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Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

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Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#1

Post by jasoncwarner »

I am the Ubuntu desktop manager at Canonical. The Ubuntu community is getting ready to start planning for the next UDS in May.

I know there are quite a few Ubuntu users here and I wanted to reach out and see what people would like to have fixed, changed, improved, removed, added or anything else in the upcoming release. I'm also quite interested in those who DON'T use Ubuntu and what their thoughts are on why they don't use it (might be related).

Things to consider:

* Applications and default app selection

* Configuration & Settings

* Usability and ease of use

* Accessibility

It would be helpful for me if you could give a brief rundown of what you use Ubuntu for as well.

Cheers,

-Jason

PS. If you have used Unity in the 11.04 beta, now would be a good time to give feedback on that as it could shape the 11.10 release as well.

Re: Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#2

Post by saulrh »

Win7-style window management shortcuts would be cool. The grid plugin for compiz is close, but Win7 has a few details that make it a bit better (for example, wrapping a window around to the right when you hit win-left on a window that's already left-snapped).

Installer options for remapping caps lock, like Google did with its ChromeOS laptops. I use it as an easy-to-reach control key; other people I know turn it into another super for easy window management or an escape key for vim. Useful functions for the average grandma might include "search the web", "open gnome do", or "open Unity's 'everything on the computer' page".

Include KeePassX in Ubuntu, provide solid integration for it (possibly even with Ubuntu One), and present it to the user on installation. Encourage users to use it to create strong passwords and to maintain separate passwords for every service and website.

====

I use Ubuntu 10.10 for most of my real work. I'm a computer science student, so I do a lot of programming, answer some email, surf the web, and spend a ton of time reading and writing papers.

Re: Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#3

Post by yesbabyyes »

I run Ubuntu 10.10 on a MacBook Air (back on Ubuntu after 3-4 years on OS X) and it runs great. I haven't tried Unity yet, but I will, I think I'll like it. I basically only run a terminal, mostly with vim, and Chromium. I have all terminals and Chromium windows in fullscreen, each on their own workplace. It works pretty well. In general I think a good way forward is fullscreen and a simplified UI, so Unity looks great.

There is one thing I wish you would work in and it's speed: Waking from sleep and turning on the wifi takes ages in Ubuntu. If there is something you can do here, that would make me happy!

EDIT: One more thing: I know installation with USB on a Mac is difficult to impossible, but if there is any way to make it easier on the Airs, I think it's a good thing. It's a very nice machine for Ubuntu, but it's really hard to install.

Re: Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#4

Post by fooandbarify »

I suspect this is a complicated issue, but my biggest gripe with installation has always been related to third-party drivers. It would be cool if there was some way to bundle wireless card drivers with the install CD/USB stick, for example. (Was recently setting up a machine where wired internet was not readily available - I know that's sort of an edge case.) I know that problems related to the drivers themselves are out of your hands, but making it even easier to track down and install the right drivers would be a step in the right direction.

As was mentioned over at http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2321584 power management needs a lot of work.

Nevertheless, I'm eternally grateful for the excellent work you guys are doing over there. Please keep it up!

Re: Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#5

Post by abdulla »

I would genuinely like the option to use GNOME 3. I'm considering moving to Fedora to try it.

It would also be great to see Systemd used. Rather than Upstart.

A global menu and a launcher (like Gnome Do) are some of the first things I install after upgrading. Along with Docky.

I realise some of these are fundamental changes to the Ubuntu way, but it's what is drawing towards alternatives, and further from Ubuntu (which I've used since Warty).

Re: Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#6

Post by nolite »

Not sure if this is appropriate for your question.. but I've been using Ubuntu for 5 years now as my sole OS, as a programmer. I'm thinking of switching to Mac OS soon because I'm sick of hacking my computer to have it "just work":

- Every time there's a new release, and I update, it leaves me with a crashed unusable system. Its happened so much that I've scripted out my entire install and configuration process

- I have to kill Firefox in order to make sound work in VLC... wtf?

- My bluetooth mouse works 50% of the time

- Wifi doesn't usually work with the built in managers.. I often have to install wicd

That's the gripe side.. will report back later for more UI related improvement ideas

Re: Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#7

Post by Newky »

abdulla wrote: post #5

I would genuinely like the option to use GNOME 3. I'm considering moving to Fedora to try it. It would also be great to see Systemd used. Rather than Upstart. A global menu and a launcher (like Gnome Do) are some of the first things I install after upgrading. Along with Docky. I realise some of these are fundamental changes to the Ubuntu way, but it's what is drawing towards alternatives, and further from Ubuntu (whi…

Gnome 3 and Gnome Do will be easily installable through package manger.

The inclusion of unity is not disabling the usage of Gnome 3, although I agree that Gnome-do should be integrated as default, it is so useful.

Re: Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#8

Post by rbanffy »

nolite wrote: post #6

Not sure if this is appropriate for your question.. but I've been using Ubuntu for 5 years now as my sole OS, as a programmer. I'm thinking of switching to Mac OS soon because I'm sick of hacking my computer to have it "just work": - Every time there's a new release, and I update, it leaves me with a crashed unusable system. Its happened so much that I've scripted out my entire install and configuration process - I h…

Better hardware support sure is important, but it looks like you have harware that was carefully selected as to bring the greatest frustration possible.

Re: Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#9

Post by bad_user »

I'm a long time Ubuntu user, currently using Ubuntu 10.10.

10.04 by the time I installed it was rock-solid. On the other hand 10.10 is not working properly - web camera is displaying up-side-down and my laptop many times freezes on shutdown. And it's like a cycle, one in every 3-4 releases doesn't cause issues for me.

Unfortunately I don't have the time to deal with these problems, find the cause, give feedback on mailing lists, etc...

If you could invest in a more stable / well-tested Ubuntu release (although I do know the next one is not a LTS) that would be great.

You guys also did a good job regarding usability lately, thumbs up.

Re: Ask HN: What would you like to see in Ubuntu 11.10, Oneiric Ocelot?

#10

Post by middus »

nolite wrote: post #6

Not sure if this is appropriate for your question.. but I've been using Ubuntu for 5 years now as my sole OS, as a programmer. I'm thinking of switching to Mac OS soon because I'm sick of hacking my computer to have it "just work": - Every time there's a new release, and I update, it leaves me with a crashed unusable system. Its happened so much that I've scripted out my entire install and configuration process - I h…

I haven't had these kind of upgrade problems since updgrading from 7 to 8. Did you really have trouble upgrading to, e.g. 10.04?

It seems to me that there's some problem with your HW configuration (WiFi etc. - never had problems). Did you consider staying on some LTS. I've found 10.04 to be extremely smooth. If you don't want to have the trouble, just stay on LTS :).

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