Issue200

Contents

Contents

  1. Welcome to the 200th Issue of UWN
  2. In This Issue
  3. History
  4. Retrospect
  5. Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Editors and Staff - Past and Present
  6. 200th Issue Interviews
  7. Joining the UWN staff
  8. General Community News
    1. Maverick Alpha 2 released
    2. Ubuntu Developer Week is back!
    3. Ubuntu User Days - Scheduled for July 10-11, 2010
    4. Welcome Alessandro Ghersi (lex79) to kubuntu-dev
    5. Translations Advocacy
    6. Help wanted: Testing programs that use the notification area
    7. ubuntu-jobs@lists.ubuntu.com mailing list
  9. Ubuntu Stats
    1. Bug Stats
    2. Translation Stats Lucid
    3. Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week
  10. LoCo News
    1. loco.ubuntu.com meeting
  11. Launchpad News
    1. UPDATED: Launchpad read-only 23.00 UTC 6th July
  12. The Planet
    1. Jorge Castro: Cleansweep Updates
    2. Rubén Romero: Drupal usage within the Ubuntu Community
    3. Colin Watson: GRUB 2: With luck...
    4. Jorge Castro: Application Menu status update for 2 July
    5. Brett Alton: Local School Board and Ubuntu
    6. Jonathan Jesse: Review of Kubuntu Netbook – Maverick Alpha 2
    7. Randall Ross: Dropping the "L" Word
    8. Dustin Kirkland: Creating Ubuntu Server Disk Images using vmbuilder
  13. In The Press
    1. Ubuntu Nearing X Server Not Running as Root
    2. Debian vs. Ubuntu: Contrasting Philosophies
    3. Devs Manage to Get Ubuntu on HTC HD2
  14. In The Blogosphere
    1. Discussing Unity in Linux Format
    2. Virtualization on the Ubuntu Desktop: An Overview
    3. The One Stop Shop For Ubuntu Customization
    4. Talking to Oracle About the MySQL Community
    5. OMG! Interviews: Alex Chiang, Canonical OEM Team Member
    6. Accessing Apps Has Never Looke So Good (UNITY)
  15. In Other News
    1. QBzr 0.19 Beta 2 Released
    2. Take 60 Seconds With Stuart Langridge
    3. 2010 ARRL Field Day Running Ubuntu
    4. TurnKey Linux Beta Launches Byobu by Default at Login
    5. Ohio LinuxFest Call For Presentations Extended
    6. Free *software* training, *free* software training, or just GNOME Training!
  16. Featured Podcasts
    1. Full Circle Podcast #9: Playing a Unicycle and the Trombone
    2. At Home With Jono Bacon
  17. Ubuntu Development Team Weekly Meeting Minutes Links
  18. Monthly Team Reports: June 2010
    1. Ubuntu Governance
      1. Developer Membership Board
      2. IRC Council
      3. Technical Board
    2. Ubuntu Development Teams
      1. Xubuntu Team
        1. Bug Triage
        2. Packaging, Development, & Testing
        3. Website & Marketing
        4. Documentation
    3. Ubuntu LoCo Teams
      1. Catalan Team
      2. French Team
      3. Ubuntu Ireland
      4. Ubuntu Israel
      5. Japanese Team
      6. Romanian Team
      7. Ubuntu United Kingdom LoCo Team
      8. United States Teams
        1. US Teams Project
        2. Ubuntu California
        3. Ubuntu Chicago LoCo Team
        4. Iowa Team
        5. New York State Team
        6. Pennsylvania Team
    4. Additional Ubuntu Teams
      1. Ubuntu Beginners Team
      2. Ubuntu Classroom Team
      3. Ubuntu Women Team
  19. Upcoming Meetings and Events
    1. Monday, July 05, 2010
      1. Security Team Catch-up
    2. Tuesday July 06, 2010
      1. Asia - Oceania RMB Meeting
      2. Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting
      3. Developer Membership Board
      4. Desktop Team Meeting
      5. Kernel Team Meeting
      6. LoCo Teams Meeting
      7. EMEA Membership Meeting
      8. Community Council Meeting
    3. Wednesday, July 07, 2010
      1. Weekly Ubuntu Foundations team meeting
      2. Jono Bacon @ Home Videocast : Various Topics and Q+A
      3. Edubuntu Meeting
    4. Thursday, July 08, 2010
      1. Ayatana UX Team meeting
      2. Ubuntu Women Project Meeting
      3. LoCo Directory Meeting
    5. Friday, July 09, 2010
      1. Maverick Weekly Release Meeting
    6. Saturday, July 10, 2010
      1. BugJam
      2. Ubuntu IRC Council Meeting
    7. Sunday, July 11, 2010
      1. Ubuntu Forums Unanswered Posts Team Meeting
  20. Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10, and 10.04
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
    3. Ubuntu 8.10 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 9.04 Updates
    5. Ubuntu 9.10 Updates
    6. Ubuntu 10.04 Updates
  21. UWN Translations
  22. Subscribe
  23. Archives and RSS Feed
  24. Additional Ubuntu News
  25. Conclusion
  26. Credits
  27. Glossary of Terms
  28. Ubuntu - Get Involved
  29. Feedback

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Welcome to the 200th Issue of UWN

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 200 for the week June 27 - July 3rd, 2010.

The purpose of this newsletter is to let everyone know what is happening in all the different corners of the vast Ubuntu community. It's a snapshot of the Ubuntu Community one week at a time.

The first issue was unleashed June 4th, 2006, and a little over four (4) years and seven (7) releases later UWN and the Ubuntu Community continues to mature and grow together.

The Ubuntu News Team, which includes both UWN and Fridge, continues to report what happens, effects, and relates to the the vast and ever growing Ubuntu community, including information from the different teams, LoCos, forums, mailing lists, IRC universe, and newsworthy press coverage and blogs. A very important and helpful contribution many LoCo Teams continue to do is spread the news by translating UWN.

It has undoubtedly been a fun and rewarding experience for all involved!

We would like to thank all our readers for your continued support and feedback and encourage you to keep sending the Ubuntu News Team your comments and corrections (yes, we do make mistakes!).

with gratitude, appreciation, and excitment!

--The Ubuntu News Team

In This Issue

  • Welcome to the 200th Issue of UWN
  • History
  • Retrospect
  • Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Editors and Staff - Past and Present
  • 200th Issue Interviews
  • Joining the UWN staff
  • Maverick Alpha 2 released
  • Ubuntu Developer Week is back!
  • Ubuntu User Days - Scheduled for July 10-11, 2010
  • Welcome Alessandro Ghersi (lex79) to kubuntu-dev
  • Translations Advocacy
  • Help wanted: Testing programs that use the notification area
  • ubuntu-jobs@lists.ubuntu.com mailing list

  • Ubuntu Stats
  • loco.ubuntu.com meeting
  • UPDATED: Launchpad read-only 23.00 UTC 6th July
  • Cleansweep Updates
  • Drupal usage within the Ubuntu Community
  • GRUB 2: With luck...
  • Application Menu status update for 2 July
  • Local School Board and Ubuntu
  • Review of Kubuntu Netbook – Maverick Alpha 2
  • Dropping the "L" Word
  • Creating Ubuntu Server Disk Images using vmbuilder
  • In The Press
  • In The Blogosphere
  • QBzr 0.19 Beta 2 Released
  • Take 60 Seconds With Stuart Langridge
  • 2010 ARRL Field Day Running Ubuntu
  • TurnKey Linux Beta Launches Byobu by Default at Login

  • Ohio LinuxFest Call For Presentations Extended

  • Free *software* training, *free* software training, or just GNOME Training!
  • Featured Podcasts
  • Ubuntu Development Team Weekly Meeting Minutes Links
  • Monthly Team Reports: June 2010
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security

History

Before the UWN, there were several other publications that kept the community up to date. Benjamin Mako Hill published the first Ubuntu Traffic 27 August 2004. Ubuntu Traffic was modeled after Kernel Traffic, and even used the same software. It was focused on summaries of major wiki pages, IRC, and mailing list. Mako published it weekly by himself, usually taking about a day to do. Every message sent to every Ubuntu list was read, but soon became very difficult as the community grew. The last issue of Ubuntu Traffic was released 04 February 2005.

Soon, different teams took it on themselves to improve communication internally and to communicate better with the rest of the project and followed the newsletter model to do that. Vincent Untz published the first Ubuntu Desktop Newsletter in December 2005, followed by the Ubuntu Documentation Newsletter, Kubuntu Newsletter, and Edubuntu Newsletter.

Creating separate newsletters became unwieldy quickly. All the newsletters were brought back under one roof when Matt Galvin released the first issue of the UWN on 04 June 2006.

The UWN archives can be found at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Archive

Retrospect

Issue #100 high points: Contributors - Nick Ali, John Crawford, Martin Albisetti, Craig A. Eddy, Isabelle Duchatelle

  • New Ubuntu QA team
  • Call for nominations for Tech Board
  • Alpha 3 Soft Freeze
  • Next Ubuntu Developer Summit

Issue #125 high points: Contributors - Nick Ali, John Crawford, Craig A. Eddy, Dave Bush, Kenny McHenry, Liraz Siri

  • Jaunty Alpha 3 released
  • Ubuntu Developer Week
  • Fridge Mockups
  • Technical Board Run off
  • UDS Jaunty Proceedings
  • Awards: Ubuntu Forums, Ubuntu, and Canonical

Issue #150 high points: Contributors - John Crawford, Craig A. Eddy, Dave Bush, Nathan Handler, Liraz Siri

  • Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Desktop Edition reaches end-of-life
  • Community Council: Nominations
  • MOTU Council
  • Call for testing: KVM in Jaunty proposed

Issue #175 high points: Contributors - John Crawford, Craig A. Eddy, Dave Bush, Amber Graner, Liraz Siri

  • Edubuntu bug day on Tuesday, January 12th
  • 2nd call for votes: Ubuntu Developer Membership Board Election
  • Simplified Main Inclusion Request process
  • New MOTU members
  • Ubuntu Manual Project
  • 2010: Your Year for Ubuntu Membership

Highlights for Issues 1, 25, 50, and 75 can be found at:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue100

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Editors and Staff - Past and Present

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter has been brought to you by: (in order of appearance)

Silviu Bojica, Rocco Stanzione, Jeff Schering, Jonathan Riddell, Matt Galvin, Jerome Gotangco, Christian Bjälevik, John Dong, Jenda Vancura, ZM Chen, Brian Burger, Matt Zimmerman, Rich Johnson, Daniel T. Chen, Paul Sladen, Matthew Revell, Richard Johnson, Corey Burger, Jordan Mantha, Eldo Varghese, John Little, Christian Reis, Henrik Omma, Melissa Draper, Hubert Figuiere, Paul O'Malley, Jenda Vancura, Paul Sladen, Eldo Varghese, Christian Reis, Szilveszter Farkas, Brandon Holtsclaw, Jerome S. Gotangco, Jenda Vancura, Joey Stanford, Matthew Walster, Alexandre Vassalotti, Michael Vogt, Paul O'Malley, David Symons, Pete Savage, "towsonu2003", Fabian Rodriguez, William Grant, Ryan Paul, Jorge O. Castro, Lotusleaf, Jenda Vančura, Matthew Walster, Tony Yarusso, Matty Janssen, Cody Somerville, Toby Smithe, Martin Albisetti, Freddy Martinez, Isabelle Duchatelle, Rj Ian S. Sevilla, Tony Yarusso, RJ Marsan, Mariano Mara, Markus Wimmer, Dan Buch, Nick Ali, Audrey Deutschmann, Gabriele Monti, John Crawford, Dawid van Wyngaard, Lionel Porcheron, Craig A. Eddy, Ruben - Hubuntu, Arlan Vennefron, Dave Bush, Liraz Siri, Kenny McHenry, Dan Trevino, Jeff Martin, Scott Gwin, Sayak Banerjee, Nathan Handler, Daniel Holbach, Amber Graner, Chris Johnston, Penelope Stowe, Daniel Caleb, Mike Holstein, Mackenzie Morgan, Jonathan Carter, Alan Pope, Nigel Babu, and many others!

200th Issue Interviews

For the 200th Issue of UWN, Amber Graner interviews Mark Shuttleworth, Jane Silber, Joey Stanford, and Jorge Castro for their comments, reflections, and suggestions for and about the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

Amber asks each person the following questions:

  • Do you read the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter? If yes, for how long? If no, what can we, the Ubuntu News Team do to improve it so that you would find it beneficial to read?
  • What section do you read first and why?
  • What service does it provide to you personally? What benefit do you see that it provides to Ubuntu? Canonical? Other areas of FOSS?
  • Since this is the 200th Issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, in your opinion what has been the biggest change in it's evolution to what it is today that you have seen? What as been the most surprising?
  • If you could improve one area of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter what section would it be and why?
  • The Ubuntu News Team is very much a work in progress as we are always looking for ways to improve the service we provide to all readers. What would you like to see the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter evolve into over the next 100 Issues (roughly 4 cycles)?
  • When the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter was first started by Benjamin "Mako" Hill in 2004 under the name Ubuntu Traffic it was a Canonical driven project for the Community. Over time it it has evolved to a Community driven project. Do you see other Canonical initiated projects going via this route? If so, why is this important and can you hint as to which projects you might like to see this happen with?
  • Is there anything else you would like to tell the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter readers and staff?

Mark and Jane's interviews were via email as Joey, and Jorge's were recorded. So if you're curious about the answers the go to:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue200/Interviews

Joining the UWN staff

As Ubuntu continues grow, so does the News Team and the number of related articles, blogs, teams, mailing lists, podcasts, etc., that the UWN staff reports. These are exciting and evolving times for Ubuntu and our community, and the news team is always ready to welcome new contributors and contributions. Whether you see an article you think would fit nicely with UWN one week or you want to help each week there are several ways you can contribute by joining the Ubuntu News Team. Some ways to join or contribute are listed below.

General Community News

Maverick Alpha 2 released

Welcome to Maverick Meerkat Alpha 2, which will in time become Ubuntu 10.10. Pre-releases of Maverick are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.

Alpha 2 is the second in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Maverick development cycle. The Alpha images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Maverick. You can download it here:

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

Alpha 2 includes a number of software updates that are ready for wider testing. Please refer to http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/maverick/alpha2 for information on changes in Ubuntu.

For more information on the Alpha 2 Release of Maverick Meerkat go to:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2010-July/000731.html

Ubuntu Developer Week is back!

Ubuntu Developer Week is back again, which means five days of action-packed IRC sessions where you learn more about hacking on Ubuntu, developing Ubuntu and how to interact with other projects.

We’ll have a fantastic time from July 12th 2010 to July 16th 2010, great speakers, interesting sessions, lots of good questions and great people who get to know each other.

Our sessions cover:

  • Getting involved with Ubuntu development, becoming a Kubuntu Ninja, Authoring Upstart jobs, Working With Translations, Having fun with Packaging QA
  • How Daily Builds work, Operation Cleansweep, Setting up a validation dashboard, Working with Merge Proposals, Working with Django, Adopting an Upstream, Forwarding Bugs and Patches Upstream
  • How to work with Debian, Ubuntu Server, Xubuntu and Edubuntu goodness, Kernel Triage
  • Widgetcraft, QT Quick, QML
  • Desktop goodness, Application Indicators, Rocking Papercuts
  • Lots of FUN

Please help spread the news, this will be an awesome opportunity to learn more and get involved.

For more information about Ubuntu Developer Week and how you can participate go to:

http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=699

Ubuntu User Days - Scheduled for July 10-11, 2010

Just a reminder that Ubuntu User Days will be held on July 10-11, 2010.

The Ubuntu User Days wiki page describes Ubuntu User Days as:

User Days was created to be a set of courses offered during a one day period to teach the beginning or intermediate Ubuntu user the basics to get them started with Ubuntu. User Days is a series of online courses where you can:

  • learn how to install Ubuntu
  • find equivalent programs in Ubuntu
  • learn how to get help
  • learn the basics of how to use Ubuntu
  • learn how to get involved in the community

This is the second Ubuntu User Days Events to take place and is growing in popularity.

Want to know how you can participate in Ubuntu User days then go to:

http://www.ubuntu-user.com/Online/Blogs/Amber-Graner-You-in-Ubuntu/Ubuntu-User-Days-Scheduled-for-July-10-11-2010

Welcome Alessandro Ghersi (lex79) to kubuntu-dev

The Kubuntu developers have approved, 5 votes to zero, Alessandro's application to join kubuntu-dev. Please join me in welcoming him to the team and encouraging him to keep up the great work he's doing.

This also (should) make Alessandro a member of ubuntu-dev, although it appears there is a bit of adjustment in Launchpad needed to make this formally true. Alessandro is the first member of kubuntu-dev who had not become a MOTU first (I understand he does also plan to take this step).

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2010-June/030963.html

Translations Advocacy

David Planella of the Ubuntu Community Team, discusses why translation efforts in Ubuntu are important. David explains, "Translations are a key part of the Ubuntu community, with deep roots in our Ubuntu philosophy. For many users having an operating system in their language is the only way they’ll be able to use it (*), so it is just natural that we support this and provide tools to lower the barrier to community translations. Others might be proficient in English and be able to use Ubuntu without natural language support, but still choose to work with it in their language."

David says, "I think this work is just awesome, and I think everyone should get to know about this effort, which does not only enable more people to use Ubuntu, but also makes possible such other amazing stories as keeping an indigenous language alive in our digital age orbeing the only operating system available in a particular language."

David goes on to encourage translators "to blog more on the Planet, tweet/dent about what you and your team is doing and basically spread the word. Translation jams, translation status, areas where help is needed, what you like or don’t like about working with Launchpad Translations, or even explaining a bit more about your language… there is a whole range of interesting topics to talk about."

To find out more about how you can help with translations, why it's important and even participate in an experiment to help you get some hands on understanding of why translations efforts are important got to:

http://davidplanella.wordpress.com/2010/06/30/translations-advocacy/

Help wanted: Testing programs that use the notification area

Matthew Paul Thomas disscusses testing the notification area and where users can help.

He states, "Two months ago I wrote about how Ubuntu is phasing out the notification area.

An important part of this work is surveying Ubuntu applications that use the notification area, working out what they should do instead, and fixing them."

Matthew asks, "So if you have a few spare minutes, please choose one of the programs on the list, install it from Ubuntu Software Center, study how it uses and mentions the notification area, and add your notes to the wiki page."

To find out more about how and where your help is needed in this testing process go to:

http://design.canonical.com/2010/06/help-wanted-notification-area/

ubuntu-jobs@lists.ubuntu.com mailing list

Recently https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-jobs was created to inform the community about Ubuntu-related jobs from Canonical, but also as a way for employers seeking an Ubuntu specialist . Please note that this is an announce-only list.

An explanatory post from the Canonical HR department:

  • Dear Friends,

  • At Canonical we pride ourselves in our determination to be the best not only in the products and software we produce but with the people who make this company great and the way we reach out to new talent.

  • Most companies only let you know when they have jobs available on a careers web site and you never hear from them at any other time. We on the other hand, a growing company in an ever expanding community, want to try to create something different and believe that with your help we can.

  • We are launching a mailing list with the aim of keeping you up to date with new roles as they arise at Canonical and possibly other Ubuntu related roles. Periodically there will be career profiles and articles we feel may be of value to you in your quest for your ideal job.

  • To join the list go to: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-jobs

  • We recognize that our company is incredibly unique and has a way of doing things what will appeal to many, we also believe our employee brand has the potential to be one of the best in the world and this is just one way to tell you about it.

  • We hope that by signing up to this mailing list you'll have the opportunity to get to know us in a way that is not usually available to someone outside the business.

  • This is an announce only mailing list, as always if you are interested in a career at Canonical please check out our jobs at: http://webapps.ubuntu.com/employment/

  • We look forward to you joining our mailing list and hope that you find it a useful way of staying in touch with us.

To see the original mailing list announcement go to:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-jobs/2010-July/000001.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (77331) +382 over last week
  • Critical (32) +3 over last week
  • Unconfirmed (36885) -304 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 Lucid

  1. English (United Kingdom) (0) +/-0 over last week
  2. Spanish (9126) -350 over last week
  3. Brazilian Portuguese (34822) -102 over last week
  4. French (38265) +/-0 over last week
  5. German (54320) -130 over last week

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/

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

loco.ubuntu.com meeting

If you haven’t seen loco.ubuntu.com yet, then go to: http://loco.ubuntu.com .

It’s what we call the LoCo Directory and where more and more data of our Local Community teams goes. In the beginning we started with just a simple list of LoCo teams and additional data they can put there. After some time we added the functionality to put events in there too. It’s awesome and the work the whole team put into it is just amazing. The good thing is that we all hang out in #ubuntu-locoteams, do code reviews together and learn from each other. It’s a fantastic project.

To continue the great story and plan our next steps a bit, we’ll meet in #ubuntu-meeting (irc.freenode.net) on July 8th, 14:00 UTC.

Topics we’d like to talk about:

If you know a bit about Django, Python, Web development or are keen to learn about it and be part of a fantastic project that powers a great and fantastic part of our community, be there and talk to us.

(Also if you microblog about this and other LoCo stuff, use the #locoteams hashtag.)

For more information go to:

http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=714

Launchpad News

UPDATED: Launchpad read-only 23.00 UTC 6th July

This replaces the previously announced period of unavailability for the 1st of July.

Launchpad’s web interface will be read-only, with other aspects offline, for around 90 minutes from 23.00 UTC on the 6th of July 2010.

This is to allow for the release of the latest Launchpad code.

Starts: 23.00 UTC 6th July 2010 Expected back online: 00.30 UTC 7th July 2010

For more information go to:

http://blog.launchpad.net/notifications/launchpad-read-only-23-00-utc-1st-july

The Planet

Jorge Castro: Cleansweep Updates

Here are the stats for the last week’s worth of patch review, as part of Operation Cleansweep:

  • Total bugs with patches: 2243 (-27)
  • Reviewed patches: 321 (+11)

  • Bugs with ‘patch-needswork’: 82 (+2)
  • Bugs with ‘patch-forwarded-upstream’: 123 (+4)
  • Bugs with ‘patch-forwarded-debian’: 38 (+5)
  • Bugs with ‘indicator-application’: 43 (-1)
  • Bugs with ‘patch-accepted-upstream’: 46 (-2)
  • Bugs with ‘patch-accepted-debian’: 13 (+1)
  • Bugs with ‘patch-rejected-upstream’: 12 (+1)
  • Bugs with ‘patch-rejected-debian’: 1 (0)

http://castrojo.tumblr.com/post/745744996/cleansweep-updates

Rubén Romero: Drupal usage within the Ubuntu Community

Rubén has submitted a session to Drupalcon Copenhagen 2010 which will focus on how the Ubuntu Community uses Drupal in nearly all areas of web presence from it's main website to LoCo teams as well as marketing sites such as SpreadUbuntu.

Rubén asks the community for help in making his session great. If you have deployed Drupal on Ubuntu or set up a Drupal community site then please take a moment to give Rubén feedback on your experience with Drupal.

To find out more information about Rubén's session and how you can give feedback go to:

http://huayra.wordpress.com/2010/07/03/drupal-usage-within-the-ubuntu-community/

Colin Watson: GRUB 2: With luck...

Colin uploaded a new GRUB 2 package that uses more reliable disk identification when being configured. It also provides simplified debconf questions, avoiding a situation where a user may have accidentally chosen an option which could render a Windows system unbootable.

Other improvements in this version include further documentation work, video improvements, improved UEFI support, automatic configuration support for Fedora 13 and Linux on Xen as well as skipping LVM snapshots instead of failing when they are present.

For more information on Colin's new GRUB 2 package go to:

http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/ucgi/~cjwatson/blosxom/2010/07/02#2010-07-02-grub2-with-luck

Jorge Castro: Application Menu status update for 2 July

Jorge informs us of a new update of indicator-appmenu and appmenu-gtk that's available in canonical-dx-team PPA for Maverick and Lucid.

  • We’re now on by default for UNE in Maverick. (Thanks didrocks and seb128!)
  • Adding a new utility to make a mock application
  • After you use the dump tool you can now use mockjsonapp to create a test app with the dump data.
  • This makes it much easier to debug (this how Ted fixed the gimp menus)
  • If an app is being problematic providing a menu dump is the easiest way to provide Ted with the data he needs to fix the menu: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopExperienceTeam/ApplicationMenu#DebugTools

  • The big grid of moin death has been removed from the wiki page as it’s hard to keep up to date and we’ve got more detail in the bug reports anyway.
  • Cody has a bunch of other fixes for appmenu-gtk on hand, Ted will be reviewing them today so you might see some bugs closed that you won’t see released until next Thursday.

For more information on Application Menu go to:

http://castrojo.tumblr.com/post/762068716/application-menu-status-update-for-2-july

Brett Alton: Local School Board and Ubuntu

Brett discusses the pros and cons of a school board that has begun to use Open Source software. Brett notes that according to the school board's Manager of Information Technology, [The school Board] "added Firefox and OpenOffice.org to their default list of programs on their Windows images, although Internet Explorer and Microsoft Office are still the default."

Why is this important to Ubuntu? Brett goes on to mention, "I want to state that last summer they [The School Board] implemented a system using N-Computing devices that allow one computer to turn into four terminals (saving money through lower energy costs and Windows licenses) and experimented with creating Ubuntu images pre-installed with Edubuntu-type programs, like GCompris.

To find our more about the issues the school board is facing in their experiment with Ubuntu and more go to:

http://blog.brettalton.com/2010/07/02/local-school-board-and-ubuntu/

Jonathan Jesse: Review of Kubuntu Netbook – Maverick Alpha 2

Jonathan has a Dell Mini 9 and has been switching between Ubuntu Netbook, Ubuntu Unity also Kubuntu Netbook Edition. In this blog post he reviews the Kubuntu Netbook Edition.

Jonathan describes how he used a virtual machine to install the Kubuntu Netbook Edition and provides screenshots with his descriptions.

To find out more about the Kubuntu Netbook Edition and Jonathan's review go to:

https://jjesse.wordpress.com/2010/07/02/review-of-kubuntu-netbook-maverick-alpha-2/

Randall Ross: Dropping the "L" Word

Randall shares his opinion on Linux and Ubuntu branding and how it's still very common for a typical user to get confused with the different concepts.

He also believes that Linux is not the brand that will take FLOSS to the mainstream, "Despite its standing with Innovators and Early Adopters, 'Linux' is not the brand that will carry the day and take FLOSS mainstream. That chance currently rests with the complete operating system called Ubuntu provided we can clear the confusion and cross the chasm."

Randal provides some thought provoking comments and links. To read Randall's full post go to:

http://randall.executiv.es/node/15

Dustin Kirkland: Creating Ubuntu Server Disk Images using vmbuilder

Dustin covers a script called vmbuilder that can be used to build bootable server images. This can be quite useful in cases where many servers have to be installed in a short amount of time where deploying pre-built images would be faster than doing a pre-seeded installation.

He provides a complete howto on this and he'll also be covering live-helper which can do similar tasks in a subsequent post.

To find out more information and how to do this yourself go to:

http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2010/06/creating-ubuntu-server-disk-images.html

In The Press

Ubuntu Nearing X Server Not Running as Root

Canonical is inching closer to one of it's goals for Maverick Meerkat 10.10, to be able to run the X.org Server without root privileges. There are a few details left to iron out still, for more details and links to the discussion read below:

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=ODM2Ng

Debian vs. Ubuntu: Contrasting Philosophies

Bruce Byfield addresses the philosophical and some of the technical differences between Ubuntu and it's ancestral roots, Debian. Many common misconceptions are addressed as well as an overview of the technical similarities between the cousin distros. Bruce ends the article on the philosophical and community oriented differences between Ubuntu and Debian; citing, as one example, Ubuntu's Code of Conduct and how the CoC has helped maintain an overall polite and courteous discussion in forums and mailing lists. For the full article and the accompanying in-depth discussion, read more below:

http://itmanagement.earthweb.com/osrc/article.php/3890111/Debian-vs-Ubuntu-Contrasting-Philosophies.htm

Devs Manage to Get Ubuntu on HTC HD2

Some of the "unofficial" developers on XDA-Forums [1] have managed to port Ubuntu to an HTC HD2 smartphone. While perhaps not the best choice for making phone calls it does represent a rather large milestone for this unofficial team.

[1] http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=651632

http://wirelessstyle.info/2010/07/02/devs-manage-to-get-ubuntu-on-htc-hd2/

In The Blogosphere

Discussing Unity in Linux Format

Jono Bacon inteviewed David Siegel for Linux Format magazine and David reproduces the interview in his blog. David explains his background as a Linux user and how he fits into the Ubuntu design team at Canonical before going on to talk about Unity, the new lightweight interface that can be used on netbooks running Ubuntu. He explains what the goals are for Unity, the benefits of using Unity, and how people can run it now fom a PPA. They hope to have Unity as part of Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10

http://davidsiegel.org/discussing-unity-in-linux-format/

Virtualization on the Ubuntu Desktop: An Overview

Christopat WorksWithU writes about virtualization on the Ubuntu desktop. He covers why people may want to use virtualization and the drawbacks of virtualization. He plans on covering what tools are availible for the Ubuntu desktop user in a future post.

http://www.workswithu.com/2010/07/01/virtualization-on-the-ubuntu-desktop-an-overview/

The One Stop Shop For Ubuntu Customization

OMG!Ubuntu gives an overview of ways you can customize your Ubuntu desktop install. They include links to further information. They cover apps, themes, customization hacks, and usability hacks along with some other tricks they can think of. They plan on keeping this page updated with as many customization tricks and suggestions as they can think of and invite readers to submit their own.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/07/one-stop-shop-for-ubuntu-customization.html

Talking to Oracle About the MySQL Community

Jono Bacon was on the Oracle TechCast video show to talk about community in the context of MySQL. He says the community should not prejudge Oracle, however, that Oracle also needs to commit to acting in the Open Source way to best work with the MySQL community.

http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/07/02/talking-to-oracle-about-the-mysql-community/

OMG! Interviews: Alex Chiang, Canonical OEM Team Member

OMG!Ubuntu talks to Alex Chiang about his work with the Canonical OEM team. They cover what the OEM team does, along with more Alex-specific questions such as his background, why he chose to move to Canonical, and where he wants to see Ubuntu go. They end with the OMG!Triple Shot of questions: browser choice, guess for 11.04 code name, and application must-install on new Ubuntu set-ups.

For Alex's answers see:

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/07/omg-interviews-alex-chiang-canonical.html

Accessing Apps Has Never Looke So Good (UNITY)

OMG!Ubuntu gives a screenshot of how the Unity PPA looks when installed, along with information on how to get it.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2010/06/accessing-apps-has-never-looked-so-good.html

In Other News

QBzr 0.19 Beta 2 Released

On July 1st, 2010, Gary van der Merwe announced the following: "On behalf of QBzr development team I'd like to announce the release of QBzr 0.19beta2 codenamed "Pomegranate"."

More information can be found at:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/bazaar-announce/2010-July/000334.html

Take 60 Seconds With Stuart Langridge

Lynda Phillips interviews Stuart Langridge. Stuart is a Technical Architect with Online Services, Stuart has been with Canonical for 18 months.

To get to know more about Stuart and see what he had to say about working at Canonical as well as advice for those thinking about applying and/or working for Canonical then go to:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-jobs/2010-July/000002.html

2010 ARRL Field Day Running Ubuntu

To see a video that Joey Stanford originally posted showing a ham radio operator using Ubuntu on 2010 ARRL (Amature Radio Relay League) Field Day.

http://9w2pju.blogspot.com/2010/06/2010-arrl-field-day-running-ubuntu.html

TurnKey Linux Beta Launches Byobu by Default at Login

Dustin Kirkland writes, "TurnKey Linux is a Canonical Cloud Partner that provides Ubuntu-based Virtual Machine appliances. Alon Swartz of TurnKey recently announced the release of TurnKey Core Beta, re-based on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, and should release an official version shortly after Ubuntu 10.04.1 is generally available."

Dustin goes to to note that, "TurnKey has a real focus on user-friendliness, excellent defaults, and the user's first-run experience. Thus, I was excited to see this bullet in his TurnKey Core Lucid Beta announcement:

User friendly screen wrapper (byobu) launched by default on login."

Dustin also discusses why he likes this idea, "I think this is a great idea, as I have proposed as much at the last couple of Ubuntu Developer Summits. Ciemon Dunville has filed a bug, suggesting that the Maverick Ubuntu Server install should also default to launching Byobu. The output of the latest UDS session was that "we might consider doing this, if enough Ubuntu server users are asking us for it.""

To read more about Byobu by default on TurnKey as well as the Ubuntu Server go to:

http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2010/06/turnkey-linux-beta-launches-byobu-by.html

Ohio LinuxFest Call For Presentations Extended

The Ohio LinuxFest has extended it's Call for Presentations until July 7th, 2010. If you can make it to the Ohio Linux Fest this is a great opportunity got add more Ubuntu related topics and speakers to the list of choices for presentations.

To learn more about the Ohio LinuxFest of how to submit a presentation go to:

http://www.ohiolinux.org/node/674

Free *software* training, *free* software training, or just GNOME Training!

Stormy Peters announces GNOME Training at GUADEC this year!

The training is for developers and it’s split into four modules. You can sign up for the whole thing or for just the modules you are interested in.

  1. Developer tools and development environments. Source control, autotools, dependencies, compliation environments, debuggers, etc.
  2. The GNOME Platform. Glib, GObject, GTK+, Clutter, Glade, GtkBuilder, DBus, GConf, GStreamer, Telepathy, etc.

  3. A hands-on practical workshop. Set up a GNOME development environment, write a complete GNOME application in Python and integrate with the GNOME desktop.
  4. Community development. Community communication forums, effective community participation, getting changes upstream, getting to maintainer and building a vibrant community. To learn more about GUADEC, GNOME and the developer training offered there go to:

http://stormyscorner.com/2010/06/free-software-training-free-software-training-or-just-gnome-training.html

Full Circle Podcast #9: Playing a Unicycle and the Trombone

In this episode, a little later than scheduled; Unity, Gnome-Shell and UNE go head to head.

News: Ubuntu in Business Event, More Maverick Development, Aptitude is out,

Games: Ed’s goes on a Steam-spree; Dave ‘s second childhood with the Gameboy Emulator VGA.

Opinion: Gnome-Shell vs. Unity vs. UNE launcher

Interview: Part II of the Lubuntu Project

Q and A: Part III of Mark Shuttleworth’s sessions from UDS

Feeds for both MP3 and OGG:

http://fullcirclemagazine.org/2010/07/02/full-circle-podcast-9-playing-a-unicycle-and-the-trombone/

At Home With Jono Bacon

This is the link to Jono Bacon's, Ubuntu Community Manager, weekly videocast. Jono takes any and all questions from the community about all things Ubuntu and more. If you missed last weeks episode you can find it at: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7993830

For more information about At Home with Jono Bacon go to:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/at-home-with-jono-bacon

Monthly Team Reports: June 2010

Ubuntu Governance

Developer Membership Board

Developer Membership Board meeting June 8th, 2010 15:00 UTC

The meeting didn't happen due to lack of quorum.

Developer Membership Board meeting June 22nd, 2010 15:00 UTC

  • Chair: Michael Bienia
  • Present: Colin Watson, Richard Johnson, Emmet Hikory, Soren Hansen
  • Absent: Stéphane Graber, Cody Somerville
  • Action review:
    • [ACTION] Colin Watson to create ubuntu-kernel-uploaders team owned by the DMB that will provide upload permissions to Ubuntu kernel packages (Still pending)

    • [ACTION] Cody Somerville to write an e-mail to the list concerning the layout/format of the DMB meeting - membership first (Still pending)

    • [ACTION] Colin Watson to create Mozilla Package Set (Done).

      • [VOTE] Add Alexander Sack (asac), Chris Coulson (chrisccoulson) and Fabien Tassin (fta) as uploaders to the Mozilla Package set (Result: 5 for, 0 against, 0 abstained.)

  • Administrative Matters:
    • "Meeting Structure" and "Voting Procedures" are still pending a discussion on the DMB list.
  • MOTU application: Stefano Rivera (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StefanoRivera/MOTUApplication)

    • Approved: 5 for, 0 against, 0 abstained.
  • PPU application: Barry Warsaw (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BarryWarsaw/MyApplication)

    • Barry Warsaw got upload rights for computer-janitor, python-lazr.restful, python-lazr.restfulclient, python-argparse, python-virtualenv, python-flufl.enum, python-flufl.i18n: 4 for, 0 against, 1 abstained.
  • Universe contributor application: Lorenzo De Liso (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LorenzoDeLiso/UniverseContributorApplication)

    • Approved: 4 for, 0 against, 0 abstained.
  • PPU application: Gediminas Paulauskas (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GediminasPaulauskas/MyApplication)

    • Gediminas Paulauskas got upload rights for the packages listed at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GediminasPaulauskas/Packages (rev #5) from the sections "Zope", "Zope Community", "SchoolTool" and "Python Packaging": 4 for, 0 against, 0 abstained.

      [ACTION] Colin Watson to create a zope packageset incorporating the Zope, Zope Community, and Python Packaging sections, and a schooltool packageset for the SchoolTool section.

  • PPU application: Monty Taylor (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MontyTaylor/PerPackageUploaderApplication)

    • Monty Taylor got upload rights for drizzle, gearmand, libdrizzle, libinnodb, libmemcached, python-drizzle and pandora-build: 5 for, 0 against, 0 abstained.

IRC Council

IRC Council Meeting June 12, 2010 20:00 UTC

Attendance: topyli, nhandler, Pici, jussi, tsimpson

  • Agreed to accept the current draft of the Operator Guide for use
    • The Guide is a live document that we can append as necessary. A section is needed on when and how to escalate issues
    • ACTION: received: nhandler to move the draft to the appropriate place on the wiki and add a !opguide factoid to channels
  • Reviewed status of Bug #513915 - IRC Clients join Ubuntu channels by default in Guadalinex
    • Terence has commented on the bug, asking what progress has been made. Replies indicate progress
    • Waiting for closure.

IRC Council Meeting June 27, 2010 18:00 UTC

Attendance: jussi, tsimpson, topyli

  • No agenda items
    • tsimpson brought up the discussion of dual cloaks but we decided to wait for attendance of nhandler (freenode staffer).
    • No new bugs.

Technical Board

  • Meeting of the TB, 2010-06-01
    • Chair: Keybuk
    • Present: kees, mdz, pitti, sabdfl
    • Review of Actions
      • Keybuk had sent draft mail to TB about sparc and ia64 ports, no objections were received, so the board carried and keybuk will send the mail
    • Chromium standing FFe
      • The board discussed a standing Feature Freeze Exception for Chromium, however since the package has not yet had any SRUs, it was decided that this should be deferred until a reasonable (Kees suggested 3) number had been completed. Martin Pitt will re-raise this once he feels it has proven it's worth an exception.
    • Community Bugs
      • The board resolved that the issue of ubuntu-drivers many roles should be a medium-priority bug, and should be fed back to the Launchpad team as part of the usual process
    • Chair for next meeting: cjwatson

Ubuntu Development Teams

Xubuntu Team

Xubuntu team report for June, 2010

Bug Triage
  • Many bugs have been triaged and fixed this month.

Packaging, Development, & Testing
  • In cooperation with Debian packaged and synced Xfce 4.6.2 for Maverick.
  • Released Maverick Meerkat Alpha1 on 2010-06-03. This is the first development release of what will become the next version of Xubuntu, 10.10. It available for testing purposes at http://cdimages.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/maverick/alpha-1/ .

Website & Marketing

Documentation

Ubuntu LoCo Teams

Catalan Team

  • June 1st: LoCo irc meeting. Thoughts about Lucid release party.

  • June 4th: all the machines (5) made Lucid at the Administration (http://blocs.xtec.cat/secretariatorrevicens/) of IES Torre Vicens Secondary School (http://iestorrevicens.xtec.cat/) in Lleida.

  • June 5th: upgrade from LTS to LTS on Caliu.cat server.
  • June 7th: announce for next place to hold a release party.
  • June 16th: LoCo irc meeting. Creating a new team for information distribution.

  • June 26th: Ubuntu Coffee chat at the Casal Popular La Guitza, Sant Cugat del Vallès, near Barcelona.
  • June 29th: Assistance to a meeting for a new Catalan free software and knowledge coordination (http://ccpl.cat).

French Team

Ubuntu Ireland

  • Regular Monthly IRC Meeting was held at 8pm Irish time on Wednesday 16th June 2010.
  • The date has been set for our next OSSBarcamp 25-26th September 2010 planing is under way.
  • We had a lively Ubuntu Hour on the 28th of June at 6pm at the Trinity Capital Hotel bar. We met Orla who won the Ubuntu Women play day competition photos and write up
  • Plans are under way for a July Geeknic |date to be decided

Ubuntu Israel

  • shualdon entered as an op to the room #ubuntu-il.
  • CDs and badges (thanks to System76) was started to be sent to people all over the country!

Japanese Team

Romanian Team

Ubuntu United Kingdom LoCo Team

This month we have been planning the Ubuntu In Business (http://ubuntuinbusiness.eventbright.com) event, the Geeknic and other upcoming activities.

We have been looking at the branding guidelines and a number of designs and mockups for the UK website and logo have been put forward for discussion.

United States Teams

US Teams Project
  • Published next in series of interviews and articles with approved state teams:
  • Launched "The Best Wiki Pages You Didn't Know About" series of articles:

Ubuntu California

Ubuntu Chicago LoCo Team
  • 2010-06-07: Monthly Team IRC Meeting
    • Discussed trying a one-time Ubuntu hour type event

Iowa Team

New York State Team
  • Events:

20100619 9am - 5:30pm FOSSCON 2010 FOSSCON 2010 @ RIT (http://fosscon.org/)

  • Meetings:

No mettings held

Pennsylvania Team

Additional Ubuntu Teams

Ubuntu Beginners Team

Ubuntu Classroom Team

Ubuntu Women Team

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, July 05, 2010

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. Weekly Ubuntu Security Team catch-up meeting. Anyone is welcome to join if they want to watch, contribute, etc.

Tuesday July 06, 2010

Asia - Oceania RMB Meeting

Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting

Developer Membership Board

  • Start: 14:00 UTC
  • End: 15:00 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: 17:00 UTC
  • End: 18:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-locoteams
  • Agenda: Not listed as of publication

EMEA Membership Meeting

Community Council Meeting

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

Weekly Ubuntu Foundations team meeting

Jono Bacon @ Home Videocast : Various Topics and Q+A

Edubuntu Meeting

Thursday, July 08, 2010

Ayatana UX Team meeting

  • Start: 12:00 UTC
  • End: 12:30 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: * Introductions * Review team charter * Organize first UX activity * Brainstorm future UX activities

Ubuntu Women Project Meeting

LoCo Directory Meeting

Friday, July 09, 2010

Maverick Weekly Release Meeting

Saturday, July 10, 2010

BugJam

  • Start: 20:00 UTC
  • End: 21:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-bugs
  • Agenda: cockroaches & beetles

Ubuntu IRC Council Meeting

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Ubuntu Forums Unanswered Posts Team Meeting

Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.10, 9.04, 9.10, and 10.04

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

Ubuntu 8.10 Updates

  • None Reported

Ubuntu 9.04 Updates

Ubuntu 9.10 Updates

Ubuntu 10.04 Updates

UWN Translations

  • Note to translators and our readers please follow the link below for the information you need.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Translations

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Conclusion

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UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue200 (last edited 2010-07-05 01:05:41 by user80)