kubuntu suggestions

[Eric]

Hello,

I've been told on the kubuntu forum that bugzilla is the best place to put suggestions so here I am. I hope it's
true since it's quite hard for a user to find the right way to do that. If not, please let me know where I can
post those to be read by people in charge of the ubuntu project.

My suggestions :

1. Dissociating the Ubuntu core project and the Gnome based distro (name and/or logo).

I understand in the first place there was only one distro based on Gnome. Now the Ubuntu project officialy
supports 3 different distributions having common parts and different goals and/or desktops.
The Ubuntu core project and the Gnome based distro having the same name 'Ubuntu' and logo is, now, very
confusing for both users (of all distros) and News related websites.
In many occasions, news regarding the whole Ubuntu project and all distros (or at least Ubuntu and Kubuntu
distros) are reported by news specialized websites as 'Ubuntu' only news with the Ubuntu logo and in most cases,
the only Gnome based distro is mentionned. So for Kubuntu and Edubuntu users it's quite confusing.
A recent example : the news about Dapper Flight2 CD on osnews.com reports only Ubuntu distro. The link provided
leads to distrowatch.com : same thing here. There's no way the user or potential new user knows it's not only
Ubuntu distro but also kubuntu distro.
I do understand you have no way to 'educate' those people and tell them how to report news. However, obviously,
the fact that the Ubuntu project is now multi-distros is quite confusing for both specialized websites AND
users.
The same applies for numerous official web pages with the logo, the name Ubuntu and brown colors everywhere when
we are supposed to be on dedicated pages for kubuntu (even the pages supposed to be common including bugzilla).
Quite confusing and some might even think kubuntu is not a real project/distro but some kind of third party
project not being true part of the whole project. Very confusing.
I am no kubuntu or kde zealot but it's rather annoying. That is why I think the core must be dissociated in some
way from the Gnome distro.

2. All distros belonging to the core project should have some kind of mascot. A little character reinforcing the
global image of a distro. Maybe launching some contest might be a good idea.

3. The official websites look desperately empty and dull. It also lacks some vital links accessible directly on
the first page to guide new users to install, customize their distro, etc. Some of those links are 'hidden' and
the users have to naviguate and click several times to find what they look for. So some improvements there would
be nice and helpful for new comers.

4. A meta package called something like ' Nvidia drivers' and 'Ati drivers' which would install everything
needed according to your config would be really helpful for users.
As a matter of fact, installing nvidia or ati drivers remains a heavy problem for most beginners. A search
through adept or shell with the keyword 'nvidia' for example gives a bunch of packages and the new user have no
idea what is needed or not and as good as apt can be managing dependencies, the user is lost and can encounter
problems. The tech forums all over the net show that.

5. Ubuntu and Kubuntu are desktop focused therefore they should look great once on the desktop. For a vast
majority, people installing Ubuntu or Kubuntu have to fight and look all over the net through a lot of technical
pages to set up correctly dpi and have the right font rendering.
So an app setting up dpi during install or post install would be real great and would make sense.
The first look the user have on the his desktop is essential and it does not look good (or it does but is, in
fact, all wrong). That would make kubuntu/ubuntu the leading distros for what they are the best at so far : the
desktop.
I'm not much of a coder but I think there might be some technical problems to achieve that. I believe it's worth
to invest some energy on that particular point and the Ubuntu distros might be the first ones to achieve such
thing since AFAIK no other distro does that straight out of the box.

6. Create a division in the ubuntu/kubuntu project in charge of the fonts. With every release, the users see
some new fonts and some are gone. Checking the fonts with the control center (kde or gnome), the user can see
some fonts with different and quite weird names looking absolutely identical or tiny and strange changes. The
information about the choices made by the distro makers is equal to zero afaik. We do need a global strategy
about the fonts with coherent and clear choices AND communication about the changes (if any) from a distro
version to another.

That about it. For now lol

Eric

[Dennis Kaarsemaker (dennis)]

(In reply to comment #0)
> Hello,
>
> I've been told on the kubuntu forum that bugzilla is the best place to put
suggestions so here I am. I hope it's
> true since it's quite hard for a user to find the right way to do that. If
not, please let me know where I can
> post those to be read by people in charge of the ubuntu project.

Thank you for your input. However Bugzilla is not the best platform for these
issues, and totally unusable to track multiple issues in one report. I will
close this bug report as invalid; this does not mean we do not appreciate the
input, please read the rest of my comments and feel free to reply.

> My suggestions :
>
> 1. Dissociating the Ubuntu core project and the Gnome based distro (name
and/or logo).

Ubuntu is a Gnome based Linux distribution. {K,X,Ed}ubuntu are all derivatives
of Ubuntu. One of the goals of Ubuntu is being easy to derive from.
{K,X,Ed}ubuntu all do this.

> 2. All distros belonging to the core project should have some kind of mascot.
A little character reinforcing the
> global image of a distro. Maybe launching some contest might be a good idea.

This should be discussed on the desktop and art list.

> 3. The official websites look desperately empty and dull. It also lacks some
vital links accessible directly on
> the first page to guide new users to install, customize their distro, etc.
Some of those links are 'hidden' and
> the users have to naviguate and click several times to find what they look
for. So some improvements there would
> be nice and helpful for new comers.

Feel free to make concrete suggestions and file bugs against the ubuntu webpages.

> 4. A meta package called something like ' Nvidia drivers' and 'Ati drivers'
which would install everything
> needed according to your config would be really helpful for users.
> As a matter of fact, installing nvidia or ati drivers remains a heavy problem
for most beginners. A search
> through adept or shell with the keyword 'nvidia' for example gives a bunch of
packages and the new user have no
> idea what is needed or not and as good as apt can be managing dependencies,
the user is lost and can encounter
> problems. The tech forums all over the net show that.

'linux-restricted-modules'
Since it is not possible to completely support these binary-only drivers, it is
not possible to activate them by default. The Ubuntu documentation provides
instructions on how to use these modules. It is not Ubuntus fault that people
don't read documentation, ut rather go yelling at forums ;)

> 5. Ubuntu and Kubuntu are desktop focused therefore they should look great
once on the desktop. For a vast
> majority, people installing Ubuntu or Kubuntu have to fight and look all over
the net through a lot of technical
> pages to set up correctly dpi and have the right font rendering.
> So an app setting up dpi during install or post install would be real great
and would make sense.
> The first look the user have on the his desktop is essential and it does not
look good (or it does but is, in
> fact, all wrong). That would make kubuntu/ubuntu the leading distros for what
they are the best at so far : the
> desktop.
> I'm not much o...