Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 202 for the week July 11th - July 17th, 2010.
In This Issue
- Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase calls all artists to contribute to next version of Ubuntu
- Operation Cleansweep: We Need You!
- Ubuntu Accessibility Team Personas Survey
- ISO testers for the Hall of Fame
- Ubuntu User Days Wrap-Up
- Ubuntu Stats
Rocking The LoCo Council
- Ubuntu: a computer operating system built around community
- Ubuntu Chicago Bike Tour
The Early-Summer LoCo BBQ at hutchnate's house was a tasty success!
Ubuntu Honduras LoCo Team Wakes up
- Launchpad News
- Ahmed Kamal Joins the Horsemen
- Reviewers Team and Operation Cleansweep
- Ubuntu Manual Project core philosophy
- Man Your Browser
- Android SDK on Ubuntu
- KDE SC 4.5 RC 2 Packages Available
- KOffice 2.2.1 is out
- Updating the Ubuntu Packaging Guide
- Building a Ubuntu website on Stackexchange
- In The Press
- In The Blogosphere
- Mozilla Ramps Up Vulnerability Reward Program
- Firefox joins Microsoft in uncool kids class - Chrome hangs out, looks good
- Linux to eclipse Microsoft's 'all-in' tablet enthusiasm
TurnKey Appliance Development Contest: An Open Source Summer Bonanza!
- The GIMP 2.6.10 Ubuntu Karmic And Lucid PPA
- Google App Inventor: Make Your Own Android Apps
- Spotify music streaming service comes to Linux
- The End of Shot of JAQ
- Introducing HTML5: a book review
- Keeping things simple: the Linux kernel
- sudo apt-get install sl is Fun!
- Featured Podcasts
- Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
Upcoming Meetings & Events
- Updates and Security
- and much, much more!
General Community News
Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase calls all artists to contribute to next version of Ubuntu
Free Culture Showcase to celebrate 'Art in the Open' bringing contributors' work to millions.
The showcase will offer artists, photographers, and musicians of every background the opportunity to have their work ship with Ubuntu 10.10, the popular Linux-based operating system available in October 2010.
'Art in the Open' will expose winning contributors' work to millions of users worldwide and is a demonstration of the energy, quality and power of the open culture.
"We are committed to the idea of 'Art in the Open' at Ubuntu," said Ivanka Majic, head of design at Canonical. "The work we do in an open environment delivers the same quality as closed ones and we believe will be even more successful through tapping into this wide world of volunteer contribution."
The Free Culture Showcase looks to reach beyond what is commonly perceived as the Open Source community. Artists and creatives who may never have been part of an open project before are encouraged to contribute. Winning work will be featured with the contributors' name and all work contributed will be covered by a Creative Commons license.
"We want graphic designers, musicians, photographers and creatives of every stripe to feel they have a place in the Ubuntu project," continued Majic. "Very often without being employed by a vendor, they cannot meaningfully contribute to the tools they use or the OS they consume. With Ubuntu and Open source, we hope they realise that it is different and that difference is important."
Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase calls all artists to contribute to next version of Ubuntu
To read more about this Showcase as well as the details on how you can contribute go to:
http://www.canonical.com/news/ubuntu-free-culture-showcase
Operation Cleansweep: We Need You!
One of the most critical components in any flourishing community is to ensure contributions that are offered in good faith are fairly reviewed in a timely manner. Unfortunately, the success of Ubuntu has resulted in more contributions than we have had time to review, and Nigel Babu is leading the way to encourage the community to review these outstanding patches.
This is important and worthwhile work, and I am really keen to encourage you all to get involved.
How do you get involved? Simple:
- Read the Operation cleansweep wiki page to get an idea of what we are trying to do.
- Read our Reviewers Guide that explains the process of how you review a patch.
- Pick a patch from this list to review.
- Review it and provide feedback.
- Join #ubuntu-reviewers to ask for help.
To do this you don’t have to be programmer, you don’t have to have a degree in rocket science, and you don’t have to like metal. The only requirement is that you have the desire to make Ubuntu better, and if you are reading this, you clearly have that.
Thanks in advance to everyone who helps!
http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/07/14/operation-cleansweep-we-need-you/
Ubuntu Accessibility Team Personas Survey
One of the goals identified for the Ubuntu Accessibility Team for this cycle is to create personas that can be used by designers and developers to get them thinking about accessibility. Personas are fictional people created to give designers and developers a face and personality to consider when working. Personas just make it a little more personal rather than just concepts.
To help researching all the various accessibility needs of users, we’ve created a survey about how people with disabilities of all types use their computers. Now we need as many people as possible to fill it out. We really want to get feedback from as many different types of disabilities so we can figure out what best suits users as far as needs and where the major problems may lie. We don’t just want to hear from Ubuntu users, but everyone.
The survey can be found at two places:
On a wordpress blog with text boxes. This can be filled out completely anonymously (no e-mail required or anything): http://access.libertus.co.uk
On a wiki page that can be e-mailed to the e-mail address provided. This version also has some more background information on what we’re doing:https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Accessibility/Personas/Survey
If anyone has any questions or anything, please feel free to leave them here or you can e-mail ubuntu.accessibility.survey@gmail.com if you don’t want to ask publicly.
Also, please let me know if you have an access problem with both versions of the survey as I really don’t want anyone barred from taking it due to not being able to access it. We were able to test with a screen reader, but I know we don’t have things like variable text sizes or the ability to play with the colours of the sites. We’re hoping to gather the responses we need by August 8th.
http://pendulumtech.wordpress.com/2010/07/14/ubuntu-accessibility-team-personas-survey/
ISO testers for the Hall of Fame
Ara Pulido, of the Canonical QA team announces ISO Testers Hall of Fame.
I am glad to announce that, starting in the Maverick Alpha 3 ISO testing cycle, the activity of the ISO tracker will be reflected in the Ubuntu Hall Of Fame.
Actually, and as a beta of the new feature, you can now check the ISO Alpha 2 heroes at the Ubuntu Hall Of Fame under “Top ISO Testers”. If you are wondering why you are not there and you helped during Maverick Alpha 2 ISO testing, I will try to explain why. The ISO tracker and Launchpad are not connected, but we need to use the Launchpad ID in the Hall Of Fame to get some other user information. Fortunately there is a Launchpad ID field in your ISO tracker user profile.
So, if you want your awesomeness to be reflected in the Hall Of Fame, please, update your profile in the ISO tracker and fill your correct Launchpad ID.
For more information on this go to :
http://ubuntutesting.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/iso-testers-for-the-hall-of-fame/
Ubuntu User Days Wrap-Up
The second Ubuntu User Days event was held on July 10-11, 2010 and organizers note that it was a wonderful success!
The Classroom Team also extends thanks to all the valued instructors as well as those who attended and took time out of their weekend to participate in all areas of Ubuntu User Days.
If you missed Ubuntu User Days or if you just want more information go to:
http://ubuntuclassroom.wordpress.com/2010/07/13/ubuntu-user-days-wrap-up/
Ubuntu Stats
Bug Stats
- Open (77595) +34 over last week
- Critical (29) -2 over last week
- Unconfirmed (36957) +68 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
- English (United Kingdom) (0) +/-0 over last week
- Spanish (9015) +2 over last week
- Brazilian Portuguese (34640) -62 over last week
- French (38230) +29 over last week
- German (54293) -16 over last week
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 10.04 "Lucid Lynx", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/lucid/
LoCo News
Rocking The LoCo Council
I just wanted to take a moment to highlight the incredible work going on with the Ubuntu LoCo Council who are working hard to govern the LoCo community and ensure everything is running smoothly.
The LoCo Council has two key IRC events in each month that everyone is welcome to attend:
LoCo Council monthly IRC meeting – on the 3rd Tuesday of the month in #ubuntu-meeting. See the agenda
LoCo Health Check – 1st Tuesday of the month in #ubuntu-locoteams – an informal meeting where anyone can add a topic to discuss and get some council feedback – see this page for more details.
…and of course, the LoCo council are always available in #ubuntu-locoteams.
Finally, when tweeting about Ubuntu LoCo teams, don’t forget to use the #locoteams tag.
Keep up the great work, folks!
http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/07/15/rocking-the-loco-council/
Ubuntu: a computer operating system built around community
Terry Lavender of the Vancouver Observer, discusses Ubuntu and the community that supports and surrounds it in this article. Lavender discusses a little about the history of both Linux and Ubuntu in his introduction.
Further into this article Lavender talks to Randall Ross and others of the Vancouver LoCo Team. This article covers many aspects of the Ubuntu community through the eyes of some very active community members. One of the things Ross points out in this article is - “Ubuntu includes one profoundly important component that no other operating system has: Community. The Ubuntu community is diverse, lively, and fun to be around. The Ubuntu community is real and local.”
Want to find out more about what Ross and others had to say about Ubuntu and the community go to:
Ubuntu Chicago Bike Tour
In this post by Richard Johnson of the Ubuntu Chicago Team, he invites other team members to join them in its first ever group ride. Initiatives such as a group bike ride, organized by LoCo teams are just one more way to bring teams together by combining hobbies and sharing Ubuntu.
To find out more about this event that was held on July 18th, 2010 or if you are in the Chicago area and want to get involved in this LoCo team go to:
http://blog.nixternal.com/2010.07.13/ubuntu-chicago-bike-ride/
The Early-Summer LoCo BBQ at hutchnate's house was a tasty success!
This past Saturday, July 10th the Arizona LoCo team held a BBQ and a LoCo members home. This was a loosely organized and last minute event but it was noted in the article that everyone had a very tasty good time. Which is just another example of how LoCo meetups don't have to be big production organization to be successful.
To read the article in full and learn more about the Arizona LoCo Team go to:
Ubuntu Honduras LoCo Team Wakes up
Ubuntu Honduras leaves its hibernation time!
As it is customary in the community that these months of May and June we always put in standby mode. But it is time that the community wakes up and get ready for the battle:)
We did a Pizza Bash. They were three hours in which we were talking, eating, telling jokes, among other things. We have set a short and long term goal. Ubuntu Honduras Loco Team will start to gives classes about the use of the Ubuntu OS in a program name IHER (Honduran Institute Education by Radio) which is thought to give a beginner level course, which it will 8 hours. In this way people will be having the knowledge about using the Ubuntu OS. The idea is that if this workshop is all right, opens through to the next level and so on.
Then within two to three weeks we will be informing!
For more information go to:
http://blog.diegoturcios.net16.net/?p=581
Launchpad News
Launchpad EPIC 2010 photo
The Launchpad and Bazaar teams have been in Prague this week. The noted they would be posting more about what they have gotten done at a later daye but did manage to take a picture.
To see the photo go to: http://blog.launchpad.net/general/launchpad-epic-2010-photo
Showing first/last 40 comments in Launchpad
Bryce Harrington posts a change he made Launchpad concerning displaying the bug page.
When a launchpad bug gets a lot of comments, displaying the bug page can take a long time. To mitigate this, Launchpad only shows the first 80 comments in such a case. But often what you actually want to see is the *recent* activity. So to get that you have to go through an additional page load, which is annoying.
To fix this, I've landed a change to bugs.edge.launchpad.net today which displays the first 40 and last 40 comments. As an example, see bug 541511.
I changed the comment/activity display algorithm a little bit in order to do this, which as a side effect improves the performance a very slight amount (about 1-2% faster for highly commented bugs).
To learn more about Bryce and these changes go to:
http://www2.bryceharrington.org:8080/drupal6/content/showing-firstlast-40-comments-launchpad-0
Three tips for faster launchpadlib api clients
Martin Pool posts, three tips from Leonard’s lightning talk in Prague about writing faster Launchpadlib API clients:
- Use the latest launchpadlib. It gets faster from one release to the next. (The versions in the current Ubuntu release should be fine; otherwise run from the branch or the latest tarball.)
- Profile:
- import httplib2 httplib2.debuglevel = 1
- Fetch objects only once:
Don’t do this:
- if bug.person is not None:
- print bug.person.name
instead
- p = bug.person if p is not None:
- print p.name
In the first case, the client may fetch the Person object twice. (We may fix this in future.)
To see the original posting go to:
http://blog.launchpad.net/api/three-tips-for-faster-launchpadlib-api-clients
The Planet
Jono Bacon: Ahmed Kamal Joins the Horsemen
Jono introduces Ahmed Kamal to the Ubuntu Community. Ahmed joins Jono's team at Canonical to build the Ubuntu Cloud Community.
Jono says, "Although Ahmed’s formal background is Electronics and Communications engineering, he was always a Linux geek at heart. He touched his first Linux CD in 1998 with Red Hat 5.x and has been hooked ever since."
To find out more about Ahmed go to:
http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/07/15/ahmed-kamal-joins-the-horsemen/
Daniel Holbach: Reviewers Team and Operation Cleansweep
Probably due to the soccer championship or the hot weather in some countries we had a slow week last week. Here’s the quick report:
- Total bugs with patches: 2263 (-1)
- Reviewed patches: 331 (0)
- Bugs with 'patch-needswork': 86 (+1)
- Bugs with 'patch-forwarded-upstream': 133 (+6)
- Bugs with 'patch-forwarded-debian': 41 (+1)
- Bugs with 'indicator-application': 44 (-1)
- Bugs with 'patch-accepted-upstream': 47 (0)
- Bugs with 'patch-accepted-debian': 13 (0)
- Bugs with 'patch-rejected-upstream': 15 (+1)
- Bugs with 'patch-rejected-debian': 1 (0)
To find out how you can help and to see the graph of the progress go to:
http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=726
Benjamin Humphrey: Ubuntu Manual Project core philosophy
Benjamin Humphrey from the Ubuntu Manual Project talks about the core philosphy for the Ubuntu Manual Project. Over the course of several weeks, Kevin, Ilya, Thorsten and Benjamin developed ten principles that the project stands for. This list will be displayed on their new website which is being finished off to fit within the new Ubuntu project guidelines and branding. These values include "success of our users is the ultimate goal", "research, do not guess", and "satisfy our target audience’s diverse needs" to name a few.
http://humphreybc.wordpress.com/2010/07/12/ubuntu-manual-project-core-philosophy/
Dustin Kirkland: Man Your Browser
As he's spending more time on smaller laptops and netbooks, Dustin has been falling in love with Chromium web browser. After taking a little time to learn the ins and outs, he's replaced all of the functionality he needed from Firefox and more. He feels the most useful feature is Chromium's custom "search engines". He has a video that demonstrates adding a custom manpages.ubuntu.com to Chromium's search engines, such that you can type something like "man kvm" in your browser's URL bar, and go straight to the HTML rendering of the kvm manpage!
http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2010/07/man-your-browser.html
Mohamad Faizul Zulkifli: Android SDK on Ubuntu
If you are a person who writes Andriod apps you can now see what those apps will look like on your desktop with this Android Emulator application for Ubuntu. For more information and to see a screenshoot of this application in action go to:
http://9w2pju.blogspot.com/2010/07/android-sdk-on-ubuntu.html
Kubuntu: KDE SC 4.5 RC 2 Packages Available
Packages for the release of the KDE Software Compilation 4.5 RC 2 are available. This is release candidate software so expect bugs. Bugs in packaging should be reported to kubuntu-ppa on Launchpad and bugs in the software to KDE. Users of 10.04 LTS can install it from the Kubuntu Beta PPA. Special thanks to lex and shadeslayer for packaging this release.
http://www.kubuntu.org/news/kde-sc-45-rc-2
Kubuntu: KOffice 2.2.1 is out
KOffice 2.2.1 is out. Users of Kubuntu 10.04 can install it from lucid-backport, just enable "Unsupported Updates" in your software source settings and install "koffice".
To find out more go to:
http://www.kubuntu.org/news/koffice-2.2.1
Jim Campbell: Updating the Ubuntu Packaging Guide
Jim Campbell calls out for input for holes in the in the Ubuntu Packaging Guide. There are all kinds of topics that need to be written, updated, or improved. He invites everyone to give inputs via a Google Docs Survey. He has provided some direction and is welcome to other ideas. If you’re interested in writing on a particular topic, please be sure to note that in the survey comments (and include your name and email address!) and he'll get in touch with you.
http://j1m.net/2010/07/13/updating-the-ubuntu-packaging-guide/
Ralph Janke: Building a Ubuntu website on Stackexchange
Currently a lot of fantastic people from the Ubuntu Community are working to get an Ubuntu Q&A website a la stackoverflow created on stack exchange. We have already breezed through the definition phase and now need people who are committing to ask questions or answer them in the beta phase (in particular during the private beta phase that will last 7 days.
To find out how you can help go to:
http://blog.txwikinger.me.uk/content/building-ubuntu-website-stackexchange
In The Press
Alfresco certified for Ubuntu
Enterprise content management vendor Alfresco, has been certified to work on the Ubuntu stack. The company's Enterprise Edition 3.3 is now certified on Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server.
To find out more about this venture go to:
http://www.networkworld.com/news/2010/071410-alfresco-certified-for.html?hpg1=bn
Is Chrome OS a Threat to Ubuntu or Windows?
Matt Harley of IT Management looks at whether Chrome OS is a threat to Ubuntu or Windows. He opens his article with a very bold statement, "Since late 2009, talk of how Google's Chrome OS is being positioned to "take on" Microsoft Windows has been promoted by individuals who I believe have no idea what they're talking about."
Harley goes on to say, "By Google's own admission, Chrome OS is being designed for near exclusive use on netbook computers, due to its minimalist nature. And as we know, netbooks make up a small piece of the collective PC market. This clearly leaves out of desktops and laptops, which will remain dominated by the Windows OS (near term, at least).
This leads us to consider that Microsoft's Windows OS is not the target for Google after all. So the next line of thought leads us to wonder if perhaps Chrome OS is being created to take on something closer to its own design – for instance,Ubuntu Linux?"
Harley breaks the article up into the following areas of discussion:
- Is Chrome OS Linux or not?
- Chrome OS isn't competing with Windows
- Will Chrome OS become a boon to other Linux distributions?
- Chrome OS and Android, redundant?
For more information go to:
Time to consider Ubuntu for your cloud needs?
An article on InfoWorld compares Ubuntu's growth in the cloud market to Red Hat Inc.'s. Canonical has gained a lot of traction since Dell's recent decision to deliver Amazon Cloud ready Ubuntu powered servers. To read the full article, look below:
http://www.infoworld.com/d/open-source/time-consider-ubuntu-your-cloud-needs-712
In The Blogosphere
Plugin Support Added To Ubuntu Software Center
This Techie-Buzz article by Ricky Laishram discusses the new pluging support that has been added to the Ubuntu Software Center.
The Ubuntu Software Center for Maverick just keeps getting and better. Today a new version, Ubuntu Software Center 2.1.5, has just been released. While it does not have much visual change to offer compared to the earlier versions, it has some new features underneath.
The biggest and most interesting new feature is probably the introduction of plugins support. The plugins support in the Ubuntu Software Center is needed for the OneConf integration which will be introduced in Maverick Meerkat.
To read more about the Plugin Support in the Ubuntu One Software Center go to:
http://techie-buzz.com/foss/plugin-support-added-to-ubuntu-software-center.html
Canonical Design Team: This week in design - 16th July 2010
The Canonical Design Team has begun a new weekly posting entitled "This Week in Design". They plan to cover some of the main features and improvements of the upcoming cycle. To see what This Week in Design has to offer, follow the link below:
http://design.canonical.com/2010/07/this-week-in-design-16th-july-2010/
AndroidU1
Excedio shares his excitement over AndroidU1 which lets you connect to your Ubuntu One account from an Android phone. It's still in pre-alpha release, but he has all the information for users who want to try it out.
http://opensourceexcedio.wordpress.com/2010/07/15/androidu1/
Improved Calculator App in Ubuntu 10.10
Marious Nestor, Linux Editor for Softpedia, introduces readers to the revamped calculator application that will be part of the upcoming GNOME 3.0.0 desktop environment and Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system. The application is called GCalctool and it's a powerful utility that can be used to solve simple and mid-level mathematical problems. Compared to the calculator found in the Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) distribution, the new version of GCalctool has a redesigned user interface and brings support for complex arithmetics, complex trigonometry, additional functions (Integer and Fractional Component, Round, Floor, Ceiling and Sign) to the advanced mode, currency conversion and many more.
To find out more information about this improved function go to:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Improved-Calculator-App-in-Ubuntu-10-10-147637.shtml
Unity, Ubuntu Software Center And Sound Indicator Video And Screenshots [Ubuntu / UNE 10.10 Maverick Meerkat]
In this article the writer goes over the Unity and Sound Indicator Updates and also records a video about the Ubuntu Software center.
There are screenshots of the Updates and video that demonstrates the Software Center and the sound indicator.
To read more about these updates and to see the screenshots go to:
http://www.webupd8.org/2010/07/unity-ubuntu-software-center-and-sound.html
Google Nexus One Gets Ubuntu-ed
Bored with the same old stock version of Android on your Nexus One? Are you one of the many other Nexus One users who would like to see a different boot up screen on your phone, well help is here!
Geeky folks (one geeky folk, to be precise) from a rather ominously named blog called nexus one hacks has posted a rather longish video that can potentially help you port Ubuntu on to your highly capable handset without bricking it. Note that in this case, Ubuntu is being offered as a secondary boot option so that you may switch over to Android at the next boot should anything go wrong. Of course, as it is an OS meant for quite a different platform, you d come across a few things that simply won t work. But then that s excusable when you experience the pleasure of running an OS on a device that is not supposed to run it.
Want to learn more about how to Ubuntu your Nexus one? Go to:
http://www.techtree.com/India/News/Google_Nexus_One_Gets_Ubuntu-ed/551-112218-580.html
Early Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Benchmarks
Michael Larabel, with Phoronix.com, gives a detailed look at some earler benchmarks for Ubuntu 10.10 Netbooks.
Larabel says, "There is still three months left until Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" will be officially released along with the Ubuntu Netbook spin and the various other incarnations of this popular Linux distribution, but today we have some initial netbook tests of this next version of Ubuntu Linux. While Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook may boast a new user-interface now that it is using the Unity Desktop, the changes that have taken place "under the hood" have led to some performance differences compared to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Netbook."
To read about what hardware was used and the results from each take a look at:
http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_maverick_netbook&num=1
In Other News
Mozilla Ramps Up Vulnerability Reward Program
Mozilla announces that it has brought its security bounty program in line with the new economic times and has increased the reward paid to researchers for eligible security bugs from $500 to $3,000. It has also officially added Firefox Mobile and other Mozilla services to the list of products covered by the program.
“For new bugs reported starting July 1st, 2010 UTC we are changing the bounty payment to $3,000 US per eligible security bug. A lot has changed in the 6 years since the Mozilla program was announced, and we believe that one of the best way to keep our users safe is to make it economically sustainable for security researchers to do the right thing when disclosing information,” an announcement posted on the Mozilla Security blog reads.
To find out more about this program go to:
http://news.softpedia.com/news/Mozilla-Ramps-Up-Vulnerability-Reward-Program-147854.shtml
Firefox joins Microsoft in uncool kids class - Chrome hangs out, looks good
In this article Matt Asay, Canonical COO, he takes a look at the global browser market - who's in the lead and why it matters to Ubuntu. Asay states, "Open...and Shut After more than a decade of slugging it out with Microsoft for supremacy, Mozilla's Firefox now claims 24 per cent of the global browser market, according to Net Applications."
Asay goes on to say, "Since October 2009, Firefox has reached a curious stasis, treading water against Internet Explorer. Microsoft’s IE, for its part, continues its slide, but Firefox is no longer the aggressor. Google Chrome is."
What to read more about this and why it is important to Ubuntu go to:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/16/browser_wars/
Linux to eclipse Microsoft's 'all-in' tablet enthusiasm
Gavin Clarke from The Register writes about the current state of Tablets and similarly emerging architecture. While Microsoft has a long history with manufacturers; ABI senior analyst Victoria Fodale sees things differently, she is quoted as saying, "The number of Linux-oriented initiatives recently seen in the mobile industry indicates that Linux will be a key technology in the next generation of netbooks, media tablets, and other mobile devices."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/07/16/linux_dominates_devices_survey/
TurnKey Appliance Development Contest: An Open Source Summer Bonanza!
Last week TurnKey Linux, an Ubuntu based open source project, announced they'll be using donation money to sponsor an appliance development contest.
To celebrate the occasion they'll be giving live training this week on how to customize existing TurnKey appliances and create new ones, so anyone willing to learn a few basic Linux skills is invited to join in on the fun.
With the community's help TurnKey is hoping to double the appliance library by the next release...
http://www.turnkeylinux.org/blog/contest
The GIMP 2.6.10 Ubuntu Karmic And Lucid PPA
GIMP 2.6.10 has been released. This latest stable version will be backported to both lucid and karmic. See this article for instructions on installing the latest GIMP from the WebUpd8 PPA.
http://www.webupd8.org/2010/07/gimp-2610-ubuntu-karmic-and-lucid-ppa.html
Google App Inventor: Make Your Own Android Apps
Check out whats new with the Android platform. Google App Inventor is a new piece of online software that helps with the creation of Andriod apps. “To use App Inventor you do not need to be a developer. App Inventor requires NO programming knowledge”. The Google App Inventor can be used on Ubuntu 8+ and any browser capable of running Java 6. App Inventor can also be used from an Android phone.
http://www.providingnews.com/google-app-inventor-make-your-own-android-apps.html
Spotify music streaming service comes to Linux
Spotify music streaming service comes to Linux. This version is the result of user feedback and the fact that many of the company's own developers use Linux. While this release is still officially unsupported, the developers say that they will "try to make sure it keeps pace with its Mac and Windows siblings". To take advantage of the linux version you must be a Spotify Premium subscribers to check out the linux version.
http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Spotify-music-streaming-service-comes-to-Linux-1036731.html
The End of Shot of JAQ
Sad news from the Jono Bacon blog for all those fans of the 'Shot Of Jaq' podcast. We "are simply too busy with other things" says Jono Bacon on why the podcast is being stopped. Shot of Jaq had around 70 twice weekly shows over a 9 month period, and received over 3000 comments. "Thanks to everyone who was so supportive of the show!"
http://www.jonobacon.org/2010/07/13/the-end-of-shot-of-jaq/
Introducing HTML5: a book review
Take a look at this in depth review of the book 'Introducing HTML 5', by Bruce Lawson and Remy Sharp. These authors draw on the experiences of user questions and articles at their html5doctor website. "The book successfully and intelligently covers the new markup in HTML5" states Stuart Langridge, the author or this book review.
http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2010/07/14/introducing-html5-a-book-review
Keeping things simple: the Linux kernel
ZDNet writes an indepth article regarding the Linux kernel. The article covers the features and aspects of the kernel, an overall comment on the simple beauty and design that went into the Linux Kernel. For the full article the link is below:
sudo apt-get install sl is Fun!
Tech Drive-in reports on a fun little program which will give you a laugh every time you mistype "ls" as "sl".
http://www.techdrivein.com/2010/07/sudo-apt-get-install-sl-is-fun.html#more
Featured Podcasts
Full Circle Podcast #10: Trawling the Internet for a Goat Festival
In this episode, the editors fight back. This episode we are minus one Dave Wilkins who is away, but plus two guests. Esteemed editor of Full Circle Magazine Mr Ronnie Tucker is our co-host… While Editor-in-Chief of Ubuntu Weekly News Letter is our guest, Ms. Amber Graner.
News: The usual collection of Maverick news, plus Gmailwatcher, Googlubuntu and Ubuntu on Android, Opinion: Contributing articles to Full Circle Magazine with Ronnie Tucker Interview: Amber Graner on Ubuntu Women, UWN and Open Source Goats…
MP3 podcast here: http://fullcirclemagazine.org/podpress_trac/web/817/0/fullcirclepodcast_ep10_160710.mp3
OGG podcast here: http://fullcirclemagazine.org/podpress_trac/web/817/1/fullcirclepodcast_ep10_160710.ogg
For More information on this Podcast and Full Circle Magazine go to:
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/8273074
For more information about At Home with Jono Bacon go to:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/at-home-with-jono-bacon
Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
Ubuntu Desktop Team Meeting Minutes for July 13, 2010 - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/Meeting/2010-07-13
Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting Minutes from July 13, 1010 - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MobileTeam/Meeting/2010/20100713
Ubuntu Server Team Meeting Minutes for July 13, 2010 - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MeetingLogs/Server/20100713
Ubuntu Kernel Team Meeting Minutes for July 13, 2010 - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/Meeting/2010-07-13
Ubuntu Foundations Team Meeting Minutes for July 14, 2010 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/Meetings/2010/0714
Ubuntu Release Team Meeting Minutes for July 16, 2010 - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReleaseTeam/Meeting/2010-07-16
Upcoming Meetings & Events
Monday, July 19, 2010
Ubuntu-NGO IRC Meeting
- Start: 17:00 UTC
- End: 18:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-ngo
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 20, 2010
Community Council Meeting
- Start: 10:00 UTC
- End: 12:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Asia - Oceania RMB Meeting
- Start: TBD
- End: TBD
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Membership/RegionalBoards/AsiaOceania
Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting
- Start: 13:00 UTC
- End: 14:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Developer Membership Board
- Start: 14:00 UTC
- End: 15:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
- Agenda: None listed as of publication
Desktop Team Meeting
- Start: 16:30 UTC
- End: 17:30 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-desktop
Kernel Team Meeting
- Start: 17:00 UTC
- End: 18:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
- Agenda: None listed as of publication
LoCo Council Meeting
- Start: 20:00 UTC
- End: 21:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
- Agenda: None listed as of publication
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Weekly Ubuntu Foundations team meeting
- Start: 15:00 UTC
- End: 16:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https:/wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam/Meetings/YYYY/MMDD * Info: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FoundationsTeam
Jono Bacon @ Home Videocast : Various Topics and Q+A
- Start: 18:00 UTC
- End: 19:00 UTC
Location: http://www.ustream.tv/channel/at-home-with-jono-bacon
- Agenda: This is a weekly videocast by the Ubuntu Community Manager, Jono Bacon in which he discusses a range of topics and also provides a regular weekly Q+A.
Edubuntu Meeting
- Start: 19:00 UTC
- End: 20:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
QA Team Meeting
- Start: 19:00 UTC
- End: 20:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-quality
Thursday, July 22, 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
- Start: 10:00 UTC
- End: 11:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-women-project
Agenda: http://wiki.ubuntu-women.org/Meetings/April2010/Agenda
Americas Regional Membership Board Meeting
- Start: 23:59 UTC
- End: 1:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Membership/RegionalBoards/Americas
Friday, July 23, 2010
Maverick Weekly Release Meeting
- Start: 15:00 UTC
- End: 16:30 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Saturday, July 24, 2010
BugJam
- Start: 20:00 UTC
- End: 22:00 UTC
- Location: Taste of India
- Agenda: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-bugs
DC Loco IRC meeting
- Start: 10:00 UTC
- End: 11:00 UTC
- Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-us-dc
- Agenda: None listed as of publication
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Ubuntu IRC Council Meeting
- Start: 18:00 UTC
- End: 19:00 UTC
- Location: Ubuntu Gaming Team Meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IrcTeam/IrcCouncil/MeetingAgenda
Ubuntu Gaming Team Meeting
- Start: 19:00 UTC
- End: 21:00 UTC
- Location: Ubuntu Gaming Team Meeting
- Agenda: None Listed as of publication
Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 9.04, 9.10, and 10.04
Security Updates
USN-961-1: Ghostscript vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-961-1
USN-962-1: VTE vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-962-1
Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
- None Reported
Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
mediawiki 1:1.11.2-2ubuntu0.7 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2010-July/012515.html
ghostscript 8.61.dfsg.1-1ubuntu3.3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2010-July/012516.html
libxml 1:1.8.17-14.1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2010-July/012517.html
devil 1.6.7-5.1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2010-July/012518.html
Ubuntu 9.04 Updates
opensc 0.11.4-5ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2010-July/010110.html
mediawiki 1:1.13.3-1ubuntu2.4 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2010-July/010111.html
ghostscript 8.64.dfsg.1-0ubuntu8.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2010-July/010112.html
landscape-client 1.5.2.1-0ubuntu0.9.04.0 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2010-July/010113.html
vte 1:0.20.0-0ubuntu2.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/jaunty-changes/2010-July/010114.html
Ubuntu 9.10 Updates
libmediawiki-perl 1.13-1.1ubuntu0.9.10.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/karmic-changes/2010-July/012422.html
mediawiki 1:1.15.0-1.1ubuntu0.4 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/karmic-changes/2010-July/012423.html
ghostscript 8.70.dfsg.1-0ubuntu3.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/karmic-changes/2010-July/012424.html
landscape-client 1.5.2.1-0ubuntu0.9.10.0 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/karmic-changes/2010-July/012425.html
vte 1:0.22.2-0ubuntu2.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/karmic-changes/2010-July/012426.html
Ubuntu 10.04 Updates
libnotify 0.4.5-1ubuntu4 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011518.html
libusb 2:0.1.12-14ubuntu0.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011519.html
acpi-support 0.136.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011520.html
dell-recovery 0.58.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011521.html
firmware-addon-dell 2.1.0-0ubuntu2.10.04.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011522.html
libmediawiki-perl 1.13-1.1ubuntu0.10.04.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011523.html
openoffice.org-dictionaries 1:3.2.0~rc2-3ubuntu3.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011524.html
ureadahead 0.100.0-4.1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011525.html
vm-builder 0.12.4-0ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011526.html
ghostscript 8.71.dfsg.1-0ubuntu5.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011527.html
sane-backends 1.0.21-0ubuntu1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011528.html
gnupg2 2.0.14-1ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011529.html
openjdk-6 6b18-1.8-4ubuntu1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011530.html
ureadahead 0.100.0-4.1.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011531.html
landscape-client 1.5.2.1-0ubuntu0.10.04.0 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011532.html
vte 1:0.23.5-0ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011533.html
gallery2 2.3-1ubuntu3.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011534.html
software-center 2.0.6 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011535.html
ganeti 2.0.5-1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011536.html
apt 0.7.25.3ubuntu9.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011537.html
otrs2 2.4.7-1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011538.html
ibus-anthy 1.2.0.20100115-1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011539.html
openjdk-6 6b18-1.8-4ubuntu2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011540.html
aegir-provision 0.3-2ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011541.html
asterisk 1:1.6.2.5-0ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011542.html
openjdk-6 6b18-1.8-4ubuntu3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/lucid-changes/2010-July/011543.html
UWN Translations
- Note to translators and our readers please follow the link below for the information you need.
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Translations
UWN A Sneak Peek
Time To Surf Without Windows? Is Ubuntu The Answer? - http://billmullins.wordpress.com/2010/07/11/time-to-surf-without-windows-is-ubuntu-the-answer/
Pinguy OS – Another Ubuntu Fork - http://techie-buzz.com/foss/pinguy-os-another-ubuntu-fork.html
REMnux, an Ubuntu Fork to Reverse Engineer Malware - http://techie-buzz.com/foss/remnux-ubuntu-distro-reverse-engineer-malware.html
Travels With Teo: Linux Netbook Hits the Road - http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/138334/index.html
5 things to look forward to in Ubuntu 10.10 - http://techthrob.com/2010/07/14/5-things-to-look-forward-to-in-ubuntu-10-10/
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:
- Amber Graner
- Liraz Siri
- J Scott Gwin
- Penelope Stowe
- Nigel Babu
- Mike Holstein
- Daniel Calab
- And many others
Glossary of Terms
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 Creative Commons License 3.0 BY SA