Issue494


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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 494 for the week January 2 - 8, 2017.

In This Issue

  • Ubuntu Stats
  • LoCo Events

  • Ted Gould: Inkscape Snap
  • Ted Gould: Snapping Unity8
  • Kubuntu General News: Plasma 5.8.5 bugfix release in Xenial and Yakkety Backports now
  • Leo Arias: Call for testing: IPFS
  • Canonical News
  • In The Blogosphere
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security for 12.04, 14.04, 16.04 and 16.10
  • And much more!

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (128048) +93 over last week
  • Critical (413) +6 over last week
  • Unconfirmed (63597) +66 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

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

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

Ted Gould: Inkscape Snap

Ted Gould writes that a new version of Inkscape, 0.92, has been released and that a snap package is available. Ted gives us some details on the benefits of snaps, and how they were produced for Inkscape.

http://gould.cx/ted/blog/2017/01/04/Inkscape-Snap/

Ted Gould: Snapping Unity8

Ted Gould further writes about snapping up Unity8 which has been in the works for some time. He gives us the history, benefits and status of where the process stands today and includes a screenshot of the Unity8 desktop in his article.

http://gould.cx/ted/blog/2017/01/05/Snapping-Unity8/

Kubuntu General News: Plasma 5.8.5 bugfix release in Xenial and Yakkety Backports now

The Kubuntu team announces the release of Plasma 5.8.5 with bug-fixes and translations. They say to update and use the release, the Kubuntu Backports PPA should be used. The team link to instruction on how to use PPAs with Kubuntu.

http://www.kubuntu.org/news/plasma-5-8-5-bugfix-release-in-xenial-and-yakkety-backports-now/

Leo Arias: Call for testing: IPFS

Leo Arias wishes everyone Happy New Year, and makes a call-out for testers of IPFS (peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol) candidate snap. He links to a video on the IPFS website, and also to a guide to testing, summaries of testing days, and the commands needed to test for those that would like to know more.

http://elopio.net/blog/call-for-testing-ipfs/

Canonical News

In The Blogosphere

Watch This Terrifying 13ft Robot Walk, Assisted by Ubuntu

Joey Sneddon of OMG! Ubuntu! shares a video and talks about the first manned robot's first steps. He says that the "robot-powered suit" responds and mimics the actions of the person in the cockpit, standing 13 feet tall. Joey adds that there is no suggestion of the robot itself running Ubuntu but is clearly visible being used to monitor and debug the robot.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/01/method-2-giant-ubuntu

Nexus 5 Compatible With Ubuntu Phones as of Ubport

Christopher McCandles of gigjets.com reports that Ubuntu Touch fans now have voice support working on the Fairphone 2 port and that new changes can be found on Ubport's system image server. He says that the operating system can be installed on the Nexus 5 or Fairphone 2 via the devel_rc-proposed channel but notes that it is still a daily build and will likely contain bugs and constant updates.

http://gigjets.com/01/nexus-5-compatible-with-ubuntu-phones-as-of-ubport/

Canonical Clarifies Ubuntu Phone State: Nothing Really Until Snap-Based Image Ready

Michael Larabel, writing for Phoronix, informs us that there isn't going to be any Ubuntu Phone releases or major OTA updates until Snap-based images are ready. He reports on Canonical's Pat McGowan's responses to questions from Ubuntu Phone users, providing a summary of what Pat said: no plan for OTA-15, Click-based on its way out but security updates still provided for important components. Michael shares a link to Pat's comments on the ubuntu-phone mailing list.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-Phone-Snap-Hold

uNav 0.64 Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation App Now Available for Ubuntu Phones

Marius Nestor of Softpedia reports on the latest from developer Marcos Costales’ uNav which is now at version 0.64. He lists the improvements in this relatively minor release, including: “centering on POI (Point of Interest) in search instead of in an area, correct roundabout of arrow directions for some countries, and Breton voice support.”

http://news.softpedia.com/news/unav-0-64-turn-by-turn-gps-navigation-app-now-available-for-ubuntu-phones-511576.shtml

Debian vs. Ubuntu

Bruce Byfield of Datamation tells us that Debian and Ubuntu have been in the top three Linux distributions on Distrowatch for the last four years, and the top six since 2005. After giving us a short history of Ubuntu, Bruce compares Debian and Ubuntu, looking at Installation, Desktops, Admin and Package Management, Governance and Community in turn and finally Making a Choice.

http://www.datamation.com/open-source/debian-vs.-ubuntu.html

Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 to Be Based on the GNOME 3.22 Stack, Now Ships Linux 4.9

Marius Nestor, writing for Softpedia, looks forward to the next alpha build of Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 based on the GNOME 3.22 stack. He says that both Flatpak and Snap support are offered out of the box and that his impression of Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 was good. Marius includes a number of links in his article including one to download the 17.04 daily build, release notes etc.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-gnome-17-04-to-be-based-on-the-gnome-3-22-stack-ship-with-linux-4-9-511570.shtml

Review: Dell’s new Kaby Lake XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop amazes

Bryan Lunduke of Network World reviews the new Kaby Lake XPS 13 developer edition laptop which ships with Ubuntu 16.04. He makes note of the 10% price drop, but that it's still not cheap laptop, the 13" 3200x1800 screen, a i7-7500U processor, 16GB of RAM and the 512GB SSD drive.

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3155261/linux/review-dells-new-kaby-lake-xps-13-developer-edition-laptop-amazes.html

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, 16.04 and 16.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 12.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2017

Ubuntu 14.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2019

Ubuntu 16.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2021

Ubuntu 16.10 Updates

End of Life - July 2017

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Archives

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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:

  • Elizabeth K. Joseph
  • Chris Guiver
  • Paul White
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

Other acronyms can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary

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Feedback

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UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue494 (last edited 2017-01-10 16:01:32 by lyz)