I have been trying to use Ubuntu since Hardy Heron approximately almost 2 years ago. I bought my new laptop with the express intnetion to build a triple booting system of Vista/XP/Linux with the idea to move to a totally Linux environment if I could, bearing in mind I'm a consultant (not IT) who needs to work with organisations that only implement Microsoft solutions! In addtion I needed to be able to use the laptop on a personal basis for the things that I might want to do in the spare time I get.
The biggest bugbear I have had is getting sound to work! and there is no easy way to istall the relevant files when you do find them! So this is my biggest complaint. It has taken until Alsa 1.020 for me to get my sound system working. and even then on the complicated install i had to follow, I manage to get sound from the Laptop speakers, b ut there was no bass, but the headphones worked fine with bass. But why oh why isn't there a simpler way to install it and why can't I get from the repositeries and if I can why can't I figure it out?
Secondly, everyone needs a firewall. The one that seems most obvious to use is Firestarter, which I do. but there are not clear onstaructions for a newbie on how to get it to start automatically as soon as you open Ubuntu. This means that I won't make Ubuntu available to anyone else in the house as I can't trust them to start Firestater everytime.
Finally, I appreciate the need for stability in a release, but why aren't there simper ways to upgrade when a new version of Open Office is avaialable? If you truely want the experience of Linux to be available to all uses then there needs to be a halfway house betwwen supergeeks, super users, intermedite users and complete novices. what do I mean? There are users who don't know what they are doing in windows and therefore they will accept whatever they are given; then there are users like me who utilise software but are not geeks. We have found ways to do what we need with Windows, but accept our limitations. When it comes to Linux, I find myself continually having to follow complex instruction to do what I need that I wouldn't have to do in Windows and I would put myself in the category of super user. Switching to a command line is fine, but where is the clear guodance to help you through. It just isn't there!
Oh and why can't a I copy a link from my data patition to my desktop?
Thanks
BTW - love all the hard work you guys are doing and please don't treat this as a rant or rave - just want to help move things forward
If you want to report several issues, it is best to open separate bug reports for each of them. About your second issue: in the default installation of Ubuntu there are no open ports so there is essentially no need for a firewall. Firestarter is just a frontend to set the rules of the kernel's built-in firewall (iptables) so there is no need to run it everytime you start your pc.