Contents

  1. In This Issue
  2. General Community News
    1. Announcing the 2013 Ubuntu App Showdown Contest!
    2. Ubuntu Edge backed by Bloomberg and price reduction to $695
  3. Ubuntu Stats
    1. Bug Stats
    2. Ask Ubuntu Top 5 Questions this week
      1. Most Active Questions
      2. Top Voted New Questions
  4. LoCo News
    1. Ubuntu Ohio - Burning Circle: UbuCon Announcement
  5. Ubuntu Forums News
    1. Ubuntu forums now exclusively using Ubuntu One SSO accounts to login
  6. The Planet
    1. James Hunt: Counting down to Ubuntu and Debian releases with distro-info
    2. Michael Hall: Getting through the Trough and closer to the Edge, Together
    3. Canonical Design Team: Calendar App Visuals
    4. Pasi Lallinaho: Don't panic: the state of Xubuntu and Mir
    5. Jhosman Lizarazo: What if the goal is not reached #UbuntuEdge?
    6. Nicholas Skaggs: Autopilot best practices
    7. Brian Murray: Phasing of Stable Release Updates
    8. Randall Ross: Ubuntu's Gets Two More "P's": Lucky 7!
    9. Rick Spencer: The Big Rocks of August
    10. Daniel Holbach: Want to try Ubuntu Touch on your phone? We’re almost there!
    11. Daniel Holbach: Surprising stats
  7. Other Community News
    1. XMir news!
  8. Canonical News
    1. UbuntuKylin steals the show at OCOW Summit
  9. In The Press
    1. In Pictures: Ubuntu Touch starts getting real
    2. Why the Ubuntu Edge is a success, even if it never exists
    3. Ubuntu Edge Smartphone Unlikely To Enter Production
    4. Crowdfunded Ubuntu Phone Will Be A Big Success, Even If It Never Happens
  10. In The Blogosphere
    1. Initial in-progress XMir support landed in Ubuntu 13.10
    2. Xubuntu 13.10 XMir ISO available for testing
    3. Solar-Powered Laptop Publishes Specs, Will Be Submersible
    4. Core Apps' Weather App updated with new features
  11. Featured Audio and Video
    1. Ubuntu Ohio - Burning Circle: Burning Circle Episode 125
    2. Ubuntu Podcast from the UK LoCo: S06E24 – Glengarry Glen Ubuntu
  12. Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
  13. Upcoming Meetings and Events
  14. Updates and Security for 10.04, 12.04, 12.10 and 13.04
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 10.04 Updates
    3. Ubuntu 12.04 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 12.10 Updates
    5. Ubuntu 13.04 Updates
  15. Subscribe
  16. Archives
  17. Additional Ubuntu News
  18. Conclusion
  19. Credits
  20. Glossary of Terms
  21. Ubuntu - Get Involved
  22. Feedback

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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 329 for the week August 5 - 11, 2013.

In This Issue

General Community News

Announcing the 2013 Ubuntu App Showdown Contest!

Michael Hall announces the second Ubuntu App Showdown and writes: “Contestants will have six weeks to build and publish their apps using the new Ubuntu SDK and Ubuntu Touch platform. Both original apps and ported apps, native and HTML 5, will qualify for this competition.

The winners of this contest will each receive an LG Nexus 4 phone running Ubuntu Touch with their application pre-installed.”

http://developer.ubuntu.com/2013/08/announcing-the-2013-ubuntu-app-showdown-contest/

More at http://developer.ubuntu.com/showdown/

Ubuntu Edge backed by Bloomberg and price reduction to $695

News from the Ubuntu Edge campaign continues to pour in! This week, we learned that Bloomberg became the first company to come in at the $80,000 pledge level and more.

For more articles reporting on these announcements, see In the Press and Blogosphere below.

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

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

Ask Ubuntu Top 5 Questions this week

Most Active Questions

Top Voted New Questions

People Contributing the best questions and answers this week: fossfreedom (http://askubuntu.com/users/14356/fossfreedom), Oli (http://askubuntu.com/users/449/oli), mniess (http://askubuntu.com/users/1736/mniess), Braiam (http://askubuntu.com/users/169736/braiam) and Mitch (http://askubuntu.com/users/59676/mitch)

Ask (and answer!) your own questions at http://askubuntu.com

LoCo News

Ubuntu Ohio - Burning Circle: UbuCon Announcement

Featured here is the audio file from the announcement of the UbuCon event at Ohio Linux Fest 2013.

http://ohio.ubuntu-us.org/node/160

Ubuntu Forums News

Ubuntu forums now exclusively using Ubuntu One SSO accounts to login

Coffeecat announces the new Ubuntu Forums login policy which will use Ubuntu One single sign-on for added security during authenticating. Changes occurring as a result of the new policy are explained as well as what forum users should note going forward.

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2164051

The Planet

James Hunt: Counting down to Ubuntu and Debian releases with distro-info

James Hunt talks about the “distro-info” tool written by Benjamin Drung that allows users to track the time between Ubuntu and Debian releases. He also explains how it can be utilized to inform the user of updates to their version of Ubuntu.

http://ifdeflinux.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/counting-down-to-ubuntu-and-debian.html

Michael Hall: Getting through the Trough and closer to the Edge, Together

Michael Hall discusses the Ubuntu Edge and how the Kickstarter project can still rise to become a success, breaking more records as it has since the beginning. He asks the community for their input and opinions on how to bring in more contributions before the deadline.

http://mhall119.com/2013/08/getting-through-the-trough-and-closer-to-the-edge-together/

Canonical Design Team: Calendar App Visuals

Lina Pio of the Canonical Design Team talks about the work going into the Ubuntu Calendar app by describing the features and goals of its design. She reminds the community to keep watching as they unveil more information about the project as well as design aspects of the platform.

http://design.canonical.com/2013/08/calendar-app-visuals/

Pasi Lallinaho: Don't panic: the state of Xubuntu and Mir

Pasi Lallinaho discusses the uncertain state of the use of Mir in Xubuntu and where the community currently stands. Lallinaho explains that the final decision on using Mir is yet to be made, and he encourages interested users to watch the community for more information.

http://open.knome.fi/2013/08/07/dont-panic-the-state-of-xubuntu-and-mir/

Jhosman Lizarazo: What if the goal is not reached #UbuntuEdge?

Jhosman Lizarazo talks about the Ubuntu Edge and how it stacks up to other smartphones that can be purchased immediately. He points out that the functionality of the Edge outweighs any other current smartphone. He offers solutions that would help the project to finish as a success.

http://jhosman.com/en/ubuntu/hardware/what-if-the-goal-is-not-reached-ubuntuedge/

Nicholas Skaggs: Autopilot best practices

Nicholas Skaggs tells us that he has been writing autopilot tests for about nine months and says "along the way I've learned or been taught some of the things that are important to remember." Nicholas lists seven best practices and advises that if they are adopted, test cases are more reliable, easier to read, and will consistently run without a hitch.

http://www.theorangenotebook.com/2013/08/autopilot-best-practices.html

Brian Murray: Phasing of Stable Release Updates

Brian Murray writes that for some time he's wanted to gradually roll out updates to expanding subsets of Ubuntu users so that regressions can be monitored and the update process stopped if issues any are found. Brian tells us that users of Ubuntu 13.04 who install updates with update-manager are automatically participating in this process. He describes how the Phased Update process works and how the Ubuntu Error Tracker has been modified to help determine if there are any regressions.

http://www.murraytwins.com/blog/?p=127

Randall Ross: Ubuntu's Gets Two More "P's": Lucky 7!

Randall Ross reminds us that he earlier introduced us to the Five "P's" of Ubuntu. After a lively quiz that he hosted at Ubuntu Vancouver's "Cup of Ubuntu" event, he learned that there are actually two more P's that he hadn't thought of and lists Ubuntu's Seven P's.

http://randall.executiv.es/ubuntu-7-p

Rick Spencer: The Big Rocks of August

Rick Spencer writes about five "big rocks", Image based upgrades, Indicators, Click, Application lifecycle and Unity 8/Mir, all of which are required to be completed by the end of August. Rick talks about each of them in turn and concludes, "After August, Ubuntu Touch will have made a dramatic step forward, really becoming the architecture that it is meant to be. I can't wait!"

http://theravingrick.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-big-rocks-of-august.html

Daniel Holbach: Want to try Ubuntu Touch on your phone? We’re almost there!

Daniel Holbach writes that Sergio Schvezov has restructured phablet-tools to more easily support community ports of Ubuntu Touch and that the following community ports have been added: HTC Desire Z, Samsung Galaxy S2, Huawei Ascend P1. Daniel advises that more devices are on the way and provides instructions on how to flash the various devices.

https://daniel.holba.ch/blog/2013/08/want-to-try-ubuntu-touch-on-your-phone-were-almost-there

Daniel Holbach: Surprising stats

Daniel Holbach looks at the level of completion of translations of the packaging guide (or Ubuntu Development Guide) and provides a breakdown of completion and unreviewed translations by language. Daniel thanks all the translators for their hard work and points experienced team members to the languages that have unreviewed strings that need reviewing.

https://daniel.holba.ch/blog/2013/08/surprising-stats/

Other Community News

XMir news!

Kevin Gunn writes that Xmir has landed in the default repository for Saucy Salamander and that the final components needed for turning on XMir is the unity-system-compositor (u-s-c). Kevin looks at the next steps for u-s-c to become the default in Ubuntu 13.10, tells us what features have been enabled, and what features are still being worked on.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2013-August/037572.html

Canonical News

UbuntuKylin steals the show at OCOW Summit

John Melamut writes that UbuntuKylin was awarded the Number 1 China Open Source Project for the year at the eighth Open Source China – Open Source World Summit in June and adds that Mark Shuttleworth delivered a keynote to introduce Ubuntu and Ubuntu Touch to attendees.

http://blog.canonical.com/2013/08/06/ubuntukylin-steals-the-show-at-ocow-summit/

In The Press

In Pictures: Ubuntu Touch starts getting real

Galen Grumen of ARN writes that latest beta of Ubuntu Touch shows the outlines of a possible winner. Galen provides a slide show of the various screens and concludes, "It's well thought out, nicely designed, and should appeal to users for whom iPhone and Android devices are overkill, where apps are not that important, but lightweight services are."

http://www.arnnet.com.au/slideshow/522886/pictures_ubuntu_touch_starts_getting_real/

Why the Ubuntu Edge is a success, even if it never exists

Nick Statt of CNET writes that Ubuntu Edge may fail to meet its record crowdfunding goal of $32 million as the Edge has seen its support slow to a trickle and that if it does fail, Mark Shuttleworth and the Canonical team will still have plenty of work as Mark Shuttleworth wants the community he's created to be a part of what he sees as the next big mobile jump.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1035_3-57597208-94/why-the-ubuntu-edge-is-a-success-even-if-it-never-exists/

Ubuntu Edge Smartphone Unlikely To Enter Production

Leo Xavier of Mobile Mag writes that when Canonical’s Ubuntu Edge ‘super-phone’ had a flying start raising around $3,250,000 within a day after the project was launched people thought that the 30 day limit to achieve their funding goal of $32,000,000 was more than enough. He compares the specifications of Ubuntu Edge, Apple iPhone 5 and Samsung Galaxy S4 and asks his readers if they are going to back the Ubuntu Edge campaign, or if they feel that too much is being asked for the hardware.

http://www.mobilemag.com/2013/08/08/ubuntu-edge-troubles/

Crowdfunded Ubuntu Phone Will Be A Big Success, Even If It Never Happens

Sharif Sakr of Forbes writes that Ubuntu Edge will pay off for both Shuttleworth and Bloomberg, regardless of whether it eventually gets the green light and concludes, "Shuttleworth may be disheartened if the Indiegogo campaign misses its target when it is forced to shut down in two weeks’ time, but logic suggests he should shrug it off and look at the upside."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/sharifsakr/2013/08/08/crowdfunded-ubuntu-phone-will-be-a-big-success-even-if-it-never-happens/

In The Blogosphere

Initial in-progress XMir support landed in Ubuntu 13.10

razvi of iloveubuntu writes that Ubuntu 13.10's latest regular updates include the first upload of Xmir and adds that the “exciting upload of the XMir patch announces an upcoming shift to Mir/XMir in the near future, thus enabling one of the most important pieces of the next-generation Ubuntu.”

http://iloveubuntu.net/initial-progress-xmir-support-landed-ubuntu-1310

Xubuntu 13.10 XMir ISO available for testing

Andrew of WebUpd8 writes that the Xubuntu team hasn't decided yet if they will switch to XMir or continue with X.org for the 13.10 release and says that before making the decision, it needs to be properly tested. Andrew provides a link to where an Xubuntu ISO running on Mir & XMir has been made available for download.

http://www.webupd8.org/2013/08/xubuntu-1310-xmir-iso-available-for.html

You may also want to check out the specs posted by Phoronix on this initial ISO: “The Performance Penalty Of Xfce/Xubuntu On XMir” http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=MTQyOTY

Solar-Powered Laptop Publishes Specs, Will Be Submersible

Joey-Elijah Sneddon of OMG! Ubuntu! writes that the Sol specifications have now been published and advises that there will be two configurations, one will be ‘submersible’ under water. Joey lists the specifications and starting prices of each version.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2013/08/sol-laptop-publishes-specs

Core Apps' Weather App updated with new features

razvi of iloveubuntu writes that the Weather App has been updated, adding numerous forecast data, implemented into an interesting handy flipped component. razvi also gives the terminal commands to install the application from an official PPA.

http://iloveubuntu.net/core-apps-weather-app-updated-new-features

Ubuntu Ohio - Burning Circle: Burning Circle Episode 125

"In this week's episode a Call To Arms is issued relative to testing the extra special Xubuntu Xmir live ISO image in non-virtualized environments as further discussed here. The Xubuntu team is facing a decision-making deadline of August 22nd as to what they're going to do relative to XMir. Also mentioned is the not-insignificant matter that UbuCon at Ohio Linux Fest 2013 shall be proceeding as we have secured enough speakers."

http://ohio.ubuntu-us.org/node/159

Ubuntu Podcast from the UK LoCo: S06E24 – Glengarry Glen Ubuntu

Alan Pope, Mark Johnson, Tony Whitmore, and Laura Cowen are back in Studio A with carrot cake, tea, and an interview in the twenty-fourth episode of Season Six of the Ubuntu Podcast from the UK LoCo Team!

In this week's show:

http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/2013/08/08/s06e24-glengarry-glen-ubuntu/

Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings

Upcoming Meetings and Events

For upcoming meetings and events please visit the calendars at fridge.ubuntu.com: http://fridge.ubuntu.com/calendars/

Updates and Security for 10.04, 12.04, 12.10 and 13.04

Security Updates

Ubuntu 10.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2015 (Server)

Ubuntu 12.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2017

Ubuntu 12.10 Updates

End of Life - April 2014

Ubuntu 13.04 Updates

Subscribe

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Archives

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

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:

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/get-involved

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.

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UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue329 (last edited 2013-08-12 20:53:09 by lyz)