What is Digg?185 Comments
- badassninja, on 11/03/2007, -2/+62The great thing about this post is everything this guy writes is correct and should be changed. The great thing about Ubuntu is they care and I bet at lest some if not all of these things will be updated in the next version.
- bratterscain, on 10/26/2007, -2/+29He's got a few valid points. I'm on Kubuntu and I find it really annoying I have to know the name of the picture I'm uploading since there is no thumbnail preview. Also it would be nice if it auto-remembered my download location for certain files which it seems to forget sometimes. As far as fonts go, I'm pretty happy with them. KDE seems pretty good with font integration, at least, the way I have it set. Also to have ctrl+esc, which opens ksysguard, to ride above all else when a task is not responding like Windows has implemented. And one last thing while I'm ranting even though I love Kubuntu, is better graphics integration with games. Sometimes my fullscreen games won't return to my monitor's native widescreen resolution.
It's good to point out these flaws though. Improvement can't happen without acknowledgement. The rate at which K/Ubuntu has improved is pretty surprising. I'm sure in part due to it's popularity. That's why OSS is so great. There's really no "good enough". If thousands of people use it and one has a problem, it can be further improved until it gets better and better and more stable with more apps. - Quakes, on 10/28/2007, -1/+26I'm not sure who ripped of whom, but I saw this exact article, except in Swedish, on a Swedish news site earlier today.
http://www.idg.se/2.1085/1.127544 - greyfade, on 10/26/2007, -2/+26I'd like to point out that not all of this is the fault of Ubuntu. I wish you people would stop making it all about Ubuntu, too. Those of us who don't use it have some of these issues, too, you know.
Java support sucks across the board. It's finicky no matter what distro you use. This is not a fault of Ubuntu.
The file selector dialog and the file manager (Nautilus) were developed separately. The guys that work on GTK+ and the guys who work on Nautilus don't have much overlap, so they don't share much code. If you want the GTK+-2 file selector to work like Nautilus, you'll have to convince the GTK guys that this is a usability problem and that Nautilus' file selection should be promoted as a first-class widget.
The missing link to nvidia-settings is due to the original package. NVIDIA never provided one, so one was never packaged. Find out who the maintainer of the .deb file is and complain to him.
If CompizConfig isn't installed by default, that is a serious oversight. It should be a dependency of compiz-fusion overall. Package maintainers are too lazy. Get the whip.
DVD and MP3 support, among other things, is a legal issue. Ubuntu cannot provide those packages by default because it is distributed from a country which recognizes software patents associated with MPEG-based codecs, and where the CCA (the people in charge of DVD encryption licensing) has made the decryption of CSS-encoded material a crime. Contact your country's government and call for a repeal of laws like the US' DMCA and for the abolishment or reform of software patents. This is not Ubuntu's fault - it's probably yours.
As for fonts, all environments and software choose the default fonts they use. Some software don't use the standard font libraries, either. (OpenOffice.org, I think, uses its own font engine, tooled specifically for print.) It will require a good deal of effort to redo all these configurations to use the same fonts everywhere - especially if you want to change the defaults yourself later. It's a big software world. Be patient, God dammit. - troydoogle7, on 10/26/2007, -1/+24nicely written. Perhaps next time just put numbers in or bullets to make it easier to define where one point stops and another starts
I especially like the point ref manaully editing the config files. Manually editing config should have a gui alternative. - inactive, on 10/26/2007, -2/+23I wouldn't say these are "flaws" in "Ubuntu". Most of these are "missing features" in various applications. One of the "problems" with OSS is there are so many GUI toolkits available that applications aren't very consistent. However, it is this inconsistency which I feel has in part led to such a large amount of OSS code, since these people are after all donating their free time and they're going to use whatever libraries they feel like. Although, I place the blame for this squarely at the feet of KDE, Gnome, and Trolltech. Without either of those three, we wouldn't have the problem we do now.
And, as for not installing DVD software, you'll have to take that one up with the DVD-CCA. I'm sure they'd gladly include a DVD player if it weren't illegal to do so. - mucnix, on 10/26/2007, -0/+20I don't think the dvd codecs thing could be solved though...
- 4DFX, on 10/25/2007, -1/+18[lazyquote] When you install drivers for your graphics card, you don’t get the administrative tool for it installed automatically. You have to install it separately. If you have Nvidia the package is called nvidia-settings. [/lazyquote]
Wrong! Nvidia-glx-new already includes nvidia-settings. It just doesn't make a shortcut to it. Also, you must NOT install the nvidia-settings package, because it removes nvidia-glx-new. - knomevol, on 10/30/2007, -1/+16bit of trivia, emilevictor, perhaps you know already, but skype can be added to /etc/apt/sources.list:
# skype
deb http://download.skype.com/linux/repos/debian/ stable non-free - jakethecake, on 10/28/2007, -0/+13The digged blog is a raw translation, plus a heading and an initial description. Source is linked. But I think he should credit the original author; Niklas Andersson.
- Churnd, on 10/26/2007, -1/+13Whatever happened to the "Linux is free to make it your own" mindset? If you don't like something, don't sit around and wait for someone else to fix it. Do it yourself.
- lsweet, on 10/26/2007, -0/+12Firefox can be setup to highlight the entire URL bar within Ubuntu (and other distros). Open it up and in the url bar type:
about:config
From here you can use the filter, but what you are looking for is: browser.urlbar.clickSelectsAll
Change this to enable, restart firefox, voila - JohnFlux, on 10/25/2007, -0/+12The ksysguard thing is fixed in kde4 (I'm the author)
- ucg1, on 10/25/2007, -0/+12Not all PowerPC's are Macs
- Giblet2, on 10/26/2007, -0/+12I also want an easier way to have separate wallpapers for each cube side.
Firefox needs improving... for example, it isnt preset to allow the back and forward buttons on my mouse work... but they work elsewhere in Ubuntu, Also, when you click the address bar, it doesnt highlight the website so you can type a new one. - SteveMax, on 11/01/2007, -0/+11Ask the user where he is from (I believe the installer already does that, but I'm not sure). Then, depending on his answer, add a different set of repositories. This way, if you can legally install libdvdcss, you don't have to go through any extra configuration; and if you live in a country where it's restricted, keep the current behaviour.
- sumguy231, on 10/26/2007, -0/+9Absolutely. Ubuntu should rename every upstream package they use to have more "Professional" names. Linux Corporate Business Synergy Desktop Acceleration Suite V3.0, here we come.
- Izacus, on 10/25/2007, -4/+13Another flaw: Ubuntu uses ALOT of battery power. On minimal screen brightness, max. powersaving of graphics card/processor I'm still getting one hour less than on Windows.
- edzilla, on 10/26/2007, -0/+9Actually, last time I checked, windows(Windows media player) didn't include a dvd codec, either a program like powerdvd was provided with the computer, or you had to download one...
- 89vision, on 11/01/2007, -4/+12Thats because Ubuntu has chosen not to support those programs. Im sure there are unofficial repositories out there that you can add to your sources.list file to get unsupported software using apt.
- Aitese, on 10/25/2007, -2/+10It has been rightly pointed out that several of his "flaws" are either issues of legality and or just his own personal settings preferences.
DVD playback does not as far as I'm aware come built into Windows. You need PowerDVD or WinDVD or some other commercial codec to get it working...that or download VLC player which is available in the repositories on Ubuntu too. The CSS decrypter is proprietary and has to be paid for...the fact FOSS operating systems can't give it away free is some sort of flaw is ridiculous.
This also applies to some fonts and any JAVA issues.
What gets me is you ALL want the OS to have built in config GUI for various random bits of hardware you pick up as if there is a comparable feature in Windows...If I buy a webcam, Logitec or Creative or whoever provide a CD with Windows specific software...that’s Ubuntu's fault? That’s a flaw?
If you're going to INSIST free software actually offers something no other vastly more expensive software offers, you're either a shameless fanboy or plain stupid.
Again Nvidia make the settings software and drivers he installed…what does that have to do with Ubuntu? Ubuntu provide an open source version and even give you hand and points you in the direction of the proprietary driver if you so wish. At that point it’s up to you what additional software you want…as pointed out in this blogs comments, if you know the special settings you’re after you probably know how to go about setting them up too.
I’m all for flaws being pointed out…especially when they are also reported to the proper bug channels and developers…the fact is only 2 of his points can realistically be called a bug. - jackflap, on 10/26/2007, -2/+10One main thing that really annoys about Ubuntu on laptops is the power management. Auto-suspend just doesn't cut-it. It suspends while downloading, while burning cds, while copying files, while installing packages. This is pretty basic laptop stuff and Ubuntu/Gnome just doesn't cut it, it's seriously driving me away as a laptop-user.
- inactive, on 10/26/2007, -4/+12Unfortunately, not everyone is a programmer with a lot of time on their hands, even a lot of IT people can't even write code (even if they can use Gentoo from stage 1). I used to, but my C skills have definitely faded since getting out of the field some 10 years ago.
- repawn, on 10/26/2007, -0/+8I am using Ubuntu 7.10 at work - dual-monitor (using the Nvidia drivers) nvidia-settings was installed automagically when I opted for the restricted drivers, I did drop into the terminal to run: gksu nvidia-settings so I could save the configuration to xorg.conf. I connect to our windows server 2003 files just fine (I didn’t have to do anything other than browse the network and enter my windows password) additionally, it picked up all of our network printers when I added a new printer. I use evolution with our Exchange 2003 server and it works fine. I have the mild version of compiz running - though you can go to add/remove programs to get the advanced settings if you would like.
The file manager issue I agree with - though I usually use f-spot to upload photos to either picassa web or flickr. I know that there are easy solutions to dvd playback as well as java.
Overall, my experience has been pretty good. - arjie, on 10/26/2007, -0/+8Yeah, he actually made useful comments instead of "Linux sucks" crap. Props to him.
I had trouble with the compizconfig-settings-manager when I tried 7.10 too (I have it all installed my way on 7.04) but it was nice when I tried typing that in to the Terminal and it told me what I had to enable to install it. Still an issue, but for us half-power users (who know a little but not too much) that's damn nice. About the thumbnailing, it's rather slow when it happens off a CD, for me.
PS: While looking to see if there was a setting to change that last bit, I discovered the Backgrounds and Emblems menu item. Funny stuff. - Myztry, on 10/26/2007, -1/+8While Ubuntu has it's issue, it still represents the best value for money of any Operating System.
I'm quite happy with people picking legitimate issues with it because I know that will lead to improvements.
And it'll happen within a 6 month cycle, unlike Microsoft Windows and it's 6 year development cycle.
By the time Microsoft hacks out another Commercial Beta like Vista, Ubuntu will be 12 generations advanced.
Ubuntu is still young, vibrant, exciting, and full of potential. Windows is not ! - biggyfred, on 10/26/2007, -1/+8Ubuntu isn't 'just' linux anymore. They're a victim of their own success and held to a higher standard. People need to remember that linux is free as in "go for it and use it", not free as in "here let me come to your house, make you a sandwich, and install an operating system that you'll never think twice about again".
Hell, $300 doesn't even get you that from other OS vendors, I don't see why it's being held to such a ridiculous standard.
Good post, Churnd. - geminitojanus, on 10/25/2007, -1/+7Your "average user" understands that in order to watch a downloaded video, they've gotta install some piece of software that will let them do it. Call it a codec, a doohickey, a marshmallow sugar laser, they don't care. As long as you furnish them with the instructions on what to do, they'll figure out how to do it. And it couldn't be any easier in Ubuntu than it is now (legally); you double click a movie, it says "in order to play this, we need to install some additional software, if you'd like to do that, press ok". They do this /once/, they never have to look at it again.
If your "ordinary person" can't figure this out, then your "ordinary person" model is pointing to a chimpanzee. - T8erT0T, on 10/26/2007, -3/+9He makes a good point about font inconsistency.
- archlich, on 10/26/2007, -2/+8sudo apt-get install build-essential debhelper fakeroot libdvdcss2 libdvdread3 && sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh
You now have dvd support. - Snakedal337, on 10/26/2007, -1/+7Sure he can, if he's blessed with half decent coding skills.. (which most people asking for a GUI are not ((No offense to those that enjoy the GUI more, i'm in the same boat)))
- cuteseal, on 10/25/2007, -1/+7For me, wacom tablet support has been working out of the box since Feisty.
The trick is to restart X (ctrl - shift - backspace) after you plug it in. Bit of an undocumented "feature", but wish it was more apparent. - bh1nd3r, on 10/26/2007, -0/+6huh?
- geminitojanus, on 10/26/2007, -0/+6"Proper" is a matter of taste. What's "right" to you might not be "right" to me. Furthermore, many font-related algorithms are covered under patents, which Ubuntu, nor any other Linux distribution, can legally ship enabled in the USA (same goes for the DVD playback, codecs and such). Furthermore, the article goes on to address complaints to the Linux community for his hardware shortcomings, when he should be addressing the hardware companies who apparently don't think it's worth their time to support his OS of choice. Either he should complain loudly to the hardware company, or he should take his money elsewhere.
I'm burying this article for Dead Horse Drumming. We've seen sixty of these articles in the past two weeks, and we'll see sixty of them on the next release; you can never please everyone. - tripzero, on 10/26/2007, -1/+7PPC is community maintained and is not officially supported by Ubuntu/Canonical.
- bratterscain, on 10/25/2007, -1/+6Not a big feature or one that would take a lot of time to implement but that does bug me. I'd love to just be able to right click and have it auto-highlighted so I can quickly paste.
- realityiswhere, on 10/26/2007, -1/+6I logged in just to digg you up. Well done.
- Gavagai80, on 10/25/2007, -0/+5It's a flaw to not include -- as default -- software which won't be out of beta for 2 more months and probably won't be very complete/stable for a year?
- arjie, on 11/01/2007, -0/+5That's funny. On my touchpad, when I enabled 'horizontal scrolling', Firefox would go forward or backward depending on that. Funny because in windows I don't have horizontal scrolling. As in, I don't have the setting.
- aaronm67, on 10/26/2007, -0/+5You should check to make sure you don't have some extra services running that you don't use (bluetooth, ssh, etc). There is also a utility you can install called "Powertop" (apt install powertop probably) that is pretty quick to find what's killing your battery, and will offer some suggestions to improve your battery life.
I'm on Fedora, and now that I've made a few changes to the default install and stopped services I didn't need, I get 30-40 minutes better then XP, even with Compiz running. - dougle, on 10/25/2007, -0/+5xorg-edit gives you a nice GUI for doing detailed setups, i found the GUIs in Gusty's administrator menu perfectly fine for setting up dual heads and TV out.
It would seem that dell have cooperated well with ubuntu for this release, as every piece of hardware in my xps laptop is working quickly and as expected.
I'm loving every aspect of Ubuntu's OS, so impressed by feisty fawn i got rid of my windows partition. - Myztry, on 10/25/2007, -0/+5I'm not sure about Vista (ditched it) but no earlier version of Windows had DVD supported included. I just installed PowerDVD today at work on a fully up to date XP SP2 box in order to play a DVD. The Microsoft Xbox couldn't play DVD's either without the remote dongle add-on, or a mod-chip.
- bratterscain, on 10/26/2007, -2/+7Ubuntu, Gimp, .....Do you know how many successful IT startup co's have odd names like Yahoo, Google, etc and now no one thinks anything of that? It's not the names.
- Ub3rg33k, on 10/25/2007, -0/+5Except the part about fonts changing inside virtualbox. Uh, duh. You're on an entirely different OS at that point.
- blynder, on 10/26/2007, -0/+4I agree with some if not most of his comments, but Java support on 7.10 is far better then any other distribution before.
- surfous, on 10/25/2007, -1/+56.10 (Edgy) was the last official release for PPC. What you've gotten since then is an unofficial community port. Don't blame the core Ubuntu community, nor judge Gutsy based upon how this port works.
- creationist225, on 10/26/2007, -0/+4Hmm... do you have a DVD drive? You can't just throw a DVD disc into a CD-ROM...they're incompatible formats.
- ahughes, on 10/26/2007, -2/+6I have experienced some if not all of those points and have found that not to be a huge hindrance on my experience. Workarounds have been easily achievable. As far as DVD playback support is concerned, this has never been put into Ubuntu (and most Linux distros) by default. Microsoft and Apple have it in their OSes because they pay top dollar to the media companies so that you can have playback natively. These costs are then passed along to the consumer. Considering it takes a few seconds to add the repositories in Ubuntu to get the codecs and then another 2 minutes to search, download, and install the codecs using the package manager; I think this is a good trade-off. There are many guides on how to do this at ubuntuforums.org, however I found that I didnt need them when I used 7.10. It was much easier.
- MadEnvoy, on 10/25/2007, -2/+6I lost my wired networking upgrading to 7.10.
- jamesrdorn, on 10/29/2007, -0/+4dual monitors are a big pain in this release... if you have nvidia-glx-new installed, DO NOT use the resolution preference... every time I do, X starts in failsafe... I end up manually editing my xorg config to make dual monitors work at all, for some reason, both monitors will light up, but the 2nd monitor looks like a Nintendo game that I forgot to "blow in the cartridge" until I edit the xorg.conf file myself.
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