OKlaLoCo Newsletter Issue#1

1.1 RECOGNIZED BEGINNING
1.2 OKLAHOMA LOCO NEWS
1.3 COMMUNITY NEWS
1.4 PODCASTS AND NEWSLETTERS
1.5 I LEAVE YOU WITH, LINKS

1.1 RECOGNIZED BEGINNING Periodically I send out emails about what is going on with our Loco and the Ubuntu Community. These were sent randomly and with no particular format. This email marks the beginning of the OKlaLoCo Newsletter. This email will be sent out once a month. Right now I am thinking the last week or first week of the month. As we progress it may be decided that there is a better publishing date. Over the next few issues I will be tweaking the format as well. My goal is to make the newsletter easy to read and navigate. If you have anything you would like to add to the newsletter whether it is a one off piece of news or a recurring article email me at (duanedesign at gmail dot com).

1.2 OKLAHOMA LOCO NEWS
Ubuntu Tulsa Meet Up The Tulsa Meetups are quite possibly the most fun you will ever have so don't miss out. We are meeting every other Wednesday at the Coffee House on Cherry Street http://tiny.cc/jAAT8. We are announcing them on Twitter, the mailing list, and on IRC. The next meet up is scheduled for May 6th at 7:30pm

Tulsa LUG Meeting
wisd0m and I finally made it to a Tulsa LUG (http://tulsalug.org) meeting. We made a lot of new friends and opened the door to the possobility of future cooperation between the two clubs. It is my hope that someday the Tulsa LUG and Oklahoma LoCo can work together to put on events that promote Linux in northeast Oklahoma. The Tulsa LUG meetings are a lot of fun. We share ideas, help each other with projects and discuss open source software. I encourage all Oklahoma LoCo members in the Tulsa area to attend. If you would like to carpool with wisd0m and me let us know. The meetings are the last Saturday of the month at the Tulsa Hardesty Library.

Ubuntu Presentation
The Computer Club of Oklahoma City has monthly presentations on new technology and software. A member has approached us about the possibility of doing one of these presentations. Anyone interested get in touch with me and I will help you out with that in anyway I can.

OKC Meet Up?
We have a generous and much appreciated invitation to host Oklahoma City meet ups. Derrick Parkhurst has offered to let us use the OKlahoma City Coworking Technology Collaborative. This is a great opportunity for the Oklahoma City members. If you live in the OKlahoma City area and are interested in a monthly meet up email me (duanedesign at gmail dot com)

Lawton LUG
Noah0504 is starting a LUG in Lawton ( http://tiny.cc/WKOQ0). If you live in the Lawton area check it out. http://www.lawton-linux.org/ I encourage Oklahoma LoCo members to participate in their local Linux User Group. Both groups can benefit from cooperation between the organizations.

New Members
We are always happy to announce new members. New members should get familiar with the different tools available for the team. Familiarize yourself with the wiki, Join the Mailing List, and visit #ubuntu-us-ok on irc.freenode.net. We also have a Google apps account for LoCo members. Email me with your First and Last Name as well as a log in name. I will then send you an email containing log in instructions that include a temporary password.

M1a12007- IRC (freenode): artstew

1.3 COMMUNITY NEWS
Ubuntu 9.04 released Trying my best to keep my editorial comments to myself, I must say this new release is pretty stinkin' good. Quickly I will highlight some of the new features.

Gnome 2.6
gnome-user-share: Personal file sharing over WebDAV, http, and bluetooth. Brasero: Full featured CD/DVD burning application. Provides a replacement to nautilus-cd-burner evolution-mapi: (Add support to latest Exchange Mailbox to Evolution) Evolution: Can import .pst files (Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders) Can connect to Exchange 2007 using new evolution-mapi module Gedit: new fullscreen mode with a sliding toolbar easy switch from one syntax to another ported to windows gnome-settings-daemon: low diskspace checker has been added to the housekeeping plugin of gnome-settings-daemon. Improved handling of multiple monitors X. Org server 1.6: The -ati driver has received numerous fixes and performance improvements New style for notifications and notification preferences Faster Boot Up Linux kernel 2.6.28 Ext4 filesystem support: ext4 is a fork of ext3 that is a deep code change affecting the data structures used in ext4 to make it a better file system - faster, more reliable, more features, better code, etc. Ext4 brought ext3 into the world of 64-bits allowing individual files of 16TB (assuming 4KB blocks), as well file systems of 1 Exabyte (EB) by using 48-bit data structures. One EB is the same as 1,048,576 Terabytes (TB). ext3 will remain the default filesystem for Jaunty, and we will consider ext4 as the default for the next release based on user feedback.

Issues with Jaunty
As with any release check the known issues in the release notes (http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/904) to make sure you dont upgrade/install just to find a major headache. The biggest issue I have seen/experienced is with Compix/Xorg. You go to enable System>Preferences>Appearance>Visual Effects and Jaunty tells you that it can't. Some companies have not adequately updated their drivers to play with the new X.org. So there were some cards that had to be blacklisted, until the drivers could be made to work. The list of graphics cards effected (and a workaround if your card is blacklisted. Use with caution): http://wiki.compiz-fusion.org/Hardware/Blacklist

I found another bug associated with enabling Compiz that effected me. If you have compositing enabled in Metacity you will not be able to launch Compiz until you disable the compositing (see below). Compositing in Metacity has come a long way. If you don't use a lot of the fancy 3d effects in Compiz I would suggest you try Metacity's compositing. It is much faster and less resource-intensive. The quickest way to enable compositing in Metacity is by running this command in a terminal: gconftool-2 -s '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager' --type bool true Here’s the corresponding command to disable compositing: gconftool-2 -s '/apps/metacity/general/compositing_manager' --type bool false

Some users are experiencing performance issues with Intel integrated graphics chips in Jaunty (9.04): http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1130582

Downloads
Ubuntu 9.04 is also the basis for new 9.04 releases of Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, UbuntuStudio, and Mythbuntu: * Kubuntu: http://kubuntu.org/news/9.04-release

* Xubuntu: http://xubuntu.org/news/9.04-release

* Edubuntu: http://edubuntu.org/news/9.04-release

* Mythbuntu: http://mythbuntu.org/9.04/release

* UbuntuStudio: http://ubuntustudio.org/downloads

To download Ubuntu 9.04, or obtain CDs, visit: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu

Read more about the features of Ubuntu 9.04 in the following press releases: *Desktop edition: http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-9.04-desktop

*Server edition: http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-9.04-server

*Netbook Remix: http://www.ubuntu.com/news/ubuntu-9.04-unr

Ubuntu Gaming Team
There is an Ubuntu Gaming Team forming \o/ yaaaa! "The Ubuntu Gaming Team recognizes the importance of FOSS gaming for the adoption of Ubuntu and exists to give the open source gaming world a boost!" I think this is great. I believe gaming is an area Ubuntu could do alot of improving. To read more about the gaming team: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GamingTeam/

Also the Debian Games Team (The Debian team is more maintaining and packaging, while the Ubuntu Team is promotion, organizing, and advocacy.) http://wiki.debian.org/Games/Development

1.4 PODCASTS AND NEWSLETTERS
Bored and Blogging - Ubuntu Podcast #25: Along with our regular show, we interview Dustin Kirkland and discuss screen profiles, encrypted private directories, and Ubuntu man pages. http://boredandblogging.com/2009/04/22/ubuntu-podcast-25-dustin-kirkland/

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter - Issue #139: Ubuntu 9.04 released, Announcing Ubuntu 9.04 for ARM, # Ubuntu Open Week Schedule, # MOTU Council News, # New Ubuntu US Teams Website, Limited edition Jaunty Jackalope T-shirts, Spread Ubuntu to go live soon, # Shuttleworth: Oracle's Sun buy validates open source https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue139

Full Circle Magazine - Issue 24: Command and Conquer - Cron, How-To: Program in C - Part 8, Create a MAME Machine, and Spreading Ubuntu - Part 3 and Inkscape - Part 1, Book Review - Ubuntu Unleashed, three copies up for grabs!, MOTU Interview - James Westby, Top 10 - Best of Top5, 2007-’09 http://fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-24/

1.5 I LEAVE YOU WITH, LINKS
Joseph Shields recommends replacing Rhythmbox with Banshee in Ubuntu http://www2.apebox.org/wordpress/rants/74/

Cromium available in the PPA: https://edge.launchpad.net/~chromium-daily/+archive/ppa

Are you one of the anti-browns? After an install do you immediately spend a lot of time getting rid of every trace of brown. If you have these symptoms this link can help. Bluebuntu is an easy to install blue theme: http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/02/26/turn-ubuntu-blue-using-blubuntu/

In-car computing, yep thats right carputing: http://www.fsckin.com/2008/06/26/linux-carputer-guide-101/

This newsletter is maintained by the Ubuntu OKlahoma Local Community. Any story ideas, technical issues, or suggestions should be emailed to duanedesign(at)gmail(dot)com