Quick brainstorming (long)

[Ruben Vermeersch]

On di, 2004-12-07 at 17:52 +0100, Ramon Acedo wrote:
> Hi, I find Ubuntu a great distro and I have been recommending it to
> users which don't have much experience with GNU/Linux. I'm GNU/Linux
> teacher and I have prepared some Linux Desktop courses. As an
> experienced user I don't have any problem to do the common tasks in
> Ubuntu but teaching to average users which come from the MS Windows
> world you learn a lot of what are the weak points in Linux at the
> desktop (and the strengths as well ;-).
> 
> I have done a list of easy-to-implement things which could give more
> acceptance among the new users who try Ubuntu for the first time.
> 
> Remember that at every point I'm thinking about making John Smith's life
> with Ubuntu easier.
> 
> - Make Nautilus by default to navigate in the filesystem instead of
>   opening a simple window in which when cliking on a folder opens
>   another one and so on (that reminds the default behaviour of file
>   exploring in W95). That's just activating an option in the view menu
>   if my memory doesn't fail.

The whole spatial / non-spatial discussion has been very long (remember
that before spatial, the browsing way was the only way). Pro/Con
arguments can be found plenty in the gnome-desktop-devel archives

> - Include, commented out, the multiversal repository in sources.list
>   (the universe is already included but commented, isn't it?) so that
>   being able to activate it easily with Synaptics.

Missed this one too, not hard to fix though

> - Include in Synaptics pre-configured filters to show packages in the
>   multiversal, universal, with origin=Ubuntu, security updates, etc. in
>   order to understand better the package system and to able to select
>   them separately. Some users want to have just the security updates
>   while others will be happy if they are able to find all the mp3, dvd
>   and flash stuff. The name of the filters could identificate this.

Good idea, like it

> - Don't start so many services by default. A normal desktop user don't
>   need postfix, atd and so on.
> 
> - Something for managing the services in the menu. rcconf or
>   sysv-rc-conf would be enough although having some gnome app would
>   always be better, Red Hat has something called "Services Configuration
>   Tool". Porting it to Ubuntu (and to Debian) may not be an
>   easy-to-implement task ;-) (at least not a 10 minutes job).

AFAIK, this is from Gnome System Tools and disabled upstream by the
ubuntu devs. Services shouldn't be tweaked by the end user (well, the
average user doesn't need it), those who do know what tweaking services
is can do it command line.

> - Put gdm at the very beggining of the boot up process, a desktop distro
>   has to bee as quick as possible when booting up.

It has been put earlier already in hoary, however this is not as easy as
it looks (GDM has deps too)

> - Include some icons on the Desktop like Home, System, Network, Trash,
>   etc.

Well, Ubuntu disables these by default, they're in the computer menu and
I like em there. I don't want Windows cause I think the Ubuntu (GNOME)
concept is better anyway. For people migrating, this could be handier,
but (atleast my mum) most don't have any problem with no desktop icons
when they get used to it.

> - Although I have checked this superficially I have the feeling that
>   lsmod shows me lots of modules I don't need.

Haven't looked into those yet.

> - Use a 1024x768 framebuffer (e.g: 791). This beautifies the boot up
>   proccess.
>
> - The same for the installation process.

The problem is that framebuffer has the ability to kill your screen 
and that it's hard to probe what resolutions the screen supports.

> - Include autocomplete by default in /etc/bash.bashrc (OK, that's not
>   for John Smith but it makes our life at the shell easier ;-)

+1 vote

> - Have you ever discussed about creating a monthly cd with security
>   updates and put it available to download and for adding it with
>   Synaptic to the repositories. The same for the universal and
>   multiversal repositories (one or more cd's). There are lots of
>   users all around the planet who don't have access to the Internet or
>   are still connected with a 56K modem. This way they could get the cds
>   in Linux magazines, at work, from  buddies, etc.

For the sake of nature, I should say no here, but for the sake of 56k
users, maybe. Although it sounds a bit overkill to me. Don't have a real
opinion about this ;)

> - I like the Ubuntu Calendar, why doesn't it come by default?
> 
> Well, that's my quick brainstorming after playing for one (whole ;-) day
> with Ubuntu. Great job guys!

Great job indeed, keep going!

Just my 2 eurocents, feel free to discard my opinion :)

Regards,
Ruben Vermeersch

--
Ruben Vermeersch
http://www.Lambda1.be/