Issue93

Contents

  1. UWN Translations
  2. In This Issue
  3. General Community News
    1. More efficient membership approval process
    2. New Ubuntu Members
    3. LoCo Council Open for Business
    4. LinuxTag 2008
  4. Ubuntu Stats
    1. Bug Stats
    2. Translation Stats Hardy
  5. Launchpad News
    1. Launchpad 1.2.5: code branch reviews and translations search
    2. Launchpod episode 3: New Launchpad Release and Terminator
  6. Ubuntu Forums News
    1. Ubuntu Forums Interviews
    2. Tutorial of the Week
  7. In The Press
  8. In The Blogosphere
  9. In Other News
    1. Ubuntu UK Podcast:Episode #6 - Flaming Star
    2. Full Circle Magazine Issue #13
  10. Meeting Summaries
    1. LoCo Council
    2. Server Team
  11. Upcoming Meetings and Events
    1. Monday, June 2, 2008
      1. Bugs for Hugs Day
      2. EMEA membership meeting
    2. Tuesday, June 3, 2008
      1. Bugs for Hugs Day
    3. Wednesday, June 4, 2008
      1. Bugs for Hugs Day
      2. Platform Team Meeting
      3. LoCo Council Meeting
      4. Server Team Meeting
      5. Kubuntu Team Meeting
    4. Thursday, June 5, 2008
      1. Americas Ubuntu Membership Approval Board Meeting
      2. Desktop Team Meeting
      3. Security Team Meeting
  12. Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.04, 7.10, and 8.04
    1. Security Updates
    2. Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates
    3. Ubuntu 7.04 Updates
    4. Ubuntu 7.10 Updates
    5. Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
  13. Archives and RSS Feed
  14. Additional Ubuntu News
  15. Conclusion
  16. Credits
  17. Feedback

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #93 for the week May 25th - May 31st, 2008. In this issue we cover: new Ubuntu Membership approval process, new Ubuntu Members, new LoCo approval process, LinuxTag 2008, Launchpad 1.2.5, Launchpod episode #3, Forum Tutorial of the week, Ubuntu UK Podcast #6, Full Circle Magazine #13, Team Reports, and much, much more!

UWN Translations

  • Note to translators and our readers: We are trying a new way of linking to our translations pages. Please follow the link below for the information you need.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Translations

In This Issue

  • More efficient membership approval process
  • New Ubuntu Members

  • LoCo Council Open for Business

  • LinuxTag 2008

  • Ubuntu Bugs & Stats

  • Launchpad News
  • Ubuntu Forums News

  • In the Press & Blogosphere

  • Ubuntu UK Podcast #6
  • Full Circle Magazine #13
  • Team Meeting Summaries

  • Upcoming News & Events

  • Updates & Securities

General Community News

More efficient membership approval process

The Community Council has recently implemented some changes to community governance processes which it believes reflect a significant improvement in one area of community governance: applications for Ubuntu membership.

As a result three regional membership boards have been created to consider applications from contributors to the project for Ubuntu membership. The boards are:

Americas
Europe, Middle East and Africa
Asia / Oceania

More information is in the article: http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/1461

New Ubuntu Members

Nicholas Deschildre is the main developer behind the tokamak spec, which is better known as the very successful "Ubuntu Brainstorm" site. https://launchpad.net/~ndeschildre

Philip Newborough is an active Ubuntu advocate in the UK and the developer of the crunchband Ubuntu derivative. https://launchpad.net/~corenominal

Timo Jyrniki is team contact, translation team leader and sysadmin for the Finnish locoteam. https://launchpad.net/~timo-jyrinki

Iulian Andrea is an active BugSquad member and huge contributor to the Ubuntu Brainstorms website. https://launchpad.net/people/iulian

Ricardo Peréz López is the team admin of the Spanish translators team and one of its most active translators. https://launchpad.net/~ricardo

Tomas Žeimys is the founder of ubuntu.lt and one of the most active people in the Lithuanian locoteam. https://launchpad.net/~zeimys

Leo Iannacone is a very active member of the Italian forums and the Italian documentation team. https://launchpad.net/~l3on/

Agostino Russo is the main developer and maintainer of Umenu and Wubi, the Ubuntu installer running in windows. https://launchpad.net/~ago

Alessio Treglia is a very active contributor of the Italian team, mainly on the documentation side. https://launchpad.net/~quadrispro

Martin Pihl is the founder of http://ubuntudanmark.dk/ - the Danish Ubuntu community site. https://launchpad.net/~martinpihl

Nathan Haines is a member of the California LoCo team, He is polite and thoughtful advocate and his participation in Organizing events has been notorious. He is also working hard on packaging PyRoom for intrepid. https://launchpad.net/~nhaines

Adam Sommer helps keep the Server Guide up to date for each release and continue to helps test the Server Edition. He recently worked on Xubuntu documentation as for the Hardy Heron release. https://launchpad.net/~asommer

Andres Rodriguez is a member of the Ubuntu Peru LoCo team, He has been a contributor to spanish translators. He is an op in #ubuntu-es and is a member of the Peruvian Ubuntu Council. he demonstrated significant signs MOTU work. https://launchpad.net/~andreserl

Dante Díaz is a high spirited advocate in the Peruvian LoCo Team. he has done advocacy work in Universities, he currently manages the services for the Peruvian Team. he also participates actively in Spanish translations. https://launchpad.net/~dante

Leann Ogasawara works for Canonical as a Quality Assurance Engineer and She interested in kernel bugs. I'm also involved in other general QA related areas. https://edge.launchpad.net/~leannogasawara

Jim Campbell works hard to keep Xubuntu documentation accurate and up to date. He is also heavily involved in the promotion of Xubuntu in events.He is te LoCo contact for Ubuntu Chicago. https://launchpad.net/~jwcampbell

Dustin Kirkland currently works at Canonical, He develops, extends, packages, and support the software that comprises Ubuntu's Server, making it easy to use and secure. He is well know for tools his developed, like improvements in the search for Ubuntu docs. https://launchpad.net/~kirkland

Ricardo Cropalato has shown significant sustained translations. He is a member of Ubuntu Brazil and he currently helps test in the LTSP team. he also known for his network and security related work. https://launchpad.net/~ricardo-cropalato

Santiago Zarate, He is an active member of Ubuntu-ve, currently handling services. He also participates giving talks across the country. He is also known for his contributions to Kubuntu website and Kubuntu-es in Spanish translations. https://launchpad.net/~469

LoCo Council Open for Business

The Community Council has delegated LoCo-related governance to the LoCo Council, similar to the recent creation of regional boards for Ubuntu membership. The LoCo Council is responsible for approving new LoCos, re-approving LoCos (more on that below), conflict resolution, resource allocation, mentoring, growth, and highlighting best practices.

The approval process for LoCos has not changed. New teams should continue referring to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoGettingApproved as the reference guide for approval. In the near future, the LoCo Council will be documenting how to bring conflicts in front of the council and how to privately communicate on sensitive issues. The LoCo Council is also working on ways to make it easier for LoCos to request resources, like mailing lists and Canonical-provided hosting.

Approved LoCos will need to be re-approved every year. This is to make sure LoCos have the resources and help needed to continue supporting their area. Re-approval is similar to the initial approval application, simply documenting what the LoCo has done in the previous year and laying out plans for the future. LoCos needing to be re-approved will be contacted by the LoCo Council, and provided a timetable to submit their application. If a LoCo is not ready to be re-approved, the LoCo Council will work with the team to refocus and establish itself again.

Meetings will be held at least once a month. LoCos wanting to be approved or wishing to discuss any issues are welcome to add themselves to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCouncilAgenda.

The next LoCo Council meeting will be held 04-June-2008, 16:00 UTC.

LinuxTag 2008

LinuxTag is Europe's largest annual convention for Free Software focusing on GNU/Linux. This is where dot-com meets dot-org. LinuxTag is aimed at everyone interested in Free Software: companies, public agencies, non-profits, and free projects. The conference offers an all-in-one platform to deliver information to everyone interested in open source and free software, and to create synergies between business and the free software community. http://www.linuxtag.org/2008/en/linuxtag/mission.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (47029) +122 # over last week
  • Critical (32) +/-0 # over last week
  • Unconfirmed (23358) +153 # over last week
  • Unassigned (37424) +156 # over last week
  • All bugs ever reported (186759) +1704 # over last week

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

Translation Stats Hardy

This is the top 5, not specific languages, so the languages might change week to week.

  • Spanish (14163)
  • French (39318)
  • English (United Kingdom) (49700)
  • Swedish (52980)
  • Brazilian Portuguese (64652)

Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron," see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/hardy/

Launchpad News

The Launchpad team is proud to announce the release of Launchpad 1.2.5! New features in this release include:

  • voting and commenting on code branch mergers
  • new Launchpad-wide search
  • and translations search!

Launchpad's merge proposals are a great way for project contributors to get their code considered for inclusion in the main line. Now, branch owners - and anyone else who's interested - can vote and comment on merge proposals. These changes make it easy to discuss and tweak proposed changes to a branch. You can browse the branch which contains the changes then comment and vote directly on what you've seen.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/launchpad-users/2008-May/003780.html

Launchpod episode 3: New Launchpad Release and Terminator

Hosts: Matthew Revell, Joey Stanford and Elliot Murphy.

The latest news from the Launchpad developers, questions from Launchpad users, and stories from people who’ve found Launchpad useful. Feature in this episode:

  • Interview with Aaron Bentley, of the Launchpad Bazaar integration team, talking about Launchpad’s new code merger proposal review system.
  • Interview with Danilo Segan, of the the Launchpad Translations team, talking about the new translations search feature.
  • Interview with Chris Jones, leader of the Terminator terminal project..
  • Joey’s number of the week! How many projects are registered in Launchpad?

http://news.launchpad.net/podcast/launchpod-episode-3-new-launchpad-release-and-terminator

Ubuntu Forums News

Ubuntu Forums Interviews

You might take it for granted that young people comprise a part of the Ubuntu community. You might not be aware that some forum staff members are still in their teens. jacobmp92 is one of a few moderators yet to reach the age of majority, but is fulfilling a considerable responsibility as a forum volunteer. This Ohioan has made many contributions to the Ubuntu community and LoCo support, and continues to draw new users in tech classes and elsewhere. Please meet the illustrious jacobmp92 here: http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/an-interview-with-jacobmp92/

Tutorial of the Week

This week's tutorial is a nifty little trick for laptop owners: "HOWTO: LED notification for new mail/messages/calls," by Pedric.

With this tutorial, you might be able to flash your laptop LED when you get an incoming Skype call, or an e-mail arrives. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=539425

In The Press

  • VIA Unveils New OpenBook UMPC Reference Design - VIA is announces a new addition to their portfolio of UMPC reference designs, dubbed the OpenBook. The VIA OpenBook is a 240mm(W) x 175mm(D) x 36.2mm(H) mini-note style UMPC that weighs in at a svelte 2.2lbs (1kg). The unit offers up to 3 hours of battery life through the use of a 4-cell 2600mA lithium-ion battery, and it sports an 8.9” (1024 x 600) LCD display, a full keyboard and touch pad, and a dual-head 2MP integrated webcam. The OpenBook will be made available with a wide array of operating systems options, both proprietary and open source, including Ubuntu. Detailed specs at the link. http://www.hothardware.com/News/VIA_Unveils_New_OpenBook_UMPC_Reference_Design/

  • Ubuntu 8.04 Is Ready to Take On Windows - Canonical has marshaled the best of what the open-source world has to offer in Ubuntu 8.04, a Linux-based operating system that's capable of mounting a serious challenge to Microsoft Windows on mainstream desktops and notebooks. As with any would-be Windows rival, Ubuntu 8.04 faces an uphill battle for hardware and software certifications. Regarding software, the continued improvement of open-source alternative applications such as the OpenOffice.org productivity suite, Firefox Web browser and Evolution groupware client go a long way toward providing users with the tools they require to get their work done from a Linux-based desktop. http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Linux-and-Open-Source/Ubuntu-804-Is-Ready-to-Take-On-Windows/

  • Can System Builders Turn to Ubuntu? - Late last month, Ubuntu 8.04 arrived on the scene, right on time, right on its six-month refresh cycle and readily available via a simple ISO image file download. While that may have been big news for the Linux community, the question remains, what if any impact will this latest release have on mainstream computer users? For the majority of PC users, the impact will probably be nil. That doesn’t mean there isn’t an opportunity here for solution providers and system builders however. But first they have to contemplate Ubuntu being a viable alternative to Microsoft’s family of Windows products. http://www.channelinsider.com/c/a/Reviews/Can-System-Builders-Turn-to-Ubuntu/

  • Forget the Heron; what's new in Ubuntu's Intrepid Ibex? - Ubuntu, arguably the most popular Linux distribution today, came out with its 8.04 release last month, dubbed Hardy Heron. Here’s the low down on what the future holds this October with Ubuntu 8.10, Intrepid Ibex. Two key design goals were announced from the beginning. First, the user interaction model will be re-engineered to ensure Ubuntu works as responsively as possible on hardware ranging from little subnotebooks up to and including high-end workstations. Second, is the goal of pervasive internet access. Ubuntu has explicitly stated they wish this next release of Ubuntu to tap into bandwidth wherever you may be to provide pervasive internet access. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/18482/1141/

  • New Life for an Old PC - There are several versions, or “distributions,” of the free operating system Linux, available online. Ubuntu is considered one of the more user-friendly versions of the operating system, and you can download a copy at www.ubuntu.com. Ubuntu Desktop even comes with OpenOffice word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation software, Firefox Web browser, a calendar and an e-mail program — the free equivalents of Microsoft software like Office programs and Internet Explorer. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/29/technology/personaltech/29askk-002.html?_r=2&ref=personaltech&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

  • Nonprofit chooses Ubuntu for servers, OpenOffice for desktops - Oxford Archaeology is one of the largest independent excavation firms in Britain. Their mission is to discover and preserve historical artifacts, and then share its findings. Two years ago, when Puttick(CIO) arrived at the 35-year-old company, his goal was to convert the entire firm completely to open source -- not just the operating system but also the database, office desktops, customer relationship management and geographic mapping systems. Puttick started with the servers, most of which now run on Ubuntu (some 6.06 LTS and others on 8.04 LTS), then they tried the OpenOffice desktop application. Canonical is responsive and quick to address user issues, both through regular channels and personal contacts, Puttick said. http://searchenterpriselinux.techtarget.com/news/article/0,289142,sid39_gci1315258,00.html

In The Blogosphere

  • Adventures with open source apps on Linux - Part 1 - In this first post Adrian Kingsley-Hughes takes a closer look at some of the applications that ship with Ubuntu 8.04 and which are ready to use as soon as you’ve installed and booted into Linux! See, after you’ve install Windows, you’ve got the OS, Notepad, Calculator and a few other bits and pieces. After installing a distro like Ubuntu you’ve got a whole raft of applications at your disposal. http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=1906&page=1

  • Ubuntu desktop (LTS) 8.04 - Why should anyone care about Ubuntu? Well there are many reasons that it’s good to have alternatives - and free ones at that - to the big operating systems. For one, these systems are free. For another, they are for the most part open source, which means that anybody can modify or add to them. One of the most impressive things about it is that it can coexist with Windows XP on the same computer. http://sky.dlfound.org/ubuntu-desktop-lts-804/

  • Then they fight you - Jani Monoses asked the organizers if our Free Software Group could hold a short session about the benefits of FOSS in education, with references to Ubuntu, Edubuntu and Kiwilinux and we were given a slot after the ones which had already been planned a while ago - those of Microsoft, Cisco and a local company that sells education software for Romanian schools. Then the Free Software Group was notified that the Microsoft representative in charge with the education strategy had requested the organizers to pull the Ubuntu presentation because it is unfair competition to hold such a presentation at an event sponsored by them. http://janimo.blogspot.com/2008/05/then-they-fight-you.html

In Other News

Ubuntu UK Podcast:Episode #6 - Flaming Star

Alan Pope, Dave Walker and Tony Whitmore present the sixth episode of the Ubuntu UK Podcast.

Discussion:

  • A chat about the recent Ubuntu Developer Summit.
  • A lengthy interview with Mark Shuttleworth where we discuss a range of topics including:-
    • The release and death of Gobuntu
    • Dealing with reactions to Mark Shuttleworth’s blog
    • Mozilla Thunderbird
    • Python
    • Deciding what applications are shipped with Ubuntu
    • SSH/SSL vulnerability resolution
    • Updated shipit CDs
    • HBD
    • The future of Linux
    • The Ubuntu Community
    • Killer features in 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex)
    • Ubuntu Mobile

And much more. See http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/2008/05/27/s01e06-flaming-star/

Full Circle Magazine Issue #13

This month:

  • Flavor of the Month - Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron.
  • How-To : Organize an Ubuntu Demo Day/Party, TV Feast for Ubuntu, Using GIMP Part 2, Create Your Own Server Part 5 and Automatic Backup via Email.
  • My Opinion - What is Web 2.0?
  • MOTU Interview - Luca Falavigna

  • Letters, Q&A, MyDesktop, Top5 and more!

Get is while its hot! http://fullcirclemagazine.org/

Meeting Summaries

LoCo Council

  • LoCo Council will start doing approvals at the next meeting: 04-June-2008, 16:00 UTC

  • LoCo Team approval guidelines were discussed, minor changes still required.

  • Approved LoCos will be re-approved on a yearly basis.

    • This is to support LoCos and see if they need any help.

    • LoCos should apply for re-approval close to their anniversary dates.

      • LoCos approved in the last year have approval anniversary dates on LoCoTeamList.

      • LoCos without approval anniversary dates are over a year old and need to be re-approved.

  • Resource allocation and conflict resolution procedures being worked on.

Server Team

The full report here: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/ReportingPage/2008-05#long

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Monday, June 2, 2008

Bugs for Hugs Day

EMEA membership meeting

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Bugs for Hugs Day

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Bugs for Hugs Day

Platform Team Meeting

  • Start: 06:00 UTC
  • End: 07:00 UTC
  • Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
  • Agenda: Not Listed as of Publication

LoCo Council Meeting

Server Team Meeting

Kubuntu Team Meeting

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Americas Ubuntu Membership Approval Board Meeting

Desktop Team Meeting

Security Team Meeting

Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.04, 7.10, and 8.04

Security Updates

  • None Reported

Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Updates

Ubuntu 7.04 Updates

  • None Reported

Ubuntu 7.10 Updates

  • None Reported

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

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:

and

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
  • John Crawford
  • Craig A. Eddy
  • Isabelle Duchatelle
  • And many others

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.

UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue93 (last edited 2008-08-06 17:00:49 by localhost)