Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 47 for the week(s) June 24th - July 7th, 2007 features a two weeks of news packed into one great issue. Gutsy Gibbon 7.10 has passed the second alpha release, and is starting to look like we're going to have another amazing release. We have quiet some new members and LoCo teams joining us, an ambitious set of features announced for the next Launchpad milestones, and the security updates and bug stats you all have learned to love.

UWN Translations

• Deutsch - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue47/De

• Español - https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue47/Es

• Français - http://ubuntu-fr.org/lettre/lhu47.html

• Italiano - http://wiki.ubuntu-it.org/NewsletterItaliana

• Português - Start one! https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue47/Pt

In This Issue

• New MOTUs
• Welcome our newly approved members
• Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 2 Released

• Newly Approved LoCos

• New Launchpad Features in development
• Ubuntu in the News and Blogs
• Meetings and Events
• Security Updates

General Community News

MOTU

Richard Johnson and Chris Cheney joined the ranks of the MOTUs. Both bring lots of KDE experience. Richard worked a lot on Kubuntu and Chris will work on OpenOffice.org

Newly Approved Members

• Aruther Loiret is active packaging and is one of the maintainers of Medibuntu. He has been helping review the work of new packagers and working translating Ubunt documention to French. Arthur plans on being a MOTU in the future. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArthurLoiret

• Mathieu Rousseau is a French team administrator and maintains the French documentation for ubuntu-ppc. He is actively involved in #ubuntu-fr-classroom which teaches packaging and everything related to Ubuntu and OSS. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MathieuRousseau

• John Crawford is the team leader of the Ubuntu Arizona LoCo. He is an Ubuntu US Team Mentor and started the Arizona Team Newsletter. John plans to refine and develop the structure and goals of the Arizona Team and help it become an approved LoCo. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Johnc4510

• Jacob Peddicord created the LoCo Support System as a module for Drupal that enables LoCo teams to easily integrate a callback-based support system into their websites. He the leader of the Unanswered Posts Team on the Ubuntu Forums and an active member of the Ohio LoCo. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JacobPeddicord

• Joe Terranova is the team leader of the New Jersey LoCo. He has given several presentations and been involved in install fests. Joe plans on helping get the New Jersey team approved in the near future. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JoeTerranova

• Chris Cheney is an employee of Canonical. He maintains various packages for KDE in Debian and is the new Ubuntu OpenOffice maintainer. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ChrisCheney

New in Gutsy Gibbon

Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 2 Released

Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 2 is the second alpha release of Ubuntu 7.10, and with this new alpha release comes a whole host of excellent new features.

GNOME 2.19.4

Barrelling towards GNOME 2.20 - planned right before the final Ubuntu 7.10 - Tribe 2 provides the GNOME unstable branch for testing and perfecting.

Gnash

The long awaited free flash implementation currently being developed by GNU just got easier to install. Simply follow the instructions on this email: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel/2007-June/023825.html Gnash features better security, ability to play youtube and other flash videos, and is mostly SWF 7 compliant with v8 and v9 soon to come.

XDG-user-directories

Creates a standard set of default directories in your home folder that users and applications can utilize to make user experience more consistent and convenient across sessions, and avoid file cluttering.

Firefox 3 Alpha

For users looking to experience the cutting edge in browser technology, "Gran Paradiso" (alpha release of firefox 3) is now available from the universe repository.

Compiz Fusion

Compiz Fusion is enabled by default and will bring 3D desktop visual effects that improve the usability and visual appeal of the system. The Gutsy Gibbon automatically detects whether the hardware is capable of running compiz; if not, it falls back to the "metacity" window manager. Additional effects can be enabled in "System/Preferences/Apperance" under the "Desktop Effects" tab.

Improved Restricted Manager

restricted-manager can now handle drivers which are free in themselves but which require non-free firmware. In particular, it can now fetch and install firmware for the bcm43xx driver (for Broadcom wireless cards) - with just three clicks by the user.

Crash Reporting

Apport has been re-enabled by default for this Tribe, so that crashes will again be reported and (if the user agrees) sent to the bug tracking system. The bug reprocessing machinery now attempts to detect multiple reports of the same bug and marks these as such automatically.

Download Tribe 2

ISOs and torrents are available at:

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/gutsy/tribe-2/ (Ubuntu)

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/gutsy/tribe-2/ (Kubuntu)

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/gutsy/tribe-2/ (Edubuntu)

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/gutsy/tribe-2/ (Xubuntu)

See the announcement: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2007-June/000311.html

UbuntuStats Project

The Ubuntu Live Stats project (http://ubuntustats.com/) has been launched in beta phase by Martin Albisetti and Felipe Lerena, from the Ubuntu Marketing Team. The project currently shows in a very "web 2.0" way much of the activity going on all the time in the Ubuntu world. It now features 2 different ways to visualize activity, personalization of the feeds, and has many new features in development. You can request for new features via Launchpad: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu-stats/

LoCo News

Newly Approved LoCos

• The Serbian Team has close to 1000 members. Articles written by the team have appeared in several magazines and a member was on a TV show with national coverage and gave away CDs to the audience. The team has held an install fest and participated in the Free Software Network Serbia festival. 85 members of the team are also part of the Serbian translation team. The forum is very active and has been successful in attracting new users and supporting them. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/SerbianTeam

• The Brazilian Team was started two and half years ago. Since then, the team has grown to over 150 members and has 16 Ubuntu members. There are 16 regional teams that cover different states and provide local support by holding install fests, FLOSS events, and discussion meetings. The Brazilian Documentation Team creates new documentation in Portuguese and organizes the Ubuntu Brazilian Wiki. With over 30 bloggers, the Planet Ubuntu Brazil provides Ubuntu news, tips and tricks, and promotes Ubuntu to new users. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BrazilianTeam

• The US-Pennsylvania LoCo Team has recently held and install fest with a local LUG and their own install fest, while working with non-profits to help underprivileged people benefit from technology and free software. The team is working on participating in Free Software Day by providing a speaker and demonstrations.https://wiki.ubuntu.com/PennsylvaniaTeam

Launchpad News

Coming Features

A set of features have been announced for the next two Launchpad milestones:

General Launchpad

• Launchpad users will be able to close their accounts themselves.
• Frequent contributors to a project will be represented by a new icon to help other Launchpad users judge their experience level within that project.
• Trusted project members will be indicated by a badge next to their name, if selected by the project's owners.

Answer Tracker

• Frequently asked questions occur in every project. A new feature in the Answer Tracker will help users to find the best answer to a project's most commonly asked questions. Answer contacts will be able to identify FAQ and provide the canonical answer, meaning that users can get straight to the information they need. FAQ will be searchable in their own right and will also be offered as a possible answer when a user asks a matching question.
• Question attachments will allow people to post screenshots and log files that describe their problem.

Blueprint Tracker

• Adding a dependency will now be easier, especially for projects with large numbers of blueprints.
• When registering a new blueprint, you'll be able to propose a sprint at which to discuss it. The sprint will be automatically populated if you register the blueprint from a sprint page.

• Project group pages will have a Register blueprint link.

Bug Tracker

• Support for upstreams who don't have bug trackers will enable users to send bugs upstream by sending an email from within Launchpad.
• Importing Debian bugs: and having them searchable from within Launchpad will make life easier for the Ubuntu team. Each day, Launchpad will import any new bugs and update previously imported bugs, bringing in as much information as possible.
• Soon, you'll be able add bug tags by email.

• Old Incomplete/Needs Info bugs will expire automatically.

Code Hosting

• Code Hosting will use the Bazaar Smart Server.
• Server-side branching will make it much quicker to create a new Launchpad-hosted branch of a branch already hosted on Launchpad.

Translations

• Separate import queues for products and distributions will make it easier for maintainers and translation administrators to track the status of imports.
• Translation credit strings will automatically credit both the Launchpad translators and any upstream translators.
• A new "Closed" translation mode will help upstreams who want to pre-approve everyone who does any work on their translations, including making suggestions. The previous "Closed" mode will be renamed "Restricted".
• A single download of all a project's translations files will be especially useful to projects with several translation templates.
• Searchable translations will make it easier for translators to find where a string has already been similarly translated.

Announced at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/launchpad-users/2007-June/001664.html

In The News

• Andy Ihnatko, at the Chicago Sun-Times, thinks folks should "try the free (free free free) Linux OS at some point in your life." Andy describes what Linux is, saying "spending $400 for legit copies of Windows and commercial apps can be overkill." Ubuntu is Andy's favorite distro and he likes the huge, active support forum at ubuntuforums.org. The ease of installing restricted drivers with Synaptic is discussed along with trying Live CDs. Read the full article at http://www.suntimes.com/technology/ihnatko/437301,CST-FIN-Andy21.article

• The Times of India talks about installation, features, virus threats, and multimedia options of Kubuntu. Once getting a CD from Ship It and experiencing Kubuntu, "the world of your old OS will look increasingly bad, increasingly archaic, and a environment that makes living life hard." Katapult and AdeptManager are mentioned as "nifty features" and help users avoid viruses, Trojans, and dangerous code. Amarok is described as a limitless music player that "is in a different league by itself." Read the full article at http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/City_Supplements/Bombay_Times/Time_for_a_switch_/articleshow/2162152.cms

• Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, at DesktopLinux.com, writes that Dell is making Ubuntu available on more computers, specifically the Inspiron 1420 laptop and Inspiron 530 desktop. The base 1420 comes with a 1.5Ghz Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 80GB hard drive, and 1GB of memory, along with a 14.1 inch widescreen display. The laptop will also be available in various colors like Midnight Blue, Espresso Brown, and Flamingo Pink and is priced at $774 USD. The 530 is a mini-tower that will include an Intel 1.6Ghz dual-core processor, 160GB hard drive, and 512MB of RAM. A 17 inch LCD monitor is included in the $449 base price. Read the full article at http://www.desktoplinux.com/news/NS6756576859.html

• Mike Butcher, at Telegraph, discusses ways of running his laptop for free. Linux was the obvious choice and "one of the simplest to use is Ubuntu." He thinks the UI is a combination of Microsoft and Apple operating systems, "but it has an intuitive interface and comes bundled with essentials such as a word processor, spreadsheet application and presentation software, and is fully compatible with Microsoft document formats for viewing and editing." Since Ubuntu is open source, "with an active developer community, people are always collaborating on programs and techniques that will allow you to run as many gadgets as possible." Read the full article at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/connected/main.jhtml?xml=/connected/2007/07/07/dlfree07.xml

• Rodney Gedda, at Network World, writes about Mark Shuttleworth's keynote address at the aKademy KDE conference in Glasgow, Scotland. Mark suggests "KDE move to a more predictable, preferably six-month, release schedule." While the KDE project is committed to the six-month release cycle, Mark's comments has prompted an on going discussion within the KDE community. Rodney says Ubuntu "has become renowned for delivering a new version of its operating system every six months, a schedule which resulted in a lot of publicity for it in April with the release of 7.04." Read the full article at http://www.networkworld.com/news/2007/070307-joint-releases-to-jolt-open.html

• Richard Hillesly, at ITPRo, speaks with Mark Shuttleworth about the future for Ubuntu and Linux as a platform. A background of Ubuntu is provided, describing Mark's plan to "promote education and the use of free software in his native South Africa." Mark describes how the use of Ubuntu progresses through organizations, like starting on developer machines and then migrating the infrastructure of production systems. Joost, which distributes television content over the Web using P2P technology, "employs 150 developers and uses Ubuntu as both the developer and server platform for its media distribution infrastructure." Read the full article at http://www.itpro.co.uk/features/118738/is-ubuntu-the-way-forward-for-linux.html

In The Blogosphere

• On the Dell blog, Lionel Menchaca says that Dell has confirmed plans to offer Linux outside of the United States. More details will be released later this summer. Dell is also considering selling Linux to small business customers. The blog also details the new Inspiron machines that will have Ubuntu pre-loaded.Read more at http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/06/27/19470.aspx

• Jason Klee, at tech.blorge.com, asks if Ubuntu Linux really ready for the big time. While many think that Linux is too complex for the average user, "Dell's involvement, however, much of the learning curve has been reduced or eliminated." The Dell computers work well out of the box and users will never have to go through the installation process themselves. Vista's new design may seem impressive, but Beryl challenges those notions. Jason provides links to YouTube and Google videos showing Beryl in action. To the original question he poses, "the answer is a resounding YES, Yes it is!" Read more at http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/07/06/is-ubuntu-linux-really-ready-for-the-big-time/

• Sheehan Alam describes his reasons for choosing Ubuntu over Vista. Ubuntu performs well on existing hardware and provides many applications after a new installation. The ability to batch install many applications from the repositories using a package manager is superior to downloading applications off the Internet. The lack of viruses and spyware frees up the computer since no scanning software is needed. A six month release cycle for improved features is better compared to the Microsoft timetable. Read more at http://sheehantu.wordpress.com/2007/07/06/9-reasons-why-i-choose-ubuntu-over-windows/

Meetings and Events

Monday, July 9, 2007

REVU Day

• Start: 00:00
• End: 23:59
• Location: #ubuntu-motu

Tuesday, July 10, 2007

Kernel Team Meeting

• Start: 15:00
• End: 16:00
• Location: #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KernelTeam/Meeting

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

Edubuntu Meeting

• Start: 12:00
• End: 14:00
• Location: #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.edubuntu.org/EdubuntuMeetingAgenda

Thursday, July 12, 2007

MOTU Q&A

• Start: 00:00
• Location: #ubuntu-motu

MOTU Q&A

• Start: 12:00
• End: 13:00
• Location: #ubuntu-motu

Ubuntu Development Team Meeting

• Start: 15:00
• End: 17:00
• Location: #ubuntu-meeting

Saturday, July 14, 2007

MOTU Team Meeting

• Start: 00:00
• End: 02:00
• Location: #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MOTU/Meetings

Xubuntu Developers Meeting

• Start: 17:00
• End: 19:00
• Location: #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/Meetings

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Ubuntu Server Team meeting

• Start: 15:00
• End: 16:00
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/Meeting

Technical Board Meeting

• Start: 19:00
• End: 21:00
• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting

• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/TechnicalBoardAgenda

Updates and security for 6.06, 6.10, and 7.04

Security Updates

• USN-480-1: Gimp vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-480-1

• USN-479-1: MadWifi vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-479-1

• USN-478-1: libexif vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-478-1

• USN-477-1: krb5 vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-477-1

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates

• krb5 1.4.3-5ubuntu0.4 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-June/012441.html

• libexif 0.6.12-2ubuntu0.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-June/012442.html

• linux-restricted-modules-2.6.15 2.6.15.12-28.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-June/012443.html

• kvirc 2:3.2.0-5ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-July/012444.html

• gimp 2.2.11-1ubuntu3.3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-July/012445.html

• iptables 1.3.3-2ubuntu4.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/dapper-changes/2007-July/012446.html

Ubuntu 6.10 Updates

• krb5 1.4.3-9ubuntu1.3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-June/008349.html

• libexif 0.6.13-4ubuntu0.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-June/008350.html

• linux-restricted-modules-2.6.17 2.6.17.8-11.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-June/008351.html

• kvirc 2:3.2.4-3ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-July/008352.html

• gimp 2.2.13-1ubuntu3.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-July/008353.html

• iptables 1.3.5.0debian1-1ubuntu2.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/edgy-changes/2007-July/008354.html

Ubuntu 7.04 Updates

• krb5 1.4.4-5ubuntu3.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-June/008641.html

• libexif 0.6.13-5ubuntu0.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-June/008642.html

• linux-restricted-modules-2.6.20 2.6.20.5-16.29 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-June/008643.html

• python-fam 1.1.1-2.1ubuntu0.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-June/008644.html

• nautilus-cd-burner 2.18.1-0ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-June/008645.html

• kvirc 2:3.2.4-5ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-July/008646.html

• gimp 2.2.13-1ubuntu4.2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-July/008647.html

• iptables 1.3.6.0debian1-5ubuntu2.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-July/008648.html

• gnochm 0.9.9-0ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/feisty-changes/2007-July/008649.html

Bug Stats

• Open (30365) +231 # over last week
• Critical (23) -5 # over last week
• Unconfirmed (14983) +59 # over last week
• Unassigned (22602) +113 # over last week
• All bugs ever reported (107823) +1175 # over last week

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

Check out the bug statistics: http://people.ubuntu-in.org/~carthik/bugstats/

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:

• http://www.ubuntu.com/news

and

• http://fridge.ubuntu.com/

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

See you next week!

Credits

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

• Nick Ali
• Martin Albisetti
• And many others

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Feedback

If you would like to submit an idea or story you think is worth appearing on the UWN, please send them to ubuntu-marketing-submissions@lists.ubuntu.com. This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Marketing Team. Please feel free to contact us regarding any concerns or suggestions by either sending an email to ubuntu-marketing@lists.ubuntu.com or by using any of the other methods on the Ubuntu Marketing Team Contact Information Page (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MarketingTeam). 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 then ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com.