Issue401


Contents

  1. In This Issue
  2. General Community News
    1. Vivid Vervet Alpha 2 Released
    2. Ubuntu Core on Internet Things
    3. Vacant Developer Membership Board seats: Call for nominations
  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: Ubuntu Global Jam 15.04 Plans
    2. San Francisco Ubuntu Global Jam at Gandi.net on Sunday February 8th
    3. Ubuntu LoCo Team Global Jam Packs
  5. LoCo Events
  6. Ubuntu Cloud News
    1. Mojo: Juju Service Orchestration distilled part 2
  7. The Planet
    1. Martin Pitt: Snappy package for Robot Operating System tutorial
    2. James Page: Call for Testing: Ubuntu OpenStack Kilo-1 development milestone
    3. Dustin Kirkland: Snappy Ubuntu for Devices -- The Year of the Linux Countertop!
    4. Riccardo Padovani: Ubuntu Phone Glimpse: Aggregated Scopes
    5. Stuart Langridge: Live screencasting from Ubuntu phone
    6. James Page: Extreme OpenStack: Scale testing OpenStack Messaging
    7. Xubuntu: Help the Community with testing and win Xubuntu stickers
    8. Didier Roche: Bringing appmenu support for java application and Ubuntu Make 0.4.1 with an Intellij IDEA fix
    9. Ali Jawad: StartUbuntu needs new driver
    10. Dustin Kirkland: snappy vs.apt-get Ubuntu Matrix
    11. Ian Weisser: Is your team using Find-a-Task?
    12. Riccardo Padovani: Calculator Reboot 2.0.73: call for translations!
    13. Lubuntu Blog: Vivid Alpha 2 ready, so time to work towards Beta 1
    14. Pasi Lallinaho: Find-a-Task, quickly!
    15. Nicholas Skaggs: It's time for a testing jam!
    16. Elizabeth K. Joseph: Remembering Eric P. Scott (eps)
    17. Pasi Lallinaho: Simple desktops with Xubuntu
  8. Other Community News
    1. Interview with Charles of the Ubuntu Community Council
  9. In The Press
    1. Meizu m1 mini to come in Ubuntu flavour claim latest leaks
  10. In The Blogosphere
    1. Awesome Stuff: Ubuntu Phone Aggregator Scopes
    2. Ubuntu on Mars
    3. Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet Alpha 2 Released
    4. Intel's Education Content Access Point for Schools Runs Ubuntu
  11. Other Articles of Interest
  12. Featured Audio and Video
    1. Ubuntu Community Q&A - 20th January 2015
    2. Ubuntu Engineering Live! - 21st January 2015
    3. Planning the next Ubuntu Global Jam - 21st January 2015
  13. Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
  14. Upcoming Meetings and Events
  15. Updates and Security for 10.04, 12.04, 14.04 and 14.10
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 10.04 Updates
    3. Ubuntu 12.04 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 14.04 Updates
    5. Ubuntu 14.10 Updates
  16. Subscribe
  17. Archives
  18. Additional Ubuntu News
  19. Conclusion
  20. Credits
  21. Glossary of Terms
  22. Ubuntu - Get Involved
  23. Feedback

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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 401 for the week January 19 - 25, 2015.

In This Issue

  • Vivid Vervet Alpha 2 Released
  • Ubuntu Core on Internet Things
  • Vacant Developer Membership Board seats: Call for nominations
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Ubuntu Ohio: Ubuntu Global Jam 15.04 Plans
  • San Francisco Ubuntu Global Jam at Gandi.net on Sunday February 8th
  • Ubuntu LoCo Team Global Jam Packs

  • LoCo Events

  • Mojo: Juju Service Orchestration distilled part 2
  • James Page: Call for Testing: Ubuntu OpenStack Kilo-1 development milestone

  • Riccardo Padovani: Ubuntu Phone Glimpse: Aggregated Scopes
  • Stuart Langridge: Live screencasting from Ubuntu phone
  • Xubuntu: Help the Community with testing and win Xubuntu stickers
  • Ali Jawad: StartUbuntu needs new driver

  • Dustin Kirkland: snappy vs.apt-get Ubuntu Matrix
  • Ian Weisser: Is your team using Find-a-Task?
  • Nicholas Skaggs: It's time for a testing jam!
  • Elizabeth K. Joseph: Remembering Eric P. Scott (eps)
  • Pasi Lallinaho: Simple desktops with Xubuntu
  • Interview with Charles of the Ubuntu Community Council
  • Meizu m1 mini to come in Ubuntu flavour claim latest leaks
  • In The Blogosphere
  • Other Articles of Interest
  • Featured Audio and Video
  • Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security for 10.04, 12.04, 14.04 and 14.10
  • And much more!

General Community News

Vivid Vervet Alpha 2 Released

Walter Lapchynski, on behalf of the Ubuntu release team, announces the release of the second alpha of the Vivid Vervet (which is to to become 15.04). He informs us of the flavors that took part in the release and from where the images can be downloaded.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2015-January/001122.html

This final alpha release was also covered by several outlets, the following is a sampling from our editors:

Ubuntu Core on Internet Things

Canonical announces the release of Snappy Ubuntu Core on smart devices which delivers "bullet-proof security" and reliable updates. They say that it brings the developer’s favorite cloud platform to a wide range of internet things, connected devices and autonomous machines. Canonical also advises that the Snappy Ubuntu Core partner ecosystem has also launched with 22 partners, they list the minimum specification for installation, and link to installation instructions.

https://insights.ubuntu.com/2015/01/20/ubuntu-core-on-internet-things/

Mark Shuttleworth has also weighed in on this new development, read his post “Smart things powered by snappy Ubuntu Core on ARM and x86” here: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/1445

Finally, there has been a lot of coverage about this in the press and blogosphere, the following are a collection from our editors:

Vacant Developer Membership Board seats: Call for nominations

Iain Lane informs us that there will soon be four vacant Developer Membership Board seats and makes a call for nominations. He tells us of the board members responsibilities, the qualifications of those that can be nominated and details of the nomination process.

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/2015/01/19/vacant-developer-membership-board-seats-call-for-nominations/

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (116688) +53 over last week
  • Critical (270) no change over last week
  • Unconfirmed (57863) +5 over last week

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: Rinzwind (http://askubuntu.com/users/15811/rinzwind), muru (http://askubuntu.com/users/158442/muru), Vladimir Kovalchuk (http://askubuntu.com/users/348458/vladimir-kovalchuk), Luis Alvarado (http://askubuntu.com/users/7035/luis-alvarado) and user244986 (http://askubuntu.com/users/244986/user244986)

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

LoCo News

Ubuntu Ohio: Ubuntu Global Jam 15.04 Plans

Svetlana Belkin writes that the Ubuntu Ohio LoCo will be hosting it’s Global Jam meeting on February 7th at 1PM EST. She says that the event will be on IRC in #ubuntu-us-oh and will focus on systemd testing, package QA, and bug confirmation.

http://ubuntusense.com/2015/01/18/ubuntu-ohio-ubuntu-global-jam-15-04-plans/

San Francisco Ubuntu Global Jam at Gandi.net on Sunday February 8th

Elizabeth Krumbach Joseph writes that the Global Jam for the Ubuntu California team will be held at the Gandhi.net office on February 8th at Noon. She says that the focus will be QA testing for Xubuntu and packaging for the Vivid Vervet release in April, no Testing or QA experience is required, and food will be served. A limited number of laptops will be provided for participants who are unable to bring their own hardware.

http://princessleia.com/journal/?p=10090

Ubuntu LoCo Team Global Jam Packs

Michael Hall announces that any LoCo hosting an in-person global jam is eligible for Ubuntu promotional material like pens, DVDs, stickers, and t-shirts. He requests that anyone who may experience long customs delays wait until the next Global Jam to request their promotional material.

http://mhall119.com/2015/01/ubuntu-loco-team-global-jam-packs/

LoCo Events

Want to learn whether there is an event upcoming in your area? Visit the LoCo Team Portal to browse upcoming events around the world:

http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/

Ubuntu Cloud News

Mojo: Juju Service Orchestration distilled part 2

In the second part of the series, Tom Haddon looks at Mojo, a system of configuration and tools for verifying the success of Juju environment deployments. He looks at Mojo manifests, how “stages” can be used to vary deployments in different environments, how Mojo can be used with Jenkins to provide CI, and how it can be used to run service updates on existing Juju environments

https://insights.ubuntu.com/2015/01/20/mojo-juju-service-orchestration-distilled-part-2/

The Planet

Martin Pitt: Snappy package for Robot Operating System tutorial

Martin Pitt announces the availability of the Robot Operating System(ROS) tutorial as a Snappy package, allowing ROS users to get a taste for how it works with Snappy packaging. He also describes the process for building and installing the package, as well as how to work around some potential errors.

http://www.piware.de/2015/01/snappy-package-for-robot-operating-system-tutorial/

James Page: Call for Testing: Ubuntu OpenStack Kilo-1 development milestone

James Page, on behalf of the Ubuntu Server Team, announces the availability of the first development milestone of the OpenStack Kilo release in Ubuntu 15.04 and for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS via the Ubuntu Cloud Archive. He tells us how to enable the archive and how to report bugs to Launchpad.

https://javacruft.wordpress.com/2015/01/20/ubuntu-openstack-kilo-1/

Dustin Kirkland: Snappy Ubuntu for Devices -- The Year of the Linux Countertop!

In a video presentation, Dustin Kirkland introduces “Snappy Ubuntu for Devices”, and walks through the process of setting it up on a BeagleBone Black from beginning to end. He describes some use cases for the new technology and lists the devices that it supports at launch.

http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2015/01/snappy-ubuntu-for-devices-year-of-linux.html

Riccardo Padovani: Ubuntu Phone Glimpse: Aggregated Scopes

Riccardo Padovani informs us that on 6th February he will be attending a Canonical event in London where the first Ubuntu Phones will be presented to the public. He describes the aggregated scopes which are the default scopes that are available, and which include Today, News, NearBy, Music, and Video.

http://www.rpadovani.com/ubuntu-phone-glimpse-aggregated-scopes

Stuart Langridge: Live screencasting from Ubuntu phone

Stuart Langridge publishes a blog post documenting the process for using mirscreencast to display the screen of a device running Mir on a remote system. The directions build off his previous technique for writing the output to a file on a remote system which helps decrease the number of dropped frames due to system load.

http://www.kryogenix.org/days/2015/01/21/live-screencasting-from-ubuntu-phone/

James Page: Extreme OpenStack: Scale testing OpenStack Messaging

James Page shares his experience testing and comparing how RabbitMQ and ZeroMQ perform in very large environments, and documents how their architectural differences affect their performance. He says that RabbitMQ was able to handle a higher number of messages than ZeroMQ, and “still remains the de facto choice for messaging in an Ubuntu OpenStack Cloud”

https://javacruft.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/extreme-openstack-scale-testing-openstack-messaging/

Xubuntu: Help the Community with testing and win Xubuntu stickers

The Xubuntu team explains how to help the Xubuntu Community with their manual testing and have the chance to win Xubuntu stickers. They advise that selected top testers per testing schedule will win Xubuntu sticker bundles from February through to April.

http://xubuntu.org/news/help-the-community-with-testing-and-win-xubuntu-stickers/

Didier Roche: Bringing appmenu support for java application and Ubuntu Make 0.4.1 with an Intellij IDEA fix

Didier Roche blogs about 0.4.1 release of Ubuntu Make, which now provides HUD and appmenu support for Java IDEs and fixes support for installing Intellij IDEA. He says that these fixes are available in the Ubuntu Make PPA for users running 14.04 or 14.10, and have been promoted into the Ubuntu Desktop image for users testing 15.04.

http://blog.didrocks.fr/post/Bringing-appmenu-support-for-java-application-and-Ubuntu-Make-0.4.1-with-an-Intellij-IDEA-fix

Ali Jawad: StartUbuntu needs new driver

Ali Jawad informs us that he is stepping down from the StartUbuntu project and is looking for someone to take over from him. He says that he is willing to explain everything about the project that he founded but that he prefers his replacement to be from the StartUbuntu community.

http://amjjawad.net/startubuntu-needs-new-driver/

Ali followed up this post with another: Self Development - http://amjjawad.net/self-development/

Dustin Kirkland: snappy vs.apt-get Ubuntu Matrix

Dustin Kirkland publishes a matrix to help users identify which Ubuntu package technology is right for their use case, and follows up with an FAQ that provides additional information.

http://blog.dustinkirkland.com/2015/01/snappy-vs-apt-get-ubuntu-matrix.html

Ian Weisser: Is your team using Find-a-Task?

In this article, Ian Weisser asks if your team is using Ubuntu Community’s job board, Find-a-Task, a place where volunteers can discover and contribute to your project. He tells us of the process to get listed, and says that a Find-a-Task listing is fast and simple.

http://cheesehead-techblog.blogspot.com/2015/01/is-your-team-using-find-task.html

Riccardo Padovani: Calculator Reboot 2.0.73: call for translations!

Riccardo Padovani announces that Ubuntu Calculator App Reboot is in the store and asks that any bugs which are found be reported on Launchpad. He explains the new version number, reproduces the changelog and informs us that translations have been enabled. Riccardo says: "So, if you have some spare time, take a look to our translation page and make calculator available in your language!"

http://www.rpadovani.com/calculator-reboot-translations

Lubuntu Blog: Vivid Alpha 2 ready, so time to work towards Beta 1

The Lubuntu Team writes that in about a month's time Beta 1 will be available for testing and ask that bugs should be reported with clear repeatable steps so that they can be confirmed by Bug Control members. They say that without this work little can be done to guide developers who are also heavily focused on developing LXQt.

http://lubuntublog.blogspot.com/2015/01/vivid-alpha-2-ready-so-time-to-work.html

Pasi Lallinaho: Find-a-Task, quickly!

Pasi Lallinaho informs us that the Ubuntu community team has set up Find-a-Task, a tool that helps new contributors finds tasks to start working on, and that Xubuntu is included. He advises that the content is maintained in a private environment and that there is no easy way to see all the tasks but that he has written a script that outputs the full index of the tool.

http://open.knome.fi/2015/01/23/find-a-task-quickly/

Nicholas Skaggs: It's time for a testing jam!

Nicholas Skaggs writes his "officially unofficial guide to global jam success" suggesting that his readers hold a testing jam. He reminds us to share pictures afterwards, and says "No one will know you had the coolest jam in the world unless you tell them :-)"

http://www.theorangenotebook.com/2015/01/its-time-for-testing-jam.html

Elizabeth K. Joseph: Remembering Eric P. Scott (eps)

Elizabeth K. Joseph takes time to remember a long time member and contributor to the Ubuntu California team, Eric P. Scott (eps), who passed away this month. Of his work with the team she writes: “He also went beyond having ideas… once meeting at Costco to buy cookies and chips in bulk for an Ubuntu release party last spring, which he then helped me cart home on a bus! Sometimes after the monthly Ubuntu Hours, which he almost always attended, we’d go out to explore options for candy to include at booth events, with the amusing idea he also came up with: candy dishes that came together to form the Ubuntu logo.”

http://princessleia.com/journal/?p=10115

A nearby non-profit organization, Partimus, which puts Ubuntu-based computers into schools and community centers around San Francisco also celebrates Eric’s work in the community in their own post written by Christian Einfeldt: http://blog.partimus.org/?p=547

Pasi Lallinaho: Simple desktops with Xubuntu

Pasi Lallinaho writes about setting up simple and accessible desktops with Xubuntu. He discusses the panel and desktop setup, accessibility concerns, smooth user experience and manual maintenance needs. Finally, he asks everybody to share their ideas and suggestions for simple and accessible desktops.

http://open.knome.fi/2015/01/26/simple-desktops-xubuntu/

Other Community News

Interview with Charles of the Ubuntu Community Council

In the first of a series of seven interviews with community members that were elected to the Ubuntu Community Council in 2013, Charles Profitt talks about himself and his involvement with Ubuntu. He lists some of the projects that he has worked on with and says about getting involved with Ubuntu: "When you want to contribute to Ubuntu find an area you are passionate about and seek out any assistance you need to grow in that area."

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/2015/01/21/interview-with-charles-of-the-ubuntu-community-council/

In The Press

Meizu m1 mini to come in Ubuntu flavour claim latest leaks

Ying Hua of Gizchina.com refers to a post on Meizu News and writes: "The details posted in the images include a 5-inch display, 13 mega-pixel rear camera and Chinese retail price of just 799 Yuan. For us, and we imagine you also, the most interesting piece to take away from this is the claim that the Meizu m1 mini will get a choice of 3 operating systems." Ying says that the images claim users will have a choice of Flyme, YunOS and Ubuntu.

http://www.gizchina.com/2015/01/22/meizu-m1-mini-come-ubuntu-flavour-claim-latest-leaks/

In The Blogosphere

Awesome Stuff: Ubuntu Phone Aggregator Scopes

Joey-Elijah Sneddon of OMG! Ubuntu! writes about the default or Aggregator scopes that will ship with the first Ubuntu phone, i.e. the Today, NearBy, News, Music, Photo, and Video scopes. He says: "All sources within an Aggregator Scope expand to reveal additional content, interactive categories, preview widgets, file snippets, etc. The result is an app-like experience without the need for an app."

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2015/01/aggregator-scopes-ubuntu-phone

Ubuntu on Mars

Silviu Stahie informs us that Mars One is a project that aims to put people on the planet Mars by 2025, and that the project seems to be favoring Linux. Silviu speculates that as the project needs to cut spending it's very likely they may chose Ubuntu as it is the most used Linux system with round-the-clock-support.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-Could-Be-the-First-OS-on-MARS-470491.shtml

Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet Alpha 2 Released

Andrew of WebUpd8 writes that along with the official flavors, Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Alpha 2 has been released. He lists what is new in the release and illustrates the new themes with screenshots of the desktop.

http://www.webupd8.org/2015/01/ubuntu-mate-1504-vivid-vervet-alpha-2.html

Intel's Education Content Access Point for Schools Runs Ubuntu

Christopher Tozzi, The Var Guy, writes about a new product called the Intel Education Content Access Point, quoting Intel "an easy-to-use device that stores, manages, and publishes digital content for schools with low or intermittent connectivity. This comprehensive solution contains an access point plus content server." He notes that the device uses a version of Ubuntu 12.04 under the hood.

http://thevarguy.com/ubuntu/012515/intels-education-content-access-point-schools-runs-ubuntu

Ubuntu Community Q&A - 20th January 2015

Nicholas Skaggs is joined by Michael Hall and special guests Alexander Sack and Martin Albisetti for another Q&A Session. This week Snappy Core on Internet Things is discussed, and viewers questions, which are asked on IRC, are answered.

http://youtu.be/Q3dTJoIWRrw

Ubuntu Engineering Live! - 21st January 2015

Michael Hall introduces the first Ubuntu Engineering Live! session of 2015. He is joined by Alan Pope, Jorge Castro, Lukasz Zemczak and Will Cooke who update us with the work going into the desktop, phone and server. They also answer viewers questions put to them on IRC.

http://youtu.be/ppugBr51eiI

Planning the next Ubuntu Global Jam - 21st January 2015

Daniel Holbach introduces an Ubuntu-on-Air! session which deals with planning the next Ubuntu Global Jam. Daniel is joined by several members of the community team including David Planella, Nathan Haines, Michael Hall, José Antonio Rey and Alan Pope.

http://youtu.be/KsSZ81RNu0I

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, 14.04 and 14.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 10.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2015 (Server)

Ubuntu 12.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2017

Ubuntu 14.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2019

Ubuntu 14.10 Updates

End of Life - July 2015

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Additional Ubuntu News

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Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

See you next week!

Credits

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

  • Paul White
  • Elizabeth K. Joseph
  • Mary Frances Hull
  • Ian Nicholson
  • 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://community.ubuntu.com/contribute/

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Feedback

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UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue401 (last edited 2015-01-27 01:06:17 by lyz)