What can I do to help Ubuntu?

I like getting involved in the dev cycles because I like to see all the latest features but I don't feel that I'm helping Ubuntu much by doing so.

Currently I report bugs on Launchpad in late alpha and beta phases but usually someone's beat me to it, i always like to support the servers by seeding the torrents (every little helps right?).

I think many people could do with asking themselves the same question, How can I help Ubuntu?

I could spare a few hours a week but I wouldn't know where to start, I have only a little knowledge of programming (no low level languages) and whilst I'd consider myself a competent user of Linux I would not say I'm an expert (basically I research into problems as and when they arise) I'm sure there are many things I could be doing to help, how about everyone fills a 10+ page thread so everyone else wondering the same thing will be able to chip in

Mark

To me it's all a matter of finding your own niche. I do iso-testing but that often requires 2 to 4 days of almost undivided attention prior to the release of each iso. (It varies greatly based on the release cycle).

You might want to look here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ContributeToUbuntu

You are helping a lot by what you are doing now. Bugs need to be verified by having others add their "me too" to it along with any differences in hardware in comments.

If you look at the problems folks are having, and have had, with the new release you can see some patterns. Those are things to look out for in this release.

ISO testing can never have enough people doing it. kansasnoob does about as good a job as one person can do, on his hardware. This may not catch things effecting yours. Even if you only test one image per ISO testing cycle that will help.

Also in this dev cycle will be the ISO testing for 10.04.4. This is very important. There should be an update testing for 10.04 to 12.04 using Update Mangler. This is very important too.

Another thing that does not get tested enough is the option to upgrade using the Live CD. This is a feature that someone got added to the ISO testing (kansasnoob is a pita).

If you look at what is being tested in ISO testing and by how many you may wonder how any of them ever work. Remember that there are also ISOs for Xubuntu. Kubuntu, Lubuntu and some other variants. Look at the list to see. They need more testing too.

If you find something that really fires you up and you want to be a pita too, I am sure kanasnoob could give you some tips.

Something new (and easy to do) is to get people submitting hardware info:

http://friendly.ubuntu.com/

castrojo said: Something new (and easy to do) is to get people submitting hardware info:

http://friendly.ubuntu.com/

i like this.

it could even be used in the future as a benchmark tool like in windows.

and for people to find easily working hardware.

could be added as a launcher shortcut in the live-cd for people to find it easy and test their equipment while they are trying ubuntu. Maybe also get recommendations or warnings.

i hope it gets better integrated and promoted in ubuntu.

The system test has been in Ubuntu for as long as I've used it, but I agree it should be publicized more.

castrojo said: something new (and easy to do) is to get people submitting hardware info:

http://friendly.ubuntu.com/

+1

thanks for the pointer to Ubuntu friendly - thought they would collect info on all currently supported release though.

I try to help ubuntu through using ubuntu on hosted servers, and buying something from their shop.

M.

Thanks for the links guys, il look through them all

castrojo said: Something new (and easy to do) is to get people submitting hardware info:

http://friendly.ubuntu.com/

Thank you, will add some Hardware soon :KS

There's bug triaging and finding duplicates too... Im sure it helps developers a lot. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTriage

castrojo said: Something new (and easy to do) is to get people submitting hardware info:

http://friendly.ubuntu.com/

I gave up after having to reboot 2 times. It lost its next button and I closed the window. Couldn't find it in sys mon. Trying to run it again said it was still open. No icon on dash. Restart. Popup asked to resume test. Icon appears in dash. After every next button window closes with icon in dash. Just before the sleep test it shut off my internet, then after I pressed my power button, the window was back with no next button. I gave up.

Start it from your terminal and see what errors pop up.