Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #75
Nick Ali
nali at ubuntu.com
Sun Jan 27 21:01:10 GMT 2008
Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 75 for the weeks
January 20th - January 26th, 2008. In this issue we cover the upcoming
Alpha 4 freeze, the release of 6.06.2 LTS, MOTU Council elections, an
Ubuntu Demo Day in Swindon, UK, upcoming Hug Day, Full Circle Magazine
#9, the Launchpad logo competition, and, as always, much much more!
== In This Issue ==
* Alpha 4 Freeze Ahead
* 6.06.2 LTS Released
* MOTU Council Election Open
* Ubuntu Demo Day, Swindon, UK
* Hug Day January 29th, 2008
* Launchpad Logo Competition Continues
* Full Circle Issue 9 Available
* In The Press & Blogosphere
* Meeting Summaries
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
* Bugs & Translation Stats
== General Community News ==
=== Alpha 4 Freeze Ahead ===
Hardy Alpha 4 is expected to be released Thursday, January 31.
Hardy Alpha 4 will again use a "soft freeze" for main, meaning
developers are asked to refrain from uploading packages between
Tuesday and Thursday which won't bring us closer to releasing the
alpha, so that these days can be used for settling the archive and
fixing any remaining showstoppers.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-January/000370.html
=== 6.06.2 LTS Released ===
This is the second maintenance release of Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, which
continues to be supported with maintenance updates and security fixes
until June 2009 on desktops and June 2011 on servers. This
maintenance release focuses on improving hardware support for popular
server platforms, including updated server installation media.
Over 600 post-release updates have been integrated, so that fewer
updates will need to be downloaded after installation, and a number of
bugs in the installation system have been corrected. These include
security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a
focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 6.06 LTS.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2008-January/000107.html
=== MOTU Council Election Open ===
The polls for the MOTU Council election are open. If you're an Ubuntu
developer, please vote at:
* Sarah Hobbs - https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-dev/+poll/mc-hobbsee-0801
* Richard Johnson - https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-dev/+poll/mc-nixternal-0801
* Emmet Hikory - https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-dev/+poll/mc-persia-0801
All nominees have linked their homepages (which contain more
information about them) from https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Council -
it's a good time to get informed today. Developers have till
2008-01-31 to vote.
=== Ubuntu Demo Day, Swindon, UK ===
An Ubuntu Demo Day will be held from 10am on Saturday 26 April at the
Museum of Computing in Swindon. Local publicity will be aimed at
telling people about Ubuntu, allowing them to try it out on the demo
machines, and giving out Live CDs. Screencasts and videos will be
running on a large-screen projector.
The event and on-site parking is free. There are plenty of activities
nearby including children's activities, shopping, and outdoor
activities.
If anyone would like to help at this event, please contact Dianne
Reuby (pramclub at yahoo.co.uk) - our main need will be for
experienced users to talk to non-users and answer their questions.
Read more at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-uk/2008-January/010772.html
=== Hug Day January 29th, 2008 ===
The next Hug day of the new year will be held Tuesday 29th of January.
The Desktop team has uploaded the new Nautilus to Hardy, which is
using gvfs (a gnome-vfs replacement). Since this is a new feature,
brave bugtesters are needed, so the bug day will be focus on Nautilus
bug reports. New bug reports will be triaged, confirming that the old
Nautilus bugs are still reproducible with the new one and asking
reporters to test their bugs with it. The event will be held in
#ubuntu-bugs on Freenode. The list of targeted bugs and tasks is
posted at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugDay/20080129
== Launchpad News ==
=== Launchpad Logo Competition Continues ===
Submitted Launchpad logos so far can be viewed at
https://help.launchpad.net/logo/submissions. To get an email when a
new logo is submitted, click on Subscribe at the link above.
Submissions will be accepted through 31 March 2008. More more
information, see https://help.launchpad.net/logo.
=== Launchpad 1.2.1 ===
Highlights include:
* Delete PPA packages in the web UI: no more sysadmin requests to
delete a package from your PPA.
* Branch feeds: get the latest commits associated with a person,
team, project or individual branch in your feed reader. Take a look at
the Bitlbee project's branch feed:
http://feeds.launchpad.net/bitlbee/branches.atom
* Code hosting project overviews: quick-glance overview of branches
and revisions made to projects with code hosted on Launchpad. See
Bazaar's overview page: https://code.launchpad.net/bzr
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/launchpad-users/2008-January/003053.html
== In The Press ==
* How to Develop Virtual Appliances Using Ubuntu JeOS - Virtual
appliances are an effective and convenient way to distribute
applications, whether it's an open source application stack or a
commercial product. Ubuntu JeOS (pronounced" juice") is an efficient
variant of the Ubuntu Server operating system, configured specifically
for virtual appliances. JeOS is a specialized installation of Ubuntu
Server Edition with a tuned kernel that only contains the base
elements needed to run within a virtualized environment. For
installation instructions and where to download, visit the link.
http://www.linux-mag.com/id/4829/
* Running Linux on the Samsung Q1U UMPC - There are two main choices
for anyone looking to convert a Q1U to Linux: the full desktop version
of Ubuntu or Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded. If you're looking to convert
a Q1U to something resembling the N800's big brother and don't mind
losing Windows in the process, UME may be for you. The advantage is
that the Samsung Q1U is the main test platform for this project, so
hardware support is good. This article however deals with a full
install of Ubuntu alongside Windows so that you can boot into either
OS. To summarize, create a bootable USB pendrive (since the Q1U lacks
a CD drive), partition the hard drive 50/50, and installed Ubuntu in
the empty space. This article summarizes the authors experiences with
the desktop, mutimedia, wifi, touchscreen, inking, suspend/hibernate,
battery life, and performance.
http://www.tabletpcreview.com/default.asp?newsID=1070
* IBM Accelerates Desktop Customer Choice With Support for Ubuntu,
Red Hat and Novell Software - IBM has announced that it will offer an
integrated Open Collaboration Client Solution with support for Ubuntu.
By combining the innovative user experience of the Ubuntu platform
with the re-designed Lotus Notes 8 and Lotus Symphony, customers will
experience greater ease-of-use and comprehensive management of the
desktop. Full support for Ubuntu within Lotus Notes and Lotus Symphony
is planned with Lotus Notes 8.5 in the second half of 2008. "IBM's
plans to deliver the IBM Open Collaboration Client Solution with Lotus
Notes on the Ubuntu platform is a win for customers everywhere," said
Mark Murphy, vice president of alliances, Canonical.
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0350885.htm
* Lotus Notes 8.5 to fully support Ubuntu Linux 7.10 in mid-2008 - In
an announcement this week at the Lotusphere 2008 conference in
Orlando, IBM said that it will provide full support for Ubuntu Linux
with Lotus Notes 8.5 and Lotus Symphony using its Open Collaboration
Client software, which is based on open standards. Antony Satyadas,
chief competitive marketing officer for IBM Lotus, said the Ubuntu
support for Notes and Symphony were a direct response to demand from
customers. "We're doing pilots with customers now," Satyadas said.
"Some of the requests came from big companies" with as many as 100,000
users that are interested in moving to Ubuntu on the desktop. "The
other thing we are seeing is some interesting patterns evolving here,"
he said. "It starts with a very small company looking at Linux, and
then there are really large companies that are starting out small with
500 [Linux desktop] users, then moving up to 2,000 or more. That is
the pattern we are seeing." For the past six years or so, some
prognosticators have predicted that Linux on the corporate desktop was
finally ready, but the move has never taken hold in a major way.
Satyadas said IBM thinks that this year, it will happen. "All the
stars are lining up," he said. "Everybody has been saying that since
2001 except IBM. We never said that, but we are saying that now." "We
are putting our money where our mouth is," Satyadas said. "We think
now the time is really [here]" and the needed business applications
are available to make it work for corporations. "Linux is cool now,"
he said. "We use it ourselves. We are able to offer a secure, rich and
cost-effective Microsoft alternative."http://tinyurl.com/2dj5qz
* Dell releases new Ubuntu-powered laptop: XPS 1330n - Linux laptop
users suffering from Apple MacBook Air envy now have a chic, hot
laptop to call their own: the Dell XPS 1330n with pre-installed Ubuntu
7.10. On Jan. 23, Dell announced that it was releasing the Dell XPS
1330n to the European market. In addition, for the first time, Dell is
allowing its customers in Spain to order this and other PCs with
pre-loaded Ubuntu Linux. The Ubuntu-equipped XPS 1330 will be
available to North American customers the first week of the February.
Standard specs are: Intel Duo Core T5450, HD's from 120GB to 320GB, a
backlit 13.3-inch WXGA with 1280 by 800 resolution, Integrated Intel
Graphic Media Accelerator X3100, FireWire, VGA, Fast Ethernet, HDMI
(High-Definition Multimedia Interface), two USB ports, 8-in-1 memory
card reader, and for memory, you can choose from 1GB to 4GB of
dual-channel 667MHz DDR2 SDRAM. With power, looks, and Ubuntu, it
seems likely that the XPS 1330n is destined to be the first high-end
Linux-powered laptop to reach a large audience.
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS5605271273.html
* A Guide to Ubuntu Linux - Open source means lots of people and
resources can help, but here's a reference for both beginners and the
experienced. Picking a distribution gets a lot less challenging when
you remember to choose based on where you plan to go for help. There
is lots of useful online documentation for specific tasks. But so far,
books offer the best introductions to basic concepts such as file
permissions or working with the shell. And looking for the
distribution's name in the title of your first Linux book can be a
time and frustration saver for new users. Part of Ubuntu's popularity
among user group members is because it nails down and documents many
of the best system administration practices. A new user who installs
Ubuntu and does things the Ubuntu way will find himself or herself
acting in many ways like a cautious, experienced system administrator
without realizing it.
http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,141752-c,linux/article.html
== In The Blogosphere ==
* Why Changing the Name of the Ubuntu Distros is a Bad Idea -
Recently there have been several posts on different blogs about
changing the name of Ubuntu and it's derivatives Kubuntu, Xubuntu and
Edubuntu to things like Ubuntu GNOME Edition, Ubuntu KDE Edition,
Ubuntu XFCE Edition and Ubuntu Educational Edition. Somebody even went
so far as to suggest Ubuntu G, Ubuntu K, Ubuntu X and Ubuntu E. That
idea is even more absurd. There is no need to change the names of
these distros as they are all identified as an Ubuntu based distro
with the ubuntu part of the
name.http://sonoftheclayr.info/?a=view&id=11
== In Other News ==
=== Full Circle Issue 9 Available ===
Full Circle - The Independent Ubuntu Community Magazine is proud to
announce the release of issue nine containing:
* OpenGEU - Step-by-step install from OpenGEU creator Luca De Marini.
* How-To : Directory Server, Ubuntu on an iBook, Installing the
OpenTTD game (Transport Tycoon Deluxe)
* Create Your Own Server: Part 1
* Review of KDE 4.0.
* Letters, Q&A, MyDesktop, Ubuntu Women, Top5 and more!
Get it while it's hot at fullcirclemagazine.org:
http://www.fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-9/
== Meeting Summaries ==
=== Community Council ===
* The process of Team Council membership election was decided on:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CommunityCouncil/Delegation
* The concept of LocoTeams/LocoCouncil was agreed on:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoTeams/LoCoCouncil
* The CommunityCouncil agreed on Streamlining the Membership
Approval, the responsibility of approving Ubuntu membership will be
delegated to regional Membership Approval boards:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StreamlineMembershipApproval
=== Ubuntu Women ===
* Long and fruitful discussion on the list early in the month about
how technical Ubuntu Women should be as a team. No clear resolution,
but it's clear that there are many strong and useful opinions within
the group about how to deal with inequality, many of which can be
implemented simultaneously.
* Emma Jane Hogbin has been encouraging women in the group to submit
proposals for Ubuntu Live - several agreed and will be submitting!
http://en.oreilly.com/ubuntu2008/public/content/home
* Full Circle Magazine will feature Ubuntu Women article by Cathy Malmrose
* Began group development of team Roadmap: http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/RoadMap
* Ubuntu-Women IRC Meeting January 17, 2008:
http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/Meetings/20080117
More team reports can be found here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TeamReports/January2008
== Upcoming Meetings and Events ==
=== Wednesday, January 30, 2008 ===
==== Edubuntu meeting ====
* Start: 12:00 UTC
* End: 14:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: No agenda listed as of the publication
==== Launchpad users meeting ====
* Start: 17:00 UTC
* End: 18:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #launchpad-meeting
* Agenda: https://help.launchpad.net/UsersMeeting
=== Friday, February 1, 2008 ===
==== MOTU Meeting ====
* Start:
* End: 21:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Meetings
== Updates and Security for 6.06, 6.10, 7.04, and 7.10 ==
=== Security Updates ===
* None Reported
=== Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates ===
* None Reported
=== Ubuntu 6.10 Updates ===
* apt 0.6.45ubuntu14.3 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2008-January/008486.html
=== Ubuntu 7.04 Updates ===
* drupal_5.1-0ubuntu2.3 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2008-January/008831.html
=== Ubuntu 7.10 Updates ===
* drupal5_5.2-2ubuntu2.2 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2008-January/010104.html
== Bug Stats ==
* Open (39755) +341 # over last week
* Critical (17) -1 # over last week
* Unconfirmed (20435) +206 # over last week
* Unassigned (30215) +340 # over last week
* All bugs ever reported (147672) +1252 # over last week
As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started,
please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad
== Translation Stats ==
1. Spanish (12417) +/-0 # over last week
2. French (37728) +/-0 # over last week
3. Swedish (49176) +/-0 # over last week
4. English-UK (24991) -181 # over last week
5. German (66387) -46 # over last week
Remaining string to translate in Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon", see more
at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/gutsy/
== Archives and RSS Feed ==
You can always find older Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter issues at:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter
You can subscribe to the Ubuntu Weekly News via RSS at:
http://fridge.ubuntu.com/uwn/feed
== Additional Ubuntu News ==
As always you can find more news and announcements at:
http://www.ubuntu.com/news
and
http://fridge.ubuntu.com/
== Conclusion ==
Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.
See you next week!
== Credits ==
The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:
* Nick Ali
* Craig A. Eddy
* John Crawford
* And many others
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