request for review of intrepid beta release announcement

[Steve Langasek]

I've committed a number of updates to the announcement draft, including a
'Known Bugs' section; there are a couple of issues that the developers felt
are significant enough that they should be highlighted here, not just in the
technical overview page linked to from the mail.  Feedback welcome
(particularly on the first entry, which was taken verbatim from the
TechnicalOverview and may need to be made more general-audience than I've
managed?)

  Known Bugs
  ----------

  There are a few key issues that users will want to take note of before
  upgrading to this beta.

    * A problem that could result in corruption of the firmware on Intel GigE
      ethernet hardware has led to the disabling of the e1000e driver in the
      Linux kernel included in Ubuntu 8.10 Beta. Ethernet devices that use this
      driver cannot be used with Ubuntu 8.10 Beta; support for this hardware
      will be re-enabled in daily builds immediately after Beta and this issue
      will be resolved for the Ubuntu 8.10 final release.
      https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/263555

    * No real-time kernel variant is available for the Linux 2.6.27 kernel
      included with Ubuntu 8.10 Beta.  Users of Ubuntu``Studio 8.04 who need
      real-time kernel support are advised not to upgrade to Ubuntu``Studio
      8.10.

Other feedback has been incorporated, as commented below.  Anyone willing to
make another pass?

On Wed, Oct 01, 2008 at 09:04:58PM +0100, Matt Zimmerman wrote:
> > Desktop features
> > ----------------

> > Input hotplugging: Xorg 7.4 brings improved support for automatic
> > configuration of a wide range of input hardware, including keyboards, mice,
> > and tablets.

> "Input hotplugging" is jargon; we may want to put that at the end and lead
> with the functionality it brings.

Thanks, dropped the lead phrase.

Based on feedback from Oliver Grawert, I've also dropped the comment that we
have "improved" support for tablets, since apparently wacom support under
evdev is /not/ improved over the previous implementation (wacom tablets
normally register multiple devices, and currently only the stylus is
usable).

So this is now:

 Xorg 7.4 brings improved support for automatic configuration of input
 hardware, such as keyboards and mice.

> > 3G support: Network Manager 0.7 comes with a number of long-awaited
> > features, including management of 3G connections (GSM/CDMA) and PPP/PPPoE
> > connnections.
> > 
> > Guest sessions: the User Switcher panel applet provides a new option for
> > starting a Guest session.  This creates a temporary, password-less user
> > account with restricted privileges - perfect for lending out your laptop for
> > a quick email check, or configuring a surf station for guests at home.

> Do we actually support that last use case (a kiosk) using the guest session
> feature?

> (if so, neat, I didn't realize that)

Checked with Martin, and it turns out this has been misstated (in the
Technical Overview for the alphas, and elsewhere).  Removed the comment
about "surf stations", given that a machine the authenticated user has to
log into first to be used this way isn't a very good stand-alone kiosk.

Corrected.

On Thu, Oct 02, 2008 at 10:25:54AM +0100, Gerry Carr wrote:
>>> The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu 8.10 on
>>> desktop and server.

>> "8.10 Desktop and Server" or "8.10 for desktop and server" I think.

> officially Ubuntu 8.10 Server Edition and Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop Edition.

I now have "Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop and Server", and have capitalized "Ubuntu
8.10 Server" below.  Do you think this is ok, or do we need to spell out
"Desktop Edition" and "Server Edition" everywhere?

>>> Input hotplugging: Xorg 7.4 brings improved support for automatic
>>> configuration of a wide range of input hardware, including keyboards, mice,
>>> and tablets.

>> "Input hotplugging" is jargon; we may want to put that at the end and lead
>> with the functionality it brings.

> Improved peripheral support is better. Also add multi screen support?

Multi-screen support isn't a new feature in 8.10; AFAIK we have only
incremental improvements over 8.04 in this area.

>>> 3G support: Network Manager 0.7 comes with a number of long-awaited
>>> features, including management of 3G connections (GSM/CDMA) and PPP/PPPoE
>>> connnections.

> I would remove 'long-awaited'. Sounds like we have failed to deliver  
> them before

You're right - changed this to "greatly anticipated".

Thanks!
-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org