Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #105 for the week August 17th - August 23rd, 2008. In this issue we cover: Xubuntu Developer, MOTU news(Nicolas Valcarcel interview), IRC Council Nominations, Ubuntu-MD SFD, Ubuntu-NJ Barbecue/LAN party, Atlanta Linux Fest 2008, Ubuntu Bloggers wanted, Happy Birthday Linux, Meeting Summaries, 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

• Major update of Ubuntu Brainstorm: Call for testing
• Ubuntu Arabic Team
• New Xubuntu Developer: Michael Casadevall
• MOTU News
• Ubuntu Stats

• Software Freedom Day:Ubuntu Maryland

• Ubuntu New Jersey 2008 BBQ/LAN party
• Atlanta Linux Fest 2008
• Launchpad 2.1.8

• In the Press & Blogosphere

• Ubuntu Blogger Wanted
• Happy Birthday Linux
• Meeting Summaries

• Upcoming Meetings & Events

• Updates & Security

• And much, much more!

General Community News

Major update of Ubuntu Brainstorm: Call for testing

A major evolution of Ubuntu Brainstorm is on the way, it includes:

• An UI redesign, for better navigation through projects and categories.

• Idea rationale & solution separation, with the ability to add your solution to an existing idea rationale. This will help visibility by gathering ideas together that are working on the same problem.

• Approval required for newly submitted ideas. This will help make Ubuntu Brainstorm content consistent by filtering the non-ideas, duplicates and poorly described ideas.
• Custom permissions for project administrators. Upstream and Ubuntu developers could, if they want, ask to add their project and manage ideas related to their project.
• And much more...

A lot of changes have occurred, and Brainstorm would like to test these changes thoroughly before going live, which we don't expect to do for at least a month. You are welcome to post test content, vote, and report any error you find on https://bugs.launchpad.net/ideatorrent/+filebug. Discussions and suggestions about the new UI can take place at ubuntuforums.org thread. (Note: This is a test setup, meaning that all your interactions will be removed at next code update)

http://blog.qa.ubuntu.com/node/24

Ubuntu Arabic Team

The Ubuntu Arabic team has been quietly working to merge all of the scattered Ubuntu related efforts in Arabia to establish one solid team and it looks like things are about to break open. They have merged with ubuntu-alarabi.net and now waiting to hear from arabuntu.org.

The goals for this team are:

• Handling Arabic Support on discussion forum, mailing list IRC and LP answers.

• Provide hosting to Ubuntu LoCo Teams in Arabia and give them any help possible

• Translating available contributor guides to Arabic to get the more contributor from Arabia (Now we are working on new translators guide) next might be MOTU
• Taking Arabic translation into higher level, currently we have 165 translator, 266742 untranslated strings which make the status %64 untranslated.
• Providing Arab users with apps that doesn’t exists yet in official repositories in our PPA

The team is still growing, and of course needs some help. If you are interested in contributing, please visit the link for more information on what you can do to help. http://syntux.net/blog/2008/08/21/ubuntu-arabic-team/

New Xubuntu Developer: Michael Casadevall

The Xubuntu Team would like everyone to give a warm welcome to Michael Casadevall who is joining the Xubuntu Team as a Xubuntu Developer. Michael is an exceptionally dedicated individual with a strong, diversified pool of talent and skill who is eagerly working towards becoming a MOTU. Michael will be assisting the team with general packaging and development tasks for the most part, but the team is sure his ability with FTBFS; experience with ports, debian, and gnome; and his ability to identify and refine infrastructure will be a huge asset to the Xubuntu team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~sonicmctails Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MichaelCasadevall)

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2008-August/000159.html

MOTU News

Nicolas Valcárcel(nxvl) Interview

Nicolas has been using Linux for 4 or 5 years, and Ubuntu since Warty Warthog. He became involved with the MOTU team about a year ago, and is now focused on the server team. He is also part of the Peruvian LoCo Council, is an intern at PriceWaterhouseCoopers, and is finishing up at the university. Read the full interview at http://behindmotu.wordpress.com/2008/08/18/nicolas-valcarcel-nxvl/

IRC Council Nominations

The following candidates are being considered to fill the open seats on the IRC Council:

• Pici: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BenjaminRubin

• jussi01: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JussiSchultink

• boredandblogging: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/NickAli

If you would like to comment on the suitability of any of these candidates for the role, then please jot down a quick note on their wiki page, or send an email to irc-council@lists.ubuntu.com Closing date is August 30th. Visit the link for more information. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-irc/2008-August/000534.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

• Open (46370) -245 # over last week
• Critical (28) +3 # over last week
• Unconfirmed (21421) -349 # over last week
• Unassigned (37817) -285 # over last week
• All bugs ever reported (204542) +1343 # 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

• Spanish (11892) -43 # over last week
• English-UK (30836) -362 # over last week
• French (39042) +/- 0 # over last week
• Brazilian Portuguese (50096) -8 # over last week
• Swedish (52880) +/-0 # over last week

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

5-a-day bug stats

Top 5 contributors for the past 7 days

• anakron (86)
• dholbach (72)
• bdrung (37)
• hew (37)
• mcisternas (32)

Top 5 teams for the past 7 days

• ubuntu-berlin (109)
• ubuntu-de-locoteam (85)
• ubuntu-michigan (33)
• ubuntu-chicago (25)
• kubuntu-de.org (10)

5-a-day stats provided by Daniel Holbach. See http://daniel.holba.ch/5-a-day-stats/

LoCo News

Software Freedom Day: Ubuntu-MD

Ubuntu-MD LoCo will be celebrating Software Freedom Day on September 20, 2008. It will be held at the Miller Branch of the Howard County Library:

• 9421 Frederick Rd
• Ellicott City, MD 21042

The Team is looking for people to give talks on FOSS software aimed at the end user. The general thoughts have been the talks themselves should last up to about 30 minutes. Please look at the wiki [1] or drop them an email [2] if you are interested in participating.

[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MarylandTeam/Events/SoftwareFreedomDay2008

[2] sfd08@ubuntu-maryland.org

http://www.chuckfrain.net/2008/08/17/software-freedom-day-in-the-free-state

Ubuntu New Jersey LoCo 2008 Barbecue and LAN Party

The Ubuntu New Jersey LoCo is hosting a Community’s Summer 2008 Barbecue and LAN Party on Saturday, August 23, 2008. Locations are Cherry Hill in Southern NJ, and Butler in Northern NJ. The party starts at 2:00 PM, the barbecue at 5:00 PM, and the whole thing ends at 2:00 AM Sunday morning. Cost is $5, which gets you Burgers, 'Dogs and other essentials. Bring your own drinks, sides and desserts. See http://nj.ubuntu-us.org/LAN for further information.

http://www.lemasney.com/blog/?p=647

Atlanta Linux Fest 2008

The Ubuntu Georgia US Team will be holding the Atlanta Linux Fest 2008 on Saturday, September 20, 2008, 11am - 6pm. They will be hosting many distributions, including Ubuntu, Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, and Mandriva. There will be demos of the distributions and installation help, and there will be other demonstrations of IBM software, dual-booting and much more. Registration is free, but a $5 donation to the event is requested for pizza. The Linux Fest will be held at

• IBM Hillside Conference Center
• 4111 Northside Pkwy Atlanta, GA. 30327

Registration (required for free wifi) is at http://atlantalinuxfest.org/

http://boredandblogging.com/2008/08/21/atlanta-linux-fest-2008/

Launchpad News

Launchpad 2.1.8: Bugzilla, Trac plugins, plus karma for commits

The Launchpad team is proud to announce the release of Launchpad 2.1.8! This release brings two items of good news for anyone who commits code to branches registered in Launchpad:

• Karma for commits: Launchpad now awards karma for code commits to project branches.
• Feeds of each person’s code commits: feeds show which branches you work on. Launchpad now gives you a feed of all the commits you’ve made to branches in Launchpad.

To subscribe to your own branch commits feed, visit your code overview page and click the feed icon in your browser’s address bar.

Also new in 2.1.8:

• Bugzilla & Trac plugin beta now open

• Regular updates on the Launchpad API beta

For all the details on what's new in Launchpad, visit the link. http://news.launchpad.net/releases/launchpad-218-bugzilla-and-trac-plugins-now-available-plus-karma-for-commits

Launchpad Terms of Use Update

The Launchpad Team has updated the Launchpad Terms of Use. Specifically, the section on Automated Querying was updated and extended to reflect the addition of our Public APIs. Please take a moment to inspect the changes. http://news.launchpad.net/notifications/terms-of-use-update

In The Press

• Is Ubuntu Really the Most User Friendly Distribution? - Bruce Byfield gives us his analysis of the idea of "Most User Friendly Distribution" from several angles. Along the way, he explores the fact that, for most users, it's the desktop experience that determines "friendly". In other examples, he explores the mirroring of ideas and changes between distributions and the fact that many improvements are to individual packages, such as Gnome and KDE, rather than the distribution itself. Over all, he is impressed with Ubuntu's ability to support traditional community values and the realities of commercialization. http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3766771/Is+Ubuntu+Really+the+Most+User+Friendly+Distribution?.htm

• Two Operating Systems, One PC - J. D. Biersdorfer, reporting for The New York Times, answers the question of how to install Ubuntu Linux on a Windows XP computer without having to reinstall XP. His brief tutorial does give links to where to get Ubuntu 8.04, and to information on Wubi and tutorials on installation. He also makes the appropriate comment about backing up one's data prior to repartitioning and installing. Note: If you visit the link, registration is required, but it is free to all. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/21/technology/personaltech/21askk-002.html?_r=1&ref=personaltech&oref=slogin

In The Blogosphere

• Why It’s Okay for Oracle, SAP to Skip Ubuntu (for Now) – Joe Panettieri of the blog workswithu.com points out that the concern for SAP and Oracle’s lack of endorsement of Canonical and Ubuntu is unfounded. He comments that Dell is Oracles’ biggest reseller, and that currently most of Dell’s Oracle server sales involve either Red Hat or Windows Server. Based on the fact that Dell has no imminent plan to move to Ubuntu server it makes sense that Oracle would follow Dell’s lead. Additionally, Linux is a currently a niche market for SAP, but as demand for Ubuntu in the server market increases, then Oracle and SAP will be compelled to join with Canonical. http://www.workswithu.com/2008/08/14/why-its-okay-for-oracle-sap-to-skip-ubuntu-for-now/

• 5 Reasons Why a Newbie Should Try Ubuntu – A decade ago Linux was typically for geeks…Ubuntu is starting to change that perception. Praval of the blog Brajeshwar.com outlines five reasons that Ubuntu is the Linux distribution for the rest of us. Cited are Ubuntu’s ability to test drive before you commit to reconfiguring your hard drive through the use of LiveCD, easy installation and setup, wide range of supported devices, the ability to upgrade with the click of a mouse, and phenomenal community support. Many who would have never considered trying Linux have installed Ubuntu, and based on their initial experiences, many remain avid Ubuntu users. http://brajeshwar.com/2008/newbie-should-try-ubuntu/

• Ubuntu and the coolness - Blogger everdeath revisits Ubuntu and decides to replace Windows with it. This blogger is surprised at how much Ubuntu has changed, including the ability to read and write NTFS, and speed enhancements for playing games through wine. Windows is gone for good for this user, but he is reluctant to switch their Mac away from OSX which helps prove Mark Shuttleworth's recent comments that Linux's main competition now is the Mac. http://everdeath.livejournal.com/62540.html

• Dell/Ubuntu Inspiron 1525 review - Blogger Mark Schoonover recently decided to purchase a Dell Inspiron 1525N running Ubuntu. He was up and running off this new system within 30 minutes of opening the box, and so far his wireless is more reliable than previous systems, the DVD writer works well, and the keyboard has a nice feel to it. His overall impression is that this is a fantastic laptop for less than $750. He feels that Dell laptops running Ubuntu are a great combination. http://marksitblog.blogspot.com/2008/08/dellubuntu-inspiron-1525-review.html

In Other News

Ubuntu Bloggers Wanted

Works With U is seeking two contributing bloggers. They would like people capable of posting twice a week. The areas they are most interested in are:

• Beat 1: Mobile devices and software, including Ubuntu Netbooks Remix, Sub-notebooks and Notebooks
• Beat 2: Ubuntu Server Edition, server applications and server hardware

People who are interested should contact Editorial Director Joe Panettieri joe@ninelivesmediainc.com with their expertise in Ubuntu and writing. http://www.workswithu.com/2008/08/22/ubuntu-linux-bloggers-wanted/

Editorial Comment

Happy Birthday Linux

On August 25, 1991, an unknown student in Helsinki, Finland, posted a question to the comp.os.minix newsgroup. In 3 days, there were 7 replies, including some of his own further explaining what he had done and what he wanted to do. Now, 17 years later, there are numerous distributions (including Ubuntu) that operate on the kernel that Linus Torvalds first conceived as a personal project. Happy Birthday, Linux, and thank you Linus for your inspiration and dedication to good computing. For the original messages that started this all off, see http://groups.google.com/group/comp.os.minix/browse_thread/thread/76536d1fb451ac60/b813d52cbc5a044b

Meeting Summaries

MOTU Council Meeting, Aug 20th 2008

• Open Applications: Dustin Kirkland (MOTU), Fabien Tassin (MOTU), Iain Lane (UUC)
• MOTU Council voting procedures
  • Due to confusions with recent application processing, MC will be adopting the following interim changes to the application processing procedure. It is expected that more discussion on this topic will happen in the future.
  • There will be a new 168-hour window for MOTU discussion, which may be closed early if all listed sponsors for an application have responded.
  • At the conclusion of this period, MOTU Council members will be expected to vote, although discussion may continue until all Council members have either voted or stated their intention not to vote. Only once all feedback from MOTU Council has been received will applications be processed as complete.
• Additional discussion mirroring mailing list discussions regarding applications for MOTU vs. applications for Core-Dev, and the various requirements that ought be applied in either case. This discussion was inconclusive, and will likely be taken up again, largely informed by the ongoing discussions on the mailing list.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TeamReports/August2008

Ubuntu Women

• IRC Meeting: 16 August 2008 http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/Meetings/20080816

  • Redevelopment of website: Most content was developed 2 years ago, although changes have been made through the years we could benefit by having some fresh eyes from outside the core project review it
  • Discussed confidence barrier with new contributors to the project, and one new member gave us some ideas about what made her feel most welcome
  • Mentoring program by MOTU was brought up as something we should be linking to in our Mentoring program, got +1

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TeamReports/August2008

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

QA Team Meeting

• Start: 17:00 UTC
• End: 18:00 UTC
• Location: #ubuntu-meeting
• Agenda: None listed as of publication

Platform Team Meeting

• Start: 22:00 UTC
• End: 23:00 UTC
• Location: #ubuntu-meeting
• Agenda: None listed as of publication

Kubuntu Developers Meeting

• Start: 23:00 - UTC
• End: 01:00 - UTC (August 28, 2008)
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.kubuntu.org/Kubuntu/Meetings

Thursday, August 28, 2008

Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting

• Start: 12:00 - UTC
• End: 13:00 - UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
• Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Ubuntu Desktop Team Meeting

• Start: 13:00 - UTC
• End: 14:00 - UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
• Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Ubuntu Java Team Meeting

• Start: 14:00 - UTC
• End: 15:00 - UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
• Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Friday, August 29, 2008

Ubuntu Release Meeting

• Start: 15:00 - UTC
• End: 16:30 - UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
• Agenda: Not listed as of publication

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

Security Updates

• [USN-636-1] Postfix vulnerability - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-security-announce/2008-August/000740.html

• [USN-635-1] xine-lib vulnerabilities - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-security-announce/2008-August/000741.html

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates

• postfix_2.2.10-1ubuntu0.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2008-August/012742.html

Ubuntu 7.04 Updates

• postfix_2.3.8-2ubuntu0.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2008-August/008990.html

Ubuntu 7.10 Updates

• postfix_2.4.5-3ubuntu1.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/gutsy-changes/2008-August/010295.html

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

• db2exc 9.5.0-2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011956.html

• db2exc 9.5.0-2-1hardy1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011957.html

• db2exc-amd64 9.5.0-2-1hardy1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011958.html

• icedtea-gcjwebplugin 1.0-0ubuntu8 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011959.html

• mythbuntu-control-centre 0.28-0ubuntu1+hardy1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011960.html

• postfix_2.5.1-2ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011961.html

• linux-restricted-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24.14-21.48 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011962.html

• kio-umountwrapper 0.2-0ubuntu6.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011963.html

• eject 2.1.5-6ubuntu1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011964.html

• pciutils 1:2.2.4-1.1ubuntu6 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011965.html

• linux-ubuntu-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-21.31 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011966.html

• thunderbird-locales 1:2.0.0.14+1-0ubuntu1~8.04.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011967.html

• linux-backports-modules-2.6.24 2.6.24-21.26 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011968.html

• chmsee 1.0.0-1ubuntu1.8.04.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011969.html

• pymsn 0.3.1-0ubuntu3.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2008-August/011970.html

Archives and RSS Feed

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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:

• Nick Ali
• John Crawford
• Dave Bush
• Craig A. Eddy
• Arlan Vennefron
• And many others

Glossary of Terms

1. API - Application Programming Interface
2. CTO - Chief Technology Officer
3. FTBFS - Fails To Build From Source
4. IRC - Internet Relay Chat
5. LAN - Large Area Network
6. MOTU - Master Of The Universe
7. NTFS - New Technology File System (Windows NT)
8. UI - User Interface

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Weekly News Team. If you have a story idea or suggestions for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/Ubuntu-news-team and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas. 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 them to ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com.