Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #151
John Crawford
johnc4510 at ubuntu.com
Sun Jul 19 23:28:24 BST 2009
Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #151 for the week July
12th - July 18th, 2009. In this issue we cover: Ubuntu 8.04.3 released,
Kubuntu Council, Kubuntu Wiki, Technical Board: Nominations, Karmic
Translations are now Open, New Ubuntu Members, Ubuntu Zimbabwe, Empathy
is now in Karmic, AppArmor now available in Karmic: Testing Needed,
Ubuntu IRC Council News, OpenJDK 6 Certification for Ubuntu 9.04, Ubuntu
Podcast Quickie #9, Ubuntu-based distro touted for power management, 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 8.04.3 released
* Kubuntu Council
* Kubuntu Wiki
* Technical Board Nominations
* Karmic Translations Now Open
* New Ubuntu Members
* Ubuntu Stats
* Ubuntu Zimbabwe
* Empathy is now in Karmic
* AppArmor now available in Karmic: Testing needed
* Ubuntu IRC Council News
* OpenJDK 6 Certification for Ubuntu 9.04
* In the Press & Blogosphere
* Ubuntu Podcast Quickie #9
* Ubuntu-based distro touted for power management
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
== General Community News ==
=== Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS Released ===
Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS has been released for the server, desktop, and
alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures. Eighty
updates have been integrated including security updates and corrections
for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and
compatibility with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. Downloads or CDs are available[1],
as are the release notes[2]. A complete list of post-release updates is
also available[3].
1. http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
1. http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/804
1. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardyReleaseNotes/ChangeSummary/8.04.3
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2009-July/000124.html
=== Kubuntu Council ===
Following a vote of Kubuntu Members we have three new Kubuntu Council
members. Harald Sitter (hsitter, apachelogger), Roderick Greening
(rgreening) and Jonathan Thomas (JonTheEchidna) will join the team,
Celeste and Lydia in being able to vote on new members and occasional
other decisions.
Thanks to Steve Stalcup for putting himself forward and making it a hard
choice to vote on.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kubuntu-devel/2009-July/002999.html
=== Kubuntu Wiki ===
wiki.kubuntu.org is the Ubuntu wiki themed for Kubuntu users. This week
it received a shiny new theme thanks to Ryan Kavanagh, bringing it up to
date with the latest website artwork.
https://wiki.kubuntu.org/Kubuntu
=== Technical Board: Nominations ===
The Ubuntu Technical Board intends to grow its membership from the
current four seats to six. All but one of these seats (the recently
elected Colin Watson) will be up for election for a period of two years.
All Ubuntu developers are eligible to vote.
The nomination period runs from now until 1400 UTC on 28th July 2009.
There will then follow a two week deliberation period, before the
candidates are announced in the Technical Board meeting of 1400 UTC on
11th August 2009.
Voting will run for two weeks, and the winning candidates announced in
the Technical Board meeting of 1400 UTC on 25th August 2009.
The Technical Board is the custodian of technical architecture,
engineering processes and technology strategy in Ubuntu. We like to
make sure it represents the best combination of experience and
innovation from all of the Ubuntu development teams.
If you would like to put yourself forward for nomination, or would like
to nominate a member of the Ubuntu Developer community who you think
would make a fine member of the board, please send an e-mail to:
technical-board at lists.ubuntu.com
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-July/000589.html
=== Karmic Translations Are Now Open ===
We are pleased to announce that Karmic is now open for translation.
You can now go to:
https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/+translations
to start translating Ubuntu Karmic into your language.
This will be the first Ubuntu release to feature message sharing
functionality, which will initially allow Jaunty and Karmic translations
to be shared on a template and message basis. This will mean that you no
longer need to translate the same strings in Jaunty and Karmic.
Translate it in one, and your translation will automatically -read
instantly- appear in the other.
This feature will progressively be enabled for all Ubuntu releases. Stay
tuned for the announcement and more information from the Launchpad
Translations team.
During the development cycle language pack updates will be released
regularly twice per week (except for soft freezes for alpha or beta
milestones). The generation of the first language pack has already
started and it will be released in a few days - until then, the PPA
language pack updates for Jaunty will be put on hold in order not to
interfere with this process.
You are encouraged to test those translations in Karmic and report any
problems you might find, either in the ubuntu-translators list or
against the ubuntu-translations project in Launchpad.
* Ubuntu Translators List:
https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-translators
* Ubuntu Translators Project: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-translations
Happy translating!
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-translators/2009-July/002617.html
=== New Ubuntu Members ===
The approval results from the July 15th Americas Membership meeting are
as follows:
Steve Conklin: Steve works for Canonical as a Kernel engineer.
Currently he is working on new hardware enablement and bringing netbooks
running Ubuntu to market. He is also involved with the ubuntu-NGO team
helping it get off the ground. His experience working with the Red
Cross will come in handy with that work. Wiki:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/sconklin Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~sconklin
Amber Granger: Amber has had one of the most memorable first impressions
with the Ubuntu community when you started with a bang with her blog,
Just Me, Amber. The blog was a way for her to share her experiences with
joining, and becoming a very important part of, the Ubuntu community.
She is currently helping plan the Atlanta Linux Fest and also an Ubuntu
User Conference in 2010. Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AmberGraner
Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~akgraner
Martin-Éric Racine: Martin-Éric has been involved with Free Software for
a number of years now. He spends much of his time working to maintain a
number of packages for Debian which are included in the Main repository
of Ubuntu. Due to this, he also spends a large amount of time ensuring
that patches in Ubuntu are correctly forwarded upstream. Wiki:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MartinEricRacine Launchpad:
https://launchpad.net/~q-funk
Jimmy Harris: Jimmy is a very active member of the Ubuntu-Florida Local
Community team where he not only plans and runs Bug Jams and Packaging
Jams but he also DJs at the conferences using Ubuntu Studio and Mixx. He
is also a mentor for the Ubuntu US Local Community team project for the
state of Alaska, the largest state in the Union. Wiki:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/pak33m Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~pak33m
Please join me in welcoming these great new Ubuntu Members!
== Ubuntu Stats ==
=== Bug Stats ===
* Open (59023) +47 over last week
* Critical (29) +3 over last week
* Unconfirmed (27273) -271 over last week
* Unassigned (50839) -1 over last week
* All bugs ever reported (295943) +1673 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 Jaunty ===
* Spanish (12797) -52 # over last week
* French (39785) -366 # over last week
* Brazilian Portuguese (49473) -612 # over last week
* Swedish (54357) -2649 # over last week
* English (United Kingdom) (55729) -84 # over last week
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope," see
more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jaunty/
=== Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week ===
* Squeeze the maximum of a laptop battery -
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/20670/
* Update Manager is not optimized for low speed Internet -
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/20696/
* All gnome applications have completely different UIs -
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/20651/
* ubuntu-restricted-extras is essential for many users -
http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/20671/
* Empathy logs should be in an "empathy" folder (like pidgin) in
karmic - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/20703/
Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your
ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against
another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/
== LoCo News ==
=== Ubuntu Zimbabwe ===
The Ubuntu Zimbabwe LoCo Team is pleased to announce that it has been
admitted as an Honorary Institutional Member of the Computer Society of
Zimbabwe. (Membership No: 090025) It is our hope to work with the
Computer Society of Zimbabwe in assisting with the technological
development of the country (which has suffered a great deal as a result
of the economic melt down) while promoting and using Ubuntu and open
source solutions for the benefit of the country as a whole.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-July/000642.html
== New in Karmic Koala ==
=== Empathy is now in Karmic ===
As of today, the seeds have been switched, and Empathy, the awesome
Telepathy IM client with support for both audio and video chat,
geo-location, Adium themes, and collaboration via Tubes, is now included
in the Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala daily LiveCDs. Let's get testing!
http://blog.thesilentnumber.me/2009/07/empathy-is-now-in-karmic.html
=== AppArmor now available in Karmic: Testing Needed ===
After a lot of hard work by John Johansen and the Ubuntu kernel team,
bug #375422 is well on its way to be fixed. More than just forward
ported for Ubuntu, AppArmor has been reworked to use the updated kernel
infrastructure for LSMs. As seen in #apparmor on Freenode a couple of
days ago:
* 11:24 < jjohansen> I am working to a point where I can try
upstreaming again, base off of the security_path_XXX patches instead of
the vfs patches
* 11:24 < jjohansen> so the module is mostly self contained again
These patches are in the latest 9.10 kernel, and help testing AppArmor
in Karmic is needed. To get started, verify you have at least
2.6.31-3.19-generic:
* $ cat /proc/version_signature
* Ubuntu 2.6.31-3.19-generic
AppArmor will be enabled by default for Karmic just like in previous
Ubuntu releases, but it is off for now until a few kinks are worked out.
To test it right away, you’ll need to reboot, adding ’security=apparmor’
to the kernel command line. Then fire up ‘aa-status’ to see if it is
enabled. A fresh install of 9.10 as of today should look something like:
* $ sudo aa-status
* apparmor module is loaded.
* 8 profiles are loaded.
* 8 profiles are in enforce mode.
* /usr/lib/connman/scripts/dhclient-script
* /usr/share/gdm/guest-session/Xsession
* /usr/sbin/tcpdump
* /usr/lib/cups/backend/cups-pdf
* /sbin/dhclient3
* /usr/sbin/cupsd
* /sbin/dhclient-script
* /usr/lib/NetworkManager/nm-dhcp-client.action
* 0 profiles are in complain mode.
* 2 processes have profiles defined.
* 2 processes are in enforce mode :
* /sbin/dhclient3 (3271)
* /usr/sbin/cupsd (2645)
* 0 processes are in complain mode.
* 0 processes are unconfined but have a profile defined.
Please throw all your crazy profiles at it as well as testing the
packages with existing profiles, then file bugs:
* For the kernel, add your comments (positive and negative) to bug #375422
* AppArmor tools bugs should be filed with ‘ubuntu-bug apparmor’
* Profile bugs should be filed against the individual source package
with ‘ubuntu-bug <source package name>’. See DebuggingApparmor for
details. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebuggingApparmor
Thank you Ubuntu Kernel team and especially John for all the hard work.
http://penguindroppings.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/apparmor-now-available-in-karmic-testing-needed/
== The Planet ==
=== Jussi Schultink: Ubuntu IRC Council News ===
Sometime ago Jussi was elected to the Ubuntu IRC council. This has been
a big step for him, up from regular ubuntu operator and contributor, to
a governance role. So now he feels it's time to start writing about what
the IRC council is doing, and where and when things are happening.
First up he’d like to mention the next IRCC meeting, coming up on 2
August, at 07:00 UTC, in #ubuntu-meeting. You can find the agenda for
the meeting at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IrcTeam/IrcCouncil/MeetingAgenda
- if you have an agenda item, please feel free to add it there.
Second, he'd like to mention the blueprint for a new bantracker and IRC
operator helper features that Benjamin (Pici) has kindly popped up on
launchpad- you can find it here:
https://blueprints.edge.launchpad.net/bantrackertwo
The IRCC would welcome as much community input for that as possible, so
please, feel free to add suggestions and ideas to the mix.
For those of you who done know us, the IRCC consists of the following
people: jussi01 , Pici, Pricey, elky and nalioth.
They look forward to seeing you all on Freenode/Ubuntu channels soon!
http://jussi01.com/?p=63
=== Nick Barcet: OpenJDK 6 Certification for Ubuntu 9.04 ===
The Ubuntu Java development team is pleased to announce completed
certification of OpenJDK 6 for Ubuntu 9.04, continuing Ubuntu's
tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source
technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.
After signing the Sun TCK agreement earlier this year, Java developers
went to work with the certification process and received final
certification from Sun in late May.
This certification means that the OpenJDK 6 package included with Ubuntu
9.04 now passes the rigorous testing of the Java SE Test Compatibility
Kit (TCK) and is compatible with the Java(TM) SE 6 platform on the amd64
(x86_64) and i386 (ix86) architectures.
OpenJDK is a free and open source implementation of Sun's Java(TM) SE 6
platform. The Java TCK is a toolkit providing tools, tests, and
documentation to help determine whether or not Java implementations meet
compliance.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-July/000587.html
== In The Press ==
=== Canonical seeking desktop backgrounds for Ubuntu 9.10 ===
The H-Online tells us that Kenneth Wimer of the Canonical Design Team
has announced that the team is seeking high quality desktop backgrounds
from "anyone and everyone" for the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala"
release. The team have created a Flickr photo group pool where users can
submit or simply browse the proposed backgrounds. "Ubuntu would like to
include a beautiful set of images for our users to choose from in our
next release," said Wimer. More details about submission requirements
can be found on the Background Guidelines Wiki and all images must be
freely licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA license. The final
version of Karmic Koala is scheduled to be released on the 29th of
October.
http://www.h-online.com/open/Canonical-seeking-desktop-backgrounds-for-Ubuntu-9-10--/news/113773
=== Do We Need a New Distro for Everything? ===
The Linux Loop says that they're not saying we shouldn’t have hundreds
of distros competing for our hard drive; in fact they think that sort of
competition is quite healthy, but do we really need a new distro for
everything? Apparently WattOS thinks so. Now in its third beta, WattOS
is an Ubuntu-based distro aimed at having low power consumption. "I’ve
already got a distro for saving power, though. It’s called the off
button." In the Linux Loop's opinion it just doesn’t make sense to offer
a new distribution for a small improvement on an existing distribution.
"I’m sure the power-saving work WattOS is doing is great and it is
certainly needed, since Linux is rather lacking in power management, but
it would be far better as an application, not its own distribution."
http://www.linuxloop.com/2009/07/15/do-we-need-a-new-distro-for-everything/
=== How Does Ubuntu 9.04 Measure Up to Mac OS X? ===
Linux Magazine's Nathan Willis says that bucking the historical trend of
comparing desktop Linux with Windows, Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth
recently told journalist Bruce Byfield that he was looking to Mac OS X
as the operating system to beat for future Ubuntu releases —
particularly in the areas of usability and user experience. Over all,
Ubuntu 9.04 averages a B+ in this comparison against Mac OS X usability.
The areas in which Ubuntu comes up short OS X in this review are
considerably smaller in scope — an unpredictable “suspend” here, a
not-very-helpful help system there, some missing or difficult to use
applications. But that does not mean that filling in all of the small
gaps is easy work; in fact it may get more difficult. As Shuttleworth
admits, it is not going to be an overnight story. A part of that
challenge, he adds, is figuring out how Canonical can inspire both
consistency and innovation in the broader open source community. Ubuntu
has also recently launched a project to fix niggling usability issues,
called One Hundred Paper Cuts. The project aims to improve the user
experience by identifying one hundred issues which negatively impact the
user’s experience, but which can be fixed relatively easily. It’s
certainly a move in the right direction!
http://www.linux-mag.com/cache/7419/1.html
=== Netbook Performance: Ubuntu vs. OpenSolaris ===
Phoronix's Michael Larabel notes that in the past when Phoronix has
published OpenSolaris vs. Linux Kernel benchmarks and similar articles
looking at the performance of Sun's OpenSolaris up against popular Linux
distributions, they have looked at the performance on high-end AMD
workstations, but they have never compared the OpenSolaris and Linux
performance on netbooks. In this article Phoronix has compiled results
comparing OpenSolaris 2009.06 and Ubuntu 9.04 on the Dell Inspiron Mini
9 netbook. While OpenSolaris 2009.06 started out performing much better
than Ubuntu 9.04, due to the GPU tests being run, this was due to the
bugged Intel graphics stack found in the Jaunty Jackalope. Once both
Ubuntu and OpenSolaris were running with similar packages after the
fallout from the invasive Intel Linux graphics work, we should see
nearly identical results. Beyond these graphics tests, however, as a
whole Ubuntu 9.04 performed much better than OpenSolaris 2009.06 on this
Atom-based Dell Inspiron Mini 9 netbook.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_atom_os&num=1
=== OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Fedora, Mandriva Benchmarks ===
Michael Larabel of Phoronix says with it being a while since he last
compared many Linux distributions when it comes to their measurable
desktop performance, he decided to run a new round of tests atop four of
the most popular Linux distributions: OpenSuSE, Ubuntu, Fedora, and
Mandriva. To see where these Linux distributions are at, Larabel used
their latest development releases and then performed all package updates
as of 2009-07-15. Well, nothing too conclusive can be derived from just
the fifteen benchmarks they have shared today, especially with a few of
the tests not containing results for all four distributions. However,
for the trends that can be gathered, OpenSuSE and Ubuntu were generally
the fastest.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=distro_four_way&num=1
=== Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS Released ===
Phoronix's Michael Larabel says that for those of you still running
Ubuntu 8.04 due to its Long-Term Support status rather than upgrading to
Ubuntu 8.10 or Ubuntu 9.04, fire up your update manager as Ubuntu 8.04.3
LTS is now available. Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS is the third maintenance update
targeting the Hardy Heron and it includes security updates and fixes for
high impact bugs. Approximately 80 updates have been incorporated into
Ubuntu 8.04.3 LTS that address issues within the installer, desktop,
server, and general areas. Details on this update are available via the
Canonical release announcement. Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is supported on the
desktop until April of 2011 while it will be supported on servers until
April of 2013. The next Ubuntu release with an extended support status
will be next year with Ubuntu 10.4 LTS.
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzM4NQ
=== Shuttleworth about GNOME 3.0 - What's good, what's missing, what
needs work ===
Andreas Proschofsky of derStandard had a chance to conduct an interview
with Mark Shuttleworth, and they had an opportunity to discuss many
things about Ubuntu including the new GNOME 3.0. When asked if GNOME 3.0
would make it into the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Shuttleworth said, "The heart
of this question is: How do you deal with the situation where a distro
makes a long term release and upstreams are on a different schedule. I
think it's worth asking the question: Is it valuable for upstreams to
have a long term release made? And no-one disagrees that this would be
valuable, but when are you going to do that? Until now there's been no
overarching force to say you do it now or then. I think, what we are
about to see is the emergence of sort of a greater structure in the
cadence of releases in the open source ecosystem."
http://derstandard.at/fs/1246541995003/Interview-Shuttleworth-about-GNOME-30---Whats-good-whats-missing-what-needs-work
=== Ubuntu 9.04 Receives OpenJDK 6 Certification ===
Marius Nestor of Softpedia reports that Canonical, through Matthias
Klose, announced on July 11th, 2009 that the Ubuntu Java development
team had completed the certification of the OpenJDK 6 platform for
Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). This means that the OpenJDK 6 package
included in Ubuntu 9.04 has passed the meticulous tests of the Java
Standard Edition Test Compatibility Kit and that it is now fully
compatible with the Java Standard Edition 6 platform, on both i386 and
amd64 architectures. "The Ubuntu Java development team is pleased to
announce completed certification of OpenJDK 6 for Ubuntu 9.04,
continuing Ubuntu's tradition of integrating the latest and greatest
open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux
distribution. After signing the Sun TCK agreement earlier this year,
Java developers went to work with the certification process and received
final certification from Sun in late May," Matthias Klose said in the
official announcement.
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-9-04-Receives-OpenJDK-6-Certification-116630.shtml
=== Ubuntu’s Karmic Koala Needs You! ===
Rami Taibah of The Linuxologist tells us that the Canonical Design team
is currently running a contest for beautiful desktop wallpapers for its
upcoming Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 scheduled to be released in October
2009. They have created a photo pool on Flickr where you can submit or
just browse proposed backgrounds. "In our next release, the Karmic Koala
(Ubuntu 9.10), we would like to include a set of high quality desktop
backgrounds. In order to accomplish this we call on anyone and everyone
to submit images which are freely licensed CC-BY-SA and follow the
guidelines for inclusion." So what are you waiting for? Grab your SLR
and launch your GIMP!
http://linuxologist.com/eye-candy/ubuntus-karmic-koala-needs-you/
== In The Blogosphere ==
=== Embracing the “Meta Release Cycle” ===
In an interview with derstandard.at, Shuttleworth discussed ongoing
efforts to coordinate Ubuntu releases more tightly with Debian’s
development cycle, hoping that other distributions and upstream projects
will follow suit. With the adoption of a “Meta Release Cycle,” he
argued, the efforts of all free-software developers could be made more
effective by allowing the latest versions of applications to travel
downstream at the same speed. Some may see this move as an attempt by
Ubuntu–which has long faced hostility from geeks who resent its success
or focus on bringing normal people into the Linux fold–to domineer the
Linux world. To a certain extent, this may be true. But a little
benevolent domineering is exactly what the Linux community needs in
order to move beyond the organizational mayhem that currently impedes
its progress.
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/14/embracing-the-meta-release-cycle/
=== Mythbuntu and Mint Developers Pan Ubuntu for Strict Time-Release
Policy ===
In an article on Techradar which looked at the upcoming Karmic Koala
release of Ubuntu, Clement Lefebvre, the developer of Linux Mint, a
popular Ubuntu derivative, and Mario Limonciello, the maintainer of the
Ubuntu-sanctioned Mythbuntu media center distribution both took aim at
what they saw as the chief weakness of Ubuntu.
"Of course," complained Lefebvre, "[focusing on consolidation instead of
cutting-edge features] wouldn't make sense for Ubuntu unless we became
an upstream component of their distribution. I'm really happy with what
Ubuntu is doing, and if I were to change anything… it would be the
commitment to a release schedule and the return of a 'release when
ready' policy to guarantee a stronger level of quality against regressions."
"I would prefer that the release cycles were not strictly six months,"
said Limonciello. "Over the last few releases there have been a variety
of bugs that weren't deemed to 'hold up' the release and could just be
fixed in a Stable Release Update. I'm of the opinion if you have a fix
for the bug that you know works, you shouldn't put off the fix just to
meet a deadline for releasing a CD. It's better to include the fix
sooner and give a better experience to the user out of the box."
* Techradar article:
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/what-to-expect-from-the-next-version-of-ubuntu-614458
http://blog.ibeentoubuntu.com/2009/07/mythbuntu-and-mint-developers-pans.html
=== Ubuntu 9.10 Preview: Kernel Mode Setting ===
Kernel mode setting will be enabled by default for Intel-based video
cards on Ubuntu 9.10, set to be released in October. Christopher Tozzi
recently played around with this new feature on a Karmic Koala live CD,
and shares his results. Fast-user switching and access to the virtual
console were quite zippy on his i810 video card running in the live
environment. Kernel mode setting means the Linux kernel, instead of an
X11 video driver, handles the task of configuring the graphics mode of
the console. There’s no official word on when kernel mode setting will
be enabled for video chipsets other than Intel, but Ubuntu developers
are working on it for some nvidia and ATI devices. Don’t expect it in
Karmic, though. Video available at the link.
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/15/ubuntu-910-preview-kernel-mode-setting/
== In Other News ==
=== Ubuntu Podcast Quickie #9 ===
In this episode:
* 8.04.03 coming 16 July
* Ubuntu 6.06 desktop support ending
* Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase deadline approaching
* updates on Spread Ubuntu
* UbuCon Central America
* 100 Paper Cuts Round 2
http://ubuntupodcast.net/2009/07/15/ubuntu-podcast-quickie-9/
=== Ubuntu-based distro touted for power management ===
Desktop Linux's Eric Brown reports that a group called PlanetWatt has
released a Beta 3 version of a new lightweight, power-sipping distro
based on Ubuntu. The low-power WattOS is built from scratch using the
Ubuntu MinimalCD and Ubuntu 9.04, and uses the lightweight LXDE
environment and OpenBox. WattOS is not intended to be the "smallest or
fastest," says the project FAQ. Instead, the group is looking to create
a balance between speed and power consumption on the one hand and
features on the other. Designed to run on both low-power and older
systems, the distro should run "quite pleasant and quick" on any
computer with at least 600MHz and 256MB of RAM. Eventually, the group
plans to offer a set of "WattPanel" tools for users that will let them
"tweak the power consumption and processor performance of their system
in an easy point and click fashion." WattOS Beta 3 is available now,
including a Live CD version.
http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS3390383145.html
== Upcoming Meetings and Events ==
=== Sunday, July 19, 2009 ===
* None listed as of publication
=== Monday, July 20, 2009 ===
* None listed as of publication
=== Tuesday, July 21, 2009 ===
==== Ubuntu Learning Team Meeting ====
* Start: 01:00 UTC
* End: 02:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Learning/Agenda
==== Community Council Meeting ====
* Start: 10:00 UTC
* End: 12:00 UTC
* Location: #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CommunityCouncilAgenda
==== Server Team Meeting ====
* Start: 15:00 UTC
* End: 16:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/Meeting
==== Desktop Team Meeting ====
* Start: 16:30 UTC
* End: 17:30 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-desktop
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/Meeting
==== Kernel Team Meeting ====
* Start: 17:00 UTC
* End: 18:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: Not listed as of publication
==== LoCo Council Meeting ====
* Start: 19:00 UTC
* End: 20:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCouncilAgenda
=== Wednesday, July 22, 2009 ===
==== Foundation Team Meeting ====
* Start: 16:00 UTC
* End: 17:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== QA Team Meeting ====
* Start: 17:00 UTC
* End: 18:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/Meetings/
=== Thursday, July 23, 2009 ===
==== Karmic Alpha 3 ====
==== Packaging Training: Packaging Perl Modules (gwolf and jawnsy) ====
* Start: 12:00 UTC
* End: 13:00 UTC
* IRC channel #ubuntu-classroom
* Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Packaging/Training
==== Ubuntu Java Meeting ====
* Start: 14:00 UTC
* End: 15:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== MC Meeting ====
* Start: 16:00 UTC
* End: 17:00 UTC
* Location: Not listed as of publication
* Agenda: Not listed as of publication
==== Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting ====
* Start: 21:00 UTC
* End: 22:00 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: None listed as of publication
=== Friday, July 24, 2009 ===
==== Karmic Weekly Release Meeting ====
* Start: 15:00 UTC
* End: 16:30 UTC
* Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
* Agenda: http://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReleaseTeam/Meeting/2009-07-24
=== Saturday, July 25, 2009 ===
* None listed as of publication
== Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04 ==
=== Security Updates ===
* USN-800-1: irssi vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-800-1
* USN-799-1: D-Bus vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-799-1
* USN-801-1: tiff vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-801-1
* USN-802-1: Apache vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-802-1
* USN-803-1: dhcp vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-803-1
* USN-804-1: PulseAudio vulnerability -
http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-804-1
=== Ubuntu 6.06 Updates ===
* None Reported
=== Ubuntu 8.04 Updates ===
* xfce4-weather-plugin 0.6.2-1ubuntu1.2 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-July/012263.html
* sun-java5 1.5.0-19-0ubuntu0.8.04 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-July/012264.html
* symphony 1.3-1hardy2 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-July/012265.html
* nautilus 1:2.22.5.1-0ubuntu3 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-July/012266.html
* gvfs 0.2.5-0ubuntu8 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-July/012267.html
* freeradius 1.1.7-1ubuntu0.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-July/012268.html
* libxcb 1.1-1ubuntu1.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-July/012269.html
=== Ubuntu 8.10 Updates ===
* sun-java5 1.5.0-19-0ubuntu0.8.10 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-July/009752.html
* xfce4-weather-plugin 0.6.2-1ubuntu2.8.10.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-July/009753.html
* symphony 1.3-1intrepid1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-July/009754.html
=== Ubuntu 9.04 Updates ===
* linux-meta 2.6.28.14.18 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-July/009858.html
* sun-java5 1.5.0-19-0ubuntu0.9.04 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-July/009859.html
* xfce4-weather-plugin 0.6.2-1ubuntu2.9.04.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-July/009860.html
* symphony 1.3-1jaunty1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-July/009861.html
* libvirt 0.6.1-0ubuntu5.1 -
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-July/009862.html
== Archives and RSS Feed ==
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You can subscribe to the Ubuntu Weekly News via RSS at:
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== 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:
* John Crawford
* Craig A. Eddy
* Dave Bush
* Sayak Banerjee
* Your Name Here
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* And many others
== Glossary of Terms ==
1. GPU - Graphics Processing Unit.
1. IRC - Internet Relay Chat.
1. LTS - Long Term Support. - Said of a release that will receive
support for 3-years/5-years rather than the typical 18 months.
1. UTC - Coordinated Universal Time: UTC replaced GMT as the basis for
the main reference time scale or civil time in various regions on
January 1, 1972.
1. TCK - Technology Compatibility Kit.
Other acronyms can be found at
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary
== Ubuntu - Get Involved ==
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different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical
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