Issue153

Contents

Contents

  1. UWN Translations
  2. In This Issue
  3. General Community News
    1. Canonical to Offer Ubuntu Desktop Support and Services
  4. Ubuntu Stats
    1. Bug Stats
    2. Translation Stats Jaunty
    3. Translation Stats Karmic
    4. Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week
  5. LoCo News
    1. Free Books For Approved LoCo Teams
    2. DC LoCo Bug Jam: August 22nd, 2009 3-9PM
    3. Atlanta Linux Fest and Mini Ubucon
    4. Ubuntu Pennsylvania + FreeGeekPenn
  6. Launchpad News
    1. Sharing translations between different releases
    2. Open Mind and Launchpad
    3. More power to the release manager
    4. Writing code for Launchpad
    5. Exporting translations to a Bazaar branch
  7. The Planet
    1. Christian Mangold: New layout for kubuntu-de.org
  8. In The Press
    1. Canonical Announces Inexpensive Phone Support
    2. Dell’s Inspiron 15n With Ubuntu: My Thoughts
    3. Intel Linux Graphics On Ubuntu Still Flaky
    4. Ubuntu Plans New System for Installing Applications
    5. What Canonical’s Launchpad Move to Open Source Means to Developers
  9. In The Blogosphere
    1. Canonical Launching “Switch to Ubuntu” Desktop Migration Services
    2. Canonical’s Ubuntu Partner Program: Moves Worth Watching
    3. Dell: New Ubuntu Desktop PC Within Days
    4. Canonical-IBM: Virtual Ubuntu Desktops vs. Windows 7
    5. Review of the System76 Starling Netbook
    6. Ubuntu 9.10 Preview: GRUB 2
    7. Ubuntu Netbooks: Strong Demand at System76
    8. Ubuntu Server Edition and Alfresco: A Sign of Things to Come
    9. Canonical to Offer Ubuntu Desktop Support
  10. In Other News
    1. Ubuntu Podcast Quickie #10
  11. Meeting Summaries: July 2009
      1. Forum Council July 2009
      2. July Meeting
      3. MOTU Council
      4. Technical Board
      5. Xubuntu Team
        1. Packaging, Development, & Testing
        2. Marketing, Artwork
        3. Community
      6. Ubuntu LoCo Teams
        1. Asturian Team
        2. Cameroonian Team
        3. Catalan Team
        4. Czech Team
        5. Chilean Team
        6. Colombian Team
        7. Danish Team
        8. Japanese Team
        9. Saratov Team
        10. United States Teams
        11. US Teams Project
        12. FloridaTeam
        13. Ohio Team
        14. Pennsylvania Team
      7. Ubuntu Beginners Team
      8. Ubuntu NGO Team
  12. Upcoming Meetings and Events
    1. Sunday, August 2, 2009
      1. Ubuntu IRC Council meeting
      2. Ubuntu Doc Team Meeting
    2. Monday, August 3, 2009
      1. Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint
    3. Tuesday, August 4, 2009
      1. Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint
      2. Server Team Meeting
      3. Desktop Team Meeting
      4. Kernel Team Meeting
      5. LoCo Teams Meeting
      6. EMEA Membership Meeting
      7. Community Council Meeting
    4. Wednesday, August 5, 2009
      1. Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint
      2. Ubuntu-us-pa LoCo Team Meeting
      3. Cameroonian LoCoTeam monthly IRC meeting
      4. Foundation Team Meeting
      5. QA Team Meeting
    5. Thursday, August 6, 2009
      1. Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint
      2. Ubuntu Java Meeting
      3. MC Meeting
      4. Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting
    6. Friday, August 7, 2009
      1. Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint
      2. Karmic Weekly Release Meeting
      3. Launchpad LoCo Tools Discussion
    7. Saturday, August 8, 2009
  13. Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
    3. Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 8.10 Updates
    5. Ubuntu 9.04 Updates
  14. Archives and RSS Feed
  15. Additional Ubuntu News
  16. Conclusion
  17. Credits
  18. Glossary of Terms
  19. Ubuntu - Get Involved
  20. Feedback

newspaper-icon3.jpg

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #153 for the week July 26th - August 1st, 2009. In this issue we cover: Canonical to Offer Ubuntu Desktop Support & Services, Free Books for Approved LoCo teams, DC LoCo Bug Jam, Atlanta Linux Fest & Mini Ubucon, Ubuntu Pennsylvania & FreeGeekPenn, Sharing translations between different releases, Open Mind & Launchpad, More power to the release manager, Writing code for Launchpad, Exporting translations to a Bazaar branch, New layout for kubuntu-de.org, Ubuntu Podcast Quickie #10, Ubuntu Teams Meeting Summary for July, 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

  • Canonical to Offer Ubuntu Desktop Support & Services

  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Free Books for Approved LoCo teams

  • DC LoCo Bug Jam

  • Atlanta Linux Fest & Mini Ubucon

  • Ubuntu Pennsylvania & FreeGeekPenn

  • Sharing translations between different releases
  • OpenMind & Launchpad

  • More power to the release manager
  • Writing code for Launchpad
  • New layout for kubuntu-de.org
  • In the Press & Blogosphere

  • Ubuntu Podcast Quickie #10
  • Ubuntu Team Meeting Summary for July
  • Upcoming Meetings & Events

  • Updates & Security

General Community News

Canonical to Offer Ubuntu Desktop Support and Services

Canonical, the founder of the Ubuntu project, announced that it has launched new support services for individuals using Ubuntu desktop – and small businesses looking for cost effective alternatives to Microsoft Windows and Apple Mac.

“Canonical's Desktop Support Services (http://www.ubuntu.com/services) provides an easy, inexpensive way to get Ubuntu up and running in the home, home office and small business – reaching the vast majority of computer users,” said Steve George, director of Canonical's Corporate Services division. “With our team supporting them, Ubuntu is ideal for people who just want their computer to work, where the goal is to get up and running with no fuss, focusing on the things they want to accomplish.”

Canonical's Desktop Support Services includes three offerings: Starter, Advanced and Professional:

  • The Starter Desktop Service provides support for installation, set-up and basic functionality – such as Internet, creating documents and playing music and videos.
  • The Advanced Desktop Service is for more experienced users who need help migrating files and settings from a previously used operating system or assistance with desktop publishing and personal accounting.
  • The Professional Desktop Service is for the business user who uses Ubuntu as their main environment. Installation support ensures the Ubuntu machine is set up on the corporate network and integrated into existing IT services. The Professional Desktop Service also helps set up desktop virtualization and ongoing support provides professional users with quicker access to support personnel.

Canonical’s individual and small business Desktop Services are available now and can be purchased from the Ubuntu shop at https://shop.canonical.com/.

For details, prices and what to expect from these services visit http://www.ubuntu.com/services

http://www.ubuntu.com/news/canonical-ubuntu-desktop-support-services

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (59388) +120 over last week
  • Critical (30) +1 over last week
  • Unconfirmed (27536) +98 over last week
  • Unassigned (51141) +59 over last week
  • All bugs ever reported (299560) +1854 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 (12726) -69 over last week
  • French (39723) -6 over last week
  • Brazilian Portuguese (48891) -76 over last week
  • Swedish (53831) -393 over last week
  • English (United Kingdom) (55729) +/-0 over last week

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope," see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jaunty/

Translation Stats Karmic

  • Spanish (23991) +1421 over last week
  • French (55984) +533 over last week
  • Swedish (66063) -1298 over last week
  • Brazilian Portuguese (75674) +5920 over last week
  • English (Uk) (78933) +561 over last week

1. Language (#) +/- # over last week Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/

Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week

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

Free Books For Approved LoCo Teams

Recently nhandler has been talking to Prentice Hall, the rather spanky-awesome publishers of The Official Ubuntu Book by Mako, Matthew Helmke and Corey Burger, and the brand new Official Ubuntu Server Book by our friend and yours, Kyle Rankin and Mako. These books were commissioned by Debra Williams-Cauley who has been awesome getting them on the shelves, and her sidekick is one Heather Fox who I have been chatting with recently to see if we can score some free copies for our rather fantastic Ubuntu LoCo Teams. Fortunately, Heather has been able to make the magic happen.

Prentice Hall are happy to send each and every approved LoCo team one free copy of The Official Ubuntu Book and one free copy of The Official Ubuntu Server book. To be entirely clear: this is one copy of each book per team. This will be a great addition to each team’s library of Ubuntu books!

To keep this as simple as possible, you can request your books by following these steps:

1. The team contact shown on our LoCo Team List (and only the team contact) should send Heather Fox an email at heather DOT fox AT pearson DOT com and include the following details:

  • Your full name.
  • Which team you are from.
  • Your full address (including zip/postal code, region and country).
  • Your phone number, including country and area code.

2. Heather will process your application and let you know if it is approved.

3. If approved, she will get your books in the post.

A few notes:

  • Only approved teams are eligible for the free copies of the books.
  • Only the team contact for each team (shown on this page) can make the request for the book.
  • There is a limit of one copy of each book per approved team.
  • Prentice Hall will cover postage, but not any import tax or other shipping fees.
  • When you have the books, it is up to you what you do with them. We recommend you share them between members of the team. LoCo Leaders: please don’t hog them for yourselves!

  • The deadline for getting your requests in Wed 12th August 2009.

If you have any questions or queries, don’t contact nhandler or Canonical, contact Heather Fox at heather DOT fox AT pearson DOT com.

Also, for those teams who are not approved or yet to approved, you can still score a rather nice 35% discount on the books by registering your LoCo with the Prentice Hall User Groups Program

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/1886

DC LoCo Bug Jam: August 22nd, 2009 3-9PM

It's official! On Saturday August 22nd, 2009 starting at 3PM and going no later than 9PM I will attempt to do my best at hosting a Bug Jam. Brian Curtis has scheduled a room at George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Anyone interested in going to the event please send Brian an e-mail at briancurtis.wx@gmail.com and he can give you the details.

http://ubuntutrap.blogspot.com/2009/08/dc-loco-bug-jam-august-22nd-2009-3-9pm.html

Atlanta Linux Fest and Mini Ubucon

The Atlanta Linux Fest(http://atlantalinuxfest.org/) will be held on Saturday, September 19, 2009 in Atlanta GA. There in no charge for the event. However, if you are wanting lunch there is a $5.00 per person charge.

Organizations can request a table/booth to help spread the word about their respective projects. Booths are $100 for commercial projects, free for registered 501(c)3 groups.

If you are wondering about the topics and the speakers please visit this link to see the exciting line up. http://atlantalinuxfest.org/presentations

For more information on the Atlanta Linux Fest visit: http://atlantalinuxfest.org/ Also, if you have not registered please visit: http://atlantalinuxfest.org/registration and do so.

Mini Ubuntu Conference

Also, another added feature to the Atlanta Linux fest is that there will be a mini- Ubucon (ubuntu conference) talking place during the fest. So Ubuntu LoCo teams, ubuntu users and enthusiasts this is for you. We are planning on having some great sessions surrounding all things ubuntu. If you would like to see specific topics for the Ubucon please add to the BoF sessions or shoot me an email: akgraner [at] ubuntu [dot] com

Go Ubuntu LoCo Teams!!!

Hotel information is available at the link below.

http://amber.redvoodoo.org/2009/07/atlanta-linux-fest-and-mini-ubucon.html

Ubuntu Pennsylvania + FreeGeekPenn

Recently Liz Krumbach and a few members of the Pennsylvania team met at Free Geek Penn to discuss how they could help. FREE GEEK PENN is a non-profit organization that recycles used technology and provides computers, education and access to the internet to those in need in exchange for community service.

The Penn team came bearing Ubuntu gifts and they were welcomed very warmly by the staff. They immediately were able to speak with one of the organization founders, Stephen Bailey, who was helpful and gracious, eventually giving us a full tour of the facility. He was joined by their resident “Linux Guy” Adam Markley.

Obviously the team was there to lend support on the Linux side of things, the discussion revolved around a few major topics, and avenues that the PA team could help with:

  • Intro to Ubuntu Classes
  • PCs being sent to Africa programs (possibly deploy Ubuntu rather than shipping them OS-less)
  • Desktop deployment (perhaps a bit premature, they outlined issues encountered the last time they tried this)

Liz has put together a wiki page detailing our possible collaboration options and notes about their past Linux deployment experience: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PennsylvaniaTeam/CommunityOutreachTeam/FreeGeekPenn

http://princessleia.com/journal/?p=1788

Launchpad News

Sharing translations between different releases

Over the past few months Launchpad has been slowly introducing a grand new feature in Launchpad Translations, and with 2.2.7, and they are finally ready to announce it to the wide world:

Introducing message sharing

Message sharing between different releases of a product or distribution in Launchpad means that translations done in one release (eg. trunk) would immediately apply to translations in another release (eg. stable). This should benefit everyone using Launchpad for translations, one way or another.

  • Translators will not have to worry about back-porting translation fixes to older releases anymore, and they can simply translate the latest release: translations will automatically propagate to older releases. Also, this works both ways, so if you are translating a current stable release, newer development release will get those updates too!
  • Project maintainers hosting their translations in Launchpad, when they upload a template to a new release series and it gets imported, will instantly get all existing translations from previous releases shared with the new series and translators won’t have to re-do their work. They won’t have to worry about uploading correct versions of translated PO files, and can just care about POT files instead.
  • For Ubuntu, there’s another benefit: opening a new release for translations will take minutes instead of days. Message sharing also improves the scalability of the system, and we should soon start seeing more performance improvements as the result of migrating to this new way of managing translations.

Learn how you can benefit from message sharing by visiting the link below.

http://blog.launchpad.net/translations/sharing-translations

Open Mind and Launchpad

Open Mind is an open source effort to create a database of common sense concepts. I asked Catherine Havasi, Rob Speer and Ken Arnold about the project and their use of Launchpad. http://openmind.media.mit.edu/ Matthew Revell talks with Catherine Havasi, Rob Speer, and Ken Arnold about Open Mind in this Launchpad interview.

http://blog.launchpad.net/projects/open-mind-and-launchpad

More power to the release manager

Last month Launchpad made a small change to the series page as a commitment to making a distinction between the driver for a project and the driver of a series. The drivers of a project have the power to make the decision of what features go into a release. But the driver of a series is special. Often a select number of individuals are delegated the awesome responsibility to define the intent of a series, manage all the milestones necessary to meet the goals, and to create the release. Series drivers are release managers.

When developers talk about the trusted persons who are making the release happen, they use the term release manager. While Launchpad recognised the role, it required the person also be a project owner, which is not always suitable for large projects. Release managers do not need the power to edit the project information, they need the power to edit the series information, create milestones, and release them. That is the power they now have.

A project owner can set a user, or a team as the series release manager from the series page. Project drivers also have the power to create a series; they have the power to start planning to be make themselves the release manger of the series they create.

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/more-power-to-the-release-manager

Writing code for Launchpad

William Grant was the first person outside Canonical to submit a patch to the newly open sourced Launchpad. Matthew Revell asked him a few questions to see how he got on. Discussed in this interview:

  • What did your patch change
  • Why did you take the time to contribute to the Launchpad codebase
  • How was it finding your way around the source tree
  • How easy/hard was it to make you changes
  • What about the review process
  • What advice do you have for other people considering writing a patch

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/writing-code-for-launchpad

Exporting translations to a Bazaar branch

There used to be only one way of exporting translations from Launchpad—by requesting your files in the Launchpad UI and waiting for an email with the download URL. It works, but it’s not very convenient if you’re trying to automate things. It’s not that easy to make the request automatically, and then right in the middle of your script you also have to wait for the email, catch it, and parse it to get the file.

Now there’s another option: automatic exports to a Bazaar branch. If you set up this option, Launchpad will regularly produce a snapshot of your translations and commit it to a Launchpad-hosted branch of your choice. Now you can always find a reasonably fresh export of your translations in the same place, and download it automatically, without any asynchronous requests.

It also means that large numbers of developers or translators can get regular, fresh updates of the translation files.

Follow the link below to find out:

  • How to use it
  • How it works
  • Advanced: going two-way
  • How often do the export happen
  • Why do I need to own the branch
  • What happens if I leave the project

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/exporting-translations-to-a-bazaar-branch

The Planet

Christian Mangold: New layout for kubuntu-de.org

Kubuntu-de.org (http://www.kubuntu-de.org/) has a new layout. It is very similar to kubuntu.org, but for several reason not the same. They had to create own templates for forum and wiki, because they don’t exist on kubuntu.org. Further they have another main navigation bar, because there were some complaints about it in the past. They are looking forward to feedback and bug reports in the forum. http://forum.kubuntu-de.org/index.php?topic=12487 Thanks to everyone who helped making “Kubuntu Corporate” reality.

http://neversfelde.de/?p=264

In The Press

Canonical Announces Inexpensive Phone Support

The Linux Loop tells us that Canonical has announced consumer-oriented phone and email support for Ubuntu Desktop Edition. Ubuntu offered phone support before, however it was priced for enterprises managing large install bases. The new support plans are targeted at consumers and start at about $50 per year. There are three tiers of this new support plan: starter, advanced, and professional. All three tiers offer support for installation and basic tasks, such as e-mail, web browsing, and OpenOffice. The advanced tier, which costs $115 per year ($65 more than starter) additionally offers support for Windows migration and a broader set of applications. Finally, the professional tier, which costs over $200 per year, adds support for topics such as virtualization and remote desktop. This new support offering potentially offers a familiar bridge for new users. The Linux Loop's only complaint is that the minimum support length is a year. Many people may only need a few months of support, so a cheaper and shorter option would be ideal. http://www.linuxloop.com/2009/07/31/canonical-announces-inexpensive-phone-support/

Dell’s Inspiron 15n With Ubuntu: My Thoughts

Jeremy LaCroix of IT News Today tells us that his current laptop was falling apart, and he found himself in the market for a new one sooner than he'd planned. He decided to get a Dell and ended up with an Inspiron 15n. LaCroix ordered the system on Wednesday July 15th, and he received it Saturday July 25th. Packed in with the laptop Inside the box was an Ubuntu DVD, a CD for reinstalling the media playback software, and the usual instruction booklet and warranty/safety inserts. What we have here is a VERY good laptop with excellent features, that only suffers from a completely braindead default Ubuntu install. That’s probably going to be no big deal to most of you reading this as you’ll probably either install Ubuntu 9.04 or another distribution and customize it yourself anyway. Jeremy says he would definitely recommend this to everyone looking for a great machine, but there may be some post purchase work to do once you get it. http://www.itnewstoday.com/?p=690

Intel Linux Graphics On Ubuntu Still Flaky

Phoronix's Michael Larabel recalls that back in May he shared that the Ubuntu Intel graphics performance was still in bad shape after testing out very early Ubuntu 9.10 packages. The netbook experience was killed in Ubuntu 9.04 after a buggy Intel Linux graphics stack led to slow performance, stability issues, screen corruption, and other problems. Months have passed since he last exhaustively looked at the Intel Linux graphics stack, and he has just carried out some new tests using Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3. This new development release of Ubuntu carries the latest kernel, Mesa, and Intel driver packages as we see how the graphics performance is with an Intel 945 and G43 chipsets. In two of the eight tests, the newer release of Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 did better than Ubuntu 9.04. However, in the other six tests, Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 was running slower than Ubuntu 9.04, which was already a release ridden with Intel graphics problems. Clearly, even with the xf86-video-intel 2.8.0 DDX and Linux 2.6.31 kernel, there are still problems at hand to be addressed. Hopefully these Intel 2D/3D performance problems will be fixed within the next three months for Ubuntu 9.10. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=intel_q309_flakes&num=1

Ubuntu Plans New System for Installing Applications

The Linux Loops reports that Launchpad spec targeting Karmic Koala (the next release of Ubuntu) describes specifications for a unified application for installing software on Ubuntu. To be clear, everything will still be based on Apt, so this isn’t a significant backend change, but rather a focus on a better user layer. In the short term, this new application, currently called AppCenter, will basically be a cleaner Add/Remove Programs with an update manager built in. Synaptic and the other software installation tools will still be available in Karmic. If AppCenter becomes a marketplace for all applications, it will revolutionize application installation on computers. Yes, the idea may be inspired by the iPhone app store, but an app store on a tightly locked-down phone and an app store on computers are very different things. http://www.linuxloop.com/2009/07/25/ubuntu-plans-new-system-for-installing-applications/

What Canonical’s Launchpad Move to Open Source Means to Developers

Linux.com's Todd R. Weiss says now that the code for Canonical Ltd.’s Launchpad open source development hosting community was released as open source last week, the company hopes that developers who may have stayed away from Launchpad in the past will take a new look. Canonical’s new mission is to try to change attitudes so developers who may have been skeptical before will join Launchpad now, said Karl Fogel, Canonical’s Launchpad Ombudsman. “We knew that there were projects that would not host on Launchpad because it was not open source, so we just decided to just remove that barrier and remove that problem,” Fogel said. There has been a “spike” of new projects opened on Launchpad since its move last week to open source, but Fogel didn’t have any estimates on how many came over due to the change. “I don’t know if they are new projects or if they are coming from somewhere else, but they had to be somewhere else because there’s no way someone could start up a new project and have all their code together in such a short time.” http://www.linux.com/news/software/developer/30701-what-canonicals-launchpad-move-to-open-source-means-to-software-developers

In The Blogosphere

Canonical Launching “Switch to Ubuntu” Desktop Migration Services

Joe Panettieri of Works With U takes a look at the Ubuntu Desktop Migration Services, gives some descriptions and asks some questions. For example, Canonical is proposing:

  • The Starter Desktop Service supports installation, set-up and basic functionality – such as Internet, creating documents and playing music and videos.
  • The Advanced Desktop Service is for more experienced users who need help migrating files and settings from a previously used operating system or assistance with desktop publishing and personnel accounting.
  • The Professional Desktop Service is for the business user who use Ubuntu as their main environment. Installation support ensures the Ubuntu machine is set up on the corporate network and integrated into existing IT services. The Professional Desktop Service also helps set up desktop virtualization and ongoing support provides professional users with quicker access to support personnel.

Joe wonders if the Starter Desktop service means on-site installation service, and where Canonical will get the people to supply it. Other questions are also raised. See the report at: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/30/canonical-launching-switch-to-ubuntu-migration-services/

Canonical’s Ubuntu Partner Program: Moves Worth Watching

The VAR Guy, writing for Works With U, looks at the Ubuntu Partner Program and where it's going now. After outlining the partner channels that exist, he goes on to suggest other areas that he feels should be addressed, like more strongly promoting system builder partners. He also feels that the Partnership Program should more directly address how the partners and Ubuntu are profiting from the program. Read more at: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/27/canonicals-ubuntu-partner-program-moves-worth-watching/

Dell: New Ubuntu Desktop PC Within Days

Once again the possibility of new Dell Desktop PCs running Ubuntu surfaces, and the VAR Guy, reporting for Works With U, takes on the mission of projecting when it will happen. He quotes a Dell spokeswoman as saying, “I actually went on the record a few weeks ago to say we are in the middle of transitioning from an old desktop model to one of our newer desktops and expect [a desktop] Ubuntu offering to be available in a few weeks. I really expect it to be back on dell.com by next week.” His take is that it will occur in the week of August 2. Get the whole report at: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/29/dell-new-ubuntu-desktop-pc-within-days/

Canonical-IBM: Virtual Ubuntu Desktops vs. Windows 7

The VAR Guy, reporting for Works With U, throws a lot of skepticism in the path of Linux or Ubuntu doing serious damage to the upcoming release of Windows 7. However, Peter Woodward, Canonical’s manager for the IBM global alliance, does expect the IBM-Canonical-Virtual Bridges relationship to start generating revenue within a few months. The Pros and Cons are addressed in the report: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/30/canonical-ibm-virtual-ubuntu-desktops-vs-windows-7/

Review of the System76 Starling Netbook

Jane Hadley gives a very extensive review of the System76 Starling Netbook, and many of her observations are well documented. Despite the list of Pros and Cons at the bottom of her report, she recommends the Starling. Both the Pros and Cons are explained in the body of her report, where she gives her reasons for her opinions. Read the whole thing at: http://janehadley.net/Starling_Review/starling_review.html

Ubuntu 9.10 Preview: GRUB 2

Christopher Tozzi of Works With U looks at the new GRUB 2 bootloader. This is the version that will be shipped with Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, and is a complete re-write of the bootloader code. New advances include, scripting, a rescue mode, and the ability to have a graphical boot menu and the ability to boot from ISOs mounted on the harddrive instead of having to burn them to disk. His report is at: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/29/ubuntu-910-preview-grub-2/

Ubuntu Netbooks: Strong Demand at System76

Joe Panettieri, writing for Works With U, reports on the success of System76's Starling NetBook and Meerkat NetTops. Both of them spent about 2 weeks out of stock due to demand. Exactly how much in demand these systems are is uncertain since the company is privately held, but But earlier this year, Carl Richell said his 1Q 2009 revenues rose 61 percent compared to 1Q 2008. Joe's report can be found at: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/27/ubuntu-netbooks-strong-demand-at-system76/

Ubuntu Server Edition and Alfresco: A Sign of Things to Come

Joe Panettieri of Works With U gives a glowing report on the connection of Alfresco with the Ubuntu Server Edition. For example, in a quote from Martin Musierowicz, VP of alliances at Alfresco Software: “Ubuntu Server Edition is the most popular Linux distribution amongst the Alfresco user community. We see many open source community members looking to use a combination of Alfresco as their content management solution and Ubuntu as their chosen operating system.” Joe feels that Ubuntu needs more endorsements like this from the ISVs. His report is at: http://www.workswithu.com/2009/07/28/ubuntu-server-edition-and-alfresco-a-sign-of-things-to-come/

Canonical to Offer Ubuntu Desktop Support

Computerworld's resident Cyber Synic, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, asks, "Do you want to save desktop support money? Do you have Windows and Mac-using friends or co-workers who want to try desktop Linux? Well, in either case, you're going to want to check out Canonical, Ubuntu Linux's parent company, latest desktop support offerings: Starter, Advanced and Professional." Canonical announced these new support services for the Ubuntu desktop for individuals and small businesses on July 31st in London. These services are particularly designed for small business owners who are looking for cost effective alternatives to Windows and Apple Mac. If you've been thinking about saving money by switching to desktop Linux, but the lack of an individual or SMB support plan was stopping you, you can take your foot off the brake now. Canonical is ready to get your Ubuntu desktop Linux rolling. http://www.linux.com/news/software/applications/31444-canonical-to-offer-ubuntu-desktop-support

In Other News

Ubuntu Podcast Quickie #10

Featured in Ubuntu Podcast Quickie #10:

  • Ubuntu Tour in Honduras
  • Ubuntu Zimbabwe admitted as an Honorary Institutional Member of the Computer Society
  • Ubuntu Pennsylvania LoCo working with FreeGreekPenn

  • Free Ubuntu books for approved LoCos

  • Ubuntu Karmic Koala Artwork
  • Ubuntu UK Podcast screencasts
  • Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 3
  • Kubuntu Karmic Alpha 3
  • On-Disk Quick Ship Free Disc Service for Xubuntu
  • Kubuntu gets Ayatana
  • Launchpad open sourced
  • Ubuntu Server Community Survey
  • PlayDeb.net

  • OpenJDK 6 is certified on 9.04
  • Alfresco Community Edition now runs on Ubuntu Server
  • SourceForge Community Choice Awards 2009

http://ubuntupodcast.net/2009/07/30/ubuntu-podcast-quickie-10/

Meeting Summaries: July 2009

Forum Council July 2009

  • To help integrate the Ubuntu Forums and Launchpad you may now log into the Ubuntu Forums with your Launchpad OpenID.

  • Forums otherwise remain active (and fun).

July Meeting

  • We unfortunately did not have a quorum ans so no action could be taken.
  • We did, however, listen to some of the issues brought up by the community.
    • We will discuss revising the Report Button on the forums. Thank you to everyone for the suggestions. See http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1208698 for details.

    • Thank you to DougieRichardson (and others) to help improve discouraged posts / threads that end up in T&E. T&E is probably the best location for this activity as it prevents trolling.

    • The specifics of the plan are here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Forum/Spec/TestimonialTeam. We do not think a specific team needs to be started for this activity on the forums, although perhaps contact the BeginnersTeam to see if a Focus group can be formed.

    • The staff will discuss the potential use of Launchpad to track staff members.
    • The FC will make efforts to keep Team Reporting up to date.
    • BodhiZazen will ask Hellow and Panickedthumb to head up the UA team with additional actions to be discussed next month.

  • Logs of the meeting can be found here: http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2009/07/30/%23ubuntu-meeting.txt (Meeting logs Start at 23:18)

MOTU Council

Technical Board

  • Technical Board meeting, 2009-07-14
    • The Board agreed on the text for the Developer Application Board proposal and has passed it to the Community Council and MOTU Council for review. The outcome of this will be discussed at the next board meeting.
    • Colin Watson has proposed sets of packages based on the current seeds and intersections between distributions, Matt Zimmerman has an action to review this.
    • Based on this, Colin Watson will begin setting up interviews with developers whose upload permissions may change as a result of the seed changes.
    • The board has completed its review of the proposed patent policy text, and has asked Jono Bacon to provide a new draft by Tuesday next week to allow sufficient time for review before the next board meeting. Mark Shuttleworth has yet to review this text.
    • Matt Zimmerman presented his Release Manifest <https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KarmicKoala/ReleaseManifest> for comments.

    • It was agreed that the hostname for distributing images for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud would be cloud-image.ubuntu.com
    • The Technical Board agreed to increase its membership, and undergo a nomination period. This will follow in a separate mail.
    • Colin Watson will chair the next board meeting.
  • Technical Board meeting, 2009-07-28
    • Review of outstanding actions
      • Action: Colin to set up interviews with developers regarding upload privilege reorganization (for ArchiveReorganization)

    • Technical Board nominations
      • Action: Matt to contact TB nominees to confirm they wish to stand
    • Developer Membership Board
      • The proposal has been well received by the Technical Board, Community Council and MOTU Council
      • Action: Scott to implement Developer Membership Board proposal (LP, mailing list, documentation, etc.)
      • Action: Jono to see that documentation is updated to reflect the Developer Membership Board
    • Patent policy
      • Voted to accept the draft patent policy as official
      • Action: Matt to communicate the new patent policy
    • Governance review
    • Select a chair for the next meeting
      • Action: Colin to chair next TB meeting

Xubuntu Team

Packaging, Development, & Testing
  • Cody investigated the new gdm and feasibility of adapting it for Xubuntu.
  • Cody patched gdm so that it no longer pulls in all of gnome (just quite a bit of it).
  • SiDi implemented and Mr_pouilt packaged xfce4-volumed for the NotifyOsd spec

  • SiDi began patching Exaile for possible inclusion in Karmic

  • Cody seeded xfce4-power-manager in place of gnome-power-manager and sent out a call for testing.
  • Cody performed memory profiling on xfce4-power-manager and identified ways to reduce it's memory footprint.

Marketing, Artwork
  • Brainstorming.
  • QuickShip Xubuntu CDs

Community
  • End-user support done.
  • SiDi created specification templates and app comparison templates

  • SiDi wrote specifications for the default music player and NotifyOsd

  • Ochosi wrote specifications for the default image viewer (with SiDi's help) and for the default mail client

Ubuntu LoCo Teams

Asturian Team

Cameroonian Team

Catalan Team
  • Thursday, June 11th, at 20:00 on Tarambana Bar (Cardedeu), Ubuntu 9.04 presentation and chats about the new Operating System.
  • Saturday, June 13th, from 10.30 to 13.30 on Vil·la Paquita (Cardedeu), Ubuntu installation day, FLOSS installation day and applications for getting the software localised in Catalan (http://www.carde10.cat)

  • Saturday, June 20th, from 9.30 to 13.30 on Tarambana Bar (Cardedeu), Ubuntu presentation and installation day.
  • 2 Kubuntu installations at school CEIP Progrés, Badalona.
  • 125 Ubuntu installations at High School Torre Vicens, Lleida.
  • Fortnightly meetings: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CatalanTeam/Reunions

Czech Team
  • Live meeting in Prague (25th July)
  • Plans for local live meeting in Pardubice in August

Chilean Team

Colombian Team

Danish Team

People are taking summer holidays, so not much new is happening.

  • Working on the website, getting closer.
  • Small preparations for Karmic Release Party.
  • Ordered free Ubuntu books.

Japanese Team

Saratov Team
  • July, 31 - SysAdmin Day 2009 openair meeting

United States Teams

US Teams Project

FloridaTeam

Ohio Team
  • Booth registration for OLF complete! Well on track for a great show in September.
    • In the process of ordering CDs and conference materials.
  • Initial discussion of a Cleveland subteam, more to come next month.

Pennsylvania Team

Ubuntu Beginners Team

  • Ubuntu Beginners Team Meeting 2009-07-14: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam/Meetings/20090714

    • Agree that the council should discuss ways to open up the -council IRC channel and get rid of the +mz channel modes
    • Announcement about new project to help create a "pipeline" from the Beginners Team to the wider Ubuntu community
    • Due to ajmorris disappearing, Silver_Fox_ stepped up to help co-lead the IRC Focus Group
    • Announce the Young New Users Focus Group Conduct Wiki Page (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam/FocusGroups/YNU/Conduct)

    • Agree that having some users accidentally coming to the main team channel instead of the support channel is fine, and that there is no need to rename/move the main channel
    • Dallas Wiebelhaus joined the Ubuntu Beginners Team. He has been a great participant in team activities, and definitely deserving of membership.
    • leoquant joined the Ubuntu Beginners Team. He is already a very knowledgeable Ubuntu member, and will make a great addition to the team.
  • Ubuntu Beginners Team Meeting 2009-07-28: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam/Meetings/20090728

    • Point out Folding@Home (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoldingAtHome) and the #ubuntu-folding channel

    • Agree to move mailing lists from lists.launchpad.net to lists.ubuntu.com
    • Discuss future of the Unanswered Posts Team (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UnansweredPostsTeam) and whether it should remain a separate team or be merged into the Beginners Team. The team was neutral in regards to merging the two teams.

    • The Wiki Focus Group's Summer of Documentation has seen some nice progress. There is still room for new users to help out if they wish.
    • The IRC Focus Group has seen a lot more activity over the past few days
    • The Ubuntu Community Learning Project (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Learning) is slowly forming, and is a separate team than the Education Focus Group

    • The Council will work with the Development Focus Group in order to help accommodate their desire to allow non-Beginners Team members to join the Focus Group.
    • starcraft.man joined the Ubuntu Beginners Team. He has been helping beginners for a long time, and has recently joined the Wiki Focus Group. We are glad to welcome him to the team.

Ubuntu NGO Team

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Sunday, August 2, 2009

Ubuntu IRC Council meeting

  • Start: 07:00 UTC
  • End: 08:00 UTC
  • Location: Not listed as of publication
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

Ubuntu Doc Team Meeting

Monday, August 3, 2009

Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint

Server Team Meeting

Desktop Team Meeting

Kernel Team Meeting

  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

LoCo Teams Meeting

  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-locoteams
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

EMEA Membership Meeting

Community Council Meeting

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint

Ubuntu-us-pa LoCo Team Meeting

  • Start: 12:30 UTC
  • End: 13:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-pa
  • Agenda: None as of publication

Cameroonian LoCoTeam monthly IRC meeting

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

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint

Ubuntu Java Meeting

  • Start: 14:00 UTC
  • End: 15:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

MC Meeting

Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting

  • Start: 21:00 UTC
  • End: 22:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

Friday, August 7, 2009

Karmic Developer (Distro) Sprint

Karmic Weekly Release Meeting

Launchpad LoCo Tools Discussion

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

Saturday, August 8, 2009

  • None listed as of publication

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

  • None Reported

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

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:

  • John Crawford
  • Craig A. Eddy
  • Dave Bush
  • Sayak Banerjee
  • Liraz Siri
  • Nathan Handler
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

  1. IRC - Internet Relay Chat.
  2. ISO - International Organization for Standardization. Also, the suffix given to disk images that comply with the conventional Standards format.
  3. MC - MOTU Council - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Council

  4. MOTU - Master Of The Universe - Developers responsible for the Universe and Multiverse repositories. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU

  5. 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.

Other acronyms can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary

Ubuntu - Get Involved

The Ubuntu community consists of individuals and teams, working on different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical support, and helping to promote Ubuntu to a wider audience. No contribution is too small, and anyone can help. It's your chance to get in on all the community fun associated with developing and promoting Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate

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.

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UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue153 (last edited 2009-08-02 21:28:56 by ip24-255-61-232)