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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #103 for the week August 3rd - August 9th, 2008. In this issue we cover ...

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

General Community News

Ubuntu Studio is looking for help.

If you have an interest in multimedia applications, such as Inkscape, Ardour, Blender, Audacity, GIMP, etc., then Ubuntu Studio would like to hear from you. They are looking for people who can package, or would like to learn packaging, people who can help design the look of the website and people who have documentation skills. Join the team at #ubuntustudio-devel, or introduce yourself on the mailing list:https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-studio-devel

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-studio-devel/2008-August/000749.html

SRU needs you!

The number of stable release updates sitting in -proposed is getting larger[1]. Thank you to all of you who worked on getting SRU bug fixes prepared and uploaded!

Packages in -proposed are ready to be moved to -updates after one week in -proposed and 2 positive verifications (as comments in the bug report) and no negatives. This means verification is often the bottleneck and why we're asking for help. A short howto is:

• read the SRU bug report and verify that you can reproduce the bug. Many reports should have explicit test cases you can follow.
• install the package(s) from -proposed
• repeat step 1 and verify that the bug is fixed
• add both positive and negative results on the SRU bug report

If you have any questions on SRU verifications please ask in #ubuntu-testing. Steve Beattie (sbeattie) is the teams SRU rock star and would love to help you get started.

[1] http://people.ubuntu.com/~ubuntu-archive/pending-sru.html

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-August/000463.html

New Ubuntu Members

Americas Board

Paul Tagliamonte is Creator of Sabre (a Bluetooth plugin for amaroK) Designed and tested for Ubuntu. He is also de creator of Qube (a CLI into libnotify) allowing shell scripters to use the attractive notification daemon. He is a Member of the Ubuntu Forum's Beginner's Team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~paultag Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Paultag

Michael Rooney is an active participant in the Bugsquad and Bugcontrol teams, he also manages the irc bot Eeebotu, which resides in #ubuntu-bugs-announce and announces bugs in Ubuntu as they come in. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~michael Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MikeRooney

Charles Davis is a Forum staff member and active member of the Ubuntu Forums Beginners Team / Unanswered Posts Team. He is also active in the Launchpad Beginner Team for Ubuntu. He is a member of the Ubuntu Documentation Students Team. hH is currently working to improve the quality of Ubuntu's help system and Community Wiki Pages. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~charles.davis Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Old_soldier

Joe Barker has been a member of the Ubuntu Forums since the end of August 2007 and is now a Member of the Beginners Team, and the Unanswered Posts team, and just recently he became a Forum Moderator. He has also participated in the Sabre project (http://launchpad.net/sabre). Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~Joeb454 Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Joeb454

Bryan Quigley is a long standing volunteer for the New Jersey LoCo team and has been to almost every event. He has helped triage bugs, answered many support questions (more off than on launchpad), and made several blueprints. He is a very active advocate of free software (check reference of participation in events). Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~gQuigs Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Gquigs

Ted Gould has participated in the Desktop team, He has given promotion talks on Ubuntu at several FOSS orientes events ( SCaLE, Ubuntu Open Week, OSCON). he has also participated in packaging and maintenance for GNOME Power Manager and GNOME Screensaver in ubuntu. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~ted-gould Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TedGould

Emma Jane Hogbin is a very active member of the FOSS community. Her participation ranges from a member of the Ubuntu Women team. Conference Speaker (DrupalCon, LugRadio Live, amongst others) she has chaired conferences and participates in Hardware recycling programs. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~emmajane Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EmmaJane

The Americas board is delighted to present these new Ubuntu Members!

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2008-August/000144.html

MOTU News

James Westby (james_w) is now an Ubuntu Universe Contributor. Please join us in welcoming our very own MOTU School Dean, to the Ubuntu Universe Contributors team. James has been active in development for some time, has restored MOTU School to an institution of learning, and much, much more. Launchpad: https://edge.launchpad.net/~james-w Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JamesWestby

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-motu/2008-August/004382.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

• Open (#) +/- # over last week
• Critical (#) +/- # over last week
• Unconfirmed (#) +/- # over last week
• Unassigned (#) +/- # over last week
• All bugs ever reported (#) +/- # over last week

As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

Infamous Bugs

Translation Stats Hardy

1. Language (#) +/- # over last week
2. Language (#) +/- # over last week
3. Language (#) +/- # over last week
4. Language (#) +/- # over last week
5. Language (#) +/- # over last week

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron," see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/

LoCo News

Ubuntu Love Day Manila 2008

The Ubuntu Philippines Local Community Team (Ubuntu-PH), and the University of the Philippines Diliman Department of Computer Science are holding an Ubuntu sharing event on August 23, 2008. Geared toward Ubuntu enthusiasts, it's an opportunity for people to share their experiences in using Ubuntu in everyday computing. Six resource people are slated to present talks:

1. The Ubuntu 30 day challenge - Aileen Apolo (Google)
2. Ubuntu on virtualization and integrating to a Windows Network - Wallen Tan
3. Ubuntu: Saving lives (and then some) - Charo Nuguid
4. Choice is Good! Welcome to the Exciting, Productive and Wacky World of Ubuntu Derivatives - members of UP Linux Users' Group (UnPLUG)
5. Ubuntu and the OLPC XO-1 - Rowen Remis Iral (OLPCPH)

6. Kubuntu & KDE: Contributing to an International Software Project - Juan Carlos Torres (KDE Project)

Due to the limited space, tickets for the event have already been fully allocated. http://ubuntuloveday2008.eventbrite.com/

New in Intrepid Ibex

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/kernel-team/2008-August/002868.html

http://dustinkirkland.wordpress.com/2008/08/06/encrypted-private-directories-in-ubuntu-intrepid/

Launchpad News

Ubuntu Forums News

In The Press

• Ubuntu attracts the lion's share of LinuxWorld's smaller crowds - Michael Hatamoto noted that the Ubuntu booth seemed to attract more people than other booths. Their presentations and training sessions were heavily attended in a year when overall attendance was sparse. http://www.betanews.com/article/Ubuntu_attracts_the_lions_share_of_LinuxWorlds_smaller_crowds/1218146689

• Ubuntu Goes Enterprise - Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols explains that Ubuntu is about to release business software stacks for Small-to-Medium sized Businesses (SMB) and enterprises. Some of the preloaded software intended to be released by 2009 is the IBM Open Collaboration Client Solution (OCCS) which includes Lotus Notes, Lotus Symphony and Lotus Sametime. Another offering will be the Zimbra Collaboration Suite 5.5. And still a third will be Unison, which is a combination desktop and server package. http://www.cio.com/article/441702/

• A Penguin with an Egg: Growing the Open-Source Community - Esther Schindler relates some of her experiences at the Open Source Convention (OSCON). Some of it involves how to include more than just developers in the community, and get people to contribute in other ways than code. This included talking to Mark Shuttleworth about attracting participants and interacting and integrating with upstream software providers. Other discussions included the role of women in Open Source, and community management. Jono Bacon mentioned that part of it is not trying to convert a user community into a developer community. "You're trying to convince a cat to bark," he said. Also mentioned in the article is the Open Web Foundation, and how it tries to encourage data as well as open source code to be available everywhere. Some of this involves untangling licensing definitions. Read more at http://www.cio.com/article/441165/

• Leadership Lessons: Passion, Smarts and What Open Source Can Learn About Management - Esther Schindler spoke to Mark Shuttleworth from Ubuntu and Jon Sobel (SourceForge group president) and Ross Turk (community manager for SourceForge.net) about management and the open source community. One of the things that Ms. Schindler discovered is that there doesn't appear to be any training for managers in open source projects. And now it's time for open source to step up and innovate new methods of managing and training managers. http://advice.cio.com/esther_schindler/leadership_lessons

• Giving new life to old computers - C.M. Boots-Faubert raises the age-old question: what do you do with a computer that no longer suits your needs? The answer, of course, is to give it to a child that has none, loaded with a secure operating system like Xubuntu which makes it appear to run faster than it ever did before. Not only that, but it comes with email and web browser, Abiword for doing homework and, oh yes, games. http://www.capecodonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080805/BIZ/808050303

In The Blogosphere

• Canonical Preparing Virtual Ubuntu Server Appliances - The Var Guy briefly explains how Ubuntu is simplifying the installation of server applications in virtual server appliances. The application stacks ride on top of the virtualization software without the need of special hardware beyond that traditionally used. Read more at http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/08/07/canonical-preparing-virtual-ubuntu-server-appliances/

• Installfest: Untangle, Ubuntu Linux Save 750 PCs From Landfills - Joe Panettieri has the final numbers from the Installfest at LinuxWorld Expo. In an effort backed by Untangle and its partners, Ubuntu was installed on 750 used computers, resulting in an estimated savings of $375,000 over buying new PC's with Windows Vista installed. This helps kids and the environment. http://www.thevarguy.com/2008/08/07/untangle-ubuntu-linux-save-750-pcs-from-landfills/

• A practical experience: Fedora vs Ubuntu - The author of the blog site Journihilism compares Fedora and Ubuntu based on some personal preferences but without giving a definitive choice. His purpose appears to be more toward showing the strengths of each distribution. It is his opinion that Ubuntu is easy to use, whereas Fedora is more stable and secure, but that Ubuntu has a means of getting the codecs one needs where Fedora doesn't. http://journihilism.net/2008/08/a-practical-experience-fedora-vs-ubuntu/

• How Dell and System76’s Ubuntu Machines Stack Up to Their Mac Counterparts - Andrew Min compared the prices of comparable Mac, System76 and Dell (loaded with Ubuntu) computers in 4 different categories. Prices were somewhat comparable in the mini and low-end laptop categories. But the System76 Serval took the high-end category and the Dell Inspiron 530N with Ubuntu installed took the desktop category. See the breakdown at http://www.dawningvalley.com/2008/08/how-dell-and-system76s-ubuntu-machines-stack-up-to-their-mac-counterparts/

In Other News

Internet Labs opened by Ecuador President Rafael Correa

In a display of cooperation between LoCos, Jorge Alvarez from the Ubuntu Nevada LoCo team provided some pictures to the Ecuador LoCo of Ecuadorian President, Rafael Correa, opening some internet labs in the Guasmo Area of Guayaquil, Ecuador. The Computers are running the best OS available, Uubntu, thus showing the commitment to Software Libre that the government of Ecuador has. Pictures at the link show some of the lab and President Correa. http://ecubuntu.com/?p=1347

Canonical to Offer Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop through Ubuntu (R) Partner Repository

Zimbra Desktop (now in Beta Version 3) is a personal collaboration application that works in conjunction with the Zimbra Collaboration Suite, both Open Source Edition and the commercially supported Network Edition. "The addition of Yahoo! Zimbra Desktop to our Partner Repository gives millions of Ubuntu users instant access to best-in-class messaging and collaboration,” said Malcolm Yates, global ISV partner manager at Canonical. http://www.ubuntu.com/news/zimbra-desktop

Unison™ released for Ubuntu™ to bring unified communications to Linux

Unison is a Small to Midsized Business (SMB) server and desktop solution for unifying communications. The Unison server, accessed through the Unison desktop, combines email, instant messaging, a Private Branch Exchange (PBX) phone system, contacts and calendaring. Currently available from the Unison Web site [1], it will soon be available at the Canonical Store [2].

[1] http://www.unison.com

[2] http://shop.canonical.com

http://www.ubuntu.com/news/unison-unified-communications

Canonical To Offer Alfresco Labs Pre-Packaged Within Ubuntu Distribution

Alfresco, the open source Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system is coming to the Ubuntu partner repositories. Said Malcolm Yates, Global ISV manager at Canonical. “Users have a great opportunity to assess Alfresco on Ubuntu and see the benefits these two great Open Source solutions can bring organizations. We will jointly deliver a pre-packaged enterprise version of Alfresco later in the year.” Alfresco and Canonical will be demonstrating this solution at LinuxWorld in San Francisco, stand # 716. http://www.ubuntu.com/news/alfresco-enterprise-content-management

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/ibm-canonicalubuntu-novell-red-hat/story.aspx?guid={F6BECEDE-0833-4FA6-83D7-4EBA7A79337E}&dist=hppr

http://www.linux.com/feature/144170

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/jul/03/copy.machine.reprap (Ubuntu is supposedly the OS in the picture. I can't really tell)

Meeting Summaries

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Community Spotlight

Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.04, 7.10, and 8.04

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

Ubuntu 7.04 Updates

Ubuntu 7.10 Updates

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

UWN #: A sneak peek

Archives and RSS Feed

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Additional Ubuntu News

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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
• John Crawford
• Craig A. Eddy
• Your Name Here
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Glossary of Terms

Feedback

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