Ubuntu Wiki

Ubuntu Open Week - What's new in 9.04 - JorgeCastro - Mon, Apr 27th, 2009

UTC -4

(12:03:08 PM) jcastro: ok
(12:03:10 PM) jcastro: let's get started
(12:03:18 PM) jcastro: Hi to all 266 of you!
(12:03:31 PM) jcastro: I am going to go over some new features in Ubuntu 9.04 that might be interesting to you
(12:03:38 PM) jcastro: and then open it up for some questions.
(12:03:50 PM) jcastro: First off, this is our 10th release of Ubuntu!
(12:04:03 PM) jcastro: This is version 9.04, code named Jaunty Jackalope
(12:04:23 PM) jcastro: The version number is derived from the year and month it was released. So 9.04 is 2009, 4th month.
(12:04:48 PM) jcastro: Ubuntu releases every 6 months
(12:04:57 PM) jcastro: so the next version will be 9.10, and so on
(12:05:16 PM) jcastro: Let me throw some links at you to refer to
(12:05:23 PM) jcastro: http://www.ubuntu.com/products/whatisubuntu/904features/
(12:05:33 PM) jcastro: this is the general tour, the slick flashy thing we put on the homepage
(12:05:40 PM) jcastro: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JauntyJackalope/ReleaseNotes
(12:05:53 PM) jono left the room (quit: "Leaving").
(12:05:55 PM) jcastro: and those are the release notes, with things like errata, known broken things and workarounds, etc.
(12:06:08 PM) jcastro: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/904overview
(12:06:16 PM) jcastro: here is a more technical overview
(12:06:31 PM) jcastro: ... and, here is a review from Ars Technica: http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/04/the-jackalope-arrives-ubuntu-904-officially-released.ars
(12:06:46 PM) jcastro: since Ubuntu releases every 6 months, each release always brings something new
(12:07:18 PM) jcastro: the main desktop part of Ubuntu is called GNOME, this is your desktop, panels, etc.
(12:07:25 PM) jcastro: if you run Kubuntu the desktop is called KDE.
(12:07:43 PM) jcastro: KDE and Kubuntu will be covered later today with Jonathan, so I'll go over the default installation
(12:07:58 PM) jcastro: XFCE and Xubuntu will be covered this week as well
(12:08:09 PM) jcastro: http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.26/
(12:08:18 PM) jcastro: So here are the new things in GNOME this time around
(12:08:33 PM) jcastro: Ubuntu has already been shipping Brasero as a CD burner, so that is unchanged
(12:08:47 PM) jcastro: since GNOME releases are more evolutationary, usually it's a bunch of little fixes
(12:09:05 PM) jcastro: and little features here and there, you won't see a drastic change
(12:09:20 PM) jcastro: In fact if you look at ubuntu's history: http://tuxradar.com/content/road-jaunty-look-back-ubuntus-history
(12:09:34 PM) jcastro: you'll see that the desktop has evolved over time to the desktop we have today
(12:10:41 PM) jcastro: <tpfennig> QUESTION: Why dont you ship thunderbird as default mailer instead of Evolution. I think thunderbirds spam handling is much smarter.
(12:10:48 PM) jcastro: this is a common question
(12:11:03 PM) jcastro: Evolution is the default mailer for GNOME so we ship that
(12:11:36 PM) jcastro: however, Thunderbird is in "main" and is supported
(12:11:49 PM) jcastro: <tpfennig> jcastro: RE: But Epiphany is default Browser of GNOME and you dont ship that?
(12:11:58 PM) jcastro: Correct, this was a concious decision when ubuntu was started
(12:12:29 PM) jcastro: Firefox is very popular and a prime example of the best of OSS, it's very familiar even to users who do not know about free software
(12:13:20 PM) jcastro: however, people always ask about thunderbird, and it's a subject of debates on occassion
(12:13:47 PM) jcastro: I think Mark actually uses thunderbird, but don't tell the evolution people that. :)
(12:14:12 PM) jcastro: One very big user visible change this time around is the inclusion of Open Office 3
(12:14:34 PM) axenx: salve a tutti
(12:14:52 PM) jcastro: this was a long time coming, since the release of OOo3 last time was a bit late for our inclusion into 8.10
(12:15:09 PM) jcastro: so now we have a nice OOo build in 9.04 thanks to chris cheney and the OOo team
(12:15:21 PM) jcastro: <tgm4883> QUESTION:  Is it possible (not theoretically) to ship different software in future releases (ie, banshee instead of rhythmbox) or would the amount of work needed to be done (and upgrade breakages that may happen) make it not worth it?
(12:15:40 PM) jcastro: we ship what we think the best software is for a given task.
(12:15:56 PM) jcastro: during our ubuntu developer summits we sometimes have discussions when things need to be swapped out
(12:16:01 PM) jcastro: for example, including brasero
(12:16:19 PM) jcastro: this UDS someone is bringing up banshee, but we'll see what happens.
(12:16:26 PM) jcastro: Everyone has a favorite pet application
(12:16:39 PM) jcastro: what is nice is that these days we make it easier for you to swap out your favorite app
(12:16:56 PM) jcastro: a few releases ago if you tried to remove rhythmbox it would remove metapackages and whatnot
(12:17:06 PM) jcastro: so we're getting better at letting you mix and match more
(12:17:24 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: can we get xbmc into the standard set of packages
(12:17:37 PM) jcastro: I will look into that, I just tried it myself and thought the same thing
(12:17:46 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: is there anything in the works, regarding moving ubuntu to py3k
(12:17:53 PM) jcastro: he means python 3
(12:18:23 PM) jcastro: It's on the roadmap somewhere, unfortunately I am not familiar with our toolchain right now, I do know that 2.6 is in place so hopefully 3.0 won't be too painful
(12:18:51 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: how is the envy-ng integration with l-r-m going on ? i just saw the wiki page related to that yesterday, and it was very interesting to read
(12:19:05 PM) jcastro: You'll have to ask tseliot. :)
(12:19:12 PM) jcastro: But, I do know that I got a new card
(12:19:22 PM) jcastro: and it just fired up the driver thing and installed it.
(12:19:29 PM) jcastro: I have used envy in the past with good success too
(12:19:50 PM) jcastro: One thing you might have noticed in this release is the new notify-osd
(12:20:20 PM) jcastro: oh, one more thing, python 3 is available in universe
(12:20:23 PM) jcastro: just not by default
(12:20:37 PM) jcastro: So, notify osd
(12:20:48 PM) jcastro: you might have noticed the little blingy popups when someone IMs you
(12:21:03 PM) jcastro: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NotifyOSD
(12:21:06 PM) jcastro: More information there
(12:21:43 PM) jcastro: This is a canonical-driven feature that we hope to submit to freedesktop for doing notifications
(12:22:10 PM) jcastro: this also ties into our messaging-indicator, which queues up when people IM you or send you a tweet or whatever
(12:22:24 PM) jcastro: the entire thing is meant to improve the workflow of your notifications
(12:22:51 PM) jcastro: right now we're calling all this new work "ayatana"
(12:22:59 PM) jcastro: you will want to ask Mark about it tomorrow. :)
(12:23:25 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: how do you feel the final release of 9.04 met the goals of the UDS design / requirments for 9.04 at conception
(12:23:31 PM) jcastro: I am very happy with this release
(12:23:50 PM) jcastro: there has been some problems with the -intel driver compositing performance
(12:24:04 PM) jcastro: but that will be fixed with an update, and our X team guys and intel have been working very hard to fix this
(12:24:15 PM) jcastro: <mrasty> question: if you are ok with adding xbmc how about winedoors, playonlinux and ubuntu tweak !
(12:24:44 PM) jcastro: The list of new apps to add never gets shorter, getting something into ubuntu depends on getting someone to care about packaging it, fixing bugs, working with upstream, etc.
(12:24:49 PM) jcastro: but we do our best
(12:25:07 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: one of the features of gnome 2.26 is integrated finger print support http://library.gnome.org/misc/release-notes/2.26/#rnusers.aboutme
(12:25:18 PM) jcastro: this doesn't seem to be included in jaunty
(12:25:27 PM) jcastro: I am willing to bet the drivers aren't packaged or something
(12:25:37 PM) jcastro: I will look into it at UDS and ask around and see what we can do
(12:25:52 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: Why integrate some PPAs into a "Click and Run"-like Appstore so that people get newer Apps for older releases more easily
(12:26:11 PM) jcastro: There are some specs out there about making PPAs easier to install, like via one click or whatever
(12:26:23 PM) jcastro: however those are still open discussions, you'll want to keep track of those here:
(12:26:26 PM) jcastro: (one sec)
(12:26:56 PM) jcastro: https://blueprints.launchpad.net/sprints/uds-karmic
(12:27:14 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: the new notify-osd  is is suppose to notfy about a USB stick being plugged in or just open a file broswer
(12:27:23 PM) jcastro: kenvandine_wk: Do you know this one?
(12:27:36 PM) kenvandine_wk: that isn't a notify-osd thing, not directly
(12:27:43 PM) kenvandine_wk: it should just open
(12:27:47 PM) jcastro: (Also, those of you with more questions about the messaging indicator, kenvandine_wk will have a session on 1500UTC this wed.)
(12:27:51 PM) kenvandine_wk: there is a bug about that :)
(12:28:06 PM) Jebus: QUESTION: back to open office. how do you see the oracle-sun-deal? will open office suffer as larry ellison isn't known for being a friend of OSS?
(12:28:20 PM) jcastro: Jebus: questions in -chat please, see topic
(12:28:24 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: Why is 2D rendering in all Linux distros (including Ubuntu) considerably slower than in windows
(12:28:32 PM) jcastro: probably crappy drivers. :-/
(12:28:40 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: Why is new version of tor(0.2.0.34) not in universe?
(12:28:52 PM) jcastro: There was a call in ubuntu-devel for someone to help maintain Tor
(12:29:09 PM) jcastro: but unfortunately I don't think anyone has stepped up to care for the package.
(12:29:26 PM) jcastro: If anyone is interested they can stay for daniel's session in 30 minutes on how to get involved. :)
(12:29:34 PM) ikonia: jcastro: noted, that your lacking the tor maintainer, I'll speak to daniel
(12:29:42 PM) maco: jcastro: someone did step up
(12:30:00 PM) jcastro: ah ok, maco fill us in please!
(12:30:13 PM) maco: im searching my email archives
(12:30:27 PM) jcastro: heh ok, just chime in whenever ...
(12:30:50 PM) jcastro: Let's talk about ubuntu server for a bit
(12:30:59 PM) Jebus left the room.
(12:31:16 PM) jcastro: my favorite new feature of ubuntu server is called screen-profiles
(12:31:27 PM) maco: Surfaz Gemon Meme said they'd maintain it
(12:31:29 PM) jcastro: which lets you set up a nice screen session that launches by default if you want
(12:31:56 PM) jcastro: In 2 hours Dustin Kirkland will discuss screen-sessions, so if you are interested stick around for that
(12:32:17 PM) jcastro: The ubuntu server blog is the best place to get information about what is going on in server land:
(12:32:20 PM) jcastro: http://ubuntuserver.wordpress.com/
(12:32:24 PM) maco: they also said they were new to packaging, and Daniel Chen said he'd help out
(12:32:30 PM) kirkland: 1.5 hours, jcastro ;-)
(12:32:35 PM) MagicFab is now known as MagicFab_afk
(12:32:37 PM) jcastro: heh
(12:33:18 PM) jcastro: Also, for those of you using ubuntu in an active directory environment we have likewise open 5 which is a nice gui way to add desktops to an AD, and a CLI tool for your servers
(12:33:28 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: I came late so skip if it has been discussed before, what is being done to improve the state of audio playback and record on ubuntu with regards to pulse-audio?
(12:33:40 PM) jcastro: I am surprised no one asked this before!
(12:34:12 PM) jcastro: We have been working hard to make this work for as many people as possible
(12:34:34 PM) jcastro: crimsun has been doing a lot of work on this, unfortunately there are still some cases where it's not so good.
(12:35:08 PM) maco: he's dtchen now
(12:35:13 PM) jcastro: however, canonical is looking to hire someone to work on sound specifically
(12:35:23 PM) jcastro: so if you're a C hero or something apply for the job
(12:36:18 PM) jcastro: another thing I like about ubuntu server is the virtualization stuff
(12:36:52 PM) jcastro: we have a package called "python-vm-builder"
(12:37:15 PM) jcastro: which is a little script that let's you create VMs on the fly very quickly
(12:37:33 PM) jcastro: so it should be useful for sysadmins out there that need to deploy lots of VMs with different requirements
(12:37:53 PM) jcastro: and the last bit I want to talk about ubuntu server is Eucalyptus
(12:38:05 PM) jcastro: eucalyptus is a management tool for cloud-based computing
(12:38:24 PM) jcastro: so with ubuntu-server and eucalyptus you can set up your own cloud without having to give your data to other people.
(12:38:47 PM) jcastro: You can find out more about eucalyptus here: http://eucalyptus.cs.ucsb.edu/
(12:39:09 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: could PPA get verified that they will not CRACK your computer then ???? some crazy script ????
(12:39:18 PM) jcastro: you need to trust the ppa you enable
(12:39:34 PM) jcastro: for example, I would enable a PPA of a person I know with their key, but not a random one. It's up to you.
(12:39:59 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: do things like python-vm-builder get backported to LTS?
(12:40:03 PM) jcastro: some things do
(12:40:30 PM) jcastro: I know there are PPAs out there for some things like screen-profiles, please ask during the server intro session later today, someone will be able to answer your question
(12:40:56 PM) jcastro: ok moving on
(12:41:09 PM) jcastro: are there any areas of ubuntu that you want to know what's new?
(12:41:29 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: what is a PPA
(12:41:32 PM) jcastro: good question!
(12:41:53 PM) jcastro: a ppa is a personal package archive, which is a repository where people can put newer software or software not in ubuntu
(12:42:32 PM) jcastro: https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+ppas for more info
(12:42:59 PM) jcastro: people are asking about kubuntu and UNR, there will be sessions on those this week (as well as xubuntu)
(12:43:12 PM) jcastro: however, this is the first release where we have a full standalone UNR image
(12:43:27 PM) jcastro: before you had to install normal ubuntu and then UNR on top of it, now we just have one image, which is nice
(12:44:06 PM) jcastro: <gregknicholson> It's currently very awkward to import PPA keys?pasting text into a file, saving it, importing that. QUESTION: Why doesn't Launchpad just publish the key file, and Ubuntu be set up to do the Right Thing? by default?
(12:44:19 PM) jcastro: PPAs were originally for developer-only stuff
(12:44:42 PM) jcastro: it's only been relatively recently where normal people want to play with them
(12:45:02 PM) jcastro: Someone asked about this earlier, the best thing to do is watch the specs to see what is coming down the pipe
(12:45:14 PM) jcastro: also, on friday at 1500UTC Celso will be giving a PPA session
(12:45:24 PM) ***jpds points at https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desktop-app-store
(12:45:28 PM) jcastro: so you can ask him all these questions about PPAs and keys.
(12:46:02 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: rephrased what do you feel is the ubuntu value added for 9.04 on the desktop platform
(12:46:08 PM) jcastro: ok, hand wavy question.
(12:46:12 PM) jcastro: heh
(12:46:26 PM) jcastro: I think the value we bring is to bring all the interesting things upstream to users
(12:46:42 PM) jcastro: for example, before Ubuntu I had to build new GNOME with jhbuild or garnome
(12:46:56 PM) jcastro: at the time no one was really pushing out releases every 6 months with all the goodies
(12:47:03 PM) jcastro: so that's what I think the value is
(12:47:16 PM) ikonia: can I expand on that ?
(12:47:24 PM) jcastro: sure
(12:48:22 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: Any work being done for improving Gnome performance and responsiveness. It's sometimes laggy for no apparent reason and this has been the case since forever. Windows always feels smoother and more responsive
(12:48:26 PM) ikonia: while I %100 take the point that the 6 month release cycle brings solid core upstream development to the desktop platform, and there are few other distros moving with such rapid release cycle, is it also not a double edged sword that the 6 month release cycle expects a full update to a desktop every 6 months to stay current and this work is not backported to LTS ?
(12:49:02 PM) jcastro: yes, of course, it's a comprimise sometimes
(12:49:06 PM) ikonia: thank you
(12:49:07 PM) jcastro: sometimes I get frustrated with an older PC that I have on LTS
(12:49:12 PM) jcastro: and I want some new bling on it
(12:49:22 PM) jcastro: but on the other hand I've deployed ubuntu desktops at a university before
(12:49:34 PM) jcastro: and there is nothing nicer than a nice, boring, LTS desktop. :)
(12:49:44 PM) ikonia: jcastro: I must pick this up with you at a more offtopic junture
(12:49:45 PM) jcastro: we think that the LTS/normal release balance is a good place to be.
(12:49:51 PM) jcastro: for sure. :)
(12:49:56 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: Any work being done for improving Gnome performance and responsiveness. It's sometimes laggy for no apparent reason and this has been the case since forever. Windows always feels smoother and more responsive
(12:50:20 PM) jcastro: hmmm, my desktop doesn't do this, but there are some places where gnome could use more performance work
(12:50:49 PM) jcastro: we did some work on login time this cycle around, and hopefully with new things like dconf from upstream gnome login time will be improved.
(12:51:25 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: Once Intel is finished with the migration to UXA and DRI2, who long until world domination? ;)  (Smooth & fast Xorg is the only thing missing .. well maybe apart from 100% working open source flash
(12:51:41 PM) jcastro: he's referring to this: http://keithp.com/blogs/Sharpening_the_Intel_Driver_Focus/
(12:51:53 PM) jcastro: which everyone with intel video should read.
(12:52:11 PM) jcastro: Not long hopefully, now that the worst is behind us it should get better
(12:52:29 PM) jcastro: we will have people from Intel at UDS to discuss this specifically, so look for good things next cycle.
(12:52:44 PM) jcastro: <jtholmes> Question dont take this as a disparaging comment but I believe I could personally convert more Windows users to Ubuntu if the sound, video drivers and video presentation apps were more solid. Do I stand alone on this one.
(12:52:49 PM) jcastro: yes, of course.
(12:53:11 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: what aspect of the 9.04 release stands out to you as a sales point, what is the showcase
(12:53:28 PM) jcastro: not 9.04 specific, but I still think wubi is the greatest tool for people to try ubuntu
(12:54:04 PM) jcastro: I am trying to think of what I like best in 9.04, probably a bunch of little things, not one thing
(12:54:24 PM) jcastro: I think this is a very solid release, so far the indications show that people haven't been having too many problems
(12:54:33 PM) jcastro: once the intel driver stuff gets fixed we'll be in great shape!
(12:54:43 PM) ikonia: intel is void, it's known about
(12:54:44 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: What's Ubuntu's plan for adopting gnome-shell and Gnome 3? If all goes to plan Gnome 3.0 will be Gnome 2.30 = Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. Is Gnome 3 too big a change to take in an LTS release (as KDE 4.0 was for Hardy)?
(12:55:16 PM) jcastro: First off, we will be shipping GNOME 3, it's just a question of when
(12:55:33 PM) jcastro: right now the LTS version hasn't been announced (though 10.04 is probably a good guess)
(12:55:59 PM) jcastro: Also, we're not sure if 2.30 will be 3.0 or if it will be delayed or whatever
(12:56:16 PM) jcastro: we're having this discussion at UDS, and also people from our desktop team will be attending the desktop summit this summer
(12:56:17 PM) maco: jcastro: mark did says 10.04
(12:56:21 PM) jcastro: so by then we should know
(12:56:26 PM) jcastro: ok then!
(12:57:02 PM) jcastro: for sure though, we are dedicated to bring the gnome 3 experience to people
(12:57:05 PM) chrisi1512: np
(12:57:11 PM) somnoliento: 5 minute warning
(12:57:23 PM) jcastro: actually, now that I think of it, boot time is  my favorite feature
(12:57:35 PM) jcastro: I have an intel SSD and I have a boot chart of 7 seconds flat. :)
(12:57:49 PM) czajkowski: jaunty does seem to boot a lot faster now
(12:58:09 PM) jcastro: ok, I'll take one more question
(12:58:35 PM) jcastro: QUESTION: What would be the easiest way to start developing programms for the gnome/Ubuntu environment?
(12:58:51 PM) jcastro: For GNOME programs you should try to link up with the GNOME Love folks
(12:58:55 PM) jcastro: or find something broken and go fix it
(12:59:04 PM) jcastro: for Ubuntu stick around for the next session. :)
(12:59:37 PM) jcastro: ok, well, we covered some new features and random questions, but it was fun and I hope you learned something