Issue449


newspaper-icon41.jpg

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 449 for the week January 4 - 10, 2016.

In This Issue

  • Xenial Xerus Alpha 1 released!
  • Call for nominations for the Technical Board
  • Welcome New Members and Developers
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Bad Voltage Live in Los Angeles: Why You Should Be There
  • Mark Shuttleworth completes roster of SCALE 14X keynote speakers
  • 2nd half report of Ubuntu Korea Loco Team
  • LoCo Events

  • Kubuntu: Plasma 5.4.3 and Applications 15.08.3 for Kubuntu 15.10
  • Ubuntu Studio: Project Lead Vote Dates
  • Celebrating over 10 million Vagrant Ubuntu downloads
  • Ubuntustudio Wallpaper Contest
  • Ubuntu Cloud News
  • Canonical News
  • In The Blogosphere
  • Other Articles of Interest
  • Featured Audio and Video
  • Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security for 12.04, 14.04, 15.04 and 15.10
  • And much more!

General Community News

Xenial Xerus Alpha 1 released!

Walter Lapchynski, on behalf of the Ubuntu Release Team, announces the release of Xenial Xerus Alpha 1, advising the flavors participating in the release and from where further information can be found. He ends his announcement with: “A big thank you to the developers and testers for their efforts to pull together this Alpha release!“

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2016-January/001163.html

This news was also covered by blogs and news sites, the following is a selection from our editors:

Call for nominations for the Technical Board

Martin Pitt appeals to the community for nominations for candidates to sit on the Technical Board as the current two year term for existing members is now over. He tells us of the process to be followed, and that the shortlist, which will be put together by Mark Shuttleworth, will be voted on by those in the ~ubuntu-dev Launchpad group.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2016-January/001164.html

Welcome New Members and Developers

Aaron Honeycutt shares results from the Ubuntu Membership Board Meeting on 7 January 2016 when the board approved the following five new Ubuntu Members:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2016-January/002376.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (120666) +194 over last week
  • Critical (290) -12 over last week
  • Unconfirmed (59785) +27 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: incBrain (http://askubuntu.com/users/489133/incbrain), cl-netbox (http://askubuntu.com/users/260935/cl-netbox), A.B. (http://askubuntu.com/users/367165/a-b), Serg (http://askubuntu.com/users/295286/serg) and Martin Thornton (http://askubuntu.com/users/425479/martin-thornton)

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

LoCo News

Bad Voltage Live in Los Angeles: Why You Should Be There

Jono Bacon provides reasons why people should attend the “Bad Voltage Live” show on Friday, January 22nd at the upcoming Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE), where the UbuCon Summit is being held. He cites free entry (and beer), a fun show, various Linux and Ubuntu-themed prizes and the fact that it’s being held at SCALE.

http://www.jonobacon.org/2016/01/06/bad-voltage-live-in-los-angeles-why-you-should-be-there/

Jono follows up by requesting that folks provide answers for a quiz they are doing in the show: http://www.jonobacon.org/2016/01/08/we-need-your-answers/

Mark Shuttleworth completes roster of SCALE 14X keynote speakers

The Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) announces that Mark Shuttleworth will be the keynote speaker on Saturday, January 23rd in Pasadena. They report that it will be “on the topic of free software in the brave new world of the Internet of Things.”

https://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale/14x/mark-shuttleworth-completes-roster-scale-14x-keynote-speakers

2nd half report of Ubuntu Korea Loco Team

Jung-Min Kim reports on the accomplishments of the Ubuntu Korea LoCo Team for the 2nd half of 2015. He describes several seminars and study groups; an open source contests for students of Kook-Min University; and Cobuntu Config, an Ubuntu configuration for Korean users.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/loco-contacts/2016-January/007068.html

LoCo Events

The following LoCo team events are currently scheduled in the next two weeks:

Looking beyond the next two weeks? Visit the LoCo Team Portal to browse upcoming events around the world:

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

The Planet

Kubuntu: Plasma 5.4.3 and Applications 15.08.3 for Kubuntu 15.10

The Kubuntu Team shares news that just prior to the 15.10 release, developers were busy with workflows and documentation having little time for packaging. They explain that whilst many have asked for Plasma 5.5, the wait is almost over as devs are close to finishing the packages for 15.10. They advise from where packages for Plasma 5.4.3 & KDE apps 15.08.3 are now available.

http://www.kubuntu.org/news/plasma-5-4-3-and-applications-15-08-3-for-kubuntu-15-10/

Ubuntu Studio: Project Lead Vote Dates

The Ubuntu Studio team announces the dates for the new project lead vote which will be from 1st to 6th February. They say that new candidates will be accepted until 26th January, that only active contributors will be allowed to vote, and link to an earlier announcement which gives full details of who can be considered as candidates.

http://ubuntustudio.org/2016/01/project-lead-vote-dates/

Other Community News

Celebrating over 10 million Vagrant Ubuntu downloads

Jorge Castro tells us about Vagrant; a tool that allows devs to easily manage virtual machines on their laptop. Vagrant allows you to develop on your laptop using a different set of libraries to host-OS, such as those found in a server. He announces that the Vagrant images for Ubuntu are so popular it's passed the 10-million download mark. Links are provided for various boxes available, plus how to start vagrant.

http://insights.ubuntu.com/2016/01/05/celebrating-over-10-million-vagrant-ubuntu-downloads/

Ubuntustudio Wallpaper Contest

C.F. Howlett informs us that the Ubuntu Studio community will host a wallpaper design contest which is open to all digital artists, amateurs and Ubuntu Studio enthusiasts. He links to a wiki page which gives full details of the contest which will decide which wallpapers will be included in the forthcoming LTS release.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/community-announce/2016-January/000035.html

Ubuntu Cloud News

Canonical News

In The Blogosphere

Ubuntu MATE Spotted on a Raspberry Pi 2-Powered 4K DIY Magic Mirror

Marius Nestor of Softpedia writes about a digital mirror powered by a Raspberry Pi 2 running Ubuntu MATE, and a 39-inch 4K screen. He shares links to further photos and "the entire wonderful story of Raspberry Pi 4K Magic Mirror on Imgur."

http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-mate-spotted-on-a-raspberry-pi-2-powered-4k-diy-magic-mirror-gallery-498638.shtml

I Moved to Linux and It’s Even Better Than I Expected

Dan Gillmor, writing for Backchannel, explains his reasoning for moving to Linux from other operating systems, and why he likes it. He refers to the iPad Pro release as an “uh-oh” moment, and Windows 10 as having improved usability but privacy (spyware) concerns. Dan points out that Ubuntu is his distribution of choice, acknowledges that GNU/Linux won’t be for everyone but recommends the move to lots of folks.

https://medium.com/backchannel/i-moved-to-linux-and-it-s-even-better-than-i-expected-9f2dcac3f8fb#.vuq5dvk8w

Ubuntu Touch OTA-9 Gets New Unity 8, Indicator Network with VPN Editor Fixes, More

Marius Nestor, writing for Softpedia, tells us about new features to be found in the OTA-9 software update for Ubuntu Phone devices. Łukasz Zemczak revealed a new indicator-network, improvements to the VPN editor, fixes to the Web Browser app & updates to the Ubuntu keyboard (UITK 1.3). Further an improved version of Unity 8 UI & components, which include a new feature for in-car music playback. Custom tarballs will be available during the week with the final release of Ubuntu Touch OTA-9 scheduled for Jan 27, 2016.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-touch-ota-9-gets-new-unity-8-indicator-network-with-vpn-editor-fixes-more-498645.shtml

Ubuntu ‘Spyware’ Will Be Disabled In Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Joey-Elijah Sneddon of OMG! Ubuntu! informs us that Unity’s controversial online search feature is being disabled by default in the forthcoming Ubuntu release, 16.04 LTS. He looks back at some of the comments posted in 2012 and 2013, saying that in order to get online results various options need to be set but upgrades from previous Ubuntu versions will retain existing user preferences.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/01/ubuntu-online-search-feature-disabled-16-04

Ubuntu Community Team Q&A - 5th January 2016

Michael Hall and David Callé present the Ubuntu Community Team’s first Q&A session of 2016 in which they answer questions that are put to them on IRC.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i90EkWKybcQ

The Kubuntu Podcast team’s latest video is live

The Kubuntu Podcast team writes: “Learn about Kubuntu packaging and more.”

http://wire.kubuntu.org/?p=930

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 12.04, 14.04, 15.04 and 15.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 12.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2017

Ubuntu 14.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2019

Ubuntu 15.04 Updates

End of Life - January 2016

Ubuntu 15.10 Updates

End of Life - July 2016

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

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:

  • Elizabeth K. Joseph
  • Simon Quigley
  • Chris Guiver
  • Paul White
  • Walter Lapchynski
  • 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/

Or get involved with the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter team! We always need summary writers and editors, if you're interested, learn more at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Join

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 check http://community.ubuntu.com/help-information/ for more information on where to get help.

Except where otherwise noted, this issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 3.0 License CCL.png

UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue449 (last edited 2016-01-11 23:25:54 by lyz)