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13 things we'd love to see in Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope

Ubuntu is arguably one of the best Linux distributions around, and it gets better with every release. But there are still a few things that I'd love to see it do out-of-the-box...

Ubuntu already includes some outstanding features, and is a really usable Linux distribution. However, there are some things that would just make it that little bit better - both cosmetically and functionally. Here's my wish list of the 13 key things I'd like to see in the next release, Ubuntu 9.04.

1. A better default theme

The brown and orange tones of Ubuntu's default Human theme certainly give the distro an identity and make the desktop easily recognisable. However, to some people the colour scheme is just offensive and, while easily changed, it would be great to see a more universally accepted theme
introduced in Jaunty.

2. A more stylish bootloader

The current bootloader is a plain-text screen. Granted, this probably makes it more viable for the bootloader to display uniformly on a wider range of devices, other distros have much better looking graphical bootloaders. It would help create a more polished product to introduce something similar.

3. Better support for RAID

Depending on the version used, RAID can provide increased hard disk performance or redundancy, or both. However, since most computers don't actually use "real" RAID hardware, installing Ubuntu to RAID disks can be something of a challenge and requires the installation of Fake RAID software during the installation process. Open SuSE is one distro that already supports RAID, as do Fedora and Cent OS, so it would be a great usability improvement to include RAID software and detection in the Ubiquity Ubuntu installer.

4. Make it easy for users to put their home directory on its own partition

One of the first things power users do when installing Ubuntu, or any other Linux distribution, is to give the home directories their own partition. If you ever need to reinstall, you can do so while leaving all of your data untouched on the home partition. Some distributions give home its own partition by default, while others make it easy to do so by providing an option in the disk partitioning tool. Ubuntu does not yet do this, and it would be great to see this simple feature added to the installer.

5. Make it easier for users to share files via Samba

It's still a bit of a pain for the new user to set up Samba/CIFS to allow them to share files on their Ubuntu machine with users on Windows or Mac systems on their home or business network. It would be great to see something introduced that automatically handles the set-up of Samba and allows users to share specific directories, including the automatic generation of the password with smbpasswd, which is one stumbling block most newcomers miss out on their first attempt at getting things set up manually. Failing the full solution, a GUI for smpasswd alone would be great for those people unable to work out how to type sudo smbpasswd username -a.

6. Warning users when disk space is low

A couple of times recently, I've filled up one of my partitions and run into problems. Ubuntu didn't, as far as I can recall, give me any graphical indications that I was getting low on space, so I had to dig around myself and get things back in order. A notification when disks are filling up would therefore be most welcome.

7. Better disk management

Adding an additional drive to a Linux box, or mapping a network share to the filesystem so it mounts automatically, have been common features in Windows for aeons. However, both of them - although possible to do from the command line - aren't easy for the newcomer to set up. A disk management tool that detects new disks or network shares and allows you to mount them at boot time, without the need to edit /etc/fstab would make life easier for virtually every user.

8. A better system monitor

I use the existing System Monitor regularly and it's really good. However, there are some things it doesn't yet do, that we'd really like to see. First off, as my system is overclocked, I'd like to see the real CPU frequency being displayed in the System Monitor, not the default CPU frequency. A quick check of /proc/cpuinfo shows that the increased clock speed is correctly picked up, so it would be good if System Monitor could report it accurately. Secondly, some proper temperature monitoring tools would be good, as would details on the hardware that Ubuntu has detected - whether it's the motherboard, graphics card or network cards.

9. Add a system repair feature

Recent releases of Ubuntu have added the excellent xfix tool to the recovery console, which can get you a usable X server and graphical desktop (albeit at low resolution) if you break your existing one, allowing you to sort things out without the need to do it all in vi. Open SuSE has a repair install feature, as do most other mainstream operating systems, so this would really improve things for those users who manage to wreck their install.

10. Make the installer suitable for small screens

If you run a netbook, you may have noticed that the installer in Ubuntu (and indeed the windows on some of the apps) are larger than the resolution of the screen. While newer netbooks are gaining larger, higher res screens, it would still be great for users of the older ones - such as the original Eee - to be able to install without the need to try and drag the window the right place, or worse, blinding hit the return or tab key to continue.

11. Include ZFS support

ZFS is an outstanding file system, originally developed for Solaris. It's open source and features in OpenSolaris, and includes features such as snapshots - full backups - and RAID like functionality. Solaris users love it, and there's even been talk of it making its way into OS X. Please give us the option to use it in Ubuntu 9.04.

12. Automatically save downloaded files to /home/Downloads

There's a directory called /home/Downloads present after installation (unless I made it), so it would be great if anything downloaded got sent their by default.

13. Give users the option to install restricted-extras during the main installation

The first thing that many people do (who can't stand freedom) is to install the Ubuntu restricted-extras package, which includes many of the things that are non-free and get left out of the main release for various complicated reasons. Given the probable widespread use of these, would it not be a usability advantage to offer users the opportunity to incorporate them into the OS during the first install?

Published: TechPad.co.uk Wednesday 26 November 2008, 6:47 pm
Views: 17,284 times
Filed under: Linux Ubuntu Jaunty Jackalope

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