instructions and mod it for your install, etc. it works very nicely. I currently now have a nice button next to my clock that I press, enter my passoword, then hey presto - the computer reboots into windows. Now, I know the idea of using Ubuntu is to avoid windows, but I found this very very very useful - and so have many of my friends, and other dual booters I have spoken too (it is all too easy to have the need to reboot, and competly forget about grub menu, go make a cup of tea, then your stuck!). My proposal for dapper - to have this built into the log out menu - so you have the option "reboot to windows". I know many people would find the useful.

Cursor

  • Why not insert as default cursor icon the "Pinux's Tux Cursors Theme" for Ubuntu? See http://gnomelook.org/content/show.php?content=19506&PHPSESSID=0d078da53b6b702948b4ed0e386b7de8

    • I actually like Jimmac better, but allowing the user to change cursor themes would be great idea. See [http://qballcow.nl/?s=14 GCursor]

  • From a usability viewpoint, the default cursor (arrow) should not be black and white. The most desktop environment is white background / black text. White cursor is hard to spot against such background. Maybe Ubuntu could introduce a brown cursor? Also, the default cursor is too small in higher resolutions, like 1400x1050 laptop. The default installation (Breezy 5.10) doesn't ship with a bigger cursor theme. I don't see how making the cursor big and not white could hinder users, except for natural change resistance.

    • Actually, the contrary is true: a b/w cursor results in having the maximum average contrast against any background whereas a coloured cursor is only better visible against a pure b/w background (provided the viewer has not certain visual impairements, with colour blindness being one of the most common ones). Nonetheless, think that a black cursor (with white outline) has advantages over the current default of white (with black outline) in this respect. Maybe both alternatives should be provided. I agree on the necessity of having a bigger alternative cursor scheme, though. Not only for higher resolution screens but also for users with visual impairments. -- SaschaBrossmann

  • When selected multiple items to move into a folder on the desktop, there needs to be a visual way to show that the cursor is actually over the folder that its going into. I've found that if I am transfereing pictures they obscure when the destination folder icon so you cannot tell if its been highlighted for the transfer. Also maybe making the pictures translucent when dragging them?

Font

  • FreeSans is a more polished-looking font than the current default for GNOME. Why not use FreeSans as the default instead? Picture of it: http://carol.gimp.org/gimp2/resources/default/fonts.html -- [http://benhourigan.com Ben Hourigan]

    • Bitstream Vera are nice fonts.

    • I strongly oppose this idea. FreeSans is IMNSHO a horrible clone of Helvetica (its only advantage being free as in freedom). Its technical quality is way below par (e.g. screen rendering sucks exorbitantly due to poor to non-existant hinting), typographically it has more issues than i want to think of, etc. If anything, the default font should be changed from Vera to DejaVu as the latter has better international language support (more glyphs) and the non-condensed versions have kept Vera's good low-resolution hinting. -- SaschaBrossmann

  • [http://software.newsforge.com/article.pl?sid=06/01/19/2012230 Gentium] is one of the best looking fonts available, highly professional, and FREE. I strongly suggest to add it at least as an alternative to the standard fonts.

    • I absolutely agree that Gentium is excellently and professionally designed and easily counts amongst the best free/libre fonts that are currently out there. Therefore I strongly second the notion to include it in the standard Ubuntu distribution. OTOH i would definitely not consider it as a reasonable alternative for the GUI: Gentium has clearly been designed for print use (at higher resolutions) and lacks some of the qualities that are of utmost importance for screen interface fonts, amongst those good low resolution rendering (especially at small sizes). Even if the hinting was completed, the issue of having serifs remains. Please be aware that no font is good for all occasions/usage scenarios. -- SaschaBrossmann

  • Check out the [http://scripts.sil.org/Gentium_faq Gentium FAQ] for more details about an upcoming Sans-Serif font called Andika.

  • There are already various open fonts with broad Unicode coverage and smart features who will give wider language support for Ubuntu and reduce dependency on restricted fonts. These font families are released under the [http://scripts.sil.org/OFL Open Font License] which grants the following freedoms: using, studying, copying, merging, embedding, modifying and redistributing. It is an FSF-recognized [http://www.fsf.org/licensing/licenses/index_html#Fonts free and open license].

  • I'm currently packaging these font families : [http://scripts.sil.org/Gentium Gentium], [http://scripts.sil.org/CharisSILfont Charis SIL], [http://scripts.sil.org/DoulosSILfont Doulos SIL] and [http://scripts.sil.org/Graphitefonts Padauk SIL] and working on getting them promoted to main. When other fonts are released I'll package them as well. There is a metapackage of all things related to font design in preparation too.

  • Now that things are looking good for collaborative typography here are some areas we should work on to make Ubuntu better in the area of font management:
    • parse more font metadata in gnome-font-viewer and in a properties tab
    • center the gnome-font-viewer dialog by default
    • allow the dialog to be closed via shorcut
    • use trees to reduce the problems with scrolling
    • allow the pangram to be changed to be able to see more glyphs for a particular font
    • add a contextual meny entry to install a font directly
    • be able to distinguish in a visual way (manual grouping? tags? emblems?) system-wide fonts (/usr/share/fonts/) from personal ones (~/.fonts) as well as restricted/proprietary fonts from free/libre/open ones when browsing fonts:///

    • Review and implement the [http://unifont.org/fontdialog/ improved font selection widget] to allow more logical grouping of font families directly from the font menu. -- NicolasSpalinger

Screensaver

  • Perhaps we should have a pretty Ubuntu screensaver?
  • I don't know if this is a Gnome, XScreenSaver or Ubuntu issue, but I think it would be cool if the "Start new session" option, accessible from GNOME menu were also accessible from the XScreenSaver lock screen (the one which asks you for your password) [feature seen on KDE 3.2 - Mandrake 10.0]
    • This feature exists for xscreensaver 4.21, but is marked experimental.

  • Button to log out the current user after a timeout (like on xlock, it is mentioned also on xscreensaver's FAQ) -- TimoAaltonen

  • Is there away to give some more options back to the users - like tweaking the nice additional effects provided by a number of the Xscreensavers, for example the text, size of images etc used in the screensaver.

  • A nice way to select only a number of screensavers at random would be nice, as some of them are out and out ugly - As thats an opinion, a bit of choice in the matter would be good. Especially people on lower specced machines typically wouldnt want the OpenGL based ones running. -- NickGlynn

RSS Screensavers

  • There is already the amazing screensaver collection that comes with the rss-glx package. atm though, it's not integrated into the screensaver chooser.

Help/Troubleshooting

  • Include extensive easy to access network troubleshooting documentation so that users are never stranded with no docs.--Anthony Barker

    • Link to launch this netowrking help from web error page, in addition to suggesting mistype. Maybe even a netwokring setup 'wizard' particularly since Ubuntu does not activate network interface on boot if not present on install. --SpaceBunny

  • Ubuntu should come with a 'tour' of the distro for first time users (especially first time users of linux), that will get people on their first foot. showing them howto setup the distro, What on earth some things mean (note; root means nothing to my mum, telling her to sudo would help no-one) and where to look for more information. Could easily be achieved with a short series of HTML pages with images or a small program designed for this. Also should automatically open on the first install. People should not have to look up on the Internet to find out how to do basic things. -- Gord Allott
  • What would be great (esp. for new users) would be to have a "search engine" available in the Firefox search bar that allows users to search the Ubuntu forums. Another search engine could be a deb package search.
  • To reduce some traffic on the ubuntu forums, and as a warm greeting to new users, there should be an introduction to Ubuntu at first login after install. For experienced linux users, such a windows is easy to dispose of with one click, never getting in the way of new exploration. For a complete novice on the other hand it can be invaluable to get a guide that tells you "Here is your home directory", "Here you can find the office suite", "Click here to browse the internet", "This is your e-mail program", and so on. --Garyu

  • It would be useful to have an easy way to find the english name of any application. The internationalization of Linux/Ubuntu is amazing and certainly very helpful, however, english is the lingua franca of the internet. Searching the forums for a specific application is a lot easier if you know the english name. What if all applications had an entry describing their english/official/original name in the About dialog? -- ØyvindJensen

User Login/Switch

  • A new GDM theme is needed. The one we have now looks great, but it not features a user selector, so you need to write user name and password, instead of clicking on an icon.

    • I second that. What I did on my box is edit the happygnome-list background.svg so that the colors match better the Ubuntu look-and-feel. Check out HappyGnome for the file and instructions. RickyDs

    • Ok, I brought it one step further, I modified the Human theme so that it includes the user album. The only issue I'm having right now with it is that clicking on a user prefills the user name field, but doesn't emulate an [Enter] Keypress. You can get the theme as-is from [http://ricky.linuxbourg.ch/HumanList.tar.gz] RickyDS

  • Switching user should be easier. The Fast User Switch applet http://ignore-your.tv/fusa is a start but should be better integrated and visible by default.

  • User should have opinion to log in without password. Just click username in loging screen and get in. That couldnt be any security issue, because you have enabled automate login for one user also.

'Control Panel' as a tab on the upper panel

  • The reason for not having a control panel is that it would take some time to open up compared to when the items are directly accessed from submenu. A possible solution would be to include control panel as a tab on the upper panel which will open up instantly like a virtual desktop. There can be four such tabs - one for the 'Desktop', one for the 'Control Panel, one for the 'Personal Documents', and one for the 'Universal Documents' accessible to all users of the system.

System Setup/Install Enhancements

Installer

  • I have accumulated a multitude of Ubuntu install & live CDs, and their number is likely to grow in future. To circumvent this, I have an idea:

Ubuntu should have a "UNIVERSAL INSTALL CD" which would be internet based. The CD would boot up as a live cd, connect to the internet to find all the available releases of ubuntu, and then give the user an option to INSTALL the most updated version from the internet.

The same CD could be utilized to install any release of Ubuntu, because it's totally internet based!!

Anyone supports this idea? Or has it already been done by someone?? Please submit your views at [http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=822847#post822847]

  • During the instalation you should be able to select the wireless network you want to use BEFORE trying to conect (i always get my neighbor's) and with out having to perform the advanced install or something else. Besides, there is already the question about your key, i gues if you know your key most likely you know the name of your network. If you don't use your own network then you are stepping in a gray (as a minimun) ethical area :P. -- AndresGalavis (this regarding at least dapper flight 3 instalation)

  • Installations with a single reboot. Now the installer reboots after the base has been installed, but it should just pivot-root to /target. The current behaviour breaks hands-off netboot-installations, because the machine just netboots again -- TimoAaltonen

  • Make the installation process a good time and add some simple games for the meantime. What about InstallerGames? -- NicoDietrich

  • don't start rsync and fetchmail, cause almost no enduser needs them
  • maybe use a smaller mailrelay and not postfix, it's a bit bloated for enduser system. Alternatives
  • Ubuntu attempts to automatically connect to the Internet during installation, using DHCP settings from an available DHCP server. If this option fails (e.g. DHCP server exists but Internet access is limited for DHCP IP range), Ubuntu could fail-back to asking for a Static IP address or to 'Skip and continue setup' (preferably the Static IP entry could be an option in the initial installation questions - with DHCP as the default). (It's assumed that Ubuntu uses DHCP automatically to avoid overwhelming new users with technical requirements - I'd argue that many users are at least a little familiar with need for an "IP address" and would have more serious trouble with the hard drive partitioning section of the install!) -- Kubuntu_User.
  • Ndiswrapper was included on the Hoary 5.04 install disk. It would be great if the Ndiswrapper could be set up during the install, perhaps just before the automatic connection to the Internet described above. If Ubuntu is for Linux for Humans, we need to make the Internet connection as seamless as possible. - Dave Drass
  • Include ndisgtk installed by default or on the cd and easy to get to. so new linux users can get Wi-Fi working in seconds (not days).
  • To save demo-ers contortions that they may or may not be able to perform I believe it would be a good idea if the live CD came with a few exotic screen resolutions out of the box. In my case it happens to be 1400x1050 - quite popular on laptops but there are others. One reason someone might want to use the live CD is to take himself or some friend on a quick tour of Ubuntu. As it happens laptops and possibly all LCD-type screens are quite ugly when used at anything but their panel's native resolution. -- cga2001

  • I had an idea how to allow even braindead people to install Linux on certain PCs. It was originally intended for commercial distributions but the technical idea could be used by you, too, of course. I have written it in German http://www.hauke-laging.de/ideen/rechnerspezifische_linuxdistribution/konzept.html but have a quite complete English translation http://www.hauke-laging.de/ideen/rechnerspezifische_linuxdistribution/concept.html

  • How about looking at ‘Nesting’ or ‘Docking’ Ubuntu into Windows from the ‘Live’ CD. The CD would boot Ubuntu, although content would run from the HD location. Allowing for full ‘Synaptic’, ‘apt-get’ etc, as well as no need for Partitioning. ‘Dyne : Bolic' is a good example; http://lab.dyne.org/Docking - DD.

  • Another idea would be to have the PPC versions use a docking technique to a firewire or USB drive, since Macs have partitions that are very different from the standards Linux and Fat partions. Since most external devices are Fat 32 and Ubuntu currently sees most of them right, it would be a perfect place to copy the files from the CD to under a folder called Ubuntu(or Kubuntu or Edubuntu if you want to use a different version). After the files are copied you can then boot from the Live CD which would then look for compatible firewire and USB drives. Once it finds a valid drive and distro it will boot into it. I am currenly running a G4 iBook and want to run Linux on it without messing up my OS X files. However, I also want to be able to add, compile, and develop software under Linux the same way I would with a standard install. It seems that this solution provides that functionality, since there is now a place for installed and compiled software to go. - wbowen05@yahoo.com

  • Something similar to Nesting/Docking above. A small business/network setup idea. You install Ubuntu on a machine which will be the 'Server'. The Server can then create package tailored, LAN pre-configured, docking/live CD's for installation on the client machines. That way there is no possible loss of support on machines that have Windows OEM'ed or 'Mandated from above'. The installation can be updated via local package directories (docked clients) or by (re)burning new livecd's.
  • I'd like to see an extra step in the automated partitioning process. Now you have an option to use all free unpartitioned space. I'd like to see this option changed to "Use free unpartitioned space" with an extra dialog asking how much free space it should use in total. This with maybe a recommended minimum amount of space that is required to install Ubuntu properly. At this stage the next best thing to use all free space is to completely set up the partitioning manually. This is far too complicated for a normal user. By just providing an option to specify the total amount of space to use the normal user doesn't have to deal with any manual stuff. -- Prodoc
  • Expanding on the above: most new users will have windows preinstalled in a single partition and will probably want to start with a dual boot configuration resizing the existing windows partition (via ntfsresize). The installer should accomodate for this (or similar) situations and give the following options:
    • Use all HD (fully automatic)
    • Use part of the HD (semi automatic): very simple interface where the user can choose the size of the existing partition(s), and the size of the ubuntu allocated space, while sparing him the joy of having to learn about "primary/logical/extended partitions"... Within the ubuntu allocated space partitions are automatically created as appropriate.
    • Advanced (manual)
    A possible solution for the intermediate option is to use a bar with multiple sliders. Something like |NTFS|FAT32|UBUNTU|FREE| where you move the vertical bars. With this interface partitions can only be "squeezed on the left" and space dedicated to Ubuntu can only "be created on the right". The last two slots are always |UBUNTU| and |FREE|. The obvious draw back is that such interface is very simple, but rigid and, for instance, you cannot use for ubuntu free space between two existing partitions without "squeezing it out" first. I feel that this is a small inconvenience since users who already have set-up multiple partitions can use the advanced mode, this interface is for new inexperienced users coming from a preinstalled single partition, which is quite a common case. If complex situations are detected (multiple linux partitions/unresizable partitions) the intermediate option should not be shown at all. -- Ago

  • Make Ubuntu as easy to install for Windows users as any Windows application. Users would just double-click a program that asks for their name and how much space they want to give Ubuntu, collects information about their language and such from Windows, places wingrub and the Ubuntu installer on the hard drive, modifies boot.ini, and restarts the computer into Linux where an automatic installer takes care of the rest. See InstallUbuntuFromWindows for details. -- Michael10

  • change the blue background of the text installer to something more like the Ubuntu colour scheme

Xserver to detect changed hardware and ask to set up-eg usb drive or flash drive will need sudo dpkg-reconfigure xserver-xorg each time like plug and play

  • remind the user of their current partitions when asking them where to install grub.

  • How about a tool that simplifies the setting up of Ubuntu to use Windows NTLDR for booting GRUB/Ubuntu for Newbies that can not alter the way their computer currently boots. And may not have the expertise or desire to follow the instructions for setting up by hand. Amigo-XP has somewhat of an idea on this, though I don't know how well it would work for Ubuntu. ( http://amigolinux.org/amigoxp/XP-details.htm )

**As extension create a simple graphical interface for modifying all of the Grub bootup options in boot/grub/menu.lst, particularly the default operating system to boot into (many will people prefer Windows by won't know how to change it).

  • I'd like to see a function where you get to choose between the other Ubuntu flavors, at the moment Edubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu. So the during the install the user can have a menu with a little such as "Choose which Ubuntu should be installed", and then have alternatives as "Ubuntu (recomended)", "Kubuntu (KDE-based)", "Xubuntu (XFCE-based)", "Edubuntu (School edition)" etc. Might something to atleast install in the advanced options. Also it might be a good idea to point out which choices require an Internet-connection and stuff like that.

Why? 'Cause it will make things MUCH easier for people who want these, and you can install all the distros from your pressed CD. (Suggestion by Kaminix, Trojan1313 on the forums)

  • Optional support for ISA devices. Either ask the user if he wants to try ISA autodetection or to select a driver from list. Personally I had to "modprobe ne" to get networking. Not important if Ubuntu's hardware requirements grow. -- AleksiNurmi

  • A package that automatically downloads and installs the DB2 client especially after the approval of IBM for running DB2 on Ubuntu. -- KenFoskey

  • Installer should offer an option of "Upgrade Installed System" once "Upgrading" process is reliable. For this update/upgrade to new version Synaptic "historic" could be of use. I understand that Synaptic historic is stored on the hard drive, so there could be an easy way to get that info and now which apps and which not to upgrade. As far as I know, right now we could update-upgrade to DapperDrake changin the "breezy" for "dapper" in the repositories and do an "apt-get dist update / apt-get dist upgrade", as the new version CD is in de CD-Reader of the computer, we already have new repository with new version, so checking synaptic and creating a "update-sources.list" could be interesting. Once the computer is updated, then Installer could remove the old "sources.list" and replace it with the "update-sources.list". This "update-sources.list" could be a copy of the existent changing "old version" to "new version". -- xerman (info [at] xproxectos [dot] com)

  • Installer could be graphical, and as far as I know, if wideo card is detected as soon as possible it would be possible to have an 800x600 or even higher resolution installer. I think of SuSE's and Fedora's. Obviously, Ubuntu's should keep consistency with the interface we already know (I mean the color schema).-- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)
  • Add a Silent Option for OEM Installations. To allow the option of completely unattended installations accepting all the default values. Even allow the option of skipping the additional configuration screen. (OEM Installations should be using a completely blank hard drive unless dual booting windows. So wiping the drive should be ok... be sure to note it if it does wipe the hard drive just in case.) Additional oem options should also include nonet (self explainatory) partonly (partitioning only.. quiet for the rest) configfloppy (get configuration from floppy disk). The oem installer should also allow for random generation of hostnames.... installing 100 computers and having to change just one setting on all of them could be a real pain (and plus... i almost have my boss convinced to pre install linux on our computers... this will seal the deal.) -- plaguethenet [at] gmail [dot] com
  • Add something to check the integrity of software installed. For exemple my / partition just got a little corrupted, but I cannot reinstall every faulty software at once, I have to start something to get the message that some files are not good, there should be a way to check all the system (well just the things installed by deb packages). geearf(at)free(dot)fr

Package Management

  • Start installing packages while downloading. It will speed up the hole process if apt-get installs packages with satisfied dependencies while downloading other packages. Use case: joe wants to install 3 applications, the total amount of required packeges is 12, the first application needs e.g. 4 packages, the second 5 packages, the third none aditional. now apt-get orders the package so that packages with less dependencies than others are downloaded first. apt-get chooses the third package without unsatisfied dependencies, downloads it and starts to install it immediately while the other packages are downloaded. as soon as the third package is installed and all packages for the first application were downloaded, apt-get installs this application while downloading the second one, with the most depenencies ... and so on ... -- Soc

  • Be sure to check out SoftwareMap... a great idea for an easier package manager. -- SolidAndShade

  • It should be possible to record the system's package configuration in a file using Synaptic (or the proposed SoftwareMap). When installing Ubuntu on a new system, the user could load this file onto the hard drive, tell the package manager to "import configuration from file," and the package manager on the new computer would download all the packages that were on the old one. This would make it unnecessary to spend hours hunting through the list of packages and trying to remember all the software you have on your current Ubuntu system when setting up a new one. The import utility would have to be somewhat smart -- If some packages were upgraded since the config file was written, the user would be asked if the latest versions should be downloaded, and other conflicts would be dealt with in a similar fashion. -- SolidAndShade

    • This is implemented in Breezy. -- Cyphase
  • In Gentoo there's something called USE-Flags. I can define a systemwide "ssl" flag to install all application with ssl support, I can define "doc" to install special documentation... It's kind of a dependency switch... You could add a "restricted-formats" for totem to install all restricted packages for it too... -- fabian
    • Under Debian, and I think also Ubuntu there are task-packages, which manage to install all packages for a particular problem (e.g. ubuntu-desktop).

    • But I think it would be also interesting to have some knobs to let some packages depend on other packages for example lang:de would force mozilla-thunderbird}} also to install {{{mozilla-lang-de. Like language-*-pack, which doesn't install every package, but only this one which is useful because an depending package is also installed.

  • It would be great if Synaptics would show just my installed applications in a list somewhere and NOT their dependencies, so I have an overview over my selfinstalled packages -- fabian
  • It would also be great if I could remove certain packages without removing ubuntu-desktop, cause I don't need reisertools for example... (this has got something to do with the point above, cause after my proposal, there would be just ubuntu-desktop in the list...) -- fabian
  • maybe group together certain packages (mount, time, diff,grep, less...) to a "gnu-base-package" or something like that. That would clean up the lists in synaptics dramatically... -- fabian
  • There should be an easy way for temporarily installing the packages (something along the lines of save-package-configuration -- install new package and all its missing dependencies -- revert to saved package configuration). As of now, I have to check the dependencies list prior to installing a package for testing so that I could remove not only the main package but its obsolete dependencies as well. -- wolli
    • Use aptitude instead of apt-get. Such feature in Synaptic would be great because it is used by most of the users IMHO.

  • Use unionfs to implement the above. I will see if it's possible to install breezy ontop of hoary using unionfs to simulate dualbooting. -- JohnNilsson

  • Support having a unionfs layer on /etc where user modified files are stored. When the system needs to modify /etc it should thus make sura that changes are written to the system layer not the user layer. -- JohnNilsson

  • The centralized repository method of installing software (apt-get/synaptic) is valuable, but it is not a complete solution. It has the following problems: latency between software release and acceptance into repository, the difficulty in maintaining a large repository, the installation of non-free/proprietary software etc. The solution is [http://autopackage.org/ autopackage] . It is not designed as a replacement to synaptic/apt-get, rather to supplement its shortcomings for a superior solution. The ultimate goal should be something similar to MacOS appfolders, but better. Once the user has chosen to give some software access to their system, we should be making it as easy as possible for them to act upon their decisions. Security therefore becomes a matter of how to aid the user in making the correct decisions rather than making their lives inconvenient.

  • A centralized package management tool would be great value if you are to manage more Ubuntu-machines in a network. The idea is to select the packages from a central location, and then be applied by a daemon on the clients. You could manage all clients at once, have different groups, and install specific packages on single machines - all from the comfort of your office/room. NielsKjøllerHansen

  • A way to install deb, rpm, or tar packages without using the command line. Some sort of integration into nautilus or Konqueror. Installing packages that don't appear in the Ubuntu pool (like maya and limewire) using alien, and then installing them using dpkg without using the command line would be so much easier for people wanting to install packages, but don't understand/are afraid of the command line. If you see a problem with this (give me a break, I am 14) email me at rjmarsan@gmail.com

  • Automated package cleanup (such as what debfoster or deborphan offer) with apt (and accessible via front-ends like Synaptic or Adept). TrishankKarthik

  • Add a way to easily reinstall all the dependencies of a program, without having to check the package page to see which software we whould reinstall to make something works again (also it should reinstall the dependencies of the dependencies and so on). geearf(at)free(dot)fr
  • Sometimes is a headache to install apps from sources, first one has to get the source, then the ./configure, make, sudo make install, and pray all the dependencies are met. There could be an app that does that for the user, it could get the source file and try to make the ./configure, if certain dependencies are not met, then launch Synaptic or apt-get the files, then "make" and then "make install", once done, ask the user where to put the app "Accesories, Internet, Multimedia, System related" and set the link in the Applications Menu. Then keep record of that app in a Historic just as Synaptic to check in new "updates/upgrades". -- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)

Startup

  • InitNG with this you can reduce the time to startup to only 15-20 secs, it has already a deb package, but only for x86 and would need porting before moving to main/primetime.

  • reduce boot times, avoid usability issues (see item 21 in http://mpt.net.nz/archive/2005/04/11/ubuntu), and help out notebook users (see complaint below) by removing the network configuration and Internet clock check from the startup. I've just pulled mine and I boot in about 1/3 the time (faster than windows). Just as importantly, the network config and the clock check are silly in the case of roaming laptops, since user input (passwords, perhaps other configuration) will certainly be needed before the network is properly configured or the clock works. I think Windows actually has this one right: they do the network stuff after login, which makes user intervention easier and doesn't waste time. Finally, the network config is not necessary for anything else in boot: When I removed the S40network and S40ntpcheck (or whatever it was called) from my boot sequence nothing broke. --dpod (daniel.odonnell the-symbol-above-2-on-us-keyboards uleth.ca).

    • Doing networking after login means I can't connect to the computer remotely, unless I login locally first.

  • Enhance a colorful startup with green "ok" and red "fail". Look [http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=8556 here].

  • We should look into the parallel startup script method that IBM came up with to speed startup. [http://www-106.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-boot.html?ca=dgr-lnxw09BootFaster IBM] -- Keith Bassett

    • I have discussed some things like this with Jeff Waugh. He's concerned about breaking System 5 init scripts. Then you end up like Gentoo and have to write custom init scripts for everything (biggest issue being w/ universe) -- JoeTennies

    • You could also include Jimmy Wennlund's sysvinit replacement program called [http://jw.dyndns.org/initng/ Initng]. -- Adrien Anselme

  • Offer the ability of 2 kind of startup: Clean and Detailed. Clean could show just the ubuntu logo, the progress bar and a message "Starting Ubuntu System". Detailed could show the ubuntu logo, the progress bar and all the messages shown nowadays in breezy. As I understand we've got to the graphical detection, we could have a cleaner screen, better resolution and a more ubuntuzized schema. There could be an option to change that pattern to another where there is a "Powered by Ubuntu" logo and a Company logo (I'm thinking on distributing Ubuntu throughout business and having the company logo on boot could get CEOs very happy). The image shown should be kept the same from grub to gnome welcome screen (if possible). -- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)
  • Same for Shutdown: show the graphic screen Clean or Detailed. This two options could be locked from Gnome so no user could change them once set. -- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)
  • After the graphics card bios I found that SuSE comes out with a SuSE screen while mobo bios is detecting stuff with the option of "Esc" to get to detailed detection. This is a good idea as many users (end users) don't need to know a thing about if a HD is on master or slave channel 0,1 or whatever. This works with SuSE 10.0 Live CD which I've tested (they keep the same image from mobo-bios detection, grub, and startup process) and I think is a good idea for Ubuntu. -- xerman

Updating

  • Incremental updates: Use rsync or xdelta with apt to cut down bandwidth. This requires that the reference (as far as apt-sign is concerned) package is an uncompressed tarball. The rsync case is easiest - a transparent protocol change - but there's a CPU tradeoff; the xdelta solution has all the advantages but requires the server side to keep track of old versions.
  • Downloading updated packages in the installer should start after the first user logs into the system, preferably integrated with the new hoary application update monitor. This would reduce the time to install Ubuntu dramatically, especially on systems with slower network connections.
    • This would also prevent upgrading to an unstable configuration (i.e. no x) out of the box (which has happened to me on two boxes)
  • Enhance/Integrate apt-build for easy optimization of the whole system
  • Consider an easy-to-use enhancement in synaptic to do a system upgrade by one click
  • It would be nice if the update-notifier could be configured to show if there are *new* packages in the repos. If anyone's like me, they'd like to go through the list in Synaptic and check for useful packages. Update-notifier updates the repo info silently, so I wouldn't know if new packages are offered. It would be important to make this an option though!

Apps CDs

Something really nice with Ubuntu is that it's one of the rare distribution that is usable with a 56K modem. Most distribution let you connect to the net with it but it's a nightmare to update since it would take days. With Ubuntu, I just have to pop in the new CD that I receive every six months in the mail and Synaptic will happily update my system.

It would be nice to have have an iso (or many) that it is a snapshot of everything in main that we could download with bittorent somewhere with a fast Internet connection (or ask friends) and bring back the 56K Ubuntu installation so it would be easy to install all these great apps without taking hours to download.

Maybe extra CDs could be made for other repositories.

  • Web Extras: The Shuttleworth Foundation used Moodle for their Learnlinux online learning. Can all the web package be on the cd to run Moodle. Web based CRM/ERP software LTSP
  • Music Extras: Ubuntu already has music player, so we need Music software that create music from midi to final.

  • Educational Extras: The Shuttleworth Foundation has some school software that can be included. Moodle. Kewl.NextGen? LTSP

  • Graphics Extras

William Kinghorn williamk@dit.ac.za

  • Include more 'pre-installed' software packages, Reps etc !?

    • - Dia, QCaD, aMSN, LimeWire, Nvu, Thunderbird, Abi Word, Adobe Reader, Gnumeric, Project Management, Scribus, Bluefish, Screem, Mplayer, Audacity, Firestarter, Boot Manager, CalmAV, etc. Info; http://ubuntuguide.org/ - Ubuntu Unofficial Guide, http://www.mrbass.org/linux/ubuntu/ - Unofficial Ubuntu Add-On CDubuntu-5.04-add-on-cd-e-2005-07-09.tgz.

  • Take Portland Project into account from the very beginning. Having the ability of using KDE apps in Gnome or viceversa without the interface mess should be a must. I feel more comfortable and more productive with Gnome than kde, but apps like AutoQ3D, Flash4Linux, QDVDAuthor, TaskJuggler and several more are not available. I like Gnome better, but Gnome lacks of apps. As OpenOffice is more gnomish kde is fighting with koffice which also includes an Inkscape and Gimp like apps. This is not happening the other way, maybe we could use the Portland Project to bring those apps to Gnome keeping the cool, clean, quality and productive interface. -- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)

Ubuntu Lite CD (Download Only)

How about a Ubuntu Lite Upgrade ISO Image Download, which should be smaller than the normal one and just upgrades the last Ubuntu Installation with a new one, this would be great for 56kers, and people who's only access is on netcafes, since it should be less than 600Mb.

There are many tools today that can really make this easy, like XDelta(which generates diff files to compare old versions of programs against new) and some things, like graphics and some libraries, do not need to be updated/recopied again, anyway.

Come on, Windows provides an Upgrade version, so why not ubuntu?

Networking

  • A configuration dialog for VPN (virtual private networks) is missing. With Windows, it is a matter of seconds to setup and configure a VPN connection through an unsecure network such as the internet to a remote system even with smartcard encryption. Ubuntu contains tools for creating VPNs, for accessing smartcards, etc. but unfortunately not a gui frontend to configure these components as easily as windows user can. -- Christian Jacob tronex[AT]gmail.com
  • more network card drivers, such as linux-wlan-ng installed by default, as well as including ndiswrapper in a default Hoary installation
    • prebuilt rfmon-patched prism wireless modules (see [Orinoco + Monitor + Kismet 2005 + Hoary]) in the repository would be good -- [sjalex]
  • better support for corporate proxies - it should be done once and supported in multiple apps (gaim, mozilla, synaptic)
  • support the development of the airport and airport extreme/broadcom drivers
  • easier pppoe configuration (gui or link) maybe from network-admin program... -- Lyly lyly_at_bigfoot.com
  • We should use something like the xandros winbind/samba client login stuff by default and set up Ubuntu to log into active directory out of the box. If our goal is to get Ubuntu adopted everywhere as a desktop, this one is huge. If admins don't have to fight through 10 scripts to get this to work, Ubuntu becomes much more friendly to existing environments. --Keith Bassett
  • a program for connecting to the Internet which supports dail up, ppoe/pppoa .... that start each time your not connected when you start your browser.

  • Zeroconf/Bonjour/Rendevouz support. There is an opensource implementation called Avahi and according to their homepage http://www.freedesktop.org/Software/Avahi it already supports all important features mentioned in the mDNS RFC. Avahi could be used to share printers (cups) and music (rhythmbox) with other users without any hassle. Mac users will also appreciate this since they could just plugin their ibook/powerbook in a Linux network and start printing. -- Ramon de Ruiter won[AT]home.nl

  • Only start networking at boot if the interface has link; otherwise wait 10 seconds and continue booting (10 seconds for user to plug in network card) (mostly interesting for laptops) -- Jochem Kossen jkossen[at]xs4all.nl
  • Internet sharing. So that in a few click I can share the internet from ethernet on eth0 to all nearby wireless laptops on eth1. For this to work it would need to turn on dhcp, and network address translation. windows and mac os x both make this very easy.

    • This can be done w/ FireStarter (which I suggest is needed for firewalling). Though it must become obvious it can do both. -- JoeTennies

  • Easy to use WiFi network roam program for mobile users. Are Debian network interfaces the right thing to use or is something custom like wifi-radar needed?

  • Integration of linux-wlan-ng with iwconfig tools. At the moment linux-wlan-ng uses a custom interface, and is a pain too setup. These drives are used a quite a few wifi devices such as the usb d-link dwl122.
  • Add netatalk 2.0.3, please!
  • WPA support without manually configuring WPASupplicant. WPA Supplicant is pretty easy to configure, but it would be much easier for beginners if it was integrated into the Networking configuration tool. Should be fairly easy to accomplish.

  • Graphical tunneling utility that uses SSH or another relatively secure protocol with preset tunneling modes (e.g. VNC, CUPS, NFS, Samba, etc.). This would allow roadwarriors or other remote clients who do not wish to use a command line to connect to home or work without compromising security. -- thelinuxevangelist<A~T<gmail/D0T/com

  • My apartment building has more than one 802.11 networks. Install asks me for a WEP key, but doesn't ask me for what SSID the WEP key applies to!
  • My IBM laptop has a fingerprint reader. It would be cool to be able to use that for sudo and the screensaver, ssh, etc.

  • Add ZD1211 driver to Breezy. I compiled this with Warty, and it worked fine. hfairchi@ata-sd.com

  • Samba, smbfs, ssh should be installed by default for setting up mounted files shares in an office environment. Also to allow for remote admin.

  • Use Nokia 770 as model for easy connectivity over GPRS and bluetooth. See [http://www.europe.nokia.com/nokia/0,,79633,00.htm] for a demo.

  • Some form of easily throttling maximum network speed for the whole system (and also in specific applications?) in some control panel is desirable.
  • Disable ipv6 by default. saves a lot of trouble for new users and people that need ipv6 should know how to activate it.

Printers

  • Printer setup on home networks with windows based machines. I'm a software developer and I don't know what a printer command line is (referring to the open office printer setup tool).
  • switch to hplip for hp printer drivers
  • Local auto-detected printers that are obviously a fully supported model should be automagically added. The system knew I had an hp deskjet 940c plugged in already (the autodetect field said as much), why should I have to go through the new printer wizard? -- ChrisZS ([at] gmail [dot] com)
  • Replacement of Gimp-Print with Gutenprint (the new name for Gimp-Print 5.0), this includes many enhancements and bug fixes for Epson users (and I'm sure it fixes issues with other printers). I believe its now in Debian Sid so backport possible? -- A-Wing (info [at] a-wing [dot] co [dot] uk)
  • There should be just one printing dialog all over the system. This printing dialog should offer the following options:
    • Destiny/whatever: PDF file, PS file, Direct to Printer
    • Paper and Quality: Select paper size, select color-b/n, select dpi
    • Two sided printing(if allowed): long edge, short edge, off
    • Copies: number of copies, pages to be printed, collated or not
    • Save configuration: save selected configuration of all the standard options available.
    • and an Application specific button; this is... if I call the print file option from Evince, there should be an "Evince" button if Evince has printing options other than standard. Same for gimp, inkscape, openoffice. This would make printing from any program a standard task with an uniform interface, and having everyprogram its tweaking options if needed. Programming printing dialog should be a lot easier (I think) too, as there would be a call to the printing dialog, and the specific directives would be accesed through the "application specific button". -- xerman ( info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)
  • Printing should be more stable. I get printing from evince hanging the printer (HP CP1700d) the first page prints, then the second starts and it gets stuck while printing in the middle of the page, needing to cancel printing both on ubuntu and the printer, and restarting printer. This has happened too with Evolution.

    Other issues: printer capabilities differ from app to app. Two sided printing is available at OpenOffice but not in Evince (HP Photosmart 3210 -just tested this 2 apps for printing) and this is a very weird issue. -- xerman ( info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)

Language

  • How about including Mozilla/Firefox that is built with Xft & Pango support so that it can display indic language pages (like that provided in fedora). There seems to be such build already in the net. I understand that just pango linking alone is not enough m17n library has to be linked to it ?! right? can some one throw light on this? rajesh ganesan

  • Localized Firefox bookmarks. Windows version has them, Ubuntu does not (at least the Finnish version). -- AleksiNurmi

Control Panel

  • Someway to adjust brightness, contrast, gamma. Right now I can use xgamma for gamma, but no way to adjust brightness and contrast. My laptop (HP zt3000) looks horrible without someway to adjust contrast, so much so that I am forced to go back to using Windows (feel pity on me!)
  • A control panel similar like "The Mandrake Control Center" in Mandriva or "YAST" in Suse.

  • Port YAST2 to Ubuntu. There's a YaST2 port in the making for Debian, so that shouldn't be a big matter. http://yast4debian.alioth.debian.org

  • Preferred applications should not only list default email and browser, but also have another tab for "open with" where users can set which application is used to open certain types of files. See idea here: [http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=140848]

Copy/Paste

  • What the Ubuntu desktop is lacking is a proper copy and paste tool. If you copy a selection, close the application, open another application, and then paste, then copied selection will be lost. What is needed is a tool like Klipper (KDE) to store the copied material, and pastes it when needed. -LukasSabota (punkrockguy318 _at_ comcast _dot_ net)

    • They have been working on this in the GNOME world for a long time (google for it). The biggest issue, I believe, came from the application's ability to convert the data to multiple formats -- JoeTennies

    • I've found a solution that seems to work perfectly: gnome-clipboard-daemon. Details can be found here: http://members.chello.nl/~h.lai/gnome-clipboard-daemon/index.html . This should be incorporated into the next release for sure. LukasSabota (punkrockguy318 _at_ comcast _dot_net)

QEMU Image?

  • I'm proposing a qemu image, which would include an Ubuntu already installed. This would allow users to try out Ubuntu from the cozy comfort of their favourite OS. Maybe even distribute a CD with this image, that would "install" ubuntu under windows, complete with a desktop icon and start menu entry. Images for emulators or virtual machines would work, but QEMU works because it's free, and relatively fast. -- reub2000 at earthlink.net

  • This is a great idea. Letting people to try Ubuntu risk-free would encourage to test it out. Someone with a commercial VMWare license could make a ready VMWare virtual machine image. The VMWare Player is a free application that can't modify the virtual machine but can run it. VMWare runs better, works very well for the most important target group (Windows users), is easy to setup and use. Just add in for-dummies instructions and voila. -- Foo

Laptop profiles

Laptops have been mentioned before under Startup and Networking, but I think they deserve a separate heading. I'm disappointed with the network profiles part of KNetworkConf (System Settings: Network Settings), which seems quite buggy. Even though I have Kubuntu, I use network-admin from GNOME for setting my network profile, but this isn't much better then KNetworkConf, and neither provide all the features I would wish for. I know there are a few tools specifically for this kind of thing, but I haven't investigated them yet. I suggest Ubuntu should provide a single tool by default (across GNOME and KDE). I'm not talking about Zeroconf, etc. (though of course that would be very useful too), but about preconfigured profiles for office, home, etc. -- GraemeHewson

  • Set dynamic or static network address, and if the latter, gateway and addresses of DNS servers. These are the basic settings provided by KNetworkConf and network-admin.

  • Allow setting the profile through a command as well as a GUI. A profile could be selected through GRUB at boot time. Once booted, a CLI might be more convenient for network engineers plugging in different cables, and so on.
  • Set addresses of NTP servers
  • Set available printers, local and network. (The laptop could be connected to a docking station with a local printer.) Allow spooling on plane for printing at office? This could get complicated. KISS?
  • Set display (docking station again, or user plugging in hi-res display). Could this be dynamic -- what if Ubuntu had been installed without having seen the hi-res display?
  • Other hardware (modem, mouse)
  • Firewall configuration
  • Not to forget plain old not connected to a network. I've seen a couple of bugs here, not previously mentioned, which I'll report through bugzilla.

Versioning Filesystems

Hard drives have continuously grown in capacity and offer ever more affordable mass storage solutions. It would be great if Ubuntu took advantage of the large storage capacity of hard drives to bring real benefits to the user. One way to do this would be to use versioning filesystems for the home drive (where the user's important files are stored). Every single change the user makes to a file would automatically be remembered and the user could do things like ask "What did this file look like on Sunday". It could also be used to undo inapropriate changes that have been made (such as deleting a file that the user wants back). This would be very useful as the user can often make mistakes when editing a file. There is a GPL filesystem called Wayback that uses FUSE to implement a versioning filesystem on top of any other filesystem. Ideally, graphical tools would also need to be provided that allow the user to query the filesystem in a user-friendly way and from within the file manager.

Tweak Enhancements

  • Install 'gkdebconf' and 'libgnome2-perl' by default, on (first) gnome startup, add a script that changes the configuration mode from dialog to gnome. Or instead of just first, each time gnome starts, and revert to dialog on logout. (So dpkg-reconfigure can be called from console if something goes wrong with X and it needs to be re-configured) - chibifs@studiochibico.com

  • Sane defaults for mount options. Eg. a /tmp partition doesn't need suid or dev support, so set defaults to nosuid,nodev -- Jochem Kossen jkossen[at]xs4all.nl

  • Certain HIG, Application, Printer stuff as stated in -> http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=633159#post633159 -- xerman (info [at] xsproxectos [dot] com)

Hardware Detection and Handling

General

* Since the 386 version only brings the 386 kernel on the cd (and many users don´t know they have to use in most cases a optimized version), the 386 version during the install should run a automatic script that would detect which CPU the computer has , which is the right kernel for it , and show the user a simple menu in which he can select the right kernel to install (using apt-get trough internet and not by cd off course) , the 386 , or even both (and explain off course the differences between them), this would help a lot the “out of the box experience” because many users use the default 386 without knowing they won´t get the their full CPU power used that way. -- joaocrespo [at] gmail [dot] com.

* One original idea to make hardware work with Ubuntu: make an application that lists all the hardware that is currently compatible with Linux (and supported by Ubuntu). In this application, it will be possible to search for a device using hints such as hardware type, brand, etc... The app could contain links to vendor websites, etc... This way users will be sure their new device will be supported. Example: I want to buy a webcam, I open the application "Choose New Hardware for Ubuntu", I type "webcam" in the search box, a list of all supported webcams is displayed, I choose the Philips SuperCam 12, because I know it's good and it's supported by Ubuntu !! Then when I receive it, I plug it in, and it works right out of the box!!!! If Ubuntu becomes *really* popular, vendor really will want to be on this list so maybe they will start to contribute to make Linux Drivers !! This app could be web-based, something like http://hardware.ubuntu.com (like packages.ubuntu.com with the same type of interface but with compatible hardware devices search instead of packages search...) Please see: http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=403160&posted=1#post403160 for a discussion on this topic.

  • Elektra xserver patches - The elektra xserver patches would allow disabling and enabling the use of closed-source drivers (like nvidia or fglrx) very easy. Elekra sets up a registry for Linux; so a script could change registry entries of the xorg configuration to suit what the driver needed. This would remove the awkwardness of scripts editing configuration files, and such. This would also allow other graphical applications to edit the xorg configuration. [http://elektra.sf.net]

  • For FreedomToasters [www.freedomtoaster.org] and for DialUp PPl: a dvd or cd iso with all the most common applications that are not included into THE CD. AndreaAbelli

  • For The Unlucky: a dvd/cd with the hardware database and all the most exotic drivers that are not included into THE CD. (just an idea) AndreaAbelli

  • http://nat.org/2005/february/ this hardware rendered x server should go in as soon as its usable...the version of x.org in hoary will already have the composite extensions if Im not mistaken, and it would be great to have it all rendered on the graphics card.

  • Detect and configure 'Wacom USB graphics tablet' by at the very least changing the mouse driver to wacom when it is seen (usually on /dev/event2). At most, have it add cursor and eraser devices to the X config. The tablet is my only mousing device, it's inconvenient to set up as the core pointer when it's using the wrong driver by default and can't be moved. :P
  • Hardware detection: ISA Sound cards, USB devices such as scanners and printers needs to be improved. An out of the box full multimedia experience is critical to getting homes using this almost perfect OS.
  • Hardware compatibility: make it work smoothly with Apple Mini
  • Setting up many-mouse buttons (probably with imwheel) also, this is something users shouldn't have to battle with (it is still hard).
  • Further to the Synaptic driver for touchpads, a gui interface for configuring the touchpad would be handy. Also, there is no way to disable the touchpad temporarily after a key is pressed, to stop accidental touches while typing.

  • The default mapping for mouse-button emulation on Apple computers needs to be more usable. F11 and F12 are too far away from the trackpad to be used comfortably on Apple laptops for the third and second mouse buttons. The command (Apple) keys would make ideal second mouse buttons, and the small Enter key next to right-command could make a good third. It may also feel more natural if these buttons worked as modifiers to the main mouse-button, the way control does under OS X. [http://benhourigan.com Ben Hourigan]

  • Wireless LAN support is becoming an issue for more people all of the time. I would love to see Ubuntu be the first single-cd install (since it's difficult to install drivers from the web if you can't activate your net interface!) that accurately identified *and* activated many common wireless NICs including PCMIA and USB. Failing that it would be perhaps just as valuable if Ubuntu were to be associated with the largest database of what wireless hardware works and what doesn't! To the best of my knowledge there is no such database specifically for debian.

  • http://at76c503a.berlios.de/ might provide us with some support for the above USB WLAN devices (Atmel AT76C503/505A in specific). - Brian Jackson

  • Providing an interface for wireless management and support for various authentification protocols (LEAP, PEAP etc. etc.) would put Ubuntu a step forward to being a viable alternative to Microsoft Windows or Mac OS X. -- Terry Dellino

  • Decent Super-Duper [FireWire - IEEE 1394 - iLink] Support. Make [FireWire - IEEE 1394 - iLink] support built-in/embedded so we can install & boot Ubuntu from external [FireWire - IEEE 1394 - iLink] drives!-- Fu Kay

  • Along these lines, it would be nice if MiniDV on Ubuntu "just worked". So, I plug in my consumer camcorder with a IEEE1394 cable, and Ubuntu notices and provides a desktop icon for the camcorder. Double-clicking the desktop icon would launch a program to capture video from the camera -- the Kino program is an excellent GPL'd, GTK-based tool for this. The end user could then use Kino to edit the captured footage. To my knowledge, MiniDV is not protected by patents the way some other video formats are, so support for this could be added to all versions of Ubuntu.
  • integrate prc5x webcam drivers into mainline

  • Complete merging gatos (http://gatos.sourceforge.net/) into x.org and make ATI All-In-Wonder card support out of the box. -- Reviczky Ádám János

  • A central control panel for hardware configuration, where I can configure all of my hardware, tools like for example the KDE Control Center just DON'T do it all.

ALSA and Sound

  • write an alsa driver so I can use my laptop as a phone headset (http://www.soft.uni-linz.ac.at/_wiki/tiki-index.php?page=ProjectBluezHandsfree) SoundBase ( ALSA / OSS configurator and execution) would use Ncurses to select to:

    • Enable / disable and load/unload Oss/Alsa kernel sound modules and restore old configurations (changelog file).
    • Execute alsaconf .
    • Enable/disable the default sound mixer, load/unload alsa/oss mixer and execute alsamixergui.
    • Select the output configuration for popular players (XMMS / Xine...).

    • Configure MIDI (hardware or software SoundFont s, midi default player and midi plugins).

    • Execute XMMS with midi plugin and support.
    • Execute aplaymidi .
    • Execute timidity .

  • Add bluetooth-alsa support for bt-headsets (http://sourceforge.net/projects/bluetooth-alsa/)

  • Add a general multi-band equalizer instead of the actual one band one. Because users have any way to manage sound output directly.

Raid

  • "degraded" RAID1 array install:

    • I run a full RAID1 array for my Linux install. Although the Ubuntu (4.1) install allows the installation of Ubuntu onto a RAID1 array, it seems to require that the RAID1 array be fully online, ie. all component member devices of the RAID1 array are online. I'd like the ability to install Ubuntu to a "degraded" RAID1 array, where only half of the component member devices are available. This would allow me to test out Ubuntu before completely moving to it, by going through the following steps :
      1. Degrade my existing RAID1 array, containing my existing Linux distribution install eg. split out all /dev/hda devices from the existing RAID1 array.
      2. Boot the Ubuntu install
      3. Create a new RAID1 array, listing both the /dev/hda and /dev/hdc devices. However, nominate the /dev/hdc devices as missing.
      4. Install Ubuntu, as per the normal procedure
      5. Test it out to see if I'm happy with the install.
      6. If I'm happy with the Ubuntu install, add the missing /dev/hdc devices into the Ubuntu created RAID1 array.
      7. If I'm not happy with the Ubuntu install, boot into my old distribution, and add the /dev/hda devices that were part of the Ubuntu RAID1 array back into my original, other distribution RAID1 array.
    • The advantage of this method is that it potentially avoids having to restore from backup an existing distribution and personal data if I'm not happy with the Ubuntu installation.
    • I realise that the above install method is somewhat complicated and should be performed by somebody experienced with booting multiple installations of Linux on multiple devices. However, it would be far simpler and easier than the method I recently used, where I had to install Ubuntu onto a non-RAID1 disk, create a new RAID1 array after Ubuntu was installed on the other disk, copy Ubuntu to the RAID1 array in single user mode, and then add the original native disk into the newly created array.
    • To sum all this up, a change to the Ubuntu installer to allow degraded RAID1 arrays to be created would make the above short-cut RAID1 installation possible.

Listing "Ubuntu Friendly" Hardware

Create a place on the website that lists hardware that just works with the current version of Ubuntu so that system builders (hobbyists, at least) can save time by just buying "Ubuntu Friendly" (i.e., no-headaches) hardware in the first place. Hopefully, this will simplify the system building process down to:

  1. Order Parts from Ubuntu's (or an approved affiliate's) web site
  2. Assemble Hardware
  3. Install and configure Ubuntu with no headaches (hopefully in under an hour)
  4. Enjoy

Examples of hardware categories include:

  • Complete systems
  • Motherboards
  • Video cards
  • USB devices

The business effect of this will be to establish a hardware brand similar to "Intel Inside" without actually making any hardware. As soon as enough people ask, "Is it Ubuntu Friendly?", you'll have a viable hardware brand. How many people is that? I don't know.

To help with this, create a client application that automatically (as much as possible) collects and submits hardware information to the Ubuntu web site and a server-side app that puts it all together to generate the list. You could sell these parts on the Ubuntu website or collect referral fees from approved affiliates for click-thru purchases.

In the case of partially friendly hardware, it would be nice to see incompatibilities and other gothcas listed in a more consistent way than as done at other Linux hardware sites. pdirezze[at]rogers.com

I'm surprised that something like this hasn't been done already! I think a cross between a standard, category based list of hardware and a small wiki/comment section for each hardware piece would be a good start (and easier to make a client side app to autosubmit). Also, people could submit hardware lists of specific computers which would link to the relevant hardware pages in the database, and a computer page could summarise the compatibility status of its collective parts.

I'd love to code or maintain/be part of a site such as this, but I wouldn't know how to begin making it official. Would a server be supplied? Could I pick the language? Is there a framework in place for Ubuntu sites already that must be used? - mark.goodall [at] gmail.com

SpreadUbuntu: Ubuntu Switch Site

How about a site aimed at switching Windows users?

Let's just get Drupal going (http://drupal.org/, already used in the Fridge, http://fridge.ubuntu.com/) and let's follow the Firefox lead (http://www.spreadfirefox.com/), they are doing amazing things and there is no point in reinventing the wheel. In fact It would not be a bad idea to get in touch with the spreadfirefox team and reuse much of their work.

The site should:

The website already exists http://www.spreadubuntu.org and all the domains: spreadubuntu.org, spreadununtu.com, spreadununtu.net and spreadlinux.org are already registered (http://www.whois.ws/whois-org/ip-address/spreadubuntu.org/). Lets help it take off. At the moment there is only a static page. The site needs a lot of community effort. See also http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=39459

It would also be a good idea to make a sister site for spreadlinux... At the moment spreadlinux.org redirects on spradubuntu.org. I think sprealinux.org should have similar content but agnostic in terms of distros and trying to be VERY gentle when explaining to visitors that there is not such a thing as "one linux"...

mark.goodall [at] gmail.com

Ago

As 6.04 will be 'up against' Vista I think that a feature comparison would be beneficial on such a publicity site. Comparing common desktop functions such as CD burning, organising photos, handling multimedia content (music, ripping CDs etc.) and working online. Allowing users to drill down into HOWTOs, support and provide access to support for those migrating from Windows or testing their toes would help. I would be willing to put what time I could towards such a project. Mike Blamires, mike [at] blamires.co.uk

New/Different Versions of Ubuntu

  • I worked as UNIX system adminitrator for some years. I noted that the thing missing for server configuration is a simple but well integrated configuration management tool installed by the default distribution. A tool that allows to configure the services using minimal information but with attention for security. It's for that I began to work onto a simple shell script that can help to configure Ubuntu Server services like DNS,DHCP,RADIUS,LDAP,Web and MAIL,IDS,RAID and more other server things...it is a very simple approach but it sets up the server downloading and installing the right packages and then configuring it with a simple text menu. I think this will be really useful to include in Ubuntu distribution, because the script doesn't require any graphic neither than the default provided by server installation of Ubuntu. At the moment i don't have so much time but the tool is at good development point. If someone if interested to this idea can contact at crivalli@gmail.com .

  • A second cd with some new extra packages!

  • An Ubuntu Internet cafe management product - PopeMensa

  • Localized ISO! For example, a Hoary Hedgehog Spanish ISO (apart from the official one) containing:
    • The boot messages written in Spanish.
    • The boot screen adapted for Spanish keyboards (in order to type boot parameters correctly).
    • Localized packages for Spanish: openoffice.org-l10n-es, openoffice.org-help-es, openoffice.org-hyphenation-es, openoffice.org-spellcheck-es, openoffice.org-thesaurus-es, mozilla-firefox-locale-es...
    • Live CD also localized: boot messages in Spanish, boot screen adapted for Spanish keyboards, localized packages for Spanish, localized Windows programs for Spanish (Open Office.org, Mozilla Firefox, etc.).

    • Localized packs of the two CD (the Hoary one and the Live one, as is now be shipped from http://shipit.ubuntulinux.org), with texts in different languages.

  • An easy way to do the previous by the way of costumization as explained in February 2005 Linux Magazine's article Red Hat - Creating a custom installation CD or something like the one it is already done with the Live-CDs

  • Ubuntu Home server: We need an Ubuntu router/firewall server howto. We can use the minimal install instructions to start it. Personally I'd recommend webmin as the primary interface, with that its only a short step away from being like "e-smith". I have a dual nic PC (P2 400) with 10 gig drive and 192 meg of ram that I'm willing to use as a test/documentation helper. I'm willing to submit time and the use of my adsl connection. I'm willing to build, re-build and add/remove hardware fro different solutions (ie, single nic firewall etc) I just need a bit of help in the "howto" dept.any offers of help please send to senectus at the google mail address.

  • I work as an IT adviser for a ministry of a developing country. What would make Ubuntu Really Useful in this organization would be a "backline" product: an UbuntuServer which would handle things like

    • centralized user authentication (Linux and Windows),
    • print services,
    • file services (with version control and maybe webdav),
    • intranet services like a simple wiki/blog (and an interface to the file services above)
    • mail services (optional, at least here)
    • web proxy (with filtering),
    • network services (dhcp, dns, wireless, gateway, routing, firewall, vpn)
    • monitoring (mrtg, snort)

      • I really think that the UbuntuServer distribution needs to get behind and implement Xen for DapperDrake. Xen is already ramping up to be the killer open-source application for Linux; if the Ubuntu team could create an option to install UbuntuServer solo, as well as with Xen implemented (via some easy GUI tools for configuration), we could easily see Ubuntu market share grow even more. Plus, since Dapper is to be supported for 5 years, implementing Xen early would allow the developers to improve and backport the new Xen packages as they are released, further broadening Linux's presence in the datacenter. - TyranoJones

  • Packing even part of these into one easily installable distribution would be very, very valuable. I would be able to deploy a full and unified environment to each department easily. Now i would have Ubuntu on the desktop and Fedora, Mandrake or some other product on the backline. And i still don't know how to handle centralized user authentication on Linux... but that's another story Smile :) -- RobinLauren

    • Kind of an Ubuntu Media Center would be appreciated by Media Center constructors

Ubuntu Website

  • Create a section on the website for How-To videos (using wink, vnc2swf or similar) like in Puppylinux (see http://rhinoweb.us/), very user friendly and less boring than a FAQ. Also a nice marketing tool. It could even be made via a community effort allowing Ubuntu members to contribute new videos. Ago

  • Provide a space where ubuntu and other linux users can contribute money toward specific features/drivers etc.

  • Some coordination to help with the translation of the actual "Ubuntulinux":http://www.ubuntulinux.org website and any other information, in as many languages as possible, to let the newcomer access easily information about UbuntuLinux in their own languages

  • Given that accessibility is an important goal of ubuntu, shouldn't the website be designed without tables used for layout? 3-column css layouts are possible.

  • A launchpad.ubuntu.com/thankyou website in which it is possible to send a thank you message to the author(s) of a specific free software project, to add one's own signature to an existing thank you, to report success stories, to make a donation Valerio Paolini) reported by EnricoZini

  • Make the RosettaFAQ work better. Motivation: users only go to the "support" section of a site when they are having a problem. RosettaFAQ naturally pair the problem with a solution, and are really the most useful kind of online support. The situations is this, however: 90% of people all share the same 10 or so problems, so adding RosettaFAQ tends to dilute the effectiveness by making it hard to find the RosettaFAQ for that critical 10%. Here is how to fix this: Add a section at the bottom of each FAQ which says "This FAQ solved my problem" with a yes button and a no button. Presumably RosettaFAQ are stored in a database somewhere. Add a column to the FAQ table which is called NumberOfUsersHelped or something like that and stores the number of times someone clicked the "yes" button for that FAQ; also add a NumberOfTimesViewed which is incremented anytime someone views the FAQ. On the support page put a big list of problems which are ordered by NumberOfUsersHelped/(NOW() - date_posted). (Dividing by the age prevents favoring older RosettaFAQ). This way the 90% of people with common problems have their questions answered right there on the support page without having to dig around at all. I did something like this for a commercial software company and it drastically cut down on their number of support calls. The best part is you can easily see which RosettaFAQ are confusing or otherwise not helping people because they are viewed a lot, but no one ever clicks the "yes" button. Once you have this in place you can add lots and lots of RosettaFAQ, it is suprising which are helpful and which aren't. --()

  • Is possibile add http://www.ubuntuitalia.it/forum to this page http://www.ubuntulinux.org/community/forums/document_view ?? It's the official italian forum Smile :) (AlessioFattorini)

  • Divide this page in several smaller. Or add anchors/links in TOC. It is becoming difficult to navigate and edit this page.

  • Some great ideas on this page, but they tend to get lost because this page is so long. I would suggest using the feature request part of bugzilla to submit and vote on ideas that we think are the most important. For example the [http://bugs.kde.org/buglist.cgi?bug_status=UNCONFIRMED&bug_status=NEW&bug_status=ASSIGNED&bug_status=REOPENED&bug_severity=wishlist&votes=21&order=bugs.votes most wanted feature in KDE right now] is Bittorrent support, and that is going to be put in the next release. -Axiom (a very new kubuntu user)

    • There are a couple of problems with this: 1. is that the bugzilla is going to only have a subsection of the users . 2. Users know what they want, but not how to do it. It is important to make that distinction
  • How about the Ubuntu Weekly Gazette? I know we have the Fridge for nearly daily news updates. But how about something that highlights the best of the news and community contributors? This could introduce people who are currently outside of the Ubuntu community to the 'Human' side of our distro. We could spotlight features. Give a look inside of some of our key contributors lives. And maybe share opportunities that other members are taking to share Ubuntu in their communities, schools, churches, etc.

Training and Certification

  • The easiest way to take the fear out of end-users switching to Ubuntu (via their work or otherwise) is to offer easy-to-read & absorb 'pocket books', outlining the main differences in 'how things work' compared to other products. A 'pocket book' is less daunting than trying to find out the basics from a thick text or manual and simple explanations of what changes in habit or knowledge are required often will make the difference in usage levels of a product. People are adaptable, but end users who "know nothing about computers" will often find even an OS upgrade daunting because 'enhancements' and other changes are not clearly noted, explained or offered with easy-to-follow instructions. To paraphrase the old "hearts & minds" cliche: If you can make an end user comfortable quickly with Ubuntu, power users and companies will quickly follow. - Lynne@robertcollins.net

  • Canonical is well positioned to push for a Python Certification Program - AntonioOgnio

  • See this mail on the subject: http://wingware.com/pipermail/marketing-python/2003-December/005443.html

  • LPI Training materials focussed on Ubuntu would rock since there's a version of the exam for apt/dpkg-based distros - AntonioOgnio

  • Ubuntu training on video. MSDN is an example of good use of video training materials. It shouldn't really be expensive to produce a series of Ubuntu training video and distribute them over the net and in DVDs - AntonioOgnio

  • Official Ubuntu Books for end users, power users and developers
  • Ubuntu Linux for Dummies

  • I believe some sort of official certification is necessary for Ubuntu to break into the business world. Something similar to the RHCE for administrators, as well as some kind of vendor support certification for companies who would like to sell servers and desktops with Ubuntu support contracts. This was one of the primary reasons my company went with RedHat (for the guaranteed support contracts), instead of the superior (and free) Ubuntu distribution. - TyranoJones

Media and Marketing: Spreading the word about Ubuntu

  • Two things I've noticed. 1 The release names are great and just screaming out for graphics to go with them. Giving the creatures a "face" would increase curiosity/interest in Ubuntu. 2 Each release has been in a different country, which to me shows Ubuntu is a truly global initiative. So why not incoporate a release creature graphic and location iconic imagery onto t-shirts, posters, wallpaper/backgrounds/themes, postcards, etc, at each release?

    Who knows, in time a "Breezy Badger" t-shirt might become a collector's item? - Lynne@robertcollins.net

  • Make a community driven "spread-ubuntu" section where members can contribute videos (using wink, vnc2swf or similar like in PuppyLinux http://rhinoweb.us/), logos, slogans, banners, comic strips... Have a rating system for the contributed files. Make the best ones easily available for download. Make periodic polls, contests and bounties. In the same section have articles about "spread ubuntu" initiatives and calendar of forth coming events... Ago

  • It is important to create "promotional videos" with screencasting technology (see above) to be demoed on Linux stands. Possibly on specific arguments (desktop, education, research, business...). Take for instance the 20 minutes video of RubyOnRails, its impact was dramatic. Videos do help a lot. The best video should be on accessible from Ubuntu homepage. Ago

  • Facilitate the organization of exhibition stands, where users can have a chance to play with the system, obtain brochures and CDs and watch the above videos. Make it easy to obtain all the material (brochures, videos, CDs) that may be required. Ago
  • Organize an "Ubuntu ono the road" tour where the exhibition stands are installed in major cities/universities. Ago

  • A you beaut "U Bunt 2" weekly cartoon strip in the Wiki. Any cartoonists in the house? - Lynne@robertcollins.net

  • Sell small stickers (2x3cm) with the Ubuntu/Kubuntu logo say something like "Ubuntu Linux Inside" to replace the standard Windows sticker and promote Ubuntu Linux. You could sell five or ten in small packets for 10-15 euro and use the funds for the development of Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Edubuntu. Or give them away at Computer Shows and thru pc/Linux magazines. jdwijbenga(add)yahoo.com

  • Ubuntu radio program - AntonioOgnio

  • Ubuntu printed magazines - AntonioOgnio

  • Ubuntu T-Shirts!!! - AntonioOgnio

  • Presence at LinuxTag 2005. I made a wiki page for this, called LinuxTag - TimFuchs

  • Ubuntu Logo Suggestion: Medicine Mask - I think the current ubuntu logo doesn't have enough character and is therefore not memorable enough...its nothing compared to a big X, or a colourful flag, which is why I'd like to suggest a new logo that has something todo with the name, the african name. The first time I heard "Ubuntu" I immediately thought how great it was that there was a supermodern technology (ie. linux distro) called something really primitive & old (ie. old African word), an interesting contradiction. How about if the logo reflected the actual name with an African medicine man's mask?? Something everyone associates with tribal Africa, but in contrary to past suggestions is not discriminating in any way. It would make this distro much more memorable and interesting through this contradiction! My Wiki: https://www.ubuntulinux.org/wiki/UbuntuLogoMascotSuggestionMedicineMask

  • What about some Ubuntu contests to make people feel involved in their favourite distribution and also attract more attention from news sites and other users. Some ideas are a Ubuntu Splash Screen Contest (similar to the GNOME one) and maybe a Ubuntu Wallpaper Contest (e.g. like the KDE one) - e.gonzalezsolares@gmail.com

  • A downloadable wallpaper similar to the chocolate one, for Windows users who are stuck with Microsoft (or other Operating Systems) - Aidan

  • I think the t-shirts need to be re-designed to be catchier. For example, a brown or tan t-shirt (like the shade used in the Ubuntu theme) with a small Ubuntu logo with "Ubuntu" in off-white on the breast, front, and on the back, an image for the current release. (ibgeek@gmail.com)

  • One of the biggest markets for Linux in the next year may be the Playstation 3 "gaming console." The ground work for porting Linux to the Cell processor has been laid (see http://linuxdevices.com/news/NS6219524044.html) and Sony has made its interest in Linux clear (http://ps3.ign.com/articles/624/624046p1.html). Sony has sold 100 million PlayStations since the console was released in Japan in 1994, and 70 million PlayStation 2 units since it was introduced in 1999. The above suggests to me that with minimal effort Ubuntu and the PS3 could offer each other significant "added value" at next to zero cost. The market potential for the Linux disto that collaborates with Sony on this (or at least ensures PS3 compatibility) is enormous. -Alex Martinson (alexmartinson@gmail.com)

I put a script into the WiFiHowto that autoconfigures the wlan device to a preconfigured WLAN if it is found when bringing up the device. The script uses the functionality in /etc/network/interfaces and if called on ifup. -- TobiasHunger

  • My suggestion here is about Kubuntu. I do know the difference between Ubuntu and Kubuntu (one includes the GNOME environment while the other one includes the KDE environment) and I agree that it is an excellent idea not to include the two environments by default in the install CDs. But I think the two different names (Ubuntu and Kubuntu) are confusing for newbies, who may think the two products are different distros (when they are in fact the same distro). What do I suggest? I suggest you to use only one name for the two products (Ubuntu) and to distinguish them by adding "version G" and/or "version K", or "G edition"/"K edition". --Alexandre

Live CD Enhancements

Live CD + save sessions

  • I love Ubuntu for a fact and it is just great! I am a novice Linux user and I really enjoy trying out new distros on my "extra computer". I recently came across dyne:bolic (http://www.dynebolic.org) Live CD and was just blown away by how different it is. If I were a multimedia artist, that would probably be the distro for me. What I have in mind is an Ubuntu Live CD that would let you easily save settings and files on all kinds of media -- the hard disk, any removable disk, or even to a CD-RW. By this, I mean through a button that you can just click. With the settings safely saved away, you can be assured that everything is how you left it the next time you reboot. I don't know how feasible this idea is but this would surely be handy for those who move a lot.

Kickstart option for Live CD

Quite some open source projects, like Typo3, Lamppix and schoolTool, are offering demo cd’s. These cd’s boot your pc into a fully configured webserver. If the Ubuntu Live CD would have a kickstart option, these projects could just as well offer a kickstart script for it. Instead of downloading a modified live cd distribution, just download the script that adds some functionality to the live cd you already have lying around. [http://nerdnotes.brammeleman.org/index.php/2006/02/26/kickstart-for-ubuntu-live-cd/ More info here]. By brammeleman at brammeleman dot org.

LiveCD for Secure Exams

I'd like to create an Ubuntu-based live CD for administering secure exams in law (and other) schools.

It should be stripped down and configured to bar certain user actions:

  • bar read access to local drives
  • bar Internet access except for transmission of exam
  • offer a stripped down text editor (with administrator option to block cut and paste functions)

It should boot both PPC and x86 laptops and include hardware support for hard drive, video, network (wireless), usb storage. Sound and most peripherals are unnecessary (e.g. no printing, scanning, cd burning).

It should save regular backups of the exam in progress with an option to save locally or to a server.

It should have an easy means for an administrator with little tech knowledge to change basic configuration options and burn a new version. --david[at]altruistek[dot]com

Ejectable Live CD

I noticed this yesterday when I booted from the live cd to run a rootkit scan. You cannot eject the cd, otherwise everything gets borked and you end up hard rebooting. Either the live cd eject should be disabled, or there should be a script that preloads essential tools to RAM (or better yet, swap or hard disk if available) and restores everything once it sees the live cd. This way, Live CD will also be a long term usable OS as well. ~~ towsonu 2003 atat gmail dotdotdudu com

I just learned about Slax, which, I guess, uses a script to copy filesystem to RAM. For Ubuntu, one could boot the CD with copy2ram. This would ideally copy the critical files / directories to the RAM and than eject the CD. When non-critical programs are launched, Ubuntu could give a "please install LiveCD now" type of warning and copy only the part where the launched program resides to the RAM etc. If two many progams are launched and the system runs out of RAM (and swap), Ubuntu could warn "insert your CD and do not eject it until closing some of your application to free %RAM". Of course, as applications are closed, RAM should be freed for other applications. ~~ towsonu2003

Unfortunately, not being a programmer, I can't contribute code. Could the writer of Slax help?? ~~ towsonu2003

Uses: A LiveCD that can be used almost the same as an installation. Slax' modularity is already there thanks to apt-get. Potentials are: users with no hard disk, users who want to try Ubuntu for a long time, paranoid users (write-only filesystem, reboot resets previous changes -no viruses/rootkits -good for webservers who do not pla on rebooting unless compromised). All these users will be able to access the CD drive (read documentation saved in CD, install software, install emulated OS/server from within LiveCD, listen music, watch DVD, play games etc etc). ~~ towsonu2003

Hardening

Proactive Security

Deploy FORTIFY_SOURCE and/or Exec-Shield to enhance the security of the system. These things, especially FORTIFY_SOURCE, are not very invasive and can prevent the exploitation of buffer overflows, the number one cause of security exploits. These technologies are especially appealing for enterprise deployment, a goal of DapperDrake. Fedora and SUSE already deploy FORTIFY_SOURCE, thus we can assume that any harm which was caused by using it is already fixed by now.

Bash

predefined Aliases

To save "typework" (<--is this correct? sorry I'm from Austria) there shold be Aliases defined in bashrc like alias dist-upgrade='sudo aptitude update; sudo aptitude dist-upgrade' and other often used commands

More "intuitive" keys for line editing

<Ctrl><arrow> to move cursor forward/backward by word, <Insert> to toggle insert mode, etc. See suggested configuration files at HowToReadline. --GraemeHewson

Intelligent SUDO

Improve "sudo" so that it knows if it opened an application. If you "sudo konqueror" it acts as sudo in konqueror ITO copy paste permissions etc. However if you want to edit a file from the "sudo" konqueror you can't just double click the file to edit it in KATE. It treats you as a user in Kate not a sudo who opened kate. You have to go back to console and sudo kate the file from there - a bit of a pain

Ubuntu bandwidth project

It could be nice to let people with ubuntu to give some of their upload bandwidth (few Kbps) to ubuntu itself, in order to be able to have a much greater upload potential. Some sort of small software that you can turn on or off, and that disables automatically when your bandwidth usage goes over 80% of your maximum (so it doesn't slow down users). Files uploaded by users can be automatically checked with a checksum. So, no dirty tricks.

With this bandwidth, ubuntu can provide: distribution CD/DVD, video/multimedia content, e-learning material.

By: simone.brunozzi [.at.] wedoit.us

  • If you want to donate bandwidth, use BitTorrent to stream/peer the various Ubuntu ISOs -- ["Madpilot"]

Install(check)tool for Windows

* I think an Ubuntu install(check) tool for Windows is useful, that tool can check for Hardware and show the devices that runs well and the devices what have no drivers on Linux.

* Simplify the use of emulators to run Ubuntu on windows, via Qemu or possibly Colinux (which in my experience is way faster than Qemu under windows). See http://www.colinux.org/ , http://free.oszoo.org . DSL distributes an embedded version (using Qemu) which "just works" under windows or Linux (http://www.damnsmalllinux.org). Probably Xubuntu should be used. Ago

* Provide an exe file to bundle iso and burning software. When executed it will simply ask to insert a blank CD and after the CD is burnt it will ask to reboot the machine. I was surprised to discover how many people have problems burning iso files. The same app could be used to 1) check hardware (see above), 2) perform useful pre-installation steps, 3) burn floppy images 4) provide instructions. Ago

Create an Ubuntu-Volatile repository

I'm running Ubuntu Hoary on my server, and I would like to hold off on upgrading since it is operating perfectly. What would be very nice is to have a Volatile repository that has continues updates to software like ClamAV etc, so you are always running the latest version on your Ubuntu box. The rationale here is that, although new versions may introduce breakage, having very old security software is close to having none (specially for AntiVirus). The Debian solution (with the volatile repo) is a quite elegant workarround.

Compilers Installed by Default

I suggest having build-essential and linux-headers-uname -r preinstalled in both LiveCD and Initial installation. Yesterday, I had to boot from the live cd and connect to the net. I couldn't compile my modem driver because these packages weren't there: you cannot eject the live cd (results in necessity of hard booting) and didn't have internet. Also, I am sick and tired of telling newbies who are trying to compile their drivers to install these packages... Usual configuration of a Linux system requires at least some compiling, so having these preinstalled (instead of see the white screen of "make: command not found") would be so much better. ~~towsonu2003 at gmail dotdot com

Bugzilla Ideas

Add a Feature Request module

While filing a bug, it would be very nice if we had the option to set the thing we're filing as a feature request instead of a bug. This, I saw implemented in OpenOffice.org's Issuezilla, and it seems to work. That way, we wouldn't have a need for this wiki page as well.

Other suggestions

This is a suggestion to the Ubuntu company. Please provide an imap account - not in your linux, but general imap service. And when anyone installs k/ubuntu, the thunderbird should be seamlessly integrated with it.

I am forced to stick to ms windows since I use hotmail in my outlook express. If kubuntu starts providing imap service or ties up with some provider, then not only will i truely shift to ubuntulinux, but I can continue my ubuntulinux propoganda easily and in a better fashion.

Amitg subscrive@yahoo.co.uk

  • i like this idea. maybe on the first start of thunderbird where it asks if you want to impoert something? an option to create a new account? <soc äT krg-nw d0T de>

*Could you consider the division of this page? it's a bit unconfortable to edit in the relevant place. --AndresGalavis

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