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Ubuntu debates usability changesUbuntu debates usability changesPosted Mar 5, 2009 10:45 UTC (Thu) by NAR (subscriber, #1313)In reply to: Ubuntu debates usability changes by jwb Parent article: Ubuntu debates usability changes If there's any uncertainty that the computer has recognized the peripheral, then THAT is a major bug in the operating system. That's wrong. There can be many problems in attaching an USB device (broken cable, not working USB connector, turned off device or simply someone forgot to plug the cable), so it's useful to have some feedback even on success.
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Ubuntu debates usability changes Posted Mar 5, 2009 11:11 UTC (Thu) by tialaramex (subscriber, #21167) [Link]
I'm dubious about this in principle, but even if we accept for a moment that notifications are an appropriate solution, the example provided is terrible because it's so vague, particularly when you realise that an ExpressCard can appear to the kernel as USB, so the user's experience is "I plugged in my FooBaz card, and Linux said I'd connected a USB device - but the FooBaz is a modem not a USB device".
If someone's excited about notifications for USB devices, let them first go solve the case that's agreed to be a problem, which is when a user plugs in their USB Foobaz, and Linux doesn't have a suitable driver. udev (with perhaps a small tweak to the kernel) can figure out that nothing uses this device and /that/ is worth telling the user about. "Vender Inc Foobaz connected but you don't have a driver for it [Don't show me this again]".
Once /that/ works, it is extensible in a good way ("Connected device needs firmware file FooBaz-1.28.bin. Please install firmware and re-connect" and "The FooBaz webcam you've connected has an unsupported Baz controller") which tell a technical user what they need to know, and provide the non-technical user something useful to report to their tech support.
Ubuntu debates usability changes Posted Mar 6, 2009 0:27 UTC (Fri) by maney (subscriber, #12630) [Link] +1, with bells on.
Ubuntu debates usability changes Posted Mar 6, 2009 6:46 UTC (Fri) by cpeterso (guest, #305) [Link]
Windows does this, but it rarely works. If Windows does have a generic driver for a device, I've never seen it successfully find a new driver from Windows Update when I plug in a new device.
Fortunately, I could imagine a Linux notification system using (something like) apt-get to download new drivers might actually work correctly. :)
Ubuntu debates usability changes Posted Mar 6, 2009 6:48 UTC (Fri) by jwb (guest, #15467) [Link]
Probably the only reasonably accurate message would be "USB device not recognized. Wait a year and try again."
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