Issue155
WORK IN PROGRESS
Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #155 for the week August 9th - August 15th, 2009. 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
Karmic Alpha 4 released
Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 4, which will in time become Ubuntu 9.10. Pre-releases of Karmic are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.
Alpha 4 is the fourth in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Karmic development cycle. The Alpha images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Karmic. You can download it here:
Ubuntu Server UEC: http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/alpha-4/
Kubuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-4/
Xubuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-4/
Ubuntu Studio: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/karmic/alpha-4
Mythbuntu: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-4/
Alpha 4 also includes a number of software updates that are ready for large-scale testing. Please refer to http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/karmic/alpha4 for information on changes in Ubuntu.
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-August/000603.html
Developer News
- We are very happy to have Julien Lavergne (gilir) join the MOTU team. His great work in Ubuntu and great passion for collaborating with Debian made the decision very easy.
Yulia Novozhilova was recommended for upload privileges for netbeans (and related packages). We're very happy to have somebody new being very active with Java-related packages!
- Andy Whitcroft was recommended for upload prileges for the Kernel. His great work clearly spoke for himself.
Ubuntu Stats
Bug Stats
- Open (60697) +609 over last week
- Critical (28) +1 over last week
- Unconfirmed (28316) +350 over last week
- Unassigned (52346) +558 over last week
- All bugs ever reported (303196) +1977 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 Jaunty
- Spanish (12430) -40 over last week
- French (39502) -70 over last week
- Brazilian Portuguese (48553) -30 over last week
- Swedish (53810) -4 over last week
- English (United Kingdom) (53861) -1868 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 (21042) -1178 over last week
- French (58483) +575 over last week
- Swedish (68157) -80 over last week
- Brazilian Portuguese (72112) +176 over last week
- English (Uk) (80569) -898 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
Every time you need to right click on desktop and click on clean up by name - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21057/
Most keyboards ship with Windows keys - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21004/
Ubuntu torrents should have web seeds - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/20985/
Enable File Roller to use all encryption methods supported by 7z - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21047/
User desktops are often a mess - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21015/
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
UbuCon Atlanta 2009
The first UbuCon Atlanta (Ubuntu conference) will take place during the Atlanta Linux Fest. This is a chance to bring together the Ubuntu community for a day of all things Ubuntu. We are calling all LoCo teams and ubuntu community members to come together and share your knowledge and excitement for forwarding the Ubuntu project.
Note what you would be interested in talking about under the BoF sessions. Post the topic with the lead of UbuCon - Topic. http://atlantalinuxfest.org/node/add/suggested-bof
Ready for Ubuntu 9.10? - Want to know if your hardware will work with the upcoming release of Karmic Koala, Ubuntu 9.10? Members of the Ubuntu kernel team will be on hand with custom built USB sticks that will boot and run a test suite. This will not touch the hard disk and will let users know what of the new kernel/hardware features will work on their machine. Bring your machine and help improve Ubuntu 9.10!
Live Hack Session - Interested in learning how to hack drivers? The Ubuntu kernel team will be running a live hack session to show you how! Using a USB dongle that is a thermometer and a "shell" driver, users will walked through writing the drivers, compiling it, and running it.
http://atlantalinuxfest.org/ubuconatlanta2009
New in Karmic Koala
Launchpad News
Ubuntu Forums News
In The Press
Open Source Television
Mike Riley of Dr. Dobb's recognizes that technologists and consumers alike have been waiting years for "the ultimate media convergence appliance". Numerous attempts have strived to attain this coveted dream device but none have yet captured the gold medal. This myopic view of customers has given open media device vendor Neuros an entry into this race. The Neuros LINK is essentially a quiet x86 PC running Ubuntu Linux with an ATI graphics card delivering video via VGA, DVI, and HDMI output. To help sprout the Neuros LINK to a tech-savvy media convergence seeker, Neuros has seeded the developer community with a special "gamma edition" of the Neuros LINK. The gamma currently arrives pre-installed with Ubuntu 8.10, although Neuros plans to upgrade to version 9.04 in the commercial version. The Neuros distribution is preloaded with all the audio/video codecs necessary to view the various popular media formats, ranging from AVI, FLV, MP3, MP4, OGV and others that the installed MPlayer, VLC and Xine open source video players support. Check out the Neuros LINK Wiki for a more comprehensive list of the LINK's technical specifications. http://www.ddj.com/linux-open-source/219100482
Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" Alpha 4 Released
Phoronix's Michael Larabel reports that right on schedule, Canonical's Steve Langasek has announced the release of Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 4. This fourth development release of the Karmic Koala brings more updated packages (including a kernel based upon Linux 2.6.31-rc5), Ubuntu One file sharing support, and some other new features. Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 4 is also the first build to have Kubuntu Netbook Remix support for KDE 4.3 and Ubuntu UEC. Ubuntu UEC is for the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud with support for Amazon's EC2 service. The release announcement with 9.10 Alpha 4 download links for Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server UEC, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu can be found on ubuntu-devel-announce. More information surrounding this release is also available from the Ubuntu Testing page. The next release in the Ubuntu 9.10 series is Alpha 5, which is penciled in for a release on the 3rd of September. The final release of Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" will come on the 29th of October. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzQ1Mg
Technical School changes to Ubuntu and saves Millions
PMA Box tells us that the Icelandic National TV channel RUV broadcasted a news story yesterday 11 August 2009 entitled "Nýtt kerfi sparar milljónir", which translates to "New system saves millions." A technical school located in the North of Iceland "Akureyri" saves 5 million Kronas by changing the operating system of the school computers to open source Ubuntu. They also point the fact that it was an easy change without any need of extra hardware or additional costs. Also, they urge other public institutions to follow the example and save money in license fees in this time of world crisis. http://www.pmabox.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=26:technical-school-changes-to-ubuntu-and-saves-milli
In The Blogosphere
Dell’s Ubuntu Strategy: Restoring My Faith
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/13/dells-ubuntu-strategy-regaining-my-faith/
Kubuntu Netbook Release Coming
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10013420o-2000498448b,00.htm
System76 Refreshes, Expands Ubuntu Netbook and Desktop Lineup
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/11/system76-refreshes-expands-ubuntu-netbook-and-desktop-lineup/
An Early Look at Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala - Overview & Screenshots
http://tuxarena.blogspot.com/2009/08/early-look-at-ubuntu-910-karmic-koala.html
Free Book Review: Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference
http://tuxarena.blogspot.com/2009/08/free-book-review-ubuntu-pocket-guide.html
Ubuntu Coming to Amahi Home Server?
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/12/ubuntu-coming-to-amahi-home-server/
Ubuntu Support for Non-Geeks
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/10/ubuntu-support-for-non-geeks/
ZaReason Launches Ubuntu Linux Netbook
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/12/zareason-launches-ubuntu-linux-netbook/
In Other News
Ubuntu Podcast #32
In this Ubuntu Podcast, Nick and Josh discuss:
- changing default irc channels in irc clients
- Canonical Desktop Services
- Xubuntu discussing what to do with new GDM
- musician switched over to Ubuntu Studio from Macs
- Microsoft mentions Canonical and Red Hat in its 10K SEC filings
- first Launchpad community meetup
- 100 Hundred papercuts round 3 and round 4
- Debian is going to a fixed freeze schedule
SpreadUbuntu keeps moving along
- Landscape System Management Tool Adds Dedicated Server
UbuCon @ Atlanta Linux Fest 2009
http://ubuntupodcast.net/2009/08/14/ubuntu-podcast-episode-32/
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Community Spotlight
Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04
Security Updates
USN-814-1: openjdk-6 vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-814-1
USN-815-1: libxml2 vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-815-1
USN-816-1: fetchmail vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-816-1
Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
- None Reported
Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
- None Reported
Ubuntu 8.10 Updates
- None Reported
Ubuntu 9.04 Updates
- None Reported
UWN #: A sneak peek
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Additional Ubuntu News
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Conclusion
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See you next week!
Credits
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Glossary of Terms
Ubuntu - Get Involved
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