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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #98 for the week June 29th - July 7th, 2008. In this issue we cover...

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

General Community News

Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS released

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS, the first maintenance update to Ubuntu's 8.04 LTS release. In all, over 200 updates have been integrated, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 8.04 LTS. This is the first maintenance release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, which continues to be supported with maintenance updates and security fixes until April 2011 on desktops and April 2013 on servers. Since its release, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS has seen widespread use in a variety of desktop and server deployments, and received a great deal of feedback from users. The Ubuntu team has focused their efforts on resolving the issues reported by people deploying Ubuntu in the real world. For more information on the updates for the 8.04.1 LTS release, please visit the link. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2008-July/000112.html

Intrepid Alpha 2 coming next Thursday

With the DebianImportFreeze now in effect, and most merges being done, the time for the second Intrepid Alpha has come. It is scheduled for next Thursday, July 10. Developers should refrain from uploading packages between Tuesday and Thursday which don't bring us closer to releasing the alpha. This milestone is intended to be used for tracking bugs that must be fixed in order for the alpha release to happen. Alpha releases are not intended for anyone needing a stable system. A list of bugs targeted for the alpha-2 realease can be found at the link along with further information to aide developers. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2008-July/000445.html

Ubuntu Brainstorm

1 Million Votes

There have already one million votes cast on ideas by Ubuntu users. WOW! Congrats to Brainstorm, and a high five to the Ubuntu Community for their participation!

Call for moderators for project-specific Brainstorm frontends

At the moment, ideas at Ubuntu Brainstorm can concern any project, Ubuntu-related or upstream. However, as a project maintainer, you may want more visibility and control with the part of the website dedicated to your project, and an easier way to deal with your ideas. That's what is coming next! If you are willing to moderate it, you can ask for a brainstorm.ubuntu.com/project_name/ area. This "subsection" will be like the current Brainstorm site, and use the same idea database, but ideas will be filtered by your project - it's basically a Brainstorm frontend for your project. If you are interested, you can ask for it on the mailing list or in IRC channel #ubuntu-testing. Also, for project maintainers who are interested in feedback and who want to use their own tools, XML export will be provided in the next update. http://blog.qa.ubuntu.com/node/23

Two new Ubuntu Teams

Ubuntu Java Team

Up and running, and already the new Java team has had its first meeting. That doesn't mean that you have missed out on it though. The team is just getting started and they are enthusiastic about making Java rock with Ubuntu. If you are interested in joining this new Ubuntu team, join #ubuntu-java on freenode and introduce yourself. http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/1563

Ubuntu Web Presence Team

Want to help make the Ubuntu website a thing of greater beauty? If so, here’s your chance. The newly created Ubuntu Web Presence team is recruiting members. If you’re excited about web technologies this is the team for you. Some of the tasks this team will tackle include:

• New countdown banners for the releases

• Contribute to the start page that users see when they first load Ubuntu (http://start.ubuntu.com/8.04)

• Allow localization of key portions of the Ubuntu website
• Use your javascript, python or PHP coding skills to create exciting new features
• Design a visually engaging website experience
• Enable more people in the community to help out
• And more… the possibilities are limitless!

Sign up now by joining the Web Presence Team’s mailing list and introducing yourself: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-website

http://fridge.ubuntu.com/node/1564

Kubuntu Intrepid News

Kubuntu Intrepid will bring major changes with KDE 4.1, fixing a lot of bugs or making them irrelevant. The team needs help sorting out which bugs can now be closed, which still need to be fixed in Intrepid, and which bugs are really important and need to be fixed in Hardy/KDE3. The next hug day, Tuesday, July 8th, will focus on transitioning old KDE3 bug reports to KDE4. The event will be held in #ubuntu-bugs on Freenode.

The list of targeted bugs with instructions is posted at: https://wiki.kubuntu.org/UbuntuBugDay/20080708

The goal is to deal with all of the bugs on that list. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2008-July/000086.html

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

• Open (#) +/- # over last week
• Critical (#) +/- # over last week
• Unconfirmed (#) +/- # over last week
• Unassigned (#) +/- # over last week
• All bugs ever reported (#) +/- # over last week

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

Infamous Bugs

Translation Stats Hardy

1. Language (#) +/- # over last week
2. Language (#) +/- # over last week
3. Language (#) +/- # over last week
4. Language (#) +/- # over last week
5. Language (#) +/- # over last week

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

LoCo News

New in Hardy Heron

Launchpad News

Launchpad 1.2.6 released

The Launchpad team is proud to announce the 1st July 2008 release of Launchpad 1.2.6! New features for this release include:

• two great improvements to code review, including an email interface: http://news.launchpad.net/cool-new-stuff/email-interface-to-code-review

• a new interface for bugs, translations and distribution pages: http://news.launchpad.net/cool-new-stuff/simpler-interface

• more control over code imports: https://code.launchpad.net/~vcs-imports/cairo-dock/trunk

Get the full review of all the exciting new Launchpad features here: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/launchpad-users/2008-July/003885.html

Launchpod episode #6: Greasemonkey scripts and LP developer interview

The latest from the Launchpad developers, questions from Launchpad users and stories from people who’ve found Launchpad useful. Hosted by: Matthew Revell, Joey Stanford and Elliot Murphy.

In this episode:

• About the bug page, distro page and translations page UI changes - give us your feedback on them!
• Members of the Launchpad user community have developed Greasemonkey scripts to tweak Launchpad’s interface.
• Launchpad developer Tom Berger talks about his work on the Launchpad bug tracker, the bug page UI changes and the forthcoming Launchpad API.
• Joey’s secret number of the week! Plus an insight into Launchpad’s future and our QA

Send us your ideas and questions to feedback@launchpad.net!

http://news.launchpad.net/podcast/launchpod-episode-6-greasemonkey-scripts-and-lp-developer-interview

Ubuntu Forums News

New Ubuntu Forums Interviews Host

K.Mandla has been running the UF interviews since last September. The idea originated in a discussion thread in the Staff area on UF, and K.Mandla designed the Nine Simple Questions, set up the interviews schedule and published them on Motho ke motho ka botho, with a unique and cheerful style. http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2007/09/24/nine-simple-questions/

New real life events are preventing K.Mandla to put the needed time and energy in the project, so Matthew accepted to continue and proposed to expand it to interview people from the general Ubuntu community, as his own blog is published on Planet Ubuntu dot com. You can read the whole story from K.Mandla here: http://kmandla.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/community-interviews/ and Matthew there: http://matthewhelmke.net/wordpress/2008/07/03/introducing-ubuntu-community-interviews/.

Many thanks to K.Mandla for all the hard work, and to Matthew, an admin at ubuntuforums, for taking up the project!

Ubuntu Forums Interviews

forestpixie accepted to be the first "victim, *ahem* I mean volunteer" as Matthew puts it! From UK and living with his last 8-year old child, forestpixie is another member from the Commodore era. He had a not-so-funny experience on the forums: he lost all his posts and whatnots in a database blink. Fortunately, forestpixie is really easy going, the account could retrieve the customizations with some admins work, but not all the posts.. Please meet with him here: http://matthewhelmke.net/wordpress/2008/07/04/an-interview-with-forestpixie/

Tutorial of the Week

The highlighted tutorial this week will interest Hotmail users, and Evolution users too. As if you didn't see it coming, it's "HOWTO: Send and Receive Hotmail through Evolution" by Indras. Following the steps in Indras' thread will get Evolution hooked up to your Hotmail account, and let you read your e-mail without needing the browser interface. And even though the thread dates back to 2006, recent replies suggest it works just as well now as it did then. And it's well-formatted, with easy-to-read code boxes and highlighted steps. It's a good example of a nicely built tutorial. http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=200408

In The Press

• The Blessings of Synchronized Releases - The open source community is currently debating the merits, if any, of synchronizing the release schedules of several of the bigger key projects that make up a Linux distribution. Thom Holwerda thinks that beating Apple and Microsoft, on their own marketing turf, is going to be quite difficult. He believes however that through synchronizing releases of the various applications and distributions, the Linux community can leverage the assets they already have. According to Holwerda, it makes perfect sense to focus on the assets we already have, blogs, IM friends, irc access, and so on. http://www.osnews.com/story/19937/The_Blessings_of_Synchronised_Releases

• Microsoft tactics push India toward Linux - Henry Kingman explains that the volume purchasing agent for the Southern-most state in India, Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT), has said it will purchase more than 100,000 laptops this year. The reason given was that Microsoft, instead of selling them their Windows operating system for $12 a copy, wanted to bundle Office with it for $57. ELCOT has rejected that offer due to the bundling, and are waiting for Microsoft to respond to the $12 per copy proposal. http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS6504473525.html

• Making desktop Linux work for business - Neil McAllister, in the sub-heading to this article, makes the claim that " When it comes to making the break from Windows, Linux is ready when you are". The article, though, is more cautionary. It outlines some of the problems that business can run into in making the switch to Linux, depending on the size of the business. Mr. McAllister also outlines how businesses can overcome many of these problems by discussing them with Linux vendors that offer service contracts, and by the use of various software packages. http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/07/01/27FE-desktop-linux_1.html

In The Blogosphere

• First Look: Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex Alpha 1 - Intrepid Ibex features updates to the Linux kernel under the hood as well as some interesting new gizmos on the desktop. The most noticeable change to Linux’s leading desktop is a darker brown visual theme. Ibex will introduce some new networking configuration tools that let users find and connect to wifi networks more easily through the user interface. The new network manager will include support for most broadband wireless 3G networks. Effort is also being dedicated to speeding up the system’s performance. The new alpha is utilizing some pre-fetching techniques to cut down on boot speed and the amount of time it takes to load programs. Intrepid will also include better Flash support, better KDE support for Firefox, and the upcoming release of Open Office 3. http://www.webmonkey.com/blog/First_Look:_Ubuntu_Intrepid_Ibex_Alpha_1

• Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 1 Screenshot Tour - Marius Nestor has compiled some screen shots of Ubuntu 8.10 Alpha 1, Intrepid Ibex, showing what the new darker theme may look like. One change, according to Mark Shuttleworth, will be the ability to stay connected to the internet as you go from the office, to the train, or home. Being an Alpha release, many things may change before the final comes out. http://news.softpedia.com/news/Ubuntu-8-10-Alpha-1-Screenshot-Tour-89049.shtml (remind people the release is a long time away and everything could change)

• Linux Ubuntu - Ready For Prime Time - (by BigJolly) In a short article, BigJolly declares that it's easier to run Ubuntu Linux now than ever before. In the comments to the article, various questions are raised about how it compares to Windows Vista and Mac OS/X, and how to download the iso and burn it to disk to try it out. His enthusiasm is contagious, and some of his readers give their reactions to Ubuntu. Read more at http://lonestartimes.com/2008/07/02/linux-ubuntu-ready-for-prime-time/

• My Awesome Ubuntu Linux Experience - The author of this blog explains his initial response to Linux in 1999, and compares it to his reaction to the latest Ubuntu. He first outlines the specifications for his laptop computer, then goes on to show what happened when he booted into Ubuntu for the first time, including his shock at being able to install updates and not have to reboot afterwards. He includes a list of what he considers "best of breed" applications, as well as his overall impression of Ubuntu. http://lonetruth.wordpress.com/2008/06/30/ubuntu-experience/

http://www.osnews.com/thread?321211 (It's the reply, "My path to Ubuntu, and why I stayed that i'm interested in please)

http://codingexperiments.com/archives/149 (Hilite, a.google trends aren't the end all of stats, b.the last two graphs, and especially that on google, ubuntu is about to overtake Linux as a search term)

http://www.dawningvalley.com/2008/07/five-reasons-ubuntu-is-the-1-linux-distro/ (Five Reasons Ubuntu Is the #1 Linux Distro)

In Other News

Ubuntu-UK podcast #9: Playing for keeps

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

In this episode:

• Efficient PC hardware review
  • We review the Wraith PC from Efficient PC. Listen in to our next episode (number 10) for a chance to win this great computer!
• Ubuntu mobile edition confusion
• Lugradio Live discussion
• Drobo disk storage robot and Drobo Share
• Competition:
  • The competition from Episode 8 is still open. It will end on the 12th July. (we have extended the competition due to the last episode being late).

Comments and suggestions are welcome at: podcast@ubuntu-uk.org

http://podcast.ubuntu-uk.org/2008/07/03/s01e09-playing-for-keeps/

See the ubuntubash thing under UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas.

Meeting Summaries

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Community Spotlight

Correction

In our June 22nd issue, we reported that the MOTU council had approved two new applicants for core-dev membership. These new applicants were actually approved by the Technical Board, as all core-dev applications are.

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

Security Updates

Ubuntu 6.06 Updates

Ubuntu 7.04 Updates

Ubuntu 7.10 Updates

Ubuntu 8.04 Updates

UWN #: A sneak peek

Archives and RSS Feed

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

Glossary of Terms

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 send them to ubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com.