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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #158 for the week August 30th - September 5th, 2009. In this issue we cover ...

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In This Issue

General Community News

Karmic Koala Alpha 5 released

Welcome to Karmic Koala Alpha 5, 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 5 is the fifth 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 http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/alpha-5/

• Ubuntu Server UEC & EC2 http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/karmic/alpha-5/

• Ubuntu ARM http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ports/releases/karmic/alpha-5/

• Kubuntu http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-5/

• Xubuntu http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-5/

• Mythbuntu http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/karmic/alpha-5/

See http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Mirrors for a list of mirrors.

Alpha 5 includes a number of software updates that are ready for large-scale testing. This is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs. For a list of known bugs (that you don't need to report if you encounter), please see: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/karmic/alpha5

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-September/000612.html

New Ubuntu TechBoard for 2009

The votes are in and the results have been tallied for the new Ubuntu TechBoard for 2009. Thank you to everyone who voted in the Tech Board election. There were 84 votes from 130 eligible voters. The new Tech Board in reverse alphabetical surname order is:

• Matt Zimmerman
• Mark Shuttleworth
• Scott James Remnant
• Martin Pitt
• Kees Cook

Detailed results are available at: http://www.cs.cornell.edu/w8/~andru/cgi-perl/civs/results.pl?id=E_e09bf9bea196cfff

Thanks also to Mario and Evan, who made it a far more interesting race, and to the rest of the new Board for their willingness to lead in this capacity.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-September/000610.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

• Open (61629) +156 over last week
• Critical (27) +1 over last week
• Unconfirmed (28434) -82 over last week
• Unassigned (53209) +125 over last week
• All bugs ever reported (309488) +2072 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 (11285) -51 over last week
• French (38640) -34 over last week
• Brazilian Portuguese (48209) -131 over last week
• Swedish (53423) -218 over last week
• English (United Kingdom) (53841) +/-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 (17170) -298 over last week
• French (58418) -276 over last week
• Swedish (68954) -294 over last week
• Brazilian Portuguese (72141) +16 over last week
• English (Uk) (83949) +1190 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

• Fix file size confusion http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21184/

• Ask for application restart after security update http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21134/

• Ideas should be better separated http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21100/

• Places menu is limited to 7 Bookmarks http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21133/

• Most keyboards ship with Windows Keys http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21004/

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

Ubuntu NC LoCo Team Meet-n-Greet

September 5th was the Ubuntu NC LoCo team meet-n-greet in Asheville, NC at the FireStorm Cafe and Books. What an AWESOME turnout! Once there, all the people stayed until 2pm the scheduled time for the meeting to end. Folks started filtering in in ones and twos, and before they knew it the whole coffee shop was full of Ubuntu and Open Source devotees. There was also a great Ubuntu success story in the making there. The Coffee shop's computers for public use all run Ubuntu and the Point of Sale system is Ubuntu as well. The Coffee shop is worker owned, and it's just a really cool place, with really nice people. They are Ubuntu enthusiasts helping spread the Ubuntu Spirit one cup of coffee at a time.

http://amber.redvoodoo.org/2009/09/ubuntu-global-jam-atlanta-linux-fest.html

New in Karmic Koala

Karmic gets another cloud tool: Tahoe-LAFS

Tahoe-LAFS is a cloud storage tool with "provider-independent security" -- your file can't be read or modified even by the cloud storage provider who owns and operates the servers. The Tahoe-LAFS storage tool was accepted for Karmic slightly after Feature Freeze according to the Feature exception. To find out more about Tahoe-LAFS, visit: http://allmydata.org

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-September/000682.html

Launchpad News

Ubuntu Forums News

Tutorial of the Week

Many times, users having computers not connected to the internet or on very slow connections come to the forums and ask how they can update/upgrade their setup. BobSongs (http://ubuntuforums.org/member.php?u=53299) has written a very useful and well written and supported thread, where other users also came to give input and improve the tutorial. The thread has been live for 2 1/2 years and covers all supported ubuntu releases and major environments (ubuntu, kubuntu and xubuntu). Thank you BobSongs!

How To: Make Your Own Ubuntu Repository DVDs: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=352460

Report Abuse Icon

The icon to report posts or threads has been changed due to confusion with the previous image. The location in the post layout and functionalities have not been modified. When next forums software release will be available, the location of the icons may change. You may need to clear your browser cache to see the new icon.

In The Press

A Tour of the Ubuntu Software Store

The Linux Loops tells us that about a month ago, Canonical announced plans for an Ubuntu app store, codenamed AppCenter. As expected, the first version has shown up in the Karmic Koala daily builds, now under the name Ubuntu Software Store. If you’re not impressed with the Ubuntu Software Store, the Linux Loop says they don’t blame you. It’s really not much more than a new interface that does the same thing Add/Remove does. The exciting parts of the Software Store don’t really come until Ubuntu 9.10, when it will replace Add/Remove, Synaptic, Software Sources, and, possibly, Update Manager. Over the next several releases, the Ubuntu Software Store could provide one of the first realistic ways for shareware developers to sell software for Linux and, at the same time, make it much easier for new users to understand the software installation process. For now, though, we’ll just have to wait and see. http://www.linuxloop.com/2009/08/30/a-tour-of-the-ubuntu-software-store/

ZaReason's New Linux Netbook, How to Thrive in a Tough Market

Carla Schroder of Linux Planet has a Q & A with Cathy and Earl Malmrose who founded ZaReason several years ago. Schroder says that ZaReason is a Linux OEM that has long intrigued her for a number of reasons: they encourage customers to open their boxes and tinker, they specialize in OEM Linux boxes, and they demonstrate that there is still room for independent shops in the rough-and-tumble world of computer retailing. In many ways the independents out-perform the big businesses as they understand Linux and Linux users, and a Linux-only shop doesn't have to contend with the pressures and restrictions that Microsoft puts on its partners. http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/reports/6839/1/

Dell conquers Europe with its Ubuntu netbooks, enters the Netherlands

Newsvine's Vinnl states that with their new Latitude 2100 laptops, Dell is finally allowing Dutch consumers to pick Ubuntu as pre-installed operating system for their netbooks. The Latitude 2100 is targeted at small and medium businesses and costs €299, compared to €366 for its Windows counterpart. The version of the installed Ubuntu system is 8.10, a.k.a. Intrepid Ibex. Unfortunately, the Netherlands is not known for its large share of users of open source software (even though there's a very large number of contributors). That Dell still dares to enter this market with its Ubuntu offering shows, once again, that its current offering in other countries is a success - so much, that it dares to compete with established Dutch companies with an Ubuntu tradition. http://vinnl.newsvine.com/_news/2009/08/21/3177292-dell-conquers-europe-with-its-ubuntu-netbooks-enters-the-netherlands

Can Ubuntu 9.10 Outperform Mac OS X 10.6?

Michael Larabel of Phoronix says that now that he has tested Mac OS X 10.6, he is seeing how its performance compares to that of Ubuntu Linux. Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" will be out in October and does have some performance improvements as Larabel's earlier tests have shown, but Canonical engineers have not been exclusively focusing on performance optimizations with this release. Can the Karmic Koala outperform Snow Leopard? Yes and no. Of the 26 tests shown in this article, Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" was the clear winner in 12 of the 26 tests while Snow Leopard had won a handful and the rest of the tests had results that were too close to call or unchanged between the Apple and Canonical operating systems. Ubuntu 9.10 can certainly compete with Mac OS X 10.6 when it comes to the performance, but of course a few of these tests do show performance regressions compared to the earlier Ubuntu 9.04 release, an area where Ubuntu developers could improve. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_karmic_leopard&num=1

Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" Alpha 5 Released

Phoronix's Michael Larabel tells us that in just under two months Canonical will release Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", but until then, there is the continual stream of new test releases. The latest test release to emerge from the Canonical camp is Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 5. This fifth testing release of Mark Shuttleworth's operating system brings the Linux 2.6.31-rc8 kernel, the latest KDE/GNOME packages, a few updated X.Org bits, and many other package updates, although the Karmic Koala is now under a feature freeze. Also included in Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 5 is the Ubuntu One file-sharing client and Ubuntu UEC (Enterprise Cloud) images with support for the Amazon EC2 cloud computing service. Besides that, there are the usual spins of Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Server, Ubuntu Netbook Remix, Ubuntu for ARM, and Mythbuntu. The testing page for Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 5 can be found at Ubuntu.com. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzUwNg

Ubuntu 9.10's New X Based Boot Splash

Softpedia's Marius Nestor says that he is are proud to announce that, as of this morning, Canonical added a brand-new X-based boot splash, which will be present in the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system, due for release on October 29th. xplash is the package in charge of the new boot splash and it is a userspace software that uses the X interface to draw a splash screen at boot before the desktop loads. Nestor says that he has tested it on two 19" Samsung LCDs and a 19" DELL one, and it looks and acts pretty good, without flickering. The idea is to completely replace the existing boot method with a flicker-free one. The graphical boot splash is designed to run on top of the X.Org Server and not Usplash! A graphical operating system switcher will also be present during the boot sequence, accessible by pressing the ESC key. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-9-10-039-s-New-Boot-Splash-120193.shtml

In The Blogosphere

Dell Prepares Ubuntu Encore

http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/28/dell-prepares-ubuntu-encore/

Openbravo on Ubuntu Server Edition: ERP Sales Will Take Time

http://www.workswithu.com/2009/09/01/openbravo-on-ubuntu-server-edition-erp-sales-will-take-time/

Sharp Launches Ubuntu Mobile Internet Tool

http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/27/sharp-launches-ubuntu-mobile-internet-tool/

The easiest operating system to update is...

http://blogs.computerworld.com/14629/the_easiest_operating_system_to_update_is

Ubuntu Software Store: Will Your Kids Try It?

http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/31/ubuntu-software-store-right-place-right-time/

In Other News

Meeting Summaries

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, September 7, 2009

• None listed as of publication

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting

• Start: 13:00 UTC
• End: 14:00 UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MobileTeam/Meeting

Technical Board Meeting

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

Server Team Meeting

• Start: 15:00 UTC
• End: 16:00 UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/Meeting

Desktop Team Meeting

• Start: 16:30 UTC
• End: 17:30 UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-desktop

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/Meeting

Kernel Team Meeting

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

Ubuntu Beginners Team Meeting

• Start: 23:00 UTC
• End: 24:00 UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam/Meetings

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

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

• Start: 17:00 UTC
• End: 18:00 UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/Meetings/

Ubuntu-IE LoCo IRC Meeting

• Start: 19:00 UTC
• End: 20:00 UTC
• Location: IRC channel #Ubuntu-ie
• Agenda: None listed as of publication

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Karmic UserInterfaceFreeze

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UserInterfaceFreeze

Ubuntu Java Meeting

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

Ubuntu Translations Meeting

• Start: 15:00 UTC
• End: 16:00 UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TranslatingUbuntu/Events/Meetings.

Friday, September 11, 209

MC Meeting

• Start: 07:00 UTC
• End: 08:00 UTC
• Location: None listed as of publication
• Agenda: None listed as of publication

Karmic Weekly Release Meeting

• Start: 15:00 UTC
• End: 16:30 UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: http://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReleaseTeam/Meeting/2009-09-11

Edubuntu Meeting

• Start: 17:00 UTC
• End: 18:30 UTC
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.edubuntu.org/Edubuntu/WikiSite/Meeting/

Saturday, September 12, 2009

• None listed as of publication

Sunday, September 13, 2009

• None listed as of publication

Community Spotlight

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04

Security Updates

• None Reported

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

• None Reported

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

• cdrom-detect 1.25ubuntu3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-August/012288.html

• debian-installer-utils 1.50ubuntu4 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-August/012287.html

• postgresql-common 87ubuntu2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-September/012289.html

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

• linux 2.6.27-14.41 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-August/009761.html

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

• mesa 7.4-0ubuntu3.3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-August/009886.html

• linux 2.6.28-15.51 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-August/009887.html

• gnome-terminal 2.26.0-0ubuntu2.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-August/009888.html

• glibc 2.9-4ubuntu6.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-August/009889.html

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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
• Isabelle Duchatelle
• Your Name Here
• Liraz Siri
• And many others

Glossary of Terms

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