Issue178

Differences between revisions 19 and 38 (spanning 19 versions)
⇤ ← Revision 19 as of 2010-01-31 16:07:32 →
Size: 35936
Editor: ip68-0-180-217
Comment: added Apple’s iPad vs Notion Ink’s Adam tablet with Ubuntu: battle of two worlds
← Revision 38 as of 2010-01-31 23:03:40 → ⇥
Size: 45005
Editor: ip68-0-180-217
Comment: cleanup
Deletions are marked like this. Additions are marked like this.
Line 4: Line 4:

## This document contains numerous comments to help make getting
## involved with the UWN easy and to help set some guidelines/standards.

## By contributing, you understand that your contribution may be appended to,
## modified, deleted, moved, copied, and redistributed without further
## consultation. Please feel free to add comments to help explain changes
## and/or additions to the UWN to other editors.

## Final revision will be approved and mailed by John Crawford (johnc4510), or
## Craig A. Eddy (tyche).

## For more information, please contact ubuntu-news@lists.ubuntu.com or
## visit #ubuntu-news on irc.freenode.net

## Good Luck from John Crawford, Craig A. Eddy, and the UWN Team.
Line 25: Line 9:
## Edit the following to include issue number, date info, and a short list
## of the top articles in this release.

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue ## for the week MONTH DAY - DAY, YEAR. In this issue we cover ...
 Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #178 for the week January 24th - January 30th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day, Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider, Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3, Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey, Ubuntu Honduras, Back up old sources from PPA's, Improved Bug Patch Notifications, Getting your code into Launchpad, Ubuntu Developer Week Recap, Canonical Voices, Ubuntu Community Learning Project Update, NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source, Full Circle Magazine #33, and much, much more!
Line 39: Line 19:
## In this section, list major topics of interest using bullets.
## Format: * <Topic name>
## Ex: * Ubuntu overtakes Microsoft with 90% market share		  * Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day
 * Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider
 * Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3
 * Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey
 * Ubuntu Stats
 * Ubuntu Honduras
 * Back up old sources from PPA's
 * Improved Bug Patch Notifications
 * Getting your code into Launchpad
 * The Planet
 * In the Press & Blogosphere
 * NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source
 * Full Circle Magazine
 * Upcoming Meetings & Events
 * Updates & Security
Line 58: Line 50:

=== Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider ===

This announcement is to apprise you of two small but important changes coming to Firefox in Lucid.

We are changing the default search provider in Firefox to Yahoo! Note that this won't in any way effect the ability of a user to choose and use the search provider of their choice. It's literally 2 easily discoverable clicks to change this setting, a simple matter of switching to that search provider in the chrome by clicking on the icon and choosing the desired provider. Note also that Yahoo! does not share any
personally identifiable or usage information.

Why?

We are pursuing this change because Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo! and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and
the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user's default search across Firefox.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2010-January/030065.html
Line 108: Line 114:
=== Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey ===

The Ubuntu Manual Project has stirred up veritable carnival of publicity over the last few months, signifying a huge appetite for such a document within the community. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual Here is an interview with Benjamin Humphrey the project leader.

''' Let's go back to the start: Where did the idea of creating a "beginners manual” come from? '''

It all started halfway through last year. I had been helping users troubleshoot their problems on the Ubuntu Forums, and I also had a fair few of my own problems with Ubuntu when I started using it for the first time. I quickly learnt to resolve these, and, as time went by, I helped others too. I wrote a bit of Community Documentation, but felt the need to pass my knowledge on to more new users - so I started my blog with that intention. The blog articles then began to be exported into a PDF, which started to take shape as a manual. The project didn't become open for collaboration until late last year when I realized it would be more beneficial to have many people working on it as a team - that way we could cover more stuff and make a better document overall.

''' Who is the manual aimed at? '''

Our target audience is new computer users, and users coming from Windows/Mac, who otherwise wouldn't know much about Ubuntu or GNU/Linux in general.

''' What differentiates the Ubuntu Manual Project from the official documentation, official books, etc that already exist for newcomers? '''

Content wise, we go into less detail than the documentation and wiki. We aren't supposed to be an all-encompassing Ubuntu bible, like the Official Ubuntu Book. The manual is a free PDF download, it will hopefully be included in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS as well. It will be translated in over 30 languages, possibly available for purchase in print, and also will feature many localized screenshots.

It's more organized than the wiki documentation and easier to access than the forums. It will also be kept up to date with revisions every six months to coincide with the Ubuntu release cycle. We will be pointing readers in the direction of the in-built help, or the wiki help, or the forums if they need more detail on a specific topic.


''' What areas will the 'manual' be covering? '''

The manual follows a linear learning curve - it starts with the basics (like an introduction about Ubuntu's philosophy and history), then moves to explaining the desktop, default applications, getting online, installing software and so forth. It's split into two sections, the first half and the second half - we don't even mention the command line until the second half, the "advanced" section. The full table of contents can be found here.

''' What won’t the manual be going into? '''

A lot of stuff. As I said above, this isn't an Ubuntu bible - we're not going to have a guide for installing Nvidia drivers on a Ge``Force 7600GT graphics card, for example. It won't be that specific - we will give you a general idea on how to do something, show you the basics, and then point you in the right direction for more information.

''' So the big question is – will it be included in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx? '''

At the moment, we're not sure. I know many people would love to see it on the CD - our research proves that, and my talks with Ubuntu members/key contributors also shows there is a great deal of interest in the project. If everything goes to plan, I think it would be silly to not include a version in Lucid and make it available for download at www.ubuntu.com.

What's working against us is file size. With more than 50 pages, and a whole heap of images, we'll be hard pressed to get it down to a small enough size to squeeze onto the CD. Remember a CD can only hold 700mb - the Ubuntu devs have to fit a whole operating system and several applications onto that. I think we can get it down to a small enough size for it to be included as example content at least, but it's really too early to tell as we haven't even started inserting images yet. If we can't get it into Lucid, I will try to get it included it for 10.10. It will be much easier to convince the desktop team/docs team once we have something to show.

''' If it does make it into Lucid, where can users expect to find access to the manual? Desktop icon? Menu Entry, etc? '''

This hasn't been decided yet. While we would love to see it as an icon on the desktop, this just won't happen - the desktop team have a strict no icons on the desktop policy as a "design decision." It will most likely appear in the main application menu, or as an icon on the panel. It will hopefully also be available for download right next to the main download link for Ubuntu on the website.

And just to hedge my bets - How will users be able to ‘find’ the manual if it ISN'T included in Lucid?
If it isn't included in Lucid, we will try to get it on the main Ubuntu website and most definitely in the main repository. We will probably also set up our own website with a download link, and of course it will be available on our Launchpad page as well.

Read the second part of the interview including screenshots of some possible cover designs, a possible change of name for the project and feedback already received about the project at the link below.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/01/interview-with-ubuntu-manual-project.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+d0od+%28Omg!+Ubuntu
Line 110: Line 159:
Line 117: Line 167:

=== Infamous Bugs ===

## Delete if no infamous/funny bugs for this week.
Line 128: Line 174:
 5. English (United Kingdon) (63270) -4517 over last week  5. English (United Kingdom) (63270) -4517 over last week
Line 131: Line 177:

##NEEDS UPDATING.
##
##=== 5-a-day bug stats ===
##
##==== Top 5 contributors for the past 7 days ====
##
## * person (#)
## * person (#)
## * person (#)
## * person (#)
## * person (#)
##
##==== Top 5 teams for the past 7 days ====
##
## * team (#)
## * team (#)
## * team (#)
## * team (#)
## * team (#)
##
##5-A-Day stats. http://qa.ubuntu.com/reports/five-a-day/
Line 172: Line 196:
== New in Karmic Koala ==

## This list is pulled by Corey Burger and dumped here in raw form for parsing.
## Choose a something you wish to write about a write a short piece about what
## has changed since the last version in Ubuntu. This might mean several upstream
## releases. To find this data, use the changelog in the package and look on the web.
## If you cannot find a usable changelog, simply drop that package. Try and group packages
## together logically, such as X, the kernel or GNOME.

## After all the package sections are written, organize them logically, based
## on desktop or server, GNOME, KDE, or Xfce4, etc.

## Sometimes bigger changes, such as a new development policy or a major new
## thing will be mentioned under a seperate heading
Line 189: Line 198:
=== Bqack up old sources from PPA's === === Back up old sources from PPA's ===
Line 251: Line 260:
== Ubuntu Forums News ==

## This section is provided to include any interesting updates from the Ubuntu Forums.
Line 259: Line 264:
UDW was another rocking success in terms of getting things done, and having fun doing it. So much was accomplished in such a short ammount of time. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed. You can find daily summaries of what happened at the following links. UDW was another rocking success in terms of getting things done, and having fun doing it. So much was accomplished in such a short amount of time. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed. You can find daily summaries of what happened at the following links.
Line 272: Line 277:
Want to know Canonical’s secret business plan? Or find out the latest features we’re working on in Ubuntu or UbuntuOne? Then hop over to the Canonical Voices site. It’s a blog aggregator that provides a single location for Canonical employees to blog and engage with the wider world.

Many Canonical employees develop Ubuntu directly making them members of the Ubuntu community so their views already appear on Ubuntu Planet. However, there are lots of Canonical employees who work in other areas, such as with OEM’s, or on UbuntuOne, in marketing or with business customers. Canonical voices brings together everyone in the company and provides a single place where you can see the breadth of their views, opinions and thoughts.		 Want to know Canonical’s secret business plan? Or find out the latest features we’re working on in Ubuntu or Ubuntu``One? Then hop over to the Canonical Voices site. It’s a blog aggregator that provides a single location for Canonical employees to blog and engage with the wider world.

Many Canonical employees develop Ubuntu directly making them members of the Ubuntu community so their views already appear on Ubuntu Planet. However, there are lots of Canonical employees who work in other areas, such as with OEM’s, or on Ubuntu``One, in marketing or with business customers. Canonical voices brings together everyone in the company and provides a single place where you can see the breadth of their views, opinions and thoughts.
Line 286: Line 291:
How do you contribute? First, join the team by swinging by to have a talk to us in #ubuntu-learning or engage us on the Ubuntu Community Learning Project mailing list (you’re also welcome to email me directly at lyz@ubuntu.com, please do!). We currently have people writing courses in .odt, on the wiki, in bzr using AsciiDoc and in Moodle, so there are a number of ways to get involved now. We also need folks who are interestied in doing peer review of the classes. How do you contribute? First, join the team by swinging by to have a talk to us in #ubuntu-learning or engage us on the Ubuntu Community Learning Project mailing list (you’re also welcome to email me directly at lyz at ubuntu dot com, please do!). We currently have people writing courses in .odt, on the wiki, in bzr using Ascii``Doc and in Moodle, so there are a number of ways to get involved now. We also need folks who are interested in doing peer review of the classes.
Line 295: Line 300:
 * Februrary 19-21, 2010 at the Westin LAX  * February 19-21, 2010 at the Westin LAX
Line 299: Line 304:
 * SCaLE: http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/  * SCa``LE: http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/
Line 303: Line 308:
Just like last year at SCaLE, I will be leading another “Try-It Lab” where we’ll help folks get started with using Amazon EC2 and Ubuntu Linux. More information about preparation will be posted on the SCaLE web site, so be sure to review it before attending if you’re interested in a hands-on, guided, workshop experience with EC2. The lab seats “sold out” quickly last year, so make sure you get in early.

Deal for readers of Alestic.com: When you register for SCaLE, use the code “ERIC” for 50% off of the listed price. If you sign up today, that gives you a full access pass for a ridiculously low $35. Prices may go up as the weekend gets closer.		 Just like last year at SCa``LE, I will be leading another “Try-It Lab” where we’ll help folks get started with using Amazon EC2 and Ubuntu Linux. More information about preparation will be posted on the SCa``LE web site, so be sure to review it before attending if you’re interested in a hands-on, guided, workshop experience with EC2. The lab seats “sold out” quickly last year, so make sure you get in early.

Deal for readers of Alestic.com: When you register for SCa``LE, use the code “ERIC” for 50% off of the listed price. If you sign up today, that gives you a full access pass for a ridiculously low $35. Prices may go up as the weekend gets closer.
Line 311: Line 316:
=== Nouveau From 2.6.33 Prepped For Ubuntu 10.04 ===

Michael Larabel of Phoronix recalls that back in November he shared that Nouveau would finally be pulled into the Ubuntu 10.04 kernel as up to this point Canonical had employed the feature-limited and obfuscated open-source NVIDIA driver known as xf86-video-nv. The plans to switch over to Nouveau with kernel mode-setting support for Ubuntu 10.04 were great, but then in December the Nouveau driver got pulled into the Linux 2.6.33 kernel which complicated matters for Ubuntu as they already were set with using the Linux 2.6.32 kernel for the 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" release. It looks like the Canonical kernel developers have decided to pull the Nouveau DRM from the 2.6.33-rc4 kernel, and the Nouveau KMS code will be pulled in for the next alpha release. Follow this link for more information: http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzkyNw		 === Nouveau From 2.6.33 Prep'd For Ubuntu 10.04 ===

Michael Larabel of Phoronix recalls that back in November he shared that Nouveau would finally be pulled into the Ubuntu 10.04 kernel as up to this point Canonical had employed the feature-limited and obfuscated open-source NVIDIA driver known as xf86-video-nv. The plans to switch over to Nouveau with kernel mode-setting support for Ubuntu 10.04 were great, but then in December the Nouveau driver got pulled into the Linux 2.6.33 kernel which complicated matters for Ubuntu as they already were set with using the Linux 2.6.32 kernel for the 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" release. It looks like the Canonical kernel developers have decided to pull the Nouveau DRM from the 2.6.33-rc4 kernel, and the Nouveau KMS code will be pulled in for the next alpha release. More information at the link.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzkyNw
Line 317: Line 324:
Phoronix's Michael Larabel tells us that Canonical's Jos Boumans sent out an e-mail on the Ubuntu development mailing list to outline some of the new plans going forward for Ubuntu Server with the 10.04 release. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 2 came out just nine days ago, but Jos is hoping to incorporate these new Ubuntu Server changes prior to the Alpha 3 release that is scheduled for the end of February. To be worked on for Ubuntu Server 10.04 Alpha 3 is migrating from My``SQL 5.0 to My``SQL 5.1, an upgrade to Eucalyptus 1.6.2, PHP/Python/Perl libraries for Amazon's cloud computing platform, integrating Puppet and Etckeeper, boothooks and user based configuration for UEC/EC2, and various QA improvements. For the Ubuntu Server 10.04 release the community also hopes to provide Asterisk integration, an Ubuntu Cluster Stack, Ubuntu Server Containers for LXC and Open``VZ, and integration of Amavisd-new, Spamassassin, and Clamav. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzkxNA Phoronix's Michael Larabel tells us that Canonical's Jos Boumans sent out an e-mail on the Ubuntu development mailing list to outline some of the new plans going forward for Ubuntu Server with the 10.04 release. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 2 came out just nine days ago, but Jos is hoping to incorporate these new Ubuntu Server changes prior to the Alpha 3 release that is scheduled for the end of February. To be worked on for Ubuntu Server 10.04 Alpha 3 is migrating from My``SQL 5.0 to My``SQL 5.1, an upgrade to Eucalyptus 1.6.2, PHP/Python/Perl libraries for Amazon's cloud computing platform, integrating Puppet and Etckeeper, boothooks and user based configuration for UEC/EC2, and various QA improvements. For the Ubuntu Server 10.04 release the community also hopes to provide Asterisk integration, an Ubuntu Cluster Stack, Ubuntu Server Containers for LXC and Open``VZ, and integration of Amavisd-new, Spamassassin, and Clamav.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzkxNA
Line 329: Line 338:
When Joe Panettieri helped launchp Works``With``U in 2008, he strongly believed Canonical needed to build strong server hardware partnerships with Dell, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. But as he heard more about Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) in 2009, he realized Ubuntu in 2010 may find a back door into the server market. He still think it’s important for Canonical to work with hardware markers on Ubuntu Server Edition. Pre-install deals and bundling deals would be great. Fingers crossed, maybe we’ll see some deals around the time of Ubuntu Server Edition 10.04’s scheduled April 2010 launch. But if those server hardware relationships don’t materialize he won’t press the panic button. The reason: He thinks Canonical’s cloud strategy — built around Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud — represents a back door into the server market. See more of Joe's reasoning at the link.
Line 331: Line 342:
=== Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader ===

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/01/interview-with-ubuntu-manual-project.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+d0od+(Omg!+Ubuntu!)
Line 337: Line 344:
The Linux Blog takes a look at the Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 edition. The author found themselves turning to their bookshelf when a re-install was needed, and found "Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 Edition" coming their aid. The author notes, "Normally by the time a book hits my shelf the material is outdated, not necessarily useless, just not the most up to date. This is an exception. The Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 Edition was updated with an Ubuntu 9.10 DVD and a “Free Upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04″ which I found out that if you buy the book before the end of 2010 you can get an upgrade kit in the mail."

In the author's opinion the book is packed full of information, 32 chapters and a hefty appendix. The author felt that the book was well written, and would be of interest to Linux users in general, and not just Ubuntu users. Looking a handy reference book for 2010? Check out the full article and see if this book would make great edition to your bookshelf.
Line 341: Line 352:
Joe Panettieri of Works With U takes a look at Canonical's relationship with both Google and Yahoo. He notes that it is a balancing act between the two, finding ways to financially aid the continuation of Ubuntu.

Panettieri when looking for the why this change is being made, sites Rick Spencer's (Canonical Desktop Manager) January 26th, announcement on the ubuntu-devel mailing list: "“I am pursuing this change because Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo! and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user’s default search across Firefox.”"

Canonical is under contract with Google to help in the development of Chrome OS. And now it has a financial arrangement with Yahoo to promote the Yahoo search in the Firefox search bar. How much the two will help is unknown. The following link has the Panettieri's full article as well as the link to Rick Spencer's announcement.
Line 345: Line 362:
Joe Panettieri of Works With U asks the question, "Are Ubuntu servers and desktops easy for enterprises to manage?" The answer appears to be "maybe". More IT specialists are getting on board, such as Bomgar, Kaseya, Likewise Software, Groundwork Open Source and Canonical itself.

Panettieri notes that Canonical offers Landscape - a remote management platform and Landscape Dedicated Server - and on-premise solution. He outlines 5 contributions to making enterprise management easier in his article.

 * Ubuntu Support
 * Kaseya and Kasey2
 * Likewise Software
 * Landscape
 * Bomgar

However, he also mentions that it's too soon to tell what effect it will have on acceptance. see the his article and links to those contributions at:
Line 349: Line 378:
Hearing that the next Ubuntu release will use Yahoo! as the default search engine in Firefox leaves me with a twinge of uneasiness. This bloggers misgiving -- and it's a small one -- is not so much with the decision as with why it was made. In itself, the decision is trivial enough. If you dislike Yahoo!, you can easily change the default by going to the search engine field in the upper right corner and clicking on the icon and choosing Manage Search Engines from the drop-down menu. The reason for the change is that Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo, and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user's default search across Firefox. Some people will object to the deal automatically, because, last year, Microsoft emerged as one of Yahoo's major partners. But that seems a relatively remote concern. What makes me uneasy is that the change is apparently being done solely for business reasons. This blogger understands that Canonical is searching for the road to profitability, but Foss isn't suppose to be like that, and neither is Ubuntu.
Line 353: Line 384:
Sola believes that the new iPad was received with mixed feelings by the IT savy community. The main problem is that the tablet is just not as revolutionary as many expected it would be. It keeps many of the limitations of the iPhone (no multitasking, tightly controlled app-store), and doesn’t provide impressive new features which could keep the balance. On the other hand, Ubuntu on the Adam can run any full-desktop or command line Linux/ARM software from the Ubuntu ARM repositories. This is a huge selection of software and includes powerful applications like OpenOffice, GIMP and others. These may not be optimized for the touchscreen interface but the Adam’s backside trackpad can help using them in tablet mode and in docked mode you will be able to use a USB mouse and keyboard just like with a netbook. Moreover, Ubuntu is completely free of limitations so you will be able install whatever software you want. Sola believes that the new iPad was received with mixed feelings by the IT savy community. The main problem is that the tablet is just not as revolutionary as many expected it would be. It keeps many of the limitations of the iPhone (no multitasking, tightly controlled app-store), and doesn’t provide impressive new features which could keep the balance. On the other hand, Ubuntu on the Adam can run any full-desktop or command line Linux/ARM software from the Ubuntu ARM repositories. This is a huge selection of software and includes powerful applications like Open``Office, GIMP and others. These may not be optimized for the touch screen interface but the Adam’s backside trackpad can help using them in tablet mode and in docked mode you will be able to use a USB mouse and keyboard just like with a netbook. Moreover, Ubuntu is completely free of limitations so you will be able install whatever software you want.
Line 377: Line 408:
 * Ubuntu Women, Ubuntu Games and all the usual goodness!  * Ubuntu Women interview with Jane Silber, Ubuntu Games and all the usual goodness!
Line 383: Line 414:

== Meeting Summaries: <MONTH> <YEAR> ==

## Team Reports are published in the UWN on the first Sunday of every month.
## Nathan Handler (nhandler) has a script to help format the Team Reports for
## the UWN. You can get this script by entering this command in a terminal:
## bzr branch lp:~uwn/+junk/team-reports
## Team Reports can be found at:
## https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TeamReports/<MONTH><YEAR>
## For example, the report for January 2009 is at:
## https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TeamReports/January2009		 Also, of note is the recent cross promotion efforts of Ubuntu User and Full Circle Magazine. To find out more information check out Ubuntu-user.com - http://ubuntu-user.com/Online/Blogs/Amber-Graner-You-in-Ubuntu/Ubuntu-User-and-Full-Circle-Magazine
Line 400: Line 421:
Line 408: Line 430:
Line 414: Line 437:
Line 420: Line 444:
Line 426: Line 451:
Line 432: Line 458:
Line 438: Line 465:
Line 444: Line 472:
Line 450: Line 479:
Line 458: Line 488:
Line 464: Line 495:
Line 470: Line 502:
Line 476: Line 509:
Line 482: Line 516:
Line 490: Line 525:
Line 496: Line 532:
Line 504: Line 541:
Line 512: Line 550:
Line 518: Line 557:
Line 526: Line 566:
Line 530: Line 571:

== Community Spotlight ==

## Specification Spotlight

## This section highlights an approved specification that is going to be implemented
## in Feisty. See the list at https://blueprints.launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/feisty
## In general, choose user visible features, as the audience are mostly end users.
## Also try and group specs together that belong together, such as network or X.

## Feature of the week

## Pick a feature, piece of software, or package that you'd like to feature.
## Give a brief description, whats so special about it, who works on it,
## where to find it/install it, etc.

## Team of the week

## Pick a team (a ubuntu team) that you'd like to feature.
## Give a brief description of the team, what they work on, what they've
## accomplished, who is involved, how to get involved/join, etc.
Line 592: Line 612:
Line 610: Line 629:
== UWN #: A sneak peek ==

## Articles that should have made it into this release but have been deferred should be listed here.
## Delete if unnecessary.
Line 645: Line 659:

## The following list is in chronological order.
Line 652: Line 664:
 * Your Name Here
Line 657: Line 668:
## Common acronyms  1. IRC - Internet Relay Chat.
 1. PPA - Personal Package Archive - http://help.launchpad.net/PPA
 1. QA - Quality Assurance.
 1. UEC - Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.
 1. 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.

Contents

Contents

  1. UWN Translations
  2. In This Issue
  3. General Community News
    1. Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day
    2. Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider
    3. Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3
    4. Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey
  4. Ubuntu Stats
    1. Bug Stats
    2. Translation Stats Karmic
    3. Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week
  5. LoCo News
    1. Ubuntu Honduras
  6. Launchpad News
    1. Back up old sources from PPA's
    2. Improved Bug Patch Notifications
    3. Getting your code into Launchpad
  7. The Planet
    1. Daniel Holbach: Ubuntu Developer Week Recap
    2. Steve George: Canonical Voices
    3. Elizabeth Krumbach: Ubuntu Community Learning Project Update
    4. Eric Hammond: Southern California Linux Expo
  8. In The Press
    1. Nouveau From 2.6.33 Prep'd For Ubuntu 10.04
    2. Updates Coming For Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS
    3. Yahoo Pays Canonical, Now They're The Ubuntu Default
  9. In The Blogosphere
    1. Does Ubuntu Need Server Hardware Partners?
    2. Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 Edition Review
    3. Ubuntu Could Profit From Both Yahoo, Google
    4. Ubuntu: Enterprise Management Getting Easier?
    5. The choices inside Ubuntu
    6. Apple’s iPad vs Notion Ink’s Adam tablet with Ubuntu: battle of two worlds
  10. In Other News
    1. NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source
    2. Full Circle Magazine #33
  11. Upcoming Meetings and Events
    1. Monday, February 1, 2010
      1. Security Team Catch-up
    2. Tuesday, February 2, 2010
      1. Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting
      2. Developer Membership Board
      3. Desktop Team Meeting
      4. Kernel Team Meeting
      5. LoCo Teams Meeting
      6. EMEA Membership Meeting
      7. Community Council Meeting
      8. Ubuntu Beginners Team Meeting
    3. Wednesday, February 3, 2010
      1. Server Team Meeting
      2. Cameroonian LoCoTeam monthly IRC meeting
      3. Foundation Team Meeting
      4. QA Team Meeting
      5. Edubuntu Meeting
    4. Thursday, February 4, 2010
      1. Ubuntu Java Meeting
      2. Ubuntu Translations Meeting
    5. Friday, February 5, 2010
      1. Lucid Weekly Release Meeting
    6. Saturday, February 6, 2010
      1. BugJam
      2. DC Loco IRC meeting
    7. Sunday, February 7, 2010
      1. Ubuntu UK LoCo Team Meeting
  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. Subscribe
  14. Archives and RSS Feed
  15. Additional Ubuntu News
  16. Conclusion
  17. Credits
  18. Glossary of Terms
  19. Ubuntu - Get Involved
  20. Feedback

newspaper-icon3.jpg 

WORK IN PROGRESS

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #178 for the week January 24th - January 30th, 2010. In this issue we cover: Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day, Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider, Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3, Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey, Ubuntu Honduras, Back up old sources from PPA's, Improved Bug Patch Notifications, Getting your code into Launchpad, Ubuntu Developer Week Recap, Canonical Voices, Ubuntu Community Learning Project Update, NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source, Full Circle Magazine #33, 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

  • Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day
  • Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider
  • Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3
  • Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Ubuntu Honduras
  • Back up old sources from PPA's
  • Improved Bug Patch Notifications
  • Getting your code into Launchpad
  • The Planet

  • In the Press & Blogosphere

  • NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source
  • Full Circle Magazine

  • Upcoming Meetings & Events

  • Updates & Security

General Community News

Contribute with Ubuntu One Bug Day

  • Date: Tuesday, 2 February 2010
  • Time: 1400-1600 UTC
  • Place: Join us in #ubuntuone on freenode in IRC

Each day Ubuntu One usually has at least one representative from the team dedicated to addressing subscriber questions, participating in IRC discussions, and responding to bugs. A few months ago, we decided that this would be enhanced by the entire team collaborating for a short period of time on open bugs and subscriber questions. We called it Bug Day.

The goal was to reduce the list of bugs in an undecided state. After a few months, we’ve found this to be very useful in addressing open issues and questions, identifying duplicates, elevating the overall knowledge of the entire team and sharing best practices.

Tuesday is the next Ubuntu One Bug Day, and this time we’re going to try something a little different. We would like invite our subscribers to join us. This will be an excellent opportunity to learn more about the Ubuntu One service, improve your skills and assist your fellow Ubuntu community members. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuOne/BugDays

http://voices.canonical.com/ubuntuone/?p=198

Lucid changes to Firefox default search provider

This announcement is to apprise you of two small but important changes coming to Firefox in Lucid.

We are changing the default search provider in Firefox to Yahoo! Note that this won't in any way effect the ability of a user to choose and use the search provider of their choice. It's literally 2 easily discoverable clicks to change this setting, a simple matter of switching to that search provider in the chrome by clicking on the icon and choosing the desired provider. Note also that Yahoo! does not share any personally identifiable or usage information.

Why?

We are pursuing this change because Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo! and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user's default search across Firefox.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2010-January/030065.html

Announcement: Ubuntu Server update for Lucid Alpha3

Last week the Lucid Alpha3 development phase started. So in following our Alpha2 announcement below is what’s on the horizon for Alpha3. Some of these are new blueprints for Alpha3 some are continued work from Alpha2.

Alpha3 Projects

Since the upcoming release is an LTS, a lot of this cycles work is centered around stability. Currently, we’re broadly targeting the following 3 areas: Software integration

  • Eucalyptus 1.6.2
  • Moving from MySQL 5.0 to 5.1
  • Provide libraries in PHP/Python/Perl for AWS services

Improving our UEC & EC2 experience

  • Integrating Puppet & Etckeeper

  • Provide boothooks & user based configuration

QA & testing

  • UEC tests
  • Automated server tests
  • Bug squashing
  • Apport hooks
  • Daily builds for server packages
  • The Server Papercuts project

There are also a few community driven specs which are targeted for the Lucid release:

  • Asterisk Integration
  • Ubuntu Cluster Stack
  • Ubuntu Server Containers (LXC, OpenVZ)
  • Integration of Amavisd-new, Spamassassin, and Clamav

The full list of blueprints related to these targets and our progress can be found on the server team wiki or on our work item tracker.

Feedback & Involvement

If you have any suggestions for AWS libraries in PHP/Perl/Python or are interested in packaging/contributing a library in another language, please let us know in the RFC thread

To make the most of our Server Papercuts project, please participate in the email discussion and nominate papercuts and/or volunteer to fix them!

To help us track down bugs and crashes better, we’re adding apport hooks to several key pieces of software. If you’d like to implement any of those hooks or contribute your own, please let us know in the blueprint.

The Ubuntu Cluster Stack spec has issued a call for testing and would love to hear about your experiences.

http://ubuntuserver.wordpress.com/2010/01/26/ubuntu-server-update-for-lucid-alpha3/

Interview With Ubuntu Manual Project Leader Ben Humphrey

The Ubuntu Manual Project has stirred up veritable carnival of publicity over the last few months, signifying a huge appetite for such a document within the community. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual Here is an interview with Benjamin Humphrey the project leader.

Let's go back to the start: Where did the idea of creating a "beginners manual” come from?

It all started halfway through last year. I had been helping users troubleshoot their problems on the Ubuntu Forums, and I also had a fair few of my own problems with Ubuntu when I started using it for the first time. I quickly learnt to resolve these, and, as time went by, I helped others too. I wrote a bit of Community Documentation, but felt the need to pass my knowledge on to more new users - so I started my blog with that intention. The blog articles then began to be exported into a PDF, which started to take shape as a manual. The project didn't become open for collaboration until late last year when I realized it would be more beneficial to have many people working on it as a team - that way we could cover more stuff and make a better document overall.

Who is the manual aimed at?

Our target audience is new computer users, and users coming from Windows/Mac, who otherwise wouldn't know much about Ubuntu or GNU/Linux in general.

What differentiates the Ubuntu Manual Project from the official documentation, official books, etc that already exist for newcomers?

Content wise, we go into less detail than the documentation and wiki. We aren't supposed to be an all-encompassing Ubuntu bible, like the Official Ubuntu Book. The manual is a free PDF download, it will hopefully be included in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS as well. It will be translated in over 30 languages, possibly available for purchase in print, and also will feature many localized screenshots.

It's more organized than the wiki documentation and easier to access than the forums. It will also be kept up to date with revisions every six months to coincide with the Ubuntu release cycle. We will be pointing readers in the direction of the in-built help, or the wiki help, or the forums if they need more detail on a specific topic.

What areas will the 'manual' be covering?

The manual follows a linear learning curve - it starts with the basics (like an introduction about Ubuntu's philosophy and history), then moves to explaining the desktop, default applications, getting online, installing software and so forth. It's split into two sections, the first half and the second half - we don't even mention the command line until the second half, the "advanced" section. The full table of contents can be found here.

What won’t the manual be going into?

A lot of stuff. As I said above, this isn't an Ubuntu bible - we're not going to have a guide for installing Nvidia drivers on a GeForce 7600GT graphics card, for example. It won't be that specific - we will give you a general idea on how to do something, show you the basics, and then point you in the right direction for more information.

So the big question is – will it be included in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx?

At the moment, we're not sure. I know many people would love to see it on the CD - our research proves that, and my talks with Ubuntu members/key contributors also shows there is a great deal of interest in the project. If everything goes to plan, I think it would be silly to not include a version in Lucid and make it available for download at www.ubuntu.com.

What's working against us is file size. With more than 50 pages, and a whole heap of images, we'll be hard pressed to get it down to a small enough size to squeeze onto the CD. Remember a CD can only hold 700mb - the Ubuntu devs have to fit a whole operating system and several applications onto that. I think we can get it down to a small enough size for it to be included as example content at least, but it's really too early to tell as we haven't even started inserting images yet. If we can't get it into Lucid, I will try to get it included it for 10.10. It will be much easier to convince the desktop team/docs team once we have something to show.

If it does make it into Lucid, where can users expect to find access to the manual? Desktop icon? Menu Entry, etc?

This hasn't been decided yet. While we would love to see it as an icon on the desktop, this just won't happen - the desktop team have a strict no icons on the desktop policy as a "design decision." It will most likely appear in the main application menu, or as an icon on the panel. It will hopefully also be available for download right next to the main download link for Ubuntu on the website.

And just to hedge my bets - How will users be able to ‘find’ the manual if it ISN'T included in Lucid? If it isn't included in Lucid, we will try to get it on the main Ubuntu website and most definitely in the main repository. We will probably also set up our own website with a download link, and of course it will be available on our Launchpad page as well.

Read the second part of the interview including screenshots of some possible cover designs, a possible change of name for the project and feedback already received about the project at the link below.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/01/interview-with-ubuntu-manual-project.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+d0od+%28Omg!+Ubuntu

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (76370) -170 # over last week
  • Critical (40) +4 # over last week
  • Unconfirmed (39396) -171 # 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 Karmic

  1. Spanish (10995) -157 over last week
  2. French (42268) -1140 over last week
  3. Brazilian Portuguese (44505) -232 over last week
  4. Swedish (66009) -410 over last week
  5. English (United Kingdom) (63270) -4517 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 Honduras

Ubuntu Honduras kicked off the 2010 year of activities with a team pizza party where they discussed upcoming events for 2010, and welcomed new members. The team set the agenda for the next 3 months which includes, an Ubuntu presentation at Universidad de San Pedro Sula, and a two hour talk at the T3 conference Escuela Internacional Sanpedrana. The team is also discussing a couple of workshops they hope to have. One for team members to help them gain experience and improve their knowledge of Ubuntu, and the second that they will have at area universities. Pictures of the pizza party are here: http://picasaweb.google.com/elvira.martinez38/PrimerPizzaBashSanPedroSula2010#

http://blog.diegoturcios.net16.net/?p=382

Launchpad News

Back up old sources from PPA's

We’ve been overwhelmed by the popularity of PPAs on Launchpad. In fact, according to our sysadmins, they are a little too popular and now our disks are full.

Full disks mean no more PPAs, and no more uploads to PPAs. We’d like to add some more disks, but we can’t actually do that soon enough for a bunch of complicated reasons.

Instead, we’ve decided that we’re going to remove all of the source files for any uploads that are:

  • in PPAs
  • not published, that is, deleted or superseded
  • have been not published for over seven days

Note that we already delete the binaries for such uploads.

We are going to delete these old files this Wednesday, January 27th. We’re really sorry that we are announcing it so close to the actual event — we know it’s a hassle.

If you want to keep any of these files, you are going to have to download them right now. Here’s how to do it.

  1. Go to your PPA’s web page on Launchpad and click on “View package details”.
  2. Change the filter to search for “Any status”. Click “Filter”.
  3. For each superseded or deleted upload with files you want to save, expand the upload and manually save all the files under the “Package files” heading.

If it’s a busy PPA like the example one, then there will be a lot of old versions to download. If you aren’t sure, you probably won’t need all of them. Ask on #launchpad on Freenode or the launchpad-users mailing list if you are unsure.

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/action-back-up-old-sources-from-ppas

Improved Bug Patch Notifications

There are a couple of new features related to patch handling in Launchpad bugs this month.

Building on the work we did in December to better distinguish patches in bug pages, we now use an icon to show if a bug has a patch attached in bug listings. Any search on Launchpad will now indicate if a bug has a patch attached. Look for the band aid icons, and you’ll know that a bug has a patch attached.

Also, bug mail notifications have been updated to distinguish patches from any other attachment. Now when a patch is added or removed from a bug the email notification will read “Patch added” or “Patch removed” to make spotting patches easier in email.

These are small improvements to our handling of patches to help patches become more easily spotted on Launchpad. Combined with our work on sorting bugs by a heat number, the Launchpad bugs app is doing more to let users know about the state and quality of a bug report.

http://blog.launchpad.net/bug-tracking/improved-bug-patch-notifications

Getting your code into Launchpad

Brad has written a great guide to writing and committing your first code for Launchpad.

Amongst other things, he has a useful bullet list that describes the steps between deciding you want to write code for Launchpad and actually seeing your work in place. http://bradcrittenden.net/post/358363191/getting-your-code-into-launchpad

  • The steps for fixing a bug or adding a new feature in Launchpad are:
    • Find a bug or feature request. The best place to look is on the milestone for the application of interest. (See the list for Launchpad Registry’s 10.02 milestone).
    • Research the problem.
    • Have a pre-implemention call.
    • Grab the latest branch of Launchpad (which we informally call ‘rocketfuel’). You can use ‘rocketfuel-get’ to update your copy of devel and ‘rocketfuel-branch’ to make a branch for your work. It’s best to create a new branch for each chunk of work you do.
    • Write your tests, write the code, repeat. (Read about TDD.)
    • Push your code to Launchpad (‘bzr push’).
    • Create a merge proposal (‘bzr send’).
    • Have a review, fix changes, repeat.
    • Run the tests. At a minimum you should run all the tests for the application you changed. For bugs you can do that with ‘bin/test -vvm lp.bugs’.
    • Submit to PQM.
    • QA the change when it lands on edge or staging.
    • See the change in production when the next release rolls out.
    • Bask in your awesomeness.

http://blog.launchpad.net/general/getting-your-code-into-launchpad

The Planet

Daniel Holbach: Ubuntu Developer Week Recap

UDW was another rocking success in terms of getting things done, and having fun doing it. So much was accomplished in such a short amount of time. Thanks to everyone who attended and contributed. You can find daily summaries of what happened at the following links.

If you missed any of the action, follow the above links to catch up.

http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/

Steve George: Canonical Voices

Want to know Canonical’s secret business plan? Or find out the latest features we’re working on in Ubuntu or UbuntuOne? Then hop over to the Canonical Voices site. It’s a blog aggregator that provides a single location for Canonical employees to blog and engage with the wider world.

Many Canonical employees develop Ubuntu directly making them members of the Ubuntu community so their views already appear on Ubuntu Planet. However, there are lots of Canonical employees who work in other areas, such as with OEM’s, or on UbuntuOne, in marketing or with business customers. Canonical voices brings together everyone in the company and provides a single place where you can see the breadth of their views, opinions and thoughts.

As an Open Source technology company we’re working within a variety of communities; sometimes that means an Open Source project, but it could mean a group of users or a set of companies. So it’s important for us to be transparent and to engage in a conversation – encouraging understanding and perhaps sparking interesting ideas. Canonical Voices provides a space for that.

http://slgeorge.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/canonical-conversations/

Elizabeth Krumbach: Ubuntu Community Learning Project Update

The UCLP is attempting to make professional education course materials, because we believe that education is one of the biggest barriers to getting new users and increasing existing users abilities. We are working to develop course material in 5 different segments, How to Use, Maintain, Develop, Spread and Teach Ubuntu. This material is structured in the form of classes that can be taught in real life classrooms, on IRC and/or via our Moodle site. We now have a documented Course Layout for in-classroom classes and Charles Profitt has been working on the Moodle side for online learning.

How do you contribute? First, join the team by swinging by to have a talk to us in #ubuntu-learning or engage us on the Ubuntu Community Learning Project mailing list (you’re also welcome to email me directly at lyz at ubuntu dot com, please do!). We currently have people writing courses in .odt, on the wiki, in bzr using AsciiDoc and in Moodle, so there are a number of ways to get involved now. We also need folks who are interested in doing peer review of the classes.

http://princessleia.com/journal/?p=2481

Eric Hammond: Southern California Linux Expo

  • February 19-21, 2010 at the Westin LAX

The 8th Southern California Linux Expo (aka SCaLE 8x) is a community organized, non-profit event. Those words and the incredibly cheap price might lead you to believe that it is not worth going to, but if this is your first time you’ll be amazed by the size, scope, and professionalism of the event with nearly a hundred exhibits and dozens of informative talks.

Even though you’re not paying hundreds of dollars for the conference fee, it’s still worth traveling to if you’re not in Los Angeles. If you are in LA, then you have no excuse.

Just like last year at SCaLE, I will be leading another “Try-It Lab” where we’ll help folks get started with using Amazon EC2 and Ubuntu Linux. More information about preparation will be posted on the SCaLE web site, so be sure to review it before attending if you’re interested in a hands-on, guided, workshop experience with EC2. The lab seats “sold out” quickly last year, so make sure you get in early.

Deal for readers of Alestic.com: When you register for SCaLE, use the code “ERIC” for 50% off of the listed price. If you sign up today, that gives you a full access pass for a ridiculously low $35. Prices may go up as the weekend gets closer.

http://alestic.com/2010/01/scale-ec2-tutorial?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+alestic-planetubuntu+%28Alestic.com+-+PlanetUbuntu%29

In The Press

Nouveau From 2.6.33 Prep'd For Ubuntu 10.04

Michael Larabel of Phoronix recalls that back in November he shared that Nouveau would finally be pulled into the Ubuntu 10.04 kernel as up to this point Canonical had employed the feature-limited and obfuscated open-source NVIDIA driver known as xf86-video-nv. The plans to switch over to Nouveau with kernel mode-setting support for Ubuntu 10.04 were great, but then in December the Nouveau driver got pulled into the Linux 2.6.33 kernel which complicated matters for Ubuntu as they already were set with using the Linux 2.6.32 kernel for the 10.04 LTS "Lucid Lynx" release. It looks like the Canonical kernel developers have decided to pull the Nouveau DRM from the 2.6.33-rc4 kernel, and the Nouveau KMS code will be pulled in for the next alpha release. More information at the link.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzkyNw

Updates Coming For Ubuntu Server 10.04 LTS

Phoronix's Michael Larabel tells us that Canonical's Jos Boumans sent out an e-mail on the Ubuntu development mailing list to outline some of the new plans going forward for Ubuntu Server with the 10.04 release. Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Alpha 2 came out just nine days ago, but Jos is hoping to incorporate these new Ubuntu Server changes prior to the Alpha 3 release that is scheduled for the end of February. To be worked on for Ubuntu Server 10.04 Alpha 3 is migrating from MySQL 5.0 to MySQL 5.1, an upgrade to Eucalyptus 1.6.2, PHP/Python/Perl libraries for Amazon's cloud computing platform, integrating Puppet and Etckeeper, boothooks and user based configuration for UEC/EC2, and various QA improvements. For the Ubuntu Server 10.04 release the community also hopes to provide Asterisk integration, an Ubuntu Cluster Stack, Ubuntu Server Containers for LXC and OpenVZ, and integration of Amavisd-new, Spamassassin, and Clamav.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzkxNA

Yahoo Pays Canonical, Now They're The Ubuntu Default

Michael Larabel of Phoronix reports that Canonical's Rick Spencer has written about two small changes that are happening to Mozilla Firefox in Ubuntu 10.04. The first is the default Ubuntu home-page with its search box in Firefox will now follow whatever the user has set as their default search engine in Firefox. The second change is that Canonical is changing the default search engine for Firefox in Ubuntu to Yahoo. Google has always been the default search engine in Ubuntu's Firefox, but now it's changing to Yahoo beginning with Lucid Lynx. Canonical is changing the default search path over to Yahoo as the two companies have negotiated a revenue sharing deal off the advertisements when using Yahoo search on Ubuntu. Users can still switch Firefox to using Google search with a couple clicks, but Canonical is hoping this change will yield them some additional revenue.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzkyNg

In The Blogosphere

Does Ubuntu Need Server Hardware Partners?

When Joe Panettieri helped launchp WorksWithU in 2008, he strongly believed Canonical needed to build strong server hardware partnerships with Dell, IBM and Hewlett-Packard. But as he heard more about Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) in 2009, he realized Ubuntu in 2010 may find a back door into the server market. He still think it’s important for Canonical to work with hardware markers on Ubuntu Server Edition. Pre-install deals and bundling deals would be great. Fingers crossed, maybe we’ll see some deals around the time of Ubuntu Server Edition 10.04’s scheduled April 2010 launch. But if those server hardware relationships don’t materialize he won’t press the panic button. The reason: He thinks Canonical’s cloud strategy — built around Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud — represents a back door into the server market. See more of Joe's reasoning at the link.

http://www.workswithu.com/2010/01/25/does-ubuntu-need-server-hardware-partners/

Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 Edition Review

The Linux Blog takes a look at the Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 edition. The author found themselves turning to their bookshelf when a re-install was needed, and found "Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 Edition" coming their aid. The author notes, "Normally by the time a book hits my shelf the material is outdated, not necessarily useless, just not the most up to date. This is an exception. The Ubuntu Unleashed 2010 Edition was updated with an Ubuntu 9.10 DVD and a “Free Upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04″ which I found out that if you buy the book before the end of 2010 you can get an upgrade kit in the mail."

In the author's opinion the book is packed full of information, 32 chapters and a hefty appendix. The author felt that the book was well written, and would be of interest to Linux users in general, and not just Ubuntu users. Looking a handy reference book for 2010? Check out the full article and see if this book would make great edition to your bookshelf.

http://www.thelinuxblog.com/ubuntu-unleased-2010-edition-revie/

Ubuntu Could Profit From Both Yahoo, Google

Joe Panettieri of Works With U takes a look at Canonical's relationship with both Google and Yahoo. He notes that it is a balancing act between the two, finding ways to financially aid the continuation of Ubuntu.

Panettieri when looking for the why this change is being made, sites Rick Spencer's (Canonical Desktop Manager) January 26th, announcement on the ubuntu-devel mailing list: "“I am pursuing this change because Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo! and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user’s default search across Firefox.”"

Canonical is under contract with Google to help in the development of Chrome OS. And now it has a financial arrangement with Yahoo to promote the Yahoo search in the Firefox search bar. How much the two will help is unknown. The following link has the Panettieri's full article as well as the link to Rick Spencer's announcement.

http://www.workswithu.com/2010/01/26/ubuntu-could-profit-from-both-yahoo-google/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+WorksWithU+(Works+With+U)

Ubuntu: Enterprise Management Getting Easier?

Joe Panettieri of Works With U asks the question, "Are Ubuntu servers and desktops easy for enterprises to manage?" The answer appears to be "maybe". More IT specialists are getting on board, such as Bomgar, Kaseya, Likewise Software, Groundwork Open Source and Canonical itself.

Panettieri notes that Canonical offers Landscape - a remote management platform and Landscape Dedicated Server - and on-premise solution. He outlines 5 contributions to making enterprise management easier in his article.

  • Ubuntu Support
  • Kaseya and Kasey2
  • Likewise Software
  • Landscape
  • Bomgar

However, he also mentions that it's too soon to tell what effect it will have on acceptance. see the his article and links to those contributions at:

http://www.workswithu.com/2010/01/24/ubuntu-enterprise-management-getting-easier/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+WorksWithU+(Works+With+U)

The choices inside Ubuntu

Hearing that the next Ubuntu release will use Yahoo! as the default search engine in Firefox leaves me with a twinge of uneasiness. This bloggers misgiving -- and it's a small one -- is not so much with the decision as with why it was made. In itself, the decision is trivial enough. If you dislike Yahoo!, you can easily change the default by going to the search engine field in the upper right corner and clicking on the icon and choosing Manage Search Engines from the drop-down menu. The reason for the change is that Canonical has negotiated a revenue sharing deal with Yahoo, and this revenue will help Canonical to provide developers and resources to continue the open development of Ubuntu and the Ubuntu Platform. This change will help provide these resources as well as continuing to respect our user's default search across Firefox. Some people will object to the deal automatically, because, last year, Microsoft emerged as one of Yahoo's major partners. But that seems a relatively remote concern. What makes me uneasy is that the change is apparently being done solely for business reasons. This blogger understands that Canonical is searching for the road to profitability, but Foss isn't suppose to be like that, and neither is Ubuntu.

http://www.linux-magazine.com/Online/Blogs/Off-the-Beat-Bruce-Byfield-s-Blog/The-choices-inside-Ubuntu

Apple’s iPad vs Notion Ink’s Adam tablet with Ubuntu: battle of two worlds

Sola believes that the new iPad was received with mixed feelings by the IT savy community. The main problem is that the tablet is just not as revolutionary as many expected it would be. It keeps many of the limitations of the iPhone (no multitasking, tightly controlled app-store), and doesn’t provide impressive new features which could keep the balance. On the other hand, Ubuntu on the Adam can run any full-desktop or command line Linux/ARM software from the Ubuntu ARM repositories. This is a huge selection of software and includes powerful applications like OpenOffice, GIMP and others. These may not be optimized for the touch screen interface but the Adam’s backside trackpad can help using them in tablet mode and in docked mode you will be able to use a USB mouse and keyboard just like with a netbook. Moreover, Ubuntu is completely free of limitations so you will be able install whatever software you want.

http://soltesza.wordpress.com/2010/01/28/apples-ipad-vs-notion-inks-adam-tablet-with-ubuntu-battle-of-two-worlds/

In Other News

NZ school ditches Microsoft and goes totally open source

A New Zealand high school running entirely on open source software has slashed its server requirements by a factor of almost 50, despite a government deal mandating the use of Microsoft software in all schools. Albany Senior High School in the northern suburbs of Auckland has been running an entirely open source infrastructure since it opened in 2009. The 230-pupil school was set up to follow open learning principles, offering large "learning commons" areas where multiple classes interact rather than conventional classrooms and setting aside one day each week for pupils to work on self-driven research projects. The implementation uses Ubuntu on the desktop.

http://www.cio.com.au/article/333686/nz_school_ditches_microsoft_goes_totally_open_source

Full Circle Magazine #33

Full Circle Magazine, Issue #33 is now available.

In this Issue:

  • Command and Conquer.
  • How-To : Program in Python - Part 7, Create A Media Center with a Revo, Ubuntu and Boxee, and The Perfect Server - Part 3.
  • My Story - Ubuntu in Public Education, and Why I Use Linux.
  • Review - Exaile.
  • MOTU Interview - Didier Roche.
  • Top 5 - Synchronization Clients.
  • Ubuntu Women interview with Jane Silber, Ubuntu Games and all the usual goodness!

Get it while it's hot: http://fullcirclemagazine.org/

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2010-January/000851.html

Also, of note is the recent cross promotion efforts of Ubuntu User and Full Circle Magazine. To find out more information check out Ubuntu-user.com - http://ubuntu-user.com/Online/Blogs/Amber-Graner-You-in-Ubuntu/Ubuntu-User-and-Full-Circle-Magazine

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, February 1, 2010

Security Team Catch-up

  • Start: 18:00 UTC
  • End: 18:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: nothing formal, just a weekly catch-up.

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting

Developer Membership Board

  • Start: 15:00 UTC
  • End: 16:00 UTC
  • Location: None listed as of publication
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

Desktop Team Meeting

Kernel Team Meeting

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

LoCo Teams Meeting

  • Start: 18:00 UTC
  • End: 19:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-locoteams
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

EMEA Membership Meeting

Community Council Meeting

Ubuntu Beginners Team Meeting

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Server Team Meeting

Cameroonian LoCoTeam monthly IRC meeting

Foundation Team Meeting

  • Start: 16:00 UTC
  • End: 17:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

QA Team Meeting

Edubuntu Meeting

Thursday, February 4, 2010

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

Friday, February 5, 2010

Lucid Weekly Release Meeting

Saturday, February 6, 2010

BugJam

  • Start: 21:00 UTC
  • End: 23:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc and #ubuntu-bugs
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

DC Loco IRC meeting

  • Start: 23:00 UTC
  • End: 24:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc
  • Agenda: None listed as of publication

Sunday, February 7, 2010

Ubuntu UK LoCo Team Meeting

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

Subscribe

Get your copy of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter delivered each week to you via email at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-news

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
  • Dave Bush
  • Craig A. Eddy
  • Amber Graner
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

  1. IRC - Internet Relay Chat.

  2. PPA - Personal Package Archive - http://help.launchpad.net/PPA

  3. QA - Quality Assurance.
  4. UEC - Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.
  5. UTC - Coordinated Universal Time: UTC replaced GMT as the basis for the main reference time scale or civil time in various regions on January 1, 1972.

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

Ubuntu - Get Involved

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

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Weekly News Team. If you have a story idea or suggestions for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/Ubuntu-news-team and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page. If you have any technical support questions, please send them to ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com.

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/Issue178 (last edited 2010-01-31 23:11:17 by ip68-0-180-217)