Here I record more of my gripes last see on NormansGripes

I have recently needed to send some emails with attachments which were stored on a floppy. So, write the email, click on attachment and a window appears with two columns. The bottom but one item in the left hand list is Floppy1. Put the floppy in the drive, double click on Floppy1, the floppy is mounted and a list of the files appears in the right hand column. When receiving mail with attachments clicking on 'save as' and, provided that a floppy is in the drive, has a similar effect. So, apart from remembering to dismount the floppy, we have a very satisfactory way of handling floppies. Now, if only the same thing happened with OpenOffice?, we are home and dry.

This morning I again downloaded lots of Mbs via Synaptic Manager. I realise that changes need to made on an on-going basis but it would be nice to know if I can expect to see any changes in appearance or speed or anything when using Ubuntu. Is this possible?

Basically you're downloading security fixes or critical updates. Unlike Microsoft however, you are keeping pretty much the same versions of everything when you update. If you want to know what you're getting there is an extension which will give you piles and piles of technical reasons for each update :-)

Having transferred from Windows one of the utilities I miss is for handling CDs. Such things as copying data or music, making backups of data and system. Is it inteneded to have such a utility under say System Tools? I would also like to play music CDs while I am pottering around and cannot get CD Player to work, ie CD plays but no sound from speakers.

It's a known issue that Warty lacks good CD handing. The UbuntuWiki:MultimediaHOWTO has some info about CDs and playing them. You should also right click on the volume control choose "Open volume control" and check that the CD volume is turned up. As for

writing Data CDs, it's unfortunate but there are not very many good gui tools for Linux for that yet. There are plans to get one into Hoary. In the meantime I'm not sure what to suggest.

Since converting to Ubuntu amongst the things I have missed are a comprehensive and simple to use help system and the equivalent of 'My Computer' or 'Windows Explorer'. I now realise that part of my difficulty has been one of terminology. Over the years I have moved from CPM to DOS to Windows 3.11, 98, 2000 and now Linux each time having to grasp some new terminology. Who, with that background, would have thought that a reasonable help file was accessable by the sequence Help, Desktop, User Guide. The misleading word, in my opinion, is Desktop. To me, Desktop means the screen I see on booting up for which I thought I would need no help. Next step was to see what goodies could be found and there, staring me in the face, was reference to File Manager. Perhaps this was what I was looking for. According to the help section it was to be found under 'Applications' and called Browse Filesystem. PROBLEM it was not there. Thanks to Daniel, who told me how I could find the file, I had a look and found that it was what I was looking for. It was similar to 'Windows Explorer'. Several of the files listed were of no interest and, as far as I am concerned, need not be there but one or two others were most helpful. May I suggest that steps be taken to place the heading 'Browse Filesystem' where it should be, preferably under 'Applications', 'Accessories'. Many Windows users are familar with using Explorer and would expect something similar in Ubuntu. When I have spent a reasonable amount of time evaluating I will write a short report.

Having now had a further look at File Manager I have realised that it is not all that I expected it to be. It is not a replacement for Windows Explorer. The only part which really interested me was the possibility of being able to transfer files onto a CD. To my disappointment I could not get this to work as described in the help file. Ah well, let's be patient and wait further developments.

In, I think, my first entry in normans gripes I posed the question for whom is Ubuntu intended? I would like to return to that question now that I have been using the system for a few weeks. If it is intended for the users with networks and servers then I suppose it very nearly, if not completely, does the job. However, if it is for the single PC user, then there are several things which will be needed such as making things as user friendly as possible and also to cater for the many and varied needs. Some of these have been covered in my gripes and, I suppose, other users of Ubuntu will have raised their gripes. Many single users have been trained over the years to back up their data files on a regular basis and have used floppies and CDs/DVDs. It is also comforting to be able to back up the system and programmes in use especially as one often spends quite a lot of time in customizing them to suit ones purpose. I am thinking not only of the domestic user like myself but of the small business user, running the wages and accounts and doing a bit of word processing and, maybe a bit of spreadsheet work and data processing. OpenOffice? takes care of some of the needs but what about wages and accounts. I used to teach Sage Payroll and Accounts using Windows. If I were called upon now to set up a small business or return to do a bit of teaching using Ubuntu is there suitable software available and, if so, could I have a look at it? Finally, we must have a simple to use, but effective backing up procedure.

Pan Newsreader continues to be satisfactory with two exceptions. I have still not received any information or advice on how to bar undesirable contributors. Also, in the tools menu, there appears to be the means of deleting items more than 3 days old. However, unlke Outlook Express, this does not happen automatically. Any chance of somebody being able to check this out and advise Please?

I had the need today to send an email attachment in zipped up form. It would be useful if there were some reasonably easy to use utility for zipping and unzipping. Something like winzip, which I could understand, would be ideal in my opinion. Daniel sent me a brief description how to do what I needed with Ubuntu but I really couldn't make it work. (Put that down to my ignorance). I also wonder what would happen if I were sent a file prepared with winzip. How would I open it?

At the risk of undue repetition I raise again the issue of writing to cd. Having recently started to subscribe to Ubuntu-Users I find that there are others with the same complaint as myself. When I look at the properties of the cdrom I note that users do not have permission to write to cd only root has. However, I also understand that users have had the permission to write transferred to them because, when setting up a group, cdrom is included in the Users Group. Further, when trying to write to cd, one should be offered the alternative of writing to file. In fact, only write to file is offered. For some reason the permission is not happening, why?

Sorry folks, but I have another gripe. I use Pan Newsreader, for which there is a marked lack of help. I wanted to bar certain contributors for their spamming antics and could not see how. So, I asked the question on Ubuntu-Users. Promptly, back came the answer which required me to select 'Plonk author'. I do hope something will eventually be done to enable us normal human beings to understand what is going on. Who would expect 'Plonk' to mean 'bar'?

Not really a gripe more of a report. I went to transfer some photos from the camera but the computer would not see the camera. In the end I rebooted and then everything worked as expected. A bit like the old windows, if it doesn't work reboot.

I use a Window's astronomy programme called SkyMap? Lite in conjunction with Wine. It normally works very well. However, this New Year's morning, Wine came up with an error. Once again, the old technique of rebooting put things right. I wonder why?

It is quite a time since I had anything to say on this page but I wanted to record that, at last, a corespondent to the Ubuntu-Users list has had a gripe about the lack of facilities for handling file saving to CDs and floppies. These two are still my gripes and I hope that the situation will be remedied with the next release.

The next release certainly includes improved CD writing facilities for data CDs at least. The floppy situation is still somewhat up in the air I'm afraid.

On reflection, I suppose the most useful would be to be able to write data to CDs as drives capable of reading from and writing to CDs are very common these days. Then, if using a floppy is esential, what is available now, although a bit fiddly, would suffice.

At last, I think I have the answer for handling files to and from floppies without a great deal of difficulty. This follows the answers I received today from Ubuntu-Users. The procedure is as follows. Insert floppy in drive and Computer-> Disks-> rt click on floppy icon and mount volume. Load the application, eg OpenOffice?, select Open File and then click on up one level button until the list headed by bin appears. Select media, Floppy 0 folder, open and the files are there. Similarly for saving files save to media floppy0. When finished close application, rt click on floppy icon on desktop and unmount volume. Remove floppy. What do you think of that? Comments please.

That is certainly the basic method yes. And it's a reliable one. It should work no matter what application you're using. My personal preference is still for copying the file from the floppy; editing it on your hard drive and then copying it back afterwards. If only to improve autosave speeds :-)

I see what you mean but, I think what I am suggesting, is virtually the same in as much as the file would only be copied back to the floppy when all the work on it had been completed. Until this stage is reached the file would be copied to the hard drive as per normal procedure. perhaps I should have made that clear. What I am trying to achieve is a procedure as near as possible to that used by people familiar with windows so that it would make for an easier change over to Ubuntu. I think that next time anyone comes on Ubuntu-users enquiring about floppy use I might post this idea.

I was looking for something I had recorded about using floppies and was amazed to see that it is 7 months since I recorded anything worthwhile. Despite all the gripes about using CDs nothing really significant seems to have happened and handling of DVDs is not good enough. I found and use K3b which is very good for R/W CDs but seems not to handle R/W DVDs particularly well. One can but hope. I am coming to terms with some aspects of Gimp and having a colour printer I am able to manipulate digital photos and produce prints. It will soon be time for the next upgrade and it will be interesting to see what new goodies this will bring.