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Ubuntu 10.10 Beta (Maverick Meerkat) Released

Thu, 09/02/2010 - 17:35

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu 10.10 beta.

Codenamed “Maverick Meerkat”, 10.10 continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

Ubuntu 10.10 Desktop Edition and Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook Edition continue the trend of ever-faster boot speeds, with improved startup times and a smoother, streamlined boot experience.

Ubuntu 10.10 Server Edition provides even better integration of the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, with its install time cloud setup.

Ubuntu 10.10 Server for UEC and EC2 brings the power and stability of the Ubuntu Server Edition to cloud computing, whether you’re using Amazon EC2 or your own Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

The Ubuntu 10.10 family of Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu, also reach beta status today.

Ubuntu Desktop features
————————

The GNOME base platform has been updated to the current 2.31 versions. This includes the new dconf and gsettings API.

Evolution was updated to the 2.30.2 version, which operates much faster than the version in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

Shotwell has replaced F-Spot as the default photo manager.

Gwibber has been updated to support the recent change in Twitter’s authentication system, as well as changing the back end storage to improve performance.

The Sound Indicator has been enhanced to include music player controls.

The Ubuntu Software Center has an updated look and feel, including the new “Featured” and “What’s New” views for showcasing applications, and an improved package description view. You can now easily access your package installation history too.

New Design: The boot process is cleaner and faster. New themes, new icons, and new wallpaper bring a dramatically updated look and feel to Ubuntu.

Ubuntu One: Polished desktop integration with new sign up and sign in process. Tighter integration with Ubuntu SSO. Nautilus enhancements for managing folder sync preferences. Faster file sync speed. Share links to music within the Ubuntu One Music Store.

Please see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/maverick/beta for details.

Ubuntu Server features
———————-

Cloud computing: The configurable initialization process for Ubuntu Server cloud images (cloud-init) has gained new features in Maverick Beta, including pluggable hooks, ebsmount, ext4 support, and new stanzas in the cloud-config format. Cloud image instances can now manage their own kernel and upgrade kernels with apt. This is done by using pv-grub, provided by Amazon.

Ubuntu Netbook features
———————————-

The new Unity interface is now the default in Ubuntu Netbook Edition. It includes the global menu bar. The date/time indicator now has a real calendar widget.

The standard photo management application has been switched to Shotwell.

Kubuntu features
————————

For Maverick, Kubuntu have merged the Desktop and Netbook images into one. Ubiquity, Kubuntu’s installer, will detect the screen size before the install and use either the Plasma Desktop workplace or the Plasma Netbook workplace as needed. Users will be able to switch between the two in System Settings.

Plasma Netbook now sports the Global Menu by default.

The standard web browser is now Rekonq, a KDE browser based on Qt Webkit.

Bluedevil has become the default bluetooth stack.

Pulseaudio is the default sound server.

KPackageKit updates bring a faster backend and an updated UI that provides a new Categories page, and new features such as a backup/restore tool for the list of installed packages.

Kubuntu’s installer (Ubiquity) now has updated look and layout.
Qapt-batch now replaces install-package as the update/batch-installer utility

KDE Platform, Workspaces, and Applications were updated to 4.5.0 (the recently released 4.5.1 update could not be integrated before beta release and will arrive shortly).

Qt was updated to the current 4.7 beta release.

See https://wiki.kubuntu.org/MaverickMeerkat/Beta/Kubuntu for more details.

Xubuntu features
————————

Xfce4 was updated to the current 4.6.2 release.

New default applications include: Parole (Xfce4 Media Player), replacing Totem Movie Player; Xfburn (Xfce4 CD/DVD burning tool), replacing Brasero; and xfce4-taskmanager (Xfce4 process manager), replacing Gnome-Task-Manager.

Edubuntu features
————————-

Edubuntu now includes Gnome Nanny, which provides parental controls in Edubuntu. There is new wallpaper included (periodic table breakout). In addition, an OEM Install mode is now available.

For those interested in learning more, there’s a new web site as well.
Check out http://www.edubuntu.org.

Ubuntu Studio features
———————————

In this release, Ubuntu Studio has better integration between Pulse Audio and JACK. JACK and Pulse Audio can now be used side-by-side if they are using different audio interfaces. If they are trying to use the same audio interface, JACK will take precedent. The network connections can now be configured with gnome-network-admin.

Mythbuntu features
—————————

In this release, Mythbuntu has updated to MythTV 0.23.1.

There is also a new backup and restore tool.

Other
——-

  • On the Desktop: GNOME 2.31, KDE 4.5.0b, Xfce 4.6.2, OpenOffice.org 3.2.1, X.org server 7.5
  • On the Server: Apache 2.2.16, PostgreSQL 8.4.4, PHP 5.3.3, LTSP 5.2.4
  • “Under the hood”: Linux 2.6.35.3, GCC 4.4.4 (default) / 4.5.1
    (optional), eglibc 2.12.1, Python 2.6.6 (default) / 3.1.2 (optional)

The full release notes can be found at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/maverick/beta

About Ubuntu
——————

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, and servers, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases. A tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.

Professional technical support is available from Canonical Limited and hundreds of other companies around the world. For more information about support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support

To Get Ubuntu 10.10 Beta
————————————

To upgrade to Ubuntu 10.10 Beta from Ubuntu 10.04 LTS,
follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/MaverickUpgrades

Or, download Ubuntu 10.10 Beta; The following link will direct you to a download location near you:

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/download

Or, choose the mirror closest to you:

Africa:

Asia:

Europe:

North America:

Oceania/Australia:

South America:

Please download using Bittorrent if possible.

The final version of Ubuntu 10.10 is expected to be released in October 2010.

Feedback and Participation
—————————————

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at

http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help turn this Beta into the best release of Ubuntu ever. Please note that, where possible, we prefer that bugs be reported using the tools provided, rather than by visiting Launchpad directly. Instructions can be found at

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but are not sure, first try asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel on freenode, on the Ubuntu Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu forums:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

More Information
————————

You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this preview release on our website, IRC channel and wiki. If you are new to Ubuntu, please visit:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

To sign up for future Ubuntu announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu’s very low volume announcement list at:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-announce

[Discuss Ubuntu 10.10 Beta on the Forum]

Originally posted to theubuntu-announce mailing list by Robbie Williamson on Thu Sep 2 23:50:39 BST 2010.

Code Hosting Maintenance Friday, September 3, 2010

Thu, 09/02/2010 - 11:17


Launchpad code hosting will be offline Friday between 8.00 and 9.30 UTC for unexpected hardware maintenance. This means you won’t be able to browse, push to, pull from or otherwise access code hosted on Launchpad.

Going offline: 8.00 UTC 3rd September 2010

Expected back: 9.30 UTC 3rd September 2010

[Discuss Code Hosting Maintenance Friday, September 3, 2010 on the Forums]

Originally posted here by Gary Poster on September 2nd, 2010.

Meet Jon Sackett

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 22:35

Jon Sackett joined the Launchpad Registry team a couple of weeks ago. Here’s a quick run-down of who he is.

Matthew: What do you do on the Launchpad team?

Jon: I’m part of the Registry team; we maintain the people, teams and projects bits and pieces used by all the other parts of Launchpad.

Right now I’m mostly helping pay down technical debt, but I’m also helping with features that help those core objects be smarter about the way they use other applications.

Matthew: Can we see something that you’ve worked on?

Jon: Almost everything I’ve done has been internal without a real UI component.

Matthew: Where do you work?

Jon: I work in my home office in an apartment in downtown Durham, NC. Sometimes I change it up and work from my porch.

Matthew: What can you see from your office window?

Jon: The old brickface and industrial windows across the road. On days where I’m working from my porch I get a better view of the downtown

Matthew: What did you do before working at Canonical?

Jon: I worked as a Python/Django developer at a company called MetaMetrics, that does some really neat things in education with natural language processing.

Matthew: How did you get into free software?

Jon: I was introduced to Linux in college as a better environment for coding in my CS classes. Since moving into web programming and Python, I think almost every tool I use has come from free software.

Matthew: What’s more important? Principle or pragmatism?

Jon: In concrete matters (like code), pragmatism. It’s no use to anyone if your principles only prevent you from doing things.
That said, principles are still important; when you opt for the pragmatic approach, your principles can still influence how that plays out.

Matthew: Do you/have you contribute(d) to any free software projects?

Jon: Sadly, precious little. I have a patch in the Django project, and a couple of my own projects are available under a BSD license. One of the reasons I wanted to work on Launchpad was to do more with and for free software.

Matthew: Tell us something really cool about Launchpad that not enough people know about.

Jon: How completely well it supports the whole development lifecycle — I think a lot of people consider Launchpad just another code hosting service, and it’s so much more than that.

Matthew: Thanks Jon!

[Discuss Meet Jon Sackett on the Forums]

Originally posted here by Matthew Revell on August 24th, 2010 .

New Ubuntu Lucid Proposed Kernel

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 17:40

The Ubuntu kernel team has prepared a new proposed kernel for Lucid (2.6.32-25.43), containing a large number of fixes. This is a larger number of updates than we would usually push at one time, but processing of the upstream stable updates was delayed by a couple of security updates.

This kernel should fix a lot of issues, including this one that people have been asking about a lot.

You will get this automatically if you have updates from lucid-proposed enabled. Note that if it breaks you get to keep all the pieces, so don’t try this on production machines.

Please test against your favorite bugs in the changelog and provide feedback.

[Discuss New Ubuntu Lucid Proposed Kernel on the Forums]

Originally posted here by Steven Conklin, Ubuntu Kernel Engineer on 1 September 2010.

Announcing this week's Bug Day target - Empathy! - Thursday, 2 September 2010!

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 08:32



This week’s Bug Day target is *drum roll please* Empathy!

The task is to assign to the right package and triage those as well:

  • 44 New bugs need a hug
  • 109 Incompletes bugs need a status check
  • 23 Confirmed bugs need a review

Bookmark it, add it to your calendars, turn over those egg-timers!

Are you looking for a way to start giving some love back to your adorable Ubuntu Project?

Did you ever wonder what Triage is? Want to learn about that?

This is a perfect time!, Everybody can help in a Bug Day! Open your IRC Client and go to #ubuntu-bugs (freenode) the BugSquad will be happy to help you to start contributing!

Wanna be famous? Is easy! remember to use 5-A-day so if you do a good work your name could be listed at the top 5-A-Day Contributors in the Ubuntu Hall of Fame page!

We are always looking for new tasks or ideas for the Bug Days, if you have one add it to the Planning page https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugDay/Planning

If you’re new to all this, head to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs

[Discuss Announcing this week’s Bug Day target - Empathy! - Thursday, 2 September 2010! on the Forums]

Originally sent to the Ubuntu Devel Announce Mailing List by Kamus on Tue Aug 31 21:25:39 BST 2010

Canonical: Take 60 seconds with Henrik Omma

Wed, 09/01/2010 - 04:42

This Month we have profiled a member of the Canonical family, who has been with us almost from the start

*Henrik Omma*

Read on to see his recollection of what Canonical was like in the early days and why he enjoys working here.

*Take 60 seconds with Henrik Omma*

Henrik works as the Enterprise Applications Team Manager and has been with Canonical for 6 years.

*In layman’s terms what do you do?*

I manage a small team that develops & maintains in-house systems used for sales, finance and HR.

*What did you do before joining Canonical?*

I was doing a Doctorate in Astrophysics at Oxford. I actually started with Canonical part-time while I was still writing up my thesis. It was good to balance the two activities because thesis writing can be a long and monotonous process. I moved to full time in May 2005, after completing the thesis.

I had been using Linux for fluid dynamics simulations on super computers for my thesis research, which then introduced me to the world of Open Source. I became interested in the philosophy and the world changing potential of Open Source and started my own project called the OpenCD. Later I also co-founded ‘Software Freedom Day’. Both these projects were about spreading the message of Open Source and increasing adoption.

I meet Steve Alexander at a conference who in turn introduced me to the Shuttleworth Foundation and the ‘Go-Open’ project, which was also about spreading Open Source, specifically in South Africa. They decided to distribute the OpenCD to about 300,000 people there, which was of course our biggest distribution to date.

This was happening in Spring/Summer 2004, when Ubuntu was still a secret project operating as no-name-yet.com :)

I was then invited to attend one of the first sprints (which later evolved into UDS) in Oxford where they were putting together the first Ubuntu release. I meet Jane (Silber, CEO) and Mark (Shuttleworth, Founder). They had decided they wanted to add some Open Source applications for Windows to the Live CD to help ease the transition for new users and that the OpenCD project might be a good base for that. In later releases that function has been replaced by Wubi which actually lets you start Ubuntu from a Windows system.

*How has Canonical evolved since the early days?*

Now there is more structure, back then we would all pitch in a do a bit of everything. I have filled quite a few roles myself; I was running the Open CD project within Canonical for a while, then I became the Web Master. I have also guided various community teams like the Art & Accessibility teams and acting as forum liaison. I also built up the Ubuntu QA team before taking my current role.

The original core of the company was made up of a group of open source hackers, largely from Debian. So we’ve taken much of our culture, ideals and technologies from there. That’s for example why we use wikis, IRC and mailing lists while other companies this size might use a proprietary intranet system.

*So what kind of person do you need to be to survive here?*

You need to be able to work independently, structure and motivate your own work. I am speaking as some one who works from home, and structures my own hours. You also need to keep informed about what going on around you and not just wait for someone to tell you what to do.

*So what excites you about being here?*

The top thing is working with lots of great people and the projects that we are involved in, trying the change the way software evolves in the world. I remember when I attended the first sprint in August 2004 that I was struck by what an amazing group of people were gathered there — that this group would do something amazing and that I wanted to be a part of it! It’s great to actually see that potential playing out now.

Over these 6 years I have had the opportunity to change my role within Canonical several times as the company has grown. Personally that has been a good thing, as I am able to do something different day to day while still being part of that bigger picture and ideal of increasing Ubuntu’s accessibility to the world.

At Canonical many of us work from home, which I find very convenient and it also means that you can choose where you want to live while staying in the same job. I moved to Norway shortly after my thesis was complete (having started at Canonical), which is where I am originally from. But after two years I opted to move back to the UK and Oxford, where I had really enjoyed living as a student.

*What you you say to anyone thinking of joining Canonical?*

Depends on what sort of role they are looking for, but I can speak mostly on engineering roles. It can be an exciting place to work but you need make sure you connect in with the pulse of the company and work out how you can make contributions. We welcome initiative and encourage people to suggest and start projects, but you need to understand how things fit together to see the right opportunities and then know who to work with to implement your ideas. So you should spend a some time at the beginning to ensure you’re connecting to the information streams within the company. The mentoring scheme is very useful and newcomers should take full advantage of that.

*What is your next career goal within Canonical?*

After being in various roles I find I really enjoy managing a team of engineers, as I did on QA and now in CDO (Core Development and Operations). So for the moment I just want to grow to do that better. I know on thing though: it all starts with hiring top rate engineers onto the team.

[Discuss Henrik Omma on the Forum]

Originally sent to the ubuntu-jobs mailing list by Lynda Phillips on Wed Sep 1 10:55:28 BST 2010

Call for testing, Gwibber (Lucid and Maverick)

Tue, 08/31/2010 - 14:57


Today is the day affectionately known as “Twitter’s OAuthpocalypse”. Twitter is shutting down basic auth completely, which Gwibber has relied on. So after today Twitter will cease to work for anyone that hasn’t updated to the OAuth enabled version of Gwibber. I have uploaded packages for both Maverick and Lucid to the ~ubuntu-desktop PPA for testing. We need to get an SRU out pretty quickly for Lucid.

Any testing would be greatly appreciated, please provide feedback on this list.

https://edge.launchpad.net/~ubuntu-desktop/+archive/ppa

Make sure you restart gwibber-service, you should be prompted to authorize Twitter.

[Discuss Call for testing, Gwibber (Lucid and Maverick) on the Forums]

Originally sent to the ubuntu-desktop mailing list on Tue Aug 31 2010

Announcing Ubuntu App Developer Week!

Tue, 08/31/2010 - 09:28

Announcing Ubuntu App Developer Week!

It’s that time again! Ubuntu App Developer Week (Formally Ubuntu Opportunistic Developer Week), is happening online between September 27th through October 1st, 2010.

“What is Ubuntu App Developer Week?”

Ubuntu App Developer Week is a week of sessions aimed at enabling and inspiring developers to write applications that scratch their itches. Our goal is to give all attendees a taste of the wide variety of tools on the Ubuntu platform that can be used to create awesome applications, and to showcase some applications that have been created and explain how they were put together.

“When is Ubuntu App Developer Week?”

Ubuntu App Developer Week is scheduled for Monday, September 27th through Friday, October 1st, 2010.

“Where will Ubuntu App Developer Week take place?”

Ubuntu App Developer Week will take place in #ubuntu-classroom and #ubuntu-classroom-chat on freenode.net.

Still undecided? Here is how Jono Bacon, Ubuntu Community Manager described this event last cycle:

The week will be just like our previous online learning events such as Ubuntu Developer Week and Ubuntu Open Week, but instead providing a week jam packed with awesome sessions about writing applications that scratch your itch, and predominantly focusing on Python tools and frameworks, Bazaar, Launchpad and infrastructure. The goal for the week is give attendees a head start on a given technology useful for applications.

Like the other weeks this cycle, Lernid is being used and all session leaders are being encouraged to create slides for their sessions . As each session is confirmed it will appear in Lernid and on the wiki page.

Just like the other Ubuntu Weeks we are looking for volunteers! So what are you waiting for? If you feel you could give a tutorial about a given Python module or associated technology (e.g. Glade, Launchpad, Bazaar etc), please drop Jono or myself an email at jono AT ubuntu DOT com or akgraner AT ubuntu DOT com and we will work with you to get everything scheduled.

Thanks in advance to all you session leaders that I know are waiting to volunteer. We’re looking forward to another awesome Ubuntu Week and seeing what itches get scratched during this Ubuntu App Developer Week!

[Discuss Announcing Ubuntu App Developer Week! on the Forums]

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #208

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 21:46


Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is Issue #208 for the week of August 22nd - August 28th and is available here.

In this issue we cover:

  • 11.04 Ubuntu Developer Summit Announced
  • Getting More Developers Interested In Participating In Ubuntu
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Bug Stats
  • Translation Stats Lucid
  • Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week
  • Maverick Meerkat Release Parties
  • Ubuntu LAN Party at Kwartzlab was a lot of fun!
  • First Debian/Ubuntu Community Conference in Italy
  • Michigan LoCo Jam – Another Success!
  • New Maine LoCo website
  • Operation: Wiki De-Kruft
  • Launchpad News
  • Articulating IRC Contributions Concisely
  • Rocking The Application Indicators
  • This week in design – 27 August 2010
  • Interview with Ubuntu IRC Council Member – Jussi Schultink
  • Boo-yah!!!
  • What are the barriers to walking the MOTU/Developer path?
  • In The Press
  • In The Blogosphere
  • Full Circle Magazine: We’ve got issue 40 (and a new logo) for you!
  • Ubuntu Tweak 0.5.6 Released - Adds Desktop Recovery Feature
  • Ubuntu One taking care of Windows users … not so much users of other Linux distributions
  • Canonical: The cloud shift is developer-led
  • LinuxCon 2010
  • Featured Podcasts
  • Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security
  • UWN Sneak Peek
  • And Much Much More!

    • This issue of The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

    • Amber Graner
    • J Scott Gwin
    • Liraz Siri
    • Penelope Stowe
    • Mike Holstein
    • Daniel Caleb

      • If you have a story idea for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

      Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA Creative Commons License

LoCos, Leaders, and Lessons Learned: Michigan Team

Sat, 08/28/2010 - 22:26

Article contributed by Amber Graner

In the latest LoCo Team interview in this US Teams Interview Series – LoCos, Leaders, and Lessons Learned, Amber Graner talks to Greg Grossmeier of the Ubuntu Michigan LoCo Team. Greg talks about the history of the team, resources, events, a new podcast put together but Ubuntu Michigan team members and more!

US-Teams: Could you tell us a little about you and what your role in the LoCo Team is?

Greg Grossmeier: Well yes! My name is Greg Grossmeier and during the day I work as the Copyright Specialist at the University of Michigan Library where I work with such great projects as Open.Michigan and the Scholarly Publishing Office. I’m also a Fellow at Creative Commons (where I interned when in grad school). But most importantly (for this conversation) I am the (by name only) leader of the Michigan LoCo Team. I can’t really say I’m the leader of the team without qualifying it because without the tremendous help of many people in the LoCo there would be nothing to lead.

US: When was the Ubuntu Michigan LoCo team started? How long after it was started did it take to get approved?

GG: The Launchpad team for the Michigan LoCo was created in June of 2007. That was the summer before I went to grad school and I thought “Hey, I know what would be a great compliment to starting a graduate school program, starting an Ubuntu LoCo team!” To my surprise, and everyone else’s, it actually worked!

However, this team didn’t start from scratch in June of 2007. I unknowingly started a team that had already tried to start before. The awesome Jorge Castro (and others) had started a LoCo for the area a while before, but it was laying dormant when I came into the picture. In fact, I “started” the LoCo before I had even moved to Michigan. While still in Minneapolis, MN I created the IRC channel, wiki page, mailing list, and Launchpad team; setting up the technical infrastructure from afar.

But with Jorge (and others’) help, we got more interest in the team, met a few times, and the Michigan LoCo was back in business.

US: What tools do you use for your team? Mailing Lists, Forums, IRC, websites, Micro-blogging sites etc.

GG: We use mostly the IRC channel (#ubuntu-us-mi) and the mailing list (ubuntu-us-mi@lists.ubuntu.com). There was some initial interest with the Forum but that has slowly died down (except for people asking about the IRC channel). We also have an identi.ca group that (sadly) doesn’t get used for much except spam accounts joining it.

US: On the road to LoCo approval what were some of the challenges the team faced and how did the team overcome them?

GG: Mostly, the challenges we faced was focusing our energies on specific attainable goals like bug/packaging jams. There was also the issue that South East Michigan area (where many of the team members live) has no lack of techie groups to join and there are many LUGs and other User Groups to consider. So one of the things we needed to do right away was convince people that A) we weren’t trying to steal members from other groups and B) our group added something special and different to what was already available.

US: What are the biggest challenges your team faces now and what strategies does the team use to over come them?

GG: The biggest current challenge is probably the momentum problem. We have been fairly lax lately with our event planning. We have participated in the major events like the Ubuntu Global Jam and of course the release parties, but getting together more often is definitely one of our major goals. One strategy that worked recently was for one of our members to get married (congratulations Jorge and Jill!); that brought much of the LoCo team out and having fun along with (gasp!) dancing.

US: What types of activities does the LoCo Team participate in? Are there any events the LoCo team sponsors?

GG: Along with release parties and the Global Jam, the team also makes sure to have a presence at local events like Penguicon, the Ohio Linux Fest, and PyOhio.

US: What are some of the projects your LoCo team has worked on? What are some of the upcoming projects the Ubuntu community can expect to see from the LoCo team throughout the next cycle?

GG: While the words “Ubuntu” and “Michigan” are not in the title, the new Lococast.net podcast from Michigan LoCo members Rick and Craig is a great project that is taking off from conversations in the Michigan LoCo IRC channel (and other places). We are excited to see where this will go!

US: What are some of the ways in which the LoCo actively recruits new members? What resources have you created or do you use (ie posters, fliers, business cards, banners etc)

GG: We actually do much with word of mouth: attending other local groups in the area (the members of the LoCo are almost always members of other groups as well), talking with new people at local events, and even promoting our LoCo via the great new Lococast.net

US: What do you think is the best aspect of being part of a LoCo team is?

GG: Simply, the chance to meet and hang out with great people in the area. I wouldn’t have any other way of reliably meeting such good people (Penguicon is VERY hit or miss).

US: What has been the most rewarding and exciting moment for the LoCo Team to date and why?

GG: I can’t speak for the entire team, but when myself and others took our application to the Community Council to be an official LoCo team, that was a great achievement.

US: What suggestions would you offer for newly formed LoCo teams or those teams working toward approval right now?

GG: Get out there! Talk with people! Keep your mailing list and IRC channels active. No one likes to hang out with quiet people. Most importantly: have a good time. Because being boring is almost worse than being quiet.

US: What tips, tricks, tools, references etc would you suggest for the leadership of a LoCo team?

GG: Along with getting out there and talking with people, just be sure to listen to your team. Don’t think that you know the right way of doing something. Your goal should be to attract smart and engaged people, so treat them like they are.

US: When you think of the Ubuntu Community and the spirit of Ubuntu how does the LoCo embody and share that spirit?

GG: We are always the first to help each no matter what, and with anything. Also, I think one of the most telling examples of how our LoCo team, while relatively small, epitomizes the concept of Ubuntu, is Jorge and Jill’s wedding. It really was very special to see the turn out of the LoCo team there celebrating that wonderful occasion.

US: Is there anything else about the LoCo team, or suggestions for being an effective and successful LoCo team you would like to share that you haven’t already?

GG: Have fun!

To get a peek at some of the fun the team has, check out photos from some of their past events:

Gutsy Release Party: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7508761@N03/1636244836/in/set-72157602529198873/
Jaunty Release Party: http://www.flickr.com/photos/grggrssmr/3476604620/in/set-72157617391698128/
Lucid Release Party: http://picasaweb.google.com/brousch/WestMIUbuntuLucidReleaseParty#5466095970570143586

[Discuss this interview with the Michigan Team on the Forum]

Originally posted by Elizabeth Krumbach here on Wed Aug 18 2010

Announcing this week's Bug Day target - Ubuntu Translations! - Thursday, August 26, 2010!

Wed, 08/25/2010 - 19:24



This week’s Bug Day target is *drum roll please* Ubuntu Translations!

The task is to assign to the right package and triage those as well:

  • 15 New bugs need a hug
  • 31 Incompletes bugs need a status check
  • 42 Confirmed bugs need a review

Bookmark it, add it to your calendars, turn over those egg-timers!

Are you looking for a way to start giving some love back to your adorable Ubuntu Project?

Did you ever wonder what Triage is? Want to learn about that?

This is a perfect time!, Everybody can help in a Bug Day! Open your IRC Client and go to #ubuntu-bugs (freenode) the BugSquad will be happy to help you to start contributing!

Wanna be famous? Is easy! remember to use 5-A-day so if you do a good work your name could be listed at the top 5-A-Day Contributors in the Ubuntu Hall of Fame page!

We are always looking for new tasks or ideas for the Bug Days, if you have one add it to the Planning page https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugDay/Planning

If you’re new to all this, head to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs

[Discuss Announcing this week’s Bug Day target - Ubuntu Translations! - Thursday, August 26, 2010! on the Forums]

Originally sent to the Ubuntu Devel Announce Mailing List by Kamus on Mon Aug 23 17:31:28 BST 2010

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #207

Mon, 08/23/2010 - 16:09


Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is Issue #207 for the week August 15th - August 21st, 2010 and is available here.

In this issue we cover:

  • N-imal?
  • Join the fun at the Ubuntu Global Jam
  • Welcome New Ubuntu Members
  • Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS released
  • 10.10.10.10.10…..
  • Gestures with multitouch in Ubuntu 10.10
  • Ubuntu Translations Interviews: Ricardo Pérez (Spanish Translation Team)
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • LoCo News
  • Ubuntu One Technical Aspects
  • Thankyou, Debian
  • Planet KDE Update
  • Beginners Team
  • Ubuntu at the Creative Arts Charter School
  • Getting Started with Ubuntu 10.04 Second Edition released
  • UbuCon at Ohio LinuxFest
  • In The Press
  • In The Blogosphere
  • Multi-touch Support Lands in Maverick
  • Canonical Announces the Release of uTouch for Ubuntu OS
  • Interviewing Mr. Gwibber (Ryan Paul)
  • Geode Driver Update
  • Puppy 5.1 codename Lucid is out- Now is compatible with Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx package
  • Oracle puts OpenSolaris to rest
  • KDE & GNOME cross-desktop development
  • OpenLuna - An Open Source Project Aimed at Returning Humankind Back to the Moon
  • Ohio LinuxFest Schedule
  • Featured Podcasts
  • Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security
  • And much much more!

    • This issue of The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

    • Amber Graner
    • Liraz Siri
    • Penelope Stowe
    • Daniel Caleb
    • Mike Holstein
    • Jonathan Carter
    • Lyz Krumbach
    • And many others

      • If you have a story idea for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

      Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA Creative Commons License

Ramping Up for the Ubuntu Global Jam!

Mon, 08/23/2010 - 12:58

Wow, our ever amazing community has done it again. Since last time I looked at the LoCo directory, the number of teams participating in the Ubuntu Global Jam has nearly doubled.

There is still time to organise new events and join the fun next weekend – a great opportunity to meet your old and new Ubuntu friends and help improve Ubuntu.

So here’s the question, is your country or area represented in there? Let your region also make the difference by adding your event.

See you there!

[Discuss Ramping Up for the Ubuntu Global Jam! on the Forum]

Originally posted here by David Planella on August 20th, 2010.

11.04 Ubuntu Developer Summit Announced

Mon, 08/23/2010 - 10:43

Hot on the heels of the announcement of the Natty Narwhal, I am tickled pink to announce the details of the next Ubuntu Developer Summit taking place in Orlando, USA from 25th – 29th October 2010. We also have a brand new Ubuntu Developer Summit website which provides all the details about how to get there and why UDS is interesting if you are in our community, if you are an upstream, and if you are a vendor.

The Ubuntu Developer Summit one of the most important events in the Ubuntu calendar and at it we discuss, debate and design the next version of Ubuntu. We bring together the entire Canonical development team and sponsor a large number of community members across the wide range of areas in which people contribute to Ubuntu. This includes packaging, translations, documentation, testing, LoCo teams and more. UDS is an incredible experience, filled with smart and enthusiastic people, fast paced and exhausting, but incredibly gratifying to be part of the process that builds the next Ubuntu.

For every UDS, Canonical sponsors a number of community members to attend the event. We are looking for those who want to bring some real insight and expertise in their area of Ubuntu, be it development or community governance. If you feel you could offer this but can’t afford to cover your expenses of attending, you should apply for sponsorship. The deadline for sponsorship is 8th September 2010.

[Discuss 11.04 Ubuntu Developer Summit Announced on the Forum]

Originally posted here by Jono Bacon on August 23rd, 2010 at 6:24 pm

Kubuntu Translations QA Day

Wed, 08/18/2010 - 16:47

This Friday (20th August) me and Ubuntu translations man David Planella want to spend the day making sure translations in Kubuntu are in tip top shape. Do join us on IRC in #kubuntu-devel if you want to help out. See the wiki page for some things we will be checking.

[Discuss Kubuntu Translations QA Day on the Forum]

Originally posted here by jriddell on Wed, 08/18/2010.

Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS released

Tue, 08/17/2010 - 19:12

The secret of happiness … is to be in harmony with existence, to be always calm, always lucid, always willing "to be joined to the universe without being more conscious of it than an idiot," to let each wave of life wash us a little farther up the shore.

-Cyril Connolly

The Ubuntu team is proud to announce the release of Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, the first maintenance update to Ubuntu’s 10.04 LTS release. This release includes updated server, desktop, and alternate installation CDs for the i386 and amd64 architectures.

Numerous 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 10.04 LTS.

To Get Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS
————————————-

To download Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS, or obtain CDs, visit:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

We recommend that all users read the release notes, which document caveats and workarounds for known issues. They are available at:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/1004

About Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS
————————————

This is the first maintenance release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, which continues to be supported with maintenance updates and security fixes until April 2013 on desktops and April 2015 on servers.

Numerous post-release updates have been integrated, and a number of bugs in the installation system have been corrected. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 10.04 LTS.

See http://www.ubuntu.com/usn for a full list of Ubuntu security updates.

See https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu for specific information about a particular bug number. A complete list of post-release updates will be made available tomorrow at:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LucidLynx/ReleaseNotes/ChangeSummary/10.04.1

Helping Shape Ubuntu
——————————

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at:

http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

About Ubuntu
——————

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, netbooks and servers, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases. A tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.

Professional services including support are available from Canonical and hundreds of other companies around the world. For more information about support, visit:

http://www.ubuntu.com/support

More Information
————————

You can find out more about Ubuntu on our website:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

To sign up for future Ubuntu announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu’s very low volume announcement list at:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-announce

[Discuss Ubuntu 10.04.1 LTS on the Forum]

Originally sent to the ubuntu-announce mailing list by Robbie Williamson on Wed Aug 18 03:04:01 BST 2010

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #206

Tue, 08/17/2010 - 16:29


Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is Issue #206 for the week August 8th - August 14th, 2010 and is available here.

In this issue we cover:

  • Ubuntu Global Jam: We Need Your Events!
  • Feature Freeze in place for Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat)
  • Making Ubuntu More Accessible
  • Talking about Ubuntu Studio with Scott Lavender, Project Lead for Ubuntu Studio
  • Another Heated Discussion In the Ubuntu Community
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • LoCo News
  • Launchpad News
  • This week In Design – 13 August 2010
  • Finding The Ubuntu Font Design
  • How are your users feeling? Example from Rhythmbox
  • An Update to the Ubuntu Light Themes
  • Awesome Work Others Have Done
  • Hugs For Bugs!
  • Can We Count Users Without Uniquely Identifying Them?
  • Revving up the Ubuntu Manual Project for Maverick
  • Behind MOTU Relaunches As Behind The Circle
  • In The Press
  • In The Blogosphere
  • Linux Foundation Makes Enterprise Open Source Boring
  • KDE’s New Releases Make a Splash
  • LinuxCon Grapples With Challenges, From Mobile To Multicore
  • Fotoxx — the Greatest Little Linux Photo Editor You’ve Never Heard Of
  • Zenoss Releases 2010 Open Source Systems Management Survey Report
  • Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security
  • UWN Sneak Peek
  • And Much Much More!

    • This issue of The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

    • Amber Graner
    • J Scott Gwin
    • Liraz Siri
    • Penelope Stowe
    • Nigel Babu
    • And many others

      • If you have a story idea for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

      Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA Creative Commons License

N-imal?

Tue, 08/17/2010 - 11:45

Oh yes, it’s that time of year again, when numerate pollsters make nasal proclamations about the naming of the next next version of Ubuntu. When gazers of balls crystal provide nifty suggestions for new new features and, of course, suitable nomenclature to match.

What will it be? A Naiant Nailtail would make a fine coat of arms, but we’re not really in the business of arms. Most of our businesses have legs. Most, I say. We could hedge our bets and go with the Neutral Newt, but it’s placing bets and seeing them through that raises the game for the free software desktop, and now’s a time of great change and invention, not a time for fence-sitting.

I’ve been procrastinating. The N-evitable nature of our cadence means that calls for something nicer than “Maverick+1″ are increasingly noticeable. Naively, I always assume that the answer will leap off the page. Instead, what leaps off the page is a gazillion permutations and combinations of nubile, naughty, naiad and nymph. Moving swiftly onward I linger on the possibilities of the Numbat. Nah. There’s no doubt Fourecks can be a rich source of inspiration, now’s not the time to celebrate Van Diemen’s Land, we’ve better plans for that. And speaking of Fourecks, the Nobby Noctule sounds like something dreamed up by Terry Pratchett, perhaps a fitting way to move beyond Adam’s 10.10.10, but it really is hard to sing the praises of a bat. Especially one with (k)nobs.

As you can imagine, after a few weeks with a dictionary and colouring in book of animals, I could draw this out N-definitely. The problem is NP-complete, which I’m now reliably informed by the good folks at HP means it’s provably quite difficult and not something that can be delegated to chips of the non-quantum kind. My chips are most definitely non-quantum though my bugs, strangely, are.

Where did that leave us?

Well, let’s look at what we want to get done.

We have this whole design thing in full flow, which is making Ubuntu sleeker and more stylish, as well as making it smoother for those who just want to get stuff done. We’ll make the N release the best-dressed ever. But classy covers don’t equate to good reads – we want style and substance to meet and get along famously. Once Maverick is out the door we’ll be turning our attention to making the most of the amazing capabilities of modern graphics hardware, both for outer beauty and for inner efficiency. There’s a lot more to GL than glitz and glamour, though we won’t say no to either.

We’re also putting a lot of work into chips and architectures (admittedly, not yet of the quantum sort) that keep cool, and help keep the planet cool in the process. So it would be nice to have a codename which reflects that goodness. Some sort of mascot for a cool planet would do the trick.

And so, we come swiftly to a conclusion: allow me to introduce the Natty Narwhal, our mascot for development work that we expect to deliver as Ubuntu 11.04.

The Narwhal, as an Arctic (and somewhat endangered) animal, is a fitting reminder of the fact that we have only one spaceship that can host all of humanity (trust me, a Soyuz won’t do for the long haul to Alpha Centauri). And Ubuntu is all about bringing the generosity of all contributors in this functional commons of code to the widest possible audience, it’s about treating one another with respect, and it’s about being aware of the complexity and diversity of the ecosystems which feed us, clothe us and keep us healthy. Being a natty narwhal, of course, means we have some obligation to put our best foot forward. First impressions count, lasting impressions count more, so let’s make both and make them favourable.

While it may not in fact get you a pony, the world of free software is the platform upon which the future is being built. So the Narwhal, as the closest thing to a real live unicorn, is an auspicious figurehead as we lay down the fabric from which dreams will be woven. Dreams of someone’s first PC, dreams of someone’s first million instances in the cloud: whatever your vision of the future, we hope the Natty Narwhal will have something to offer. Test your gems against that unicorn – some will be glass, others of value. Perhaps the unicorn will bring you Luck, perhaps a cure for poisons proprietary. One thing is certain: we’ll be building it together with thousands of the most generous, insightful, fun people on the planet – not only those in the Ubuntu community, but those who participate in the whole of the free software ecosystem, from a2jmidid to zzliplib, with Debian (happy Birthday!, now longer in the tooth, wiser, but as potent and principled as ever) a special partner. I’m looking forward to the ride, and the result!

[Discuss the N-imal on the Forum]

Originally posted here by Mark Shuttleworth on Tuesday, August 17th, 2010 at 6:31 pm

Announcing the Next Ubuntu Bug Day! - August 19th 2010

Tue, 08/17/2010 - 10:53

This week’s Bug Day target is *drum roll please* Banshee!

  • 72 New bugs need a hug
  • 15 Incompletes bugs need a status check
  • 19 Confirmed bugs need a review

Bookmark it, add it to your calendars, turn over those egg-timers!

Are you looking for a way to start giving some love back to your adorable Ubuntu Project? Did you ever wonder what Triage is? Want to learn about that? This is a perfect time!, Everybody can help in a Bug Day!

Open your IRC Client and go to #ubuntu-bugs (freenode) the BugSquad will be happy to help you to start contributing!

Wanna be famous? Is easy! remember to use 5-A-day so if you do a good work your name could be listed at the top 5-A-Day Contributors in the Ubuntu Hall of Fame page!

We are always looking for new tasks or ideas for the Bug Days, if you have one add it to the Planning page https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugDay/Planning

If you’re new to all this and you want to know more about ubuntu?, head to http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs

[Discuss the next Ubuntu Bug Day on the Forum]

Originally sent to the ubuntu-devel-announce Mailing List by Kamus on Tue Aug 17 14:47:07 BST 2010

Ubuntu Translations Interviews: Ricardo Pérez (Spanish Translation Team)

Mon, 08/16/2010 - 09:02


Ubuntu is brought to users in their own language by a large community of volunteer translators, who tirelessly work on localizing every part of the operating system on every release.

In this series of interviews we’ll get to know who they are, about their language and how they work.

This week we’re introducing you to Ricardo Pérez, the Spanish translation team coordinator.

Could you tell us a bit about you and the language you help translate Ubuntu into?

Hi! I’m Ricardo Pérez, I’m 35 years old and I’m a computer science teacher in a High School at south of Spain, in the Andalusia region. Since some years ago, I’m the Ubuntu Spanish Translators Team administrator and one of its translators. Spanish is one of the most spoken language around the world as well as in Internet - only English goes before ;). There are also a huge amount of Spanish-speaking Ubuntu users out there.

How and when did you become an Ubuntu translator?

I started to translating Ubuntu into Spanish virtually at the same time as Rosetta begins to life. I’m talking about ends of year 2005. I always liked to translate technical texts into Spanish and my work as a teacher pushed me to do so. For example, some years ago I translated into Spanish a book about computer programming fundamentals called “How to think like a computer scientist” and I adapted it from Python to Eiffel at the same time (if you’re curious, this is the link: http://sourceforge.net/projects/httlcseifspa/) ;).

I always loved Rosetta and its ease of use, so translating Ubuntu using Launchpad is like an enjoyable game for me. ;)

What other projects do you help with inside the community?

I practically spend 99% of my Ubuntu time in translating and reporting bugs ;).

Do you belong to an Ubuntu LoCo team? If so, which one?

Well, I’m a member of the Ubuntu Spain Team, but I’m not involved on any of it’s activities.

How can people who want to help with translating Ubuntu and all the various pieces and parts into your language get started?

The best they can do is to take a look at many already translated applications, and then go to the Ubuntu Spanish Translators wiki (on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuSpanishTranslators) and read all the guides and recommendations. There are some things about translating into Spanish which could sound weird the first time you hear them. ;).

What’s the desktop experience for Ubuntu users in your language? Is Ubuntu in your language popular among native speakers?

If I’m not wrong (and I don’t think so), Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution among Spanish speakers. Ubuntu is also the Linux distribution choosen as the base for Guadalinex, the derivative distro of Andalusia.

Where does your team need help?

Translating, translating and translating :). We need more contributors, and we need quality.

Do you know of any projects or organizations where Ubuntu is used in your language?

Apart from the Goverment of Andalusia (and its own Linux distribution called Guadalinex), Ubuntu is used in University as well as High Schools.

What do you feel is the most rewarding part of translating Ubuntu?

It’s a pleasure to know that your work is being used in many places around the world. I like to see my translated strings printed on Spanish books and articles about Ubuntu :).

Is there anything else about your team or translation efforts that I haven’t asked you about that you would like to talk about?

I don’t think so. It was a great interview :D. Thanks very much!

Become an Ubuntu Translator

Do you speak languages? Join the our translation community and make Ubuntu accessible to everyone in their own language. You can:

[Discuss Ubuntu Translations Interviews: Ricardo Pérez (Spanish Translation Team) on the Forums]

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