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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #164 for the week October 11th - October 17th, 2009. In this issue we cover ...

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In This Issue

General Community News

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

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

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

Infamous Bugs

Translation Stats Jaunty

• Spanish (10258) -232 over last week
• French (36368) -44 over last week
• Brazilian Portuguese (45832) -693 over last week
• Swedish (53271) -33 over last week
• English (United Kingdom) (53331) -11 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 (15026) -1600 over last week
• French (60215) -1992 over last week
• Brazilian Portuguese (65091) -3250 over last week
• Swedish (69241) -2051 over last week
• English (Uk) (88105) -709 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

• Gmail Integration in Evolution - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21786/

• Ubuntu lacks a standard for webcam settings - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21768/

• Allow gparted to save/restore partition images - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21765/

• Show the user's name in the FUSA, rather than their username - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21781/

• Rethink dependency from Debian - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/21761/

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

Karmic release party Dublin

The Irish LoCo is going to be celebrating the Karmic Release party on Saturday 31st October. They’re going to grab a bite to eat in Jimmy Chungs at 13:30 but they would like to know who is coming as last time we kept having to add 2 chairs at a time and had 18 people show up! the poll is here: http://www.doodle.com/ys6c9872u3c3tmvg

• Jimmy Chungs: http://www.jimmychungs.com/locate/loc_dublin.htm

Afterwards we’re going to head to a pub, but that’s where we cannot make our minds up and we want you to chose. We’ve a poll done up so go pick here: http://www.doodle.com/tm7pip827vbdzfqv

http://www.lczajkowski.com/2009/10/15/karmic-relase-party-dublin/

Ubuntu-ie: change of LoCo Team Point of Contact

Yesterday we had the monthly Ubuntu-ie IRC meeting, Maciej Danielski announced that he would be stepping down from the Ubuntu-ie Point of Contact position. This is mainly due to lack of time, and he doesn't want to be blocking or slowing down the team. He will not disappear, and plans to still try to stay as active as he possibly can. Please give a warm welcome to Rory McCann, who has volunteered to take over this position. We agreed to 30 days transition period so Rory has the necessary support and gets up to speed. In the next few days Maciej will change the details on the respective sites.

http://meanmachine.wordpress.com/2009/10/15/ubuntu-ie-change-of-loco-team-point-of-contact/

New in Karmic Koala

Launchpad News

New lpx project group for Launchpad extensions

Launchpad has a pretty awesome public API, implemented using lazr.restful. I’ve written a few small scripts for it, and the Launchpad team has a few scripts that they use internally for doing admin tasks.

• public API: https://launchpad.net/+apidoc

• Lazr.restful: https://launchpad.net/lazr.restful

The Ubuntu Platform team does a heap of stuff with the Launchpad API. James Westby has been using it to make sure that there’s a branch on Launchpad for every single package in Ubuntu.

There’s all this great work, but there’s been nothing to tie the room together. I’ve seen hardly any discussion about how to write Launchpad API applications, or how to test them, or how to get launchpadlib working in GTK+. I haven’t even seen much code sharing.

• launchpadlib: https://launchpad.net/launchpadlib

So, borrowing a trick from Twisted’s tx super-project, I’ve created an ‘lpx‘ project group on Launchpad. Bring it your scripts, your applications, your huddled masses. If you want to know more about the API, look at the API help page: http://help.launchpad.net/API

Also, if you’re using the Launchpad API — directly or through the launchpadlib Python library — add some info about your app to the API Uses wiki page: https://help.launchpad.net/API/Uses

http://blog.launchpad.net/api/new-lpx-project-group-for-launchpad-extensions

Launchpad’s status page

When writing about the hardware running Launchpad, or even the complexity of the codebase, I’m always tempted to start off by borrowing from Douglas Adams’ introduction to The Hitchiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: “Launchpad is big. Really big.”

With such a big system, it’s inevitable that from time to time we have to rearrange the furniture a little. Aside from our monthly code roll-out, where Launchpad goes read-only for an hour or so, we occasionally have to swap out or reconfigure hardware, as you’d expect. Up until now, we’ve used a combination of this blog and the launchpad-announce mailing list to keep you up to date on any Launchpad service-affecting issues but we haven’t had a canonical (heh) status page to which you can refer and know you’re going to get a definitive answer.

• launchpad-announce mailing list: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/launchpad-announce

So, now we have the Launchpad status page! http://identi.ca/launchpadstatus/

It’s hosted by the excellent identi.ca so you can subscribe using your identi.ca account or to the Atom or RSS feed. We’re also automatically copying everything over to the launchpadstatus Twitter account: http://twitter.com/launchpadstatus

• Atom feed: https://identi.ca/api/statuses/user_timeline/launchpadstatus.atom

• RSS feed: https://identi.ca/api/statuses/user_timeline/launchpadstatus.rss

More information on what's covered, long term planning, blog and email updates, etc. at the link below.

http://blog.launchpad.net/notifications/launchpads-status-page

Ubuntu Forums News

Tutorial of the Week

This week we'll make an exception as this thread is not a real Tutorial, and the OP has been MIA for three years.. But the thread in Community Cafe is full of tweaks and tips to customise .conckrc files, nearly 1000 standard pages of them, almost 1000 replies and 1,500,500 views (as I write). This popular thread is where people go for help and others give advice about concky. We all know Ubuntu (and more generally Linux) users love to have a desktop no one else has. This thread is a good place to start. Global congratulations!

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=281865

Featuring Forum Contributors on Ubuntu Hall of Fame

Thanks to Daniel Holbach, there is now the option to nominate forum members via forums account. Previously, only people with Launchpad accounts could be nominated.

There was a long conversation with the Forum Council. After the "Thanks" feature was removed, it was a little difficult to pull statistics out and nominate someone based on "Thanks".. As you can see, this discussion has been going on for quite a while.

This will be an opportunity to have forums contributions better acknowledged within the greater Ubuntu family. Some members are doing amazing work here, and there is no real way (other than the Interviews and Tutorial of the Week, where _we get to choose who to feature_) for all these contributions to be highlighted.

There have been a few hiccups that are now fixed. Rock on!

http://hall-of-fame.ubuntu.com/

Ubuntu Forums discussion thread : http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1289699

The Planet

Stefan Lesicnik: Debian 2 Ubuntu - Security FTW

During UDS Karmic I was listening to the security remote audio stream where a concept of automatically identifying security fixes in Debian and identifying exact version matches in Ubuntu was discussed. I decided to give it a try and managed to hack something together. The result is that we managed to sync approx 45 source security packages from Debian into Ubuntu (all releases) and have identified many 'easy' security merges. You can currently view the outstanding list here: http://people.ubuntu.com/~stefanlsd/synclist.html I should mention that this whole concept is in an effort to help Ubuntu's community-maintained packages (ie Universe and Multiverse) where a member of the Ubuntu community has not created a patch for the Ubuntu package. For more information on what's going on and how you can help, see the link below.

http://blog.glock.co.za/debian-2-ubuntu-security-ftw

In The Press

A review of the Dell Mini 10v, Ubuntu Moblin Remix edition

ARS Technica's Ryan Paul notes that when Asus launched the Eee PC in 2007, we recognized that netbooks had the potential to be a major game-changer for mobile computing. Two years and several iterations later, the evolving netbook form factor is better and more compelling than ever before. Intel's Moblin project, which is still a work in progress, promises to bring significant performance, usability, and aesthetic improvements to the linux. Dell enlisted Canonical to build a special version of Ubuntu that incorporates Moblin's unique customizations. This hybrid distribution, called the Ubuntu Moblin Remix, offers Ubuntu's familiar underpinnings and enormous package repository alongside key performance and user interface enhancements that were developed by Intel in collaboration with the Moblin community. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/10/pygmy-portable-dell-mini-10v-with-the-ubuntu-moblin-remix.ars

Is Kubuntu Caught in a Downward Spiral?

Jeremy of IT News Today says that Kubuntu has been his favorite Linux distribution since the very first release. He goes on to say that unfortunately, Kubuntu later became known as Canonical’s third wheel, and each release seems to steadily diminish in quality. What’s responsible for its current status, and what should be done to improve it? It doesn’t seem to get the attention it needs to reach its full potential, and the situation is getting worse, not better. As a huge fan of Kubuntu, Jeremy says he really hopes the project turns around and reaches its full potential. Here’s hoping for a wonderful Kubuntu 10.04! http://www.itnewstoday.com/?p=1032

Review: Ubuntu 9.10 Brings Good Karma To Linux

Samara Lynn of ChannelWeb tells us that Canonical has some lofty ambitions for Ubuntu 9.10, code-named "Karmic Koala." The latest Ubuntu edition will offer integration with cloud computing and netbooks. One of Canonical's goals is to make it easier to deploy applications in the cloud, using Amazon's EC2 platform. Canonical's also trying to break the 25-second goal for booting up Jaunty (Ubuntu 9.04) on netbooks. Canonical seems to be at the forefront of demystifying Linux for the "rest of us." Add into the mix a fleshing out of Ubuntu's server offering and extendibility into the cloud and you have a stronger case for Linux in the corporate environment other than "It's free." http://www.crn.com/software/220600368;jsessionid=FWC0N0QG5J1M1QE1GHOSKHWATMY32JVN?cid=CRNFeed

Use a Linux Live CD/USB for Online Banking

Life Hacker's Kevin Purdy says that after reporting on how thieves used Windows malware to steal sizable sums from small banks and businesses, a Washington Post reporter recommends a fairly air-tight solution for net banking: boot up Linux from a live CD or USB drive. Brian Krebs notes that loading an OS like Ubuntu onto a USB drive or live CD isn't just his unique solution—the Financial Services Information Sharing and Analysis Center, among others, recommends conducting online financial transactions and monitoring from a computer that's otherwise locked out of standard web browsing and email. By booting into a non-installed, use-once-and-reboot system like Ubuntu, you avoid both a litany of Windows malware and leaving anything behind. http://lifehacker.com/5381466/use-a-linux-live-cdusb-for-online-banking

Windows 7 meets Ubuntu 9.10

Alastair Otter of MyBroadband News tells us that next week, Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system will officially be released to users. And the week after that will see the release of Ubuntu 9.10, or Karmic Koala, the latest release of Ubuntu Linux. Windows 7's biggest asset is that it is noticeably slicker than Windows Vista, which has a sluggish feel about it. In Ubuntu's case one of its assets is the work done to support netbook PCs. Ubuntu's Netbook Remix interface is a very slick alternative for the smaller screen space common on netbooks. Windows 7 is being released on October 7 and Ubuntu Karmic on October 29. http://mybroadband.co.za/news/Software/9972.html

Ubuntu Linux Opening Up Cloud Appliance Store

InternetNews's Sean Michael Kerner aks "How do you make money from Linux in the cloud?" As part of its upcoming Karmic Koala release, Ubuntu Linux is set to integrate a number of new cloud technologies. One of the efforts will include a cloud software appliance store to help expedite setup and deployment of private clouds. "We've added an appliance store and what that does is as a first cut, is after you've installed UEC on your servers, you think about what do you want to put on your cloud?" Steve George, director of support and services at Ubuntu's commercial sponsor Canonical told InternetNews.com. "So what we want to do here is to provide images of Ubuntu into an easily accessible location so you can download and inject those appliances into your cloud immediately and potentially take third party software or other free software and develop appliances that can be used in a UEC cloud." http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3844066/Ubuntu+Linux+Opening+Up+Cloud+Appliance+Store.htm

In The Blogosphere

Ubuntu's Design Team: Make It Look Good, Run Better

Serdar Yegulalp of InformationWeek introduces us to Ivanka Majic and the Canonical Design team for Ubuntu Desktop and Netbook Remix. Ivanka gives us a glimpse into who makes up the design team as she expresses the desire to help people accomplish their goals. Part of the process in a successful design is asking the right people the right questions for feedback that enables the team to design User Interfaces that appeal to all. Ivanka discusses the importance the relationships they as a team are building with GNOME and the greater Ubuntu C`ommunity. From recruiting users who use very specific applications to those who can give feedback on the overall look and feel of Ubuntu the Design team works hard to make Ubuntu look as good as it runs. http://www.informationweek.com/blog/main/archives/2009/10/ubuntus_design.html;jsessionid=OZIKI5ZELAJ3LQE1GHOSKHWATMY32JVN?cid=RSSfeed_IWK_ALL

Ubuntu 9.10 makes a serious charge toward the enterprise level

Jack Wallen, Techrepublic Blogger and Linux guru, makes prediction that Ubuntu via Karmic Koala (Ubuntu 9.10) will become the "best-of-the best" for corporate desktop. Wallen walks the reader through the features that denote the strategic plan in which Canonical is attacking the enterprise-level desktop. These features include less that 20 sec boot up time, Software Center, Ubuntu One, Enterprise Cloud Images, HAL Deprecation, Better Intel Video Support, ext4, Apparmor, Non eXecutable Emulation and more. If you have an interest in the business desktop read Wallen's Post and in Wallen's words ask yourself not "if" but "when" will Ubuntu become the leader of the corporate desktop.

http://blogs.techrepublic.com.com/opensource/?p=975

In Other News

Ubuntu-UK Podcast: Beautiful Chaos

Laura Cowen, Alan Pope, Tony Whitmore and Ciemon Dunville overdose on home-made flapjack and tea whilst bringing you all that is and ever will be, the Ubuntu Podcast from the UK Local Community Support Team.

• What we’ve been doing this week including the final preparations for Ogg`Camp, going out on a man date Man Date with Dan Lynch (from Linux Outlaws), upgraded a spare machine to Ubuntu Karmic, staying away from computers, buying stationery, giving a talk about Ubuntu Karmic to the local LUG and got a bug fixed by the lovely Daniel T Chen

• We review two books Frontend Drupal by Emma Jane Hogbin and Beginning Ubuntu Linux by Keir Thomas, Andy Channelle and Jaime Sicam
• In the Svelte News this week
• Upcoming Events

• We take our last opportunity to scare ourselves as we tell you all about Ogg`Camp, the most open, friendly, welcoming and interesting event happening in Wolverhampton on the 25th October this year!.

• We interview's with Dorothy Gale, Jeffrey Roe and Robert Fitzsimons about Dublin Hackerspace
• No Just A Moments this week, but we’d love to hear your ‘Just A Moment’ on our voicemail! Details below.
• Ciemon gets a susprise as we tell him Command Line Luurve is back! This time we invoke our lazy geek gene with the eject command.
• The Ubuntusphere is apparently still here
• emails, tweets and dents and voicemail since our last show

This podcast is available for downlaod in both OGG and MP3 formats at the link below.

http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/2009/10/14/s02e15-beautiful-chaos/#utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

0 A.D. Promises Real Gaming for Ubuntu

Christopher Tozzi, of workswithU, shows his excitement about the real-time historical strategy game 0 A.D. Tozzi says, "...I was so excited when the real-time historical strategy game 0 A.D. was switched to an open-source license in July." Though he states it's not really playable yet, the promises for a RTS game in Ubuntu is great. Tozzi discusses the decision to open-source the code, and teases you with some really great screen shots of a promising game. Even though 0 A.D. is still not stable Tozzi with warnings and encouragement tells you how you can install the game and have some adventures of your own.

http://www.workswithu.com/2009/10/13/0-ad-promises-real-gaming-for-ubuntu/

Meeting Summaries: <MONTH> <YEAR>

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Community Spotlight

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04

Security Updates

• USN-848-1: Zope vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-848-1

• USN-849-1: libsndfile vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-849-1

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

• langpack-locales 2.3.18.26 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2009-October/012787.html

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

• tzdata 2009n-0ubuntu0.8.04.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-October/012301.html

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

• tzdata 2009n-0ubuntu0.8.10.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-October/009767.html

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

• accountz-baz 2009.08.19-0ubuntu2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-October/009904.html

• accountz-baz 2009.08.19-0ubuntu3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-October/009905.html

• tzdata 2009n-0ubuntu0.9.04.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2009-October/009906.html

UWN #: A sneak peek

Archives and RSS Feed

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Additional Ubuntu News

As always you can find more news and announcements at:

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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:

• John Crawford
• Craig A. Eddy
• Dave Bush
• Amber Graner
• Sayak Banerjee
• Isabelle Duchatelle
• Your Name Here
• Liraz Siri
• And many others

Glossary of Terms

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

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