Issue165

Contents

Contents

  1. UWN Translations
  2. In This Issue
  3. General Community News
    1. Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.10 now available
    2. October 21st America's Membership Board Meeting
    3. Ubuntu IRC Council Elections
    4. Keeping Ubuntu CD's Available
  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. Ubuntu Zimbabwe LoCo Team at ICT Africa 2009
    2. Austin's Karmic Release Party
  6. Launchpad News
    1. Launchpad: The next six months
    2. Meet Matthew Revell
    3. Launchpad offline 4:00UTC - 4:30UTC October 26th
  7. The Planet
    1. Meet the Platform Team Managers
    2. Jono Bacon: Wild and Wicked Wolverhampton Weekend
    3. Dustin Kirkland: Linux Magazine: Ubuntu Encrypted Home
  8. In The Press
    1. Canonical Takes on Win 7 With Ubuntu 9.10 RC
    2. Review: Ubuntu 9.10 Brings Good Karma To Linux
    3. Ubuntu Linux Server Simplifies the Cloud
    4. 5 years later, 5 ways that Ubuntu has made Linux more human
    5. Happy Birthday, Ubuntu!
    6. Ubuntu Linux powers up
    7. Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate Has Arrived
    8. What's New In Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala"
    9. Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Performance
    10. Ubuntu’s Encrypted Home Directory: A Canonical Approach to Data Privacy
  9. In The Blogosphere
    1. A Guided Tour Of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala
    2. Ubuntu 9.10 Review; even better than before
    3. Yo Frankie! Now available for the masses in Ubuntu Karmic
    4. An Inside Look at the Ubuntu Release Cycle
    5. Eight Ubuntu 9.10 Questions for Mark Shuttleworth
    6. GNU/Linux Security: Ubuntu has been Cracked!
    7. IBM and Ubuntu roll Linux for U.S desktops vs Windows 7
    8. NetworkManager Gets Facelift for Karmic Koala Ubuntu 9.10
    9. System76 Prepares Ubuntu 9.10 PCs, Notebooks
    10. ZaReason Prepares Ubuntu 9.10 Server, Expands Customer Base
  10. In Other News
    1. TurnKey: 40 Ubuntu-based virtual appliances released into the cloud
  11. Upcoming Meetings and Events
    1. Monday, October 26, 2009
      1. Security Team Catch-up
    2. Tuesday, October 27, 2009
      1. Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting
      2. Server Team Meeting
      3. Desktop Team Meeting
      4. Kernel Team Meeting
    3. Wednesday, October 28, 2009
      1. Foundation Team Meeting
      2. QA Team Meeting
    4. Thursday, October 29, 2009
      1. Ubuntu 9.10
      2. Ubuntu Java Meeting
    5. Friday, October 30, 2009
    6. Saturday, October 31, 2009
    7. Sunday, November 01, 2009
  12. Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04 and 9.10
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
    3. Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 8.10 Updates
    5. Ubuntu 9.04 Updates
    6. Ubuntu 9.10 Updates
  13. Archives and RSS Feed
  14. Additional Ubuntu News
  15. Conclusion
  16. Credits
  17. Glossary of Terms
  18. Ubuntu - Get Involved
  19. Feedback

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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #165 for the week October 18th - October 24th, 2009. In this issue we cover: Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.10 now available, October 21st America's Membership Board Meeting, Ubuntu IRC Council Elections, Keeping Ubuntu CD's Available, LoCo News, Launchpad: The next six months, Meet Matthew Revell, Launchpad offline 4:00UTC - 4:30UTC October 26th, The Planet, TurnKey: 40 Ubuntu-based virtual appliances released into the cloud, 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

  • Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.10 now available
  • October 21st America's Membership Board Meeting
  • Ubuntu IRC Council Elections
  • Keeping Ubuntu CD's Available
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Ubuntu Zimbabwe LoCo Team at ICT Africa 2009

  • Austin's Karmic Release Party
  • Launchpad: The next six months
  • Meet Matthew Revell
  • Launchpad offline 4:00UTC - 4:30UTC October 26th
  • The Planet
  • In the Press & Blogosphere

  • TurnKey: 40 Ubuntu-based virtual appliances released into the cloud

  • Upcoming Meetings & Events

  • Updates & Security

General Community News

Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.10 now available

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop and Server editions, Ubuntu 9.10 Server for UEC and EC2, and the Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Codenamed "Karmic Koala", 9.10 continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable, and suitable for testing by any user.

Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop Edition improves on the work of 9.04 to get you going faster, with improved startup times and a streamlined boot experience.

Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition integrates Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud setup in the installer and provides improvements to system security with AppArmor, including an AppArmor profile for libvirtd to further isolate virtual machines from the host system.

Ubuntu 9.10 Server for UEC and EC2 brings the power and stability of the Ubuntu Server Edition to cloud computing, whether you're using Amazon EC2 or your own Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

The Ubuntu 9.10 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu, also reach RC status today. This release sees the first technology preview of Kubuntu Netbook.

The final release of Ubuntu 9.10 is scheduled for 29 October 2009 and will be supported for 18 months on both desktops and servers. Users requiring a longer support lifetime on the server may choose to continue using Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, with security support until 2013, rather than upgrade to 9.10.

Before installing or upgrading to Ubuntu 9.10 please review the instructions and caveats in the release notes: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/910

In addition, there are a small number of known bugs in the release candidate that will be fixed before the Ubuntu 9.10 release, but warrant highlighting for your attention: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/910overview#Known%20issues

The purpose of the Release Candidate is to solicit one last round of testing before the final release. Here are ways that you can help:

  • Upgrade from Ubuntu 9.04 to the Release Candidate by following the
    • instructions in the release notes referenced above.
  • Participate in installation testing using the Release Candidate CD

To perform a new installation or try out 9.10 "live" from CD, download the Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate here (choose the mirror closest to you):

  • Asia:

Please download using Bittorrent if possible. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BitTorrent for more information about using BitTorrent.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2009-October/000126.html

October 21st America's Membership Board Meeting

The following contributors were accepted as Ubuntu Members at our meeting this evening:

Ken VanDine: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KenVanDine https://launchpad.net/~ken-vandine

Ken VanDine works on the Ubuntu-Desktop team as an integration engineer. By day he spends his time working with Ubuntu One and the Desktop Experience folks. Some of his significant contributions in the karmic cycle have been gwibber development and Empathy messaging indicator support and AV chat work.

Duane Hinnen: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/duanedesign https://launchpad.net/~duanedesign

Duane Hinnen is the leader for the Oklahoma LoCo which boasts monthly meetings, a newsletter and events. He is also a member of the Ubuntu Beginners Team where he spends a lot of time doing wiki work, bug triage, IRC support and is the leader of the Beginners Team Launchpad Focus Group.

Steve Woodruff: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/swoody https://launchpad.net/~swoody

Steve Woodruff joined the Ubuntu Beginners Team earlier this year where is main focus is helping new users in the forums and on IRC. He co-leads the Beginners Team IRC. Locally he's active in the Ubuntu Chicago team He has also dabbled in package maintaining and is interested in going down the MOTU path in the future.

The Americas Board sends congratulations and a big welcome to these new members!

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-October/000733.html

Ubuntu IRC Council Elections

Soon several members of the IRC Council (Joseph Price, Marek Spruell and Melissa Draper) will finish their terms of 2 years. The purpose of this email is to begin the process of electing new/re-electing members to the council.

Currently, the wiki states the following regarding IRC Council members:

  • Be appointed by the Ubuntu Community Council in consultation with the IRC Council, IRC operators, and active contributors to the IRC channels. Nominations would be open and public and would be considered and evaluated by the CC. Each candidate should prepare a wiki page summarizing their nomination and their contributions and including and referencing testimonials (e.g., something similar to what is prepared for Ubuntu membership). The CC commits to evaluating all nominations

on the following criteria, listed in order of importance:

  • The nominees active status as an Ubuntu Member (essential)
  • The nominees support from at least one active IRC Council member (essential)
  • Opinions and testimonials (positive and negative) from current members of the IRC Council
  • Opinions and testimonials from current IRC operators - Opinions and testimonials from Ubuntu Members, Ubunteros, and other active participants on IRC - Evidence of activity within IRC (quality, quantity and duration)
  • Serve terms of two (2) years. IRC Council members could serve multiple or repeated terms. Weight will be given to proved contributors and reelection of consistently active members should be both easy and common. "

from: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IrcTeam/IrcCouncil

We would like to invite Ubuntu members to nominate themselves if they wish to run for election for the Ubuntu IRC Council. Please only nominate yourself, do not nominate others. If you are nominating yourself, please prepare a wiki page as described above. A nomination should be in the form of an email to the Ubuntu IRC Council email address: irc-council at lists.ubuntu.com

All nominations will be passed onto the Ubuntu Community Council. Thank you for your time and we look forward to seeing your nominations.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news/2009-October/000232.html

Keeping Ubuntu CD's Available

One of the ways in which many people have been able to experience Ubuntu is via Canonical’s ShipIt program, which has shipped millions of CDs to new users. This has provided a valuable opportunity for new users to try Ubuntu and for our community teams to obtain CDs as part of their advocacy efforts.

Due to the sheer growth of Ubuntu, we are making a few changes to ShipIt which I wanted to ensure I share with you. For the details, I am going to turn the mic over to everyone’s favorite Canonical COO, Jane Silber who updated us on the Canonical blog:

  • The ShipIt program has been at the core of the Ubuntu project since its inception. The goal was to make sure that there are no restrictions, as far as was possible, to people having access to Ubuntu. In the last five years we have shipped millions of CDs and seen Ubuntu’s popularity and reach grow in ways that would be impossible without ShipIt. https://shipit.ubuntu.com/

    • And that aim continues. We need to make Ubuntu available to as many people who need it, particularly those for whom the download options are limited. The goal has not been to supply a CD to every Ubuntu user of every version of Ubuntu. Remember, one of the coolest things about Ubuntu is the way you can upgrade from one version of Ubuntu to another – without the need for a CD!

      While these CDs are often referred to as “free CDs”, they are of course not free of cost to Canonical. We want to continue this programme, but Ubuntu’s growth means that some changes are necessary. Therefore we are adjusting how we handle CD requests to try to find the right balance between availability of CDs and the continued viability of the ShipIt programme.

    We will continue to supply CDs to LoCo teams and Ubuntu members. And we hope to make CDs available to everyone who is just discovering Ubuntu. And we continue to search for additional ways to make Ubuntu and Ubuntu materials available to everyone. But we are limiting shipments to people that we think have alternative paths of getting Ubuntu. For instance,

Jane Silber, Canonical

http://www.jonobacon.org/2009/10/21/keeping-ubuntu-cds-available/

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (67983) +1401 # over last week
  • Critical (29) 0 # over last week
  • Unconfirmed (32933) +1105 # over last week
  • Unassigned (59252) + 1331 # over last week
  • All bugs ever reported (332397) + 3843 # 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 (10077) -181 over last week
  • French (36303) -65 over last week
  • Brazilian Portuguese (41453) -4379 over last week
  • Swedish (52520) -751 over last week
  • English (United Kingdom) (53068) -263 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 (14878) -148 over last week
  • Brazilian Portuguese (49668) -15423 over last week
  • French (50840) -9375 over last week
  • Swedish (68581) -660 over last week
  • English (Uk) (78225) -9880 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

Ubuntu Zimbabwe LoCo Team at ICT Africa 2009

The Ubuntu Zimbabwe LoCo Team recently took part in the ICT Africa 2009 expo, held in Harare, Zimbabwe. It was a great event and well worth the effort. Full report and photos available on our site:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-October/000729.html

Austin's Karmic Release Party

Join the team in Austin between 6pm - 9pm on Thursday, October 29, 2009 at Aussie's Grill and Beach Bar, at 306 Barton Springs Road, just east of the corner of Riverside and Barton Springs Road, south of the river. I figured an Australian-themed bar would have to work, in honor of the home of our lovely mascot, the Karmic Koala!

Burning CD's is so '90s... If you'd like a bootable/installable copy of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala, bring an empty USB stick, 1GB or bigger, and we'll gladly burn an image for you. There should be a couple of laptops demoing the new release. I'm planning on bringing two, to demo the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC), powered by Eucalyptus, which I've been working on for the last few months.

http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2009/10/austins-karmic-release-party.html

Launchpad News

Launchpad: The next six months

A couple of weeks ago, the Launchpad team leads at Canonical gathered in Millbank Tower to talk about what we’ll be doing over the next six months. We talked with each other, we talked with Martin Pool from Bazaar, we talked with people on the Ubuntu Platform team, we talked with Mark Shuttleworth, we talked a lot.

Over the week, two very important things slowly began to dawn on us. I’ll talk about one of them now, and leave the other one to hang tantalizingly in the air like some forbidden fruit that’s learned how to hover.

The first important thing we realized is that Launchpad was originally conceived as a way of helping better connect the Ubuntu operating system to the upstream projects on which it depends. We further realized that could do that much better than we are right now.

A flood of bugs:

Zillions of bugs get filed against Ubuntu every day. While some of them are introduced when the Ubuntu community packages software, many are really bugs in the underlying upstream code.[citation needed] And quite often they’re already fixed in the latest upstream version — it’s just that the Ubuntu package doesn’t have the fix yet.

Yet even though Ubuntu is drowning in this sea of bugs, it can’t simply forward them upstream indiscriminately. Upstreams shouldn’t be bothered with old bugs; they only want to hear about bugs that are still in their code. And Ubuntu needs to know when such a bug has been found, both to tell users that a fix is coming and to help plan packaging updates.

Package of the day:

Launchpad should be doing much more to help rescue Ubuntu from this deluge. With PPAs and source package branches, Launchpad ought to be able to make it really easy to create a packaged version of the tip of any upstream, to test against, and to file bugs and provide patches directly to that upstream. That is, Launchpad needs to make Ubuntu Daily Builds rock.

That’s going to be our overall focus now. At the same time, we’re also aware that we need to spend time polishing what we already have. So, for this month and for UDS, we’re going to be focusing only on reducing technical debt, fixing OOPSes and cleaning up the UI.

Where to now:

The Canonical Launchpad team are going to be focused on “bridging the gap” between Ubuntu and its upstreams. We’ll focus on better, faster bug triage, on making it really easy to get upstream tip on the Ubuntu desktop and really tight translations integration between Ubuntu & its upstreams. Early next week, we’ll email out a high-level roadmap of where we want to go.

We are interested in getting real-user feedback about our solution to better integrating upstreams and Ubuntu developers. If you are an upstream or Ubuntu developer interested by that problem, please contact us.

PS. If you’ve read this far, you are probably wondering what the second Very Important Thing was. I’m afraid you’ll just have to wait.

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/launchpad-the-next-six-months

Meet Matthew Revell

Julian Edwards has turned the tables on Launchpad's communications expert Matthew Revell by interviewing him. As you may well know, Matthew is the one usually asking the questions and letting the Ubuntu community know what is going on with Launchpad. This time however, we get a little look into what is going on in Matthew's life. Read the full interview at the link below.

http://blog.launchpad.net/meet-the-devs/meet-matthew-revell

Launchpad offline 4:00UTC - 4:30UTC October 26th

Launchpad will be offline for roughly 30 minutes from 04.00 UTC on Monday October 26th, 2009 for database maintenance.

http://blog.launchpad.net/notifications/launchpad-offline-04-00-04-30-utc-26th-october

The Planet

Meet the Platform Team Managers

Amber Graner brings us 5 new interviews from her "Where Karmic's Karma comes From" series. The Platform Team is made up of the following teams: Foundations, Kernel, Desktop, QA, Mobile, Community, and Server teams.

http://amber.redvoodoo.org/2009/10/you-in-ubuntu-meet-platform-team_3230.html

Jono Bacon: Wild and Wicked Wolverhampton Weekend

I'm fly to England back to Wolverhampton for LugRadio Live 2009. I have been over in California now for over a year and it will be the first time I have got to see many of my friends since I moved. It will also be the final re-union of the LugRadio team for the last ever live show and last ever LugRadio Live. It is going to be a blast! Tomorrow I fly to England back to Wolverhampton for LugRadio Live 2009. I have been over in California now for over a year and it will be the first time I have got to see many of my friends since I moved. It will also be the final re-union of the LugRadio team for the last ever live show and last ever LugRadio Live. It is going to be a blast! http://www.lugradio.org/live/2009/

Although LugRadio Live is entirely sold out of tickets, there is going to be one hell of a party on the Friday night at The Hogshead, 186 Stafford Street, Wolverhampton, WV1 1NA from 7.30pm and also on the Saturday night at the The Connaught Hotel, 40-50 Tettenhall Rd, Wolverhampton, WV1 4SW from 8pm. On the Saturday there will be Karaoke. Oh yes. Everyone is welcome to both parties, and I would love to see you all there!

The fun doesn’t end there though, oh no! On the Sunday, the first ever OggCamp is going to take place at The Connaught Hotel in Wolverhampton, and it is shaping up to be an incredible event. The organizers behind it, the venerable Ubuntu UK and Linux Outlaws podcasts, have worked hard to make it a rocking event and I can’t wait for it! I really hope it becomes a staple in the UK Open Source event calendar. So, good people, get your delicate arses over to OggCamp too.

What a rollicking weekend of Open Source goodness, firmly seated in the great British heartlands:

  • Friday 23rd October – Party at The Hogs Head in Wolverhampton.
  • Saturday 24th October – LugRadio Live 2009 and party at The Connaught Hotel in Wolverhampton.

  • Sunday 25th October – OggCamp at The Connaught Hotel in Wolverhampton.

http://www.jonobacon.org/2009/10/22/wild-and-wicked-wolverhampton-weekend/

Dustin Kirkland: Linux Magazine: Ubuntu Encrypted Home

Back in April, Linux Magazine ran what I considered to be an inaccurate account of the OS-level security provided by our Ubuntu Distribution. Your Distro is Insecure: Ubuntu. http://www.linux-mag.com/id/7297/1

Frustrated with the piece, I blogged this in return: Your Article is Incorrect: Linux Magazine. http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2009/04/your-article-is-incorrect.html

Following that post, I had a very constructive, private email conversation with Linux Magazine editor, Bryan Richard. We discussed a number of different ways that Canonical/Ubuntu might be able to respond to their previous article, which caused quite a stir on Ubuntu's public mailing lists.

I'm very pleased with Bryan's response. He invited me to author an article focusing on the security features that are available in Ubuntu. The result was published earlier today, focusing on Ubuntu's Encrypted Home Directory feature, which is rather unique among Linux distributions: Ubuntu's Encrypted Home Directory: A Canonical Approach to Data Privacy http://www.linux-mag.com/cache/7568/1.html

http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2009/10/linux-magazine-ubuntu-encrypted-home.html

In The Press

Canonical Takes on Win 7 With Ubuntu 9.10 RC

Canonical on Thursday made available the Release Candidate of its latest Linux-based operating system, Ubuntu 9.10, on the same day Microsoft launched the long-awaited Windows 7. The upcoming Canonical release, which is code-named Karmic Koala, is the latest version of the popular flavor of the Linux OS. The development release on Thursday pushed the OS one step closer to final release, which is due on Oct. 29, according to the company's release schedule Web page. Built on the latest Linux 2.6.31.1 kernel, Ubuntu 9.10 offers faster boot times, an improved user interface and programming tools for easier software development, according to Canonical.

Earlier development of Ubuntu 9.10 releases -- including the most recent beta edition -- have received mixed reviews on the Web. Some complained of applications not working, while other disagreed with user interface changes. But some were thrilled by the OS improvements: "What I have is a remarkably fast and powerful machine built using some inexpensive software and hardware," wrote a poster going by the name of Liberty in response to a blog entry. Using a test release of Karmic Koala, the poster said setting up an Internet connection on an Intel dual-core Atom system was a breeze. Networking an all-in-one printer was a "piece of cake," Liberty wrote.

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/174190/canonical_takes_on_win_7_with_ubuntu_910_rc.html

Review: Ubuntu 9.10 Brings Good Karma To Linux

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 (NSDQ: AMZN)'s EC2 platform. Canonical's also trying to break the 25-second goal for booting up Jaunty (Ubuntu 9.04) on netbooks. Ubuntu 9.10 continues version 9.04's ease of install and operation, and is jam-packed with useful, free applications. The ability to run Ubuntu within Windows is an added plus for users who may still want to "feel out" a Linux desktop OS before giving up Windows.

Significant changes from Ubuntu 9.04 to 9.10 beta aren't strictly cosmetic ones. Want to add software to Ubuntu 9.10? This release replaces the Add/Remove feature in the Applications menu with the more contemporary Ubuntu Software Center. Ubuntu 9.10 also replaces the Pidgin IM client with the feature-rich Empathy client. This is part of the updated GNOME 2.28 desktop environment. 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=OIDYLM3RTR5ELQE1GHOSKH4ATMY32JVN

Ubuntu Linux Server Simplifies the Cloud

With new Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (EUC) capabilities and tools now fully integrated into its upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 Server Edition operating system, Linux vendor Ubuntu is getting ready to spread the benefits and promise of cloud computing to corporate users, VARs and resellers. For customers, VARs and resellers, that means that users and system integrators will be able to have an easier time creating, deploying and managing private, behind-the-firewall clouds for users who want to explore its options and possibilities. A key to Ubuntu's new OS is that by providing the tools to build fully-featured private clouds for users, it could help encourage their spread by many businesses that are currently prevented from using public clouds today due to security and regulatory issues surrounding their critical data.

Steve George, director of corporate services for London-based Canonical, said the new version of Ubuntu's server operating system also marks a new channel focus for the companies. "The open source community and open source businesses have not traditionally focused a lot on the channel and reaching out," George said. "At Canonical, when we think about how we reach out to customers, we think of working with the channel or partner companies as being a key aspect. There's a very straightforward reason for that. Canonical is essentially an engineering company, so for us to reach out to customers on the strength of our own people just isn’t possible."

http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Linux-and-Unix/Ubuntu-Linux-Server-Simplifies-the-Cloud-397970/

5 years later, 5 ways that Ubuntu has made Linux more human

ARS Technica's Ryan Paul looks back to when Canonical announced the very first release of the Ubuntu Linux distribution on October 20, 2004. Five years later, Ubuntu is the star of the Linux desktop and has achieved a level of popularity and mindshare that is unprecedented among the various flavors of the open source operating system. Ubuntu has come a long way over the past five years but still has a long road ahead before the infamous Bug #1 can be closed. The upcoming release of Ubuntu 9.10, scheduled for next week, is another important step forward. http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2009/10/5-years-later-5-ways-that-ubuntu-has-made-linux-more-human.ars?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=rss

Happy Birthday, Ubuntu!

Marius Nestor of Softpedia thinks that with only a few days until Karmic Koala's official release, it's time to take a look into the past. Five years ago, on the 20th of October, 2004, Mark Shuttleworth and the "warm-hearted Warthogs" from the developer team announced the first official Ubuntu release. Version 4.10, code name "Warty Warthog," was only the first representative in a line of operating systems that were made by human beings for human beings, aiming to let normal people use Linux. Happy Birthday Ubuntu! http://news.softpedia.com/news/Happy-Birthday-Ubuntu-124827.shtml

Ubuntu Linux powers up

Mark Kellner of the Washington Times wonders just how important are computer operating systems, anyway? This past Thursday morning Microsoft launched Windows 7, and in late August Apple launched Snow Leopard. Are there any alternatives to them? Quite possibly, and its name is Linux — specifically, Ubuntu Linux. Version 9.10 is expected to debut Oct. 29. The nice thing about Ubuntu is that it really is free: Just download a disc image of Ubuntu, burn it a CD or DVD, and you're ready to install it on a computer near you. For straight business applications, Ubuntu as an operating environment is more than adequate. You can't beat the price, especially in these cost-conscious days. http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/19/kellner-ubuntu-linux-powers-up/

Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate Has Arrived

Phoronix's Michael Larabel tells us that with one week to go until the official release of Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", Canonical has announced the release candidate of this forthcoming Linux distribution update. Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu have all reached Ubuntu 9.10 RC status as well. There are many improvements to Ubuntu 9.10 and others in the Ubuntu family like Kubuntu and Mythbuntu too, which is briefly described in the Ubuntu 9.10 RC release announcement. The final release of Ubuntu 9.10 is expected on the 29th of October. Succeeding Ubuntu 9.10 will be Ubuntu 10.04 LTS next year, which is codenamed the Lucid Lynx. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzYyNw

What's New In Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala"

Christer Edwards of Packt Publishing notes that Ubuntu 9.10 will be out soon, and users around the world are hard at work testing and submitting fixes, eagerly trying to patch every hole in time for the final release. Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala" continues Ubuntu's tradition of six-month releases, each offering new features and improvements on the release before it. Ubuntu truly is a force to be reckoned with when it comes to pushing the envelope, yet at the same time stabilizing and improving the overall experience. http://www.packtpub.com/article/what-is-new-in-ubuntu-9.10-karmic-koala

Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Performance

Michael Larabel of Phoronix asks if it is worth the upgrading to Ubuntu 9.10 if you are running a netbook? From his testing of the development releases, it is most certainly worth the upgrade, especially when compared to Ubuntu 9.04 with its buggy Intel driver stack that caused many problems for Atom netbook users. Ubuntu 9.10 brings many usability improvements to the Linux desktop, various new packages, and the overall system performance has improved too. He has ran a set of benchmarks on both a Dell Inspiron Mini 9 and Samsung NC10 under Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10 to illustrate the performance gains along with a few regressions. Overall, Ubuntu 9.10 provides some nice performance boosts to netbook users. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_karmic_netbook&num=1

Ubuntu’s Encrypted Home Directory: A Canonical Approach to Data Privacy

Linux Magazine's Dustin Kirkland says that a friend recently quizzed him about the Encrypted Home Directory feature in Ubuntu, but unfortunately his questions were not due simply to his naturally inquisitive nature. A week earlier, his friend was en route to a Free Software conference and boarding a train in Europe after an overnight flight from the United States. In a flash, one thief created a diversion while the theif's partner-in-crime stole his friend’s laptop case. While Kirkland's friend was not particularly happy about losing his computer, he was far more distraught at his potentially compromised data which included encryption keys, stored website passwords, personal finance information, confidential documents… everything. By Ubuntu's adding a suite of user space utilities, support in the Ubuntu installer and integration with system authentication, eCryptfs provides an elegant home directory encryption scheme while continuing to deliver an outstanding user experience. http://www.linux-mag.com/cache/7568/1.html

In The Blogosphere

A Guided Tour Of Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala

It's set to be the biggest and best release of Ubuntu so far and it impresses right from the get-go with an impressive installer, fast boot times, new artwork and a whole lot more. This blogger not only lists most of the changes in Karmic, he includes lots of screenshots. In conclusion, he notes that this is only the beginning and that his overview only scratches the surface of all the improvements, refinements and changes in Ubuntu 9.10.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2009/10/ubuntu-910-review-karmic.html

Ubuntu 9.10 Review; even better than before

With the latest version, Ubuntu will give you integration with cloud computing and net-books. The ability to deploy applications in the cloud much easier than before is one of Canonical’s goal for 9.10 using Amazon’s EC2 platform. Canonical is also trying to beat the 25-second booting time when usingUbuntu 9.04 on net-books. Ubuntu comes loaded with a lot of valuable software and system tools. With the release of Ubuntu 9.10 , Canonical is certainly bringing Linux more closer to the “normal user” and coupled with the fact that it is FREE, I see no reason in not wanting to test it.

http://www.softsailor.com/news/10275-ubuntu-9-10-review-even-better-than-before.html

Yo Frankie! Now available for the masses in Ubuntu Karmic

Danny Piccirillo, in his blog, The Silent Number, tells readers about "Yo Frankie!". This game, based on the film Big Buck Bunny, is the Blender Institutes's first Open Game Project. This game is available from the PlayDeb[1] repository and according to Danny "anyone running Karmic can install it through the PlayDeb repository!" So gamers take a look at the article follow the link on Danny's Blog and let us know what think. Happy Gaming!

  1. PlayDeb can be found at http://www.playdeb.net/welcome/

http://blog.thesilentnumber.me/2009/10/yo-frankie-now-available-for-masses-in.html

An Inside Look at the Ubuntu Release Cycle

In his Linux.com article, Jono Bacon, Ubuntu Community Manager, walks the reader through the Karmic release cycle. Jono, takes the reader through the sync with Debian, merging packets, alpha and beta releases, to RC and Final release. He goes on to talk about the feature development, bug fixes, translation, art design, 100 paper Cuts and more. If you want to read more about the community driven events that played key rolls in getting Karmic ready for the scheduled release on Oct 29th, read this article in total and catch a glimpse into the awesomeness that makes a release cycle possible. http://www.linux.com/news/software/developer/153316-an-inside-look-at-the-ubuntu-release-cycle

Eight Ubuntu 9.10 Questions for Mark Shuttleworth

In this article, Joe Panettirei, WorkwithU, goes over eight questions he would like to ask Mark Shuttleworth Canonical CEO on Founder of the Ubuntu project. On Oct 26, Mark is scheduled to speak to the press. In this article, Joe goes into detail about the follow eight key questions.

  1. Any new Netbook wins?
  2. Any new Ubuntu desktop preloads?
  3. Any new server relationships?
  4. Is Ubuntu in the cloud for real?
  5. Are ISVs embracing Ubuntu Server Edition?
  6. Ubuntu One and Landscape - Money Makers?
  7. How is the Ubuntu partner ecosystem growing?
  8. When will Canonical be profitable?

Take a look as Joe elaborates on each of these questions and asks you the reader if you have "questions for Shuttleworth?" http://www.workswithu.com/2009/10/21/eight-ubuntu-910-questions-for-mark-shuttleworth/

GNU/Linux Security: Ubuntu has been Cracked!

Gene, with ERACC, talks security issues that can effect the GNU/Linux User. Comparing the vulnerabilities in Windows v. GNU LInux and where those points of weakness may or may not be. Gene touches on the "ignorant user problem", as well as those who are "apathetic about security". In this article Gene encourages how we can address these issues and encourage the GNU/Linux user to be proactive in security processes. http://blog.eracc.com/2009/10/18/gnulinux-security-ubuntu-has-been-cracked/

IBM and Ubuntu roll Linux for U.S desktops vs Windows 7

Sean Michael Kerner, internetnew.com, pulls from the 'First in Africa, now in the U.S' files and talks about the IBM and Ubuntu "launch of Linux and cloud-based desktop software in the U.S." This effort combines a Linux OS and IBM smart client applications known as Open Collaboration Client Software . In their press releases IBM and Canonical (commercial sponsors of Ubuntu) discuss the expensive of migrating to Windows 7 and together they offer a viable solution to businesses that cannot or will not update their hardware to run Windows 7. This joint solution announced on the heels of the Windows 7 roll out gives business an alternative that negates the cost of expensive. http://blog.internetnews.com/skerner/2009/10/ibm-and-ubuntu-roll-linux-for.html

Other articles on this same subject can be found at:

"IBM, Canonical Switch Up Their Smart Work Game", http://www.linux.com/news/featured-blogs/168-brian-proffitt/150566-ibm-canonical-switch-up-their-smart-work-game

and

"IBM & Canonical to launch Ubuntu desktop for business", http://blogs.computerworld.com/14953/ibm_canonical_to_launch_ubuntu_desktop_for_business

NetworkManager Gets Facelift for Karmic Koala Ubuntu 9.10

Christopher Tozzi, WorkswithU, discusses the new look of Karmic's Network Manager. He points out that Free Soft can look as good if not better than that of the proprietary operating systems. He carefully points out some of the short comings in this new NM in Karmic vs. Jaunty but readily admits he hasn't used it long enough yet to "say anything with certainty" to the technical aspects of and if the past failings of NM were fixed in this latest release. Take a look at the full post and the screen shots and links that Tozzi has given you, and see what you think of the new Network Manager. http://www.workswithu.com/2009/10/19/networkmanager-gets-facelift-for-karmic/

System76 Prepares Ubuntu 9.10 PCs, Notebooks

Joe Panettieri, of Works With U, had an opportunity to interview Carl Richell, president of System76 by email. He offers some of Mr. Richell's thoughts in this latest blog, including:

  • How Ubuntu 9.10 is coming along
  • System76’s plans to offer Ubuntu 9.10 on systems
  • Ubuntu 9.10’s potential benefits to customers
  • Ubuntu One, Canonical’s new file sharing and online backup service
  • Potential challenges facing the Ubuntu 9.10 launch

See how Mr. Richell answers these points.

http://www.workswithu.com/2009/10/19/system76-prepares-ubuntu-910-pcs-notebooks/

ZaReason Prepares Ubuntu 9.10 Server, Expands Customer Base

Joe Panettieri, of Works With U, offers some thoughts from ZaReason on the effects of Ubuntu and Karmic Koala. CTO Earl Malmrose mentioned that "ZaReason already offers Ubuntu 9.10 on a pre-order basis and will begin shipping systems with Ubuntu 9.10 the day the operating system is release (Oct. 29)." While CEO Cathy Malmrose answered a bunch of questions, including:

  • What is the first improvement you have noticed with Ubuntu 9.10?
  • Are most of the improvements aimed at new users or long-time heavy users?
  • Are you finding more customers are new to Linux? Is ZaReason’s base expanding?

Cathy also talked about the expanding customer base and server plans. See what she has to say about all of the above.

http://www.workswithu.com/2009/10/22/zareason-prepares-ubuntu-910-server-expands-customer-base/

In Other News

TurnKey: 40 Ubuntu-based virtual appliances released into the cloud

TurnKey Linux, an Ubuntu based project, has announced its largest release to date, which includes 25 new additions to its free virtual appliance library featuring some of the world's best open source software. Support has been added for Amazon EC2 cloud and the OVF virtual appliance format. All appliances have been upgraded to Ubuntu 8.04.3 Long Term Support version.

The project has expanded its virtual appliance library to include:

  • Complex "killer app" integrations: Windows domain controller, torrent server, file server, and revision control.
  • Commercially-backed enterprise software: Zimbra, OpenBravo, tWiki, MovableType and MindTouch's Deki.

  • Popular content management applications: Moodle, DokuWiki, MoinMoin, and Gallery.

  • Popular issue tracking applications: BugZilla, Mantis, OTRS, Trac, RedMine and ProjectPier.

Full announcement: http://www.turnkeylinux.org/news/200910-release-40-new-appliances-amazon-ec2

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, October 26, 2009

Security Team Catch-up

  • Start: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 17:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: nothing formal, just a weekly catch-up.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting

Server Team Meeting

Desktop Team Meeting

Kernel Team Meeting

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

Wednesday, October 28, 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

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Ubuntu 9.10

Ubuntu Java Meeting

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

Friday, October 30, 2009

  • None listed as of publication

Saturday, October 31, 2009

  • None listed as of publication

Sunday, November 01, 2009

  • None listed as of publication

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10, 9.04 and 9.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

Ubuntu 9.10 Updates

Archives and RSS Feed

You can always find older Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter issues at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter

You can subscribe to the Ubuntu Weekly News via RSS at: http://fridge.ubuntu.com/uwn/feed

Additional Ubuntu News

As always you can find more news and announcements at:

and

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
  • Liraz Siri
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

  1. IM - Instant Messaging.
  2. IRC - Internet Relay Chat.
  3. ISO - International Organization for Standardization. Also, the suffix given to disk images that comply with the conventional Standards format.
  4. ISV - Independent Software Vendors.
  5. LTS - Long Term Support. - Said of a release that will receive support for 3-years/5-years rather than the typical 18 months.
  6. MOTU - Master Of The Universe - Developers responsible for the Universe and Multiverse repositories. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU

  7. OS - Operating System.
  8. RC - Release Candidate.
  9. UEC - Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.
  10. 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.

Except where otherwise noted, content on this site is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License CCL.png Creative Commons License 3.0 BY SA

UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue165 (last edited 2009-10-27 16:24:02 by ip68-231-150-152)