Ubuntu QA presents: Hardy desktop bug list
Hello! The Ubuntu QA team has assembled a list of bugs that we think should be fixed for Hardy. These are often long-standing bugs or bugs with many subscribers, comments or duplicates. The bugs are generally in a mature triage state and should be ready to work on. The desktop list can be seen here: http://people.ubuntu.com/~ogasawara/qa-hardy-list-archive/sort-by-package/desktop-buglist.html Or simply as a search of the 'qa-hardy-desktop' tag in Launchpad: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs?field.tag=qa-hardy-desktop Please help us close these out! Henrik Ubuntu QA -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Windows FOSS on the Live CD -- the OOo2 question
Carl Karsten wrote: Ok, as promised: http://dev.personnelware.com/carl/temp/Mar09/a/LiveDapperBoot.avi.torrent 16meg, worth the view. not worth even consedering for final product, but worth chattering about. Carl, that sounds great! Unfortunately I get a bad torrent. I you could put the file somewhere I could upload and just mirror it on an Ubuntu machine. - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
ttf-ubuntu-title font package
The ubuntu title font package is currently in Universe. Could/should it be installed on the system by default? The example content files I'm preparing now would certainly look much better if that were the case. I can't really find any other heading fonts that look as nice in documents presenting Ubuntu. - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Selecting music for example-content
Sandis Neilands wrote: And now some random thoughts after wandering at remixcommons.org Again, thanks for triaging this :) I've given the Reading Remix stuff a careful listen. And from the list you posted I'm left with 2 contenders. Taking something from Reading Remix has an added plus of supporting a project that is already trying to do similar things to us, so everything else being equal I'd like to take stuff from there.. My list: Miracle Lemon - Cool. The intro pulls you in from the beginning. The recording quality could possibly be better, ie the instruments could be crisper, but it's not bad. There is also an option to fade it out cleany at 2.37 if we are squeezed for disk space. maachhi-mara - Very interesting. Different, yet with universal apeal, IMO. The only criticism might be a bit repetitive (can we fade it out earlier? ...) I'm happy for these two to go in as our semi-final selection and then possibly add a classical track if we can find one that is imediately appealing, short and high quality. -- There are several tracks I would have liked to include if we had room for 10. I have no very good reson for excluding them other than the fact that a choice must be made. Alan Simon Ross Jam - Esp. the second session is quite cool. The string instrument sounds a bit off-tune though. I'm sure that's just a non-western scale, but it will sound off to many people. Levi - Not bad. Perhaps not as good a melody/song as Miracle Lemon, but better sound IMO. 6021 - I like it, has a festival feel to it. But perhaps not the most catchy? A bit long and experimental. Unsuitable IMO: E - I liked it personally, I'm just not sure it will be suitable. The drug-taking lyrics may well get us in trouble, regardless of what the underlying message of the song actually is. (remember the picture controversy) Cuedos - the intro is a bit far out; we may loose people in the first 5 seconds, which might be all we get. Otherwise quite good. Leadbelly - a classic to be sure, but it may be totally lost on some. Also not so good for showing playback quality. Drunken etc. - Too experimental to be useful for us I think. Oslo - ditto. Makes your speakers sound broken, exactly. While We Walk - very crisp sound. There is something I don't quite like though, perhaps his voice. tiredeyes - I agree that it compares well with some electronica, but it does also get boring after a while. General comments: We are balancing many considerations here. We will likely be quite constrained by disc space and may only get to put one or two songs on in the end (reducing this content means increasing the number of languages the CD can support for example. -- We will also have a readme HTML file about the content though where we can put additional links. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DapperExampleContent/ReadMe ) As a result, people will judge us on that one or two pieces. Anything too heavy, too boring, too culturally narrow will then be problematic. People who pick up the CD won't know or care about the process behind selecting the tracks, but may judge the whole Ubuntu project by it. So, causing offence is the first point to cover, and secondly not to sound too extreme in any one direction. Punk and Rachmaninov are probably both out on these grounds. Something non-western is a good idea, esp. if it's quite listenable in itself. Ubuntu has often been characterised as an African project because of it's name and the nationality of its founder, but really it is a global project. Selecting a traditional African piece this first time when we are including music might be supporting that misconception at this point. I think Nepalese music would be perfect in this regard though. - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Selecting music for example-content
Hi Sandis, Wow, again thanks for the thorough review. I'll look and listen at your recommendations from remixcommons. Sandis Neilands wrote: We shouldn't base or decisions upon popularity of the music.If we do so we could end up shipping Beethoven-only CD. I mean I would rather be surprised by a cool tune I have never heard before than listen Ode to joy or Moonlight sonata yet another time. Yes I agree, though I think if we pick something less known it should be fairly melodic so that it will only require one or two listens to like it. I think it sounds too midi'sh and I'm afraid it would sound even more midi'sh on cheap headphones/laptop speakers. After hearing more stuff I agree with that. I'm already more impressed with this piece: http://www.kahvi.org/v04.php It has a more interesting progression and better quality samples IMO. Less tinny and all round artistically better IMO. Unfortunately the license is unclear. I want to check out more stuff by the artist at: http://www.lackluster.org/index2.php and then email him to see if we can arrange something. (the clip above is a video so the file is quite large, but presumably the audio file is available somewhere.) A lot of music over there. What are the deadlines for you? I'm asking because it will take time to get even a glimpse of whats inside. Yes, there is a lot. The audio quality seems good, though the musical quality is often almost-good, I'm afraid. We could well find some pearls there though. On the deadlines: I would like to find something acceptable by the end of this month so we don't have to stress too much about it. However, a better piece can always come in and replace it later on. In that sense we can get quite close to the release date which is mid-April. Closer to the deadline disc space constraints will also become firmer. We may need to have a few options of varying size. - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Selecting music for example-content
Sandis Neilands wrote: Right! And what's the point of including firefox or thunderbird on the cd which are only usable, if one have internet connection? I mean we could include bookmarks to their download's page or something. On windows the outdated firefox and thunderbird will try to upgrade themselves anyway! Only firefox of those (+OOo and Gaim) included ATM. You are right that it does soon become outdated, but it's the #1 killer app of the FOSS world. Any way we can help spread and promote it or even just associate ourselves with it is a good thing. On dial-up even the 5meg download might be prohibitive and some people have qualms about installing stuff from the internet, but less so from a nice CD. - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Windows FOSS on the Live CD -- the OOo2 question
I'd like to poll people's views on the content of the Windows FOSS on the Live CD. In the past we have adjusted the Win-FOSS to fit the available space quite close to the end of the process, but it might be worth taking a longer view now. How do people use it? Is it something that end user find valuable? This is the current collection on Ubuntu 5.10: Firefox 4.7mb Gaim 6.6mb OpenOffice 77.1mb Other CD content 13-15mb Total: 100mb The big space-hog as always is OpenOffice.org 2.0. It takes up 77 MB of space (compressed), and is then only available in English (a different language is a separate install). If we removed OOo2 we could add several other applications, and still save considerable space. An example: Firefox 4.7mb Gaim 6.6mb Thunderbird 6.1mb Abiword 5.0mb Gimp 15mb MoinMoin Desktop 3.2mb 7-zip 0.8mb Other CD content 13-15mb Total: ~57mb The 'other CD content' is the stuff that makes it browseable. This includes the Gecko-based CD bowser and content files including images like screenshots. We could potentially add some items to this, like a PDF version of the 'Great Features of Ubuntu' document and possibly some wallpapers. I see three main issues with removing OpenOffice: First it is a cornerstone piece of FOSS that has an important role in getting a foot-hold on the Windows platform (but less important than Firefox). It has the best support for MS-Office files of the Free office suites. And third, it is what we ship with Ubuntu, so it presents a unified picture, making it clear that you can run many of the same applications on several platforms and you can then painlessly move your data between them. The question is whether these three points are important enough to outweigh the limitations on space. The the saved 30-77mb we can add a lot of cool stuff. Among that stuff could be example content (and language packs). With more space we could include more pictures, OOo presentations, several pieces of music, a decent video clip, gimp files with multiple layers, etc. Thoughs? - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Windows FOSS on the Live CD -- the OOo2 question
Santiago Roza wrote: imho the win32 foss is a bad idea per se: we shouldn't take 100 mb for something that's not needed for ubuntu, especially when you're under heavy size constraints. Well, remember that the CD isn't just for you and I who already know and use Ubuntu. It's for a wider audience, to which esp. the live CD serves as a great introduction tool. Once you are using Ubuntu, you can always install more software or you can get the DVD instead. Imagine a conversation with a friend who you are trying to introduce to Ubuntu. He generally likes the concept of FOSS, and has been stubbed N times by virus and malware infections. So you have his interest, but then there are the obstacles: * I have this FooBarCash program on Windows that I really need * I need MS-Office/QuarkXpress, etc. for my job * I have all my files in format X * Repartitioning my drive sounds scary * My parents/friends/partner also use the machine and they won't like it if I change the system Armed with an Ubuntu Live CD you can say: OK, take this disc and restart your computer. Run the live session and see what you think. Then open it up on your Windows system, and at the very /least/ install Firefox. Using IE is just a bad idea. Using Firefox will at least reduce your exposure to nasty stuff and it has tabs!. -- OK, that sounds useful. I'll try it. They take the CD and actually use it :) - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Windows FOSS on the Live CD -- the OOo2 question
Jerome Gotangco wrote: This selection is pretty good actually, although I would wonder the use of MMDE for casual computer users. Yes, I agree that it's probably not mainstream enough. It's just me who is a Moin-zealot :) That was more a hypothetical list to show some file sizes. Wesnoth is pretty good too (included in the OpenCD) but that's around 35MB for the setup file. I think 35MB is a bit too much for something which has a fairly small audience in the end (besides, TheOpenCD needs some selling points too ;) ). - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Making example-content more visible
Daniel Holbach wrote: Hello everybody, you might have heard of the ExampleContent spec already, which will bring funky content to our users. snip I'd very much like to hear your input on this. Here is a possible alternative: * We place a single folder in /home/username/ called Examples. This will be fairly discoverable because once the user has gone to Places - Home Folder she will find it. It also won't add another link to the Places menu and it can be deleted easily. This directory would contain 5-6 small files, all of which are OpenOffice files. If we create these files with some care they should be under 2-300Kb in total. One of them would be IntroductionToExampleContent.odt. Also in this directory would be a symlink called Media that would open up the /usr/share/example-content location. That would give you access to sound files, wallpapers, video, etc. The point here is to separate out those files that the user might actually want to play with and edit from those she would just listen to or view. You might want to edit the text document or spreadsheet to learn OpenOffice, but you are less likely to want to edit the sound file. The IntroductionToExampleContent.odt file would explain how to copy the stock content onto your local account though. This is similar to how Windows does it. They put all the stuff in a sub-folder of 'My Documents' but they obviously don't have a symlink to more stuff :) - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Selecting music for example-content
Phil Bull wrote: Hi Henrik Have you seen this? http://creativecommons.org/audio/ Phil, Thanks. I'm taking this back on list because I've explored a bit more, and have more to report :) The trouble is that most of that content is actually non-free by the standards of Debian and Ubuntu. Most pieces are under the sampling license which allows only limited commercial use (like don't use it in adds). It's not that we are planning to use it commercially as such, but we are committed to Free content. There might be some suitable stuff linked on from that page. I just tried the search feature, which seems to work reasonably well. Not all the licenses are as I had specified in the search, but some are. Cool! It's still a major task to sift through and find something that sounds good though :) (and I have a terrible ear for music, so please help :) ) - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Large high-contrast mouse cursors
With the high-visibility boot option on the Live CD we should include a large cursor theme (as well as the high contrast theme). So I've tried the 'big-cursor' package, which doesn't seem to do anything (no new cursors appear in Mouse Preferences - Pointers (it installs a cursor font -- is this an outdated method that doesn't change the cursors in gnome?) 'xcursor-themes' results in very many choices (too many really) of red and white cursors. Trouble is that these are quite transparent, which while it is a cool effect, is probably not ideal for those who need high contrast. Looks like these might be more suitable: http://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php?content=20568 Can we package these for dapper? - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Logout dialog
Manu Cornet wrote: What do you guys think about the current dialog ? About adding lock screen to it ? About my layout suggestion ? OK, so I'm among those who think 6 options is already too many :) I do like your nice icons (though there are perhaps too many different and large icons to fit in with the Ubuntu theme). When the user selects 'Shut down' he/she does not expect to be able to simply lock the screen or switch user IMO. Let's look at them in turn (keep in mind the user clicked the menu text 'shut down'): * Sleep, Hibernate - The user might decide, OK I don't want to shut down completely, just leave the machine nearly off for a while. Close enough. * Restart - I guess this would be used most often by those who dual-boot. It still isn't shutting down, but I guess it's related. * Switch user, Lock screen - This does not make sense. Neither of these can be interpreted as 'shutting down'. * Logging out - How common is this on a laptop or home machine? I guess some families have multiple accounts, and on public machines (schools, etc.) it might be the only available option. It's still not 'shutting down' though. So in my view. Shut down, Sleep, Hibernate and possibly Restart could go on the 'shut down' screen, while Switch user, Log out and Lock screen should go elsewhere, much as it is configured now. The second menu option might be a new name though. 'Switch user' shouldn't even be available on systems with just one user defined. - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: Inkscape
Corey Burger wrote: I would also support this, but I think it should wait until Dapper+1. The major issue behind shipping Inkscape is that of space. It looks like Inkscape + libraries runs to about 9mb, not a small amount. I would actually advocate removing Gimp from the default install in Dapper+1. It's a highly technical app. I use it myself, but people who need it can install it. What most people want to do is crop and resize images before emailing them (which would make sense to have the email client take care of -- you are about to send a 2MB file; would you like to resize it?) KolourPaint has just the right amount of functionality IMO and F-Spot just needs resize (unless I've missed it). - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
Re: The return of the clocks of death (this time in the new gnome logout dialogs)
Matthew Paul Thomas wrote: These can be treated the same way as Windows does, with a This program is not responding alert http://www.jvwinc.com/end-now.gif, or the same way OS X does, with an appname cancelled shutdown alert. Yes, but this is a feature of Windows that makes people cringe. It gives people a feeling that the app or system is broken. I would suggest a solution with a dialogue without a counter but where you do have to click confirm to activate to avoid data loss. The data protection can be catered for by calling the screen locking/screen saver app with a time parameter that is shorter than the user's default. 60 or 90 seconds is probably fine. It may be necessary to modify the screen locking program to accept a parameter to override the default time, but if so, that would mean modifying just one app instead of the hundreds that would need to save data properly. - Henrik -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
