Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #89
Nick Ali
nali at ubuntu.com
Sun May 4 22:59:46 BST 2008
Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 89 for the weeks April
27th - May 3rd, 2008. In this issue we cover: Ubuntu Open Week,
Intrepid Ibex: Open for Business, FLISOL Nicaragua 2008, Launchpad
1.2.4, gNewSense release of DeltaH(based on Hardy Heron), Fox New
Responds to Linux Community, Ubuntu 8.04 vs. Windows Vista Power
Usage, Interview with Donald Knuth, and much, much more!
'''UWN Translations'''
* Note to translators and our readers: We are trying a new way of
linking to our translations pages. Please follow the link below for
the information you need.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Translations
== In This Issue ==
* Ubuntu Open Week Review
* Intrepid Ibex: Open for Business
* Ubuntu Stats
* LoCo News
* Launchpad News
* Ubuntu Forum News
* In the Press & Blogosphere
* In Other News
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
== General Community News ==
=== Ubuntu Open Week Review ===
Ubuntu Open Week concluded on May 3rd, and was a great success. There
were 7 sessions a day over a 6 day period, with a wide range of topics
being discussed. From the welcome to the closing feedback session,
informed presenters gave us a look at everything "Ubuntu." It's a big
task to find a good mix of talks that would be interesting to a
community of people who pride themselves on being up to date, as well
as newcomers. Sessions covered the very technical, like packaging, to
community-oriented topics, like the Ubuntu Forums. A big thanks to
all who gave of their time to make presentations, and to the community
for their interest. If you missed any talks that you were particularly
interested in, you can read the logs for each discussion by clicking
on the session at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOpenWeek.
=== Intrepid Ibex: Open for Business ===
Intrepid Ibex is now open for general development. Automatic syncs
from Debian will begin just as soon as a final set of compiler changes
are in place. The release schedule for Intrepid is available at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IntrepidReleaseSchedule. To summarise the next
few months, the dev team expects to be able to produce the first
milestone in mid-June, to cease automatic syncs from Debian near the
end of June, and to enter feature freeze near the end of August. It is
not recommend that users upgrade to Intrepid at this time; there will
likely be considerable flux until the initial round of merges is
complete. As always, any developers wishing to take the plunge at this
early stage should ensure that they are comfortable with recovering
from anything up to complete system failure.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-May/000424.html
=== Rick Clark is now a MOTU ===
Rick Clark (a.k.a. dendrobates on IRC) as the newest addition to the
MOTU team. Rick is also the technical lead of the Ubuntu Server team.
https://launchpad.net/~dendrobates
== Ubuntu Stats ==
=== Bug Stats ===
* Open (45195) +1288 # over last week
* Critical (33) +5 # over last week
* Unconfirmed (22364) +694 # over last week
* Unassigned (35753) +1088 # over last week
* All bugs ever reported (178696) +2544 # 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 Hardy ===
This is the top 5, not specific languages, so the languages might
change week to week.
* Spanish (15710 )
* French (39693)
* English-UK (50195)
* Swedish (53042)
* Brazilian Portuguese (65696)
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron," see more
at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/
== LoCo News ==
=== FLISOL Nicaragua 2008 ===
Some preliminary stats from the FLISOL Nicaragua 2008 event:
* +1,000 people attended the three local events in Managua, León and Juigalpa
* 17 conferences
* 58 installs (*buntu: 38, openSuse: 11, Debian: 4, Fedora: 4, Linux Mint: 1)
See some pictures by visiting the following links:
http://leogg.wordpress.com/2008/04/26/flisol-nicaragua-2008/ and
http://leogg.wordpress.com/2008/05/01/flisol-2008-part-ii/
== Launchpad News ==
=== Launchpad 1.2.4 ===
The Launchpad team is proud to announce the release of Launchpad 1.2.4
on 1st May 2008!
New features this month include:
* the ability to build PPA packages for multiple series and copy
packages from one PPA to another
* a new design for project code overview pages
* an easier way for casual contributors to post to mailing lists.
New information on copying PPA packages, a new project code overview
page, contributing to the mail lists without subscribing, and many
other changes are available for your review at the link.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/launchpad-users/2008-May/003665.html
== Ubuntu Forum News ==
=== Tutorial of the Week ===
The Tutorial of the Week for April 28, 2008, is an unusual one, but
also a quick and easy one -- "HOWTO: Replace Nautilus with PCMan (4
Steps, No Fuss)." PCManFM is an exceptionally lightweight file manager
that does a lot of the same work as Nautilus. You might find it
preferable to the Gnome default, if only because it's usually easier
on system resources. Try it out and see. See you next week!
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=692238
== In The Press ==
* Tony Yarusso and the Minnesota LoCo decided to gather contact
information of the local media outlets to see if they could get a spot
for their Ubuntu release parties. John Gordon of NPR, who hosts a
daily segment called Future Tense, got in touch and did an interview
with Tony about whether Ubuntu is ready for the "mainstream." It aired
on May 1st, the segment is about 5 minutes long, and can be heard
here: http://podcastdownload.npr.org/anon.npr-podcasts/podcast/4788725/510014/90094709/PUB_90094709.mp3.
John also includes a blog piece on why Ubuntu is not ready for the
mainstream: "The Great Ubuntu-Girlfriend Experiment" summarized in the
UWN section "In the Blogosphere" below.
http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/2008/05/01.shtml#017580
* VIA unveils open source driver development portal - Chip maker VIA
has launched a beta version of its VIA Linux Portal. The first
offering is a graphics driver, the VIA CN896 digital media IGP
chipset, for the new Ubuntu 8.04. Documentation and source code for
the drivers will be released over the coming weeks, and official
forums and bug tracking will be added later this year. More at
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2215466/via-open-source-driver-portal
* First Look: Ubuntu 8.04 'Hardy Heron' - The most significant
improvement by far in Hardy is Wubi, a new utility that works with
Microsoft Windows. Wubi lets a novice user install Ubuntu on top of
Windows without having to modify hard disk partitions. Messing with
partitions can be dangerous and data can be lost if something goes
wrong. Wubi removes all of the risk of a conventional install by
creating a large file in the Windows filesystem that is treated like a
virtual disk to house the Ubuntu installation.
http://www.adtmag.com/article.aspx?id=22514
* Ubuntu 8.04 Is Ready to Take On Windows - Ubuntu's deep software
catalog, focus on usability and active community combine with
long-term support to put desktop Linux's best face forward. Canonical
has marshaled the best of what the open-source world has to offer in
Ubuntu 8.04, a Linux-based operating system that's capable of mounting
a serious challenge to Microsoft Windows on mainstream desktops and
notebooks. Jason Brooks of eWeek did tests of Ubuntu 8.04, both in its
final form, and in a series of test releases that led up to the
official launch on April 24th. Jason has been impressed enough with
the distribution to award it the eWEEK Labs Analyst's Choice
designation. http://www.eweek.com/index2.php?option=content&task=view&id=47793&pop=1&hide_ads=1&page=0&hide_js=1
== In The Blogosphere ==
* The Great Ubuntu-Girlfriend Experiment - Content Consumer was
interested to see how far Linux had come in terms of being used easily
by the mainstream. So, he tricked his girlfriend Erin into sitting
down at a brand new Ubuntu 8.04 installation and performing some basic
tasks. There were 12 tasks to complete and the conclusion was: The
main issue with the desktop experience is that the geeky programmers
and designers assume too much from the average user. Ubuntu also needs
a welcome screen for the first time you open up your desktop, with
little videos explaining a few key concepts to how Linux and Ubuntu
work. Maybe it could ask "What do you want to do?" and then explain
how they could do this. Linux won't truly be ready for the desktop
until a computer illiterate can sit down at a the computer and with
little effort do what they want to do.
http://contentconsumer.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/is-ubuntu-useable-enough-for-my-girlfriend/
* Hardy Heron moves into the Black Tower - The last time DeviceGuru
wrote about the "Black Tower," he had just installed Vista and Kubuntu
7.10 in a dual-boot setup. When version 8.04 of Kubuntu ("Hardy
Heron") hit the Web last week, he wasted no time upgrading to it. This
blog article gives us a step by step run down on what was done to prep
and install Kubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04. His take, "the Ubuntu-family
distributions — including my favorite, Kubuntu — have already become
the most popular version of Linux among desktop PC users. With Hardy
Heron's evolutionary enhancements and polish, the continuing march of
the Penguins onto the world's desktops will be unstoppable!"
http://www.deviceguru.com/2008/04/28/hardy-heron-moves-into-the-black-tower/
* Interview: Kenneth Wimer of the Ubuntu Art Team - The style of
Ubuntu releases has varied throughout the releases, with some
differing radically from others and the rest continuing to build the
style. But where do all of the art and style ideas come from? FOSSwire
talked with Kenneth Wimer of the Ubuntu Art Team to get his take on
past, and present releases. You can also get an idea of the general
direction of the art team as it relates to Ubuntu. Read the interview
at http://fosswire.com/2008/04/25/interview-wiemer-ubuntu-art/
== In Other News ==
=== gNewSense releases DeltaH(based on Hardy Heron) ===
DeltaH is gNewSense's second major release, and is based on Ubuntu
Hardy. 2.0 was released on May 1st 2008 - less than a week after
Hardy's release.
* Features Since DeltaD (1.1)
* Now based on Ubuntu Hardy
* New Artwork
* Switched from BurningDog(Firefox) to Epiphany
* Switched to Blag's deblob script for the kernel
* Non-free GLX removed from X/mesa
* Builder: Use a chroot for building
* Builder: Added support for Debian src packages
DeltaH is available for i386, with the GNOME desktop, and in Live CD
format. You can join the IRC channel #gnewsense on the freenode.net
server to chat about the release.
http://www.gnewsense.org/Main/Deltah
=== Fox News Responds to the Linux Community ===
Video on the Fox News homepage does not work with Ubuntu. The Linux
community spoke and foxnews.com listened. Gene, of The ERACC Web Log,
received a polite message from Mr. Dave Denis the Director, Product
Development at Fox News. Mr. Denis stated that Fox News is now aware
of the problem with their Video page and is working with Maven
Networks to get it fixed. He also stated that most of the Fox News
developers use Ubuntu. More at
http://blog.eracc.com/2008/04/28/guess-what-fox-news-is-responsive-to-the-linux-community/
=== Ubuntu 8.04 vs. Windows Vista Power Usage ===
When the Lenovo ThinkPad T60 was idling with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS "Hardy
Heron" it had quite an advantage over Windows Vista Ultimate. Ubuntu
was consuming five less Watts, which equates to more than 10% less
power, over Microsoft Windows Vista. Without a doubt, Linux has been
improving when it comes to power management in large part thanks to
Intel and their various projects such as PowerTOP and LessWatts. In
addition, the tick-less kernel feature is another important addition
to the Linux ecosystem that is helping to lessen power usage. The
report and graphs are at
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=hardy_power&num=2
=== Interview with Donald Knuth ===
Andrew Binstock interviews Donald Knuth on the success of open source,
the problem with multicore architecture, the disappointing lack of
interest in literate programming, the menace of reusable code, and
that urban legend about winning a programming contest with a single
compilation. Donald mentions that he uses Ubuntu. A very technical
interview that is worth reviewing.
http://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1193856
== Upcoming Meetings and Events ==
=== Tuesday, May 6, 2008 ===
==== Community Council Meeting ====
* Start: 21:00 UTC
* End: 22:00
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CommunityCouncilAgenda
=== Wednesday, May 7, 2008 ===
==== Server Team Meeting ====
* Start: 21:00 UTC
* End: 22:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/Meeting
=== Thursday, May 8, 2008 ===
==== Desktop Team Meeting ====
* Start: 13:00 UTC
* End: 14:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: http://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/Meeting
=== Friday, May 9, 2008 ===
==== MOTU Meeting ====
* Start: 04:00 UTC
* End: 05:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Meetings
== Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.04, 7.10, and 8.04 ==
=== Security Updates ===
* [USN-604-1] Gnumeric vulnerability -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-security-announce/2008-April/000694.html
* [USN-602-1] Firefox vulnerabilities -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-security-announce/2008-April/000695.html
=== Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates ===
* None Reported
=== Ubuntu 7.04 Updates ===
* None Reported
=== Ubuntu 7.10 Updates ===
* None Reported
=== Ubuntu 8.04 Updates ===
* dmraid 1.0.0.rc14-0ubuntu3.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011403.html
* gtk+2.0 2.12.9-3ubuntu3 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011402.html
* lshw 02.12.01-2ubuntu1.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011401.html
* mythbuntu-control-centre 0.28-0ubuntu1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011404.html
* evolution-data-server 2.22.1-0ubuntu2.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011405.html
* gnome-system-monitor 2.22.1-0ubuntu1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011406.html
* evolution 2.22.1-0ubuntu3.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011407.html
* openldap2.3 2.4.7-6ubuntu4.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011408.html
* axyl-lucene 2.1.10ubuntu1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011409.html
* ifenslave-2.6 1.1.0-7ubuntu1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011410.html
* pyslide 0.4-10ubuntu2.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011411.html
* rescue 1.12ubuntu1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011412.html
* wine 0.9.59-0ubuntu5 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011413.html
* smstools 3.0.10-1ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011414.html
* translations_restricted_20080428.tar.gz -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011416.html
* translations_main_20080428.tar.gz -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011415.html
* translations_multiverse_20080428.tar.gz -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011417.html
* translations_universe_20080428.tar.gz -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011418.html
* util-linux 2.13.1-5ubuntu2 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011419.html
* update-manager 1:0.87.25 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011420.html
* librmagick-ruby 1.15.11-1ubuntu1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011421.html
* apport 0.108.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011422.html
* gnome-control-center 1:2.22.1-0ubuntu4.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011423.html
* gnome-desktop 1:2.22.1-0ubuntu6.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011424.html
* kdebase 4:3.5.9-0ubuntu7.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011425.html
* nautilus 1:2.22.2-0ubuntu5 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011426.html
* hal 0.5.11~rc2-1ubuntu8 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011427.html
* sudo 1.6.9p10-1ubuntu3.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-April/011428.html
* linux 2.6.24-17.31 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011429.html
* jockey 0.3.3-0ubuntu8 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011430.html
* linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-17.24 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011431.html
* linux-backports-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-17.15 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011432.html
* virtkey 0.50ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011433.html
* update-manager 1:0.87.26 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011434.html
* kickseed 0.48ubuntu1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011435.html
* rkward 0.4.9-2ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011436.html
* linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24.12-17.35 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011437.html
* grub-installer 1.27ubuntu8 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011438.html
* linux-meta 2.6.24.17.19 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011439.html
* apparmor 2.1+1075-0ubuntu9.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-May/011440.html
== 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
* Isabelle Duchatelle
* And many others
== Glossary of Terms ==
* PPA - Personal Package Archives
* FLISOL - Festival Latinoamericano de Instalación de Software Libre,
Latin American Free Software Install Festival.
== Feedback ==
If you would like to submit an idea or story you think is worth
appearing on the UWN, please send them to
ubuntu-marketing-submissions at lists.ubuntu.com.
This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Marketing Team. Please feel
free to contact us regarding any concerns or suggestions by either
sending an email to ubuntu-marketing at lists.ubuntu.com or by using any
of the other methods on the Ubuntu Marketing Team Contact Information
Page (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MarketingTeam). If you'd like to
contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please
feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page. If you have any technical
support questions, please send then ubuntu-users at lists.ubuntu.com.
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