Update NTFS-3G
I would like to ask developers to update 'ntfs-3g' from version '2010.8.8' to '2011.4.12' Have a nice Easter :] -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
The freedom to configure
Today I read a critique on the German Pro-linux.de by Michael Kofler titled "Unity - Der Anfang vom Ende für Ubuntu?" (Unity - The beginning of the end of Ubuntu?)[1] The article spawned a huge discussion about the pros and cons of choosing default settings and removing the options to change these settings. Instead of giving even more arguments for or against these changes I wanted to just share the way I configure my desktop. Hopefully this will give some insight for the developers how the flexibility of having more options can be used by users. I have posted the comment on the original article and on my blog [2]. Here is what I wrote: The freedom to configure your Desktop Many arguments have been given about the pros and cons about Gnome 3 and Unity and the value of fewer versus more options to configure the desktop. The general critique is that both try to enforce default settings while removing the ability to configure things different. Instead of giving even more arguments I want to give an example about how I configure my Desktop and why I value the flexibility to configure and adjust the Gnome Panel and the Desktop (both in Theme and Layout). First of all here is a picture of my current Gnome Desktop: http://tinypic.com/r/xuk51/7 Now a short explanation about the things that I have changed and my motivation: 1. I have a relatively small notebook with a 12.1″ screen and 1024×768 pixels. That means screen real estate is relatively important. 2. I prefer to have the panel at the bottom rather then at the top. Additionally I dont like to have two panels (top and bottom) like its in the default Ubuntu configuration. Therefore I have combined all the applets that I need in one panel and placed it at the bottom. 3. I am using the window-picker-applet instead of the normal window-list-applet. I find it very useful to only see the icons and not the name of the window and it saves a lot of my screen real estate. 4. I removed the application menu because it used to much space and I can easily call it with Alt+F2. 5. I am not using virtual windows, thus I have removed the applet. 6. I have changed the background color to a light orange and the window title to a light blue. 7. I have put the buttons for minimize, etc. back to the right. I think if I had the automatic window tiling function of Gnome 3 (move it to the top right/left to make it half the screen size) then I could as well do without the buttons. The freedom to configure the desktop according to my own needs is very important and valuable to me. In comparison, on Windows you even cannot change the background color of the task bar, not to mention removing the start button or changing the general composition of the task bar. I would never occur to me to suggest (or even enforce) that my settings become the default settings for Gnome, as I am well aware these settings would not necessarily suite many other people. Never the less it is important to have the flexibility to configure the panel as one wishes. Developers can make design choices which are suitable for most users but they should never remove the option to diverge from the default values, thus taking users the ability to configure things different from the standard. Especially this ability should be integrated into the GUI directly, and not in various tools that have to be installed separately or via configuration options that are only accessible from dconf/gconf tools and in config files. If anybody was to tell me that I can only put the panel at the top of the screen then personally this would be reason enough for me to change to a different Window Manager. The only things that I do not like about my current desktop configuration are because of a lack in configurability or bad design. First in the indicator-session-applet (which is designed by Ubuntu by the way) it is not possible to hide the user name. I find this very annoying because my user name takes up a lot of space and the buttons (logout and IM status) would be enough for me. The second thing is that I have to rearrange all the applets if I connect my laptop to my external 22″ screen. I find it a bit ironic that this has only been fixed in gnome 3 now that the gnome-panel is actually doomed to become obsolete anyway. Anyway here is the article that explains that applets can now only be aligned right/left or centered and not by absolute positioning: Long Live the Gnome Panel (Align your applets correctly). I wish they had introduced this a bit earlier in Gnome 2 (maybe it can be backported?). [1] http://www.pro-linux.de/artikel/2/1504/unity-der-anfang-vom-ende-fuer-ubuntu.html [2] http://blog.invisco.de/?p=86 -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: Update NTFS-3G
On Mon, Apr 25, 2011 at 4:22 PM, Nedas Pekorius wrote: > I would like to ask developers to update 'ntfs-3g' from version > '2010.8.8' to '2011.4.12' While I agree that the latest ntfs-3g is really nice (iirc it gave me a 10x performance boost). I don't think we'll see 2011.4.12 in Natty, as a feature freeze exception request would need an exceptionally good reason at this late stage. +1 for Natty+1 though. -- John C. McCabe-Dansted -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
ntfs-3g
On 04/25/2011 07:00 AM, ubuntu-devel-discuss-requ...@lists.ubuntu.com wrote: 2. Update NTFS-3G (Nedas Pekorius) 4. Re: Update NTFS-3G (John McCabe-Dansted) > While I agree that the latest ntfs-3g is really nice (iirc it gave me > a 10x performance boost). I don't think we'll see 2011.4.12 in Natty, This sounds like a good candidate for a PPA -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
Re: [Oneiric-Foundations-Topic] networked client app updates
Allison, On Thu, Apr 21, 2011 at 9:14 AM, Allison Randal wrote: > The Ubuntu One developers have an interesting technical conundrum that > would benefit greatly from all of your thoughts. They've started > collecting ideas, and would like to collect more, and hopefully settle > down on a plan for the next cycle in a UDS session. > > The basic problem is in keeping a networked client in sync with a > networked service. In the wider world this is generally handled by > releasing an update for the client whenever the service changes. Ubuntu > One has been tying the development cycle for their service to Ubuntu's > six month cycle, so client feature updates only happen in new distro > releases. But, even that doesn't quite work, because once you change the > service then clients on older distro releases (especially LTSs) still > need the feature updates to connect to the updated service. Sometimes > these feature updates depend on newer versions of libraries than exist > on the older distro releases. > > The category of lightweight client apps for a remote service is becoming > more and more common, so ideally a solution for Ubuntu One will be one > we can recommend to all app developers. Here's a grab bag of > brainstorming so far: > > - Only ship a very small shim for the client on the CD (advantage of > small footprint), and do the rest of the install the first time someone > uses Ubuntu One. > > - Ship Ubuntu One client in extras, backports, commercial, or partner > repository. (Better if it's on by default than requiring a manual step > to enable the repository.) > > - Ship Ubuntu One client (only) in a PPA. > > - Implement "self updating" within the client, similar to > Firefox/Thunderbird (on non-packaged installs). This is the most complex > technically, so not the most appealing. > > - Pull some update dependencies into /opt/.../UbuntuOne/lib, to keep > them completely isolated from the rest of the system, but available to > the Ubuntu One client. > > Do you all have more ideas or suggestions? > > Allison > The inherent flaws in tying client releases to each Ubuntu release are obvious as you illustrated above, it's just not a good idea. For example, I have the the same version of Dropbox running on multiple versions of Ubuntu, offering a consistent set of features and behavior. That being said, It's my opinion that the Ubuntu One client(s) should be self contained, and consistent across Ubuntu Distribution releases using the last LTS as the baseline, then move forward from there. When the next LTS is released you could move the baseline forward if needed and stop support for older versions of Ubuntu so that testing and development have a reasonable scope of support. Additionally, the dependency on specific versions of libraries like CouchDB that are shipped with Ubuntu can cause issues with other applications/developers. For example, if a user want's to install a different, or newer version of CouchDB there is concern that it will break Ubuntu One which is not acceptable for users that rely on Ubuntu One services. In fact, I have customers that use Ubuntu One services as a critical component of their business process. Additionally, I think that it's a good idea to ship the Ubuntu One client(s) as part of the distribution, as this makes upgrades and new deployments easier and faster. If it's a new installation, you could disable the daemons by default for security and resource reasons and activate them once the machine is activated. Obviously if it's an upgrade all of the daemons would be enabled at startup. I hope this feedback helps. Thanks! -- Nick Pavlica > > -- > Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list > Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com > Modify settings or unsubscribe at: > https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss > -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com Modify settings or unsubscribe at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss
