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Ask HN: What do you want to see in Ubuntu 17.10?
1374 points by dustinkirkland on March 31, 2017 | hide | past | favorite | 1145 comments
Howdy HackerNews!

Dustin Kirkland here, Product Manager for Ubuntu as an OS platform (long time listener, first time caller).

I'm interested in HackerNews feedback and feature requests for the Ubuntu 17.10 development cycle, which opens up at the end of April, and culminates in the 17.10 release in October 2017. This is the first time we've ever posed this question to the garrulous HN crowd, so I'm excited about it, and I'm sure this will be interesting!

Please include in your replies the following bullets:

- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Core]

- HEADLINE: 1-line description of the request

- DESCRIPTION: A lengthier description of the feature. Bonus points for constructive criticism ;-)

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: (Optional, your job role and affiliation)

We're super interested in your feedback! Everything is fair game -- Kernel, Security, Desktop apps, Unity/Mir/Wayland/Gnome, Snap packages, Kubernetes, Docker, OpenStack, Juju, MAAS, Landscape, default installed packages (add or remove), cloud images, and many more I'm sure I've forgotten...

17.10 will be our 3rd and final "developer" release, before we open the 18.04 LTS (long term support, enterprise release) after October 2017 (and release in April 2018), so this is our last chance to pull in any big, substantive changes.

Thanks, HN!

:-Dustin

https://twitter.com/dustinkirkland




- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop:

1. HEADLINE: A way to have different scaling for external monitors hooked up to my HiDPI laptop.

Currently I need can only set a single scaling factor, so I need to ajust my laptop screen resolution to match scaling of the external monitor. If that's not possible, a way to automatically set resolution and scale for both screens once you hook one up would already save me a lot of manual switching and restarting lightDM!

2. HEADLINE: "Native" multitouch gestures like 3-finger swipe to change workspace.

There are some programs that can do this already like xSwipe and Fusuma, but I expect this integrated with a nice and easy menu.

3. HEADLINE: Better battery management.

Battery performance under Ubuntu is often much worse in Ubuntu than Windows. TLP helps, but it's not enough.


User: I want hi-res apps!

Dev: Sure, here you go.

User: But why is it so small on my new shiny tablet high density screen?

Dev: (SHit it worked okay for me) Okay now it detects the density and scale..

User: But when I move the window to my old good lcd screen it becomes way too big!

Dev: Okay let's see if I can dynamically adapt to a new monitor density, it's just one scale factor.

User: But when I put it on my big tv flat screen it is too small!!

Dev: (Oh shit you gotta be kidding me, the pixels are actually a viewing distance relative unit??!)


MacOS actually in my experience seems to handle this all perfectly. Normal-DPI screens you chose resolution and dragging windows between monitors works as you naturally expect (it pops between DPIs).


Concerning DPI and trackpad integration, Ubuntu should strive to be as Mac-like as possible, at least imo. Macs absolutely win in the trackpad arena; multitouch works like a dream, configurable gestures aplenty to achieve whatever you want (of course, it could always be more customizable).

DPI scaling between monitors work exactly as you'd expect. Windows stay the same size when moving between high-DPI and regular monitors.

These two problems are two of the biggest reasons I don't use Ubuntu (or any Linux) desktop (I use a macbook with a headless Ubuntu Server box and, when necessary, X11 forwarding over ssh).


Does it understand "I want 2x magnification on my 15" 4k laptop display, but not on my 43" 4k monitor"? Windows 10 decidedly does not, so I have to switch manually every time I switch display (just forget using both together), and it then tells me to close all my work and log out and in again to make scaling consistent between UI elements on screen.


Yes it does. It even remembers different window sizes and locations for different monitor configs :)


Huh? On Win10Ent I've got both of my displays set to different scaling factors and changes take effect immediately (like, as soon as I release the slider).


It works for me, with one annoying caveat. I have a set of regular 1920x1080 monitors on my desk at 100% scaling. My laptop has a 4k screen, and when I plug it in, I have it set to turn off that screen.

I have to log out when I plug/unplug or the windows will end up blurry or the wrong size.


Have you ever tried shouting at Microsoft about this?

I know they have a bad track record of not listening, but I think things might be different now, they seem to be a bit more receptive to feedback, particularly with the beta updates.

Or maybe I'm remembering the prerelease "hai where r the bugz halp" back when Win10 was not yet RTM...


This is exactly what I mean.


Yes it does, sometimes. But you can configure it as well. I think they used predefined lists of hardware though. EG if name contains tv then scale is 1


Pretty much. Works just fine when I hook my 15" laptop up to my 130" projector.


It's a bit weird to drag things onto my 4k TV through HDMI and try to track my microscopic mouse pointer to the tiny window to maximize my video, but otherwise works well. I suspect I could fix that in settings somehow though.


On newer macos shaking the mouse back and forth makes the pointer get larger (so you can find it).

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7583592?start=0&tstart=...


KDE has a similar feature: When you hold Ctrl+Win, it will draw revolving circle segments in black and white around the cursor to allow you to find it. It looks like this: https://imgur.com/a/67wfI (You'll have to imagine the cursor inside these circles. My screenshot utility won't include it in the image for some reason.)


Heh...I think Windows 3.11 already had that feature (Ctrl -> Circle zooming in to mouse) :)


have you considered swapping out to a BIIIG mouse pointer? that's what I do on my home 65" HTPC/ TVPC :)


Yup.


I've always thought that arcdegrees should be what we measure UI's in: how much of a user's field of view does this thing consume? After all, what makes text "small" is that how much of my FoV it consumes (or doesn't). Not inches, or points, or pixels.

(Admittedly, "points" are still likely a good measurement for print. Perhaps one can work backwards and fudge point as a measure of angle if you consider 12 point font at a typical viewing distance.)

I assume the real hard piece is figuring out the distance the display is going to be viewed at. Some definite defaults exist (phones are typically about the same distance away, same with desktop monitors) but unique situations certainly can exist. (I'm also assuming that the monitor can report it's physical size and resolution; combined w/ viewing distance, it should be possible to calculate FoV.) If you did this, you should be able to mostly seemlessly split a window between two displays, and have it be equal "size" in the FoV. (of course, some displays have borders, so that fudges it a bit.)


> I've always thought that arcdegrees should be what we measure UI's in: how much of a user's field of view does this thing consume? After all, what makes text "small" is that how much of my FoV it consumes (or doesn't). Not inches, or points, or pixels.

That is a good starting point for calculating the default "optimal UI scaling", but there are going to be adjustments needed for the FoV of the whole screen area (not per pixel) too.

With large screens, for example 24-30" on your desk, just the per-pixel FoV measure will probably be good enough. You have plenty of "space" for windows and content, and want to get the optimal scaling.

But once you get to very small screens like phones, there is a tradeoff between keeping font and UI sizes comfortable, and being able to actually fit enough content on the screen without endless scrolling. I am willing to strain my eyes with smaller font sizes on my phone than on my laptop, just so that I can see more than 5 sentences of text at the same time.


"CSS Pixels" are actually supposed to be based on viewing angles:

    http://inamidst.com/stuff/notes/csspx


If the OS (not an app) could allow you to tweak the native pixel resolution, scale, size of each display, even under "advanced settings" that would go a long way towards helping.

This is at the Operating System level, not like some random one-off application.

For me, the one feature I miss the most is a checkbox option for "Native Scrolling"; Did this really need to be removed?


X11 did — run xdpyinfo and you'll see its idea of screen dimensions and resolution. (It's unlikely they'll have been configured correctly, of course.) If you look hard enough, you can find some ‘outdated’ plain-X software from the workstation era that respects it. It was the ‘Linux desktop’ crowd that threw that away, since they couldn't think beyond building Windows clones for PC clones.

And the vector-based competition to X (e.g. NeWS, Display Postscript) would have done better.


Simple answer is don't auto-detect. Allow the user to set the scaling factor per screen and then just auto-apply that when using that screen. This just requires a way to uniquely identify screens and requires the user to set the scaling factor for that screen once when first used.


Initial autodetection and scale-factor setting is ok. Otherwise most regular users would just say "all my icons and text are too small on my new notebook". Windows detects the high dpi in that case and sets the scalefactor to 200%, which gives a good starting point. Of course the user should be able to override this permanently if it isn't his preference.


s/his/their


As someone who loves singular they, I have a request: please don't do this. It is OK if grand parent uses he/him. Thanks!


The distance between of the third and fourth formulations of the problem is very small. Once apps can be dynamically redrawn with a scale factor, simply make the scale factor customizable.


Simply introduce zoom in/zoom out for the whole desktop separated to each screen like in browser (you can zoom certain tabs/sites and have that memorised). Problem solved.


> 1. HEADLINE: A way to have different scaling for external monitors hooked up to my HiDPI laptop.

This would be awesome. Even when both the laptop and the external screen are 1080p, different scaling could be helpful if you want to use a dual monitor setup effectively.

Unfortunately, it's a tough nut to crack given current desktop behavior. For example, you can have a window that straddles both monitors. What should the scaling be? You need to switch at some point as you're moving a window back and forth - when? So it's a challenge, but solving it would be so worth it!


Widows 10 handles different scaling (zoom) between monitors far better than any Linux distro I have used. A window keeps the zoom of where it came from until it is entirely on the new monitor. Works pretty well.


While I get that it's uncool to like Windows on HN, I really like Windows 10. With WSL, all of the CLI tools I need for development are here along with better hardware support (including suspend / resume, high DPI monitor support, latest GPU drivers / etc).

Plugging two 4K monitors into my laptop (which has a native 1080p display) is an awful experience when booted into Ubuntu. You either have to set the DPI to make the laptop display unusable or set it to make the 4K monitors look like $hit.

Plus... you know... games.


Windows isn't the best at multi-DPI in general though either. Only recently did Firefox on Windows get multi-DPI support - not sure if Chrome does yet because I gave up on it and went to dual 4K because the scaling was easier. If you want to see really good multi-DPI support, OSX is really good at it with most apps supporting it out of the box.

Multi-DPI is kind of a hack in general though and is likely to cause issues unless applications have been tested for it very thoroughly, it causes serious issues on major frameworks like Electron and Qt - though both of their support for it is improving slowly. If you want things to work smoothly for now, try to stick to 1 DPI setting.


I think you're confusing Windows DPI scaling availability vs lack of support from the apps you use.

It's not windows fault the apps don't take advantage of DPI. You can also disable dpi scaling for individual apps.


You're right, but even many builtin Microsoft apps - while they supported DPI scaling - did not support multi-DPI switching and rather than scaling properly just scaled pixels and looked blurry.

It's "not Windows fault", sure but it certainly makes it a worse experience than other platforms like OSX where multi-DPI is much more commonly supported.


I would much prefer the Windows behavior to what I see on Linux. Right now, if I open an app that doesn't support high DPI, it is just unusable because it is so tiny.


Couldn't you just manually reduce your screen resolution? Or is that too drastic to be worth it?


It's worth considering whether there is some flaw with windows multi dpi scaling such that apps don't use it. Firefox and Chrome have scaled properly on Mac for years now, while even Windows 10 ships with first party apps that don't scale right. (E.g. device manager.)


For sure that this has been an issue in the past with Windows. UWP helps make muli-DPI work by default in new applications.


Sure, but 99% of my Windows software isn't UWP. It's all good and well to say it's there, but that doesn't make the experience good for the user. Contrast to KDE and OS X where it just works for 99% of software.

I mean, I get it, same issue as Vista for Microsoft - people expect 100% backwards compatibility, but it turns out that terrible design decisions made many years ago tend to mean you need to break compatibility. Just like UAC, resolution scaling will be an issue that becomes less painful in Windows over time. Right now it's not great, however.


I mean, you say that, but on KDE, for example, every application except one on my system works with DPI scaling (the odd one out is Unity3D) - that's because at the QT level DPI scaling is built-in, so the toolkit supports it and the applications get it for free. Clearly this wasn't the case for the older Windows UI stuff, where they are literally just scaling the image of the window up (which means horrible looking text).


Actually, the really old windows stuff did support scaling - the 'Large fonts (120%)' option was there almost forever. I remember that original Delphi, circa 1995, supported it.

Just most apps chose to ignore it, the developers took the 'anyone uses 96 dpi anyway' attitude and at the end of 90's most applications started to suck at 120 dpi.


Yep, Windows API already had support for logical pixels in the 16 bit days and all good books always preached to convert between logical pixels and physical ones.

I guess people got lazy, as you say.


I think that the monitors stayed more or less the same later pixel density for a very long time. Is only been gradually increasing very slowly for 20 years, until a few years ago.

No point in spending time on logical pixels if it makes almost no relevant difference...

It's


Anything running its own renderer doesn't get to benefit from component scaling since they don't use components.


That was my point - running KDE, this is extremely uncommon, running Windows, it's practically every application.


The problem isn't just scaling between two different resolutions, it's the inconsistencies (yes, apps don't take advantage but that's not the only issue). For example, if I want 200% 4k (my monitor) and 100% 1080p (my 2 side monitors), I have to choose between ultra-tiny text on my 4k with regular text or blurry text on my 1080ps.

http://i.imgur.com/o1S8ZUt.png


Is that Windows 10? On my Windows 10 Ent desktop I'm able to set the scale factor of each display independently.

http://imgur.com/a/5378F


This is Windows 10. How do I enable that option?


Erm...click on the display you want to change (1,2,3) and simply drag the slider?


This month's Windows update fixes DPI scaling for old toolkits.


Yes, it's true that there are issues. It seems like most Microsoft apps handle multi-DPI well. By comparison, on Fedora 25 (the latest release), the only program I have found that handles multi-DPI is Terminal. Firefox doesn't do it.


Yeah, Windows support is better than Linux for it, but it's still pretty iffy. While IE and a few other things do, even stuff like Windows Explorer and OneNote doesn't handle multi-DPI well or even just runtime DPI changes in general, I'll RDP my box from a 100 DPI system and have my session screwed up when I come back to my system.

If you're making a decision about whether to make a purchase, don't make it unless you're prepared to do it all at once. Stick to ~100 DPI until you can make a commitment to go all at once.


Chrome hast had DPI scaling since 2015 on Windows. I remember having to report lots of initial bugs. Now it works fine.


DPI scaling yes, but not multi-DPI, when dragging from a 100 DPI monitor to a 300 DPI one text should remain sharp and not blurred by scaling pixels. Or even vice versa.


>While I get that it's uncool to like Windows on HN

That has not been my experience here at all. There is a rather active, and sometimes vocal, Windows fan base around here. Misconceptions about the current state of desktop Linux are commonly seen as it seems most people around here only use either Mac or Windows.


Agreed, while I see some MS/Windows hate... some of it technical, some political, and a mix of founded/fud... There's been a fair amount of counter to that.

I mostly use mac at work, mostly windows at home, and a bit of linux for servers, and my htpc (most of my casual browsing at home)... Each experience is fairly different. And they all have pluses and minuses. That said, more often than not, I prefer the Windows UI desktop/menu, but osx & unity app integration and linux/bash shell environment. I wish that Ubuntu/unity would integrate more of the menu/taskbar features found in windows. (And bring back natural scrolling checkbox)


Microsoft integrated Ubuntu instead.


My experience (currently running two 27" panels at 3840x2160 and one 27" panel at 2560x1440 in KDE for most stuff, Windows for gaming, and previously had one of the first edition retina MBPs with external non-retina displays):

OS X, years ago when the first retina MBP was released, did everything right. It was seamless from monitor to monitor, scaling done well.

Windows 10, now: OK, ish. Most applications scale badly with blurry text because it's just literally scaling the image afterwards. Newer applications are fine. The actual scaling isn't great - having a window half on one monitor and half on the other leads it to 'picking one' and looking weird on the other.

KDE, now: Pretty good. Correct scaling once you set it up. The autodetection can be dodgy, and the DPI scaling for text isn't linked to the rendering scaling for windows, for some reason. The GUI still only gives you a single scaling option for all monitors, but the autodetection can do different for each monitor, and environment variables can be set to solve it manually. The actual scaling is perfect for the vast majority of things. Things scale correctly and no blurriness. The only application that doesn't handle scaling is Unity3D, so everything is tiny (no fallback to raw image scaling).

In general, it's what you'd expect for interace stuff across the platforms - Linux does it right, but the interfaces around it are bad, Windows does it fine for new stuff, old stuff (which is most stuff) sucks, but the interfaces are OK for doing it, and OS X gets it all right.

Edit: Just to be clear, it's only the Unity3D editor that doesn't do scaling, the actual games work fine, as you'd expect they just get the full space and the game chooses how to render to it. To be fair to Unity about the editor, they support scaling on OS X, and the Linux build is still a beta. It is annoying though.


I use this on Windows 10: http://windows10_dpi_blurry_fix.xpexplorer.com/ and it works fine. If you have blurry text, disable DPI scaling in that app (right-click -> Properties -> Compatibility -> Disable DPI scaling) and this will take over and make it usable. There are a couple of applications that act wrong no matter what (Battle.net for example), but most of the time this fixes it well enough.


I only use Windows 10 for gaming, so fortunately I don't really need to worry. Useful for those who use Windows all the time, though.


Windows also gets my vote when it comes to the per-app volume mixer controls which have been awesome since Windows Vista.

https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/larryosterman/2005/12/15/vo...


PulseAudio provides this feature and actually provides more features and functionality than Windows. Ubuntu's default mixer isn't the greatest so I recommend this instead:

    sudo apt install pavucontrol
You can then find it in the application menu labeled, "PulseAudio Volume Control". It lets you set the volume for individual applications (and with Chrome, individual tabs!) and also pick which output/input device will be used.

It lets you configure some neat tricks. For example, you can setup an audio device that forwards to another computer running PulseAudio, an RTP receiver, and a few other similar protocols then set say, Spotify to output to that device. So if you have some network-enabled audio receiver somewhere in your house/office/whatever you can send audio from your Linux workstation to it.

You can of course also pass that audio through various filters/plugins to mess with the sound before it goes out to the remote receiver. For example, equalize it, noise removal, etc. PulseAudio supports LADSPA plugins so if you wanted to you could setup a little Raspberry Pi audio receiver at your front door and yell at solicitors in a robotic voice from your desktop. All with a bit of PulseAudio configuration fiddling =)


I still remember the first time I was in a computer lab and I leaned too far away from my computer and my headphones that were blaring music popped out... and the whole room WASN'T subjected to the same loud music. And I opened up the Kubuntu audio controls and plugged in my headphones and the volume slider suddenly jumped up, then I unplugged again and it muted again. "Woah."

I remember trying it on whatever Windows computers were in the lab just to make sure I wasn't crazy and that this wasn't there all along, and sure enough, they kept the same volume no matter whether the headphones were plugged in or not.

One of the first PulseAudio victories I remember, at a time when I vaguely recall that it was a newcomer and people were really pissed at PulseAudio's bugs and recommending just straight ALSA instead.


+1, PA + pavucontrol are very flexible. You don't even need weird protocols to send your audio to another computer, I just used its tunnel module (enable it in the receiver, then configure its IP on the sender) to send my browser's audio output to my home server, which has a decent stereo attached. The latency is quite good too, the delay even over wifi is barely noticeable.


There's also pulseaudio-dlna[0]. It works as advertised.

[0] https://github.com/masmu/pulseaudio-dlna


Thanks for the heads-up! This is one thing I miss mightily on my Mac.


This feature comes by default with PulseAudio, maybe Ubuntu doesn't expose it well enough in their audio settings. I think Gnome Settings has it, KDE definitely does.


Pulse Audio solves the same thing for Linux.


I get correct auto scaling-switching like this on Gnome 3 with Wayland, but only for a subset of programs (basically those that are fairly vanilla GTK+3), and at the cost of weird bugs with Wayland and program support thereof that still crop up fairly regularly.


I've always resorted to xrander and can get the screen looking pretty good. Though I really think something like this should just work.


Weston does multi-DPI really well. When you drag a window between monitors, the half on the HiDPI monitor is scaled and the half on the LoDPI monitor is unscaled. So it looks perfect without windows growing or shrinking when you move them to another monitor like GNOME on wayland.


I'd love to read more about how this was done, if you have a link perhaps.


macOS handles that edge case. It just displays the window in only one screen. The one with the biggest area of the window shown. There is no need to be held back by cases like this.


If you zoom in, you can sort of force parts of one monitor to be shown on the other monitor. You can see how everything's upscaled/downscaled from there.


> This would be awesome. Even when both the laptop and the external screen are 1080p, different scaling could be helpful if you want to use a dual monitor setup effectively.

Actually, this is especially true when both are 1080p, because laptop screens are never as big as desktop monitors, and we also tend to use them closer. I have this exact problem right now but I think I've just adjusted my eyes over time to squinting at 1080p at 14", or perhaps I turned on some display scaling and forgot about it.

> For example, you can have a window that straddles both monitors. What should the scaling be?

Intuitively, I feel like you should use the physical DPI of both screens to make sure that the window has the same physical dimensions on both. But that'd probably lead to weird scaling factors like 1.17 instead of nice round ones, and thus fuzzy scaling, so it probably couldn't quite work. I guess perhaps you'd just snap each display's DPI to the closest predefined value (eg. .25 increments which I think most systems use these days). Then you'd get a similar-sized part on both sides of the boundary.

But yeah, I think overall if you actually use physical DPI for scaling everything should work out close to nicely.


FWIW, macOS changes a window's DPI mode when the cursor that is moving the window passes over from to one screen to another. Just tried that out. :D


That's what happens when "Displays have separate spaces" turned on. (With that setting on, windows are only present on one monitor at a time, and, when dragging a window, that transition happens when the mouse cursor moves between displays.)

With "Displays have separate spaces" turned off (so windows can be present on more than one monitor at a time), it looks like windows take their DPI setting from whichever monitor the majority of the window is on-- with my current two-monitor setup, the DPI transition happens at the halfway point of a window, regardless of where the mouse is as I'm dragging.


Leaving aside the implementation difficulty, the answer to "what should the scaling be" seems obvious? Use the monitor scaling for the part shown on that monitor. The switch should happen on a monitor level, not on a window level.


The painting happens on window level, that's why it handled there. Application paints the window whenever it receives event "paint me" for it and it cannot paint different portions of a window at different DPI - from the applications POV, it is a single canvas. Another thing is, that the window resize and dpi change are separate events, so you cannot really call it twice in a row with different DPI and expect the app not getting confused.

Another approach would be to let the application render at higher DPI and the compositor would downsample the portion on the lower DPI display.


OSX handles this by upsampling/downsampling the parts of windows that are drawn on the other screen.


This isn't just external monitors! MBP with "retina" screens are also unusable for Ubuntu :(


Fedora with Gnome shell on Wayland already handles both 1 and 2, although power managements is about the same as Ubuntu and Wayland comes with its own set of issues.


I switched from Ubuntu to Fedora about a year ago and am quite happy with it.


Well 1 depends on Wayland actually detecting your external monitor, I normally end up having to drop back to X to get it to detect my secondary 28" 4K monitor :-(


I couldn't figure out where I can change the different scaling for the external monitor on my fedora 25. My 1080p external monitor just looked huge comparing to my dell xps 13 hidpi display.


It requires Wayland features that are used by GNOME 3.24 (so F26).


really, there's a native multitouch support for touchpads? do you have more info about that?


Yes there is native 4 finger swipes to change desktop on Wayland. And I wrote an extension to add 3 finger gesture support for an action of your choice. Check it out here: https://github.com/mpiannucci/GnomeExtendedGestures


I can't find much information, but things like scrolling, switching work spaces etc. worked out of the box for me when I was testing Fedora 25 a month or so ago.


Two-finger scrolling works really well on Fedora with Wayland, in fact at some point it appears to have become default behavior (at least on my machine running the latest version).


Fedora uses libinput. Of course, it is not without issues from those, who would like to tweak every little setting. Libinput is designed to be as automatic and configuration-less as possible.


+1. I recently got an Dell XPS 13 and hooked it up to my external monitor (4K). Icons were way too small so I adjusted those and standard text size. But getting applications (e.g. PyCharm) to run at a reasonable size was frustrating (I had to google it and then modify some configuration file somewhere). With OS X, which I just came from, the external monitor "just worked" when I plugged it into my Macbook Pro.


it really is a mess. i connected a 4k xps 15 to FHD monitor, the only way for it to work is via open source nvidia drivers and using xrandr to scale the external monitor and then use other settings to scale everything to FHD. that and some other things made me return the xps and order the new macbook.


Windows scaling should auto configure and work in any modern application. It always works like that for me, and I only have issues for software written in 2003 in Java or really old versions of QT.


> (I had to google it and then modify some configuration file somewhere)

I even had to do this with Chrome [1]. It's crazy how obscure this was when I was setting things up. Other apps, like Gimp, still look like shit because I can't find a way to do the same thing; their GUI just rends at a tiny scale and is difficult to use.

[1] https://superuser.com/a/1120078/103402


One way to solve the scaling issue is to set the external monitor to a virtual higher resolution while still driving it at its native resolution (with scaling down done in GPU).

Actually Linux/Xorg generally support this out of the box, it is just the higher-level software that would need to make use of it. You can try it youself:

xrandr --output <output-name> --scale 2x2

the result should be the given monitor will appear to have twice the resolution, so if applications believe they are running on a high-DPI display, they will look fine on the external monitor as well.

However due to lack of support and awareness in desktops doing just this might leave you with an unsatisfactory configuration, e.g. part of the desktop erroneously shown on both monitors - you might need to use further xrandr commands to setup the regions that each monitor displays.

I use the same approach to solve this issue on a Windows 7 system I am using, it is just slightly more involved (I need to setup a custom resolution in the Nvidia control panel).


Unfortunately, this scales after drawing. The entire point of hiDPI is to have a crisper image. To achieve that, the scaling must be done at the drawing level.


Unity and Gtk would scale everthing up, so things that are properly drawn before being re-scaled.

So quality will be there.

For normal/low-DPI screens instead, you'd scale everything down, so you'd lose some memory CPU power, but you'd still get the quality result.


Battling xrandr is not for the feint of heart. It is tedious to get the right behavior and differs from one display to the next (the precise dimrnsions, etc..)


HiDPI is still a huge problem in the linux desktop I can't count the number of hours I've spent researching and fiddling with it. Wayland is the answer, but it's slow moving, and Sway currently looks terrible when scaling double.


The biggest issue with Wayland is video drivers. Try getting Wayland to work with any proprietary blob, and see your efforts fail miserably.


#1 is absolutely the biggest one for me and #3 is a solid second.

I have a Macbook Pro with retina and stopped using linux simply because I couldn't get a good resolution on my laptop and monitors. And then when traveling (flights etc), ubuntu chewed through battery probably 3 to 4x as fast as OSX so I wasn't good for that either. As a result, I have been on OSX for a couple years now but would love to be back on ubuntu some day.


I have the dual problem of 1.HEADLINE: I've got a HiDPI notebook and suffer when I have to connect it to a common 1080p screen.


Better out of the box HiDPI support would be great.

Autdetection would Be nice, but just being able to set the scaling option in one place and having it apply not only to my desktop but the login manager as well would be very useful.

Also, afaik there is no documentation on changing the scaling factor in the login manager, or at least not in the official docs.

I would not buy a standard resolution monitor at this point, so having simple support for it in Linux is very important to me.


Ubuntu Unity Developer Here...

I'm mostly replying at the point 1., as it's closed to what I do...

I know we should offer an UI for that, but waiting for that you can just workaround this.

Well, as said unity supports scaling, although it's not possible to scale toolkits per monitor.

However... There's actually a good workaround for this, that works fine for multiple monitors.

The idea is that you scale everything up to 2x / or your maximum scaling (including window contents), then you scale the non-HiDPI monitors down using xrandr --scale

For example, if you want to use normal resolution there, you just have to do something like:

xrandr --output <OUTPUT> --scale 2x2

In this way it will be scaled down, and everything will be readable and almost 1x1.

You can test this in normal resolution monitor as well, and you'll see things should be pretty good.

I should find some time to implement this directly inside UCC / USD, so that users will get this for free...

Notice that there's also a bug in X causing some mouse trapping, so you'd probably also need X to be patched as explained in this bug: https://pad.lv/1580123 (we'd like to include this upstream, but we're waiting for X upstream approval for that)


On 1.: Seriously, I was gonna write the exact same thing. Just today I researched once again, since it's quite a hassle, and nowadays seems pretty common to have a HiDPI laptop screen in combination with a standard-DPI external screen.


I had the same problem yesterday, I use fedora but we share the same pain missing this feature. It would be awesome to have this setting. Being able to set different scaling for external monitors is a must have feature.


Thanks for mentioning TLP - I hadn't heard of it before


3. agree with the default WM; no issues (same or better than Win) battery life with i3wm. In my experience ofcourse.


More work on gesture!

Including the ability to configure what gestures you want in a GUI interface!


if multi-monitor support was as solid as it is on macOS, i'd likely switch


Would love support for #2


I would absolutely be in favor of #1 and #3.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Please, please, please fix space issues with /boot.

- DESCRIPTION:

I'm constantly running out of space in /boot, due to kernel updates. It drives me so incredibly batty. If I had to guess, this is due to poor defaults in the installer for folks that opt to encrypt their whole disk. Even still, this system was setup back on 14.04 (don't think it started on 12.04), and I have no intention of reinstalling from scratch just to fix it.

Publish something official on how to fix this problem! Make it easy and stress free! Yell at the people who didn't catch this bug before it went out! Sorry, but this is just a really bad problem: it leads to folks like me wasting time, and probably a whole bunch of other folks just not being able to install updates, and no idea why.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: software developer in the federal government


+1 -- This is the one and only problem I have to regularly help my non-technical Ubuntu friends (and their friends) with. Every few months they cannot install updates anymore because their /boot fills up and apt fails to install a new kernel package.

The simplest fix would probably be to make /boot large enough by default (in the order of 10GB or 20GB or so -- the current size is 512MB IIRC).

A better fix would be to purge old unused kernels automatically but as far as I understand there were some difficult edge cases around that.


> The simplest fix would probably be to make /boot large enough by default (in the order of 10GB or 20GB or so -- the current size is 512MB IIRC).

Sure, I'll just use 1/6th of SSD to store 60 megabytes.

  $ du -hs /boot/
  56M	/boot/
If 512M is not enough space for /boot you're doing something wrong.


>If 512M is not enough space for /boot you're doing something wrong.

I don't know what planet you're living on but it's certainly not this one. Between a Ubuntu desktop, a laptop and personal server with multiple Ubuntu VM's on it, all of which are kept up rigorously to date, I fix this problem at least three times a year, every year.

The command line process to fix it[1] is a multi-stage mess of dense bash-foo that comes with a 140 word, two paragraph explanation so that /ubuntu veterans/ can figure out what is going on without resorting to scouring the man page for flags. The friendly GUI process to fix it relies on a third party tool that is no longer maintained[2].

It is not possible to explain to non-technical users what is happening here, which means the only thing they can do when they see this is call their technical friend and cry for help. This is exactly the kind of user experience that makes people think Linux is not ready for widespread desktop use.

This is definitely something the OS should take care of itself. I'm ignorant of the challenges that caused it to be this way in the first place, but in my ignorance I would advocate that:

a) the partition be made larger by default b) the OS auto-purge any kernel package more than three revisions old

[1] https://askubuntu.com/questions/89710/how-do-i-free-up-more-... [2] https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-tweak/


Here is my old-timey one-liner personal solution[0] for it that has worked flawlessly so far, obscure theoretical edge-cases be damned, because the non-edge case situation is just awfully worse and practically impactful.

(warning, rant inside)

[0] https://gist.github.com/lloeki/520acee8ba3b44c532c7


Um, isn't the fix `sudo apt auto-remove --purge`, which autodetects unused kernels? What am I missing?


If you do not run that command before /boot fills up, and you have a full /boot with a partially installed kernel, then that command fails. So this works fine if you remember to call it regularly, but it does not solve the problem once it occurs.


Interesting. I haven't encountered that edge case. I've many times filled /boot and resolved by doing an auto remove.


It seems silly to me that I need to manage this myself. Why do I need to be worrying about different kernel versions? I just want to make websites.


https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14005528


Following the chain of links and answers and explanations, we come to the conf file that says in the comments that it commonly results in two (2) kernels being saved, but can sometimes results in three (3) being saved.

IOW, it does automatically remove old kernels, it just keeps the last 2-3.

So, yes, run "apt-get autoremove", that's it.


I think it has solved the problem for me, but still is not a good solution for anyone who would answer "What's a terminal?"

I love having a terminal with bash and use it constantly, but I don't think it should be needed for the system to just go on working.


I've been using Ubuntu either part or full time since 2007. I've literally never encountered this.

Which is not to say you're lying, I'm just sort of flabbergasted that this is an issue for so many people. Do you run autoremove much? Maybe that would solve it for you?


I run ubuntu 16.04 on a laptop, desktop and a TV streamer and I get this all the time. My boot partition on the desktop is 15gig and it gets plugged every now and then.


I've hit this before, but honestly do not think it's a big deal. Sure the installer could default to a larger boot, but it's manually configurable during install. And cleaning it up once in a while is just good sys admin practice.

sudo bash -c "apt auto-remove --purge; apt update; apt upgrade" is what I usually run.

Prefer they focus engineering cycles on actual engineering problems.


Sorry, but Ubuntu is doing something wrong here, not me. This should be handled automatically. Ubuntu wants to be the system for everybody, but you can't expect people to open the terminal and fix this manually. Making boot 20GB is ridiculous, but 1GB should be no problem, and for me 2GB would be OK if that means that this problem will disappear forever.

And I believe my boot partition is only 256MB, and I didn't set it to that. That was a system default.


Ubuntu is absolutely doing something wrong here and we'll get that fixed. Thanks!


Yup! That "something wrong" is installing every single kernel update for two, three, four years and not deleting any of the old kernels.

Super common in enterprise deployments. I ran into this a bunch on my $EMPLOYER-issued workstation.


The installer should handle this. When you apt-get upgrade anything besides the kernel, does it leave the old version lying around?

I understand that it may be wise to keep the old kernel around so the system can be booted in case there is a hardware incompatibility or breakage in the new release, but that justifies only one additional kernel. Ubuntu keeps those kernels sitting there until you `apt-get autoremove`, and that means that unless you're running that command routinely, the boot partition is going to fill up at some point, no matter how big you make it.

This is especially a problem for people who use the unattended-upgrades package. I've autoremoved and had it clean up almost a gig of old kernel images before.


If you're running updates weekly it will fill up on Ubuntu. This is a recent problem, and I've only experienced it on my laptop with full-disk encryption.

The update process generates on the order of 100mb/month.


It's not new. It's been happening to me since I started using Ubuntu in the 8.x range.


Doesn't `apt-get autoremove` remove those old kernels? Not that it's a solution; it should of course be done automatically! Here's what I get when using it:

    > apt-get autoremove
    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree
    Reading state information... Done
    The following packages will be REMOVED:
      linux-headers-3.19.0-79 linux-headers-3.19.0-79-generic
      linux-image-3.19.0-78-generic linux-image-3.19.0-79-generic
      linux-image-extra-3.19.0-78-generic linux-image-extra-3.19.0-79-generic
    0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 24 to remove and 39 not upgraded.
    After this operation, 1,732 MB disk space will be freed.
    Do you want to continue? [Y/n]


Whenever a kernel is updated autoremove should be called immediately afterwards. It should be called before the restart now / restart later dialog box of update-notifier appears.

Currently, Ubuntu installs a new kernel and update-notifier tells the user a reboot is needed. The autoremove notification only appears when using the terminal which explains why users are running into this issue. Also, update-notifier informs the user another reboot is needed after autoremove is run.

To avoid this mess I’ve commented out the lines of /etc/apt/apt.conf.d/99update-notifier and wrote my own updater using bash and zenity and incorporated needsrestart. It’s not pretty but it works.


absolutely not, automatically running auto remove may lead to bad things; on occasion autoremove flags other more useful packages for removal.

For example I'm using LVM with my installation on my Ubuntu laptop and after updating the kernel and running "apt autoremove" it removed the LVM package leaving me scratching my head shortly on reboot as to why it wouldn't find my root filesystem (frankly i have no idea how it became "unneeded").

A more sensible approach is how Red Hat do it with YUM/DNF, that is, to allow a certain number of the same packages to be installed, "installonly_limit" in yum.conf. Doing this means that when a new kernel gets installed the oldest is removed to keep the the system at the limit specified.

On my RHEL/CentOS machines I tend to narrowly provision /boot to around 250-500MB. set "installonly_limit" to 2 and the system will keep the most recent kernel and one back. it works for me.


I see you’re point, though I too use LVM and haven’t seen that happen... weird. I could have been more exact with my response as autoremove does more than just remove old kernels. Anyway, it would be nice to see Canonical resolve this.


Care to share it? Maybe it could help others...


I thought about sharing it but like I said it’s not pretty. It involves editing sudoers and holding back config updates for sudoers and update-notifier-common which might cause problems in the future if you’re not aware. I’d much rather see Canonical address it properly.


>Doesn't `apt-get autoremove` remove those old kernels?

Of course it doesn't! Why would you assume such a silly thing? /s https://askubuntu.com/questions/563483/why-doesnt-apt-get-au...


I confirm that it doesn't autoremove. I had to empty /boot on some servers lately.

Anyway sometimes one wants to keep old kernels. I have an old laptop that runs OK with a 3.something kernel and has wierd video sync problems with any newer ones. Ubuntu 16.04 keeps running with that old kernel so I keep booting from that, maybe once or twice per year.

However the proper solution would be pinning a package and autoremoving the others.


Yes, it does remove old kernels. Read the very link you posted.


> It's better to err on the side of saving too many kernels than saving too few

But Muh Freedoms! I hate to be subject to one man's opinion of things /s


It's also kind of a garbage argument.

People who know they have broken kernels don't keep upgrading them, they stop and fix them.

People who don't know they have broken kernels also don't know they can boot with an older kernel, so they get nothing from the "backup".

We want to leave some time for people to realize their kernel is broken, so keeping three is probably just fine. Honestly, it would probably be adequate to just bump the oldest one off the queue whenever a newer one is requested. If you've got a tiny boot partition, maybe that means only two revisions. If you've got a huge boot partition it could be 20.

But just keeping them all and making people manually uninstall them gains you nothing, it's user-hostile for no reason.


Except, it would be nice to keep a few of the (recent) older kernels, in case things go awry with the new update.


This already happens: apt autoremove won't remove the package for the running kernel. It'll clean up "old" (N-1 and lower) kernels, but installing kernel N+1 won't allow kernel N to be deleted as long as kernel N is still executing.

Once you reboot/kexec into the N+1 kernel, it'll let you remove the N (now N-1) kernel, bringing you down to one. But at that point you've proven the new kernel works—at least well enough to get to a shell you can run apt autoremove from.

This is why autoremove isn't so auto: if it happened automatically after reboot, it might be running on a now-wedged system (e.g. one that can't bring up the display manager), removing the last-known-good kernel and leaving you with only the broken one.

I think the right middle-ground solution would just be for installing kernel updates to touch a file, and for Desktop Environments to notice that file and trigger a dialog prompt of "you've just rebooted into a new kernel. Everything good?"—where answering "yes" runs apt autoremove. On a wedged system, you can't answer the prompt, so the system won't drop the old kernel. (In other words, just copy the "your display settings were changed. Can you read this?" prompt. It's a great design!)


Fedora/RHEL yum has a much better solution: installonly_limit, defaulting to 3. Kernels which have been updated will only be kept up to this depth. The excess are automatically trimmed during update.


Wouldn't a good solution then be to run autoremove before installing a new kernel?

That way, you have kernel N running, first autoremove wipes kernels N-1 and older, then it installs kernel N+1, so that when you reboot into N+1, you'll always have known-good kernel N if it doesn't work.

It's a very similar solution to how a good programmer solves an off-by-one error, doing a shift/rotate shuffle on a for/while loop.


What happens when you have a high-uptime system where you repeatedly "apt dist-upgrade" and end up installing packages for kernels N+1, N+2, N+3, etc., all without rebooting into any of them?

I agree that if the user manually runs an apt [dist-]upgrade—or really any manual apt command—that that's a good time to do apt maintenance work. (Homebrew does maintenance work whenever you invoke it and there haven't been any complaints so far.) But kernels usually get installed automatically, so it can't just run then.

Now, if there was a specific concept of a "last-known good kernel" (imagine, say, the grub package generating+installing a virtual package when you run grub-install, that depends on whatever kernel you specified as your recovery kernel, ensuring it remains around), then your approach could work—you'd always have two kernels, the LKG for a recovery boot, and the newest for a regular boot.


Exactly what happens on Fedora.


I agree.

I'm running Ubuntu 16.10 currently. A kernel upgrade hosed my setup yesterday, and having an older kernel available saved my butt. I was able to do another `apt-get update` and things eventually worked with the latest kernel.


For Ubuntu Desktop, it may make sense for the package manager to keep only the latest 2 or 3 kernels, and automatically purge the rest.


I had the /boot filling up problem but had thought it was fixed, I'm on 16.04+. I'm pretty sure the last two kernel updates I did removed older kernels leaving me with the current one and previous one ... ?


You can configure apt unattended upgrades to autoremove by default, perhaps you did that?


Nope, still doesn't do it without manually invoking autoremove.


This is the main problem that keeps me from wanting to set up less technical family members on Ubuntu. It's possible to get in a spot where even a simple command won't solve this.


Solus uses https://github.com/ikeydoherty/clr-boot-manager now, which purges old kernels and modules, but keeps the modules for the currently running system so HW still works


> The simplest fix would probably be to make /boot large enough by default (in the order of 10GB or 20GB or so -- the current size is 512MB IIRC).

What? This is ridiculous and unacceptable. I don't use Ubuntu anymore, can someone tell me what is filling up the boot partition?

I'm currently on ArchLinux and mine is 200MB and it's 14% full! I can't fathom what could occupy so much space.


It's the way kernel update come in apt. The kernel update is a new package, not an upgrade of a previous kernel package. Thus the old kernels are left in place and the new ones installed alongside. After about 3 kernels have been made available in /boot the previously recommended size for /boot is full and attempted update to a new kernel fails.

It can be manually fixed by removing older kernels ("sudo apt purge ...").

Perhaps I'm mistaken but i thought a fix was in place for this, maybe it was something third-party but apt definitely offered to remove unused kernel package for me recently.


In other words: integrate purge-old-kernels

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/xenial/man1/purge-old-ke...

Maybe add some stats to know which kernels have booted successfully, so one knows which old ones can be safely deleted, and keep the last 1 or 2 good ones (not always the latest!).


$ apt-get install purge-old-kernels

    The program 'purge-old-kernels' is currently not installed.
    You can install it by typing: apt install byobu
"byobu"? packages.debian.org to the rescue...

https://packages.debian.org/jessie/byobu "Using Byobu, you can quickly create and move between different windows over a single SSH connection or TTY terminal, split each of those windows into multiple panes, monitor dozens of important statistics about your system, detach and reattach to sessions later while your programs continue to run in the background."

Uhm... what?


So I'm the author of both Byobu and purge-old-kernels. It's in Debian, because I help push it there after I push it to Ubuntu.

It's completely wrong that purge-old-kernels is in Byobu, rather than in the kernel or directly handled by dpkg/apt. Thanks for all the feedback here -- we'll get that cleaned up in 17.10!


Are you sure you typed exactly that?

For `apt-get install purge-old-kernels` I get

    E: Could not open lock file /var/lib/dpkg/lock - open (13: Permission denied)
    E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?
And for `sudo apt-get install purge-old-kernels`, I get

    Reading package lists... Done
    Building dependency tree       
    Reading state information... Done
    E: Unable to locate package purge-old-kernels
But I can reproduce your error by `purge-old-kernels` alone. That is indeed strange.

EDIT: I straced bash by `strace -o bashlog -f -s 10000 bash` and found the culprit to be /usr/lib/command-not-found. Indeed, if you run `/usr/lib/command-not-found -- purge-old-kernels` directly, you get that same message about byobu.

EDIT2: I assumed this was some kind of bug with the database, but now I actually tried installing byobu and it does make purge-old-kernels available.


The first of the two errors has nothing to do with the package itself - packages need root permisions to be managed, which is what exactly the error is telling you:

    E: Unable to lock the administration directory (/var/lib/dpkg/), are you root?
                                                                     ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
In your case, you didn't prepend `sudo`.

Regarding the second, which is instead the core of the problem, see the man page (http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/xenial/man1/purge-old-ke...):

    Provided by: byobu_5.106-0ubuntu1_all bug
Therefore the correct (and full) command is:

    sudo apt-get install byobu
As pointed out in another comment, such package is arguably a poor placement for this type of utility.


I'm aware that the first errors don't have anything to do with the package itself, but this was the command line given. I was wondering what kind of setup might lead to an apt-get command (without sudo even) to display that error message.


One case (which may be irrelevant in this context, but still a valid scenario) is auto-updates being executed in the background.


> "byobu"? packages.debian.org to the rescue...

You don't ned to use packages.debian.org to look up what packages do.

> apt show byobu .. Description: text window manager, shell multiplexer, integrated DevOps environment Byobu is Ubuntu's powerful text-based window manager, shell multiplexer, and integrated DevOps environment.


Quite right. One uses packages.ubuntu.com:

* http://packages.ubuntu.com/yakkety/all/byobu/filelist

(-:


byobu is basically an abstraction over screen and tmux, letting you use either with some common keybindings for spawning new windows and a common toolbar at the bottom telling you disk usage and load average and the like. I am not sure why purge-old-kernels is in the byobu package, that seems like a really poor placement for it.


It is a bad place for it. But it's there because I wrote both of them, and Byobu is always everywhere I want it to be, and I generally always want purge-old-kernels there too.

But yes, you're very right. It needs to be moved out.


Forgive the intrusion, just want to say thanks for Byobu. I use it regularly, and it's much nicer than bare tmux or screen.


:-) Thanks!


It shouldn't be needed. AFAIK part of the post-installation script of a new kernel already marks the oldest kernels for removal with `apt-get autoremove`. They just need to run it automatically after an upgrade.


Unfortunately, that's not enough. There are many corner cases where kernel packages hang around much longer than they should, for odd reasons.


Another related issue: I have helped get a few co-workers set up with Ubuntu on their laptops. Inevitably, once every few months, one comes to me and says "I just ran an update and the 'Restart' popup came up, so I restarted, now my laptop says 'No bootable devices found.'" This happens when Ubuntu is installed in UEFI mode. A kernel update sometimes wipes out the boot image. To fix it, I to get into the BIOS and reselect a bootable UEFI image. This should never, ever happen.


I have similar experience, but with Virtualbox in UEFI mode. After any restart, UEFI will complain that it cannot find anything bootable, I will run the bootloader from UEFI shell (Virtualbox does not have BIOS menus), in booted system run the efibootmgr to register it, just to have it lost at next reboot and doing the dance again.

Only Ubuntu does that, other linux distributions don't have this problem.


+1 - I didn't even know this was an issue. Usually i just use apt to update and run autoremove after I get a new kernel and verify it is working.

I recently installed Ubuntu on some old computers for my relatives and they really like it. If they keep updating and after a couple of months their system fails to work that will be a disaster for any good will they will have developed for Ubuntu.

This needs to be fixed NOW! How can Ubuntu even pretend to be a viable desktop operating systems if normal updating renders the system unusable?!


+1 then I can kill my custom "remove oldest kernels, except the running one, and leave at least two other kernels" script.


Yes, I had this same problem when I was on Xubuntu. Fedora and CentOS(and I'm assuming many other distros) seem to handle kernel updates just fine without forcing me to manually clean out old images from /boot periodically (was always too lazy to write a script).


What Fedora and CentOS do is a generic yum/dnf option: installonly_limit. It allows you to keep limit on the amount of packages with the same name and different versions, kernel included.


would you mind sharing this in the meantime?


I've been using this for years. I believe it only keeps one old kernel version though, not two like you requested. Tested and working for weekly use since 12.04 though 16.04:

echo $(dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort | sed -n '/'`uname -r`'/q;p') $(dpkg --list | grep linux-headers | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort -n | sed -n '/'"$(uname -r | sed "s/\([0-9.-]*\)-\([^0-9]\+\)/\1/")"'/q;p') | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge


I guarantee there's a way to get that pipe to purge all packages in your system.


This is the new way to do it:

    sudo purge-old-kernels --keep 3 -qy
TIL


I agree, I've had to deal with this issue many times. I think it has happened at least 4 times in the last year. A few times I had to manually go in and start deleting old kernels because it had completely run out of space, so apt couldn't do anything without crashing.

I eventually set up a cron script to regularly delete everything except the last 3 kernels. I think this should really be the default behavior. "Save all the old kernels until you run out of space and everything crashes" doesn't sound like a very sane default.


+1 as well. This made me brick my entire installation (entirely my own fault: trying to fix it with insufficient knowledge). It made me switch to another distribution.


Despite having cleaned out old kernels before, I spaced one day and accidentally removed the kernel I was running. This is fixable if you boot a live distro you can mount the relevant volumes (like your root disk to /mnt/foo, and your boot partition to /mnt/boot), then, after a chroot to /mnt/foo you can re-install the kernel. Here is an article describing it (but it misses mounting the boot partition) http://askubuntu.com/questions/28099/how-to-restore-a-system...


+1. This is one of my major annoyances w/ Ubuntu. Been using it 3 years now and this seems like a fundamental issue that should be fixed.


It's user error on your part. The proper way to upgrade a Debian/Ubuntu system is:

  $ apt-get dist-upgrade
  $ apt-get autoremove
dist-upgrade installs new kernels, and autoremove will automatically remove old kernels (and keep the last 2 most recent ones.)


I like to use apt-get dist-upgrade --auto-remove, all in one step. Though for kernels they will be removed on the next invocation after reboot as the default logic keeps the last installed kernel version as well as the current one.

As for the original issue of not cleaning up the kernels, this is fixed in xenial/16.04 but not in trusty/14.04, see bug report here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bu...


Xenial/16.04 has other issues regarding kernel cleanup involving DKMS leaving files behind:

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=717584

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dkms/+bug/1515513


autoremove followed by dist-upgrade to 16.04 for me somehow decided to build multiple kernel versions and ran out of space on /boot mid build. That was really annoying to fix.


There is a lot of confusion in this thread.

dist-upgrade is NOT (in most cases) meant to upgrade to a newer distribution (eg. Ubuntu 14.04 to 16.04). dist-upgrade is just like upgrade except it also installs additional packages if necessary (eg. linux-kernel-4.1 AND linux-kernel-4.2).

Most people should always run "apt-get dist-upgrade" and never "apt-get upgrade" in order to simply keep their packages up-to-date.

An actual distribution upgrade is triggered by a different command. On Ubuntu: do-release-upgrade


dist-upgrade shouldn't try and move you to another release version, do-release-upgrade alone does that, as far as I know. Things get a little more confusing using apt update/upgrade vs. apt-get update/dist-upgrade, they don't seem to be quite the same in all cases for me. But I agree with the general frustration that it shouldn't be necessary to run apt(-get) autoremove frequently to keep /boot from filling up with old kernels.


Run autoremove after dist-upgrade.


I quit using Ubuntu as a Desktop OS because this was so obnoxious. I would gladly return if they fix this.


This will get fixed. Mark my words ;-)


Awesome! thanks, looking forward to it!


+1

This is a feature (kernel update) that is used by everyone, including newbs. They don't have to understand anything to enjoy the update, and they shouldn't have to understand anything to avoid the space filling issue.

Lots of ways to fix it, I don't claim to know which is best:

* Always leave N% /boot available, and delete or move old kernels to satisfy that.

* Move old kernels to /old_kernels, outside of /boot. Driven either by satisfying N% space, or no more than K number of kernels kept in /boot.

* Opt in, opt out, ask this on installation and for non-server installs, default to "never have to think about this again."

* Easily configurable in the "whatever that box was called when I last used Ubuntu years ago" box.


sounds like you're keeping too many old kernels, I've had this problem too in the past..try this nice little oneliner: dpkg --list | grep linux-image | awk '{ print $2 }' | sort -V | sed -n '/'`uname -r`'/q;p' | xargs sudo apt-get -y purge

really, this is what your package manager should do automatically before/after installing new kernels

for your reference: http://askubuntu.com/questions/2793/how-do-i-remove-old-kern...


That's not a good one liner, because it doesn't do anything about the linux-headers packages (which are hundreds of thousands of small files) or the linux-image-extra packages.

Just run "apt-get autoremove".


This would be fantastic. This problem has no official or easy solution for non-technical people and delays updates which could cause security issues. Please, please provide a fix for this!


-FLAVOR: and Ubuntu Server +1


Bit late to the party, but I believe this was fixed in xenial/16.04 but not trusty/14.04

The relevant bug report is here: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/update-manager/+bu...

Side note, give up on a separate /boot in future, not needed 99.9% of the time.


Indeed this is due to missing options in the installer: with some manual fiddling, it's long been possible to make grub boot from encrypted disk (thus removing the need for a separate /boot and its space issues): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/grub2/+bug/1062623

You could probably fix this on your system without installing from scratch, but it would take some careful planning (mostly wrt backups!). You'd need to boot from a recovery cd or such, copy /boot into /, edit /etc/fstab accordingly, and then follow the last few steps in the bug report above (from the chrooting onwards). I'd probably test this in a VM first.


This might be aggravated by this DKMS bug which was found in v2.2.0.3, which incidentally is used in Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, and maybe other versions. It doesn't remove old initrd files in /boot which lead to full /boot issues and subsequent update problems

I manually removed a bunch of old initrd images the other day.

http://askubuntu.com/questions/616512/purging-old-kernels-fa...

https://bugs.debian.org/cgi-bin/bugreport.cgi?bug=717584

They've got a bug reported upstream. We need this fixed in Ubuntu


Ubuntu Launchpad bug here regarding DKMS leaving old files to fill /boot:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/dkms/+bug/1515513

You can add yourself to the list of people affected to increase the Bug Heat and get this issue fixed.


Why do you have a /boot partition?

  $ mountpoint /boot
  /boot is not a mountpoint
I don't know if this is the default, but my KUbuntu machines have been fine for many years without a separate /boot.


If you want to install with full disk encryption, you normally want a /boot partition.

In theory, GRUB can load kernels off of a LUKS-encrypted partition, but in practice I've never managed to set that up without having two passphrase prompts, one from GRUB and one for mounting the root filesystem under Linux.


I try to do the same, but sometimes there's no way around it. LUKS comes to mind: can't boot an encrypted kernel because EFI/BIOS has no decryption facilities. I'm sure there are other cases, but this is the only one that comes to mind.


Ubuntu mounts my EFI partition as /boot.


LUKS.


I don't use Ubuntu, but in Fedora it keeps only a handful of old kernels (i.e. one or two back) and deletes the rest. I guess Ubuntu just holds onto every kernel you've ever had since the beginning of time?


Why is boot still a separate partition. I most cases it doesn't need to be.


LUKS


omg, I am on 14.04 LTS and didn't believe until now it is not fixed in newer releases! :)


I've also encountered this issue, and I assumed it was a bug to do with the fact that I sometimes use apt-get and sometimes accept the Ubuntu GUI software update prompts.

If people are encountering it on this wide a scale, it must be a truly severe problem (that's also probably causing many people who haven't learned about apt-get to give up on software updates entirely!).


This is the primary reason I've recently​ replaced​ Ubuntu as the OS on my home server/NAS. I'd be happy to come back!


This is an annoying problem indeed but there is an easy workaround. Here is a script I use whenever I ran out of space on /boot partitition:

https://gist.github.com/vzaliva/bee68ed709ddd2724791a56714ec...


Ubuntu should just integrate Debian's /etc/kernel/postinst.d/apt-auto-removal script.


+1

This more than anything. I believe it is this issue (at least for me): https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/unattended-upgrade...


+1 I recently had this issue. I have Ubuntu on my machine (not dual boot) and I installed with all the default options. I hardly installed any heavy applications and it started saying it cannot install updates as /boot is full. Thanks for bringing this up.


The old kernels should be purged automatically on desktops. That really is an annoying issue.


I used to use Arch and seriously one of my favourite things to see was an update that used negative disk space. Apt has come a long way, but this DEFINITELY needs to be fixed.


I had this problem on a previous work laptop. Very annoying. I thought it was the local IT people who had installed it wrong.


apt autoremove will clean it up.


Only if you catch it in time, before you've completely run out space. `apt autoremove` will crash if there is not enough space on the disk.


Which would be another worthwhile fix: some way to run `apt remove` or `apt autoremove` in a zero free-space environment. It could detect it and pick pick data somewhere (like /usr/src) to persist to memory temporarily while it works, then replace.


I've never noticed autoremove removing old kernel images in /boot.


+1 ... plusa nice command to clean out unused kernels


+1

Yes! Please!!


+1


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: More stable dock/undock and sleep/wake handling.

- DESCRIPTION:

I've noticed that my system often hangs unrecoverably with a blank screen during dock/undock and sleep/wake events. I've learned, though, that I can reduce the likelihood of having problems by trying to minimize the number of state changes that the system has to handle at once. For example, if I'm leaving the house with the laptop, I'll first open the lid, wait 10 seconds to see if the display wants to turn on or not, undock it, wait 10 seconds for it to adjust, and only then put it to sleep. Same thing waking it up: one step at a time, with 10 second pauses in between. Seems to reduce my problems by about 90%. As a developer, this screams "race conditions" to me, but what do I know? If there's a bug filed for this already, I wouldn't know -- no idea what I'd search for.

I take the uptime game pretty seriously: having to reboot means that I lose a ton of context. Right now, I've got nine separate workspaces/desktops going, all with several browser, terminal, etc. windows. A reboot means I'll spend anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes installing updates and recovering all of that state. It's painful. Right now, my system has only been up for 9 days, which is weak sauce.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: software developer in the federal government


It's kind of crazy how long this has been a problem and across many different hardware configs. Sleep doesn't work on my desktop or on a windows laptop with standard intel everything.


As a side note, the same issue persist on Windows with HP current gen EliteBook and Office. Everytime I undock the notebook, MS Outlook gets disconnected and it simply refuses to reconnect. The only option is to close Outlook and open it again - but waiting 30s between closing and starting again otherwise some locks on the PST file are still in place and Outlook would hang on start forever. The only way to fix it then, is by a Windows reboot. That they killed the QA department was the dumbest idea ever, now things are so buggy.


Just want to note I have similar problems on MacOS especially when using multiple monitors. I.E. one monitor will work and the other won't until I restart.


Yeah, I've had intermittent suspend/resume issues with nearly every laptop I've tried linux on.

My current xps 13 is the only one I've ever used where it works 100% reliably.


Interesting. I did a test run of the new xps 13 the other day and it had all sorts of issues with a stock install.


What sorts of issues? I've tried a multitude of distros on it and provided that it has a recent kernel (4.8 or newer, so if you tried 16.04 you'd want to make sure you're running the HWE stack) everything seems to work really well.

The only hardware related issue I've had has been static background noise from the headphone jack (which I also see on a clean install of windows), but I was able to get past that with the steps here:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Dell_XPS_13_(9350)#Hiss...


I had this same problem. I switched back to nouveau drivers for my Nvidia card, instead of the proprietary drivers, and everything works perfectly. I also seem to be getting better overall performance in day-to-day desktop activities and battery life. I don't really do anything that needs 3d other than the desktop compositor.

When I was using he non-open-source drivers, Ctrl-Alt-F# to change virtual terminals would sometimes help. I would switch to a random virtual terminal and back and sometimes it would be working again.


Sadly, the ctrl+alt+f# trick doesn't work for me (OP). I wish!

And btw (should have mentioned this): ThinkPad W530 running nVidia drivers.


nVidia soft hang issues are super annoying. since mine is always plugged in, i just set my laptop to never suspend.


+1 Happens all the time. Can't tell specifically what the cause is. Most common seems to be the display hangs after unplugging HDMI while the laptop was in sleep mode.


I've found myself able to access my computer for a good while before the lock screen would turn on after a wake sometimes.


+1000

My ubuntu laptop has now became a stationary computer permanently stuck to the docking station and i never put it to sleep because I'm scared every time i unplug or plug in an external device. Anything from the most simple USB keyboard to ethernet, to VGA monitor, HDMI/DP/DVI monitors, USB3 docking station, close laptop lid, wake from sleep... EVERYTHING has a big chance that the hot plug will fail and you either have to reboot for the device to be detected or in worst case the OS just freezes.

This is a must fix for ubuntu to ever be viable as a desktop OS.


I use tmux-resurrect for this exact reason. Between that and Chrome's session restore I end up in an OK state after a reboot.

+1 for fixing this issue, just trying to work around it in the meantime.


Yes please!! So painful. I also have dozens of applications open, all the time, which I lose when I dock/undock when in sleep...


So much this! _If_ it succeeds in waking up from standby, only 2 of my 3 monitors work, this means I end up rebooting anyways...


This is actually one of the main reasons I am thinking of switching to a Mac. It's really hard to live with all these 'black-screen-after-lock' moments. If that could work as it does in MacOS/Windows, I'd probably never switch.


I am experiencing this when I resume with a VPN connection on.

Even though it doesn't take me much time to recover state its really annoying to know that I have to figure out all these issues anytime I start using a Linux laptop.


My laptop, everytime I open from sleep, is starts but it donesn't turn on the screen. I have to close and reopen, then it turn on the LCD.


this is one of the main reasons i don't use linux on laptop


A huge +.


OK here goes..

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Drop Mir & collaborate with Wayland

- DESCRIPTION: I know this is a touchy subject and I'm not looking to self-righteously re-re-re-ligitage everything but... between Intel walking away, licensing concerns, Ubuntu varients not jumping onboard, and various community concerns, would you re-consider abandoning mir and joining forces with Wayland? I understand you felt there were some technical shortcomings regarding how input devices were handled. Perhaps in today's climate those concerns can be better addressed by Wayland if you can provide the engineering leadership on those efforts?

- ROLE: Code Janitor


I was about to write this exact post. This is the main reason I use Arch Linux. Arch just follows upstream without worrying about holy wars.

There are dozens of ways Ubuntu can innovate/differentiate. Fighting a holy way of Mir vs Wayland (when you came second, and Wayland already had major support) is not a good use of your time. Same goes for Snap vs Flatpak. And what about Juju, or Bazaar (though that's dead now, isn't it?). You did well accepting systemd over Upstart. You could do the same with Wayland (over Mir), Flatpak (over Snap), and officially EOL Bazaar.

I'm not a Unity fan, but that seems like a genuine way for Ubuntu to differentiate and/or compete. Mir and Snap are not. They're just incompatible alternatives that divide the open source community. I know that alternatives can often be good, and inspire competition. But when it's clear you've lost, it's sometimes better to follow your Upstart/Systemd example and join the winning side.


> - HEADLINE: Drop Mir & collaborate with Wayland

That would more accurately be:

- HEADLINE: Port Unity 8 to be a Wayland compositor

This would be at least a multi-year effort. Consider how much time and effort went into porting Gnome Shell and KWin over to Wayland. It would be at least as much work do the same with Unity 8.


Finishing Mir is also a multi-year effort. So, where would the programmer-hours best be spent?


Exactly. Let's avoid the sunk-cost fallacy.


Sorry if I wan't clear, the point was that it wouldn't be possible to do in time for 17.10, which is what the original post was asking about.


> Drop [Canonical-specific] & collaborate with [leading variant]

That would be great in general. Linux Mint is known as "Ubuntu minus Canonical" for a reason.


Except they invent their own shit all the time also. Sometimes to the detriment of existing products.


Linux Mint is also "Ubuntu without Security". That's right -- Linux Mint does not install Ubuntu's security updates, nor supply their own.

Stated another way: 100% of Linux Mint machines in the world are either:

(a) already pwned

or

(b) vulnerable to multiple CVEs and will be pwned


+1 to explore using Wayland over Mir. I think it's intuitive that everyone (distros, developers, users) would benefit from unifying the Linux graphics stack to the greatest extent possible. The display server decision should not just be based on what is best for Unity, but what is best for the Ubuntu ecosystem as a whole. Having multiple display servers means there will be a duplication of effort for developers of application toolkits, window managers, and, of course, the display servers themselves. The proper question in my mind is whether all the additional downstream and lateral effort from maintaining multiple display servers is a bigger opportunity cost to the overall Ubuntu experience than the additional development necessary to get Unity running on Wayland. It's worth revisiting the display server question because this is something that may have major consequences for quite some time.


Look at the main request on this page: hiDPI. That is what we need a better graphics stack for.

The reason we need focus on Wayland is that NVIDIA and AMD need to focus on a specific graphics stack. That wasn't our choice. That was theirs. Thankfully, AMD is headed in the right direction with AMDGPU.

Unfortunately, NVIDIA shows no signs of sensibility here, so we must be wise, and focus their efforts away from Xorg. The best way to do this is for canonical to forget about Mir, and push its support behind Wayland.

We need your help, Canonical! Let us fight stagnation together, lest we find ourselves using Xorg for another 10 years.


There's no technical justification. Mir is a purely political decision. Canonical wants to exert more control over the platform. It's a totally rational position, but as you note, it seems to be failing.


To be fair, I could absolutely understand their decision. After watching the people behind Gnome3 and Wayland pretty much run amok with their ideas and their attitude towards other, dependent projects, I can't blame Canonical for not having that much faith in a possibly unstable foundation. Especially with their plans back then of building a mobile product on it. So I really can't see how Canonical are the bad guys here. It was not so much about more control but against losing it somewhere down the road.


Yeah, I didn't say they're bad guys. I just think it's important that people recognize Mir was never about technical considerations. It was a land grab, and I agree, we may very well have been better off with Canonical in control of the platform.


> - ROLE: Code Janitor

That sounds like a fun job. You just clean code all day?


Oh god yes. I forgot that one.


I'm sure Mir is a perfectly good replacement to crufty old x.org. But you know what? Upstart was a perfectly good replacement to crufty old sysvinit, and we all know how that one turned out. I predict this will turn out exactly the same; Ubuntu will go with Mir for a few years before eventually caving to community pressure and switching to Wayland, just like the ultimately gave up Upstart in favor of community-favored systemd.


Flavor: Ubuntu Desktop

Headline: Good (or even acceptable) high-DPI & multi-monitor support

Description:

High-DPI support is really bad in Ubuntu right now, and multiple external monitors are poorly supported. Here are some of problems I experience regularly:

- Ubuntu won't remember screen configurations when unplugging and "replugging" external monitors, which means I have to reconfigure them again and again.

- Often Ubuntu will freeze / crash when unplugging external monitors or when powering the laptop up after putting it in sleep mode and unplugging the monitor cable while the laptop sleeps. The only safe way to unplug a monitor is to first manually disable it in the "Display" settings, which honestly is not acceptable.

- Ubuntu often does not even notice when monitors get unplugged, hence it keeps displaying apps on (now unplugged) monitors. When opening the "Display" settings it will usually recognize the mistake and remove the extra monitors from the config.

- High DPI in general is still poorly supported in apps and the performance is very bad compared to e.g. Windows, to the point that I'm not even able to play 4k videos.

- Some keyboard/mouse gestures don't work on secondary monitors (e.g. using the arrow keys to navigate through menus)

Role: CTO

---

ADDENDUM:

By high-DPI I especially mean 4k displays (e.g. 3840 pixels wide), which are becoming more popular and which are almost completely unusable without proper DPI scaling.

Another problem with the "Display" settings dialogue is the weird behavior when dragging window icons around to arrange them: Often they will get stuck or outright refuse to move where I want them to be, such that I need to resort to some hacks (e.g. moving monitors around each other in circles) to get them where I want them to be. Also, when plugging in an external monitor often Ubuntu will not detect it correctly and display it as having a resolution of 800x600 pixels, refusing to adjust it or enable the monitor. The only way to fix this is to reboot the machine.

In general I want to thank all developers of Ubuntu, which -while not perfect- is still by far my preferred OS for any serious development work.


Thank you. Having used macOS for years now, where the transition to High-DPI displays was pretty much un-noticable, I was shocked to install Ubuntu on a machine with a High-DPI display and not see everything working right. Mouse cursor too small. Fonts too small. Icons too small. Change this. Now text is OK. Tweak that. Now icons are all right, but it didn't affect Firefox for some reason. Change that other thing. Now mouse cursor is the right size for a while but the system changes it back every time I come back from sleep.

I still haven't gotten it all to work reliably. And I have no idea if it's Ubuntu, if it's the window manager, if it's the desktop environment, if it's X (or Mir, or whatever they are calling the window system these days) if it's individual applications, or a combination of some of those. It's crazy land.


+1 to all these points.

A couple of related issues that cause me frequent problems...

- In addition to detecting when monitors are removed, detecting when they are there from the start. If I have a monitor plugged in at boot, it is generally not detected. I instead have to wait for the login screen to appear before connecting the external monitor.

- When opening a new window, there seems little logic as to which monitor it will appear on, and where (particularly annoying in combination with being limited to a single DPI setting across multiple monitors despite each needing different scaling (sudden unexpectedly huge or tiny windows) - see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14003160 )

Role: Developer


I run gnome on Ubuntu because of how bad it was in Unity, but that's also not perfect. On a two-monitor (both 4k) desktop where I'm not plugging in or unplugging screens, waking from sleep will commonly only bring up one screen, or the arrangement will have changed, or it'll get stuck in a mode where the screens go dark after 10 seconds of inactivity.

+1 that the UI scaling is nowhere near as good as OSX in either unity or gnome. I'm either stuck with normal sized fonts but oversized UI elements (button / text field height) or the reverse.

Definitely agree about the "Display" settings dialogue annoyance.

Also, Monitors with varying DPIs were so bad that I just bought another 4k screen rather than trying to make my 1080p one work alongside the 4k one.


Debian Gnome dual monitor setup also darkens one monitor regularly when pugging/unplugging screens, took a while for me to understand that it only sets the screen brightness of one monitor to zero. So adjusting the brightness up bringd the monitor back alive again.


FLAVOR: Desktop HEADLINE: Pick an official laptop for the release. ROLE: End-user, Sysadmin, Developer

I would love for Ubuntu to, with each release, pick a laptop vendor and a laptop and just Make It Work.

All the components. Out of the box. As near perfect as one can get it. So when I'm in the market for a new laptop, I can just buy that one. And I'm not talking about a pro gear like the XPS. Just simple, cheap consumer stuff.


What's wrong with using XPS? I picked one up for $1200 last time I bought one, that's not too high of a price.

You'd typically want the flagship device to be at least mid-tier to show off the best features and support for new mainstream technology, like the HiDPI stuff other people are talking about.


>What's wrong with using XPS? I picked one up for $1200 last time I bought one, that's not too high of a price.

If you ship it to Australia it's over the $1000AUD gst threshold so it picks up an extra 10% as it crosses the boarder.

If you ship it to Iceland it picks up ~30% in VAT and other taxes, and you have to pay tax on the shipping as well. If the Icelandic customs decide what you've bought was a "luxury good", it could pick up as much as 50% more tax in the process[1].

The USA is not the world. The base price tends to multiply when you ship it elsewhere.

[1] I don't think anyone understands how the Icelandic Customs applies tax, including customs themselves


You want Ubuntu to pick the best laptop for Australia and Iceland? Or, are you saying they should conduct a global survey, researching the models available in each country and their import tariffs?


>You want Ubuntu to pick the best laptop for Australia and Iceland?

What on earth /are/ you talking about? Laptops are laptops. With the exception of the international space station, they work the same everywhere.

The best laptop for Australia and Iceland is the same laptop that is the best laptop for the USA, and the XPS is pretty up there wherever you live.

What I'm saying is that there's a lot of value in picking something that /isn't/ the best if the logistics and legalities of shipping it globally are better.


So, you don't want Ubuntu to recommend a laptop anywhere? Or you want them to recommend the best valued laptop for each country?

Just trying to follow what you're saying... It seems like you described what's wrong with selecting the XPS, then here you describe why the XPS would be a good choice after all.


I think they want Canonical to recommend a laptop that's sufficiently low-cost to be accessible to a wide audience.


[flagged]


You've broken the site guidelines more than once by posting uncivilly. We ban accounts that do that, so please don't do that.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

https://news.ycombinator.com/newswelcome.html


Too bad that the whole point of why people do this passive-aggressive pretend-stupid gambit (".. just trying to understand .." is one, and ".. genuinely curious .." is another), is that it's almost impossible to call people out on, without sounding at least slightly uncivil.


That's a good point, but the solution is worth trying harder for.


Oh jeez Dang, we've had this conversation before. Overzealous moderation kills websites. Funny how it's only you I ever see wandering into these situations.

Take my posting history into account and make a decision. If you wanna ban me, do it and I'll go find somewhere else that enjoys robust discussion. I've certainly delivered that here, if you'd care to go take a look.

However, please stop helicoptering in and tutting your finger at me. I've never seen you make meaningful contributory posts, so I don't respect you.


Your post got user flags. It's not just dang asking you to stop.

You don't need to include "You obviously can't read." nor "for the hard-of-comprehending among us" in your post.


almost 100% if you ship it to Brazil, it literally doubles the price, including the shipping costs.


For most people, $1200 is a lot of money to spend on a laptop. I think for Canonical it might send the wrong message to their users that Ubuntu is trying to be the Apple of Linux rather than trying to make computing accessible to as many people as possible.


But for a lot of people $1200 is a fine amount to spend on a laptop. For those people who don't want to spend that much there's plenty of other, cheaper laptops they could buy and run Ubuntu on.


haha. 200 USD the best I and my friends can do can do in my corner of the world. but ofc, "Weeer all living in Amerika, Amerika, AaMERika! Is wunderbar!"


I would think with a team as large as Ubuntu, they already have their "favorite developer laptop," and it just might be the XPS. (Disclaimer: I honestly don't know what it is.)

But his suggestion has merit: in addition to the high-end dev laptop that their team will just fix because they use it, it would be good to _publicly_ announce a mid-level consumer laptop at the time of release. It doesn't have to be a sponsorship. They can put disclaimers all over the announcement. etc. etc.


I see how you came to that conclusion, but it is wrong:

We don't have a "company blessed developer laptop" on purpose - we're small (compared to other companies with similar reach), so that's the only way we can cover enough ground.

Every technical employee works from home, and buys his/her own gear. People are expected to report (and fix, when relevant. Some teams do a better job at that than others, certainly) their issues with gear that is relevant to their own profile and market.

The company gives out money bonus for people to buy what they want and stay current every once in a while.

Source: I'm a Canonical employee (not working on the desktop - but expected to at least report my desktop bugs on the particular brand of laptop that I use).


I do appreciate the reply!

I did indeed just mean clustering of laptop choices in the past, with no "company blessed" laptop to date.

I then went with the idea that the company could bless one in the future. Thanks for explaining how it really works!


He didn't say "company blessed". He said "favorite". I would be very surprised if there weren't some clustering in laptop choice.


It's a huge amount of money for the majority of people living on this planet. Time for you to check your SV privilege.


Here in .nl, the cheapest XPS is 1500 euros, or 1700 dollars.


$1200 is not cheap consumer stuff.


I'm about ready to upgrade my 4 year-old laptop so this is relevant to my interest. I'm looking for an Ubuntu-friendly laptop and this always causes anxiety. My current laptop was some version of HP Pavilion. It mostly works but it was much more hassle than I wanted getting Ubuntu installed and there are still a few minor glitches that I never got figured out.

Short of this, an official C(c)anonical web page listing popular laptops at different price-points with basic specs and a README-like install guide for each would be great.

Anyone have a url for a solid reliable well-maintained guide (official or unofficial) like this -- best laptops for Ubuntu? I'm sure I've bookmarked a couple over the years but I don't feel like I've found the one true source yet.


Ubuntu tends to have a list of hardware[1] that plays well with it. From my personal experience, I've had good luck with Thinkpads and Dell precisions.

[1] https://certification.ubuntu.com/desktop/


I've had good luck as well. But I would so much rather have a supported hardware platform rather than luck.

Possibly would be even better if they sold the hardware themselves. Just resell one or two laptops and fully support them for the duration of the Ubuntu release.

I can dream, can't I? :)


I've consider the dell developer editions (the ones that ship with ubuntu) to be sort of official ubuntu laptop (I got one last year and the experience has been pretty good). But I agree, I'd always welcome more laptops that are linux friendly :)


https://smalldata.tech/sd-insights/best-ubuntu-laptop


Both Dell and System76 sell laptops with Ubuntu pre-installed.

Are you looking into some sort of certification of the sort "Ubuntu Verified"?


My experience with Ubuntu-preinstalled Dell laptops is far from perfect.

At one point, Ubuntu updated the binary nvidia driver in the LTS release (the one that came preinstalled on that particular Dell model, I think 14.04). The new driver removed support for the chip in the laptop, making it unusable without some extensive fishing for old driver packages and freezing further updates.


I think this is excellent idea. +1 (+1000000)

And to add, when they release new version, they could also do a demo on a desktop and laptop of their choice, where they can show new features.


This is a nice idea, actually. I'll have to see how to work this out with our partner ecosystem.

In the meantime, perhaps you'll find the list of hardware certified to work with Ubuntu useful: https://certification.ubuntu.com/


>, pick a laptop vendor and a laptop and just Make It Work.

I think what you're also looking for is and for the LTS release, ensure it continues to work on updates.


Excellent idea!


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Replace X11 with Mir or Wayland

- DESCRIPTION: X11 is old, slow, and full of security issues. Mir, even in alpha, is much more responsive and provies important 21st centry feature set. Wayland is already used by a major distro. X11 is that cobweb that's gone uncleaned in our closet for too long.

- HEADLINE: Improve UI.

- DESCRIPTION: When I use Ubuntu it's often easier to use the terminal then to learn the 10 different UIs to configure everything. This makes it impossible to convert specific people to using Ubuntu because they just don't have the time to learn all of the terminal-spells I know. Ideally there'd be a single place that could detect most configs for standard packages and a way to add hooks to that to get your package to show up in that menu. I don't know if this exists but if it does it's definetly not used.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: "Undergraduate Research Associate", I program and do sysadmin stuff for a department at my college.


I'd much prefer wayland over Mir. I know they're already set in their ways but wayland on fedora 25 works beautifully and has a way more reasonable license. It'd also be nice to have Ubuntu's support in continuing wayland adoption.


The "X11 is full of security issues" is full if FUD, IME. Like, they say true-but-irrelevant-and-misleading statements like "any program running in an X11 server can view/alter any other program in the same X11 server, and Wayland fixes this" - this irrelevant because common security of practice, IIRC, is to run nested X11 servers and give each program its own.

X11 also has a whole lot of commonly-used security/sandboxing extensions, but these are ignored in lieu of comparing vanilla X11 with vanilla Wayland, and pointing out that only the latter does security properly.

Meanwhile, Wayland forces monolithic design, in requiring the panel, hotkey daemon, WM, etc to be built into the compositor. Essentially, each Wayland compositor is its own DE (not its own WM, despite common misconception).

I want to see X11 die, but Wayland has some serious failures as an X11 replacement.


> this irrelevant because common security of practice, IIRC, is to run nested X11 servers and give each program its own.

Really? I don't think I've ever seen such a setup.


Yeah, that's not common at all. Plus doing so breaks a lot of things, like copy/paste, IIRC.


> this irrelevant because common security of practice, IIRC, is to run nested X11 servers and give each program its own.

If true that is a valid reason to drop it in my opinion.


You are preaching to the choir.

They have been working on Mir for years now.

I would vote for the contrary. First finish Mir and make sure that when the change happens, everything works as expected.


+1 I have a 2 yr old MacBook Pro. In OS X, window manager performs seamlessly using the Intel inbuilt graphics. On Ubuntu 16.10, the window manager is slow to the point of taking half a second to update window borders whatever the app. Makes doing responsive web design frustrating to the point of wanting to switch to another OS. I am really hoping that 17.04/Mir improves on this.


Have you tried another WM before blaming X? I spent the 90s watching X perform well on hardware that cannot handle OS X.


I +1 this one. ubuntu should be a force to push this forward.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Make trackpads great again! Bring on gestures by default.

- DESCRIPTION: Trackpad config situation is a mess. Pretty much every Ubuntu derivative has its own simplified (reads severely lacking) interface. What's worse is the gestures configuration. It's mostly done via some dude's one off scripts found on some forum post 2 years ago.

Give me a MacOS like experience on the trackpad (especially the 3/4 finger workspace switching) and I'd never look back on MacOS again.


+1 to this. You currently have a lot of devs switching to the Dell XPS 13/15 (myself included) from the MacBook Pro line, wanting to give Ubuntu a go and speccing that particular laptop out with it.

Coming from mac, the most jarring experience of moving over is the trackpad. We know that for most trackpads, you can configure them to have similar behaviour for clicking (two finger right click, one finger click, no dedicated buttons), but it is hidden in config files etc. The option to emulate this experience should be baked into Ubuntu and made easy to access.

Palm rejection is also another big point with these trackpads. It doesn't work very well out of the box.


And we know that the hardware is more than capable enough since the XPS touchpads conform to Microsoft's "precision trackpad" spec.


I can't emphasize how annoying bad palm rejection is. I can't have my cursor randomly jumping across the screen and selecting windows that I don't want to type into (always seems to be at the worst time).


Try libinput. I configured my XPS 15 with libinput and it's been a blessing in disguise.


>Give me a MacOS like experience on the trackpad (especially the 3/4 finger workspace switching) and I'd never look back on MacOS again.

This. This. This.


This exists in Gnome 3.22 and up


You can achieve a primitive workspace switching scenario via libinput, xdotool and similar bandaids in any distro. What they boil down to is... once a certain 3/4 finger gesture threshold is crossed, it switches to the next/prev workspace in an instant. I'm not talking about that. The instant switch flashing the whole screen makes my head turn. It does not feel natural.

What I'm talking about it the exact MacOS behaviour, that is workspace switching occurs simultaneously while tracking my wrist motion, cancelable in the midst of the transition. That feels natural and allows you quick peeks.

ps. I guess you cannot have the MacOS way via the tools above because those tools should work hand in hand with the window manager, which they don't. Probably, this is a feature that would better be handled within the window manager itself.


yeah I get what youre saying for sure. Even Windows 10 has that baked in now!!!


The default for X is now the libinput driver. It's a miracle. My guess is that even if Canonical does no work in this area, the touchpad support will be much better.

I've been using it for over a year on MBP/Pixel2 and I've literally never once had a problem with palm detection.

Gesture support though is definitely still weak. Even GNOME that has 4-finger workspace switching has no configurability or hot corners...


Instead of putting too much effort in to Ubuntu phones they could team up with some manufacture and release Apple-like external touch pad with 100% integration with the system.


Yes. I tried to use Ubuntu on MacBook Air. Was missing smoothness if scrolling as on MacOS and support for resting thumb on trackpad.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: More stable and polished desktop

- DESCRIPTION: This one is hard to pin down, but I'd like to see more general polish and stability in the Unity desktop. One example would be around multi-monitor support, it's pretty good, but a bit funky in some places.

For example, if I have a monitor plugged in and I let the laptop screen lock come on, I can sit there and watch while both displays cycle through an On -> Off -> On -> Off loop. I think when one display goes to sleep it sends a signal which wakes the machine back up, or something.

I'd also like to see more options for configuring multiple mice/trackpads/trackballs in the Settings app, general improvements to quality-of-life issues which are very noticable when transitioning from, say, macOs to Ubuntu.

One more polish issue: I'd like to see more attention paid to power-drain regressions in the OS. I had an issue recently where a process related to automatic updates was spinning in the background and consuming 100% of a CPU core, and cutting my battery time in half compared to what it should have been. I looked into it and found it was a known issue that wasn't fixed yet, but could be solved by deleting one of the default apps. If I were a less sophisticated user I would have just concluded that battery-life simply sucked on Ubuntu, and frankly I would have been right.

[EDIT: all these issues were encountered on a Thinkpad T460, which should really be one of the best supported machines in the world for this OS. If things are flaky under the best of circumstances, I dread to think what it's like on some weirdo Siemens laptop some user might have] - ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Developer


-FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

-HEADLINE: Network manager that works

-DESCRIPTION: The single thing that would make Ubuntu seem 10x more polished than it now is the horrible state of the network manager.

The little wifi bar in the top right. Sometimes, randomly, after dropping a wifi connection, or going to sleep and waking it will:

1) Stop listing SSIDs except the one I've already configured and want to connect to. (But I know there's more)

or

2) Show the "wired connection" icon. Gray out the entire wifi section of the network manager dropdown menu. All while it is actually connected to some wifi and I can use the internet.

These issues are mostly fixed by a `systemctl restart network-manager`, but sometimes require a full restart.

I'm the kind of person that recommends people to get Ubuntu. "Everything just works nowadays on Ubuntu". Then I get a call a week later and have to explain to them "just type sudo systemctl restart network-manager into terminal" They then give me the "What? That is so stupid."

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Student / Sysadmin / Machine (Deep) Learning Engineer / Memeber of a students' club that organizes an event on every Ubuntu release where we help fellow students dual boot Ubuntu (or another Linux distro, but we recommend Ubuntu)

EDIT: formatting.


Agreed. There are new Network Manager bugs in just about every Ubuntu release.

At one point the NM task bar applet was simply gone.

Then it stopped managing wired connections breaking networking entirely for me.

Now the network no longer works after disconnecting from a VPN, which is an improvement compared to the previous situation where it often showed the VPN as active when it wasn't.


Good alternatives exist too, like the light and fast connman. I use it on a thinkpad running NixOS and it works beautifully.


A big +1 from me. Network Manager is so bad I wonder how it ever got adopted by the main distros.


And there's currently a big but where you can't get internet when you reconnect to a vpn after disconnecting. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/network-manager/+b...


Yes. Connman (developed by Intel) is a much more modular design. Network Manager evolved from a Gnome applet.


Add the fact that openvpn via Network manager has been broken for ~3-4 years as well.


Yes. Network Manager is horrible.


Seconded.


+1 This!


I was writing the exact same thing. The apps are not integrated, fancontrol doesnt work on recent desktops (dunno whose fault is this) compared to windows, and its hard to get a bird's eye view of the system settings. A better package manager UI would help.


Better stability is really important! Recently there was an update for the nvidia drivers for 16.04 LTS, this broke our GPU servers on Amazon and ruined desktop login for my grandfather. All because the updated Nvidia driver no longer supported the GPU's.


To Canonical/Nvidia defense, while they do remove support for older chips, they always do that in major updates. You, as the user, can avoid this by using nvidia-<number> package, not the nvidia-current one.

I have a machine, that has GPU supported in nvidia-340, but no later driver. Ubuntu only updates to the newer -340 packages, it does not skip to the highest possible number available.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Better Mouse Settings

- DESCRIPTION: Right now mouse acceleration is enabled by default, and for heavy mouse users this is really not usable. There is no way to change this behaviour in the mouse settings. The only way as a user to get a workable mouse configuration is with custom startup scripts, and it took me as an experienced Linux user and software engineer a long time to figure out exactly how (The recommended way to do this kept changing). Non-expert users cannot be expected to do the same. All it needs is a checkbox or possibly a slider in the Mouse & Touchpad settings to configure the acceleration speed.

- ROLE: Desktop User


I switched from a Macbook air to Ubuntu on a Thinkpad this fall, and mouse/scroll settings were by far the most frustrating part of the transition. I ended up with a script I run every time I boot up my machine:

https://github.com/artursapek/dotfiles/blob/master/prefs.sh

It's nice that xinput exists for low-level tweaks, but it seemed necessary because the GUI is so lacking. I still don't think I completely understand what settings I'm changing, but everything feels normal now.

The trackpad scrolling still doesn't feel nearly as good as on a mac, but I've gotten used to it.


I think you should be able to put those settings into your X11 configuration so you don't have to re-configure every time you boot, unless xinput on Ubuntu is different from Arch: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Libinput#Common_options (Although debugging xorg config files is not a terribly fun exercise :/)


I fully agree with the post above me. This is so annoying. Why is acceleration default and why isn't there a setting for it?

This is also something that may scare away casual users such as gamers, where acceleration is not acceptable.


Mouse scroll/wheel acceleration is also sth which gives a very natural feeling on osx but which is missing in Linux. Together with that, pixel-based scrolling, not line based.


On windows I can chance the scroll speed so its one line per tick, on ubuntu its stuck at 3 lines per tick. I have a logitech 'spinny wheel' and this makes it very frustrating as the screen zooms by and I lose precision.


I agree wholeheartedly!

The default mouse settings are unusable, and it is impossible to get it good, but with a lot of fiddling it's almost possible to get rid of the weird acceleration.

Sensible defaults for mouse: fixed scaling (downscaling) without smoothing.

Sensible defaults for pad: fixed scaling (or minimal acceleration) with some minimal smoothing.


For future reference for people suffering from this issue, the most reliable solution I found so far is to add the following lines to /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/90-mouse.conf

  Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "mouse"
    MatchIsPointer "on"
    Option "AccelerationProfile" "-1"
    Option "AccelerationScheme" "none"
  EndSection


+1. It made me quit Ubuntu, along with another bug (Ethernet authentication).

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- ROLE: Java developer, now founder


I just saw your comment after posting a fairly similar one myself: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14005808


Last time I was using Ubuntu consistently I was shocked by this deficiency +1


A thousand times this.


+1 was about to post the same thing


+1


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: 1st party hardware

- DESCRIPTION: I'd love to buy hardware from Canonical that will just work, just like I do with Apple. Dell comes close, but not close enough that I will recommend it to people. System76 build quality is something I hear people complain about, so I can't recommend them either.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Developer, Ubuntu Member and Ask Ubuntu moderator.


Yes definitely. See this forum [0] for a potential manufacturer who tries as good as a small manufacturer can by offering computers without an OS and also are careful when selecting components, but they can in no way guarantee linux compatibility or offer Ubuntu pre-installed because it would cost too much.

  [0]: http://forum.novatech.co.uk/t/linux-compatibility-what-are-the-best-current-laptops-to-choose-from-any-experience-im-thinking-novatech-for-a-new-laptop-i-wont-use-windows-anyway/621


Also see Linus' comments if it wasn't obvious enough that this is really important [0]

  [0]: https://youtu.be/MShbP3OpASA?t=24m8s


Super important, but when I posted this nobody had stated the obvious, so I did. :-)


Someone should make a Nintendo Switch-like PC that runs Linux; a full desktop-strength OS with a touchscreen UI when in mobile mode, that you can dock at home, or into a laptop-like chassis you can carry around (like Apple's Smart Keyboard), and get the full desktop UI.

The home dock would have more powerful, user-customizable and user-upgradeable hardware, and the OS should seamlessly handle the transition.


BQ put out an Ubuntu tablet that is similar to what you're talking about, I've heard bad things though. However that is the goal of Ubuntu for mobile.

https://www.ubuntu.com/mobile


Which sadly no longer exists. :(


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Dump Mir!!!!!

DESCRIPTION: I know Canonical has put a lot of effort into Mir and at this stage it is probably "too big to fail". But for various reasons my bet is that it will fail. I think this is Canonical repeating Microsoft's Metro mistake. I have a $12K dollar desktop and I don't want an OS optimized for phones !!! I will be able to avoid it but I would rather your engineering effort was better placed.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Engineer / Data Scientist


They really ought to be using Wayland. There are technical reasons for Mir vs X11, but not really any for Mir vs. Wayland other than NIH.


I think most people are unaware of Mir vs Wayland and the issues that Ubuntu using Mir will cause. I only know about it because I was thinking about building a tiling window manager (because I'm weird like that).

I think there is a good chance that Mir will be technically inferior to Wayland and a better chance that Ubuntu UI designers will reinvent the user experience from a phone perspective.


Ok, I'll bite, how do you spend 12,000$ on a desktop? Just keep throwing videocards at it?


Pretty much. It's probably worth $6K at replacement cost today. It's for deep learning and I included what I spent on it and I've refreshed the 4 GPUs once. The current config is probably still good for a couple of years. Now if I need more GPUs I'll just get a second box. The irony is that I graphics power coming out of my ears yet I spend most of my time in vim and tmux.


Just out of curiosity - are the GPUs really the best bet for you at that point? I believe you can buy dedicated FPGA cards, some of which support OpenCL workloads even which might offer you better performance - though they might cost a shitpile too.


Not OP just honestly curious, of the $12k how much is dedicated to Canonical (donation/others)?


I don't like the direction they're going and I'm certain giving them more money won't change it.

It's in the ~$100Ks. I usually pay people directly to build things I think the world needs and then have them give it away.

I'm not here to brag and I'd like to stay anonymous so I'm going retire this HN account now.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Built-in support for installing up-to-date packages

- DESCRIPTION: Currently, `apt install [package]` on LTS Ubuntu will install a package that is up to 24 months out of date (or more if you're not on the latest LTS).

Literally one month ago, using the latest version of Windows 10, I installed Ubuntu for Windows (which installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS), and `apt-get install nodejs` installed Node 0.10 (from 2013! in 2017!).

I understand users want stability in the core OS, but there's no reason it should be made so difficult to install up-to-date software from elsewhere. `apt` is useless for installing things like `youtube-dl` because old versions of youtube-dl quickly stop being compatible with YouTube.

Ubuntu's current solution to this problem is PPAs, which are very non-ideal because they only work if someone maintains a PPA, but this involves:

1. googling for the software's PPA, 2. finding the PPA, 3. possibly trusting a third-party PPA maintainer, 4. running at least three different commands, which you have to either memorize or re-google

Basically all software's Ubuntu installation instructions are something like "curl this script and pipe to bash" or "build from source" or "install this other package manager, then use the other package manager to install our software", just because it's impossible to install the latest version using Ubuntu's built-in package manager out-of-the-box.

For instance, here's Redis: "Installing it using the package manager of your Linux distribution is somewhat discouraged as usually the available version is not the latest."

I want to be able to do something like `apt install-latest youtube-dl` to get a usable version of youtube-dl, and considering the number of workarounds for this issue I find online, I think a lot of other people have the same want.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: owner of a top-2000 US website


The entire point of LTS is that things don't change. Security features are back ported, but you're on Node 0.10 because when 14.04 was released it included Node 0.10. You have an old version of youtube-dl because that's what was available at the time.

You use an LTS release when you want to do 'apt-get upgrade' and not change anything. No new features, no deprecated features, no changes other than back ported bug and security patches. No moving to a newer version of Apache which uses different modules by default, or a newer version of PHP which changes a critical default variable. It's always the same software, just fixed when it's broken.

If you're looking to keep your system up-to-date with the latest and greatest, then there are a few suggested solutions:

1. Install stuff yourself 2. Use a backports PPA or vendor packages 3. Use a more specific package manager (e.g. pip for python, cpan for perl, npm for node, etc) 4. Update your servers more than once every four years

If you want the latest version of software, you need to not use the LTS version, and you need to update to the newer releases as they're released, because the entire point of LTS is not to do the thing you're asking to do.


Also as follow on, you'll find that the packages that draw community support also tend to have PPAs (personal package archive), these are very easy to add to Ubuntu these days and typically backport more recent versions of software to older LTS (and sometimes non LTS) Ubuntu releases.

For example I use the nginx PPA on some of my older servers and it supports nginx 1.11 on Ubuntu 14.04 even thought 14.04.4 LTS only supports 1.4.6.

apt-add-repository is what you're looking for.


Every time someone suggests this it makes me a bit nervous because you're advocating I install binaries compiled by some random person and deploy them on all my production servers. If there were official backports of some sort from the python people for example, then yeah, but otherwise, nope nope nope.


The parent example was saying about official ppa only, official as in the original software company providing that ppa. In this case, nginx ppa is provided by nginx developers. Other example is postgres.

But I get it, there are not many ppa like that.


Just in case, there's Linuxbrew (http://linuxbrew.sh/), Homebrew for Linux.


While you're correct, it should be noted that "security backports" are much less complete than they'd have you think.

Do NOT take the promises of enterprise distributors for granted, both because there are a lot of security problems that never get fixed, and because the expertise to sufficiently backport is often lacking (cf. the Debian SSL entropy crisis of some years back).

You are usually better off using a newer upstream with the security fix integrated than relying on a distro-pushed backport. For a demonstration, try installing redis from the official Ubuntu repos.


For one thing: Non-LTS versions of Ubuntu have the same problem, just replace "24 months" with "6 months".

For another thing: LTS Ubuntu is the recommended version of Ubuntu: https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

New users going into Ubuntu have no clue that going to ubuntu.com and clicking "Download" will give them an incredibly out-of-date OS.

> The entire point of LTS is that things _don't_ change.

That's not the root problem.

The root problem is that people want non-broken software, and updates sometimes break things.

LTS is one workaround, by committing to make as few updates as possible (mostly only high-impact security patches), you limit the likelihood that updates will break things.

But the problem is, not having updates also breaks things. `youtube-dl` is my usual example. Others include that having an old version of Node will break software that expects newer versions of Node.

The solution I'm proposing is to let the user choose whether or not they want up-to-date software on a case-by-case basis. I did not expect this to be so controversial.

> 1. Install stuff yourself

This is not a suggested solution, this is the problem we are trying to find solutions for.

> 2. Use a backports PPA or vendor packages

> 3. Use a more specific package manager (e.g. pip for python, cpan for perl, npm for node, etc)

These are workarounds that are MUCH less usable than just using the distro's built-in package manager. It is true that I can do this (mostly, I just build from source), but what I am asking is a way to make this easier, because it is a common problem that everyone has, and because it's the entire problem that a package manager is supposed to solve in the first place.

> 4. Update your servers more than once every four years

> If you want the latest version of software, you need to not use the LTS version, and you need to update to the newer releases as they're released, because the entire point of LTS is not to do the thing you're asking to do.

Sometimes, you want some of your software to change and other software not to change. The job of a computer is to do what the user wants it to do, is it not?

Like, if I'm using LTS, it's presumably because of something like "wifi works on this exact combination of system software and I don't want to risk it breaking with a random update". So the default would be to install software from a known working system. But I should be able to explicitly opt into installing other up-to-date software; keep my browser up-to-date and all that.

That's why I'm proposing a new command, so you can type in something like `apt-get install-latest youtube-dl` and get the latest version. `apt-get install` would still work the same as before.


Right, but the "new command" is "snap install ..." ;-)


Things are supposed to be stable if you're running an LTS, you savage! If you want everything bleeding edge, then use Arch Linux, not an Ubuntu LTS. Good god man.

Also I love the incredible specificity of your "ROLE/AFFILIATION". Top 2000, eh? Heh.


I feel like it's very common to want some things to be stable and other things to be bleeding edge. Like, why are my only two choices "everything out of date" or "everything bleeding edge"? Why not make software for actual humans to use? I remember that being Ubuntu's motto.

Like, I presume it's pretty common for an actual human not to want their wifi to be bricked by an update. I presume it's also pretty common for an actual human to want a version of `youtube-dl` that works. It seems user-hostile to force a user to choose one or the other.

And before you say "but PPAs", PPAs are a workaround that have various flaws (you need to use google and copy/paste code, instead of just using your package manager as a package manager) (and they're only available for certain repositories) (and many of them are unofficial). Ubuntu/Debian already maintain up-to-date repositories, why not just allow users to selectively install software from them?

(I wasn't sure what to put for ROLE/AFFILIATION, honestly; I saw other people being vaguely specific and I tried to copy them)


In what way is Ubuntu not for humans to use?

I don't know what youtube-dl even is, why should your personal interest be the top priority of Ubuntu and when it doesn't work evidence that Ubuntu isn't fit for humans?


There needs to be a rational middle ground.

Arch is bleeding edge and has no qualms pushing updates that break things and telling you to fix it. That's fine for workstations (and I've used Arch as my workstation OS for over 10 years), but it doesn't work well for servers.

IMO, LTS should be transformed to a yearly release cycle with 2 years of support, not bi-annual with 5 years. This would fix a lot of problems, especially considering that distros can get frozen with versions of packages that are already pretty old when they go gold. Keeping support around for 5 years (which is basically a myth anyway) is just a big waste for everyone.


There is a rational middle ground -- Ubuntu's regular semi-annual releases.

If Ubuntu doesn't meet your needs, maybe try Centos + EPEL. You get a lot of stability with the option to install more recent versions of some packages.

Then again, you seem to be taking all this pretty personally, so my comments are probably wasted on you.

> and has no qualms pushing updates that break things and telling you to fix it.

I've been using Arch for 4 or 5 years and can only recall a couple instances where I needed to force-install a package to accomodate a backwards-incompatible change.


>There is a rational middle ground -- Ubuntu's regular semi-annual releases.

I'm aware of Ubuntu's normal releases. These aren't labeled enterprise-ready, so enterprises won't use them.

They also frequently contain experimental/unstable stuff, not because they need to, but because the LTS release cycle causes the release team to treat non-LTS releases like a beta.

>Then again, you seem to be taking all this pretty personally, so my comments are probably wasted on you.

I'm really not sure how you came away with the impression that I'm taking Ubuntu's release cycle as a personal affront. I'm not the top-2000 guy you initially replied to.

Rest assured, I do not believe that Canonical has selected its release process specifically to offend me. :)

>I've been using Arch for 4 or 5 years and can only recall a couple instances where I needed to force-install a package to accomodate a backwards-incompatible change.

Yeah, it's very rare to need to force install (has become more rare in recent years, but was still quite rare). When I say "break things", I don't mean you have to pass the force flag to the package manager.

I mean that configuration formats change, binary formats may change, a lot of system expectations may break that could take you offline for a while, even if you know how to fix them (for example, significant PostgreSQL updates require the data to be reimported to the new version).

Their transition to Python 3 as the default /usr/bin/python about 2 years before anyone else broke all kinds of stuff, for example. That's fine, you sign up for it when you use Arch. But that's not the kind of experience most people expect for a server distro.


2 years support :-) That would be really nice for us (Canonical). But we just announced ESM (Extended Security Maintenance) for Ubuntu 12.04, which is just about to EOL after 5 years of support. There are still over 10 million Ubuntu 12.04 machines that install security updates every day!


Use Debian stretch


This is the exact problem snaps are supposed to solve. Check out Snapcraft.io


This.

My laptop is on Ubuntu 16.04. Via apt, I get libreoffice 5.1.6 from last october. Snap gives me 5.3.1, which is the newest one.

Snap is not there yet. Finding stuff is hard, because uApp Explorer [0] is not good enough yet. It suffers from trying to appeal to servers, desktop, mobile, and IoT (which probably just means Raspberry Pi). It is confusing and messy.

Edit: Since GP mentioned youtube-dl, specifically. A `snap find youtube` gives me three different variants:

youtube-dl-casept 2017.03.26 casept

youtube-dl-snap daily fireeye

youtube-dl-bdmurray 2016.10.16 bdmurray

The first one looks recent. Maybe the second one is even better? As I said, it is confusing so far. We have to figure out how to do curation well.

[0] https://uappexplorer.com/apps?type=snappy


Would be interesting if there's a way to list more information on the snap, such as submission date / last updated etc.


I guess if you want a bleeding edge experimental server, you might want to try Arch Linux. But you will have to tinker... a lot. It all comes as a trade off. You get the benefit of rolling release and AUR, you loose the stability.

Here's a balanced comment from the Arch wiki regarding Arch not being meant for the server:

https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Server#Arch_Linux_as_a_...

"You may have seen the comments or claims: Arch Linux was never intended as a server operating system! This is correct: there is no server installation disc available, per se, such as those you may find for other distributions. This is because Arch Linux comes as a minimal (but solid) base system, with very few desktop or server features pre-installed. This does not mean Arch Linux is a bad server system; quite the contrary. Arch's core installation is a secure and capable foundation. Since only a small number of features come pre-installed, this core installation can easily be used as a basis for a Linux server. All the popular server software (Apache, MySQL/MariaDB, PHP, Samba, and plenty more) are available in the official repository, and even more are available on the AUR. The wiki also contains much detailed documentation regarding how to get set up with this software."


Also, because you mention youtube-dl. Here's the latest package version in the Arch repos (only a few days old =)

https://www.archlinux.org/packages/?sort=&q=youtube-dl&maint...


Ah this is a good idea, and one we're very specifically trying to solve. The way you're going to do this in Ubuntu will be with the "snap" packaging manager!

You can already use "snap install ..." to install hundreds of latest/greatest software packages, which evolve independently of the underlying OS. We're investing even more heavily here, so please do stay tuned, and try out snaps!


Use a rolling release distribution (like Arch or the more conservative OpenSuSE Tumbleweed) if you want the latest and greatest packages. The point of LTS releases in minimal breakage during uptates coupled with some two or more years of updates.


> (which installed Ubuntu 14.04 LTS), and `apt-get install nodejs` installed Node 0.10 (from 2013! in 2017!).

Not in 2017. In 2014. You're using Ubuntu 14, which means you get 2014 versions.


Even the latest versions of Ubuntu install Node 0.10. This is a known thing in the Node community which is why we use tj/n or NVM.


The "Node community" disagrees with the actual version numbers on the Ubuntu packages. The version numbers on the packages say that whilst Ubuntu 14.04 has nodejs version 0.10, both Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 16.10 have nodejs version 4.2.6.

* http://packages.ubuntu.com/trusty/nodejs

* http://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/nodejs

* http://packages.ubuntu.com/yakkety/nodejs

* http://packages.ubuntu.com/zesty/nodejs


I very much agree. Apart from driver issues this is the area that creates the most friction for me. It feels weird having to fight the OS on something where the right thing to do seems so obvious.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: "Hardened System" preset install option

- DESCRIPTION: A checkbox in the installer which automatically applies a series of adjustments for a higher level of security right off the bat. Similar to the package presets but for security. So no one has to https://www.google.com/search?q=ubuntu+server+hardening

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Freelancer

--------------------------------

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Something to allow to apply different versions of php to different nginx server blocks

- DESCRIPTION: Something like perlbrew but for php. To allow installation of multiple hosted systems when their php version requirements differ.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Freelancer

--------------------------------

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Something to switch audio output from my Laptop's built-in speakers to HDMI when it's connected

- DESCRIPTION: Currently I have to run "pulseaudio -k" every time I turn on my HDMI flatscreen because after I turn it off at night the audio switches to the built-in speakers- but not the other way around when I turn it back on.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Freelancer


> Something to allow to apply different versions of php to different nginx server blocks

Since Php v5.6 the Upstream (Debian) packages of PHP support side-by-side install.

Install the versions you want, and then use a per-php-version apache config file you include in the vhosts you want it for:

Enable proxy_fcgi:

    a2enmod proxy_fcgi
php5.6.conf:

    AddHandler proxy:unix:/run/php/php5.6-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost;php5.6 .php
php7.0.conf:

    AddHandler proxy:unix:/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock|fcgi://localhost;php7.0 .php
Edit: brain-shart. You want nginx. Similar concept - point to the correct FastCGI socket in each block.

So each block would be then:

5.6:

    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php5.6-fpm.sock;
7.0:

    fastcgi_pass unix:/var/run/php/php7.0-fpm.sock;
Etc.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Proper virtual desktop / spaces for multiple monitors (i.e. independent, per-monitor spaces)

- DESCRIPTION: Right now it isn't possible to switch workspaces on two or more monitors independently. This is possible on Mac, and is a huge productivity boost. Coming home from work to use my personal Ubuntu machine always feels like a step backwards for this reason alone.

I want to be able to have one monitor for my IDE, and one monitor for terminal /vim, browser instances, music, etc. I like to keep different virtual desktops "scoped" to different things--eg. "documentation and code" vs "personal email". When I switch between these on one monitor, it also switches the space on the other monitor. They should be entirely independent of one another.

If I'm looking at something on my left monitor, but want to look at something different on my right monitor, why make me switch both of them away? The lack of ability to independently control the desktops on each monitor makes me super sad. :(


This is what XMonad does by default - I hate it, but you apparently don't, so you could switch window managers to get this, if you wanted.


What parent describes is what most (all?) tiling window managers do. However, XMonad's default is really weird. Instead of each desktop having their own set of workspaces, there is a single set of workspaces shared by all desktops. If you try to switch desktop A to the workspace currently shown by desktop B, then B will switch to the one currently shown by desktop A.

There is a module to get the more 'normal' behaviour of each desktop having its own set of workspaces, but it can be a bit difficult to set up if you are not familar with Haskell.


See I think xmonad's behaviour makes intuitive sense and all the others are weird. If I want to see my Slack window on the monitor in front of my face I don't have to worry about remembering what monitor it was last on, I just call up workspace 3 and bam it's there.


Just wrote the same thing and would love to see this. It's the only thing that makes me consider moving to Gnome 3 as that will treat additional monitors as it's own workspace. Really miss MacOS handling of this as it's so seamlessly integrated.


A huge +1 to this.

My main system right now is macOS with 2 screens. 1 Main screen for all my development/browsing with 2 desktops, personal+work. Second screen for things that are always there no matter what desktop the main is on, such as IM/email.


I can absolutely understand why you would want this, but for me it'd be a huge net negative. I'd guess that points towards it being a configurable option somewhere.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Python 3 as default

- DESCRIPTION: In lieu of a description, I'll just link to this: https://pythonclock.org

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Developer, sys admin


Python 3 is installed by default, and Python 2 is no longer installed by default on Ubuntu Server since 16.04.

Both versions can be installed concurrently. Python 2 is available under /usr/bin/python2 if it is installed. Python 3 is available under /usr/bin/python3 if it is installed.

/usr/bin/python points to Python 2 (or nothing, if Python 2 is not installed). This is the upstream recommendation from PEP 394 (https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0394/) and I don't see Ubuntu diverging from this unless upstream's recommendation changes.


Everything @rlpb just said here is spot on ;-) Definitive +1.


I agree, I usually update defaults so that python => python3. However, PEP has some guidance on how this should be handled[1].

I imagine Ubuntu (Debian, et al) is following these guidelines. It would be cool to have a push for those who still depend not only on Python2 but on `/usr/bin/python` being py2 to update their app - or at least update their packaging :)

[1]: https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0394/


Opposing view: This would make me stay on 16.04 LTS for a long long time.


Can you explain why? Assuming you could still `apt-get install python27` and `update-alternatives` to symlink that back to the default `python`, no?


I believe python upstream recommends that "python" is python2 and python3.x is "python3"?[1] (Although, that does not jive with official python packages for windows, which is both annoying and confusing - the pep governs "unix like" systems - eg. including linux subsystem for windows, but excluding python on windows...):

[1] https://www.python.org/dev/peps/pep-0394/


The default Python on any system is the only one which is really well tested and works with all the not-trivial-to-compile packages. Making py3 the default is exactly for deprecating py2 support, thus an apt-get install python27 would never have the wide range of apt installed packages, like it does now.


To be honest, new software should not be being developed on the 2.x line, so if it's not battletested now, it should never be.

But thats my opinion of course. We need to move the industry forward eventually and 95% of useful plugins/modules have already been ported.

It's time for py3 as a first class citizen.


I don't get the logic behind your battletested thought.

Generally it might be true that finally python 3 is now the default for new projects but that doesn't mean that there will be a switch to python 3 as default enviroment. There are still a lot of base libs which are not ported to python 3. Most often nobody has interest in porting them. Some are, but then often as a complete rewrite, which are not backwards compatible.

Until Python 3 is the default env it will take a few more years.


In 3 years, Python 2 will not be maintained anymore. It should really not be used for anything important in 18.04 LTS anymore, because that'll need to be supported for longer.


Ansible only works with python 2.x (with beta 3.x support).


[flagged]


On a server you are the snowflake with your Python 3 desire. Do you not use venv for applications?


Wouldn't this mess up a lot of current server installations?


You can't update a major version and expect things like this to not change

(What I mean is: sysadmins are aware of this and won't "just" upgrade to a new major version without considering such factors - at least they shouldn't do that ;) )


It already happened, so probably not.


Hard to decipher what you mean. Maybe you want to say, that is already the default, but as this is obviously wrong you probably want to say, that Python 3 is kind of default now. Which might be true for new projects, but this doesn't have anything to do with the default env for servers. So maybe you did already messed up your server with a python version default change and you want to express that this can not happen to you anymore.


It's hard to decipher what you mean, too.

Ubuntu already switched from Python 2 to Python 3 and not many people feel "messed up" by this.

Python 3 is the only Python pre-installed on current versions of Ubuntu. All Ubuntu system utilities that use Python use Python 3. You have to install a separate package to get Python 2.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Better security processes

DESCRIPTION:

I've been quite disappointed that there wasn't really any public reaction from Ubuntu to a variety of security issues affecting the Linux Desktop in general and Ubuntu in particular.

E.g.:

https://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.dk/2016/11/0day-exploit-...

https://scarybeastsecurity.blogspot.dk/2016/11/0day-poc-risk...

https://donncha.is/2016/12/compromising-ubuntu-desktop/

https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-E...

Seriously, right now an Ubuntu Desktop isn't a secure choice for users, especially if they have to expect targeted attacks.

Some things I'd propose:

* Dangerous automation features need to be either disabled by default or heavily audited. That includes things like tracker and apport.

* In general I wonder how much auditing happens before something enters Ubuntu. Some basic auditing that could also be automated like testing packages with asan should be a default inclusion criterion for adding packages.

* Currently there are no bug bounties at all in the Linux distribution world. I get that this is a financial challenge, but at least in severe cases where the fault clearly lies within the distribution and not within an external project I'd consider bug bounties appropriate. (Just read Donncha's blog post linked above. He could've gotten $10.000 from a shady exploit dealer and he got nothing, because he did the right thing.)

ROLE: I'm running the Fuzzing Project and I write for IT tech media about security issues.


Hi Hanno - Ubuntu Security Team member here. Thanks for the feedback!

I wanted to point out that we did have a public response to the four issues that you mentioned. We quickly fixed them! If I'm remembering correctly, we had updates available within 24 hours of the first two issues you mentioned. The second two were privately disclosed to us and we had updates available at the same time the issues became public (thanks again to Donncha O'Cearbhaill and Ilja Van Sprundel for those vulnerability reports!).

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gst-plugins-bad0.10/0.1...

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/gst-plugins-bad0.10/0.1...

https://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-3157-1/

https://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-3246-1/

Note that the first two issues were in packages that don't receive official security support so we didn't publish Ubuntu Security Notices for them.

I think we did a good job of reactively fixing those issues. You seem to be asking for more of a proactive approach (audits, sandboxing, etc.) and that's a valid suggestion. We are making progress there but not specifically due to the issues you listed.

The security team does proactively review the code of packages, which have an attack surface, just before they move into the "officially supported" state. Sometimes that involves fuzzing depending on what the piece of software does. It is a technique that we're trying to use more often.

We're also heavily employing sandboxes by default in the world of snaps. As more debs turn into snaps, those packages will get the added benefit of strong isolation.


The first two examples relate to codecs that are not installed by default. Most probably they should not be available for installation at all, but then it's the way that packages are available in the "universe" repository.

The third example is a valid issue, and got fixed. Apport is important to receive feedback from crashes. It is not enabled by default if you use the final versions of the installation ISOs. It is enabled only in the dev versions of Ubuntu.

Bug bounties would be interesting. Should they be monetary or should be something else (nice t-shirt). The issue with monetary bug bounties is that they make sense to money-making software and services.


> not installed by default

They are installed if you click the box during install to "Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware, MP3 and other media"


"Other media" sadly does not include DVDs. As far as I know there is no officially blessed way to play a DVD on Ubuntu, and probably never will be.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: include f.lux or redshift as a default installed package.

- DESCRIPTION: by including f.lux / redshift , Ubuntu will be helping users to get better sleep . I know it's very difficult to accommodate requests for default apps, but macOS and iOS has Night Shift, Android has Night Mode.

Thanks !


I'm not sure about having it enabled by default, but I would absolutely love for it to be just installed by default, and with solid control panel integration to manage it.


Unfortunately redshift doesn't work with Wayland or Mir.


Gnome's Night Light works great with Wayland.

(This doesn't help on Unity/Mir of course... just an option)


AFAI(Nexus 5x user)K Android removed Night Mode.


They "improved" it. It is now only available on Pixel devices (because it needs a driver support).


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: Join Wayland

- DESCRIPTION: Instead of reinventing the wheel with Unity8/Mir, please join Wayland development and maybe join forces with Linux Mint and switch from Unity to Cinnamon or MATE, with Flatpak supports for desktop apps.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Drop Xorg

- DESCRIPTION: I don't care whether it's Wayland or MIR, just for the love of god commit to it and end the pile of shit Linux on the desktop has been chained to for over 20 years. I don't know what went wrong, that you went from "we'll do it this release" to not doing anything for 2 years, and it hurt the entire community.

Disregard the petty squabblers who most likely haven't read a line of either the Wayland or Mir source code. Just come up with a solution that's well engineered and wins backing from NVidia, Intel and AMD. (I assume you already had that, because if not, why announce Mir at all?)

Also, please don't forget about the Desktop, you're definitely winning a lot of ground amongst developers. Container technology is making Ubuntu the preferred OS for many developers, something which both macOS and Windows don't have first class support for. This while Apple is chasing off macOS developers with expensive and less powerful hardware. Microsoft is coming back with a vengeance though, their new focus and work on things like a proper terminal and better linux subsystem makes them an option again in the eyes of some of my colleagues who before never even considered running Windows for their development environments.

If you guys stay on point, you will conquer the developers market the way Apple did in the late 00's. Which I think was critical for Apple's mobile ecosystem as well.


> wins backing from NVidia, Intel and AMD.

That's the heart of the problem. Intel is fine with their free drivers, and AMDGPU will be a good compromise, but NVIDIA will have to do all the work to implement a driver specifically for Wayland. Since AFAIK, Wayland requires KMS, NVIDIA is far far behind.

It isn't Wayland/Mir holding Wayland/Mir back. It's the proprietary driver blobs.


SECONDED!


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: All updates reboot-free

- DESCRIPTION: Short of a major-version update, the software updater should never ask me "Please restart the computer to begin using your updated software" again.

I'm already using the "Canonical Livepatch Service" - but I still get asked to reboot much more often than I would like.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Programmer


If it is a Linux kernel update, then it's either Livepatch or you reboot.

If it is a system library, then for the apps to use the newly installed library, they need to be restarted (sometimes logging out and logging in again should be enough).

If that library is the system "libc" library or something similar, then it has to be reboot (not relogin). The only way that I can think for reboot-free updates, is to save the full state of the system, then silently restart everything to the previous state.


> If that library is the system "libc" library or something similar, then it has to be reboot (not relogin). The only way that I can think for reboot-free updates, is to save the full state of the system, then silently restart everything to the previous state.

Restarting running services and logging in again is fully sufficient to handle a libc upgrade, at the very least on Debian. "Just restart" is maybe easier advice to give, but overshoots the target a little bit.


But, if you have to restart running services anyway, what is the problem with just rebooting anyway? I don't get this.


Ah yes, good catch. We are working on making the "System Restart Required" message more "Livepatch" aware. Good suggestion! We'll try to get an update out to 14.04/16.04 LTS and into 18.04 LTS.


This. Please, don't ask people to reboot the computer unless it's strictly needed.

GNU/Linux is not Windows 95.


> the software updater should never ask me "Please restart the computer to begin using your updated software" again.

Is it still a thing ? I've been using Linux Mint (which is based on Ubuntu for updates) and I haven't been asked to reboot my computer in years !


On Ubuntu? Yes. For every update that grabs a kernel or syatemd, dbus sillyness.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Volume leveling across applications

- DESCRIPTION: I use headphones every day. I listen to music and podcasts while I work. I use youtube videos and screencasts to learn new things. Sometimes I hop on a VOIP call through one service or the other. The one feature I miss most from Windows Desktop life is the "volume normalization" checkbox in my sound settings. It protects me from opening a new chrome tab and blasting noise into my ears at +30db. It protects me from that guy on the voice call that has his mic level WAY too high. It helps me hear the other guy who can't get his mic above a whisper. Most of all I never have to fiddle with individual application volume levels. Linux Desktops love to crib ideas from Apple, but for some reason they've all ignored this killer feature from 2006.


For reference, this feature is called "Use ambient noise reduction" on macOS and "Reduce Loud Sounds" on the 4th generation Apple TV:

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18961 https://help.apple.com/appletv/#/atvba773c3c9


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Better HiDPI scaling

- DESCRIPTION: Real non-integer scaling on HiDPI screens. Consistent across different toolkits (GTK3/Qt/etc.).

-----

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: TLP installed by default

- DESCRIPTION: Most new users have no idea that TLP is needed for decent battery life on laptops. Should be installed and activated by default. GUI for advanced configuration would be a plus.


+1 both of these are very much needed by laptop users. Real non-integer scaling would be awesome.


TLP? This will fix my battery life issues?


Very likely.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Set vm.swappiness on install based on machine ram.

- DESCRIPTION: The difference in responsiveness can be remarkable if it's lowered on systems with more ram. Most laptops and pc's these days have 4gb on average but the ones with hdds will be very slow on ubuntu because of default vm.swappiness vm.dirty_ratio vm.dirty_background_ratio etc that are set for older machines. Adding this feature will make ubuntu a better experience for most nontechnical people.


Could this be set at boot time instead of install time? That way if RAM is added or removed (or if a DIMM goes bad) it will update automatically.


+1, agreed!


FLAVOUR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Bluetooh that works

DESCRIPTION: I never managed to have my PC playing music through blutooth to a bluetooth loudspeaker. (I'm using Xbuntu, playing mp3s with mpv.) I think it could be because the audio system seems messy: should I have jackd enabled? What is it? So maybe the headline should be to cleanup audio system, specially its routes.


You have two options to try:

    1. install the pulseaudio-bluetooth-module, if you didn't
    2. follow the procedure below
BT in Ubuntu is in an embarrassing state, and I'm not exaggerating. After they've upgraded bluez to version 5, the workflow for connecting BT audio peripherals is:

    - connect the peripheral (takes a few attempts...)
    - disable the profile (set to off)
    - disconnect the peripheral
    - re-connect the peripheral (takes a few attempts again...)
    - set the profile to a2dp
this mad workflow has been consistent across multiple machines and audio peripherals.

Before the v5, the BT stack was still garbage, requiring changes (again, verified on multiple machines and peripherals) to obscure parameters in the bluez configuration.

So "please Ubuntu devs", try to produce a working BT stack, and stick with it.


I follow a nearly identical flow several times a day to connect bluetooth headphones to my laptop.

- Turn on headphones * Laptop connects immediately and uses the HSP/HFP mode (works!) * Trying to select A2DP appears to work, but no audio will play - Disconnect the headphones using the Bluetooth manager - Reconnect the headphones using the Bluetooth manager - Select A2DP, this now works.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/bluez/+bug/1438510

Separately, many web videos will stop playing and refuse to play when the Bluetooth audio device is selected.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/linux/+bug/1589008


OK, well, this had to be released before or later ;-)

Here you can find a script which automates the connection to bluetooth headphones, executing (in ruby) the steps outlined above, using the bluez commandline tool (including: retry until the connection is established...):

https://gist.github.com/anonymous/8f6058df9a879292bc8dbd3aaf...

As usual, you need to give execution permissions, or pass it to the ruby interpreter. It's designed to executed via terminal, call it from GUI has undefined behavior.


There is also currently a bug where you can't connect to an amazon echo via bluetooth [0]. I suspect it is a bluez issue or pulseaudio, as it happens across distros, but it does make me feel quite sad that it is this difficult.

Reminds me of how much of a pain printers could be and scanners can still be..

[0] https://askubuntu.com/questions/871630/cant-send-audio-to-am...


Thanks I think I tried exactly this but will try again. Actually I'd like a command line way which should be more deterministic.


That's a super important one. Audio on Linux/Ubuntu is okay, but when you run into serious troubles you're screwed. Nobody can help you unless you pay someone, other options: get a new computer, install a different Ubuntu, distribution or switch to Open Sound System. The only thing that always worked through all the years but it has obvious drawbacks.


Hmm, I've done well enough (on Debian testing) by enabling dmix in alsa and sending sound through alsa by default and letting pulseaudio start on demand for the applications that insist on it: mainly, this setup lets mpd continue playing after my graphical session ends.


Bluetooth not working isn't necessarily Ubuntu's fault. Bluetooth is a complicated, broken, cluttered, crumby protocol.


> Bluetooth not working isn't necessarily Ubuntu's fault.

Yet, Bluetooth works seamlessly in MANY other contexts. I can connect my phone to bluetooth headsets and bluetooth-enabled car stereos. I've used PS3 and PS4 controllers for years with no connection issues. I've used bluetooth dongles, bluetooth keyboards and mice on Windows machines and it just works.

Bluetooth may be "complicated, cluttered, and crumby" but it is not broken. Ubuntu is the odd one out here.


According to this article:

http://www.bennybottema.com/2010/08/08/how-ubuntus-broken-bl...

the guilt is both in Ubuntu (which updated the bluez version and broke things which were previously working) and the bluez programmer[s], which are described as "cowboy coders".

I personally believe both are accurate accusations.

I wonder if Ubuntu felt pressured for some reason[s] to upgrade to v5 (eg. support for v4 was going to cease), or if it was just "upgrading for the sake of upgrading". I have the suspect it's been the latter, since it's not that v4 had insufficient features or that the BT protocol would change in the meanwhile - not to mention that they actually did the exact same thing long ago when moving to v4.


Both Apple and Microsoft figured it out. Why shouldn't we expect the same from Canonical?


+1


FLAVOR: All

HEADLINE: Embrace the spirit of Open Source, not just comply with the letter of the law

DESCRIPTION:

Here's an extract from the Software Freedom Conservancy report on Canonical's licensing policy:

> Redistributors of Ubuntu have little choice but to become expert analysts of Canonical, Ltd.'s policy. They must identify on their own every place where the policy contradicts the GPL. If a dispute arises on a subtle issue, Canonical, Ltd. could take legal action, arguing that the redistributor's interpretation of GPL was incorrect. Even if the redistributor was correct that the GPL trumped some specific clause in Canonical, Ltd.'s policy, it may be costly to adjudicate the issue.

https://sfconservancy.org/news/2015/jul/15/ubuntu-ip-policy/


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: improve VPN support

- DESCRIPTION: the WLAN UI supports some OpenVPN options, but not all, and fails silently on importing non-compatible config files. This is very confusing for new Desktop users.

- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: multi-column list view in nautilus

- DESCRIPTION: This view has been explicitly dropped (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/nautilus/+bug/7081...) but is very useful for quickly navigating large directories. Alternatively, replace Nautilus with a file manager that can do this (like Nemo). This is one area where the Windows file manager is still much better.

- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: polish file dialogs (multi-column-list view)

- DESCRIPTION: the default file-open and file-save dialogs lack many simple features that can save a lot of time. For example, in the file-open dialog there is no multi-column view (see above), you cannot rename files, you cannot create files/folders, you cannot access the normal context menu. All this requires separately opening a file manager, which also lacks a few productivity features (see above).

- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: polish hotkeys and general window handling on multi-monitor setups

- DESCRIPTION: I needed a bunch of compiz plugins to make this work in a halfway decent way in a 2-monitor setup, and I dread the day I will have to re-shuffle this for a 3-monitor setup etc. Make it easy to move a window 1) from one monitor to the other, 2) resize and move to one of the corners/sides, 3) maximize it. Also, applications in full-screen mode on one of the monitors confuse my compiz-based setup (for example, a full-screen Chrome window on one monitor will introduce numerous UI issues).

Still, it's a great system and very nice to use overall.

Thanks for gathering feedback. That's the first step ;-) Keep up the good work!

Edit: language


IMHO the biggest thing that would improve VPN support is properly reporting errors. NetworkManager seems to think it is a Windows application with the way it throws useless generic error messages at you.

Instead of "connection failed", how about "connection refused due to key size mismatch"? Even if it looks like technobabble to the end user it is something they can throw into Google to solve their problem. VPN connections are a nightmare to debug right now, and are so complicated that regular people frequently don't set them up correctly the first time.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Easy Dock/Launcher Customization

- DESCRIPTION: The user should be able to 1) drag any executable to the dock to make a new launcher 2) Right click any launcher to be able to choose a dialog to customize command line arguments, initial working directory, and icon.

The user should not have to edit a desktop item file or install or know about Alacarte. Windows got this one right.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer for chemists and biologists.


I still can't believe the effort this takes on Ubuntu. Windows has done this right for how many years?


Just so you know, you can launch an executable and it's icon will pop up in the launcher. If you right-click the icon, you can select `Lock to Launcher` and the icon will persist after the application is closed. Still not ideal, but it may hep you.

Ideally a user should be able to simply drag and drop an application or file directory to the launcher.

It would also be cool to have folders in the launcher for quick access to certain directories where hovering over the icon opens a miniature browser. Sort of like the Android launcher.


Flavor: Ubuntu desktop

Headline: Switch from Mir to Wayland

Description:

A disclaimer: I'm not using Ubuntu, but I'd like to see the switch from Mir to Wayland for Ubuntu, or even better - making Mir a Wayland compositor. That would benefit Linux desktop as a whole, instead of creating another rift. Current direction that Mir is taking is causing damage to global Linux community.

To give context. Mir was started, because some Ubuntu developers saw deficiencies in Wayland (which later was proven to be incorrect). Over time, Mir started borrowing stuff from Wayland compositors and input libraries anyway, and now simply mirrors most of what Wayland does.

TL;DR there is no valid reason for this rift, and it should really go away. This will make life easier for graphics drivers developers, GUI toolkits developers, SDL (and the like) developers, various developers of applications like screen recording and so on. And having this rift benefits no one.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: text antialiasing options

- DESCRIPTION: I'm not a Linux guy, but when I've tried it I'm always annoyed at how ugly text looks compared to macOS. It would be great if we could pick different text renderers or have a new one with an easy GUI for adjusting parameters.


The Windows method of having the user select what style of text they prefer from a set list of options would be a good starting point to take inspiration from.

It's quite intuitive and the average user doesn't need to bother learning the details of how fonts are anti aliased


Yes, it's one thing Windows gets right.


Hasn't GNOME has something similar for years? A whole bunch of different text aliasing examples, you pick the one that looks right?


Yes, GNOME has this feature - but it doesn't make the fonts look good enough, unfortunately.

Ubuntu's solution for beautiful fonts uses non-free software I believe, and the results IMO are as good as or better than Windows or Mac.

When I switched from Ubuntu to mainline Debian, I started having to install Infinality to get beautiful fonts as good as or better than Ubuntu's.

It's a general pain point with desktop Linux, but an area where Ubuntu leads.


> Ubuntu's solution for beautiful fonts uses non-free software I believe

Nope they don't.


That's good to hear. Any idea why Debian lags behind?


Yep, last year I compared some packages of interest (fontconfig, freetype, cairo and few others I can't remember now) and the only significant differences between Debian and Ubuntu packages were

1. Ubuntu packages were slightly more up-to-date (I compared packages in Debian 8 to Ubuntu 15.10 or 16.04, not sure which one). This is important for freetype because it keeps improving in every release.

2. Fontconfig is heavily configured in Ubuntu package. Not patched, just runtime configuration.

So there were no special patches on the Ubuntu side compared to Debian or the upstream sources. I must note that both Ubuntu and Debian's freetype package (which are almost identical BTW) enable advanced hinting options (which must be configured in compile time). Some other popular distributions don't enable those options because of lawsuit fears and this results in a much crappier font rendering that you can't fix with runtime configuration.

As I said this comparison may be slightly out of date now and I plan to repeat it after stretch is released. I didn't keep tabs on their state on recent Ubuntu releases but on the Debian side fontconfig and freetype was barely maintained in stretch cycle, so I guess Debian will still have slightly poorer font rendering compared to Ubuntu. You can still get a similar rendering by copying over /etc/fontconfig of a comparable Ubuntu release, though.


I don't think so. It does have immediate feedback when you change something, but you have to either know what each option does, or just play around. And it's only available in gnome-tweak-tool, not in the standard control panels.


Yup. Unless I mis-hit in default, GNOME does this.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Please don't mess with python package management

- DESCRIPTION: Take a look at this bug:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/python3.4/+bug/129...

This happened because ubuntu decided to unbundle some packages that come as a part of the python ecosystem. This is really a major annoyance because it breaks default behavior that people have come to rely on in every other platform, and confuses the hell out of people - just google for similar keywords and you'll find tons of questions and discussions around this and similar issues. Please don't mess with this stuff, or if you're going to break them, break them in a way that tells the user what the heck to do - it costs real hours and effort to debug and work around these things for production deployments.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software / Data engineer


The same would go for RubyGems, but these are a Debian issue. Not sure how Ubuntu could untangle that.


Lobby to change policy or provide an exception? Now it's possible that I'm fundamentally misunderstanding Debian policy, but in this case it seems like it's not helping and is rather just hamstringing things by breaking user experience. This seems like a very legitimate exception case where bundling does make sense to ensure that core infrastructure works out of the box. Furthermore, if instead of bundling these packages the pip people had written code internally that does what these packages do, then there wouldn't be any discussion. It really seems like a semantic quibble over a minor point that's spurred by following the letter of the law rather than the spirit. But the effect is a horrible experience for everyone involved.


> but these are a Debian issue. Not sure how Ubuntu could untangle that.

Debian's Python maintainer is a Canonical employee thus Debian's and Ubuntu's Python packages are actually the same.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Automated night mode so I can sleep well after work

- DESCRIPTION: Reducing the amount of blue light during the night is proven to help people finding sleep after having used their computer at night. So during the night, the desktop automatedly reduce the amount of blue light emitted on the screen by shifting the color balance.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Dev/Machine learner


Back when I was using Ubuntu, I could install an app called Redshift, which is basically the Linux equivalent for f.lux.


Redshift is great. I have a systemd user unit for it, and I actually prefer it to Flux on OS X.


Setting up (configure/build + daemon) Redshift is bit pain, a built-in would be awesome, similar to the one just launched in GNOME.


Why did you build from source and make your own daemon instead of using the Ubuntu package?

* http://packages.ubuntu.com/yakkety/redshift


There is f.lux for Ubuntu. Although maybe not for Unity? I use Gnome.


f.lux for Linux is an X11 app, it does not care for Unity or Gnome. You have to manually start it after you log-in, or find out how to make it autostart. Not very user-friendly.

Being X11 app means, it does not work with Wayland.


I'm running it with Unity


it has been broken for a while; nobody maintains it afaik


sudo apt-get install redshift redshift-gtk


This is a feature I'd really like as well, a blue light filter is a must for me on any device with a screen. I've always had problems with f.lux to behave correctly on Linux, so having one built into the OS (as an option of course) would be great.


I used redshift successfully for a time. It worked rather well but I don't know the current state (eg does it support wayland)


Redshift still works quite well. Maybe it should be pre-installed and better 'advertised'. Many people still don't know that this is a very nice feature to have.


Windows has recently integrated this in the 'creators update' as a feature. Would be nice to see Ubuntu follow suit.


macOS just got it too in 10.12.4


I would love to have that feature, automated blue light filtering and or screen dimming :)


+1 every system now has it. so make sense to join the club


FLAVOUR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Lightweight by default - don't follow the Windows/Mac crowd

DESCRIPTION: GNU/Linux - X'ish desktop environments systems in general and window managers in particular - used to have a certain way and freedom to be able to do things. Around 2000-2005 I was quite happy with FVWM, KDE3 etc. The window managers allowed me to do things that weren't possible with Windows or Mac. (Focus follows mouse, configurable behavious, handle many windows with ease...) I wish Windows or macOS won't be considered as ideal solutions and GNU/Linux just being a bad copy of that. If that's really the best thing, then it's a better idea to actually use MS Windows or macOS - I use the latter since 5 years almost exclusively. Just recently I started using Linux (Xubuntu) again privately on an older computer and at work as well. (At work we don't have Macs)

Please come up with your own ideas - nobody except "computer experts" use Linux on the Desktop anyways. You could go from there. Also looking at Xubuntu, it's a cool system. I really like it because it's fast, I can work with more than 5 windows comfortably. Unfortunately its bluetooth config is worse - recently I had to login to Cinnamon to make my Bluetooth mouse work again. Same goes for multi monitor, it works okay. ;) That means: when I disconnect my laptop from the external screens, open the display and go to the meeting it's black. I have to shut it down if I want to use it. (Power button or SysRq...)

So yeah, if Windows gets got enough (read: they finally get rid of all these freezes and things that just stop working) and they Opensource even more stuff, why not use Windows? I must admit, I'm no Opensource prophet so my primary reason to start switching to Linux around '98 was because Windows was mega buggy, slow and not nice to use on average hardware when the installation was more than a few months ago. IMHO true Opensource people use Debian, Arch or some unusual combination - like Windows as main OS with Emacs and Arch in the VM like a friend of mine.

Again is a time with so much potential for Ubuntu Desktop because devs are increasingly unhappy with macOS.


- FLAVOR: all? - HEADLINE: Improve experience of using 3rd-party apt sources - DESCRIPTION: This suggestion is more apt related, but Ubuntu could lead the improvements. Many software providers (Microsoft, Elastic, etc) are using their own apt repositories to be able to deliver updates faster than the Ubuntu release cycle, which is great. However, configuring them usually requires Googling the instructions and at least 3 commands. For example, installing SQL Server for Linux has the following commands before you can even run apt-get install (from their official documentation):

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | sudo apt-key add - curl https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/16.04/mssql-ser... | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/mssql-server.list sudo apt-get update

That is not user-friendly at all. It would be great if apt could help you out here. i.e. if I type in "apt install mssql-server", it could detect that it is not in the Ubuntu sources but that it is available in a trusted 3rd party source, and prompt me to add that source to my local apt sources. It would then also automatically update that source.

Also, perhaps the Ubuntu sources have an older version but a newer version is available at a trusted 3rd party, and provide an informational message and an apt command-line flag that would allow you to add the source. i.e. "mssql-server 17.0.0 is available at the third party source 'microsoft'. To install it, run 'apt install mssql-server -S microsoft'" which would add the microsoft source and install the package. - ROLE: software engineer


I'm going to play devils advocate here:

If running two pretty simple commands (`curl` a file into `apt-key`; `curl` a file to `tee`) before you can run `apt-get update` is "too hard" or "too complicated", maybe installing software on servers isn't for you.

I also want to actually say good job to Microsoft on this one. Too many org's that run their own Apt repos just have `curl ... | sudo bash` as their install instructions.

I would suggest Microsoft could produce a 'release' package to make any future updates to the key/repo url/names a bit simpler, but not doing a curl|sh is already miles ahead of plenty of shops.


It's apt-add-repository.

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/wily/man1/add-apt-reposi...


Doesn't this only work for PPAs that are in Launchpad? And doesn't Launchpad have extra limitations that third-party repos don't?


apt-add-repository is not installed by default.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Core

- HEADLINE: Build from source, minimize deltas from upstream, and quit poisoning the Debian ecosystem.

- DESCRIPTION: I have repeatedly hit issues with core packages and applications that are solved by simply doing:

apt-get build-dep; apt-get source package; cd package* ; fakeroot debian/rules

Sometimes the packages fail to build. This tells me that you do not have an automated build regression system, even though Debian has gone to great pains to make this easy to automate.

I have hit bugs in packages because there is a large stack of diffs that have been applied to the package (logrotate is one example), but never upstreamed. The logrotate diffs include a "security patch" that is not well thought out, does not actually close a real bug, and causes logrotate to silently fail, filling /var.

This would not happen if you actively upstreamed patches, and reverted changes that are not approved by upstream, or addressed in other ways by upstream developers.

These two systematic issues have caused me to move away from Ubuntu for server and desktop use.

Finally, I've heard stories about Ubuntu devs forcing through controversial votes in the Debian project, and noticed an uptick in user-hostile decisions by the Debian project (like the forced systemd migration).

As a major contributor to Debian, Ubuntu should do whatever it can to improve the health of the Debian community, and generally improve the code quality + stability of upstream debian projects (without just killing off stuff that Ubuntu has decided not to ship).

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Engineer/Researcher At work, we ship a hardware appliance based on Ubuntu. I've been using Ubuntu / Debian as my primary development environment for almost two decades, and am saddened by the level of bitrot I've encountered over the last 2-3 years.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: no new features please, just bugfixes and small adjustments

- DESCRIPTION: please spend at least one, maybe more releases working on polishing existing features and bugfixes. Ubuntu is like 90% there to be the standard desktop of Linux, and the remaining 10% is NOT in adding new features but making sure the existing ones work reliably and consistently. Yes, this is not as exciting as working on new features, but it is exactly what "professional" software development is about. It is pretty easy to get a software 80% done, much harder to get to 90%, but the really great stuff is when you get above 95%. The best OS is the one that JUST WORKS, and you don't even notice it. Same for the UI. So why not take a look at your bugtracker :)


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Child friendly (ad blocker, content filter)

DESCRIPTION: For my son's first computer, I picked Lubuntu and spent days making it "internet ready". I installed Dansguardian + Privoxy, then added uBlock Origin to Chrome, then added OpenDNS to my home router. It was a lot of searching online and trial & error but worth it. From time to time, I check websites he visited and what got blocked (grepping logs) and adjust accordingly. One problem with this is updates are blocked so I must disable proxy manually every time I update.

Please consider making something like this available out-of-the-box. Something that can be enabled/disabled with a few clicks. Also, a simple way to review history and adjust settings. It would make Ubuntu an excellent choice out-of-the-box for all kids. Thank you for asking.


elementary OS designed parental control, but in a bit of an opposite way as you've suggested. An administrator can create a new standard account, and restrict its access to the computer. For example, the standard user can log in between 5 PM and 10 PM, can have access to some of the applications restricted (as in, he can't run them) and he can be banned from accessing certain websites (blacklist-only options at the moment).

Not really what you're looking for, but built exactly in a way you want it: available out-of-the-box, tucked into system settings, there in case you need it. Could be of some inspiration to Ubuntu guys.


Elementary OS looks real nice!

Lubuntu like all Ubuntu have standard users with limited access and that is what my son has but I am less worried about his access to the computer or to the computer's features than about him seeing ads or things that isn't appropriate for his age.


Flavor: Desktop Headline: Polished and modern Desktop/User experience.

I'm using Ubuntu full time for the past 4 years. Some how it still feels like I am using some what old software although Ubuntu has come a long way since the beginning. I don't mind a release with no new technical improvements but only dedicated to improve all the little details and a polished experience of the overall user experience. Given looks are one of the important factors for an average user to evaluate a desktop, I believe any effort on this front will help a lot if furthering ubuntu adoption.

Role: Web developer and Digital marketer


What, specifically, do you mean by polished? Please give examples.


I get frustrated as hell by the inconsistent dialog boxes! When saving a file, the filename text is highlighted (i.e. selected), but when you start typing it sends the text to a search input box. Like... WTF?!?


Polished as in window animations, tastefully done transparent windows by default on hardware that support it, snappy application menu, desktop and file manager icons that conforms to grid, black title bar with white fonts is a too strong to name a few.

In my opinon, There must be one release tailored towards UI improvements among the three releases that leads to LTS preferably as the one that follows LTS because there is a solid platform to build upon and there is enough time to iron out UI bugs in the next LTS.


The theme is also quite dark. Notifications are black, background is dark: It makes me feel claustrophobic compared to a macOS. Maybe, generally, hire more graphic designers.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Hide/Move/Replace the Unity Menubar

- DESCRIPTION: Please have an auto-hide function at minimum? Better would be to move the time/settings to the "dock" when you set the "move the menus to the app windows" option, and then removing menubar entirely.

- RATIONALE: It was awful the last time I used Ubuntu on a multi-monitor setup, wasting space on all displays. And having to click an app and window to give it focus, then swinging the cursor up to select a menu, then back to the app... I'm not sure why anyone would move the action (menu) from the context of the action (focused window).

Otherwise, I really do like Unity, especially since it has useful global keybindings out of the box.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Developer, but use Ubuntu for my personal dev ThinkPad.

P.S. I just started listening to The Changelog and your interview was very insightful. Thanks! For those interested: https://changelog.com/podcast/207


This is a topic debated to death between Mac and Windows users. Here is the argument in favor of the Mac/Ubuntu solution. The time it takes to hit a target is inverse proportional to its size, according to fitts law. A menubar at at the top has infinite height, thus it is a really large area to hit. In practice that makes it much faster to hit a menu bar at the top than inside a window.

What you don't want is an autohiding menu bar. When it autohides you can't see the location of the target before you move your mouse. For people who use this setup are used to throwing the mouse pointer up quickly to the target. You can't do that if the menu is hidden. Then it is a two step process. First throwing the mouse up to the menu and then making a selection.

This is the reason why we keep all frequently accessed GUI elements on the corners of the screen. These are the quickest places to hit. E.g. the Windows start button is fast to hit for this reason. But to be fair you are using the application menu bar a lot more frequent than the start menu.


You do have a point, you can't see the menu-bar items when they're hidden, however, I used Mac OS for work in the past, and the full-screen mode (in which the menu-bar does indeed auto-hide) is actually great. Even though you can't see the buttons, I was able to quickly memorize the rough location of what I want to press, so it didn't actually slow me down that much, even in heavily menu-reliant applications.

I feel like this would be even less of an issue with Ubuntu, since it has the menu-bar search feature, where you can "press" a button by typing it's name rather than looking through the menus.


Thank you for the feedback, and thanks for listening (and linking here for others)!


Thanks for taking the time to read. Hopefully it doesn't sound like a petty request. Keep up the good work!


And having to click an app and window to give it focus, then swinging the cursor up to select a menu, then back to the app...

I think it is copied from Mac.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Officially supported i3 or equivalent

DESCRIPTION: i3 offers a vastly superior power-user usage experience, pretty much compared to anything else in the market. If Ubuntu would offer a properly configured/themed/integrated i3 desktop, I'd be happy to use it, because I've done enough pointless fine tuning for one lifetime. I'd be fine with some other tiling window manager too, as long as if it was at least as good as i3. I have doubts that this could be done properly with Unity, but I won't mind being surprised.

ROLE: Desktop Linux user since '96.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: optimize Ubuntu for people who suffer migraines/headaches and other health issues when working with displays.

- DESCRIPTION: There's a small niche of users who suffer badly when working with displays. There are all sorts of things to optimize(mostly to kill various flickers and too much brightness) - no backlight refresh by putting backlight at 100% and using some screen filter app , 16-bit resolution(32-bit in some display types is causing some flicker), up-convertion of videos to the highest frame-rate possible(if it's possible to do so for web videos - would be amazing!!!), various night modes and brightness controls, maybe recommending screens and devices that would help(selection is a huge issue).

btw, if you manage to really help here, this user niche will be very loyal, and will suffer a lot on other areas. Also - a well optimized machine, might be liked by regular users in a subtle way(less tired, etc).

- ROLE: desktop user with migraine.


I would really like to see this as well. Linux in general is a system I love to use but there's a ton of tedium involved in getting it set up in just the right way that it doesn't make my head throb. This isn't necessarily a setback for me from daily usage, but whenever a new version comes out, it soaks up a lot of time getting it re-setup.

+1 This would be a great feature for people like us.


FLAVOUR: Desktop

HEADLINE: Sort out the default colour scheme

I can't really comment on the more technical side, but the Ubuntu Grey/Purple/Orange colour palette is horrible - it makes the whole desktop feel claustrophobic. There's something icky about it.

Together with the 'quirky' Ubuntu font, which is hard to read at small sizes and not at all helped by Linux's mediocre font rendering, it makes for a fairly unpleasant experience.

Your designers should be looking at Elementary OS for how a pleasurable desktop could be designed, even if it's a bit to close to Mavericks-era macOS.

(I know it's possible to change the theme, but none of them have the fit and finish that a first-party one would have)

ROLE: Graphic and UX designer (who wants to love Ubuntu but can't for superficially visual reasons)


Changing default color schemes will impact many other apps. It will take ages to trickle through to all the apps you use. It will not look better until it does. Thats the kind of UI change that is cost, and disputable benefit. I like it, but even if you don't like it, its not bad, technically, contrast etc. And you can change it. At your own cost instead of at the cost of a very large developer community. Personally I use Ubuntu fonts by choice outside of Ubuntu. Luv 'em.


For me the default colors on ubuntu were never welcoming. Changing them would be great. Hopefully with Unity 8 they choose better and warmer colors


I'm definitely not a designer, but I will say I love the Ubuntu fonts


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Work out-of-the-box on Chromebooks

- DESCRIPTION: Turns out you have two choices for a well-built ultralight notebook: a MacBook (£1250) or a Chromebook (£250). The Chromebook can run Ubuntu, and run it well. But right now it requires a specially optimised version of Ubuntu (GalliumOS) and faffing around with firmware versions. If Ubuntu was easy to install on Chromebooks as it is on desktops or regular notebooks, that'd be a massive selling point for the OS.


Aside from having to install software for the back-lit keyboard I have no problems with Ubuntu 16.10 on my 2015 Toshiba Chromebook 2 (other than the part where nothing prevents the battery draining to 0% and everything getting erased). Why do you need Gallium and specific firmware?


New (Bay Trail/Braswell) Chromebooks don't have legacy boot support: https://wiki.galliumos.org/Firmware

Xorg doesn't initialise the display hardware to a usable state when the machine is running current Chrome OS, requiring firmware rollback: https://github.com/GalliumOS/galliumos-distro/issues/320

GalliumOS has numerous optimisations for Chromebook hardware: https://wiki.galliumos.org/About_GalliumOS#Why_GalliumOS_as_...


Which Chromebook do you mean?


Mine's an HP 11in G5, FWIW.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Better QA

DESCRIPTION: You have no idea how upset I am the top comment is more "fancy, flashy" stuff instead of what Ubuntu really needs:

Stability. Better QA, not having my family and friends see another "$x had an issue" every time they boot into their accounts and being embarrassed that I recommended Ubuntu to them.

Seriously, I use gentoo, and my gf uses GNOME Ubuntu, and she has issues with the same services that I don't have a single issue with. Forget about multitouch or external monitors, no one other than fanboys and enthusiasts use that. Provide a stable experience first then move the boundary.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Computational scientist, but also a Linux enthusiast for personal use.


I would just like to share a different perspective on your point about multitouch — I have several friends who have tried to make Ubuntu their first foray into Linux on a modern "convertible"/ultrabook/whatever with a multitouch screen and run into issues with responsiveness, scaling, etc. Not using Ubuntu myself I don't know how much work is really left here, but multitouch screens should definitely be treated as a first-class citizen of the HID world.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Mouse Button Remapping

- DESCRIPTION: I'm a disabled user and "left-click" with my thumb. At the moment, there's no visual way to do that in Ubuntu's settings.

I have to run something like `xinput set-button-map "Evoluent VerticalMouse 4" 0 3 0 4 5 6 7 0 2 1 2` whenever I login, or connect my mouse, or if the phases of the moon changes.

Please - all I want is a GUI where I can say "For this mouse hardware, use this button map."

Thanks :-)


> I have to run something like `xinput set-button-map "Evoluent VerticalMouse 4" 0 3 0 4 5 6 7 0 2 1 2` whenever I login

Can you not put this in your .bashrc or something?


shrug Maybe. I want to use my computer, not constantly fiddle with it.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Separate purge-old-kernels command from byobu package

- DESCRIPTION: I like byobu, it's extremely helpful but I would prefer the purge-old-kernels script to be in a separate package. I like to run servers with the minimum amount of packages installed and don't really need byobu since most of my maintenance are remote commands. /boot gets filled up quickly and the purge-old-kernels is a script I think is well written and perfect. I want it separated from byobu, please.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: SysAdmin


This one would be useful.

There are several things to test, and things that may break. It is possible to get corner cases.

I would suggest to get purge-old-kernels on 17.10 in order to test it, and decide whether to put on 18.04 LTS later on.


Yeah, so see above... This one is 100% my fault. I wrote Byobu as well as purge-old-kernels to solve a really annoying problem. And I jammed purge-old-kernels into Byobu because Byobu is always installed every I have Ubuntu, and I always want purge-old-kernels everywhere I want Ubuntu. In any case, you're right. This is a distro-level problem that needs to be solved properly.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop (or any)

- HEADLINE: Installer should allow dual boot with encrypted disk

- DESCRIPTION: Currently it is impossible to use the Ubuntu installer to install Ubuntu on only part of a disk if you want the Ubuntu partitions to be encrypted. (If it's not impossible, it's hard enough to figure out that this advanced user couldn't, so it might as well be impossible for new users.)

Disk encryption is a requirement nowadays, and many users want to dual boot when they first install Ubuntu. So this prevents users from even trying Ubuntu.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Bring back gaming support for AMD graphics cards.

-DESCRIPTION: Pipe dream, but: the ability to run games with an AMD graphics card, the way we could with 15.10. Google "Steam AMD Xenial" and you'll see how big of a mess this is.

As of a year ago, gaming on Linux was pretty viable with an AMD graphics card, using fglrx. However, because that was deprecated, it was removed in 16.04, and the open-source drivers can't handle 3D games, at all. Most 2D games are non-starters as well, literally: the graphics freeze before I even get to the opening screen and I have to REISUB. I'm running an R9 390, but this is widespread among basically all AMD cards.

AMDGPU is an option, but only for some cards, and thats only for 16.04 - it won't run on 16.10.

I could go more into the history and the compatibility, but suffice to say, the intersection of the different versions of {the kernel, mesa, opengl, fglrx, open-source drivers} on Ubuntu now means that I have no choice but to boot into Windows to run games.


Please file bug reports for your issues, and not just as blanket statements. Many people find the open-source drivers a viable option for gaming, especially now that OpenGL 4.5 is supported and a lot of performance optimization has happened. Your case sounds unfortunate, but it's certainly the exception rather than the rule.

It's true that the version that comes with the Ubuntu releases tend to be a bit behind, but you can also try the Padoka PPA.


> Please file bug reports for your issues, and not just as blanket statements

I'll admit, it's been a while, but my experience with filing tickets for graphics-related issues like these has not always been particularly positive. Debugging them and actually identifying the root cause is quite difficult, and I end up getting bounced back and forth between different bug reporting tools for different OSS projects that may or may not be ultimately the root of the bug, and each of which thinks that the other is the more likely cause.

I have some sympathy here because I know it's tough to identify, but it's a huge time investment on my part for very little apparent gain, especially since these issues are already reported.

Besides, as I said, these issues are pretty well-documented already. I don't think there's a lack of information about the issue; it's just not an easy one to solve, and there are a lot of different organizations that are responsible for various pieces.


The AMD engineers have decided to only support the open-source amdgpu driver and diverted all resources from fglrx to amdgpu.

Due to this, 16.04 does not have fglrx because the X11 server in 16.04 is not compatible any more with fglrx.

Around this time (end 2016/early 2017) it was supposed for amdgpu to get parity in features with fglrx. I have not checked, are there issues missing from amdgpu? You would need to test, and preferably test with the AMDGPU PRO driver distribution from AMD (has the very latest support that may take a bit of time to make it to the upstream projects).


> I have not checked, are there issues missing from amdgpu? You would need to test, and preferably test with the AMDGPU PRO driver distribution from AMD (has the very latest support that may take a bit of time to make it to the upstream projects).

I don't know. AMDGPU requires an older version of the kernel, so I'd have to downgrade from 16.10 just to try it out.


> AMDGPU requires an older version of the kernel

AMDGPU-PRO requires an older kernel and Xorg. AMDGPU is open source and works great with Linux 4.10.x


For the R9 390, this[1] is a high-critical bug that has been outstanding for over 18 months. If it gets to 2 years old, I'm throwing it a birthday party.

[1] https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=91880


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Application Menu search like MacOS

- DESCRIPTION: I usually use macOS but occassionally use Ubuntu and I really miss the ability to lookup functionality in my application by typing the name of a menu entry under help. On macOS this will drop down the relevant drop down menu and show the menu entry I am searching for. I use this a lot. Especially in complex applications this is very useful to have.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Developer


Ubuntu already has that. They call it HUD: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Unity/HUD

Press Alt (as mentioned in other comment)


Press Alt?


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Refresh (or replace) built-in themes

- DESCRIPTION: I'm well aware that many hard-core users don't care that much about visual aesthetics of the user interface, but I think this makes up a lot of the impression first-time users have of Ubuntu. While solid and generally fine, the built-in themes look could use some overhaul, or replacement. One of the first things I do when setting up a new instance is downloading and installing third-party themes and icon sets. It's funny how some people are surprised "how good Linux can look", because many still have the impression of it being a hacky, patchy, hard-to-use nerd OS.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer, web-related full-stack, Ubuntu user by choice (amongst MacOS evangelists)


- FLAVOR: server / all

- HEADLINE: remove sha1 PPA signatures

- DESCRIPTION: remove the warning "signature by key uses weak digest algorithm (sha1)" and ban sha1 for PPA signatures

- ROLE: user


This needs to be done slowly or you're going to piss a lot of people off with broken shit.


SHA1 is already broken shit.


Don't be unreasonable.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Low Latency Audio Server + Touch support for pro audio

- DESCRIPTION:

Running pro audio apps under any linux distro is still pretty much a pain, mostly due to the problem of getting a low latency audio server to run without lots of manual configuration at the risk of breaking your system, by installing jackd, running a rt kernel, and not breaking existing sound servers (pulseaudio).

_Audio stack and drivers_

Google has announced that android O 8.x would ship with a completely new low latency audio server, enabling pro audio apps under android, all such apps have been iOS, OSX and windows exclusives up until now.

Since google has done it under android it should be doable on GNU/Linux ?

Today more devs are porting pro audio apps to GNU/linux: Bitwig Studio, Renoise, Harrisson Mixbus have linux native versions and REAPER has a beta linux native build.

However running these DAWs at rock-solid low latency with an up to date audio interface is hard/impossible for config issues and lack of driver support.

This would most likely require engaging discussion with audio interface manufacturers to develop/port their drivers to linux (Focusrite, Presonus, RME, Avid, Roland, Tascam) Focusrite Scarlett in particular is the best selling enthusiast-level USB 2.0 audio interface range in the world today, with Presonus a close second. RME, Apogee, AVID, MOTU, etc. are high-end stuff that will not appeal to enthusiasts. RME already has rock-solid support under linux.

_Multi-touch_

Most current and future audio DAWs and apps are going the down the multi-touch route (Bitwig, Presonus Studio One, etc). Sanitizing the audio stack on linux and enabling proper touch support would allow Pro audio apps to run on linux (most likely using WINE at first, as most pro VSTs are windows -- or mac -- only).

Considering all the privacy issues and crap ads that ship with win10 (browsing through pro audio forums will show you that that most people are stuck with win7 for running their DAW computer, do not want to upgrade to win10, and win7 support will stop really soon) and the absolute ripoff that the Apple HW is nowadays, linux might become attractive to audio enthusiasts, maybe pros in the long run?

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Comp. Sci. Researcher, music enthusiast.


> Most current and future audio DAWs and apps are going the down the multi-touch route (Bitwig, Presonus Studio One, etc).

Multitouch on Ubuntu is not fantastic, but it does work. I can use Bitwig without trouble on my touchscreen laptop.

The only major problem I've run into is that I can't figure out how to control the multitouch gestures, and some of them conflict with multitouch gestures that the DAW needs (for instance, making a three-finger chord on the on-screen keyboard).


Exactly what I meant, proper 10 point touch and gesture support. Out of curiosity, what kind of audio interface are you using, what audio stack and latency? It can be even trickier to get usb audio interfaces to work properly on laptops because of USB power throttling, which can be hard to configure under Linux.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Go back to colaboration with gnome-project

- DESCRIPTION: The fragmentation in the linux desktop is getting retarded, both effort (GNOME and Unity) are crippled by the lack of colaboration in the toolkits and applications. This was a marvel up until ubuntu 10.10 which was the last linux that anyone would need. I just miss the good old days.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Ubuntu enthusiast since 6.04.


This!


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Option to disable all animations and transparency effects in Unity

- DESCRIPTION: With a big (>=2560x1600) monitors and a not high-end graphic cards they are not smooth anymore anyway and my PC is freezing up randomly (but seldom) when switching between applications.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: developer


Ubuntu has exactly that since 16.04.1:

1. Open CompizConfig Settings Manager (if not installed, `sudo apt install compizconfig-settings-manager`)

2. Click the "Ubuntu Unity Plugin" plugin

3. At the bottom, "Enable Low Graphics Mode"

4? Restart Unity / reboot (? because I'm not sure it's necessary. See for yourself :)

Agree it would be neat to surface the option in the regular System Settings panel, though.

Source: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/11/enable-low-graphics-mode-...


For that matter, why isn't CompizConfig installed by default? So much stuff is hidden in there and it's impossible to discover without running across someone talking about it online. This is exactly the sort of thing that should be on the menu by default as "advanced compiz settings" or something like that.

On the other hand, discoverabiliy is still a big issue with Unity in general.


> "why isn't CompizConfig installed by default?"

Because it's a loaded shotgun aimed right at beginner users feet?


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: Smaller Docker Images

DESCRIPTION: An official, skinnied down, Ubuntu image for docker and AWS AMIs would be nice. I have some clients that want to maintain some uniformity across host and guest, so they aren't interested in Alpine or Busybox images. But the Ubuntu image is ~200MB or so, where OpenSuse is about half that.

I understand Canonical doesn't build those images, but you would have the expertise to help them thin it out. Some wrapper around debootstrap or similar to make a thin server image?

ROLE: Help various clients with docker and AWS.


Just a heads up that AFAIK these Docker images are built on top of the Ubuntu Core ones (which are ~30MB) so this is likely the overhead of multiple Docker layers that we all know about, see https://github.com/docker-library/repo-info/blob/master/repo... as it apparently explains where the core image comes from. Disclaimer: I am a @canonical.com but not involved directly with that so I also +1'ed it :-)


afaik, canonical does build those images. See here: https://cloud-images.ubuntu.com


Hmm. I assume some transformation happens before they end up as docker images or AMI images.

In any case, what I'm asking for is some conversation between Canonical and Docker, Amazon, etc. To see if there's something obvious either side can do to skinny these down. The ubuntu image is for sure the most popular AMI, and I imagine one of the most popular docker ones. The collective bandwidth and time gain of optimizing the size would be significant. Currently, the ubuntu images are significantly larger than other popular images.


Canonical is absolutely responsible for building those images. And yes, we do work with Amazon, Docker, et al. And yes, we're actively working on reducing image size.

That said, what's "minimal" to one is not "minimal" to another. We can certainly take stuff away, until you end up at Alpine or Busybox size. But then we've stripped away the essence of what's Ubuntu. So it's a very delicate dance!


I switched to alpine because Ubuntu docker containers were massive.


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: An awesome hardware partnership

- DESCRIPTION: This is probably stretching the limits of everything being fair game. Nevertheless, I've always found Ubuntu support for MBPs to be below par and haven't been able to justify using it over OSX since switching hardware. Now that Apple seem to be losing the plot on the hardware side I'd really like to see Ubuntu running as a first class citizen on a high end laptop.

No plastic cases, no innovative features (I mean touch bars or dials not 4k monitors), just fast, quality kit with superb software support.

ROLE / AFFILIATION: Contract Java developer, long time Ubuntu user but not on a desktop for a few years now


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Any (preferred this to be in upstream Debian)

- HEADLINE: binary diff updates for apt-get.

- DESCRIPTION: I have seen Fedora updates as binary diffs. It is very small, uses less bandwidth and space, and gets installed faster.

This request isn't really for Ubuntu 17.10 though (I don't know if there is enough time for this). And I don't wish (actually I hate) this to be an Ubuntu specific feature. I wish this to be an upstream (Debian) feature.

Thanks


For vanilla Debian you can use "debdelta". It is not integrated to apt-get and it misses a lot of packages but still helps a lot compared to downloading full packages. Ubuntu would need a separate delta server for it to be usable for their packages.


Flavor: Desktop

Headline: Surround Sound

Description: If a user has a media file or application that wants to play surround sound audio, 5.1 or higher, it should work properly and automatically. AC3, Dolby Digital, dts, etc. should all function properly with all different hardware configurations.

I'm aware that it is possible to make it work properly with some effort, but it is not elegant or automatic. The user should not have to do anything special. It should "just work".

For example, a user has a surround sound system connected to their computer's optical output. They play a media file or DVD that has a surround sound audio track. That audio track is selected. The surround sound should play properly with no further special configuration. The user should not have to know that pulse audio or whatever even exists.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop / All

- HEADLINE: Disk Encryption that works without gotchas

- DESCRIPTION: Currently, there are options to do full disk encryption and encrypting your home directory while installing. These options are fine, but

* File name limits.

* You cannot encrypt your drive after the fact. So you need to reinstall your system if you find out that you need it encrypted.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: (Optional, your job role and affiliation) Software dev / user


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: First boot post-install hook

- DESCRIPTION: There is currently no clean way to have a script run only once post-install, first boot. There are hacks for making this work to a degree, including things like self-deleting init scripts. I would most prefer to see this hook officially supported in robust way.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Systems Engineer


Do you mean like ConditionFirstBoot?

* http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/zesty/man5/systemd.unit....


The docs say the test is if /etc is empty. Most packages provide some kind of defaults in /etc when they're installed - wouldn't that mean this never triggers?


No, it will work even if stuff is installed in /etc. The actual check is `test -f /etc/machine-id`: https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/5978bdd05fed013d301f...

I'll file a bugreport with systemd about the inaccurate documentation.

EDIT: Here it is: https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/5696


More immediately, the actual check is a test for one of the flag files that I mentioned at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13473273 : /run/systemd/first-boot . This file is initially created/unlinked to correspond with the result of the check that you mention, but is also modified later on.

A prior bug report discussing the "misleading" doco in this very area was https://github.com/systemd/systemd/issues/5562 , which was closed as "not a bug".


Good to know, thanks.


cloud-init? cloud-init.org


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: Include a PyPy3.5 package

DESCRIPTION: Ubuntu already has a package for PyPy compatible with CPython 2.7 in the official repositories. However, a CPython 3.5 compatible version was recently released[1]. PyPy is painful to compile on your own if you don’t have enough RAM. Therefore, an official package would be welcome.

[1] https://morepypy.blogspot.com/2017/03/pypy27-and-pypy35-v57-...

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Researcher at a university


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: handle GPU driver update better

- DESCRIPTION: Updating GPU driver can be a pain especially after a kernel version upgrade. Common issues you would see includes a black screen (kernel module incompatible), the login screen stuck in a loop (unity or compiz problem).

on notebook, this could be worse, as some notebooks have 2 gpus. and linux gets confused at which one to use.

I hope you could work with notebook hardware company to fully test a notebook product with a discrete gpu. given how popular deep learning is these days, developers really need a linux notebook with gpu computing.


If anything, increased stability for general-purpose usage would be very nice. Increased hardware support, especially drivers for some wi-fi cards need a lot of work.

I really love Linux desktops, but they have too many stability issues/crashes to completely switch from Windows to Ubuntu or any other linux distribution.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Increased stability++

I shy away from using my ubuntu laptop (dell xps developer edition, you know, the one you'd expect to be doing this really well) because

a) More often than not when starting up it gives me a "something went wrong, do you want to report it dialogue"? I've stopped bother to report it or look at what's happening because it happens so often, but I think it's X crashing at some point.

b) WiFi frequently fails to connect after hibernation, requiring a reboot.

c) There's also been some worrying threads on HN about lack of support for strong kernel power management on recent intel generations.


That WiFI issue is so annoying for me. Sometimes

`sudo systemctl restart network-manager.service` fixes it without having to reboot, other times even that doesn't work.


Yes agreed. I have this issue too.


> WiFi frequently fails to connect after hibernation, requiring a reboot.

`sudo iwlist scan` fixes it without reboot in my case. But it is very irritating.


I'll concur with the others on wifi network support.

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Improved wifi network support

- DESCRIPTION: Most of the time I don't have an issue, but occasionally (ok once a month at the venue that hosts our Java developer group) I have network issues that I never had when this laptop was running windows (7 or 10). Basically at this one location I can't stay hooked up to the network for more than 5 minutes without a disconnect, none of the windows/mac users around me have an issue.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Developer.


I've been using Ubuntu as my main OS for a decade now, and I agree. Especially the UI crashes much more often than I'd like, and I always get a "there has been an error" error message at startup. Please make things more stable.


same thing here. its clunky to login and always see an error message.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop.

- HEADLINE: Produce a working Bluetooth stack.

- DESCRIPTION: The [audio] Bluetooth stack is in an embarrassingly malfunctional state, especially after the move to Bluez 5. Based on my tests on multiple machines and devices, even simply connecting a BT headphone requires hacks of the BT stack. Historically, the [audio] BT stack has always been in malfunctional state, regardless of the latest developments.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: developer/sysadmin.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Tiling window manager that just works

DESCRIPTION: Tiling wms are great. However most have regressions compared to Unity; e.g. need to wrestle with systemd to get screen locking on suspend working, weird interaction issues between gnome daemons, etc. Easy enough to get a nicely functioning system with some googling, but it'd be great to have a tiling wm with no integration issues out of the box. Perhaps fork i3 and add what's needed to make it work seamlessly after install. Call it unity-tiling?


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Integration with Microsoft Active Directory

- DESCRIPTION: Would be nice if in enterprise environment single-sign-on (logging on with kerberos) would work out of the box :). Samba shares in nautilus are usually also slow (against windows server, between linuxes is ok) or have some other logging in problems.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer using Ubuntu in enterprise, which officially supports Windows.


+1, and one of the few things I miss from CentOS. It handles domains beautifully. You run one command to join the domain, and for the most part, everything else Just Works.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu desktop

HEADLINE-1: Support for Wayland clients in Unity.

DESCRIPTION-1: I don't think it will be beneficial for Unity to have a different window system protocol from the rest of Linux desktops (including non-Unity Ubuntu flavors). I don't want X11 to stick around as the compat layer that works with both Unity and everything else. Please make Mir into a Wayland compositor.

(I like the Unity UX. I'm not a Unity hater. Currently, I'm sticking to 16.04, because I don't have confidence in Ubuntu not breaking things by making Mir have its own protocol.)

HEADLINE-2: Autoremove old kernels before /boot fills up.

DESCRIPTION-2: The UX of having to manually remove kernels with an LVM/LUKS setup (using the default /boot size the installer chooses) is bad and makes Ubuntu with disk security unsuited for non-geek users.

ROLE: Browser engine developer but speaking as a user.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: An advanced mode for the file manager

- DESCRIPTION: I find that the default file manager is a bit dumb. There should be a mode to enable advanced features; like 'connect to server' when one can pick sftp. ftp, smb, nfs, vboxsf etc. It's fine if it's hidden in a configuration modal but 'advanced mode' should be an option.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: user


Nautilus does support that: https://help.gnome.org/users/gnome-help/stable/nautilus-conn...

I'm not sure what version of Nautilus Ubuntu is on though.


There is that already. Click 'Other locations' in the sidebar and at the bottom of the window you have 'Enter server address...' textbox. Put your sftp:// or smb:// url there. Discoverable shares (smb) will be displayed in the window.

Vboxsf is not a network redirector as it is in Windows; look for vboxfs mounts in the /media directory.


Related: at the moment when a folder mounted with s3fs (Amazon S3 file system) is opened it downloads all the contents which doesn't really make any sense.


Also doesn't Midnight Commander do what you're after?


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Improved remote desktop

- DESCRIPTION: Remote desktop solutions for desktop Linux really haven't changed a whole lot since I first started using them in the late 90s. It would be great to get something out of the box that was as responsive and feature-rich as, say, Windows's remote desktop feature. VNC is functional of course, but lacks a lot of the fluidity of other remote desktop solutions. Bonus features would include remote clipboard, sound, printers, and files.

As it stands, if I think I'm going to need to remote into a Linux desktop, I set up a Windows host and run Ubuntu in a VM. Then I use RDC/RDP to connect to the Windows host and run the VM in full screen. That's surprisingly more responsive than just running VNC in a native Ubuntu installation.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Developer


X2Go [1] and NoMachine (proprietary) [2] are the best bets for somewhat decent remote desktop experience in Linux.

[1] http://wiki.x2go.org/doku.php

[2] https://www.nomachine.com/


Thanks. I've tried them in the past and never could really get them to work. I'll give them another look.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Dismissable Notifications

- DESCRIPTION: I have been using Ubuntu from 10.04. One thing that makes be curse Ubuntu is when my notifications cannot be dismissed. I expected it at-least when it moved to Unity but that never happened. Although I have been living with it, this is something which catches me frequently.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software engineer and maker


I actually prefer Ubuntu's way of doing it. The notifications never get in the way (since if you hover over them they became transparent and clicking on them actually clicks underneath them). Whereas on macOS the notifications stay for ages and get in the way.


This is one of the worst things about Unity


My biggest wish is Ubuntu (and Debian) switching from systemd to any other init system. I know that won't happen but I was asked and that's the only thing I want, whenever you like it or not.


also check https://www.devuan.org

we are very close to release Jessie stable, backed by a vibrant community

http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=devuan

For those preferring an introductory video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMvyOGawNwo


Just saw the video and must say that it has really sparked my interest in Devuan. I heard of Devuan when the fork was first announced but never gave it much notice, now is the first time I try to understand what it really is. It seems like Devuan is much more organized and well-thought than I imagined. This is music to my ears:

Devuan will do its best to stay minimal and abide to the UNIX philosophy of "doing one thing and doing it well". It will foster diversity and freedom of choice among all its components and will perceive itself not as an end product, but as a a process, a starting point for developers, a viable base for sysadmins and a stable tool for people who have enough experience with computers. Devuan will never compromise for more efficiency at the cost of the freedom of its users, rather than leave that and the responsibility for a secure setup to downstream developers.

I need to do much more research and of course testing, but Devuan could be light at the end of the tunnel.


I'm poised to try out Void Linux after trying out FreeBSD (it was missing too many conveniences like Dropbox and Steam).

Could you convince me why I should try Devuan instead?


I need to make much more research before I will convince anyone, but as a start I like the philosophy of Devuan very much.

I have moved many many servers from Debian to FreeBSD after the announcement of systemd, and this has been great, but I must agree with you that on the desktop it can be a little inadequate.


Hasn't Devuan be "close" to a stable release for 2.5 years or so now?


The first thing I did after reading the Ask HN was Ctrl+F 'systemd'.


This is a big part of why I moved away from Ubuntu. I know this is a difficult situation - whenever Ubuntu tries to find a better solution it gets flak for dividing the community. But here it would have been great to have Ubuntu with an alternative to the disaster that is systemd.


I'm curious what init system would you prefer?


I would really like to see s6 in Ubuntu, but sysvinit + OpenRC would also be fine.


Why? You need to develop your answer.


I want software to be simple, well-engineered and lightweight. In my opinion systemd is the exact opposite of that. I think this page explains it well: http://suckless.org/sucks/systemd

In practice I have had many extremely frustrating problems with systemd including systems that suddenly became unbootable.


Late to the party,but better later than never, so -

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Support i3 as full-integrated desktop

- DESCRIPTION: I'm using i3 for years now, just because I love the minimalism and the window tiling - I no longer see the purpose of overlapping windows. However when I install and switch i3, invariably something breaks in the inner Unity/Gnome system - the special keys stop working, the control panel needs magic invocations to bring up all the icons, etc. I would love to have the base graphical system working flawlessly even if I switch from Unity to i3. For extra points, please make i3 installed by default.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: I work for Time Out, the leading global magazine about going out!

BTW, thank you for all the hard work you and the team put in over the years!


Flavor: Ubuntu Phone[0]

Headline: Availability and Development

Description: I would love to see Ubuntu as a serious alternative to either iOS or Android in the mobile space. The availability of phones with Ubuntu pre-installed as well as the devices[1] that support the image (for self-installation) are extremely limited. Its also not clear to me whether the project is still alive.

[0] https://developer.ubuntu.com/en/phone/ [1] https://developer.ubuntu.com/en/phone/devices/devices/


In the last month two friends went shopping for new phones and both considered the Ubuntu Phone. The models were sold out. I've heard similar cases in the recent past of models not being available. I hope they can fix these supply chain issues.


FLAVOR - Desktop HEADLINE - If I try to "Quit" an app via the app bar more than once, please `kill -9` it (optionally, an are-you-sure dialog). DESCRIPTION - Sometimes apps lock up. Like a forever-running query just destroys my SQLDeveloper and I have to pull up a command line to kill it because the UI of the app has locked up and right-click->Quit doesn't do anything.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Laptop Support

- DESCRIPTION: Support for various notebooks. Wireless and high resolution screens and battery life seem like pain points.

We have some biologists using ubuntu on the desktop and when they want to use a notebook, its not easy to make that happen, so they end up on macs.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer for biologists


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Night mode by luminosity inversion

DESCRIPTION: Contrary to some other suggestions here, I am NOT talking about f.lux / redshift or similar blue light filters here. These are supposed to make you feel sleepy, but all I want is to remove blindingly bright lights in the middle of the night. Here is the pseudo-code for how it could work:

    Get some region on the screen (possibly the content of a window)
    convert all pixels in that region from RGB to HSL (not HSV/HSB)
    if average L value in the region > 0.5 {
        for all pixels {
            L = 1 - L
            re-render pixel
        }
    }
Similar color inversion modes that I know of:

  - a Kwin invert script, possibly assigned to meta+ctrl+i in KDE based distros

  - MS Windows color invert mode: win+"+", ctrl+alt+i
Note however that these are inferior as they change color composition since they invert RGB channels and dont do a HSL conversion


I don't know if it uses "luminosity inversion" thing you mentioned but I'm more than happy with xcalib(1). For extra comfort I apply redshift after inverting colors.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Wayland

- DESCRIPTION: Get with the rest of the community. Bite the bullet and get unity working on wayland.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: PhD candidate


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Shared Electron

- DESCRIPTION: With the rise of JavaScript applications running on top of electron, it would be nice to have an electron package to depend on (much like Android WebView). This way not every Electron app weights over 50mb.


I think the Electron people need to do some work on this, right now they seem to release updates very frequently. Perhaps they need an long term support version.


No one has been ragging on Unity.... They should be. Unity is still garbage. Ruined Ubuntu for me after about 10 years of usage... Still never returning because Unity is such a resource hog, so non-standard in its interface, and the fact that teaching someone Unity is a useless skill.

We used Ubuntu for years to teach people how to use a computer for the first time: we gave them old PC's with Ubuntu installed. Unity made this impossible. It was too slow for the old machines, too hard to figure out for the new users, and too unfriendly for experienced users to tolerate.

Hate hate hate hate Unity. Always will. Went to Mint because of it. Even installing another windowing system was a huge pain in the ass, because first, you had to install Unity and go to Synaptic and install an old Gnome. This took HOURS because Unity was so freaking SLOW!

I dunno, maybe you fixed these things, but Unity ended my relationship with Ubuntu after years of advocating for it to everyone I knew.


The only actionable complaint in your whole rant is that it is a resource hog. For reference on my system all the processes with "unity" in the name take about 210 of RAM (with a dozen windows open), a negligible amount for a modern computer or phone even.

It took me about 3 seconds to figure out click the menu button and type what I want. That really is the largest user facing feature, and its a common one with other main menu based OS UIs.

For the people I have put in front of it (about 5), all but one (my technophobic grandmother and never understood any UI, still has a time with the very concept of files and folders) figured it out quickly and rarely ask me questions. The most common questions is how to install some windows program.

You lack of concrete examples and its conflict with my experience leads me to believe you are exaggerating.


In my experience it is true that Unity struggles on older computers, or perhaps where the graphics driver situation isn't great. I've had a lot of installations where the dock takes 5-10 seconds to load. Agree with you about ease of use though, people seem to pick it up quite quickly. For the basic functionality of opening and switching applications, people seem to pick it up almost immediately. Not quite the same for using the dock, but even so.


On the other hand, I really like unity. It works just like my old Windows 7 setup, but with handy features like being able to search menu items using alt.

Technically Unity seems to be a bit of a mess, and I like Gnome 3's multi-desktop setup better, but I definitely would like to see them keep the basic design of unity.


Ubuntu dropped the ergonomic Gnome to whip us with their own custom, unpolished Unity.

Now they're doing it all over again with Mir, while Wayland could be a Linux standard. Sounds like IE all over again.

That gives me trust issues with Canonical. More, they now leverage trademark law to forbid people from using ubuntu-? packages.

Then they pulled the Amazon search in the menu, it showed Canonical's misunderstanding of privacy issues.

Doesn't prevent from using Ubuntu, but I give 1% of my company's revenue to open-source ($800, to LE and Postgres), I don't consider Canonical as a candidate in the OSS category.


Sounds like systemd vs upstart all over again.


Ubuntu Mate, mate. ;)


Flavor: Ubuntu Desktop

Headline: a more up-to-date apt-repository

Description:

I'm tired of having to add PPA:s for when I need fresh copies of software. I've never not needed Latex, Python, pip, Gradle, etc. now for most of these apt-get works fine but not LaTeX, Gradle so for now I have a bunch of scripts that I run, for instance https://github.com/leksak/settings/blob/master/install-tex.s...

I'd look to CoreOS for inspiration on how apt-get could be revamped


Yes! I am using macOS at work, and I was surprised to discover that I like Homebrew much more than Ubuntu's APT, because of how up-to-date Homebrew's packages are.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: independent work-spaces for each monitor with multiple monitors

- DESCRIPTION: On MacOS when you maximize an application it creates it's own "workspace" and each monitor handles these independently. With GNOME 3 each additional secondary monitor is it's own workspace. These are both great but not ideal. It would be great if Unity could be more like the tiling manager i3 and have independent workspaces assigned to specific monitors. Let's say you have a laptop with two workspaces 1,2 and an external monitor with 3,4,5 then when on the laptop monitor ctrl-alt-arrow would switch between 1 and 2 only but the workspace on the external monitor would stay where it is. Then when on the external you switch only between the workspaces on that monitor.

- ROLE: software/infrastructure engineer


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Make Ubuntu Make a first class citizen and bring accompanying documentation alongside this.

- DESCRIPTION: Ubuntu Make has undergone a couple of stages, including a rename process. I would love to see maybe a graphical tool that is either stand alone or a plugin to the Software Center sorta. Maybe a "Ubuntu Make" application with a nice little icon, and it should come with basic tooling at first, but should be a resource for finding documentation on how to build SNAP packages, DEB packages, and just all out do software development for Ubuntu, whether back-end or front-end. I've seen ElementaryOS' documentation and it is nice, I would love to see Ubuntu become a great way for people new to software development and Linux to really get to dive in. Ubuntu Make has more potential than it gets credit for. I would also love to see it resolve installation issues if possible of other compilers and build tools, if there are known issues and known solutions, or some process to aid in fixing such issues that might not be so trivial to newcomers (though that's just me thinking way ahead of time). I hope it gets serious attention at some point. I've had odd issues with the D compiler (DMD) because I'm missing a package or it has to be symlinked, something a newbie would spend hours searching could be part of a simpler set of documentation for developers somewhere.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Developer and daily Ubuntu User at work and at home.


- FLAVOR: Any

- HEADLINE: OpenSSL v1.1.0

- DESCRIPTION: Do it! I really want ChaCha20 and Poly1305.

- ROLE: Server admin / desktop user


I feel that I'm totally out-of-sync with the rest of open source community. The only thing that I really want is a hardware company with a strong focus on open source, basically an Apple for open source.

I want a single website w/ a shop, docs and related resources where I can consume anything from a mobile device, laptop, chromecast-like devices or anything similar.

I've spent $3000 for my last laptop and the most important thing was compatibility with open source software.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Better (more polished) HiDPI support (also for legacy apps)

DESCRIPTION: I am running on 16.04 so I might be missing same latest fixes. But, some applications (especially Qt application like VLC player) have the issue with HiDPI monitor. Moving app between HiDPI and non-HiDPI monitor required restart in order to get correct sizing.


Intel VTune has this problem as well. Even their 2017 edition appears to use Gtk2, which AFAICT makes it partially resistant to the usual workarounds for HiDPI scaling.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Add tablet mode similar to Windows 10

- DESCRIPTION: As far as I know, Ubuntu has no tablet mode, which makes it difficult to use with touch screen laptops like the Lenovo Yoga series

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: User


I'm adding +1 to this.

Got a Yoga for 3-4 months now, but still haven't managed to find some time to play with its configuration properly. What I've figured out so far: the laptop sends a special "key" (as in, special char is "pressed") when rotated over 180 degrees. This can serve as a trigger (but unfortunately, that key is different depending on the model of the Yoga). I have no idea how to make the screen rotation work. Making HiDPI options integer-only makes me still unable to set scaling properly and I have to resort to a "hack" (maximum resolution and then scaling all the interfaces using the tweaks tool). onboard package is a stability mess as a touchscreen keyboard.

I'm not forced to dual boot because of gaming. I'm forced to dual boot because I can't get the damn tablet experience for light browsing.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Make KDE again a first class citizen

- DESCRIPTION: Kubuntu used to be very similar to the Ubuntu distribution and now, because of the "fork", it´s drifting. It is also very different on configuration, packages and behavior when doing an `apt-get install kde-desktop` on an Ubuntu installation versus Kubuntu, and it should be the same. - ROLE/AFFILIATION: Research Scientist on a large Multinational


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: Improve Desktop Apps Ecosystem. Make it easy for Ubuntu App Developers to Make Money $$$

- DESCRIPTION: I recently moved from Mac OS X to an Ubuntu desktop machine for day to day development. All my comments are relative to Mac OS X (I apologize cause I'm still a Mac fan boy). The only thing I really miss is the massive number of high quality apps available to me on Mac OS X. I wish Ubuntu could support Mac Apps in some sort of Mac sandbox (ala Wine for OS X). I know this is a pipe dream cause of the complexity of it but putting it out there.

A more realistic request is that you create/encourage tool makers to create Snaps. Snap packages must become compatible with flatpack to have any chance of becoming ubuitquitous. Fragmentation in Linux desktop apps will only continue hurting Linux adoption. I think the Ubuntu App directory feels too basic with too few options. Encouraging developers with better tools, better discovery and making it simple to port Mac/Windows apps to Ubuntu is the only way Ubuntu can begin to gain marketshare. I love Ubuntu but I still go back to my Mac Book PRO when I need to edit audio or have to login to many sites since I use 1Password and they have no Ubuntu app.

Ubuntu could work with the top 500 Mac App developers and help/advise them on how to easily port their Apps to Ubuntu. I'd happily pay double the price of the Mac App store Apps to have them on Ubuntu but their is no way for me to give them money. Get money to the developers and they'll come. This is missing from Ubuntu Apps.

I apologize for the long rant. I would've written a shorter comment but I didn't have the time.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Developer at Startup


- FLAVOR: All flavors

- HEADLINE: General polish + "good" defaults for non-technical users.

- DESCRIPTION: Quite a few releases we had lots of new features, however they all shipped with a LOT of bugs, some small, some big - I would really love if once in a while the major focus would be to just polish the defaults to make the experience hassle free for users. Xubuntu shipped with broken color scheme or not working sound, Ubuntu Gnome almost always has some bugs that are a pain. I would love to have a release where all the desktop functionality just works and is polished without me tinkering with things.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Developer/Sysops


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Cloud]

- HEADLINE: Follow standards and respond to bug requests.

- DESCRIPTION: The cloud team is responsible for making machines available to cloud users, including making vagrant boxes. The problem is this team refuses to follow standards. For example, vagrant boxes should have the main user named "vagrant" but instead forces the user to be named "ubuntu"- and there's been a ticket open about this that's been open for a year now[1]. There have also been network bugs[2] that have been ignored for almost as long.

This is a big deal for people who use vagrant for testing. We essentially can't use the Canonical provided boxes, and this issue having been ignored for so long is not confidence inspiring.

1. https://bugs.launchpad.net/cloud-images/+bug/1569237 2. https://github.com/mitchellh/vagrant/issues/7288


FLAVOUR: All

HEADLINE: Convenient snapshot & rollback by default

DESCRIPTION: Possibly implemented as snapper + lvm thin provisioning or btrfs. Other distros already have this, but it is far from user friendly.


Just curious, what is missing from the implementations in the other distros you tried? I switched from Ubuntu to openSUSE last year and so far that's the only distribution where i've used snapper + lvm. I think having an implementation like theirs is pretty user friendly (just a personal opinion) or at least a good start. It gives an option to use snapper + btrfs at install time + option to boot into a read only snapshot from grub at boot time.


I haven't used SUSE, but I've used snapper with lvm thin provisioning on RHEL. It works, but it still needs manual fiddling with config files. There are a couple of other issues with lvm thin on its own. The metadata size isn't chosen well by default from what I remember. It can easily get full. There is also manual trimming required on deletes (can be done in a cron job). lvm-raid isn't directly offered with thin provisioning in Anaconda. It would still do mdadm, and run lvm-thin on top of it. Overall, the experience is not great.


I suppose I never had to do that because openSUSE handled the configuration for me. But I see your point. The experience can definitely be improved by the distributions. I had never used snapshots before moving to SUSE and now that I've actually used snapper to rollback a couple of times I don't think I'd want to have a linux install without that feature.


That's my no. 1 request too. Just two days ago I had to reinstall and waste a day because an update messed up my system.

My solution for now is to have TimeShift[0] make regular backups of system files.

[0] https://github.com/teejee2008/timeshift


ZFS is the drop-in FS for /root to allow this. (btrfs et al are not production ready).


lvm thin provisioning lets you achieve this with any file system. So it doesn't have to be zfs or btrfs. It can be xfs or ext4 too.


It would make sense as soon as the default filesystem becomes btrfs or ZFS. As it is now, it would need to be a feature that only appears if it finds that you have the proper filesystem.


Not necessary. Look at lvm-thin + snapper.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Make Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom happen.

DESCRIPTION: I want Ubuntu to have some strategic plan to get Photoshop and Lightroom fully working (and supported), as well as monitor-color-calibration software. We'd move my wife's photography business to Ubuntu in a heartbeat if this happened.

AFFILIATION: I provide support and guidance on computing issues for my wife's photography business.


+1 to this. That was the main reason I still have to use Windows and macOS.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Make Ubuntu not suck on laptops

- DESCRIPTION: What I want is for Ubuntu to partner with someone on the hardware side to provide a meaningful alternative to the macbook pro that does not suck. The OS is already fine enough if you could make it work very well with a decent laptop out of the box. I have tried Dell Sputnik...endless software pain. I have tried System76... crappy hardware. Make a Linux laptop experience that does not suck and rivals Apple for quality. That is what I want.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Director of large IT/Ops team in large scale SaaS environment


I know that this is very unlikely to happen, but I wish Ubuntu had rolling releases. For me it would be okay to have a new version every 10 years (for heavy migrations like UEFI, 64 Bit, systemd). I had Ubuntu on most PCs at home, but switched most of them to Arch, as I was sick of the 6-mothly horror upgrades.

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Rolling Releases

- DESCRIPTION: make a distribution which does not require any 'apt-get dist-upgrade' as 'apt-get upgrade' always brings it to the latest stable software version (like Arch and Gentoo)

- AFFILIATION: just a long time linux user

@dustinkirkland great idea to ask HN :-)


Thanks!

So, for the record, that's exactly the approach we're taking with Ubuntu Core. We're getting there! Thanks for the feedback.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Default swap space doesn't make sense for servers with HUGE ram

- DESCRIPTION: Recently I tried to install ubuntu on a server class machine where it had huge amount of ram and disk storage was spread across many ssd disks. Apparently due to the size of the ram, ubuntu was attempting to set aside so much swap space that it was taking up most of the boot disk! It was very painful to change the default and i would have switched to centos if not for LXD availability. (Note that I am a programmer, not an admin and I was doing this as an experiment)


I heard an anecdote at $work where they ordered servers with positively huge RAM (in the TiB range) for big-data applications, then wondered why the storage box was filled up within a few days. Turns out some admin remembered advice from a 90s-era system setup manual that recommended to set swap size = 2 * RAM size.


Yes, indeed. I assure you, I've been fighting this particular battle since 2008 :-)

In any case, I hope you'll be pleased to learn that 17.04 will actually use "swap files" rather than "swap partitions", which are far more easily adjusted after the fact, than swap partitions.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Windows subsystem

- DESCRIPTION: Windows 10 lets you install Ubuntu as a subsystem and use it without dual booting. In practice, we _need_ windows tools (like WebDeploy) or GUI tools (like Photoshop) at work but would much rather use Ubuntu in general. The compromise (ubuntu subsystem) works but the other way around would be much better. I'm fine with paying for Windows and also CLI tools only would still be a great start.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer. I also introduced a lot of people to Linux over the years for home usage.


If I could run some of the DCC apps I have on Windows under Linux at full speed (which work only on Windows, predominately Adobe), even if I have to have a Windows license and all that jazz, that would be the ultimate setup for me.


Seems like a duplicate of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14004532 ?


This already exists: WINE


You need to convince MicroSoft first.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, and Ubuntu Core

HEADLINE: traceroute

DESCRIPTION: Installing some version of traceroute by default may be desirable, because sometimes when you find yourself wanting traceroute, it's because you want to debug a problem that happens to prevent installing packages over the network.

If I try to run traceroute on a system with no traceroute package installed, I get a message telling me I can either install traceroute or inetutils-traceroute. It doesn't explain what the tradeoffs are. It doesn't explain why Ubuntu can't simply have one good traceroute program that does everything.

mtr can also be good, and while I usually run it in text mode, it does have an X11 version that may pull in more dependencies than some people might prefer. I've also on occasion found tcptraceroute useful, and of course sometimes a Paris traceroute is good to have. Installing more than one program that has traceroute functionality in the default installation might be appropriate.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADING: do not break things that work

DESCRIPTION: every time I update Ubuntu I cross fingers for havings things that work not broken, like Guake on more monitors and other bugs. Ubuntu is so much prone to regression bugs. Maybe more tests would be useful?

HEADING: the Unity menu ui is bad designed

DESCRIPTION: Apart from the apps search feature which works well, the apps navigation is so ugly: giant icons, I have a 2k monitor and I see just 30 apps when I go on the apps list!!! WTF!!! I have to scroll this giant icons menu also beacuse the app list isn't resizable or fullscreenable! Those giant icons drive me mad, no joke!

FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop (on laptops)

HEADING: Fix long-stanging WiFi issues

DESCRIPTION: there are a lot of bugs related to WiFi on laptops. I had the Power Management: Off one: http://askubuntu.com/a/537375/53268 but there are many others. I've always experienced bad stuff

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Web developer, freelance


  FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop  
  HEADLINE: High quality Bluetooth sound by default
DESCRIPTION: Tried bluetooth sound in Ubuntu 16.04 for the first time yesterday and the sound was horrible! Apparently I need to do some configuration to get it working properly. Not needed on android. Soundblaster Jam headset.

  FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop
  HEADLINE: Improved battery performance

  FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop
  HEADLINE: More stable and polished desktop
DESCRIPTION: Yesterday a window frame in fullscreen got stuck. Meaning I had a cross in the top left corner no matter what I did.

  FLAVOR: Ubuntu ALL
  HEADLINE: Node.js package updated to latest Stable version

  FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop
  HEADLINE: CTRL + ALT + L no longer locks the screen, replaced with SUPER + L
DESCRIPTION: CTRL + ALT + L is "format code" in intellij. SUPER + L locks screen in WIN. I always have to modify this...


For updated nodejs packages, try NodeSource. https://github.com/nodesource/distributions/#debinstall

They have a shitty curl|sh installer script, but it should be possible to extract a regular deb line and gpg key out of it.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu GNOME (but I also like Unity)

HEADLINE: Trackpad drivers that feel like Apple's

DESCRIPTION: I'm using libinput, but my Magic Trackpad is no fun at all - thumb rejection does not work, the acceleration curve seems to be different from macOS, and the whole OS lacks kinetic scrolling. fusuma works for gestures, and should be part of Ubuntu (GNOME/Unity) IMHO. Having to use a mouse = physical pain.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Freelance developer, tepidly moving from iOS programming into JetBrains IDEs


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Core

- HEADLINE: zfs setup in installer.

- DESCRIPTION: I would love to see an easy way to install the system with zfs. Current way is to use the wiki by zfsonlinux. And lets say it that way: It is not easy for beginners...


Is that for Ubuntu Core or Ubuntu Desktop?


what is your use case?


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop.

HEADLINE: Better support for proxy for those of us behind corporate firewalls.

DESCRIPTION:Passwords need to be kept in env variables which can leak out. Every tool does it a little different. curl, wget, chrome, firefox. I had to modify python code for apt-get to pass the proxy.


An Acquire::http::Proxy in apt.conf wasn't sufficient?


- FLAVOR: Desktop

1. HEADLINE: Allow users to setup a caching drive in the standard installation process

Currently, the setup process for creating a caching drive(I have a 16gb SSD in addition to my HDD) is very convoluted, with lots of conflicting information about how to setup bcache. Even after finally getting it working, my computer will still hang occasionally when RAM is maxed out and the cache drive has to write to HDD


Honestly, the only thing I really care about are wifi drivers, and it isn't really your fault that the card makers are bad at that.


- Flavor: Desktop

- Headline: Rolling mesa, drm & kernel updates

- Description: mesa is moving at rapid pace and it's improving a lot. Because versions are locked you might find yourself 6-8 months behind current stable and thats MASSIVE. That's why padoka/oibaf PPAs are so popular - but only among the more tech savvy users - the rest just look at the sad state of Linux gaming..


How about making an official (but opt-in) version of the padoka/oibaf PPAs, instead of going full-out rolling updates?


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Unity Tiling Manager

- DESCRIPTION:

Unity with native tiling manager features that can organise windows automatically like XMonad, i3, Amethyst, etc. But not replace Unity as window manager.

I adore Amethyst automatic tiling in macOS, especially on a 34" ultrawide screen. I used to use Compiz Grid in Ubuntu to manually layout my windows but that was a chore. Then I tried X Tile which was limited, poor UX and poor support for multiple monitors.

XMonad, i3 and others mean replacing Unity all together which I do not want, I just would prefer built in window organisation in Unity. Supporting Xmonad and Amethyst's shortcut keys would be nice for muscle memory.

- ROLE: Technical Architect / Consultant


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Stability / UI Bug fixing / Apport UI

DESCRIPTION: Sorry, long rant :)

Have been admin at Uni for 30 Ubuntu workstations. All 16.04 so I don't know about 16.10 or 17.10 improvements but what's missing in Unity is polish.

- The "Ubuntu has experienced a problem" dialogue needs rework and needs to move to the tray or be queued - there should also at least be the name of the application on the modal. I've seen situations where there are more than 50 of these modals layered on top.

- There are already bugs in launchpads for Unity, please consider them and work on making the experience more smooth. Especially focus on making Window management sane with other Apps that are not always Qt/GTK, like emacs, xterms and stuff. There bugs in the menu bar, window position is often broken - lot's of small stuff like that. The launcher tends to misbehave. Would really love if Ubuntu just did a sabattical year of fixing all the bugs in the Unity UI and thinking about good design.

- Menu bar is subtle broken for a lot of apps.

- Nautilus and gvfs should take a long look at some things dolphin and KDE are doing right and adopt some ideas.

- Also stability, stability, stability. Nautilus eating 10gb of memory due to a large folder, or handling of large files is all kind of broken. This is stuff that happens daily for a lot of users and investing some time to implement sane behavoir should not be so hard. Basically I wish that the Ubuntu Desktop team torture their UI and take notes how it breaks. Opening a 10Gbyte .tar.gz, having 10.000 files in a folder, over nfs, over sshfs. Stuff like this. Needs to work without hassle and provide feedback, not hangs.

- The small stuff matters, polish. Often when something does not work no UI feedback is provided. Torture your desktop, do stupid things and see how it breaks in strange ways. Fix that!

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Computer science student, Linux user, Admin for Ubuntu Desktops

Other than that: Good job, I like Ubuntu and Unity. But beeing stable and rock solid would make it not only okay, it would make it great.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: NVIDIA-nouveau conflicts that result in black screens after login unless various fixes are applied manually.

- DESCRIPTION: No more nastyt nouveau-NVIDIA driver conflicts that result in black screens after login -- see all these reports here: https://www.google.ca/search?q=nvidia+ubuntu+black+screen&oq...

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: CEO, Exocortex.com / Clara.io / ThreeKit.com


Sadly, the best workaround is to uninstall the Ubuntu blessed nVidia drivers and use the installer you download from nvidia.com. These even continue to work after you update the kernel, usually. They are also way more recent.


EVen so, this should be automatic. It is a horrible experience to install NVIDIA drivers on ubuntu. I am not sure the solution but we shouldn't sacrifice usability in the same of "open source"-ness.

It should be a check box on install to install NVIDIA drivers that are propreitary such that we do not get a black screen.

Anything but a black screen.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Terminal-Icon on LiveCD-Desktop

Please put a shortcut to a terminal emulator, somewhere visible, on the desktop of the Ubuntu LiveCD.

Whenever I have to use that disc in an emergency situation, I'm glad that there is an icon to amazon (in case I forgot the URL of amazon), but I'm always struggling to figure out how to get to a bash prompt


ctrl-alt-t is my go-to hotkey!


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Fix hibernation with entire hd LUKS encryption

- DESCRIPTION: I know this is an issue on a grander scale, but as we all know hibernation isn't possible when you have your whole disk encrypted. If this can be fixed that would be great, or at least remove the option to hibernate then.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Senior Developer at Clevertech


"as we all know hibernation isn't possible when you have your whole disk encrypted" -- this should be stated during the installation procedure of ubuntu


FLAVOR: All

HEADLINE: Allow safe sensible package fixes

DESCRIPTION: Sometimes the distribution version of a package is broken and the problem is marked WONTFIX because it involves a version bump, even in the case where it is not a library or the version bump is only there to fix a typo in a config file. This is extremely frustrating for end users when they learn that mplayer will never have GUI support in any version of Ubuntu 14 or there will never be manpages for zsh. If something is a bug and there is no reasonable chance that another package depends on the buggy behavior, allow the package to be fixed.


I don't follow Ubuntu packaging policies specifically but isn't this what the $RELEASE-backports suites are for?


Yes, that's exactly right.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: WINE

- DESCRIPTION: Windows 10 will soon be able to run Ubuntu Xenial as a subsystem, I would like to see Ubuntu response with a superb wine integration.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Multi-Monitor Support with HiDPI

DESCRIPTION: I would like to be able to use multiple monitors with various DPI in Linux without pain and suffering. Please see Mac OS X for how to get this right — they did. I would like to stop worrying about which of my monitors are plugged in at boot, I'd like to be able to plug them in whenever I need to. I'd like to be able to smoothly move a window from one screen to another without the window becoming impossibly small or overly large.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software and Electronics Engineer trying to do his job(s) using Ubuntu.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Wayland Support

- DESCRIPTION: MIR is almost a bigger joke than GNU/Hurd and will never be complete, I hope Ubuntu includes Wayland as default


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: easy way to remap keys

- DESCRIPTION: until now I had to write a script wich runs on startup and maps my print key to the secondary menu key - this gets lost after opening my laptop from its sleep state. I want a nice GUI w/o having to write a script

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: (Optional, your job role and affiliation)


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: Wayland, Wifi support - DESCRIPTION: numerous wifi dongles still don't work or require unnecessary work


I had problems with integrated Wifi in laptops.

I try 'to sell' Ubuntu to my family but the Wifi drivers are always a problem. Specially with HP laptops.


Please god let this be taken up! I'm so fed up of

     sudo service network restart


Hi Dustin! - Ubuntu Desktop - Ubuntu Subsystem for Windows :) - An integrated system (Wine is not user friendly imho) to launch windows programs. - linux (and windows) user and developer. @vinnes


I may be wrong, but I don't think Canonical has the engineering resources to pull it off. Even if they did, the main issue is that Microsoft does not publish their API spec which is why Wine and ReactOS devs bend over backwards to be compatible with Windows binaries. It also does not make sense from a business perspective. Considering there is no demand for such a system outside of the very, very small number of hobbyists who run Windows games and software on Wine.


If these issues are anything to go by, there most certainly is a demand:

* https://github.com/Microsoft/BashOnWindows/issues/1494

* https://github.com/Microsoft/BashOnWindows/issues/1243

* https://github.com/Microsoft/BashOnWindows/issues/1516

Did you not realize what vinnes meant by "Ubuntu Subsystem for Windows"?


Also I want to add, if you want to use Windows programs using VirtualBox or VMWare (+ lots of RAM) is probably the way to go. The Windows stuff doesn't work on macOS either. (I even bought the CrossOver stuff ;))


The computer is already running Windows, there's no need for Wine. Just the ability to launch a Windows program from within a Linux program would do.


Flavour: Ubuntu Desktop

Headline: Preconfigured settings per known device

Description: Allow user-published pre-configurations to be published on Ubuntu.com. Then allow me to review and apply the entire thing or fragments to my fresh Ubuntu install. I should have an XPS M1330 install that just gives me the stuff for my computer.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Bleeding edge drivers with autodetection / appropriate kernel tuning

- DESCRIPTION: How many year has it been that we need to have correct performance management / drivers enabled to correctly use quicksync with discrete GPU's, for how long will we need to tune cpu behavior / peripherals power management ourselves to have decent power usage? A "I'm the system, I know what I need" one button optimization would be really appreciated...

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: System analyst in a SB.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Phone

- HEADLINE: I want a snap-based Ubuntu Phone now

- DESCRIPTION: Being a click-based Ubuntu Phone supporter from the beginning, do I need to say more? Ubuntu show me some love!

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: beta-tester


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Better touchpad gestures out of the box

- DESCRIPTION: I recently got my first ultrabook. I used Windows on it for the first few weeks before installing Ubuntu. The touchpad gestures were very useful for certain activities such as minimizing/maximizing and switching between windows. It seems that Ubuntu has a very limited set of gestures, and after a couple months I still feel like my productivity is held back due to the relative difficulty of switching among windows.

- ROLE: Full-time student


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Remap Ctrl+Q to quit to something else

This is an UX mess, as it's too easy to mistype for another key (like W or 1) and ending up closing the program we're currently in. This destructive action already has a «standard» way (Alt+F4), which is way harder to mistype. Destructive actions shouldn't be as easy to do.

---

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Add Flux/Redshift natively

As iOS/macOS is adding a light filter for the night, this feature will be more and more common natively in OSs, why not add it to Ubuntu now?


Loving Ubuntu myself, I would like a system not requiring command line stuff for fixing things, so everyone could use and maintain it, not just experts (e.g. a "fix my computer" button that in worst case it could reinstall everything but the home folders).


CoreOS-like A/B system partitions would be a very useful addition to Ubuntu.


Or at least snapshoting and then booting to last good snapshot.

Both solutions (a/b partition and snapshost) would require separate partition or subvolume for /home.


If this is interesting to you, you'll want to keep track with what we're doing in Ubuntu Core!

https://www.ubuntu.com/core


This feature already exist guys: https://docs.ubuntu.com/core/en/reference/gadget


That's not user friendly. E.g. hard to understand for most parents or grandparents.


Oo hum... I think you’re going too far, it should come preinstalled on their laptop/desktop/whatever. Either by a OEM Manufacturer or you. They don’t have to be involve in the process.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Clean up repos and remove non-working / non-maintained / bad applications

DESCRIPTION: There are many old and/or bad applications in the official Ubuntu repos. Prune aggressively. Anything that hasn't been updated for several years could be flagged for human review. Anything that people use will get PPAs made for them in time. Anything that's dead doesn't deserve to be in universe or multiverse.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Disable Bluetooth on startup

- DESCRIPTION: Bluetooth is turned on when Ubuntu starts and people are struggling to deactivate bluetooth on system startup. For further references check this: http://askubuntu.com/questions/67758/how-can-i-deactivate-bl...


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop and Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: DANE for TLS in Firefox, wget, curl, etc

DESCRIPTION: Support TLS server verification using TLSA DNS records protected by DNSSEC as described at http://www.internetsociety.org/articles/dane-taking-tls-auth... and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNS-based_Authentication_of_Na... ; this should have a smaller attack surface than the current mess of X.509 certificate authorities that are trusted by web browsers. Doing this well may require better client side DNSSEC validation; my impression is that DNSSEC validation deployments in the real world today often tend to have only the recursive resolver doing DNSSEC validation, with a potentially insecure connection between the client and the recursive resolver. Firefox probably ought to check the entire DNSSEC signature chain itself.


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Core]

- HEADLINE: Multi-Seat and Multi-Head Out of the Box

- DESCRIPTION: It would be a great way to cut costs if a single machine could support multiple workstations like SoftXpand does for Windows 7, out of the box without requiring an expert to configure. Though currently possible, it seems to be requiring a lot of configuration.

In developing countries e.g. India where I live and work, people might not come or vote and contribute for such features but this will be a huge step towards making Linux available to many more children at school and home and more hands at work. For schools, this could make computers available for a single computer making computing available for 4-8 children after installing some additional graphics cards. Being in the e-learning Industry, I see this could give a lot of momentum to computer literacy in schools.

This could be a huge maintenance and energy saver at the workplace at will. Now that almost all cards nowadays contain multi-heads, just installing an additional card could make a single computer server upto four workstations.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: IT Administrator of an expanding company


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Laptop Hybernation to disk.

- DESCRIPTION: Options for what to do when you close your laptop lid: sleep, suspend, hybernate, shutdown, stay on. Automatically hybernate when asleep/suspended and you reach critical power.


FLAVOR: all

HEADLINE: Dump SystemD

DESCRIPTION: I know this sounds like a nutcacke request, but Ubuntu has missed the opportunity of creating viable systemd competition. This is easier than writing an alternate display server. We are stuck with systemd monoculture which increases complexity and causes breakage for no good reason. There are other well tought init systems like openrc or runit.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer, sysadmin


Flavour: Ubuntu Server

Headline: Dump ZFS on Linux

Affiliation: Containers @ Netflix

Description: ZFS On Linux is poorly integrated mess through the SPL. Memory management is an active detractor from performance, stability, and operations. It's unlikely that it's ever going to be "native" on Linux. Even more unlikely is its integration into upstream.

Unfortunately, ZoL, unlike other out of tree additions Canonical has added, such as proprietary drivers and codecs, ZoL has real alternatives, like BtrFS, and BCacheFS. I think it would make more sense to throw your weight behind these projects where there will be long term benefit to the community as opposed to short term benefit to y'all.

Whoever seems to be singing the praises of ZFS on Linux hasn't put it through its paces in modern, multi-tenant container workloads. It requires active awareness of its existence unlike ZFS, and EXT4. To me, this is a fundamental regression.

Do not fall privy to the sunk cost fallacy, instead continue to actively weigh your choices, and as soon as the opportunity cost for !ZoL or !SPL becomes reasonable, jump.


> Whoever seems to be singing the praises of ZFS on Linux hasn't put it through its paces in modern, multi-tenant container workloads.

I ran a Hadoop Cluster with it? Does that count? Your problem is probably the ARC and memory problems due to slow shrinking or stuff like that? There is some work or at least the intention to use the pagecache infrastructure for the ARC to make things more smooth. However at the moment it's still vmalloc afaik.

You can reduce the ARC size and you'll be probably fine with your containers if they need a lot of memory.

The SPL isn't so bad it's more or less wrappers.

have fun with btrfs! It's a horrid mess! Looks like you never had the pleasure! btrfs is also a non starter on basically everything that goes beyond a single disk - even their RAID-1 implementation is strange, RAID5,6 are considered experimental and I could go on.

ZFS for Ubuntu was and is a great idea!


No, specifically multi-tenant, cgroups workloads. It works great for single-tenant workloads, esp. when you can tune the ARC to your workload. I know some folks who run it for large data workloads, and it works awesome for them. Unfortunately, our large container workload hasn't had the same luck.

The issues I've hit are the following:

https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/5814

https://github.com/zfsonlinux/zfs/issues/5535

Unfortunately, these problems stem from page faults occurring inside of VM that propagate to ZFS. If the fault occurs during cgroup memory pressure, ZFS / SPL may fail to allocate memory. ZFS will never get out of this case unless memory is freed up elsewhere in the hierarchy.

The other issue we had was with ZFS integration. There are a few symbols around mounts that are exported GPL only, and they interfere with volume GC, and mounting, causing some issues with standard tools like Systemd, and others.

For the most part, our container applications are stateless, or soft state, in this, we don't rely on RAID1, 5, 6, etc... but instead RAID0, or no RAID at all. If we detect a bad disk, we'd rather just evacuate the containers, and restore state later.

I'd love to hear about your experience with BtrFS. What issues have you seen with it (single disk, or RAID0 -- I know RAID1, 5, and 6 are hokey at best)? How did the project handle your issues?


Yeah. These ZFS issues look like they are deal breakers. In this use case btrfs could really be a good idea - afaik cgroup and kernel integration is better there.

> I'd love to hear about your experience with BtrFS. What issues have you seen with it (single disk, or RAID0 -- I know RAID1, 5, and 6 are hokey at best)? How did the project handle your issues?

Single disk, no RAID - lockups, broken filesystems (undeletable files), filesystem not mountable - however in recent kernels things are likely better (>4.8).

Performance and defrag are issues on btrfs, scrub and balance take all io and there are some warts... might be good enough for your use case, through. RAID-1 is not really double read-throughput, not sure how RAID-0 is implemented.

There is a mailinglist and and a bugzilla but the ZFS issue tracker was always more helpful.


Hmm, so I happen to really like ZFS under my LXD containers on Ubuntu. It has always worked very well, very fast, with instant startup times and snapshots.

However, ZFS is in no way required to run containers on Ubuntu. You can use any filesystem you like under your Docker and LXD containers.

So I'm not sure I get your request "Dump ZFS on Linux"... There are plenty of people who love ZFS on Linux, and appreciate Ubuntu for it. The Ubuntu platform is about choice, and you have the choice of ZFS or many other filesystems under your containers at Netflix...


PS:

None of these views represent the views of my employer. These are my personal views on the long-term view of the ecosystem.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Better Bluetooth Support

- DESCRIPTION: The current bluetooth stack is very buggy. It has many connectivity issues, especially with bluetooth speakers as far as I have observed. Improvements would be very welcome.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Deja Dup / Duplicity Instable

DESCRIPTION: The default backup app has bugs. The first time it worked! Then after a software update it stopped working. I stopped using it. You can't just ship buggy backup software :| Maybe there needs to be a better one. Or add more testing to make sure critical / default packages like this don't break on update.

ROLE: Everyday user

--

FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Moar wifi card drivers Please

DESCRIPTION: I can't believe I'm still finding and using stuff like this in 2016 because my drivers don't work out of the box... https://github.com/chenhaiq/mt7610u_wifi_sta_v3002_dpo_20130...

Once upon a time I used to use ndiswrapper + cabextract to get windows drivers to work in Linux for "most cards." That was cool. Today it's much harder when hardware isn't supported. I wish there was still a way to use OSX drivers or windows drivers for things I have no hope of getting *nix support for...

ROLE: Everyday user


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Full compatibility with Debian packages and paths

- DESCRIPTION: Please, please keep package and paths compatibility with Debian. The amount of work to get Debian packages work on a recent Ubuntu distribution is huge, and there are a lot of scientific software that is geared to Debian, not Ubuntu.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Research Scientist on a large Multinational


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Better Documentation

DESCRIPTION: Googling up an issue usually produces results for Lemurs and such. AskUbuntu is a step in the right direction, but it needs some (more?) employees committed to improving it. Doing so would create a virtuous cycle where there is an incentive to improve documentation in order to reduce costs (maybe by reducing the relevance of cruft).

It's o.k. if the starting point is sometimes RTM because at least it is a starting point and following up on the resultant "huh?"s would also align cost incentives toward removing the rough edges.

HEADLINE: Get out and walk around.

DESCRIPTION: This audience is more likely to be inside the Linux bubble than the people who really need improvements. Most people don't care that much about battery performance and that's why they are happy with cheap laptops and desktops. Most people don't care about 4k screens and that's why they buy cheap laptops and monitors. Most people don't care about Wayland v X11 or lightDM v whatever.

Good luck.


An option in the installation script to not install systemd.


- FLAVOR: Xubuntu

- HEADLINE: A release entirely focused on performance

- DESCRIPTION: Profile Linux daemons and Ubuntu services which run full time. Fix performance issues from biggest to smallest. Reduce memory footprint for all services across the board, making it much nicer for those of us with 4GB laptops.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Developer who uses KDE Neon at work and Xubuntu at home.


FLAVOR: Desktop

HEADLINE: Make Wi-fi less aggressive about switching bands, and prefer 5ghz

DESCRIPTION: For access points with 2 and 5ghz bands which are both weak my laptop will continually jump between them every few seconds. This makes for very poor connectivity, and if it just stuck with the 5ghz it would do fine.

If it preferred a 5ghz signal that would do wonders for connectivity too.


> For access points with 2 and 5ghz bands which are both weak my laptop will continually jump between them

Wait, what? I wish my laptops did that at all. I always wondered why nobody ever figured "oh gee we have like 15% signal, do you think we should connect to this other 70% signal hotspot now that no TCP connections are open / no network traffic is active? Nah, let's just stick with the 15%, wouldn't want to drop the connection for a second."


I want it to reconize the Nvidia video card and my dell notebook (what the current version does) and install it without break the graphical enviroment (what the current version does not).


That's what Linus has to say about Nvidia and Linux:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_36yNWw_07g

SCNR


FLAVOUR: Server, some desktops

HEADLINE: New command line installer

DESCRIPTION: The cli installer inherited from Debian needs to be modernized. It is ugly, asks too many questions and has some weird behavior, for example when not configuring a network connection at installation, only a cdrom apt mirror is added (even when there's no cdrom drive).


Aren't you in luck!

We have an early preview of this very thing, called the "subiquity" installer, ie, "the server ubiquity" installer. And it's simply fantastic! Ping me on Twitter @dustinkirkland if you'd like to try it out!


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Turnkey virtual GPU dGPU virtualization of Linux and Windows

DESCRIPTION: A turnkey (easy GUI setup) that uses virtual GPU support in driver to partition the GPU into multiple devices (or just two) where one can be shared with a Linux or Windows VM, on Windows this would allow dGPU (almost native DirectX 11 gaming) with only one graphics card (as well as on laptops). This would allow alot of Windows users to switch to Ubuntu as their main OS and only start a VM to use their privacy invading Win desktops to play games. Fedora is discussing something like this.

See this for more info. I realize proper vGPU support at the lower levels is a ways away, but so is 17.10 and 18.04 ;-)

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Linux-4.1...


This one is going to take a little bit of time, maybe even a hardware generation. Intel is working on their solution (Intel GVT), AMD's new Vega is supposed to support SR-IOV (which will require fixing bugs in mainboards and BIOSes), and Nvidia is still fighting against virtualization of the Geforge line.


> and Nvidia is still fighting against virtualization of the Geforge line.

Fighting against it? That is the first I have ever heard of this. Do you have some links I can read about this?


Nvidia drivers check if they are running in virtualized OS and refuse to install, if they detect it. You have to hide the hypervisor signature from the guest.

On top of that, virtualization of the GPU, instead of passthrough, requires support in the driver on the host. There is no such driver for Nvidia.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Make network-manager robust

DESCRIPTION: I've got a shortcut to:

`sudo service network-manager restart`

I'm looking for a reason to delete this shortcut. Currently I use it every day or so when wireless drops out, and quite often multiple times a day.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: A Data Scientist who uses ubuntu desktop and champions Ubuntu server whenever possible.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server - HEADLINE: ZFS on root in installer - DESCRIPTION: as headline! ZoL is awesome. Extra hoops though to install on root. - Head of development @ an ISV.


There's actually a bit of work that could be done on the installer/partitioning IMNHO. As have been mentioned here, 512MB is a little tight for /boot (although 10GB would be too big).

As it is, it's rather hard to set up lvm/zfs volume management for everything but /boot over an encrypted partition - unless you can "use whole disk". Eg: a windows machine with a handful of hds/ssds - it can be pretty tricky to end up with swap, root (/), /home on a separate filesystem/mountpoint along with a conservative (10-20GB root filesystem/mountpoint) -- and the rest available to grow/add filesystems (for eg: containers/vms).


I know it's not really an Ubuntu bug, but ZFS on Linux is broken. Try growing a disk in say VMWare or VirtualBox at see ZFS on Linux not knowing how to grow the filesystem.

It would be nice it that was fixed.


Unless I'm misunderstanding, I don't even see that as a bug.

Real hardware disks dont suddenly magically beome bigger. That ZoL doesn't notice/know what to do isn't surprising?


It's a bug because it actually works in OpenZFS. It's suppose to work, there's commands for it in the ZFS tools. Linux is the only platform where this doesn't work.

Also ignoring that virtualization exists would be a little silly for a modern filesystem. There's features of ZFS that of cause doesn't make sense on virtualized hardware, but things like snapshotting and checksumming are still nice to have.


+2


Disclaimer: I don't use Ubuntu very much personally.

--

FLAVOR Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE Fresher Wayland plumbing libraries

DESCRIPTION

Ubuntu users wanting to use Sway often struggle to get the correct version of all of the dependencies installed.

AFFILIATION Maintainer of a popular wayland compositor

--

FLAVOR *

HEADLINE Better support for debootstrap

DESCRIPTION

Installing Ubuntu with debootstrap should be officially supported and less painful.

AFFILIATION Maintainer of an unpopular build server software


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server / OpenStack (ClearOS)

-HEADLINE: Embedded "cPanel" alternative.

-DESCRIPTION: Like ClearOS, focusing on easy server administration though web , Ubuntu Server could have an embedded alternative to it. All the free thirdparts alternatives (ZPanel and others) are painful to install, have super bad UI and deliveries some inefficiency tools due to OS. Even the payed ones have this problems, but most of them on a smaller scale. I've mentioned OpenStack because it deliveries some nice virtualization tools though webadmin.

This tool will drastically increase the usage of Ubuntu Server inside home servers/small hosting providers, since cPanel is payed and . Ubuntu Server already has one of the easiest installation. This tool would allow non-serverAdmins to use it in small website hostings.


Have you seen cloudron.io?


Some concrete pain points I came accross in the last several weeks:

Better thermal management - Thermald should become the default, but it needs many improvements.

Zombie processes in containers - When somebody causes a Zombie in a lxd container which happens from time to time you have to reboot the machine, this should not be necessary

Mounting remote filesystems in containers - Fuse is possible if you allow it, but mounting SMB, NFS require a kernel module and cannot be mounted in a lxd container, so make fuse-smb or fuse-nfs.

DNS in Openstack - DNS in openstack is currently really painful to setup correctly. Create a new default module which lets you configure a subdomain for the cluster, a subdomain which is the projectname and then after you start an instance you should be able to simply ssh user@instancename.projectname.clustername.tld


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Please make system settings more accessible and consistent

- DESCRIPTION: I understand that system UI has been a bit volatile in recent years. The GUI has looked different almost every time I've installed a new Ubuntu, and when a big overhaul happens, it takes some time to flesh out all the stuff on the periphery. This sort of thing is unacceptable, however: https://twitter.com/Zikes/status/829882331959795712

I'm a bit of a "power user" yet I struggled to accomplish something as basic as adjusting my mouse pointer speed. It's just those sorts of oversights that prevent me from being able to recommend Linux to family and friends.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Improved Unity launcher usability

- DESCRIPTION: As far as I can tell, you can drag/drop items to the launcher, and rearrange the buttons on the launcher, but changing the icon (or setting one at all) and getting the launcher to actually launch the thing you want is unnecessarily difficult, requiring .desktop file edits that I can never seem to get to work anyway. I still have to run /home/myname/eclipse/eclipse from a terminal on one of my machines because the launcher is not working/non-intuitive and I don't have the time/desire to stop what I'm doing and figure it out.

Also, expandable/group launchers (many apps under one launcher square/icon spreading into multiple items) would be nice.

Otherwise, great work! Love ubuntu and Unity.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: Secure, immediate isolation or power down

DESCRIPTION: When a zero day like heartbleed comes out I want the operating system to give me the option to immediately disconnect from the internet, or even power down the OS. I also want the ability to call these commands myself so that if I have a wider scanner, like Appcanary, I can trigger the shutdown command myself.

I want this command to get called anytime there is a reasonable (>10% chance) that the server could give out shell level access through nothing more than normal internet traffic, and I want the OS to take care of it.

Ubuntu is awesome because it doesn't make me learn stuff unless I want to learn them. The defaults are sensible and configuration is usually pretty easy. I'd like security to be as easy as this.


    sudo shutdown -h now
Immediately halts the OS.

    sudo shutdown -r now
Immediately reboots the OS.

    sudo ip link set eth0 down
Immediately bring down the network interface (eth0).

I'm actually curious how you are using and administering Ubuntu Server without knowing these things. Or at the very least, not stumbling across the "shutdown" or "ip" commands--ever.


Perhaps OP means they want to be able to turn on a setting whereby this automatically happens when a big zero day comes out - like, Canonical becomes aware that certain packages are vulnerable and has a way of pushing instructions to affected machines to tell them to isolate themselves.


It's silly I even have to type this out, but I'm clearly aware of sudo shutdown now, and it isn't helpful.

1. I want the system to progressively fallback to more aggressive measures. Don't lock me out of ssh just because nginx has a 0day. Don't take out my static file hosting if there's just a rails vulnerability. This is the type of stuff I don't want to think about I just want to set my paranoia level.

2. Of course I know how to shutdown a server immediately, but knowing when to do a hard shutdown vs one that waits for the processes to clean up isn't something I feel qualified to make a decision on.

I don't understand why usability around security is so brutal. How many times are we going to get locked out of our ssh because of a shitty chown. How many times are our servers going to get hacked and our DBs dumped just because admins and software developers don't have the tools to confidently mitigate 0days? Just make it easy for me.


If you already have a security vulnerability scanner that runs arbitrary triggers when something is detected, can't you just use ssh to run whichever command you want? i.e ssh root@machine 'systemctl halt'


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: Stable/working HDMI sound, up to date Syncthing

DESCRIPTION: I was excited to upgrade to Yakkety on my home server, because it has Syncthing (I'd rather not use their 3rd party deb), only to find out that it's too old to be compatible with my phone (they're still in the rapid change phase). Would be great if it were all compatible. Not too much in your control, just try to be as up-to-date as you can at the point of release. I know you can't upgrade mid-release.

As for sound, on Trusty, I had issues with HDMI. On Yakkety those issues went away but now I have worse issues. I use my server with Music Player Daemon. I have a headphone cord for now so it's okay, but I'd rather use HDMI and get the full benefit of my flac files.

Thanks!


Flavor: Ubuntu Desktop

Headline: UX for Moms/Dads

I've been using Ubuntu Desktop for over 5 years and Linux for more than 15 years. I keep on changing distros, but Ubuntu is my first choice.

Role: Web developer

Please make it easier for Moms/Dads to use Ubuntu. My parents (both above 60) use Ubuntu and they love it. But I can feel their frustration sometimes when they need to do more. They mostly use Firefox (YouTube, Facebook) etc. so its fine. But when they need some more power usage, like transferring photos from camera they are stuck. Using a webcam, no way.

Upgrading software, yikes!

I seriously believe Ubuntu Desktop is doing a fantastic job of making sure Linux rules the desktop. If not now, it will soon. I'm sorry I can't provide any substantial issues, but I hope the UX team at Ubuntu can do a good job.

All the best!


I became significantly less able to use Ubuntu after I had a few kids. +1 ....


I'm personally very happy to have your feedback here. My parents, too, use Ubuntu :-) They love it, and I love that I can fix their computer for them. Thanks for the feedback and I'll take it to heart.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Make right click menu of dash items scrollable

- DESCRIPTION: When an application in the dash has open a lot of windows (for me, Terminal) the height of the right click menu eventually will not fit the screen. It cannot be scrolled so it is essentially impossible to find the correct window by right clicking on the application. See a screen shot of the problem at https://www.stdin.xyz/downloads/people/longsleep/stash/ubunt... - these are around 40 terminals at 1440 pixel height with scale 1.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: A non-dangerous and fast release upgrade mechanism

Currently, the upgrade (as in do-release-upgrade) process takes long, very long if not on an SSD. In my experience, apps can crash during the upgrade. During a recent upgrade I did on a family member's machine, the machine was sent to sleep and the screenlocker crashed afterwards. After powering off the machine, the X session wouldn't come up anymore, I had to complete the upgrade manually on the command line. This was all on Kubuntu, but I don't expect the mechanism to be radically different in the standard flavor, it still puts the machine in a dangerous state.

Release upgrades should be as easy and quick as on iOS or Android.


FLAVOR: Desktop HEADLINE: Make Unity menu and search blazing fast. DESCRIPTION: I hate pressing the menu keybind and waiting what seems forever when I just want to start a calculator. The search bar should be/feel fast, like Mac's Spotlight.


- Stop trying to emulate Apple UI. I use Ubuntu in part because I don't like Apple's UI.

- Better HiDPI support. Ubuntu takes a LOT of tweaking to look good on a HiDPI screen.

- Better support for common VPN configurations. In particular, L2TP/IPSec-PSK should be an option out of the box because it's an exceedingly common configuration.

- Make input methods enabled and working by default. If I install Ubuntu in Chinese, I should have a working IME on the FIRST boot-up. As of now, I have to go googling and apt-getting and doing lots of weird things before I can type in Chinese on a new system.

- Get with the beat on machine learning tools. The latest releases of OpenCV, Tensorflow, and so on should be in the Ubuntu repositories, and updated on a regular basis. Ubuntu was originally "Debian with a better release schedule", but it no longer is.

- Things like gnome-tweak-tool should be included by default if they are the only way to change the GTK2 theme.

- Better documentation about how to do things from the command line. Like how to start/stop Wi-Fi, select sound devices, and so on. Googling results in a mess of advice about pactl, pacmd, alsa, and I never know what is the "correct" way to do things from the command line for the current release of Ubuntu. Can you have a "before vs. after" table of commands? For example, include this:

    # 14.04
    amixer set Master 0%

    # 16.04:
    pactl set-sink-volume 0

    # 17.04:
    # somectrl --set VOLUME=0
- Stop arbitrarily moving stuff around on the UI -- moving the min/max/buttons from the right to left, and so on. If it ain't broken, don't fix it.

- Most Ubuntu users are developers. Build for developers. Unity is basically unusable. Put some serious thought into Cinnamon or MATE as a default UI. Listen to your customers.

- Bring back and revive compiz. It was Linux's only hope of looking good. Also, being able to just press a key and draw on the screen, or arbitrarily zoom parts of the screen, was simply awesome for meetings and presentations.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: Working HD Active Protection System for newer Thinkpads - DESCRIPTION: Around the time of the release of the Thinkpad W530, Lenovo had changed the way in which the HDAPS system was done on Thinkpads. In the past, the tp-smapi* packages and the hdapsd daemon made using Thinkpads with rotating platters excellent, but the newer models now receive errors, and there's some notion that maybe the kernel has some kind of support for APS systems now. It's quite frustrating to know I've sacrificed protection by having a newer model while we wait for SSDs to become as trustworthy as our HDDs. - No Affiliation


- FLAVOR: Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc (not Ubuntu)

- HEADLINE: Dash/Spotlight-like search for the rest of us

- DESCRIPTION: While Ubuntu users have the Dash, we Xubuntu'ers (and I assume the same goes for Lubuntu users, and others) would love to have something similar an `apt install` away, or even --god help me-- installed by default.

Options seem to be abundant, but few of them are truly lightweight and/or easy to get running and/or provide the relevant results that you'd normally expect. I think I've tried pretty much all of them, but after a day or two I always end up going back to Catfish.

Unity is great, just not for everyone. ;)

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer, journalist, aspiring musician.


FLAVOR: Desktop

HEADLINE: Actual Wayland Apps (Firefox & LibreOffice)

DESCRIPTION: While these apps currently work on Wayland, they rely on X-wayland to do so. Running native Wayland versions of these apps would provide a better experience while reducing dependencies on X.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: Better palm detection for trackpads - DESCRIPTION: With the caveat that I realize that you need to support many brands of laptop with different trackpad drivers, this is one of my major pains when using a linux (Ubuntu) laptop vs anything else: after hours and hours (and hours) of googling and struggling, I can still not manage to get reasonable palm detection going on my work laptop (Dell XPS 15). When coding, probably once every 10 minutes my palm is mis-interpreted as a finger swipe and my cursor jumps into some unrelated code. ROLE/AFFILIATION: linux software dev, federal gov't


Yes, this is a huge problem for me, too! I'm currently using Fedora, so it seems to cut across distros, but it drives me crazy. After tweaking a bunch of config variables I've got something pretty usable, but it's not ideal and it was a huge pain to get to this point. The same machine running in Windows has a much more pleasant trackpad experience, so it's got to be the software.


I can certainly relate! I always disable the touchpad entirely and use the touchpoint only on my Thinkpad, for this reason.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop Mate

HEADLINE: FIX Human Interface Devices - Touchpad, Touchpoint, Bluetooth Mice, Wired Mice

DESCRIPTION: I have a thinkpad. It has 2 built in mice like HIDs (the rubber knob "touchpoint" and a touchpad) plus I have a trackball for the office and tiny bluetooth mouse to travel. In order to set the prefs on sensitivity and acceleration for all these devices I need to do some fuzzing with xinput in the profile. Just recently, xinput changed and broke my prefs. I would love if ubuntu made it easy to just plug in a mouse, make some changes to the sensitivity, and not overwrite your touchpoint / other mice settings in the process


Flavour: Ubuntu Desktop

1. A more modern Icon and Windows theme.

The current theme looks very old fashioned, especially compared to the new theme (partially) in use under unity8. I think something more flat and less realistic could work well. The current suru/unity8 design seems to go in this direction, so it would be nice to have something similar on unity7 too.

Flavour: Ubuntu Desktop

2. Make unity8 more user customizable.

I would like that unity8 could be heavily configurable, so that every user could have his/her desktop customised accordingly to own preferences. I mean things like moving the panel and the bar to other places of the screen, changing the background color of the panels and so on.


Flavor: Ubuntu Desktop; perhaps server Headline: Organize bash startup files like run-parts (but sourced) Description: See https://github.com/wd5gnr/bashrc -- basically .bashrc just sources stuff out of .bash.d. Extra points if you do like the link and allow for user-specific and machine-specific and even os-specific files. This allows you to keep one set of bash startups maintained (e.g., under git) for all your logins. Extra bonus points if you have a smarter way to sync across boxes than the link does.


-FLAVOUR: Ubuntu Desktop

-HEADLINE: Native support for Adobe software

-DESCRIPTION: Please get together with Adobe and get their software working natively on Ubuntu.

I do frontend dev and need to work with PSDs supplied by designers often. Gimp is simply not good enough.

I also have a lot of designer and animator friends who would love to switch, but can't because Photoshop or After Effects.

Since Apple is serving overpriced hardware lately a lot of pros want to jump ship, Ubuntu can capture that creative market along with the growing number of discontent developers.

I have seriously considered buying a MacBook Pro just to get my Photoshop needs met. Please don't make me have to buy a MacBook Pro. :(


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Streamlined terminal window size and positioning

DESCRIPTION: As a developer, I spent most of my time in the terminal. Having ctrl-alt-t to open a terminal is super helpful, but the default positioning is less than ideal because there is a lot of wasted space with the default terminal size, and a lot of overlapping for a large size. I used to use x-tile in Ubuntu 14.04 and its "quad-<something>" option, but it is broken in Ubuntu 16.10 at least for me (dual monitor). I now use ctrl-alt-<numpad keys> to organize the windows, but still feel there has to be something better than that.


Interesting... So I most of my time in a terminal too. As a rule, I always (a) run gnome-terminal in full screen, (b) always run byobu in the terminal, and then (c) always use byobu/tmux to split the screen up into a bunch of shells doing their things.

This is a good idea, though!


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: On installation, handle existing UEFI partitions more intelligently, or at least better equip the installer to remedy related problems

- DESCRIPTION: Realistically, I'm going to be installing Ubuntu Desktop on a modern commodity machine that previously had Windows installed. This will mean there's an existing UEFI partition that the installer should be able to take care of / co-opt / replace. It doesn't. The tools necessary for editing EFI records aren't on the installer desktop out of the box. Sorting this out myself becomes a colossal time-wasting pain.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Core

HEADLINE: More robust Wifi

DESCRIPTION: I use Ubunut Core on my laptop. Wifi generally works fine. I don't use network-manager or any GUI tools for managing networks, I just edit wpa_supplicant.conf directly. This works fine, but often after my machine has been idle for a long time the wifi link just goes down. A simple restart of the networking service fixes this. I assume that something is crashing or hanging, but I haven't looked into it in detail. It would be nice if this sort of thing was detected and the service restarted automatically, or this just didn't happen to being with.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Core

HEADLINE: Allow rollback/snapshot of any change of system settings or package installs/purges

DESCRIPTION: It would be great if Ubuntu had an undo mechanism for any operation that changes the system settings, or the installed packages. Also, being able to snapshot system directories like /etc, /usr and /var would be great. Perhaps this can be implemented by running Ubuntu on top of a snapshotting filesystem like Btrfs. Of course, in that case, any system tools should be able to deal properly with background changes of the filesystem.


You can already do this at the OS level using a A/B Partitioning when making your Core Image. For the software level, well, snaps are basically that as they’re squashfs packages. just snap remove them and erase your custom settings located on your home directory.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Unity Launcher App Right Click Menu Add "Move to Current Workspace"

- DESCRIPTION: When I have an app running on another workspace and I click on its icon it takes me to that other workspace so I have to then switch back to previous workspace and then expose and move window to current workspace. I'd rather right click the app and just have an option to "move to current workspace". Also related , clicking the current active focused apps launcher icon should minimize it.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: web developer for state university


FLAVOR: Ubuntu desktop

HEADLINE: Better testing and polishing

DESCRIPTION: Some small flaws never seem to be fixed or addressed. Like sound output selection. If I connect a HDMI cable, and previously have selected it as the audio output, I probably would like it to be automatically selected again.

On my XPS15, after disconnecting the headphone connector I can no longer get audio out from any output. Even if I reconnect the headphones.

Why do I have to select headphone type when it is connected? Why isnt it detected? Why isn't the previous answer select the next time a 3.5mm connector is connected?


FLAVOR: ALL

HEADLINE: Colored shell prompts by default

DESCRIPTION: Color bright colors, and \w in the default PS1.

ROLE: DEVOPS MAN

---------------------------------------------

FLAVOR: ALL

HEADLINE: Speed up apt-get by move away from http to ipfs or even just https2 with quick.

DESCRIPTION: Waiting for headers...


Please see if the Cairo-GL backend can be re-enabled. This backend was disabled a years ago because of an issue with Nvidia drivers.

If it can be re-enabled, it can help enable some interesting future apps.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: vmbuilder defaults

DESCRIPTION: Several places where the default behavior of vmbuilder could possibly be improved, relative to what seems to happen on 14.04 / 16.04:

I've found that I always end up wanting --addpkg acpid when running vmbuilder so that the host can send the guest a request to shut down cleanly; maybe include this package by default unless it is somehow explicitly deselected?

I have developed a habit of always using --addpkg linux-image-virtual because at one point I ran into problems when not using it; if it is still needed, it should probably be included by default.

I've ended up with VMs in a directory where I didn't intend to have them when not specifying the -d flag; perhaps it would be better if vmbuilder would refuse to run without a -d flag explicitly specifying the directory. (Trying to identify all of the options one needs the first time running vmbuilder can be overwhelming, leading to leaving some options out and then ending up with a suboptimal VM, and sometimes one doesn't want to start over and rebuild the VM with the correct options.)

It might also be desirable to make the --timezone option mandatory; I think the default behavior is to put the guest in GMT rather than having it inherit the host's timezone, which can be surprising, especially if the host's timezone had initially been autodetected by the installer.


hi Dustin,

1.FLAVOR: desktop HEADLINE: better installer - I'm not talking about the UI. DESCRIPTION: The Ubuntu installer is just refusing to deal with UEFI, smartboot, NVME, Raid and the various combos thereof. Please look at /r/dell or anywhere people are talking about XPS - which has the newer NVME ssd in raid mode (set in the bios). Ubuntu's installers are just not able to deal with this in a smart way. Yes I can potentially figure that out... or use Fedora, whose installer actually showed me a disk (Ubuntu 16.04 did not even indicate a disk present).

2. Flavor: desktop HEADLINE: First class support for Gnome DESCRIPTION: yes, I know you guys do Unity. But Gnome + Wayland is kind of a standard as well... and a lot of other distros use this combo. I'm not asking you to move away from Unity, but atleast let Gnome+wayland have first class community support.

3. Flavor: Desktop, server, core HEADLINE: Better display defaults for apt. DESCRIPTION:I have to set "Aptitude::UI::Package-Display-Format "%c->%a%M %p #%v%V";" to get a reasonable display of information in apt. Could you please do something about this ?

4. Flavor: Desktop HEADLINE: Suspend on low power DESCRIPTION: Yes, I have heard every variation of argument here. I have participated in all the bugs. Here's my POV: until Linux as a whole can give me out-of-the-box hibernate support, for god's sake give me suspend on low power. This is insane - it is 2017. I should not be losing work when I can just close my lid, suspend and rush to the nearest outlet.


- FLAVOR: all flavors

- HEADLINE: root ZFS + full disk encryption support in installer

- DESCRIPTION: using ZFS + LUKS as my root filesystem in Ubuntu now all over (the cloud, my laptop, etc). It would be great if this were built-in as an option in the Ubuntu installers. It would be even cooler if canonical helped push some cutting edge ZFS on Linux 0.7.0 features out there: native encryption and resumable send/recv for example. I know there are licensing issues involved, but this is my wish :)

- ROLE: sysadmin + developer


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Easy Dock/Launcher Customization

- DESCRIPTION: The user should be able to 1) drag any executable to the dock to make a new launcher 2) Right click any launcher to be able to choose a dialog to customize command line arguments, initial working directory, and icon. The user should not have to edit a desktop item file or install or know about Alacarte. Windows got this one right.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer for chemists and biologists.

[This comment disappeared somehow so this is a reposting]


Hi Dustin, thank you for your work on Ubuntu and for asking for suggestions here. It's impressive to see the range and specificity of things that people have come up with.


Wow, you're so right! I asked the HN community, and wow, has the HN come through!


FLAVOR: Desktop

HEADLINE: better language switching for 2+ languages

DESCRIPTION: The first thing I've noticed switching from Mac to Ubuntu is that is almost impossible to use 3 keyboard languages! It is easy to fix, see this post for details:

http://lambda-files.crocodile.org/2017/01/switching-between-...

I would like this to be a standard behavior of keyboard switcher.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Bring back the ability to have icons in menus

- DESCRIPTION: I very much got used to quickly navigating menus by icon - right click in nautilus and open in terminal had an icon next to it etc. I had to turn this on via a gconf setting or something, I forget, but now that possibility is gone, and I'm left with hundreds of moments of tiny frustration not being able to find what I'm looking for quite as quickly.

- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Better DisplayPort Multi Stream Transport support

- DESCRIPTION: This is related to others' comments about better external monitor support in general. I had an MST hub that worked in 16.04 but doesn't in 16.10. I don't know what happened. But even when it did work (and I've tried three different ones, so it's not just this one that's flaky), I had to say the right incantations and hotplug things in the right order, and make sure I'd rebooted since last using only a single external monitor, etc, in order to avoid hard crashes or blank screens. And I'm faced with having to wait multiple cycles thirty seconds long while the monitors, the hub, and the computer seemingly can't coordinate with each other and switch on and off repeatedly. I'm on a dell xps 13 (intel graphics). Yes, this belongs in a bug report and I'll do that too, but I wanted to draw attention to it anyway. I've struggled with flaky MST support regardless and am pretty sure it's not limited to my hardware.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Research scientist and open source developer


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Faster Dash

- DESCRIPTION: I still use Ubuntu Unity because of the superior UX of app indicators, which GNOME refused to merge many years ago and still sucks to this day for it. However, one thing I miss a lot from GNOME is the far snappier application search/launcher.

The Unity Dash has some pretty poor ergonomics overall compared to GNOME's "Activities", but that is not what I'm concerned about right now. All I want is for the process of (1) pressing Super (or the "Windows key"); (2) searching for an application; and (3) launching the application I searched for to go at least as fast as it does in GNOME 3. Right now I use the crash-prone Synapse[0] instead of the Dash.

You might be wondering: "But isn't it really just as fast?" First of all, no, sometimes the Dash itself opens really slowly for no apparent reason; and second, strictly speaking, it's not the speed of opening an application that is problematic; it's the slow feedback loop of getting search results as you type. This feedback is instantaneous in Synapse, near-instantaneous in GNOME Shell, and comparatively slow as heck in Unity Dash. Disabling the extra features in the Dash helps a bit.

It's also very annoying that it doesn't automatically highlight the first search result (as it does in GNOME), which makes it ambiguous as to what will happen when you press Enter.

And it is awful that in order to select any search result after the first, I either have to: (1) keep typing to narrow the search down further; or (2) move my hand all the way over to the arrow keys, or worse, the mouse.

Pressing TAB doesn't cycle through the search results, it cycles through: (1) the "Applications" UI header; (2) the first result of the "Files & Folders" section (instead of the header -- why the inconsistency?); (3) the "Filter results" button.

I know Unity 8 is the priority these days; even if the Unity 7 Dash can't be fixed, I sure hope Unity 8 doesn't make the same silly UX mistakes.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software developer

[0]: https://launchpad.net/synapse-project


Flavour: Ubuntu Server

Headline: Add systemd updates to HWE stacks

Role / affiliation: containers @ Netflix

The HWE stacks y'all have been rolling out for LTS are really awesome. We're big fans.

Unfortunately, another component of Ubuntu is detracting from their awesomeness. Systemd isn't updated, and unfortunately it's becoming tightly coupled to the kernel and making certain kernel capabilities available like file system features, and networking. It would be great if systemd was included in the HWE.


Interesting!


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Simpler install customization and actual canonical (lol) guides for how to do certain tasks

- DESCRIPTION: Customizing/automating install images is a pain. I've spent years working on making the debian/Ubuntu installer do just the things it was designed to do (e.g. preseeding) and it still feels like I have to cobble together information from ten different resources and read through the installer code to figure out how things are supposed to work.

I would love a simple way to understand and customize the installer. A canonical list of preseed options would be great. A clear guide to building and integrating custom udeb packages would be great. Some way of hooking in with Python or shell scripts where the Ubuntu installer can handle them intelligently (putting them in /scripts/{pre,post}_install.d/ rather than specifying a single command in early_command/late_command which then runs x more scripts) (and better functionality for handling this via netboot), information on how to specify a custom list of installer packages to load or integrate, a clear guide on how to take an Ubuntu server ISO and remove any packages I don't need, scripts to rebuild the package list more easily, a simple guide on how to run the installer via NBD or NFS.

All of these things are possible and there are guides for them all over the place, but I've yet to find a single, simple "system builder's guide" which will tell me, an admin, how to do the various levels of customization which are already possible and supported.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Devops, sysadmin, IT, etc.


Yes, this. Preseed is terribly documented and sometimes so buggy I feel like I'm the only one using it.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Improve Suspend/Wake up

- DESCRIPTION: Most of the time the system wouldn't wake up after suspend, I can't shutdown every time as I've many dev env (IDE's, VM' etc) running.

-----------------------------------

- HEADLINE: Add built-in support for a blue light filter.

- DESCRIPTION: Setting up redshift requires bit of work and need to run a daemon to make it start with system.

-----------------------------------

- HEADLINE: Improve Bluetooth support.

- DESCRIPTION: It is hit or miss at the moment.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software architect for a bank.


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Core]

- HEADLINE: MAAS available as snaps

- DESCRIPTION: as juju and lxc/lxd are already available as a snap package, it would be awesome to be able to deploy maas as multiple snaps using plugs and slots allowing enterprises to deploy it quickly through custom ubuntu core images.

This would be useful in a production environment but also in case of emergency plan as it would allow a quick datacenter restore right from an admin laptop and a SDCard.

- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Core]

- HEADLINE: basement for all other flavors

- DESCRIPTION: Ubuntu Core is the most interesting idea (along with juju, maas, lxc/lxd and snaps) the canonical bring since ubuntu itself, please use this distribution design as a basement for any other ubuntu flavor.

I know it’s a loooot of work as you would have to snap package every single service/tool/other available on the ubuntu repository, but it’s absolutely needed.

CoreOS have started this philosophy of immutable, safely updatable and reliable distribution, but Ubuntu as the potential to push it way further with ubuntu core.

Ubuntu Core need this step to become a defacto solution for enterprise. Now a day, enterprises tend to use CoreOS because they’ve made a clear statement of how they will support this philosophy on a long term.

If you want to get enterprise customers back to you canonical, please strongly support ubuntu core! Using it as a basement for all other flavors would be a strong statement in that way ;-)

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: IaaS Specialist - Gaming industry.


Fantastic feedback, thanks!!!


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: No Suggestion to download the apps from Store - DESCRIPTION: Nowadays ads are everywhere, from your 'explorer' to 'dashboard'. Why can;t we have an option where we can disabled the 'suggested app' feature in the app launcher. - ROLE/AFFILIATION: Just a design student. I can design interfaces/menus/options to turn on-off, basically a switch with a good UX


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: Static IP address option in installer

DESCRIPTION: When I install a new server that should have a static IP address on a network that has a DHCP server, it would be nice if the installer would give me the option to configure the static IP address, instead of it initially getting a DHCP lease and then needing to have the static IP address configured by editing /etc/network/interfaces after booting off the hard drive.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: I just want simple things to work DESCRIPTION: - after an update cups is broken - can I have 3 monitors without jerking around with vi? - battery performance sucks - random waking up of my laptop after suspending it - one needs a degree to enable bluetooth - after 10y of various linux distros I'm considering switching to Windows for my primary dev env ROLE: Freelance full stack engineer


FLAVOR: Server, Core HEADLINE: Snaps are too hard to make ROLE: DevOps, release, infrastructure engineer DESCRIPTION: In fact they are so hard and convoluted to make that I always fall back on just comiling and packaging everything inside a Vagrant VM or a Docker container and then just generating a tar or deb with FPM. You guys really need to simplify the process if you want software to be delivered through snaps.


take a look at build.snapcraft.io ;-) magic is happening :D


Long gone are the days I am able to spend hours setting up the perfect Desktop themes and window decor for my Fluxbox/xmonad WM on gentoo... Please Ubuntu team, give us an out of the box user interface that looks professional and not so damn cheap... It's a simple thing that has always bothered me. It is so damn ugly. Right out of the box I want a clean, beautiful, theme that I enjoy using and that looks as if it wasn't conceptualized in MS Paint. I ask for a minimalist/clean desktop theme I don't want to change immediately after I see it. I want quality, the kind macOS seems to pull off - professional work! Not like you grabbed GTK1 icons and slapped them on various applications. I am no artist, but I can recognize an eye sore when I see one! And for christ sakes please make it run as if it was actually tested once or twice... Such a vain request but christ.. Just give me a pretty Desktop and a nice terminal window with great decor so I feel like I am on an Operating System in 2017! I mean that ugly fcking purple... JUST STOP THAT! ends petty rant of ignorance


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Full VR Support

- DESCRIPTION: VR isn't just for games. And using VR for productivity is a no-brainer. Ubuntu should be the go-to operating system for the most immersive VR desktop experience. Ubuntu should lead the VR-on-the-desktop revolution by supporting desktop VR (by working with Steam/FBOculus/MS/Google/Samsung as necessary to get the hardware and drivers correct and plug-n-play).


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: Simple support for modifying installed packages from source

DESCRIPTION:

For instance if user wants to modify system installed Python to either submit a bugfix/ implement an improvement/ add instrumentation. User should be able to easily do something like

a. apt fork python forkname (checks out python source code)

b. apt build-fork forkname

c. apt install-fork forkname

d. apt revert-fork forkname

Adding above will lower barrier to entry for users to submit improvements. It will also help power users.


"apt-build" package is similar to what you've described. Package description talks about compiler optimizations but don't let this mislead you.


APT already has the ability to fetch source packages, build new binary packages them from (modified) source, and install them. It's not as seamless as, say, the integration between the FreeBSD packages and ports systems, but it is there.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: personal firewall, hips firewall, app sandbox

DESCRIPTION: 1) personal firewall. (ala sygate, little snitch, kerio personal firewall, etc). This is essential (and shame on ALL OS vendors for not supplying one) as it is insane that apps can just willy, nilly go where ever and when ever they want. This is the very cornerstone of insecurity (malware, hacking). For every connection I want to see an interactive popup (with IP address, app name, etc) with the options (allow, deny, make permissions permanent).

2) HIPS (host instrusion protection) firewall, the exact same thing as #1, but for apps, not internet. If an app is starting or calling another app (or link library (DLL)) I want to know about it and stop it before it runs.

3) App sandbox that provides virtual filesystem, etc for any app I want to run but want to refuse it direct access to system files, etc.

=== I tried Douane (linux personal firewall) but failed at making it run because there are no binaries provided and it didn't compile correctly and I don't have the time to debug it. So at least provide this in binary form from the unbuntu respositories.


FLAVOUR: (I'm British) Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Less glossiness on Unity launcher DESCRIPTION: I use a flat theme (Paper and Arc) to make my desktop less obtrusive when I'm writing/coding. Unity has loads of glossy effects on the launcher, which is distracting. I'd prefer something modern, flat and out-of-the-way. ROLE/AFFILLIATION: Sr. Software Engineer, B2C Food company.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Allow monitor modelines to be manually added using the control panel

DESCRIPTION: When autodetection fails (running through a KVM for example) it is difficult to add the correct modelines for the monitor. Add an advanced menu to the configuration that allows the user to easily specify what modes are available. Since most people are on flat panel displays you can use generic values for the timings.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

1. HEADLINE: More robust backup tool

As a user who recently switched from Win 10 to Ubuntu Desktop, I tried to setup nightly backups of certain folders to my NAS device with Déjà Dup. After installing missing dependencies and tinkering with the settings for a long time, I finally got it working. Once I did, it wasn't reliable at all. I kept getting various different illegible errors.

IMHO having a robust backup software that just works out of the box would make switching to Ubuntu Desktop more easier and compelling for the average user.

2. HEADLINE: Better GUI to manage VPN connections

Right now there is no way to open the network manager and setup a VPN connection like there is on MacOS. I would like to be able to import my .ovpn file and just click connect.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Engineering Director @ Kadenze (an EdTech Startup)

I must add that I have found solutions to both the above-mentioned issues but they are technical / complex in nature and not something a layperson would be able to setup very easily. Ubuntu Desktop has come a long way but for a desktop OS to be able to go mainstream, things like that just have to work out of the box.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop (but may apply to all)

- HEADLINE: Add Expert Mode Install

- DESCRIPTION: This week I started installing Ubuntu, and the installer is just too basic. That's ok for the common user, but I like installing in expert mode. With expert mode I mean full control of what's being and how it's being installed (eg. network settings, software packages to install, mirrors, etc). I could not even change to a tty while installing. When installing Ubuntu along with my other Debian, and I missed the latter installer in the process. Another aspect to polish in the installer is being able to encrypt just one partition and even include an encrypted volume manager such as Debian's. As an issue, I managed booting in live mode and encrypting manually, but after a successful installation of the system, GRUB could not manage to boot the encrypted system. Watch out, I might not have installed it properly, but it seemed to me this feature was not implemented correctly. Anyways, I think Ubuntu is a good OS that's able to compete with others

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Web Developer @Spain


https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/MinimalCD


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Saner App Switching

- DESCRIPTION: every other time I alt-tab I am baffled by what window gets focus. I have to actually think to use this feature. Compiz is no better. OSX has this done right. Another somewhat related problem is sometimes a window is not raised when expected but I'm not sure when exactly that happens. Something like "if an app is already open and you try to launch it" but more subtle than that.

---

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Universal Ctrl+W command to close windows or tabs

- DESCRIPTION: Somerhing I took for granted on OSX that I thought was coming from Linux, but apparently not. Yes, you could remap the close shortcut from Alt+F4 to Ctrl+W but that closes the window in browsers instead of closing the tab. And some apps don't react to this key binding at all.

Another thing I miss dearly is a universal shortcut to open an app's settings (Cmd+,) in OSX.

---

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Broken Apps in App Center

- DESCRIPTION: Even apps that are featured (on 16.04 which is latest LTS) like Maps have tons on 1-star ratings because their core features are broken. I installed myself to verify. That's just embarassing compared to other app stores.


- FLAVOR : Desktop - HEADLINE: Fix UI for file extraction - DESCRIPTION: When I extract zip files, the UI when the extraction is done has all the buttons glued together. It is such a small thing that I feel a bit silly for posting it here, and wish I just had a bit of time to actually dive into this myself. I will take a screenshot of the Archive Manager when I am home later today.

ROLE - Software Engineer


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Open terminal from Nautilus right-click menu

DESCRIPTION: It would be useful to be able to open a terminal from any direcrory of Nautilus and the terminal would point to the same directory immediatelly. I know Nautilus is a Gnome development but thought it would worth to ask for this. I find it hard to open a terminal each time when I'm a middle od something and cd t the directory manually.

ROLE: IT PM


It works like that in Ubuntu 16.04. I tried right now, both from Nautilus menu and from the right click menu. I'm using the Gnome flashback desktop and nautilus 3.14.3. I don't have the nautilus-open-terminal package installed.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Any

- HEADLINE: Do changes in upstream when possible

- DESCRIPTION: Whenever possible, please make the changes in upstream, rather than keeping ubuntu specific patches (except for ubuntu specific features).

As notified in the blog[0], if there are changes for the installer, Let the changes be in Debian upstream (if Debian developers agree with, and if the installer won't remove advanced functionalities). The same for GNOME, Linux kernel, and everything else ubuntu is committed to.

Also Let the license terms of ubuntu packages used be acceptable to upstream. Say for example, the ubuntu fonts are not yet in Debian due to licensing issues. For a long time I hoped it will happen, and eventually I dropped ubuntu font and switched to inconsolata. I hope that the ubuntu font set will be relicensed properly (something like GPLv3+ with font exception or whatever that upstream is okay with).

Thanks

[0] http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2017/04/thank-you-note-to-hac...


Ubuntu Desktop

1-Keeping the Unity design pattern and philosophy

I actually love the unity desktop (my first Linux experience), I wish Canonical gonna keep that ergonomy,with an app launcher on the left side, the shortcut.. When I saw the Unity 8 desktop project, I think that it gonna be one of the funniest desktop in the Linux World (I used Kde and was waiting for Unity 8) It will be very nice if you customize your next gnome desktop to create your own, with the same style as the Unity 8 desktop. "Linux for human being" is the heart of Ubuntu, with the final version of Unity 7, Canonical create a simple human practical interface, you can't lose that !

2-A better and esthetic's integration with gnome and kde apps

I'm in love with many of the app that produce Kde and Gnome, these two communities have theirs own philosophy and design about how a desktop software have to look like. A complete and powerful integration of this two different soft of apps would be beautiful

I'm nothing than a casual user of Linux and Ubuntu, not a developper or something like that


FLAVOR: Ubuntu GNOME Desktop

HEADLINE: Multitouch trackpad gestures and background noise cancellation in the UI.

DESCRIPTION:

- Multitouch trackpad gestures, like in MacOS. So 2/3/5 finger gestures. Pinch to zoom in the browser, 3 finger drag ecc..

- Microphone background noise cancellation UI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DHcd-GXgnDM


> Multitouch trackpad gestures

https://bugzilla.gnome.org/734416


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, and Ubuntu Core

HEADLINE: AS112 inspired mirror system

DESCRIPTION: https://www.as112.net/ describes a largely uncoordinated system for providing somewhat localized servers to handle certain DNS zones. It seems to me that something somewhat similar could work for anycasting mirrors of major free software distributions. I suspect that public peering point operators and ISPs might be most likely to participate if a single server could act as a mirror for Debian, Ubuntu, CentOS, etc. It would be best if the clients were set up to fetch a list of packages and their checksums from the centralized servers operated by the distribution maintainers, and then would try to fetch the packages from the local uncoordinated mirror, and if the local uncoordinated mirror either doesn't have the file or has the file with a bad checksum, would fall back to fetching the file from the official centralized server.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Improve GNOME shell for less memory usage

- DESCRIPTION: I hope that ubuntu shall be using GNOME shell (with ubuntu specific changes) as noted in the blog[0]. Right now GNOME shell is using around 100-200MiB (even more for several others) of memory on usual usage. I hope this could be reduced to some 50 MiB consistently, or even less.

Also GNOME shell strongly depends on evolution-data-server, gdm, tracker (I think), etc. It would be nice if these dependencies are made optional (ie, recommended, but not required packages). So that gnome shell can be run on less memory IOT systems like RPi, older laptops etc without the other dependencies. This may require changes to gnome shell in upstream GNOME. Please do the packaging changes in Debian upstream.

Thanks.

[0] https://insights.ubuntu.com/2017/04/05/growing-ubuntu-for-cl...


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop 16.04

HEADLINE: Fix multi monitor different resolution scaling without imprisoning the mouse cursor.

Description: This bug here, actual working scaling with different resolution display using xrandr --scale.

I have been banging my head against the wall on this one, it's a reasonably hard fix I can imagine but the benefits with 4K screens coming and real scaling between displays with different resolution actually working would fix my current headache. This is imo such a basic thing when using a multi monitor setup and now with a new 4K laptop and 1080p extra monitor I want to kick a donkey out of frustration.

Mostly because the exact setting I need is there and it scales the display just the way I need it. But it's bugged and the mouse cursor is stuck to traversing the unscaled resolution.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/8...


FLAVOUR

Ubuntu Desktop (xubuntu)

HEADLINE

Make a2dp Bluetooth audio work right

DESCRIPTION

I've given up using my bt headphones. You need to reconnect a bunch of times to even be able to select a2dp mode instead of headset. If I try and direct audio from a web browser to the a2dp sink via pulse, it stalls the rendering thread and videos won't play at all. They start working again as soon as I switch the sink.

ROLE/AFFILIATION

Consulting architect / web developer


FLAVOR: Desktop

HEADLINE: Ubuntu for tablet devices

DESCRIPTION: Currently no Linux distro has full success installing on a Bay Trail touch screen tablet (for instance).


* FLAVOR: Desktop

* HEADLINE: Swift for desktop apps

* DESCRIPTION: Swift frameworks for Cocoa controls that allow development of desktop apps in a beautiful and consistent manner.

And while we're at it, give also Google a hand on porting Kotlin apps for the desktop too. There is nothing better for a platform than allowing developers to build modern and beautiful apps to push the platform even further.


I think you're mixing concepts here. Swift is a programming language, Cocoa is the app development framework for macOS.

You can already use Swift in Linux (and I suppose there are already some WIP bindings to GTK). Cocoa is a totally different beast, really dependant on internal workings and semantics of macOS, and porting it would definitely take more than a single release cycle.

And Kotlin does not have any association with Google whatsoever.

If you want a single language / development framework for mobile and desktop, I think the best option right now would be React Native, given that Canonical created a Ubuntu Desktop fork.


While this would be lots of work, and I'm not an ubuntu user, a good portion of cocoa APIs are already implemented:

http://www.gnustep.org/


I probably understand what do you mean. And would like to see one programming language I can use for writing GUI apps on all major platforms, but I guess this would be out of scope what Ubuntu guys can deliver.


I would love to see native grsecurity support in Ubuntu 17.10. Given the latest exploit news from America's intelligence agencies, I feel that a stronger approach towards security should be taken. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grsecurity


Ah, interesting! So this one would be super for Ubuntu security, but it's fantastically difficult :-)


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Fewer cryptic error messages

- DESCRIPTION: For example when on 64 bit Ubuntu and try to run a 32 bit program without yet having installed the appropriate stuff, you get a nice error to the tune of "no such file exists" (the same as when you normally try to access a file that doesn't exist at command line)

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Solo indie gamedev


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Make the GUI stop hanging all the time?

DESCRIPTION:

This has been happening to me across multiple computers running Ubuntu for years. Even on a fairly current one, the Intel NUC5i7RYH, I'll be doing really trivial stuff and the entire system just hangs.

Like, I pick up an icon in nautilus and the system hangs before I've even given it an instruction. 10 seconds later, the window ungreys and I can do stuff like move the file.

Or I might click and hold on an email in Evolution to move it to a folder, and evolution entirely hangs for a long time before it lets me complete the action.

It's really weird, and has been with me over two different computers and at least 4 years worth of Ubuntu distributions. I feel like I'm crazy and the only person who this seems to affect, because no one else ever seems to know what I'm talking about.

Even weirder to me is that this never happened on older versions, on older hardware, yet no one else seems to have an issue. It's super frustrating.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server HEADLINE: Continue supporting systemd alternatives DESCRIPTION: Systemd is problematic in a number of ways for a number of environments. Please at least continue to support Upstart; I'll admit it isn't my favorite init, but is far less trouble in some contexts. ROLE: Devops Engineer, not speaking for my day job


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Productivity & Bugs relating to being a 'Switcher'

DESCRIPTION:

- Enhance Auto-Hotkey to import/work with TextExpander key macroing. Not only is auto-hotkey mostly static (yes you can add python snippets), TextExpander on the Mac is so much easier to use (especially when you also use Brevvy on PC to keep your snippets consistent). Would love to see this on Ubuntu or even just any Linux distro in general.

- Add ECC key support to gnome-keyring (SSH agent has to be manually managed when using ECDSA or ED25519 ssh keys). Right now I have a shell alias to run the ssh-agent which is fugly and high friction to working quickly.

- Make network manager more reliable (sleep/wake laptop will not re-establish a network sessions and requires restarting the entire service).

Having ' echo "alias reset-wifi='sudo /etc/init.d/network-manager restart'" >> ~/.bash_aliases' and running it every wake is kinda nutty.

- Convince someone to write a LittleSnitch like UI to the system (something I very much miss from the Mac). - Make it easy to manage system wide configuration preferences across systems (just syncing random 'dot folders' from the user home directory not sufficient).

- High DPI by connection type would be nice (ie. my Lenovo X2#0 is not High DPI but it is when connected to my BL3201PH), not as annoying to me as some but having scaling on at 13XX by 768 is kind of fugly.

- Allow me to disable virtual desktop functionality when plugged into a big external display (similar to previous point) when mobile virtual desktops are helpful with the low screen real estate but when connected to a 4K monitor well... I don't need virtual desktops anymore so they should collapse into 1 or 2 or whatever. That would be pretty cool to 'just have work.'


FLAVOR: Desktop

HEADLINE: Sane power defaults for common laptops

DESCRIPTION:

Using Ubuntu on a laptop requires installation of TLP and powertop, then tweaking stuff until it works. For example I had to disable power saving for a specific HDD because it would cause random lock-ups, but it's really trial and error.

By default installing Ubuntu on a laptop should give optimized battery life by default

ROLE: CEO


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Core]

- HEADLINE: support for small embedded devices

- DESCRIPTION: There is a need for a robust Linux OS that targets true embedded devices. For many embedded applications a device like the Raspberry Pi or Samsung Artik 10 is much too large. There are many development boards coming out that couple a micro-controller with a micro-processor side connected over an onboard serial connection, and many use custom builds of OpenWRT on the micro-processor side (Arduino Yun, Arduino Industrial 101, Tessel 2, etc). This turns into lots of disparate, custom made OpenWRT/LEDE based systems, but ultimately it's a lot of overhead for a small team to maintain their own build of OpenWRT (which is mainly focused on routers anyways). Having a tiny embedded Ubuntu on the boards (that then talks to our Ubuntu systems on AWS/Google Cloud) would save a lot of duplicated effort.


If someone hasn't said it already, I'd love to see a keyboard shortcut akin to Windows's snap-to feature.


It already exists. Ctrl-alt-right on the numpad I think.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: Improving developer experience

- DESCRIPTION: Currently installing the Qt relating tooling requires messing around with package sources to install the SDK tools. This shouldn't be required.

Additionally it would be nice if ubuntu-make got a better UX than just remove/install, eventually some nice GUI on top of it.

Finally better 3D hardware support.


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: Mouse to work

- DESCRIPTION: I'd like my mouse to work properly in Ubuntu (or any of my mice). When I start my laptop, my USB wireless mouse scrolls super fast. When I take it out and plug it in again, it scrolls super slow. I'd like that not to happen, and also some way of configuring the scroll speed.


If this is a Microsoft mouse, this software should fix your problem https://github.com/paulrichards321/resetmsmice


Cheers! I'll check this out.


Clear, "simple" control of the network stack and connectivity. The ability to start up totally off-line until manually establishing the desired connection. Network connectivity that can be made dependent upon having a working VPN connection up, and that dies completely upon failure of that connection. Everything can clearly be made to go through the VPN connection, DNS, etc. IPv6 can be turned off if needed (e.g. for Comcast). A single, if widget-filled and "busy", dialog box for managing this connectivity.

I realize a lot of this isn't strictly under Ubuntu's purview, but you said "anything".

I want not just to manually manage my own connectivity, at the terminal (and even then, the "die completely upon VPN failure" is not straightforward"), but for my family members, etc., to be able to do so, themselves.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Ability to auto-hide the menu bar at the top

DESCRIPTION: I really like the compactness of the Unity desktop, and I think it can be improved even more by having an option to auto-hide the menu bar when the active window is maximized. The menu-bar would be revealed when the mouse cursor is at the top of the screen.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu desktop

HEADLINE: fix smart autohide of unity launcher

DESCRIPTION: it is really annoying that the launcher does not appear sometimes, when moving the cursor to the edge of the screen. There are several bug reports for this issue, which are open for a long time.

In general I would love to have a way to pay an Ubuntu dev to fix a specific bug.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Official support for installing Mesosphere DC/OS on Ubuntu Server.

- DESCRIPTION: Ubuntu is the leading Operating System for cloud environments and scale-out applications. DC/OS is a natural expansion of the capabilities of the hybrid cloud since Mesos is suitable for running traditional workload alongside container. However, after one year since the DC/OS Project launch backed by Canonical, installing DC/OS on Ubuntu still consider a hack. https://jira.mesosphere.com/browse/DCOS_OSS-25 https://jira.mesosphere.com/browse/DCOS_OSS-904

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Researcher


FLAVOR: All HEADLINE: only 1 init system DESCRIPTION: Having Sysvinit, upstart, and systemd all supported is confusing and difficult to manage. Given the controversy of systemd I can see being able to choose between Sysvinit and systemd for a system, but having both at the same time is problematic.


Ubuntu has upstart and systemd. It hasn't had System 5 init since 2006. What limited System 5 rc support you see, System 5 rc being a different thing to System 5 init, is a consequence of either upstart or systemd having compatibility mechanisms.

What you are objecting to is not "having both at the same time" because that simply is not the case. What you are objecting to is actually the compatibility mechanism that systemd provides, and what results from having a system composed of both System 5 rc scripts and systemd units. (One can have Upstart job files as well, but switching between Upstart and systemd involves a reboot, and the two do not operate at the same time.)

The systemd that Martin Pitt and the other systemd people make for Ubuntu does not make this compatibility mechanism optional. There is a switch that they can throw to remove the compatibility mechanism entirely, going to the other extreme. For fairly obvious reasons, they haven't thrown it.

* https://github.com/systemd/systemd/blob/510cb1ce89d8ce3310e7...


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: A good post-X11 replacement for xkb / xmodmap

- DESCRIPTION: I have such a productively complicated keyboard configuration with the two tools above, both of which will die with X11. I'm afraid I'm more likely to buy a Mac and use Karabiner than go without custom keybindings in Mir.


- less resource intensive standard DE, though I default to using i3

- if the disk creator could also create non-ubuntu isos. For me it would only create Ubuntu disks. Also if I try unetbootin it usually doesn't work. I'd either save/have a Linux Mint just for this purpose or use Rufus/YUMI in Windows.

I'm pretty happy with Ubuntu. Mostly it's great at having drivers.

Recently though I haven't been able to install LAMP right. PHPMyAdmin wouldn't work right either. And PHP doesn't parse right away, have to mess around with loading modules. I'm not sure why that is because I have a Ubuntu desktop set up with LAMP. This was yesterday that I tried to set it up on a new machine. Maybe time to switch to Node finally.

My own problems I realize, got 99 problems Ubuntu ain't one.


> if the disk creator could also create non-ubuntu isos. For me it would only create Ubuntu disks. Also if I try unetbootin it usually doesn't work. I'd either save/have a Linux Mint just for this purpose or use Rufus/YUMI in Windows.

gnome-multiwriter works for just about every iso I've tried it with. It's in the repos for most distros I've used


Thanks for the tip, will check it out.


Also, I never realized this until recently but you can actually use the gnome disk utility for this as well


FLAVOR: Server, Core

HEADLINE: Better security, GRSECURITY kernel by default

DESCRIPTION: Come on now, guys, you know it, grsecurity kernels.

ROLE: DEVOPS MAN:


- FLAVOR: UBUNTU DESKTOP

- HEADLINE: PLEASE MAKE THE BATTERY BETTER

- DESCRIPTION: I HAVE BEEN USING UBUNTU FOR FIVE YEARS. BATTERY IS THE PROBLEM THAT MAKES ME SAD WHENEVER I BRING MY GORGEOUS UBUNTU LAPTOP OUT FOR A CAFE AND FORGOT THE CHARGER.

- ROLE: LONG TIME USER/ CURRENTLY THE AUTHOR OF A BIG LINUX SOFTWARE LIST.


ALSO I AM EXPERIENCING SOME KIND OF CAPS LOCK ISSUE


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server - HEADLINE: All configuration change managed & automated - DESCRIPTION: All configuration management in Ubuntu Server should be managed. For example, editing apache configuration raw on the FS should be strongly discouraged and logged as an error to reconcile with a legitimate configuration change. I should instead create my own configuration package that adds files, edits exiting files, etc. These configuration packages would then be versioned and stored in some central database. If I want to reinstall Ubuntu Server, I then login to the central database, indicate the name and version of the configuration I want to apply, and that's it. - ROLE: Software engineer / home lab hobbyist


Maybe just move etckeeper into the base install, as a middleground?


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Under "open with other application" menu, add option of "Set As Default Application"

- DESCRIPTION: Right now we have a not so friendly method to make some application as a default application while opening a certain type of file. For example, I want every text file to be opened in Atom and not in Sublime, I usually have to go to properties> change the default app. Could we make it a bit simpler by introducing the option right in the window - "open with other application"? Right now, there are only two options - "View All Application" and "Find new application". It would also be worthwhile to keep it in the right-click menu window.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Developer


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, and Ubuntu Core

HEADLINE: bounds checking gcc

DESCRIPTION: https://gcc.gnu.org/extensions.html mentions bounds checking patches for gcc. Get these patches updated to work correctly with the current version of gcc, and get most of the Ubuntu userland compiled with bounds checking enabled (and then gradually work on making more and more of the userland compatible with bounds checking, and also extend it to the kernel). I suspect paying for this development work would be cheaper than paying out a $10,000 bug bounty every time someone finds a bug that could have been rendered irrelevant by bounds checking support.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Ubuntu High Performance Remote Desktop

- DESCRIPTION: Ubuntu Desktop has achieved next level remote application performance with release 17.10. Recognizing that Ubuntu is the first choice among Linux developers and administrators that routinely utilize multiple machines in the course of their busy day, Ubuntu Desktop has refined and optimized the desktop experience for high performance over networks. This includes an emphasis on "low graphics" mode rendering of the Desktop UI and compositor-less rendering to minimize latency. As a result Ubuntu Desktop surpasses RDP, X, VNC and other protocols at providing a transparent remote experience for Ubuntu power users.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Developer+sysadmin.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Separate virtual desktops per monitor

- DESCRIPTION: Same as OSX does it. I pretty much never want to change both of my monitors vdesktops at once. Instead, I want it to be context aware and change the vdesktop of the monitor I'm currently on.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: n/a


- FLAVOR: Desktop - HEADLINE: printing - DESCRIPTION: if you print to pdf from Firefox, you'll notice that the page numbers are not at the end of a page. Not sure if there's anything Ubuntu can do about it.

- FLAVOR: All - HEADLINE: simple switching between core, desktop and server. - DESCRIPTION: core + install some packages => desktop / server. Desktop / server - remove some packages => core.

- FLAVOR: Desktop - HEADLINE: add more features to the trackpad. - DESCRIPTION: libinput knows the size of my laptop trackpad. Is there anyway to tell it to accept touch as click only in a particular area at a particular position on the trackpad? Not sure if Ubuntu can do anything or only libinput's author can do it.


Firefox's printing is their own problem, and an area of major regression over the past few years. You can't even print out long tables anymore.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: External monitor that 'just works' w a laptop, including window management across desktops

- DESCRIPTION:

Right now plugging in an external monitor vs unplugging and walking away from my desk results in a 'shuffle'. All my windows get strewn across the desktops seemingly at random. And even then, ALT+TAB mis-reports which windows are in which desktop. So tabbing to a window results in nothing ... but then that window will show up on the space it should've been.

This is to say nothing of the display drivers that I need to use to get the external monitor working. Just mirroring, no fancy resolutions here. And 1/10 times unplugging my monitor will result in a black screen on the laptop.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Engineer


Connect to android using wifi / bluetooth, integrate calendar, contacts, send messages, etc.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Core

- HEADLINE: Modern V8

- DESCRIPTION: Node.js, PLV8, and Chrome all require a modern version on V8. Ubuntu ships with 3.14, which is 4 years old, and does not support modern Javascript. Bringing this to something modern (5.8+) would be a huge win.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: maintainer of PLV8


Have you made an attempt to speak to Jérémy Lal, Jonas Smedegaard, or Balint Reczey?

* https://tracker.debian.org/pkg/libv8-3.14


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: install RAID 1 boot w UEFI

- DESCRIPTION: Installation has gotten more difficult for a simple server since UEFI. Often would like to setup an inexpensive (e.g. Dell/HP) server with SATA and RAID 1 boot. This has become a difficult task.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Sys Admin


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Disable Mouse battery power estimator

DESCRIPTION: The ability to disable the mouse battery power level estimator in the top nav bar, e.g. http://askubuntu.com/questions/361022/how-to-disable-mouse-p....

That status indicator drives me crazy. I don't care how much juice is left in my mouse battery.

When it dies I just swap it out for a new one, but I look at it and think my laptop is unplugged and on limited battery power.

The fact that it can't be disabled seems a little absurd. Can't there be a setting to disable this? The only power level I care about is my battery, unplugged.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Support Wayland, not Mir

Description: Unified work with the community

ROLE/Affiliation: Game and Web Developer


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Installation issues

- DESCRIPTION:

Make installation more smooth. Last 10 times I have installed desktop ubuntu, I had to do one or more of theese:

1) manually change installation image

2) chroot into installed partition and manually make chages there for it to boot

3) run custom kernel to avoid hardware problem

4) copy and paste scripts from askubuntu to avoid hadrware problem

5) buy another piece of hardware

Sometimes it does not boot, sometimes it does not wake up after hibernate. Some wifi dongle had buggy driver that hang the system.

Luckily, solution was always out there, in the forums. But I had to do some research.

I would recommend Ubuntu to every person I meet, but I am sure that their hardware is not very well supported in it, by pure variety of hardware and my experience in installation.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: software developer


OT: Not related to the particular future ubuntu release

Flavor: Ubuntu Desktop

Headline: Stop the dwindling numbers of ubuntu being used as the primary os

Problem: Any os which is not the preferred primary os is losing a consumer base. One can run docker/vm but that doesn't sum up. The whole system is confusing when trying to ascertain what hardware to buy or migrate over to ubuntu. Since there is no official word.

Likely solution: Setup a youtube like channel to review ubuntu support for popular hardware. Document it in a better way and make it search friendly. Like imdb model and give it an ubuntu score. Have an option to purchase the particular hardware related driver disk or to download it for free. KIS.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: cacti package that works

DESCRIPTION: 16.04 LTS shipped with a cacti package of a version written for PHP 5, but shipped PHP 7, and Ubuntu's effort to patch cacti for PHP 7 compatibility was incomplete. When I reported a bug with using more frequently than once a minute polling resulting from this, I got a response that seemed to indicate that Ubuntu was in no hurry to fix it. I ended up simply switching from Ubuntu to CentOS with the epel repository, which avoided both the bug I did report, and some other buggy behavior that I suspect may have a similar PHP version incompatibility root cause that I have not wasted the time to track down.


Flavor: xubuntu 16.04

Headline: stop the ressources hungryness

Description : I have an old laptop with 4 gig of ram. I don't plan on changing it. I switched to xubuntu because Ubuntu is somewhat slow even when idling because of multiples packages that want to integrates the desktop with the internet (which i don't care for as I use google apps on the web). It mostly just slows my pc down (looking at you evolution-data-server and many others).

I understand that it's hard to have a balance between ease of use and performance, but I think you would do well to think about it. Not everyone has money to upgrade pcs regularly.

Role/affiliation : hobbyist / Ubuntu user for the last ten years


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: MATE as default desktop - DESCRIPTION: It’s fast, it’s stable, it’s GTK3, it’s a proper desktop, what more could you want! - ROLE/AFFILIATION: software dev Oh and give that Wimpy guy a raise! ;)


An upgrade that doesn't fail without a useful error message because some package locked in a specific old version of something.

An upgrade process that doesn't involve editing some files based on hints from Stack Overflow.


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: Tweak GNOME on Ubuntu to look a bit more classic

- DESCRIPTION: since Ubuntu drops Unity and will use GNOME - my suggestion is to tweak GNOME to look a bit like Cinnamon, that would make it easier for Windows refugees to migrate.


I'm a starting Sofwtare Engineer, just got my first job. I installed Ubuntu to get familiar with Linux since my job requries RHEL 6/7 knowledge. Don't have a specific request. Bluetooth fails sometimes, display sucks after suspend/wake (only on Nvidia drivers), and battery is not so good, but probs because of discrete gpu vs hybrid (integrated and dedicated).

I've fixed the bluetooth one myself and the second by switching to nouveau.. But for non tech people these are dealbreakers. But I also know this stuff isn't up to you (entirely).

Just wanted to say, keep up the good work!!! Hope to see linux dominant on desktop one day!


Ubuntu Desktop Drop the current release schedule. Ubuntu is sadly becoming a boring distribution meaning that with each release "nothing" really changes. The Team should focus on releasing an new version of the OS every 1-2. This will give developers the opportunity to add more cool features since the pressure of meeting strict deadlines is gone. I would focus all the resources on the Desktop and Server Market and then focusing on other markets. Having to release one distribution every 1-2 years will also give us the opportunity to have better planning and focusing on what users really want. A student, a fan.


I would like unity-webapps-amazon to be re-separated from unity-webapps-common and for Unity Tweak Tool to be aware of the presence or absense of the Amazon webapp. Not even because I'm personally worried about it, it's like ~50 lines of javascript total, and it's obvious what they do, but I'm bored to death of talking about the thing to people who want to try a Linux distribution and I want to recommend Ubuntu, but then they say "But I heard this FUD..." and I have to explain why that's an incomplete picture of the event and it's aftermath instead of getting them up and running.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: GUI usable for office workers, migrated from other operating systems (you know the one) - DESCRIPTION: quite a few years ago I installed Ubuntu 10.04 for some small office workers starting their business. All requirements were internet access, email, work with office documents (printing and scanning) and PDFs. It took less time than I expected for them to adapt to Ubuntu. But when Unity became default, I migrated them to Linux Mint, just because of more familiar user interface. I hope Ubuntu 18.04 brings back classic UI option with stability and device support.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Support for Fractional (Non-Integer) DPI Scaling

DESCRIPTION: Please support fractional scaling factors on the desktop. For example, a 1080p 13.3" screen needs to scale everything by 1.5 in order to get a comfortable DPI.


Please, please, for the love of God, consolidate the "system program problem detected" messages into one single dialog, instead of a separate dialog for every file found in /var/crash (as it is today).


A polished and up-to-date Xubuntu. I don't know how much Canonical staff use/develop Xfce or integrate Xubuntu, but please.

(Most of the work is Xfce having to play nice with whatever silly things GNOME has just changed.)


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: Hybernate

- DESCRIPTION: Hybernate or something similar (fast load of last is and apps state) Hybernate works on my laptop but sometimes apps freeze after 20 min after resume and sometimes wifi does not reconnect.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu in general

- HEADLINE: Improve the l10n framework

- DESCRIPTION: The Rosetta/Launchpad framework for translation was pretty good 10 years ago, but has been surpassed by several online frameworks such as Transifex, Pootle, Crowdin, Weblate, and likely several other services. It would really help if the translation process had access to shared terminologies, project and task management for teams, improved translation memory, spell checking, syntax checking, and ways to report bugs or ask for clarifications to original English text.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Member of the Danish translation team since 2005.


I want to see project management build in at the OS level.

By this I mean being able to completely segment my workflow between screens as follows:

Screen 1: Work

- Email filtered for work - All programs automatically put files into the project's folder - Docker containers and even separate localhost so I can bind to port 80 on different screens. - Different Browser history

Screen 2: Startup Project

- Same but everything focused on my startup project - Task manager built in.

Screen 3: Social media, hacker news and messing around and other email

- Limited to 15 minutes in any hour.

Programs can tie into tasks and tasks can be shared between people.

Not much to ask hey, but building in GTD at the OS level would be awesome ;-)


What an interesting idea! :-)


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Go back to a stock DE, instead of shipping Unity

- DESCRIPTION: People don't write unified apps for mobile and desktop. It doesn't make sense to have a "compromise" desktop environment either.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Let us move the Unity top bar to the bottom.

- DESCRIPTION: I disable global menus (never liked them since the first Mac), I move everything to the bottom bar of the Gnome fallback DE and delete the top bar. I use Gnome's minified running apps list and the icons tray. I use Compiz cube to switch desktop because the 3D effect makes it easier to remember where I am.

I wish I had lenses there but no top bar trumps lenses. I could use Unity if at least I could move the top bar to the bottom. The docker is tolerable because it can be made to autohide.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: freelancer web developer.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

HEADLINE: bind package with support for DNS cookies

DESCRIPTION: https://kb.isc.org/article/AA-01387/0/DNS-Cookies-in-BIND-9.... describes DNS cookies; last I checked, it seemed that Ubuntu wasn't in any hurry to upgrade to a version of bind that turns DNS cookies on by default, and also probably wasn't passing the build time option to turn on DNS cookies on the version that was being shipped.


I guess Ububtu is waiting for Debian to update to BIND 9.11, but Stretch is still on 9.10. It is a pity the next Debian release is not on 9.11 since that will be an ESV branch. https://www.isc.org/downloads/software-support-policy/


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Power management

DESCRIPTION: I likely will not be running OSX anymore, and you guys are going to find a large number of defectors. Concentrate on optimizing power. This will also help performance.

ROLE: Angry former Mac User


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Incentives for Non-Linux Software Developers to Reconsider Ubuntu / Linux

- DESCRIPTION: I have three tools (or groups of tools) that I still use other OSs for:

Adobe Tools (primarily Photoshop and Illustrator) Sketch Serato

I can't imagine there to be much reason for these to not work on linux any longer. I'm already a paying customer for all of these, and it's absolutely unfortunate that I have to load up a VM or separate computer on occasion to use them.

Steam made some major headway in this regard, and I think that momentum should be supported and increased.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server - HEADLINE: A more stable alternative to ubuntu-vm-builder (vmbuilder) or more work on this project - DESCRIPTION: Scripted KVM guest creation via command line appears to be limited to 'ubuntu-vm-builder' (or 'vmbuilder' as it is now). On Xenial, I have to manually modify python code to have this tool actually perform guest creation without an error. Would love to have a reliable tool for automated KVM guest creation that didn't incur all of the overhead of an OpenStack config.


Flavour: Ubuntu Desktop

Headline: Allow me to remap capslock

Capslock is the most useless key on my keyboard and it's in such a nice spot for ctrl/alt/whatever.

What I'd really like is for it to be a new key for modifying commands.


Just create a .xkbmap -- I have it set to my tmux control key. (Easy to google)


Remove the update notification from the motd:

https://imgur.com/a/6SD97

This message breaks boxes.

I'd also like to see MariaDB in main, not universe.


I know there's few better subjects for bikeshedding after vim vs emacs than "what should be in /etc/motd, /etc/issue and how should they interact with logins (ssh, console and xorg/gui)" - but how does this "break boxes"?

I guess for consistency, as update-motd seems to be installed by default(?) and the motd is called in /etc/pam.d/login by default - xmotd or something similar should also be installed to make sure that everyone is pestered by the message of the day...?


In certain environments with um, less sophisticated administrators, this MOTD is taken as an imperative command to deploy an update to the operating system of a production service.

Just one example of a broken box:

https://askubuntu.com/questions/876510/booting-into-read-onl...

The result of these in-place upgrades usually end up with the admin crying the rest of the night because they shot themselves in the foot.


Why would you want to remove such a valuable and effective sys.admin learning tool? ;-)


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Organize packagers

- DESCRIPTION: We have aptitude, apt-get, apt, dpkg, snap, npm, pip, etcetera. I really don't care where they should go as long as permissions are not set to superuser unnecessarily. I would love some default organization imposed by Ubuntu to get order in this chaos. Define standard locations for these package managers.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: IoT

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Make sure all sensors work

- DESCRIPTION: Out of the box working Yoga 900 with rotating functionality, flipping 180 degrees, etc. Would be great.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Easy UI for setting up and managing Jackd.

DESCRIPTION: Getting anything done with pro audio on Ubuntu requires wrestling with Jackd. QJackCtl is awful. Think simple-scan for Jack.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Add a setting so that The Launcher can be positioned either on the left side (default) or the right side of the display(s).

- DESCRIPTION: I have two side by side monitors and The Launcher is placed on the smaller monitor off to the right. The Launcher is often in the way because it is in the middle of the displays. I really don't think that this is too much to ask for that there be an option to position The Launcher on either the left or right side of the screen.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: Stabilize wifi - DESCRIPTION: I use 16.04 on three generations of Thinkpad (x1 carbon, x220, x230), and the wifi on all of them is always dropping off without warning. I have to rmmod/modprobe the wifi driver to get it working again. The flakiness is especially bad with wake from suspend. Wifi has been a pain point with Linux forever and I would sooooo love for it to just work. - ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Developer


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Better multi-monitor support for XFCE4

- DESCRIPTION: A default configuration that recognizes additional monitors in a plug-and-play fashion would be a game changer for me.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Provide a rolling-release flavor

- DESCRIPTION: What keeps me from fetching too many packages from the Ubuntu repositories is that major package updates take 1-2 OS releases to get into the repos. This makes OS upgrades more difficult to execute because so much is changing at once, but also made me constantly seek workarounds, install from source, add third-party ppas, etc. when I couldn't have a newer version of some package.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Engineer


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Better options for mouse scrolling

- DESCRIPTION: One personal pain point is mouse wheel scrolling. I want to scroll fast when I swipe the wheel fast. Usually I end up having to use the scrollbar (which seems to shrink and get harder to use every year) to scroll through long documents. I'm also a fan of middle-click scrolling in applications that support it, although I don't know if that's something you could provide globally.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Make the witch to wayland DESCRIPTION: The linux community seriously needs to ditch X as a default, it has been causing too much pain.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu desktop

- HEADLINE: Better support for printers

- DESCRIPTION: I haven't been able to connect to the office printer after many attempts. The driver isn't included with Ubuntu and the generic driver doesn't work. Tried installing specific driver via Canon's website which came with overly difficult instructions and it still didn't work.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Engineer at a (recently joined) company that's switching from Microsoft to Linux.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: A simple, native OS backup snapshot / recovery manager

- DESCRIPTION: Today, there are third-party solutions for creating periodic backup snapshots and recovery of a linux OS, such as Clonezilla or rsnapshot. These solutions are difficult to work with. This request is for an intuitive, simple backup/restore manager that allows a user to periodically backup an entire system image and rollback to prior saved images with ease.


Please finally upgrade to opencv 3


Tangentially related, has anyone thought of a Kickstarter or something similar for Adobe Creative Suite on Linux?

I'm curious how much would be needed to justify the investment


I've thought about that, but I find it difficult to believe a Kickstarter campaign would ever raise enough money to get Adobe to bite.

For one thing, all of the Kickstarter campaigns that I've seen specify up front the amount of money they need to reach a given tier of output. But I think we'd have little luck convincing Adobe to give guidance on what that number would have to be.

Perhaps it could be structured as something like this: "We're guessing that $75 million USD would get Adobe's attention. If this campaign reaches the $75 million mark, we'll propose to Adobe that they make a port of CS6 for the most recent Ubuntu LTS, and grant a one-year license to every member of this campaign who contributed at least $100 to this campaign. If they accept this offer, this campaign's funds will be collected and placed into escrow, releasable when Adobe completes its end of the bargain."


-FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

-HEADLINE: Default ZFS from the installer

-DESCRIPTION: There is way too much work now to get Ubuntu Desktop up and running on ZFS. I think everyone would love for you to make Ubuntu install on ZFS by default from the gui installer. ZFS is the one and only reason why I currently use FreeBSD. If Ubuntu would install on ZFS without me having to spend so muvh time on hackery it I would run back to Ubuntu in a heart beat.

-ROLE: CEO, Software Developer


FWIW I think NexentaStor's zfs configuration interface is the easiest way I've seen to configure zfs. Something like that where it's dead-easy to apply an SSD to cache & multiple HDDs to redundant pools would be wonderful.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Option to auto-hide the Unity top panel

- DESCRIPTION: The same way you can optionally auto-hide the Unity sidebar launcher, I wish I could do the same with the top panel for not having always go to F11 fullscreen mode to enjoy a distraction-free user experience. Screenshot: https://i.imgur.com/nmDsOMj.png

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: end user


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Easier transition from macOS

- DESCRIPTION: A number of things really annoyed me when I used Ubuntu the first time and I found them difficult to fix. I would love a "migration assistant" that did stuff like:

- reverse inverted trackpad

- configure keyboard shortcuts to be more familiar

- offer to import my dot files from the Mac partition (shell settings, gitconfig, etc)

- offer to mount my Mac partition

- migrate my macOS Keychain

- etc

All this stuff took me way too long to set up and I feel most of it could be automated.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: A hyper-minimal installation, a la Archbang.

- DESCRIPTION: While I love ubuntu, I think I'd like it a bit more if there was a mechanism of having a minimal desktop, with almost nothing installed except a terminal and a GUI (unity is fine). Generally when I install ubuntu, the first thing I do is remove LibreOffice and most of the other pre-installed apps since I have custom stuff that I prefer to us.


FLAVOUR: (I'm British) Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Less glossiness on Unity launcher DESCRIPTION: I use a flat theme and icons (Paper and Arc) to make my desktop less obtrusive when I'm writing/coding. Unity has loads of glossy effects on the launcher, which is distracting. I'd prefer something modern, flat and out-of-the-way. ROLE/AFFILLIATION: Sr. Software Engineer, B2C Food company.


Better aarch64 support. Would like to see raspberry pi 3 and upcoming pinebook supported well. openSUSE support these great at the moment on aarch64, I install the image and it just works.

More focus on the old lightweight DE's and less focus on the new bloated heavyweight DE's that are more designed for touch (GNOME 3, KDE, Unity, I'm pointing at you). Xfce, Mate, and LXQT perform far better in that order.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

-HEADLINE: Ability to port/run android native apps on Ubuntu

- DESCRIPTION: Linux is amazing for development purposes but it lacks a good collection of 3rd party apps, which is holding it back against Mac OS. If Ubuntu can have a better integration with 3rd party apps like Evernote, Google Drive, Twitter(it exists, but not as good as the original), it can surely replace other OS in the market.

-ROLE: Data Scientist in a startup


Yet another init system

</s>

In seriousness, I'd like to see Ubuntu standardize on an init -- don't care what it is, as long as I don't have to understand three.


You must have missed the news, Ubuntu has already standardized on an init 3 years ago.


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: a better software center

- DESCRIPTION: the software center's ui isn't polished. on certain page, you see improper layout, large white space. there seems to be little update to the software center in the past few years. there is not enough content marketing too, no recommended games/apps ...

Mac thrived partially thanking to the app store. why can't we have something similar under linux?


Ability to make a tiling wm a default. Floating windows are so ingrained in our psych that most people never get to experience the likes of i3wm.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADER: Ubuntu for grandma / grandpa

DESCRIPTION:

Easy to use / setup auto deployment of packages. If they want software it should be a click and install, never needing the terminal.

I'd like to install ubuntu on my grandparents computer and them not to call me more than once a month about computer issues.

That being said, I recognize this isn't easy, but it does seem to be the last blocker to being a truely competitor to windows.


Why select Gnome?

Qt was picked for Unity 8, Unity 7 is not using GTK. QT now with a more acceptable license. KDE able to easily replicate the look of Unity 7.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: Better support for peripherals - DESCRIPTION: Drivers suck If you buy a wrong printer brand or model you may end up returning it. Simply because it happened not to be supported by the manufacturer and/or Ubuntu Overall, the desktop needs more radical refreshes, bash replaced with OhMyZh, no more Unity and a batter package manager, too.


Ubuntu has the brand name recognition that they could create a certification or compatibility program.

Imagine if they would license a trademark to be used on products that will work out-of-the box on a linux system. No more guessing....


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop: HEADLINE: Support Wireless HDMI on Ubuntu(eg, Miracast) - DESCRIPTION: Currently using TV as an extended desktop is easy for Windows 8.1/10, Mac and Android, it is not that easy on Ubuntu/Linux. Miracast will conflict with Network Manager and WPA supplicant. No native way to use TV as extended desktop. - ROLE/AFFILIATION: Researcher.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Default Installed packages (add)

- DESCRIPTION: emacs, valgrind, gcc, g++, gdb, vim-full, latest release of Golang

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Software Engineer


For me, "vim-full" would be a hard requirement.

The minimal vim is so bad in terms of usability that makes it a pain to use even for advanced users. Especially, when you complete the installation and then need to do some text editing before you manage to get the network up ;-'(.


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Server]

- HEADLINE: User Home Directory Permission

- DESCRIPTION: IN Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu allow to read each other users files which is security issue on Webservers.

Refer - https://plus.google.com/+MiteshShah/posts/htkjBMrmVZ5

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: (Linux System Admin/DevOps)


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: Better multi-touch gesture support

- DESCRIPTION: the biggest problem preventing me from switching mac to linux on desktop is that ubuntu's multi-touch gesture support can't match mac os'.

I have never felt the need for a mouse when using mac os. but when using ubuntu (and windows), I need a mouse connected.

specifically, I need the 3 finger to move application windows feature.


While I don't use Ubuntu proper, I use a derivative and HDPI is at the top of my list as well. So I suppose this is a +1 to that.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Full support for a tiled window manager like XMonad or i3

- DESCRIPTION: Currently, there is a lot of fiddling that needs to be done to install i3 or xmonad and even after installing, it is difficult to get all the services up and running. It would be great if the xmonad/i3 packages did all of this with good defaults

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Sr Software Engineer.


I want 17.10 to be able to jailbreak and install on the Samsung 8+. Samsung is looking to provide a phone/pc in one device, but I use ubuntu as my os today and want to continue. Samsung is already doing all the hw and docking work... but their sw is bloated and locked down... I want the freedom that ubuntu provides on a great phone/pc.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Core

- HEADLINE: Make "apt" search output same as "apt-cache"

- DESCRIPTION: The apt command is worthy replacement for aptitude, but I dislike its search. Too many blank lines, and splitting name/description on separate lines takes up too much space. Plus, it's harder to drop in for any script expecting apt-cache's search output.


...I'd like to see for to NOT use 'Screen Saver', 'Sleep', Etc on any 'Installs'....does not this interfere !?!? I've had issues where they messed up permanently a simple normal installation of OS or Program and had to do it again, but without them it always worked the way it was supposed to!


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Greater multi touch support for laptop touch pads.

Description: Every laptop I've ever put Ubuntu on, multi touch is never supported. I currently own an HP Spectre x360 (brand new 2017 model) that I was praying would have better touch pad support on my favorite OS but it didn't. I and I'm sure many many more would love this


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Core

- HEADLINE: restrict filename characters

- DESCRIPTION: Adopt tighter rules for file names to improve ease of use, robustness, and security: https://www.dwheeler.com/essays/fixing-unix-linux-filenames....

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: sysadmin


-FLAVOR: Ubuntu desktop -HEADLINE: Webapps -DESCRIPTION: Gmail, twitter, youtube webapps is one of the features I use most despite being virtually abandoned. Since webapps transitioned to unity browser they are even cooler. Please keep suppprting them for the desktop and integrate them with unity (quicklists, sound indicator...) Thanks


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Make kwrite extensible

DESCRIPTION:

Having used lots of text editors, I always seem to come back to kwrite.

Make it extensible so that you can add commands to it which, when run, invoke an external executable which gets passed:

- the contents of the file being editted - the contents of the current selection - the filename of the file being editted

These commands can then be run from the menu or the toolbar.


- Find the next Steve Job, hire him and let him lose.

- Better UI, for most part the desktop GUI hasn't changed for nearly a decade! It's as if Ubuntu looked at Apple OS X and just gave up on any UI competition. I think 40% of why I don't use Ubuntu is because of its look and feel. It's gonna be hard but maybe worth it.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Better support for gestures

Description: Like macOS, configurations and visual examples

ROLE/Affiliation: Game and Web Developer


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Better handling of apt and dpkg locks during apt-get upgrade/update

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Cloud hosting provider

- DESCRIPTION: Thanks for taking our feedback! I work in cloud services and deal with many Ubuntu 16.xx users of various skill levels. One of the most common issues that I see are folks reporting that the "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade" commands fail on newly deployed cloud servers. I wouldn't really classify this as a bug, but some internal changes to the apt/apt-get commands could make things a lot smoother. Here's what happens.

1. Cloud service providers periodically make a disk image of Ubuntu 16 with the latest packages an updates. 2. These images are used for several weeks (or sometimes even longer). 3. When customers deploy a new Ubuntu cloud server, the disk image is copied to a new machine. 4. The machine boots. Ubuntu realizes that it hasn't been booted for a while and performs some internal tasks. IIRC this is related to the "apt daily updates" service. This is the thread I always seem to reference ( http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/315502/how-to-disabl... ). The apt tasks run, which can take serveral minutes. 5. Asynchronously, the cloud service reports that the server is ready. 6. The customer (or their scripts) will login and do some provisioning. A common first provisioning step is to do a package update: "apt-get update && apt-get upgrade". These may fail if the "apt daily updates" task is still running. I've seen a variety of errors, but usually look like this:

> E: Could not get lock /var/lib/apt/lists/lock - open (11: Resource temporarily unavailable) > E: Unable to lock directory /var/lib/apt/lists/

When running "apt-get update" during this state, it sleeps for a few moments, then reports an apt/dpkg lock error. Since most of the time this whole process happens autonomously, it seems like making "apt-get update" and "apt-get upgrade" block until a lock is available would be quite beneficial. Documentation on the web for upgrading ubuntu usually references these two commands, so I don't think adding new parameters would be that beneficial; changing the default behavior would be better.


Absolutely happy to have your feedback, so you're most welcome!

Is this Cloud Hosting Provider part of Canonical's Certified Public Cloud program? If so, I would be very surprised to see the kinds of issues you mention here. And if not, this is exactly the kinds of issues we routinely see with clouds which are not part of Canonical's CPC.

https://partners.ubuntu.com/programmes/public-cloud


Thanks for your reply.

Currently, no, we're not in the CPC program. But that's something we will definitely consider.

Based on the CPC overview, it seems like the Ubuntu team can make specialized images for folks in the CPC program. Which is great, but a design change here would likely benefit the entire Ubuntu community as a whole. Many cloud providers allow users to save snapshots of their cloud instances - another area where this design issue conflicts with scripting.

Conflicts with the apt/dpkg locks weren't as common in the older Ubuntu server versions that used upstart. My team started to notice this more often after Ubuntu switched to systemd.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: Better upgrade between LTS versions.

- DESCRIPTION:

I recently upgraded my Ubuntu server from 14.04 to 16.04. After the upgrade my file system was stuck in read only mode. I had to google around to find a fix.

I would be nice to have all these types of issues organized under an upgrade area to make problems like this less painful.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Allow moving the dock to the right-hand side of the screen

- DESCRIPTION: It's pretty annoying, especially with multi-monitor setups, that the launcher is fixed to the left side of the screen. By tweaking a dconf value you can move it to the bottom but there is no way to put it on the right.


I want easy upgrades. The last time I upgraded it took hours. I gave up Ubuntu(and Linux on desktop after that). It's not worth the time. At work yes, at home no. I'm back to Windows.

My dream would be to have it as easy as Apple's upgrades. Better yet, incremental updates like Chrome and Firefox.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: change behavior of notification bubble on unity

DESCRIPTION: notification system on unity very poor, can't close it, can't copy of content, when mouse over on it it's blurred so can't read or see whats behind it (and i dont understant why)

ROLE: Developer who use many tools when working -------


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Disable the Launcher

- DESCRIPTION: Me and many other are not too happy with the launcher. It should be possible to disable the launcher (not just hide it with a forced "reveal location"). This option should be so easy to implement.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Web developer, photographer, tinkerer.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: full feature parity in Unity8 DESCRIPTION: please get all the indicators and the global menu in there. The dash is not so important and the app drawer is really cool so no need for that renundant scope window =) Keep up the good work you are awesome1!!!111


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Open terminal from Nautilus right-click menu

DESCRIPTION: It would be great to be able to open terminal from Nautilus right-click menu from any directory and the terminal would point to the same directory immediatelly, so users don't have to cd to directory from home directory all the time.

ROLE: IT PM


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: XFS + FDE Installer Support

- DESCRIPTION: Full-disk encryption set up is a breeze with the installer, unless you have a few different drives and want to use XFS. I recognize this is not a majority use-case but FDE with multiple drives is challenging to configure.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: User


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Ability to completely disable all dpi scaling

DESCRIPTION: I've bought a high-res screen with the intention to get more screen real-estate, but it seems that every modern app is working against me by scaling up the GUI. I wish this could all be easily disabled in one place.


Default "Maker Integrations" for platforms like Arduino, Raspberry Pi, 3D Printing, CNC Routing, Laser Cutting, etc.

Basically and open source fabrication should be included in the optimal open source operating platform. Keep the world of innovation open for hardware and software.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, and Ubuntu Core

HEADLINE: open-vm-tools auto installation

DESCRIPTION: It would be nice if the installer would automatically determine whether it is running as a guest inside a hypervisor for which open-vm-tools is useful, and if so, automatically install open-vm-tools.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Simple way to setup mdadm raid mirroring post setup.

- DESCRIPTION: A nice way to setup a simple mirror drive on your system if its already need installed. Window's disk manager does it nicely and it would be great to see the disk utility enhanced to allow the same.


The ability to use a non-X based installer on the default disc would be nice. I have an Nvidia gtx 1060 and I can't figure out how to install Ubuntu. (I've successfully installed Debian, gentoo, arch, centos, and fedora on this system using curses installers)


Did you try installing from the server ISO?


No. Will do, thanks


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Add specific websites or help data (e.g. Zeal) into Unity Search

- DESCRIPTION: I would love to use Unity to search for API definitions for Angular, JS, Lodash, PHP, Postgres, etc...

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: CTO for a software product company. Use 16.10 all day every day.


FLAVOR: All 3 flavors (installer)

HEADLINE: Allow installer option to boot from a _compressed_ ZFS rootfs (not btrfs)

DESCRIPTION: Using ZFS for a rootfs, make full use of its capabilities (snapshots, compression, etc...).

ROLE/AFILIATION : Embedded systems / (A large provider of industrial things)


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Clicking on buttons in Unity window overview mode

- DESCRIPTION: The ability to press buttons from window overview mode: https://i.imgur.com/3dG4VoL.mp4

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: end user

Thank you!


FLABOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Take Cinnamon seriously

DESCRIPTION: For many Mint users, including me, I suspect the Cinnamon desktop is the main reason we use Mint rather than Ubuntu. Ubuntu should make it be a supported package, and ensure it works well with each new Ubuntu release.


I'm sorry to sounds like an old guy but I'd like to see an alternative to systemd.


FLAVOR: Desktop HEADLINE: Useful default calendar DESCRIPTION: Make the default calendar useful by adding the ability to (easily) sync with Google, Exchange calendars; show and add meetings from the tray. Bonus points for actionable previews.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Fix perf packaging

DESCRIPTION: I want the Ubuntu-supplied version of `perf` to be built with support for Python scripting. Last I checked, I had to rebuild `perf` myself to get that, which is silly.

AFFILIATION: I optimize other people's code for a living.


ext4 encryption. It's better then eCryptfs in nearly every way. Carry the patches for the HEH encryption mode for the file names, because who know when it will get merged upstream, and you really don't want broken file name crypto.


As one of the co-authors of eCryptfs...I wholeheartedly agree! I hope we can get to EXT4 encryption soon :-)


Flavor: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server

Headline: Change resolution for VNC connections when running Headless

Description: There are no simple ways to do this. Even moderately versed in Linux, I cannot easily change the resolution without driver hacks that typically do not work.


Seeing as almost all of the comments are about unity not the underlying system... i'm just gona dangle this here for the enlightened :P https://i3wm.org/


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Server]

- HEADLINE: CPanel like UI for server management

- DESCRIPTION: Any reason why this is not already done? Or is this outside the scope of ubuntu? There are millions of control panel but one that is supported properly by ubuntu would be awesome.


There are multiple options for Ubuntu that are much more modern than CPanel.

For management, see: http://landscape.canonical.com

For easy addition of server workloads, see: http://jujucharms.com


Have you tried plesk or Vespa? Not sure why you want to kill those businesses by having them I provided for free by canonical... There is also cloudron for web apps.


- FLAVOR: All

- HEADLINE: Make systemd optional

- DESCRIPTION: Most likely using Devuan?

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Developer and sysadmin


Not related to 17.10. Dustin, could you lobby LXD support for Kubernetes? Its not like community will do it in a year without Canonical support. But users really need it, and more above this could promote LXD more.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Exfat installed by default DESCRIPTION: Many cameras use exfat for their memory cards. Users should not have to install an obscure exfat-fuse package to handle this.

(forgot that in my previous comment)


https://launchpad.net/bugs/1649537


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Larger or adjustable window resizer hot spots

DESCRIPTION: Attempting to grab window corners or edges for resizing using the touchpad frequently becomes an exercise in patience for me (Ubuntu 15.04 Unity on Dell XPS 13)


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Voice commands

- DESCRIPTION: Just like for my phone, I am beginning to see the value of being able to issue specific commands to the desktop.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: CTO for a software product company. Use 16.10 all day every day.


-Flavor: Desktop

-Headline: Heat reduction

-Description: Laptops running Linu in general run a lot hotter than Windows or Mac.

It would be a big win if the heat dissipation is comparable to Windows or Mac on the same/similar system out of the box.

-Role: Unbuntu Desktop user


HEADLINE: Multiple Monitor Configuration

Could you possibly make it easier to get 4+ monitors working in the new release of Ubuntu. It's a no brainer with Windows/ MacIOS but a major PITA with any Linux distro.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Make Android apps work in Ubuntu

DESCRIPTION:

Make Android apps work in Ubuntu. Allow the size of screen that an app takes up be configurable on a per-app basis. Isolate apps from each other each in their own sandbox.


Flavor: Desktop Headline: A real commitment to accessibility for disabled users

About ten years ago, I was a happy Ubuntu user. At that time, it stuck fairly close to the GNOME stack, which is good for me as a blind user since GNOME is reasonably accessible and has a small but dedicated group of folks working on it.

Then Canonical significantly abandoned GNOME for Unity. While Canonical advanced Unity, wrote its own mobile-optimized interface, decided not to use Wayland in favor of its own home-grown solution, it to the best of my knowledge assigned one (one!) staffer to work on the accessibility story for all the greenfield stuff it was building. Sure, you could run GNOME in Ubuntu if you wanted to be a version or two behind. Also, sometimes you'd get something like GNOME 3.10 accessibility components shipped with GNOME 3.8, which worked 95% of the time, but when it failed it failed hard. I wish I could remember specifics, but at the time I was busy feeling like Canonical had basically thrown its non-able-bodied users aside. The only Canonical accessibility staffer I knew of was claiming that the goal was to only make Ubuntu LTS releases definitely accessible but no commitments for any in between. That completely disregards how the accessibility stack itself sees improvements, and sometimes things become more accessible by virtue of nothing more than using a newer at-spi/atk. Sometimes I upgrade GNOME not for the New Shiny(TM), but because GNOME 3.next brings accessibility improvements that will make existing apps more stable and usable. But you can't always just ship a newer atk with a GNOME release a year and a half behind, so telling me I'll only get accessibility fixes in 2-year increments when access tech changes about as quickly as any other is, well, short-sighted.

I'd really like to see Ubuntu make more of a commitment to accessibility in this or some upcoming (but near) cycle. If you can build your own custom desktop environment and display manager, then surely Canonical can assign more than a single person or two to improve the accessibility of all that new tech. I remember Shuttleworth writing a blog post near the end of 2012, claiming that Ubuntu would leave no one behind, and that it would be relevant to all types of computing. As a blind developer, I tried to constructively comment that not making accessibility a priority more than once every two years both left me behind and made Ubuntu less relevant to me. My comment vanished into the moderation queue and was never published. Maybe it wasn't the congratulatory pat on the back folks were hoping for in that post. Today I'm on Fedora and, while it isn't perfect, the fact that it stays close to GNOME makes it significantly better for me. All your new tech can be just as accessible, but it won't happen if you make it a single person's job to do that work. And, if you can't make it accessible because of limited resources, then you are leaving people behind and might want to scale back your efforts in other areas to compensate.


Hey Dustin, thanks for doing this. I have several, so I hope this comment doesn't break your grep :)

FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

-------------------------------------

HEADLINE ONE: Easier setup of Nvidia official graphics drivers for Ubuntu instead of nouveau.

DESCRIPTION ONE:

I know this might be somewhat orthogonal to development of the OS itself, it might even be a documentation improvement. But I use Ubuntu as my daily driver, for both home and work. I am very familiar with the OS and using linux in general. It took me 2 days across what must have been 6-8 hours of concentrated effort to 1) get dual (and later, quad) Nvidia graphics cards set up and 2) get display working correctly and reliably across 3 (and later, 4) monitors. There are still slight bugs here and there, but now it's very livable. But a cursory Google search will demonstrate that I am not alone in the lack of a "frustration-free" way to set up graphics drivers.

Nvidia now provides drivers for Linux, and it would be nice if they were first class citizens on Ubuntu through a comparatively easy selection, rather than defaulting to Nouveau. I still get errors when I update and restart occasionally, and am forced to purge Nouveau and reinstall the graphics drivers (if anyone reading this has ideas, I would be incredibly grateful to hear your solutions).

Failing technical improvements, documentation improvements would be superb in this arena. It is not unusual for me to look online and find Ubuntu's docs on installing something nonstandard like e.g. installing Nvidia graphics cards from their .sh files. It's not straightforward. Hell, I'd be happy to help improve docs with this one particular example, but as a general community effort I feel some documentation languishes, which is disheartening if the only way to get around errors is tribal and generally, well, undocumented :)

-------------------------

HEADLINE TWO: Please re-introduce RAID setup for Ubuntu Desktop during the install process.

DESCRIPTION TWO:

After Ubuntu 12, software RAID support was removed from the Unity install GUI for desktop versions. I assume there was a good reason for this, but I would love it if you could re-introduce it. When I built my current home/work machine, I had to follow the only AskUbuntu/StackOverflow answer I could find, which guided me through setting up logical volumes for pseudo-RAID (comparatively easy) and corresponding permissions/boot sequences (fairly unintuitive) across repeated reboots. This isn't high on my priority list, but again, a casual Google search will show others use it. I think the core premise, that people who want to use RAID don't use Ubuntu Desktop (in lieu of Server) is mistaken, but I recognize I might be in a minority of minorities here.

---------------------------------

HEADLINE THREE: My most unrealistic ask - please implement fallback functionality that bridges compatibility between major point releases so that an e.g. container can be spun up on the desktop to simulate the last point release for a subset of directories.

DESCRIPTION THREE:

I don't know how you'd go about this or if it's even possible from an engineering perspective to isolate specific directories in such a granular way and still maintain system-wide stability. Let me give my specific example:

I frequently work with machine learning and other GPU parallellized work. I installed Tensorflow on Ubuntu 14 even though I wanted to use Ubuntu 16 because there were compatibility difficulties in building Tensorflow from source on Ubuntu 16 (when I did this, it supported 16 through vanilla pip install). I had to build from source because I have multiple graphics cards. This made life onerous because Nvidia has much better support in Ubuntu 16. Thankfully there again was guidance on forums.

The ask: if there were an API that allowed software developers to create containerized versions of their software that simulated a little of column A and a little of column B from different point releases, it would probably make installing software like Tensorflow and associated CUDA/GPU libraries easier. Or perhaps offload it entirely from third party developers and create a very lightweight VM that imitates directory structure for what the target software is expecting - a lot of these issues have to do with naming convention and expected directories, not with actual functionality differences.

Again, this is obviously a stretch ask.

---------------------------

ROLE: Software Engineer, I work in information security and data analysis and use Ubuntu for home and work.


This is fantastic, rich, response, thank you very much. I love your 3rd suggestion. That's a great idea.


- FLAVOR: Desktop

- HEADLINE: New icons by default!

- DESCRIPTION: There are a lot of good icon sets out there that are easy to install. I think a better default icon set would make the desktop look a lot smoother and cleaner.


There's a lot of unnecessary color, gloss and general distraction in Unity: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7b/Ubuntu_1.... It's all very 2005-fake-version-of-old-OS-X.

What purpose does the rectangular second layer of gloss on the icons serve?


Flavor: desktop Headline: more drivers Description: we need more drivers for current biz-grade laptops from manufacturers, for example HP. Role: programmer Affiliation: merit networks


Ubuntu Desktop

Mesh/ad-hoc wifi networking support as a headline feature.

Well considered ease of use UI, should include some sample open source games or other tools (eg. shared drawing) to get the ball rolling.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: High Availability/Clustering

- DESCRIPTION: Essentially, a supported Ubuntu version of Pacemaker and Corosync, like RHEL has.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Director of University Research IT group.


A reasonable set of applications that will help to switch from OSX


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Core

HEADLINE: Support ZFS root FS, with mirrored disks.

DESCRIPTION: Allow installing with a ZFS mirrored root volume, and ensure update-grub/update-initramfs correctly detects the situation.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Default Unity 8

- DESCRIPTION: A functional convergent default Unity 8 DE with essential snap apps integrated in sandboxes. Old promisse!

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Owner of Vitree Consulting.


FLAVOR Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE Switching to <anything but Unity> as main desktop environment

DESCRIPTION Unity is the number one reason I hear people turning away from GNU/Linux in general: Ubuntu is more or less the de facto first install, and invariably the ones that go through with a standard Ubuntu install turn back to Windows because they could not get used to the UI. Not that the conversion rate is 100% for when I do manage to convince someone to use Linux Mint with Cinnamon, but I don't hear UI complaints.

Lots of people I talk to use Cinnamon or a tiling window manager, and nobody I ever talk to prefers Unity (even if they are okay with using it).


The removal of systemd.


I already have Ubuntu on my servers, PC, and tablet. Now I also want to run Ubuntu on my Phone!

P.S What's up with the non-commercial use disclaimer !?

To make money you should focus on enterprise and education. A lot of organizations want to run Linux, but the current available solutions are total disasters, for example 10,000 units delivered where the OS installed on them was incompatible with the hardware. Enterprises currently run Microsoft, Apple, or Google and I think this would be a fine market for Ubuntu to make some dough. Whatever you do though, don't sell ads or personal info, but I think you already learned that lesson ;)


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Solve HDMI bug to connect TV

Description: I connect HDMI plug but not automatic sound to TV and not speaker sound to disconnecting the cable

ROLE/Affiliation: Game and Web Developer


'Unified Communications' It'd be nice to integrate SMS, MMS, RCS notifications. Similar to PushBullet. Would most likely require an android client.


FLAVOR: Fedora

HEADLINE: How Ubuntu is terrible

DESCRIPTION: dpkg, apt-get, and more commands use ambiguous names (apt-get update && apt-get upgrade for example). The package manager on Ubuntu and Debian should be consolidated into a single 'apt' command, such as 'apt install' or 'apt update'. Ubuntu and Debian default settings are configured like someone didn't read documentation and doesn't care about consistency. Fedora, CentOS, RHEL, and other RedHat-based distros are far superior in every way imaginable.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: DevOps Engineer / Unix Systems Administrator


... there _is_ an apt command. Apt-get install aptitude if it's missing.

It has pretty progress bars too ;)

I don't think rhel is much better; dnf?!


Classy!


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Better support to Nvidia

Description: Suspend does not work properly, support Nvidia Optimus and provide nvenc ppa or snap package

ROLE/Affiliation: Game and Web Developer


Text to speech. There's no decent open source voice.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: An option to automatically reopen applications that were previously running, after a reboot.

- DESCRIPTION: Not sure what else to say. MacOS has that.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop 1. Headline: pidgin with omemo support pidgin has omemo support but is currently not built with the version in ubuntu


Flavour: Ubuntu desktop

Headline: DisplayLink usb3 dock support

DisplayLink dock support for single or multiple monitors is poor on Linux systems. Fixing this would be great!


SElinux


Universe and multiverse disabled by default.


I want to see the Amazon link icon. Not there at all. I don't know how plausible this is, it's just a wish.


- FLAVOR: [Ubuntu Desktop]

- HEADLINE: hardware manager

- DESCRIPTION: A place where I can see and manage (on, off, drivers) all my hardware devices.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: Better support for Wacom Tablets

Description: Add advance configurations like Gnome 3.24

ROLE/Affiliation: Game and Web Developer


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Core

- HEADLINE: Microkernel

- DESCRIPTION: Support microkernel such as sel4. Integrate GNU/ Linux tools to run on microkernel.


- /etc/rc.d/ rather than dmenu - tarball based packages - more libraries included out of the box

(like slackware!)


System management through PowerShell! :-)

(This might not be as much for Ubuntu's team as for PowerShell's team though)


You know that you can get PowerShell on Ubuntu now, right? https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/blob/master/docs/in...


HEy! yeah, that's why I think Ubuntu might want to do some cmdlets to use PowerShell instead of Bash for system management :)


-FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

-HEADLINE: DTrace

-DESCRIPTION: Dedicate some of your development time to port DTrace from FreeBSD to Ubuntu.

-ROLE: CEO, Software Developer


Ah, yes, I've heard this one a few times. Have you tried the BPF (Berkeley Packet Filter) and bcc tools? These are shipping now with 16.04. While it's not dtrace, it's certainly in the same family of deep inspection of a running system...


https://github.com/dtrace4linux/linux/

I have no idea how well it works, though


Remove systemd.


A functional convergent default Unity 8 DE with essential snap apps integrated in sandboxes. Old promisse!


No Unity. I dunno if that's a stilo thing but that turned me off from ubuntu, probably forever.


A strong reason for why I use Xubuntu instead.


Flavor: Ubuntu Server

Headline: Docker installed by default

Description: Docker is installed by default, with a standard config directory.

Role: SysAdmin


The interface from Ubuntu 10.x back.


Just try the MATE edition. Live 17.10 beta available below.

https://ubuntu-mate.org/download/


- Does Unity still uses compiz?

- What about Mir?

(it's been a while since I last used Ubuntu, my view of it may be outdated)


-FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

-HEADLINE: Better Support for XPS Series Adapters

-DESCRIPTION: I want my Dell DA200 to work as expected.

-ROLE: Developer


I just want to be able to close my laptop, then open it again, and my monitor comes back on


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Core

HEADLINE: Punish users of 16.x and lower.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Bastard programmer from hell.

DESCRIPTION:

What I most want to see in Ubuntu 17.10 is suffering for all users of Ubuntu 16.x and lower.

Please make everyone rewrite their APT configuration for any updates to continue to work, and give the damned laggards only critical security fixes after they do.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

HEADLINE: make the GUI more like traditional Unix GUIs

DESCRIPTION:

the default GUI to have a look-and-feel similar to xfce (as I have it set up on all my machines), specifically:

- 8 virtual desktops - the window with input focus doesn't have to be the one at the top - minimize, maximize and close buttons at the right of the window title bar


I was wondering how are planning to deal with `compiz` are we stuck with it ??


Quiero que Ubuntu sea completamente libre y que el kernel también sea libre.


It is extremely unlikely that this is going to happen so there is no point in even asking for it. It was never one of Ubuntu's stated goals to fill that niche and it is very very unlikely that it ever will be one of Ubuntu's stated goals. There are other distros that aim for what you want, some are even Debian derivatives I believe: https://www.cyberciti.biz/tips/best-gnu-linux-distributions....

Note that nothing that I have said here implies a value judgement, just that you're looking in the incorrect place for what you desire.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Iterate on the design

- DESCRIPTION: Some versions ago, there was a lot of movement in designing Ubuntu. There were general improvements like the new scrollbar, new icons, a new gtk theme, and on the other side a general push to make it more like an Apple desktop. Some of it worked, some did not. But it all feels unfinished, abandoned. Nowadays every Ubuntu version looks and feels the same, all that is changing are the geometric forms of the pink-brown desktop background, and the old issues remain untouched. There is so much unfinished stuff here one could work on:

* Integrate the modified overlay scrollbar fully into the system. It for example never worked with Firefox, despite that being your default browser. Patch FF if necessary to make it happen.

* Fix the remaining UI issues of that scrollbars, like not being able to fully scroll to the bottom if the overlay reaches the bottom of the scrollbar before the window content.

* The GTK themes could use new variants and a general modernization.

* The icon set looks dated now, and Unity does not present them very nicely. It is a great opportunity to improve the overall look.

* Make your design team actually develop a design concept linked to the new version and code name, and not produce another interchangeable wallpaper of geometric lines on brown and purple each time. Remember what you did for intrepid - it doesn't have to be brown again, it doesn't have to be an animal, but at least get some character into the design. And honestly: https://design.canonical.com/2016/04/wallpaper-design-for-xe... was a disgrace for the design community. Our Suru language is influenced by the minimalist nature of Japanese culture. We have taken elements of their Zen culture that give us a precise yet simplistic rhythm and used it in our designs. Working with paper metaphors we have drawn inspiration from the art of origami that provides us with a solid and tangible foundation to work from. Paper is also transferable, meaning it can be used in all areas of our brand in two and three dimensional forms. Sure...

* Make unity better customizeable - all that apple stuff like having window controls to the left really needs to be configurable. That's part of a good design, and something where you dropped the ball (the global menu not being absolute anymore was a good first step). Embrace the linux UI stuff like sloppy focus and windows that can be pinned to specific workspaces.

Edit: In the spirit of the last phrase, a "honor where you came from" could be a great slogan for such a UI/UX design iteration.


Please don't change the init.d/startup/systemd again.


I like and use Gentoo, but sometime look to Ubuntu, and want (might) to see there:

* no systemd and also relevant init system like or as OpenRC

* USE-flags and ebuild support or something compatible

* source-based features (custom builds from sources)

* improved python support for all mainline versions


aptitude package manager in the place of apt. Or may be pacman


Flavor: All

Python 3.6.1+ as default Python 3.

Developer


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: graphical easter eggs

- DESCRIPTION: there are some easter eggs available for terminal. it's nice to have some ubuntu specific graphical easter eggs. it's right day to request it!


A laptop that has working suspend, wifi, and audio.


Functional package management like nix or guix.


a file system which doesn't force me to Google 'busybox' 'fschk' 'grup repair' every other day.

a desktop which is stable ( and boots after system updates )


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Server

- HEADLINE: sl to be installed by default

- DESCRIPTION: Cure bad habits of mistyping commands. Annoying at first, but in the long run will create better admins.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: DevOps


I want it to wok out of the box on my macair


An aero glass like theme would be nice.


More support for USB wifi devices.


Fewer bugs.

I guess another way to say this is greater stability, which generally means fewer new features and more testing.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Is there a better medium for feedback?

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: C++ Software Engineer, currently in the genomics industry, in Houston, TX

- DESCRIPTION:

All-in-all, I've been pushed to Linux out of sheer hatred of the direction that Windows is going. I'll never install anything newer than Windows 7 ever. When Windows 7 goes End-Of-Life, I'll go 100% Linux. Apple's products are neat but they're nowhere near worth what they're priced at (used them in the distant past). That leaves me with Linux and commodity hardware.

Really though, I feel like commandline power users end up taking a back seat to happy-go-lucky pretty interfaces that I feel are designed for airheads (to put it mildly). Sure they look great but they're not productive. If I have to touch my mouse, the interface is probably doing something wrong.

So, what do I want to see in Ubuntu?

+ Is there something similar to EPEL but for Ubuntu (and other Debian derivatives)? I'm particularly looking for `devtoolset` packages, but I'm sure others would love for other EPEL packages that, as far as I'm aware, are currently either old (sometimes super old) in the apt repositories or else simply must be completely rebuilt by hand.

+ The installer should ask about privacy issues (for new installations). Make it very clear, not some hidden thing that's easily skipped or not even seen.

+ Zeitgeist? Absolutely useless to me. I know exactly what I want and where to find it. If I don't know where it's at then I know how to find it (happens maybe once every three or four months). I don't even want it installed at all, it's that useless. It's literally worse than useless: it consumes system resources (CPU, disk, etc) for utility that I will never use. I'm pretty sure serious developers feel the same way. Why isn't opt-in?

+ Unity? Unity is not functional. By not functional I mean it hurts my productivity. After nuking Zeitgeist, I go right on to disable Unity and install Cinnamon. It's far simpler, far more familiar, far more stable, and doesn't waste anywhere near as much system resources. I really like how Fedora has various spins with different default desktop environments.

+ When using `vim` I always have to put `:set paste` in my ~/.vimrc, or else go figure out where you broke pasting. I don't want comments to continue on the next line. I'll add the comment characters, thanks.

+ `apt` is not nice to the command line at all. Try searching for stuff using `apt`, pipe the output through grep, and see how apt warns you that it's not meant for ~smart people~ command line processing. IMO that's counter to all of Linux. `dnf` on the other hand is both far more intuitive and far more friendly to piping around in bash.

+ Turn off ssh-agent and all variations. I will always have passphrases on my keys and absolutely never want that passphrase remembered by the computer. Ever. I will always specify which key to use. And, I have hundreds of keys. I have so many keys in my ~/.ssh that _every_ ssh-agent will immediately cause a disconnect because of the remote server thinking I'm trying too many keys (hint: think about how insecure that actually becomes). I've found that removing the ssh-agent will sometimes not work: it will sometimes be reinstalled (usually an update does that). Better to just chmod -x. And the worst is that ssh-agent isn't the only agent. There's that damn GNOME ssh agent. One or two other ones. But installing it? Oh man, uninstalling it is impossible because it's literally a dependency for half of the stuff in a fresh system. How is that even possible when I can satisfactorily `chmod -x` all of the agents and... achieve what I want and everything still works? Don't answer that, I know how it's possible. Solve it instead.

+ Work with nVidia. We both know they're not going to fix their drivers (cough I hope I'm proven wrong... cough). It literally took me 2 full days to get a working installation with an i7-6850K and GTX 1060. TWO FULL DAYS. That's just to get it to "work". By that I mean that the computer is useable. But it's not perfect: I'm sitting here watching flickering on my screen. Sometimes screenshots are corrupt. Luckily I don't do a lot of heavy work with graphics or I wouldn't even be using Linux specifically because of this issue. That's quite a shame to think that.

+ Work with hardware vendors. Microsoft very clearly has discounts for vendors coughDellcough such that a computer with identical hardware specs ends up being cheaper if it comes with Windows. This is, in my opinion, very clearly anti-competitive. But apparently it's legal? So whatever. It's not cool to "buy" a Windows license (for a negative price point?!) that I can't see or transfer to another computer. I take that new computer, take out the hard drive, put a new hard drive in, and install an actual operating system instead of spyware. What a waste of a license that I'd rather not have had in the first place. I don't care that it's cheaper. I don't care that they do it.

Upon reflection... maybe I shouldn't be using Ubuntu.


"Upon reflection... maybe I shouldn't be using Ubuntu."

"Is there something similar to EPEL but for Ubuntu (and other Debian derivatives)?"

"If I have to touch my mouse, the interface is probably doing something wrong."

What do you find lacking in a CentOS/EPEL install that Ubuntu gives you?

There are lots of keyboard oriented window managers around and some 'structured evaluation' (aka waste a weekend distro hopping and tweaking together with surfing the blogs to find someone who does the same kind of work as you do) will probably allow you to find something you like.

(Personally, I find KDE with a few adjustments fine for most things and Gnome Shell seemed fairly intuitive after a year on dwm).


> What do you find lacking in a CentOS/EPEL install that Ubuntu gives you?

The most recent version of software. I've found CentOS, in particular, to have ancient versions of software in the repos. EPEL helps, but it only goes so far.

> I find KDE with a few adjustments fine for most things and Gnome Shell seemed fairly intuitive after a year on dwm

I tried out KDE recently. Maybe it was an old version. It reminded me a lot of oldschool classic Mac OS. Easy to find things, but things don't have a lot of features or options. Gnome Shell... it's okay and there's a ton of under the hood options. But there's practically zero way to access them without either insider knowledge of what to configure and where, or else having to go install even more software.


Fedora then. The Korora Project provide a 'batteries included' Fedora with codecs &c.

I've sort of arrived at the same place as Rob Pike[1] but with Linux instead of Mac OS. Default Debian Stable with KDE + restore and I'm away. Or default (kitchen sink) install of Slackware.

PS: KDE is almost a Windows clone in my perception and quite a long way from MacOS!

[1] https://usesthis.com/interviews/rob.pike/


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

ROLE/AFFILIATION: I'm a Python dev freelancer.

1. HEADLINE: Fix wifi support once and for all

I ran Ubuntu on at least a dozen of laptops, and all of them had some kind of problem with WIFI:

- inferior wifi range - difficulties to connect to some wifi spots - network dying on you for no reason, asking for a reboot - and the winner : sleep mode kills the network for good and requires a reboot

All my laptops had a Windows partition with those problems didn't occur.

This would be y wish number one. I already donated to canonical, bu would actually donate specifically to help that been done. I need my wifi to (re)connect quickly, with no hassle and be reliable.

2. Better multi screen support

Some time (un)plugging a monitor randomly doesn't work while it worked before.

Also the transition between 2 screens settings is scary for a beginer when I demo it. It's hard to sell Ubuntu to an Apple fan when their Mac plugs smoothly into their TV while my PC glitters for 20 seconds with unreliable results.

3. HEADLINE: Better battery management.

What the others said.

4. HEADLINE: Better USB-C/thunderbolt support

I currently have a DELL XPS 15 and have a USB-C + thunderbolt dock:

- sometime screen don't show up - sometime charging stops - ethernet doesn't work - unplugging make me loose the sound - plugging make me loose the ability to choose the sound output

It works fine on windows.

5. HEADLINE: Better support for sleep/hibernate

Hibernate didn't work on half the laptops I owned. Sleep mode can crash some random OS features.

6. HEADLINE: Clean boot screen

The transition between grub, the loading animation, the login screen and the desktop are unatural, the resolution is different, the screen flickers...

7. HEADLINE: Fix VPN support

I always run openvpn using the command line because network manager GUI doesn't work.

6. HEADLINE: No crash when a NTFS partition can't be mounted

I have a shared NTFS partition. When windows mark it dirty, Ubuntu won't mount it. And refuse to boot

7. HEADLINE: Put back the options to custom action of close lid / power button

I want the screen to lock when I close the lid, and laptop to go on sleep when I hit the power button. I used to be able to do that. Not anymore.

8. HEADLINE: improve drag and drop support

Sometime I try to drag files on the icons on the dock, and the icon is greyed, preventing it to switch.

Also when I drag something from a windows below the one having focus, it bring nautilus into focus, hidding the previously focused window. Microsoft windows file explorer give you a delay so that you can safely drag the selected item back to the focused windows.

9 HEADLINE: improve game support

I tried to play dota on Ubuntu but when back to windows. I lost the mouse pointer, sound was cutting, alt minized the game, etc.

10 HEADLINE: improve bluetooth support

Switching to my bluetooth sound system is still tedious. And sometime I have to resync.

-------------------

You'll notice than none of them are new features. Some are even asking for features I had before be disappeared.

I DON'T need new features. Old them off until Ubuntu is fixed. A working OS is the most important feature.

Also, stop reinventing the wheel. I don't need mir when wayland is out there. Unity was a success to me, but it's the exception. I'd rather see canonical spend resources on improving standard tools.

It's a harsh post so let me finish with a big thank you. I love this OS. I live on it. You are doing a huge work. You are fantastic. I love you.

I'm available for calls and chats and tests on my machine if you need some.


Hello,

1. FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: pinch to zoom with touchpads DESCRIPTION: pinch to zoom with touchpad is convenient and available on most platforms. It would be nice to have it on Ubuntu and other distributions, too. It is already available with touchscreen on some applications but not at all on touchpads.

2. FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Pixel-perfect scrolling everywhere by default. DESCRIPTION: Pixel-perfect scrolling makes it more easier to read long texts.

3. FLAVOR: all HEADLINE: Parallelize apt / dpkg DESCRIPTION: Installation of packages requires downloading, unkpacking, configuring. Using apt(-get), one cannot install two or more things in parallel. Package downloads could be done even if an installation is already ongoing and requests to install packages could be added to the current installation process instead of rejecting them because there is already an installation running (with possibly priority handling).

4. FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: One-click add ppa + install app DESCRIPTION: It should be easy for users to install applications that are not in the repository. One click to add a ppa and install an application (with any security warning that applies) would be a good step toward this.

5. FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Stability when resuming from suspend DESCRIPTION: With too many laptops, resuming from suspend is unreliable and may hang.

6. FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Higher maximum volume level DESCRIPTION: One thing that is consistent across many laptop, maximum sound is too quiet for integrated speakers.

7. FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Make Emoji input and display easy and here by default DESCRIPTION: More and more people like and use emojis. A Ubuntu should handle that correctly.

8. FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Show battery usage per application and alert when an application is eating battery (unexpectedly) DESCRIPTION: sometimes, a process uses too much battery and has time to waste energy before noticed.

9. FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Remote control without configuration DESCRIPTION: it would be nice to be able to help a novice Ubuntu user remotely, without making him / her install and configure anything, even if they are using a public wifi, with low latency (with a possibility to take control with an ssh-like method).

10. FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop HEADLINE: Bring atomic snapshots to the common user DESCRIPTION: Btrfs and ZFS provide atomic snapshots that can be used to go back in time in case something bad happened. Ubuntu could bring this functionality to the user by making it possible to cancel an update or a configuration, and to protect user's home directory from human mistakes by periodically making snapshots.This would be a useful complement to regular backups.

ROLE/AFFILIATION: Kubuntu Desktop user


grsec kernel (optional)


More aarch64 packages.


Better HiDPI support


Rolling updates


Unity 8!!!


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Gnome Desktop

HEADLINE: Have first class support for hibernate DESCRIPTION: There are a few problems i noticed with hibernate - During installation you don't get notified that you need a swap partition of the size of your ram if you want to hibernate (moving partitions around is a PITA) - There is no menu to set close lid to hibernate, the go to option seems to be edit /etc/systemd/logind.conf and if that doesn't work the internet has various other solutions that might work - During upgrade form 15.10 to 16.04 this broke and i never got the hibernate functionality to work again

HEADLINE: Improve battery life DESCRIPTION: The difference with windows is SIGNIFICANT. Watch the barchart at [1]

HEADLINE: Fix tracker-store and tracker-miner-fs eating CPU. DESCRIPTION: Seems that this is also a quite common issue [2], why doesn't this just work out of the box?

HEADLINE: Help support some 3rd parties get their software packaged and put in the distro. DESCRIPTION: I haven't been able to use f.lux and i think a small utility like that would enhance the overal desktop experience, so would be nice if ubuntu team supports this a little bit. (The alternative apps which should do the same didn't work for me). The point is that the OS should offer at least 1 package that just works. Now this seems to be only done with packages that are like "gnome official", where 3rd party packages sometimes fill a gap.

HEADLINE: Inventing a new desktop experience is great, but keep the options that people are used to. DESCRIPTION: I do really appreciate the thought that went into designing a new desktop experience. But please don't force it onto the user if it has not been "proven" yet. The user should have an option to go back to the old way of doing things. After some years if the % that uses the old option is very small it can be removed from the standard distribution. I think there should be more policy on this. The policy should also focus on what features people really want. For example i had to install another terminal (Terminator) just to be able to rename tabs, it was not possible or i didn't know how to do it in Gnome Terminal. It just seems that the dev team is a bit out of touch with the users need. Also this story [3]

[1] https://tweakers.net/reviews/4859/3/accuduur-bij-laptops-de-... [2] https://askubuntu.com/questions/346211/tracker-store-and-tra... [3] https://geoff.greer.fm/2016/08/26/gnome-terminal-cursor-blin...


BSD kernel


UbuntuBSD already exists and has even been mentioned on Hacker News.

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11326457

* https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11326681


Well, i tried already to post, but that post did not appear..., here my second try: Hi, i'm very excited about this, because we use Ubuntu at our company. I have many suggestions, perhaps i can describe them better this second time :) MultiMonitorSupport and HDPI were already called for, so i will not repeat that. I'm very well aware that you cannot and won't do most of this stuff, but any of this done would tremendously help you and all ubuntu users. And do not think i think Ubuntu is not great. It is. But there's always room for improvement. You guys are the best for asking here!

I am a developer and kind of architect at our company. and we have a downstream distribution of ubuntu. we try to upstream our stuff, but that's not easy with our resources

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Core - HEADLINE: support reproducible builds - DESCRIPTION: reproducible builds will help us to write better software and verify software on systems bit for bit, this is an tremendous effort, which will possibly help us all with software quality

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Core - HEADLINE: provide fuzzy build recipes - DESCRIPTION: provide fuzzy build recipes (with afl-fuzz for example) with each source package like for example https://github.com/d33tah/afl-sid-repo so it is possible that we can test the software and find bugs. you won't find all the bugs because you cannot test for all inputs, but if you provide the recipes most will try that on their own systems with the input which is important for them

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: please provide more apparmor profiles - DESCRIPTION: the desktop is a interesting attack surface, please provide more apparmor support for example thunderbird, okular, libreoffice, calligra flow, calibre, gwenview, gimp, kate, xpdf, since email, pdf, images and office documents are common attack vectors. perhaps even provide multiple versions for more or less strict version for example for firefox.

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Core - HEADLINE: make poppler/okular better! - DESCRIPTION: poppler is an important kind of piece, many depend on it. but i miss important functionalities like layers (https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=97768) or xfa-support which is needed for government papers to fill out :(

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: better citrix support - DESCRIPTION: citrix web receiver and the ica client are not nice to use. Perhaps you could collaborate with them and make it nicer. Responsivness, speed and image quality often lacks on ubuntu/linux machines :(

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Core - HEADLINE: make a citrix alternative? - DESCRIPTION: or instead of citrix you could build a alternative to citrix with libvirt/kvm and spice? :D

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: Support kube - DESCRIPTION: Kube (kube.kde.org) is a new emailclient based on qt/qml, written by kolab and could be a replacement for thunderbird, which is barely maintained. and finding people who can hack on thunderbird/xul is not easy.

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: integrate usbguard for enterprise - DESCRIPTION: usbguard is a tool for white/blacklisting usb-devices. please integrate it and make a version, where it can use signed data from other remote sources! :)

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: integrate clevis/tang - DESCRIPTION: clevis and tang would support device encryption and make a second decryption key which is important in enterprise settings, WITHOUT pressing the user to reveal his own key.

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: better beamer support? - DESCRIPTION: when i put my ubuntu box to a dvi/hdmi beamer i often see the display only after rebooting. could you make it work that it works already after plugging the beamer in? with other distributions like fedora it often works :(

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Core - HEADLINE: more security support - DESCRIPTION: either put more packages from universe/multiverse to main or support security updates for packages in multi/universe too. This is not easy for users to know, what is insecure on their box. or at least make it visible via a commandline tool?

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: docx support? - DESCRIPTION: make libreoffice with docx support better... yeah, it is not a nice job to do :(

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop, Ubuntu Server - HEADLINE: enable kernel live patching and activate it with unattended-upgrade - DESCRIPTION: enable live kernel patching and enable unattended-upgrade for it that it supports ith with configuration.

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: make joining ad/ldap+kerberos environments easy - DESCRIPTION: make a tool, that makes joining an AD-environment or kerberos/ldap-environment really easy. bonus if you provide such a server environment via configuration/debpackages yourself!

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: NetworkManager and secure certificate support - DESCRIPTION: In Enterprise Environments it is often needed to have Certificates for 802.1x, openvpn or openconnect. It would be great if networkmanager would support pkcs-urls (and the tools which are used by networkmanager) which then connect to a softhsm and the certificates are only available for the networkmanager, which is enforced via apparmor-profiles

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: security audit of qt - DESCRIPTION: Martin graesslin mentioned in a blog post that qt is not vetted for security, it would be great if there's a security audit for it

- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop - HEADLINE: make a function/syscall for erasing memory secure in qt - DESCRIPTION: Enable a possibility with QT (perhaps even with a syscall) which erases memory secure even within the qt-environment?


My suggestion is to focus on inconveniences. So far, the ones I've found most frustrating are:

- poor support for a dual monitor configuration with one 4K and one 1080p monitor.

- please include in the official deb repo multiple versions of important libraries where users are likely to download source code that depend on the version not included in the Ubuntu distro. The libraries to do this with are likely indicated by the current versions found in other distros. If a developer is working on something on a current version of Redhat, for example, maybe the pulseaudio version is different and incompatible. Offering both (installed in separate paths) would make life easier to avoid installing a bunch of custom stuff in /usr/local just to work with source code that leans on popular library versions that are current in other distros. Why not just strongly version each lib and let maintainers adapt. It's far easier (and more secure) to just apt-get install a binary version of the right version than to manage a significant amount of stuff in /usr/local or download an untrusted version from universe.

- add additional signing or cryptographic vetting to universe. It shouldn't just be a zoo of everything not official, organizations should be able to vet specific maintainers of universe packages, specific packages, etc. This way we can decide whether to install something from universe without flying blind and without doing our own source code audit. I realize that custom PPAs are intended to solve this, but I'd rather use the official package as often as possible, closely followed by a broadly vetted universe package, and my last choice is to replace an important package with one from a PPA which was customized only to support one application. I get squeamish when I add a PPA and it wants to replace any core library with its own "improved" version. This happens largely because universe does not support a security model that would allow the maintainers of that app to contribute to a broadly sanctioned unofficial repo while still guaranteeing security and compatibility with their own app. Enhancing the security model for universe would let arrangements emerge to solve this which would be stable and would add a lot of value to universe for people who might be reluctant to use universe packages for security reasons.

- tighter integration with other package managers (pip, npm, rubygems, cabal, etc.). In an ideal world the deb would specify a specific configuration contract and the implementation would make it happen while keeping the other package manager's conventions intact. We could then run a command to simply verify if those other package managers had subsequently violated the contract expected by the deb and warn appropriately (and offer to fix the situation using the package manager in question).

- OR, if the above suggestion is stupid, it would be great if pip actually used apt internally, on windows, linux, and OSX, so perhaps there is a way to try to grow apt as a superb package management solution and remove the need for nearly every project to create its own home grown system (or at least make the tradeoff favor using apt more appealing). We're approaching an era where we have virtual open source "distros" like homebrew which are essentially a package manager. Since filesystem size is less and less of a concern, I think the logical end-point (per my second suggestion) is to have package managers which create secure, rolling updates where multiple versions of many libraries are supported. Apt is one of the most powerful systems for doing this, so it should (in my opinion) win.


FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

TOPICS: Encryption, Apt, Wayland, Bluetooth, and GPU

HEADLINE: Encryption needs to work easily and not be a pain with path names.

DESCRIPTION:

Home folder encryption. Feels like basic security. But there are a lot of problems that seem to come with it. One of these is the path length issue. This issue has been known for A LONG time. To me it is unacceptable that this has not been solved yet. There are a lot of security conscious users on HN. There was just a story the other week about the TSA accidentally giving a guy's laptop to another passenger. All work laptops need to be encrypted too, but it is such a pain when someone has a large path name in their build. And as others have mentioned about dual booting as well as encrypting after the fact (this is an options on Winblows and OSX).

At this point encryption should be an easy thing. Users need to do it but it is hard to get them to when it is not a few buttons away.

HEADLINE: Make Apt smoother

DESCRIPTION:

There are a lot of things I love about Ubuntu, but a lot I just love about other distros. I was a long time Arch user, and what kept me there is Pacman. The AUR is great, but there were a lot of simple things that were just nice. "pacman -Syu" will update AND install in one command. You'd also have updates with negative disk space. I wouldn't lose so much to root directories with junk. I know I am nit picking here but it is the little things. I do find this difficult when teaching new people linux too. "Wait, what do you mean I have to upgrade? I thought I just updated all my packages? What are all these files that it says I should 'autoremove'?".

HEADLINE: What do you want? Wayland! When do we want it? In a reasonable time.

DESCRIPTION:

Wayland, we've been waiting a long time and are excited about it.

HEADLINE: "How do I connect my bluetooth device on linux?"

DESCRIPTION:

I hear this all the time. It should just work.

HEADLINE: "How do I install CUDA?"

DESCRIPTION:

GPU. This should also just work. I'm still surprised how many problems I face with this. It feels like 2/3 machines I install CUDA onto has minor to serious graphic problems upon upgrade. Enough that I just don't bother with some machines. I know this isn't directly your fault, but you definitely have more pull than us individual users. A lot of us choose linux because it is a great programming environment. I'd love to see Canonical and Nvidia have a good relationship. They look to be wanting to make headway in ML. Programmers love Linux. It should work out for everyone.

ROLE: User


You're thinking of file based encryption that's used by the "Encrypt my home directory" feature in the Ubuntu installer. Full disk encryption doesn't have path length issues. The installer supports setting up full disk encryption and I would recommend using that, over file based encryption, on a single user desktop system.


Thank you. I guess my confusion was with the installer. I will make an edit.


Im mostly talking out of my ass here, but here goes: Stop trend following with UI paradigms. Being smaller and accept that you're smaller; Stop worrying about converting people and new user adoption. Is it /really/ a priority for the target market of new and current users to have as low a learning curve as possible for UI layout and functionality patterns? It seems to me most Ububtu users are A) at /least/ slightly more sophisticated than the average user B) /actually/ looking for an alternative, as in a new paradigm.

Why not??

I personally love the convenience of the CLI, but remembering all of those commands takes up a lot of mental space. Some sort of visual guide, or better, a way to make the CLI experience mesh with the GUI experience would be totally be the cat's meow.

Again, don't try to be the next mac or windows (at least not by mostly copying their paradigms). Doing so can easily damage a niche product's ability to fully serve its core users.

It's a better idea, rather, to look at the size and profiles (5 is a good number) of Ubuntu users as a source of users who are probably willing to experiment and even actively contribute to experimental UI, navigation, and command input design models.

This type of active and collaborative participation at a higher level of abstraction (at the design and use level) is great for allowing active users to contribute more than a few lines of code in a network driver. I would definitely reconsider using Ubuntu if I this sort of activity started. That would open your user base to a whole new class of technical users, process and user-interface designers.

Who knows, maybe you guys will stumble upon something interesting! If the user-touching design innovations catch on and increase visibility for Ubuntu or better, if they are adopter by maimsteam players, then you would further cement Ubuntu's position in the OS ecosystem, but with meaningful connectivity to major players-- as a place where reallty cool things happen in terms of design innovation. Big companies like windows can't make these kinds of changes very easily, almost any amount of testing is too little for a company with such a large user base, most of whom are less tech sophisticated and solidified in their usage patterns and expectations. Large companies are by nature more calcified. Small companies like Ubuntu can try new usage patterns (like what windows tries and inevitably always fails at), see what works, then, furthermore, can help establish those design patterns in a reasonable number of mainstream users (there are strategies for that) and after a critical mass had been reached in terms of familiarity and proper market-fit, the larger players will put those ideas at the top of the list when it comes time to think about modernization.


For a small player like Ubuntu I think it makes sense to copy ideas from others as they don't have the resources to come up with advance and novel UI concepts themselves.

But I can agree with one thing. Don't jump around too much. Make gradual improvements. One of the things I like about the Mac is that the UI paradigm has stayed very consistent since Mac OS X was released. There are far too many changes in e.g. Windows, and it seems Linux is copying too much of this. E.g. removing the menu bar and making UIs look like mobile phone UIs is silly and wasteful. Many of the established UI paradigm on the desktop have been refined over decades and work very well.

- Keep regular menu bars - Keep regular menu bars, don't go crazy with animated tiles and that sort of stuff. - And please none of the crazy ribbon stuff.

Honestly I think Ubuntu would be pretty safe following Apple as they don't jump onto crazy ideas with every release like MS. They stick with what they have and refine it. That makes sense for Linux to do as well.


- FLAVOUR: Desktop

1. - HEADLINE: Thumbnails in file upload window

1. - DESC: I can't preview thumbnails in the file upload window in Firefox or Chrome (Ubuntu 16.10 here)

2. - HEADLINE: Built-in flux-like settings

2. - DESC: Would like to be able to control blue-light with a native program, as I have had problems with flux (it doesn't seem to be developed with Ubuntu or Linux in mind)

3. - HEADLINE: Exfat support in kernel

3. - DESC: Some devices I use unfortunately are set to use exfat and I can't change them, current exfat support is pretty bad, so please get this working nicely

4. - HEADLINE: Bcachefs support in kernel

4. - DESC: I have been reading about this new and interesting fs, it seems like a good thing to add.

5. - HEADLINE: Add more i/o schedulers to the kernel

5. - DESC: The current choice of i/o schedulers in the mainline kernel is not great, add some popular ones.

6. - HEADLINE: I HATE the current archive manager, please change it or fix it

6. - DESC: The archive manager in 16.10 has to be the worst component by FAR, it is always crashing and doesn't support many archive types out of the box, so please do something about this, as I guess a lot of people depend on this, but it is SO shoddy that I am sure others feel my pain.

7. - HEADLINE: Please try to stop the NIH syndrome of Ubuntu

7. - DESC: for lucky number 7, please stop with the NIH mentality that is prevalent in Ubuntu, sometimes you don't make the best decisions and the rest of the Linux community does, don't let arrogance or your dominance over the Linux marketshare push you into making stupid decisions (see Mir) that go against the general trend in a bad way. Some of us just want an easy-to-use efficient Linux, if you keep making us choose between your weird decisions and comfort, there will come a point where we make the same decision we did when we chose to not go with comfort when we dumped Windows in exchange for a practical system.

8. - HEADLINE: Put more pressure on hardware companies for drivers

8. - DESC: Don't accept the status quo when it comes to shit driver support. Lean on Nvidia and the others until they start to realise we want proper driver support.

9. - HEADLINE: Look into more optimisation (like Solus)

9. - DESC: I was interested to learn about Solus, which uses some optimisation techniques that seem a little underused in the community, so look into giving Ubuntu users that also.

I know, I don't ask for much. And thanks for the great OS!

ROLE: Infrastructure Developer for multinational company


MORE RUST PLEASE! :D


FLAVOR: ALL

Take your Snappy and leave the Debian ecosystem once and for all.


Classy. Constructive. Thank you for your contribution.


FLAVOR: all

HEADLINE: More stability

DESCRIPTION:

On systems that have very little customization, I regularly get 1-2 crashes after the login that ask me to report them again and again. Systems regularly fail to boot after upgrading the kernel when proprietary Nvidia drivers are installed (the ones Ubuntu suggested to me), because stuff is not properly recompiled. The file manager crashes when connecting to a SAMBA share for the first time during a session.

I can fix this crap (although I'm getting tired of it), but for regular users, they go straight back to Windows. Stuff like that simply can't happen in a stable release or at least it needs to be fixed ASAP.

I like Ubuntu, but think that you are handling the support for multiple releases poorly and it might be better for everyone to switch to a rolling release, like Windows did. The users would get better support and updates and your developers would have more time to improve the software, instead of managing broken releases. As it is now, you are getting buried in bugs and there's no end to it.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Don't force users to have taskbar on the left

- DESCRIPTION: Most users have the taskbar at the bottom. Putting it on the left by default is probably a bad idea, but making it impossibile to move it is most certaintly an awful idea.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION:


- FLAVOR: All?

- HEADLINE: Stop releasing every six months. Instead, have an LTS, like you already do, and then a rolling release that is conservative and battle-tested, like Gentoo does.

To help with the rolling release, create an infrastructure that allows you to progressively release updates that could cause problems to some users (like an evdev -> libinput or a GNOME 3.22 -> 3.24 transition)


Have you tried backports? https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBackports


Backports are virtually useless. http://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial-backports/allpackages

PPAs are a very good idea but they are almost always managed by third parties and I don't trust them.

Also, upgrading the system every six months is annoying and fails too often. A rolling release decreases the friction of doing a major upgrade.


Only if you upgrade regularly. If you upgrade infrequently, rolling releases have a habit of totally hosing your system once you've waited too long and finally pull the trigger.

I've had really good luck with the last few major dist upgrades, for whatever that's worth. About half an hour of downloading and installing packages, a reboot, and poof, you're on the next major release.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: GUI Everything (real control panel GUI)

- DESCRIPTION: command line is good to give commands sequences, like "do this and do that and also more", and it works only if you already know the commands. Command line is really bad to configure stuff, which is the act of telling the computer how to do stuff. It is also the worst thing ever when it comes to exploring and finding commands and configurations. Some people argue that the cli is faster but the saved time is not always worth the brain power or the pleasure to get stuff done "slower" but intuitively with a GUI. Also the time spent to learn a certain command rarely matches the time saved using it. It is much more difficult to screw stuff up using a GUI, because you can go back with a simple click, while a command to go back rarely matches the one that put you forward toward something you didn't want.

A general rule for good software is "don't hide functionality". If you are putting a lot of important stuff behind a command line, you are hiding stuff, even if you can ask for a command list.

Since Ubuntu, for what I understand, wants to be an OS for a wider audience, I hope you will consider doing putting a lot of effort in improving the UI and UX of the OS, and a good, complete GUI are a great way to start.

My hopes are that if a user searches "how to do X in ubuntu", he won't get just a list of commands, but also a step by step guide. Just like it happens on windows.

ROLE: software developer, former UX/UI designer


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop 16.04 and 16.10 (Unity)

- HEADLINE: Fix frequent wireless networking crashes.

- DESCRIPTION: Since switching to systemd Ubuntu wireless has become unstable. Default install. Unity desktop. Several different wireless cards tested.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION: Husband trying to make his wife happy via the relatively simple Unity desktop.


I would like to see Wayland by default, and you committing to the project in a meaningful fashion.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Mir and Unity 8 enabled by default

- DESCRIPTION: Mir and Unity 8 enabled by default with a strong push for snaps and/or flatpaks (or at least don't make it hard for users to use flatpaks on Ubuntu). If Mir and Unity 8 aren't default in 17.10, then I don't think there's much of a chance it will be in 18.04, and that would truly suck. We've been waiting for it for a long time.


[Ubuntu Server] OpenRC.

Not everyone lives the containers hype.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Make Ubuntu the OS of choice for graphic designers.

- DESCRIPTION: Yes, they set the trends. It's annoying to be limited to Inkscape/Gimp, even for basic image editing. Make a first-class graphics/movies/3d toolsuite, even at an expensive price (but always open-source) and web startups would start switching. Of course that means you'd spend enough on UX to make it desirable (asking HN is a good first step, but please hire dozens of UX designers).

- ROLE / AFFILIATION: Java dev and founder of a web product with 2 employees.

----

- HEADLINE: Bump up the security bounty. $10.000?

- DESCRIPTION: It's good for commercials and PR – You can then claim to be the most secure OS. After implementing the first reports, of course. Please don't forget to send fixes upstream, and don't limit the bounty to Canonical software: A bug in OpenSSL is your problem too.


Something Windows doesn't have: A background Search on whatever you work on, presenting a found solution not in text form, but as a step-by-step executable makro. Basically the usual approach of "search it on google, try it out step-by step until it works", rolled into a automation layer, that reports back to a central database, how your config did get along with the solution. Yes, thats taking the Learning Experience out of Linux, but guess what... it stuffs the pinguin with loads of delicious comfort fillings, like windows once had it.


- FLAVOR: Ubuntu Desktop

- HEADLINE: Make UI more modern (icons + skeuomorphism)

- DESCRIPTION: Ubuntu looks a little dated. Please, please make it flatter, and change the (IMHO) awful icon theme and palette. It's been haunting me for many, many years, and made me never look at Ubuntu as my primary OS.

- ROLE/AFFILIATION:


Full disk encryption with nvidia driver. Instead of adding niche features, why not fix critical bugs that have been sitting for years?


- FLAVOR: all - HEADLINE: Reproducible builds and transition Ubuntu to Snappy - DESCRIPTION: We need moare security.


Voice assistance.

Per app assistance i.e "how do I do x in vim", displays combo.


Excellent support for Apple laptops.


Apple laptops are known to come with hardware with very shitty open source driver support, there's not alot Canonical can do if they don't get good drivers for the various hardware components.


1) They could improve those open source drivers.

2) They could improve the other aspects of the experience that is crap on Apple hardware, like display connection/disconnection, sleep/wake, battery life adjustments, keyboard layouts, et c. It takes about a full day to make a mac not suck after installing Ubuntu.


Everything works fine on my MBP except that the desktop is a postage stamp and unusable on the retina display. I tried making things scale but different programs pick up different settings from different places and most look atrocious.


... and sometimes they have even better support than macOS. ;-)

E.g. the 2016 Apple MacBook Pro with TouchBar supports DisplayPort-daisy-chaining, while under macOS you can only daisy-chain monitors if they support Thunderbolt.


Wow, I didn't even know DisplayPort daisy-chaining was a thing


Quiero que Ubuntu sea completamente libre que sea también el kernel libre


Translation: "I want Ubuntu, and also the kernel, to be completely free-as-in-freedom."


Quiero que todos los paquetes estén actualizados a la ultima versión y que todos los programas estén actualizados a la ultima version


Translation: "I want all the packages to be updated to the most recent version and all the programs to be updated to the most recent version."


- FLAVOR:ALL VERSIONS - HEADLINE:SIMPLE SHORTCUT IN DESKTOP, AS WINDOWS - DESCRIPTION:ANY PROGRAM, RIGHT CLICK, SEND TO DESKTOP

----------

- FLAVOR:ALL VERSIONS - HEADLINE: LAUNCHER OPTIONAL AT BOTTOM OR LEFT SIDE - DESCRIPTION: WITH SIMPLE MOUSE DRAG, AS WINDOWS

----------

- FLAVOR:ALL VERSIONS - HEADLINE: SHOW DESKTOP BUTTON IN LAUNCHER - DESCRIPTION: AT RIGHT BORDER OF LAUNCHER, WITHOUT ANY PADDING. JUST AS WINDOWS 10. ITS VERY FUNCIONAL.

THANKS!!!!


Isn't this pretty much spam? What interesting discussion could possibly come of it and what if everyone with a product started posting these?


I'm really sorry that you feel that way.

I'm enthralled with the discussion, reading every single response :-)

Ubuntu is among the world's largest community driven open source projects, and we're delighted to have feedback from the forward-thinking HackerNews community here!

Cheers, :-Dustin


I think it's a user survey you could have put on the web and maybe posted a link to HN? I'm glad you're enthralled but it's a 7923498713-posts-long random wishlist, for the most part. It is promotional spam.




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