21.04 Development areas

Get Involved
#1

Early doors.

Some areas that the team may consider for 21.04 - this list will be expanded as time progresses.

  1. Revert budgie gsetting print screen location for GNOME Settings. This has caused too much grief for the community.
  2. package and release budgie desktop 10.5.2 - upstream has indicated that this hopefully should be released during this dev cycle time-frame :crossed_fingers: :crossed_fingers:
  3. Window Shuffler - implement window rules - when apps open they can open on specific monitors at specific locations and sizes automatically.
  4. Take a serious look at GSConnect (aka KDEConnect) and see if the basics can be rewritten in Vala to allow file transfer between Android phones and the budgie-desktop. Would love this to be more of a community project so if you want to help please get in touch.
  5. Have a closer look at spacing between budgie applets - can we improve this area e.g. CSS changes on the default theme. After further investigation doesnt appear to be a way to adjust spacing via CSS
  6. mutter-8 integration & GNOME 40 - as past knowledge suggest code changes will be required so start to look at this at GNOME 40 alpha onwards (Jan 2021)
  7. Package third party applets when formal releases are made by their developers - currently keeping an eye on the following projects
  1. Select 10 wallpapers for 21.04 - may just be “the best of 16.04 to 19.10”
  2. Repackage backports for 21.04 - this will start in March 2021. This is a good place to start if you want to learn how to-do debian packaging!
  3. Merge upstream (elementary) application menu changes into our fork. Currently displaying application actions looks like an exciting upstream change
  4. “Pocillo-Tela” - its still a target to replace our default icons - it didnt make it into 20.10 - needs help to resolve merging/replacing Tela panel icons with Qogir icons - this is now the default icon-set in 21.04
  5. Package Pocillo and QogirBudgie as snap themes
  6. Change from Ubuntu AppIndicators to AyatanaAppIndicators. Ubuntu AppIndicators have not seen any development for the last 10 years. Ayatana is fully supported and is distro agnostic. Ubuntu Mate has made the change to Ayatana in 20.10. Lets join the fun
  7. The project will be investing in a Raspberry Pi 4 with a touch-screen to ensure our ARM support is up-to-scratch. If you want to get involved with this please let us know - all discussion for this is here Ubuntu Budgie plans for Raspberry Pi

If you want yourself to work on anything - including your own ideas but are unsure on any aspect of development and integration with UB - we can arrange mentoring - so please get in-touch. More than happy to work with you

3 Likes
#2

Hi,

just some considerations about KDEConnect: I’ve been using it since a couple of years and I can say that it doesn’t seem to keep the promise it apparently makes.
Or maybe it’s me, it’s a problem affecting only me; never been able to copy a file nor from phone to pc neither from pc to phone, not to mention about sms.
I’ve removed it both from pc and phone and installed a samba server on phone: at least I’m able to transfer files from and to phone.

My question, thinking about my own experience: it’s really necessary, moreover that KDEConnect android app runs in background and massacres the poor phone battery?

Sil

#3

Its more a personal interest of mine - but if it benefits the wider community the better. Lets see if any real progress can be made.

#4

Unsure if Budgie or some other party should take care of this, just an idea:
allowing users to drag & drop urls (from the default browser Firefox) to the Panels Icon Task List. (You can drag and drop to the desktop, a shortcut is created but no website icon will be used unfortunately and you cannot drag that shortcut to the Icon Task List).

I understand Mint will release a WebApp Manager: https://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=3960
Perhaps something similar.

1 Like
#5

We discussed this previously. This does look like a firefox issue to deal with.

The linux mint web app manager is a fork of a peppermint app. It’s just dressed up a bit.

It’s probably something that could be repackaged for Debian I guess and thus made available to everyone.

2 Likes
#6

Found it

Interesting, if I have time I’ll try see if it works.

#7

Remember Firefox web shortcuts do not show an icon ?
And also see Utility to create and manage « web-apps »? nobody ever answered there…

Chromium has already something like this, natively → which creates real launchers on desktop ( and not only links ) → under other tools, create shortcut.

Firefox should soon propose some equivalent tool, as it already exists in FF for Android.

ICE works fine - needs some additional care in case of snap ( chromium ). Any thing snap always needs additional care anyway.

3 Likes
#8

⋅ some better configuration file for /var/log/journal which by default can eat much storage ( and may not be that much necessary on a personal computer ) → Journalctl takes much storage ⋅ has no config?

⋅ it’s not Budgie’s goal to fix all problems related to snap BUT if snap are here to stay : some hints and tips should pop up somewhere at first launch of a snap to draw user’s attention to permissions and other snap-settings.

â‹… ideally there should be a graphical tool to full-manage all the snap features : permissions, save, restore, snapshot, theming, etc

⋅ still missing translation in Budgie’s environment ( icon tasks list or network applet )

#9

A bit off topic, but is there an overview of what app is a Snap app, after a clean UB install? I thought only Budgie Welcome was installed as Snap.
I never install Snap versions of apps.

I always choose the recommended repository, mentioned on the official website of the website owner. If that’s not available, the stable .deb file or AppImage. Such apps usually notify you if there is an update and guide you to the downloadpage anyway.

On that note, shouldn’t AppImageLauncher be a standard app of UB?

Ontopic:
I really like # 1-4 ! Hope new devs will jump in and help out.

#10

For the record: - 3 - is being worked on inside the team.

1 Like
#11

Indeed - welcome is the only snap installed from the ISO.

AppImageLauncher isn’t a debian package in the repos as far as I can see.

As far as the technology itself - my understanding (correct me if I am wrong) is that once installed it will never receive any updates (including security updates). You as a user have to be aware of important changes and redownload and install the appimage. I cannot really promote that lack of security approach to software

1 Like
#12

Some AppImage do prompt user when a newer version is available.

As some .deb packages ( out of official canonical repositories ) do.

#13

Another area for improvement in 21.04 : multi-monitor support.

Actually Budgie panels are not easy at all to set on multi monitors, even harder if applets like pixel-saver or global-menu are involved.

All Budgie elements and applets should comply to a minimal subset of features ( HiDPI ? Multi-monitor aware ? ) and provide a streamlined UX / UI for their settings.

1 Like
#14

I’ve been playing around with a multipanel patch - its not ready for situations where the displays get suddenly disconnected - but should work with fixed displays.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntubudgie-dev/unstable-test
sudo apt upgrade

logout and login.

#15

AppImageLauncher has an updater builtin, to update AppImageLauncher if an update is available. It is described on the github page.
The applications you install via AppImage, usually have their update mechanism or popup notification, just like most other apps. I have not run into an app that is install-once-never-receive-updates. Not via AppImageLauncher at least.

An app like DigiKam is unique, there is no replacement for it (not even on Windows or Mac). But its best installed as AppImage. So for me (and everyone with a big photo collection) it is a must have. Once you have tried DigiKam to organise years of travel/holiday/family/events/random photos, you can’t go without it.

But I’m OK installing it manually btw, it’s easy and simple to do :slight_smile: Time might be better spend on other stuff.

Btw I still would suggest to replace gedit for Pluma, it’s user friendly, fits Budgie way better and has a few extra features that have value as simple note taking/text editor.
Same for music player… would love to see Rhythmbox replaced by Deadbeef or Audacious but I can imagine that won’t be possible.

1 Like
#16

Ah. Music-player may start an endless discussion, lol !

For me what matters with a music-player is how it handles pictures/covers : I want those embedded into each file ( not linked to a local database ) as I move my music files on many devices/os and love they keep their right « faces » anywhere.

So for me, the ( only ) answer under Linux is Sayonara - which is Qt based…
In ancient ages, a certain @fossfreedom did a plugin for rhythmbox that almost did what I like :wink:
And yeah I’m old enough for using iTunes and WindowsMediaPlayer on XP which did that too.

I know there are things like Picard/musicbrain and the likes but I need to easily-automagically tag/add cover to my music on the fly while listening. Not open another app’ and spending hours on that.
Sayonara allows that ( searches for covers + embed’em into files ).

2 Likes
#17

I have spend multiple days and hours finding the right one, installing lots of them, testing them out. Ended up with Deadbeef (Audacious: everything is extremely tiny and when I switch to Winamp skins its just as tiny, making it unusable. Also no folder view. Still beats Rhythmbox easily).

But I no where did I come across Sayonara. No articles, nothing on fora or Reddit. Not in the search results.

I just tried, couldn’t add the ppa (no release file) and I don’t know how to force it to use Eoan release file instead. But installing the deb worked. The player has everything I wanted out of the box and I like it a lot! Not a fan of the orange and black/white UI but its clear and easy to use.
For Deadbeef I had to spend hours figuring out plugins, building them, figuring out how to arrange the UI. It was horrible but I can now do all that with a single script.

Had I found Sayonara earlier, it would have saved me a whole weekend! Thanks for the tip!

#18

Raven: Please remove it or do something with it. I fail to understand it’s purpose and also why Notifications are not on it, but on a seperate tab? Even though there is plenty of space on Raven itself. Perhaps it’s just me, but it is the single most annoying thing in Budgie to me: having 2 tabs Applets & Notifications that should really be one.

Also I don’t understand in what situations people use the Raven applets. Volume bar is 1 click away already, no need for it there. Calendar belongs to the Clock. Why is there a calendar on Raven, but the Clock doesn’t have any?
On that note: can’t the clock be replaced by default with de Calendar widget? It’s the same but intuitively contains Calendar. It makes more sense to click on the Clock for a Calendar than to open Raven for it (same goes for Volume!).

I actually do use Raven sometimes: because its calendar contains weeknumbers. I like that. Gives me a sense of at which % of the year we are :innocent:

Also all these suggestions might be impossible because some things are not in Ubuntu or Debian repository. Can’t they be installed/enabled when a user selects 3rd party apps during installation or via Budgie Welcome? (I know those 2 are not the same).

#19

Ah yes, ppa stops at 19.10 and indeed the sayonara_1.5.1-0ppa5-eoan1_amd64.deb installs finely on 20.04.

Also available as a Snap.

Given my usual theming, Sayonara’s dark theme fits rather well on my system :wink:

Capture d’écran du 2020-09-10 23-42-04
Capture d’écran du 2020-09-10 23-42-041920×1080 654 KB

Using it for some years I’d probably discovered Sayonara thanks to https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/09/sayonara-music-player-update-ppa

2 Likes
#20

Note - added Raspberry Pi 4 to the list.

Removed GSConnect investigation

Testing 21.04 - are you brave enough?