johnc4510
January 11th, 2009, 09:16 PM
Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #124 for the week January 4th - January 10th, 2009. In this issue we cover: Next Ubuntu Global Bug Jam, Ubuntu Developer Week Returns, New MOTU's, New Ubuntu Members, Ubuntu Hall of Fame: James Westby, Good People-Good Teams, Debian Import Freeze, Changes to Launchpad Legal Page, Open Sourcing Launchpad, 12 Days of Launchpad, Ubuntu Podcast #16, Edubuntu meeting minutes, 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
Next Ubuntu Global Bug Jam
Ubuntu Developer Weekend returns!
New MOTU's and Ubuntu Members
Ubuntu Hall of Fame: James Westby
Good People, Great Teams
Debian Import Freeze
Ubuntu Stats
Changes to Launchpad Legal Page
Open Sourcing Launchpad
12 Days of Launchpad
In the Press & Blogosphere
Ubunt Podcast #16
Edubuntu Meeting Minutes
Upcoming Meetings & Events
Update & Security
General Community News
Next Ubuntu Global Bug Jam
February 20th to February 22nd, 2009. Everybody knows what a great success the UbuntuBugDay is. Some LoCo teams have even taken this a step further. Instead of just meeting on IRC, they make a party out of it, and meet locally to work on bugs together. Ubuntu calls this event the "Global Bug Jam". It is the classic Ubuntu Hug Day, taken to the next level all around the world, during one weekend. It's an opportunity for Local Teams to get together and concentrate on fixing bugs, meet new people, and just have a rockin' good time.
How to:
So you're interested and want to make the event ROCK in your LoCo?
Make sure you read RunningBugJam (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RunningBugJam) - it has a lot of information on
organizing the venue
promoting the event
running the jam and
soliciting the right feedback afterwards
Check out GlobalBugJam.pdf: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=GlobalBugJam.pdf
Also check out Bug Jam Material section: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RunningBugJam#Material
The pre-bugjam session schedule is at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam
A video tutorial is available on the Ubuntu Developer's Channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBY7wfX2jpA
Sessions to teach how to run BugJams on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RunningBugJam
More information on GlobalBugJams available at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam
Ubuntu Developer Week Returns!
The Ubuntu Developer Week is back again.
From Jan 19th to Jan 23rd the Ubuntu Developers are going to have loads of awesome sessions to share their secrets of success, spend time asking all of your questions, and help you to get involved. It’s an awesome opportunity to get started, get to know a lot of people and it’s going to be a lot of fun.
A lot of things are going to stay the same: we’ll have top-class talkers, top-notch talks and time for asking lots and lots of questions. One thing to be totally excited about is this one: we’ll have a two-hour Getting Started session in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Fantastic! If English is not your mother tongue, and you’d like to know a bit more about how it all works to feel comfortable, this is your opportunity to ask your questions.
Timetable: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek
Session Details: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek/Sessions
Joining in: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek/JoiningIn
Digg it here: http://digg.com/linux_unix/3rd_Ubuntu_Developer_Week_announced
For more information on Global Bug Jam, visit: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam
New MOTU's
Thierry Carrez (Koon) is now a MOTU. Thierry has been working with the Server and Java teams, and describes his goals as: "I am interested in making Ubuntu Server a market-leader solution for servers in large companies, by supporting the common feature-set required for those servers, and providing better integration and usage experience than the alternatives." Please welcome him to the team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~tcarrez Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ThierryCarrez
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-January/000333.html
Iulian Udrea (iulian) is now a MOTU. Iulian has been active in Debian collaboration, bug management, and enjoys helping others to ensure the packages are in the best shape possible. Please welcome him to the team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~iulian Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IulianUdrea
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-January/000335.html
New Ubuntu Members
The first Americas Council Membership Approval meeting for 2009 took place on January 6th/7th where they accepted the following new members:
Charles Profitt (PrivateVoid) is the Vice President of the New York LoCo team (elected December 11th, 2008 for a two year term), and has done a tremendous job in building a healthy and thriving LoCo Team via a high level of enthusiasm and organizing local events. A number of individuals came out to show their support for Charles, and testified about not only his great LoCo Team work but also great work being done on the forums with Beginners Team. Outside of Ubuntu, Charles is a member of the K-12 Open Source Community http://community.k12opensource.com/ and is active in promoting Linux and Ubuntu in Education. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~cprofitt Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/cprofitt
Shaun Dennie (vor) is a long time Unix hacker and has been using Ubuntu since 5.10. Dennie's experience is clearly represented by the number of tutorials written on the Ubuntu Forums as well this contributor's participation in the forum's Beginners Team, and Forum Moderator Team. Shaun reports really enjoying being a part of the community and would like to take the next step to get even more involved as a developer. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~sdennie Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ShaunDennie
Connor Imes (Rocket2DMn) has been using Ubuntu since Feisty and reports being an active contributor since day 1. Notable areas where Connor had contributed include the forums (especially the Beginners Team and as Staff), and wiki documentation. Besides his great work on the forums and impressive documentation efforts, Imes also frequents the Launchpad bug tracker, and Launchpad Answers tracker to help triage bugs and answer questions. Connor was also involved in the "Summer of Documentation" effort by a handful of Ubuntu Forums Beginners Team members to help get the Community Docs up to date by working with the Ubuntu Documentation Team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~rocket2dmn Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Rocket2DMn
Eric Hammond (erichammond) applied for Ubuntu Membership based on his primary contributions to Ubuntu of building, maintaining, documenting, promoting, and supporting of public virtual machine images for running Ubuntu on Amazon EC2. Hammond reported on his efforts to foster an Ubuntu on EC2 community which is now around 700 registered members and growing, and his work with the Ubuntu server team in an advisory and testing capacity. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~esh Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EricHammond
Andres Mujica's (andres-mujica) main contribution to Ubuntu is in Bug triaging as a member of the bugsquad, and is currently working towards becoming a member of the Ubuntu bugcontrol group. Based on Andres work in bug triage, and peer feedback, the board accepted Andres Mujica as a Ubuntu Member. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~andres.mujica Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AndresMujica
David Mandala (DavidM) introduced himself as a generalist, and a computer and electronics-geek who enjoys coding and evangelizing Ubuntu Mobile Linux. As the manager of the Ubuntu Mobile team, and project manager of the Ubuntu Mobile and MID Projects, he has naturally made significant contributions to Ubuntu Mobile and the Ubuntu Mobile community at large. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~davidm Wiki: https://launchpad.net/~davidm
The America's Board and the Ubuntu Community wish to welcome these new Ubuntu Members! https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-January/000332.html
Ubuntu Hall of Fame: James Westby
James Westby is a great guy to work with. He almost never sleeps and is truly helpful. Based in Bristol, England, he is well-known in the Bazaar community and his work on distributed development.
Making collaboration in Ubuntu development easier and more natural is one of his ambitions. James started out by writing bzr-builddeb which makes the task of building maintaining Ubuntu packages in Bazaar trivial. Working in bazaar branches, pulling changes from Upstream, maintaining them with a clear version history is getting easier and easier by the day.
James is also well-known in the MOTU community, and always has an open ear for people looking for help and seeking advice. He organized and hosted a few MOTU School sessions already, and is one of the top reviewers in the sponsoring queue. Nick Ellery says: "James has done more sponsoring than any other developer during the Jaunty release. He's an asset to the new developer community, and an excellent guy to work with!" and Andrew Starr-Bochicchio adds "his work on the sponsorship queue is Hall of Fame worthy".
He stays calm in heated discussions, can easily look at problems from a new angle, and comes up with great ideas.
He loves all kinds of music, particularly Drum'n'Bass music and DJed at two "Ubuntu Allstar" parties. James also likes cooking, so go and check out his blog, he has a few recipes on there.
We can only say: Rock on James and give us more of the Distributed Development goodness! http://hall-of-fame.ubuntu.com/?feature=james-westby
Good People, Great Teams
Jono recently asked everyone to re-connect with the Ubuntu ethos.[1] Ethos is important, critical in fact. It is the glue that will bind us through the turbulent years ahead as Ubuntu continues to grow. Ubuntu has made huge progress in recent years, and have managed to capture some real mindshare. We now need to get out there finish the job.
The next level of the game is going to require many skills. Diversity is going to be the key to Ubuntu flourishing. Great packaging, software development, bug-fixing, rocking documentation, translations, testing, lots of feedback, training, support for new users, and the ability to focus our energy positively will be crucial.
Ubuntu, and the wider Open Source and Free Software ethos is all about people working together, uniting behind an opportunity to make their own world better. Fortunately making your own world better often means making someone else’s world better too. The way Ubuntu is going to win is to enable good people to do great work. Good people is what drives the Ubuntu community forward.
It is LoCo Teams that are on the ground talking to potential users, giving out CDs, talking to local businesses and charities and more. They are a huge asset to Ubuntu. Ubuntu has hundreds of teams around the world doing incredible work, spreading the message of Ubuntu far and wide. They themselves exhibit the very ethos that Ubuntu is sharing with others.
Jono is keen to hear stories concerning you LoCo team. He would like each of you on a LoCo Team to share a story on your blog, or in the comments at this articles link below. He wants to begin building a compendium of stories that showcases the kind of excellent work that LoCos are doing. This is the first step in getting our LoCo Teams better coordinated, sharing experiences and advice, and changing the world one user at a time. http://www.jonobacon.org/2009/01/08/good-people-great-teams/
[1] http://www.jonobacon.org/2008/12/19/the-ubuntu-ethos/
Debian Import Freeze
A short reminder that per https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JauntyReleaseSchedule the DebianImportFreeze[1] is now in effect. Please remember that if you are waiting for bug fixes from Debian for Jaunty, you will now need to file your sync requests explicitly.
[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebianImportFreeze
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-January/000517.html
Ubuntu Stats
Bug Stats
Open (47568)-198 over last week
Critical (23) +/-0 over last week
Unconfirmed (18741)-44 over last week
Unassigned (40223) +/-0 # over last week
All bugs ever reported (241586)+1645 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 Intrepid
Spanish (15849)-22 over last week
French (61779)-136 over last week
Swedish (72541) +/-0 over last week
Brazilian Portuguese (76929)-883 over last week
English (UK) (81297)-163 over last week
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex," see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepid/
5-a-day bug stats
==== Top 5 contributors for the past 7 days ====
crimsun (174)
chrisccoulson (74)
thelupine (46)
vorian (37)
dholbach (31)
==== Top 5 teams for the past 7 days ====
dcteam (174)
ubuntu-us-florida (82)
ubuntu-us-ohio (42)
ubuntu-de-locoteam (35)
ubuntu-berlin (34)
5-A-Day stats provided by Daniel Holbach. See http://daniel.holba.ch/5-a-day-stats/
Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week
Allow Brainstorm users to login with OpenID
Improve 5.1 and 7.1 sound support in Volume Control
Allow a way of managing .thumbnails folder
optio to save brasero ripped images with .iso extension
Improve Nautilus "Find as you type"
Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/
LoCo News
Ubuntu-us-fl: Tampa Linux Meetup
The FloridaTeam participated in the Tampa Linux meetup held Jan 10th at J. Christophers. While not strictly an Ubuntu event, they nevertheless had a strong showing. Stickers and CDs were given away, and they were able to pick up several new team members. The best part was the after-party, where Lupine and itnet7 sat down with several of the team members for a mini bug jam/5-a-day how-to in preparation for the GlobalBugJam.
[1] https://launchpad.net/~thelupine
[2] https://launchpad.net/~itnet7
[3] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam
http://www.meetup.com/Tampa-Linux
Launchpad News
Notice of Changes to the Launchpad Legal Page
Joey Stanford informs us of changes to the launchpad Legal Page[1]:
1) The Dev wiki [2] is now called out explicitly as having a CC content license. Previously the Dev wiki proclaimed it was licensed under CC but was not listed on our Legal page.
2) The Content License section was updated for clarity. This was a housekeeping task and does not effect any Legal changes.
3) Future notifications of legal changes will be sent only to the Launchpad Announcement list [3]. Previously they were sent to the Launchpad Users list and News blog.
[1] https://help.launchpad.net/Legal
[2] https://dev.launchpad.net/
[3] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/Launchpad-announce
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/launchpad-announce/2009-January/000024.html
Open Sourcing Launchpad
The code that runs Launchpad.net will be open-sourced. The process will be completed by July 21st, 2009, coinciding with the 3.0 release (see the schedule of releases).[1] Most of the code, except for a few that are heavily customized for Canonical's work-flow, will be released by that date. The process includes the modularization of elements into independent packages over the next 6 months. Some of that has already been done.
There will also be a number of non-coding tasks that will be accomplished according to the schedule listed on the announcement. Other information includes the podcast, Launchpod #15.[2]
[1] https://dev.launchpad.net/Releases/2009Calendar
[2] http://news.launchpad.net/podcast/launchpod-15-launchpads-going-open-source
https://dev.launchpad.net/OpenSourcing
12 Days of Launchpad
Day six: code review - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-six-code-review
Day seven: personal branches - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-seven-personal-branches
Day eight: Launchpad Bugs by email - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-eight-launchpad-bugs-by-email
Day nine: copying PPA packages - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-nine-copying-ppa-packages
Day ten: karma - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-ten-karma
Day eleven: try things out on staging - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-eleven-try-things-out-on-staging
Day twelve: Loggerhead - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-twelve-loggerhead
The previous 5 days were reported in UWN 123: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue123
Look for more of the 12 days of Launchpad here: http://news.launchpad.net/
http://news.launchpad.net/
In The Press
A Software Populist Who Doesn’t Do Windows - In December hundreds of volunteers gathered in Mountain View, California for the Ubuntu Developer Summit. During a break in the gathering Ubuntu leader Mark Shuttleworth told the Times, "If we’re successful, we would fundamentally change the operating system market. Microsoft would need to adapt, and I don’t think that would be unhealthy." Mainstream technology companies have taken notice of the enthusiasm around Ubuntu. Dell started to sell PCs and desktops with the software in 2007, and I.B.M. more recently began making Ubuntu the basis of a software package that competes against Windows. The technology research firm IDC estimates that 11 percent of American businesses have systems based on Ubuntu. “It feels pretty clear to me that the open process produces better stuff,” Mr. Shuttleworth said. Such talk from a man willing to finance software for the masses — and by the masses — inspires those who see open source as more of a cause than a business model. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/business/11ubuntu.html?_r=1
Freescale and ARM promise £140 netbooks - Chipset manufacturer Freescale on Monday unveiled an ARM-based blueprint for cheap, low-cost sub-notebooks. At the heart of the reference design is the i.MX515 processor, which uses ARM's Cortex-A8 chipset architecture. The design also incorporates a new power management integrated circuit from Freescale, as well as Adobe Flash Lite and the netbook version of Canonical's Ubuntu Linux distribution. According to Freescale, this combination makes it possible for manufacturers to build netbooks with retail prices under $200 (£137) and battery lives of eight hours. Thierry Cammal, Freescale's vice president of global consumer wireless marketing, also claimed Freescale's "cost-competitive" chipset would, together with Ubuntu, cost manufacturers around $20 (£14) to put into netbooks, whereas Intel's Atom combined with Windows XP cost more than $60 (£41). "We are enabling a cheap type of device that could offer new ways to utilise the internet." http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39587602,00.htm
Other links to information about Freescale: http://www.internetnews.com/hardware/article.php/3794316 and http://media.freescale.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=196520&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1240267&highlight= which includes Canonical's partner statement.
What Ubuntu must do - There's been a lot of chatter on the Internet about the Macworld Expo, much of it focused on the absence of its iconic keynote speaker, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. This comes at a crucial time for both Apple, which is gaining market share, and Microsoft, which has seen its dominance in operating systems eroding. Windows Vista is clearly opening up opportunities for Mac OS X and Linux. The next major upgrade for Ubuntu, Jaunty Jackalope, is expected in April, and here’s what this author hopes it will do. Fix all sound issues, although sound support has improved, it is still a stumbling block. Make all the non-free goodness available at the click of one button. Make it easier to install fonts, and make sure everything else just works. Make really cool features part of the standard installation. If Ubuntu can detect a capable graphics card and install the right driver for it, why not have it turn on Compiz the moment it does? As the Ubuntu team tackles more esoteric features such as integrating Web applications onto the desktop, they shouldn’t lose sight of the meat-and-potatoes issues that can make or break an operating system. http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business6_jan6_2009
How does Ubuntu Linux differ from Debian? - Bring up the topic of Ubuntu and you'll receive a mixed response from unexpected corners. So just how does Ubuntu differ from Debian? Ubuntu is a derivative work from Debian. It’s a Linux distro based on a pre-existing Linux distro. If you prefer a system that just installs and works then look no further than Ubuntu. If you’d rather kick off with a base system and then add what you need, Debian will be your choice. Both have their place in the world. Indeed, without Debian there’d be no Ubuntu, that’s pretty clear. Yet, it can’t be denied Ubuntu has made massive gains in improving the reputation of Linux. The efforts poured into Ubuntu are now making it easier to see Linux as something your grandmother really could use. Ubuntu is shiner than Debian, and its software repositories are smaller, but they’re more up-to-date. Make no mistake, Debian is stunning for what it is – that being an expert’s system, and a highly-customizable operating system. But Ubuntu is stunning too for what it excels at – Linux for ordinary folk. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22545/1141/1/0/
Hands-on Linux - Anyone who knows anything about Linux has heard about Ubuntu. It's easily the most popular desktop Linux around. There's a very good reason for that: Ubuntu 8.10, a.k.a. Intrepid Ibex, is easy with a capital "E." The GNOME-based interface is easy enough to use, but Canonical backs it up with a strong community. If there's something you want to do on Ubuntu -- anything at all -- chances are you can find the answer on one of the Ubuntu forums such as the Ubuntu Forums and the Ubuntu Community Team Wiki. This support isn't a feature per se, but it shouldn't be underestimated. Of course, you may not need that much help. For example, with the new Network Manager 0.7 you can not only easily hook up to wired and Wi-Fi networks, but you can also now easily connect with 3G access points. So who is Ubuntu for? To my mind, there's no question about it -- Ubuntu is the best beginner's Linux in the land. It's also more than good enough for experienced Linux power users, but if you're just getting your feet wet with desktop Linux, Ubuntu is the Linux for you. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Operating+Systems&articleId=9124087&taxonomyId=89&pageNumber=1
In The Blogosphere
Ways YOU can contribute to Ubuntu! - Blogger ushimitsudoki presents a list of ways to contribute to Ubuntu (or Linux in general), and provides his thoughts on each. Some of his ideas include Brainstorm: This is a place for people to contribute and discuss ideas to improve Ubuntu. You can propose an idea, vote an idea up or down, and comment on other people’s ideas. Ubuntu Forums: The Ubuntu Forums are big, but they are an easy entry point to make some casual contributions. You can answer a technical question, or just share your thoughts. Create your own blog: You can get blog space for free. You don’t have to be a good writer, or a technical wizard or anything like that. Just write about things you experience or think about. #ubuntu: These are IRC channels where Ubuntu users gather to talk about Ubuntu, help each other, or just hang out. Visit/Join a LUG: You might have a LUG (Linux User’s Group) in your area. It might be small and filled with awesomely cool people, or might be much larger. It’s a safe bet they are interested in gaining new members. Other ways of contributing include squashing a bug, starting or joining a project, or just spreading the word. All of them require a little bit of nerve to jump in, but the Ubuntu community is a good community to get started with. http://meandubuntu.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/ways-you-can-contribute-to-ubuntu/
Computers For Everyone - “Just point and click. If any one can do that they can use a computer,” said Court Skinner director of Computers For Everyone in East Palo Alto. Skinner is known as the local computer guide in East Palo Alto. He doesn’t use Windows. He uses Ubuntu, an operating system based on Linux. One day he decided to collect the computers that a company had thrown away and fixed them in order to make them usable for people in East Palo Alto. People have continued to donate computers to him. He decided to create a program that would help people get free computers. It usually takes Skinner about a day to fix and download the applications for the computers. In order to apply for a computer there is a short application process where people write down their basic information and the purpose for the computer so he knows what programs to install on the computer. http://www.epa.net/launch/news/localnws/item?item_id=648395
One Last Look: What You Were Reading in 2008 - Looking at the most viewed articles during 2008 gives us a glimpse at what was most interesting to people, or perhaps even a sample of the most important trends during this last year. Ubuntu articles, in general, had many just outside the top five. Three very popular Ubuntu articles were: Ubuntu Server: Canonical's Third Way to the Enterprise, Build a Portable Security Tool with the ASUS Eee PC and Ubuntu, and Ubuntu's Enterprising Ibex Springs Into Release. Ubuntu has taken the world by storm, increasing the size of the Linux community by providing many improvements to the user experience. It is undoubtedly the most popular Linux distro, and most articles about Ubuntu news or Ubuntu tutorials gets a lot of attention. http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/_featured/article.php/3794176/One-Last-Look--What-You-Were-Reading-in-2008.htm
In Other News
Ubuntu Podcast #16
Josh Chase and Nick Ali from the Georgia US LoCo released episode #16. Some of the topics covered in this episode include:
Upcoming interview with Jorge Castro to discuss his work and the Global Bug Jam
Notifications in 9.04
LoCos on TV
Ubuntu Privacy Remix
Tabbed Browsing in Nautilus
http://ubuntupodcast.net/2009/01/07/ubuntu-podcast-episode-16/
Meeting Summaries
Edubuntu Meeting Minutes
Much of the meeting was spent going over the Edubuntu Strategy Document (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Edubuntu/StrategyDocument) and related issues including:
Clarification of educational level categorizations by mapping student age ranges with categories
DISCUSSION: Grade level and educational categorizations vary from country to country. Teachers and administrators need to know what software, artwork, etc. apply to them and their students.
ACTION: RichEd to send email seeking comment on age ranges for preschool, primary, secondary, tertiary designations
ACTION: RichEd will draft the South Africa and out the UK mapping tonight and send to the others for input … LaserJock for US, nubae for Austria, Spain, Germany
Edubuntu’s Launchpad team structure needs review and reworking.
DISCUSSION: A development team is needed to provide for things like bzr branches and PPAs. The creation of an ~edubuntu-contributors team was discussed as a less “harsh” term than “-dev”. There is also confusion as to what the difference between the ~edubuntu and ~edubuntu-members teams are for.
ACTION: LaserJock to create edubuntu-dev Launchpad team and arrange for ~edubuntu as an umbrella team to hold all official Edubuntu Launchpad teams
Clarification of Edubuntu’s goals/branding/naming
DISCUSSION: The debate about the use of “Edubuntu” and “Ubuntu Education” continued. RichEd explained that Canonical would like to use “Ubuntu Education” for the .iso and contents (Canonical-supported applications) for purposes of marketing to OEMs and leveraging of Ubuntu’s brand strength. The community members agreed with this. Further, the “Edubuntu” term will be used for the project, community, and community-supported packaging.
ACTION: LaserJock to draft “Edubuntu and Ubuntu Education” clarification statement and run it by RichEd et. al
Review of Jaunty specs and tasks (see Roadmap link below)
The Edubuntu RoadMap was reviewed and several ideas for Jaunty tasks were added. LaserJock encouraged everyone to think of bite sized, feasible tasks for the Jaunty time frame and add them to the RoadMap. This will allow the team to track efforts and give a place for new contributors to “plug in”.
ACTION: Everybody is going to help fill out https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Edubuntu/Devel/RoadMap
Next Edubuntu meeting is scheduled for: January 21st, 18:00 UTC in #ubuntu-meeting
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
==== Server Team Meeting ====
Start: 16:00 UTC
End: 17:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/Meeting
==== Kernel Team Meeting ====
Start: 17:00 UTC
End: 18:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: Not listed as of publication
==== LoCo Council Meeting ====
Start: 21:00 UTC
End: 22:00 UTC
Location: #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCouncilAgenda
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
==== Foundation Team Meeting ====
Start: 16:00 UTC
End: 17:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== QA Team Meeting ====
Start: 17:00 UTC
End: 18:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/Meetings/
Thursday, January 15, 2009
==== Forum Council Meeting ====
Start: 00:30 UTC
End: 01:30 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ForumCouncilAgenda
==== Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting ====
Start: 12:00 UTC
End: 13:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== Desktop Team Meeting ====
Start: 13:00 UTC
End: 14:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/Meeting
==== Ubuntu Java Meeting ====
Start: 14:00 UTC
End: 15:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: None listed as of publication
Saturday, January 17, 2009
==== Beginners Team Eduaction Focus Group ====
Start: 18:00 UTC
End: 20:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-classroom
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam/FocusGroups/Education/Events/01172009
The Education Focus Group of the Ubuntu Forums Beginners Team is looking for more instructors.
Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.10, 8.04, and 8.10
Security Updates
USN-702-1: Samba vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-702-1
USN-703-1: xterm vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-703-1
USN-701-1: Thunderbird vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-701-1
USN-701-2: Thunderbird vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-701-2
USN-704-1: OpenSSL vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-704-1
USN-705-1: NTP vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-705-1
USN-706-1: Bind vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-706-1
Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
None Reported
Ubuntu 7.10 Updates
None Reported
Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
gstreamer0.10-fluendo-plugins-doc 0.10.6-2hardy3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012154.html
pdvd-doc 4.52-1hardy5 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012155.html
acpi-support 0.109-0hardy1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012156.html
debian-installer 20070308ubuntu40.7 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012157.html
pygobject 2.14.2-0ubuntu2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012158.html
Ubuntu 8.10 Updates
gstreamer0.10-fluendo-plugins-doc 0.10.6-2intrepid3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009586.html
pdvd-doc 4.52-1intrepid5 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009587.html
linux-backports-modules-2.6.27 2.6.27-11.11 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009588.html
acpi-support 0.114-0intrepid1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009589.html
wine 1.0.1-0ubuntu3~intrepid1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009590.html
module-init-tools 3.3-pre11-4ubuntu17.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009591.html
nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 180.11-0ubuntu1~intrepid1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009592.html
linux 2.6.27-11.23 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009593.html
cheese 2.24.2-0ubuntu0+intrepid1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009594.html
glibc 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu8 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009595.html
glibc 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu8 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009595.html
zsnes 1.510-2.1ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009596.html
Archives and RSS Feed
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Additional Ubuntu News
As always you can find more news and announcements at:
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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:
Nick Ali
John Crawford
Craig A. Eddy
Kenny McHenry
Dave Bush
Dan Trevino
And many others
Glossary of Terms
1. CC - Creative Commons
1. IRC - Internet Relay Chat
1. MID - Mobile Internet Device
1. MOTU - Master Of The Universe - Developers responsible for the Universe and Multiverse repositories.
1. OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer
1. PPA - Personal Project Archive
Other acronyms can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary
Ubuntu - Get Involved
The Ubuntu community consists of individuals and teams, working on different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical support, and helping to promote Ubuntu to a wider audience. No contribution is too small, and anyone can help. It's your chance to get in on all the community fun associated with developing and promoting Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate
Feedback
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Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
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
Next Ubuntu Global Bug Jam
Ubuntu Developer Weekend returns!
New MOTU's and Ubuntu Members
Ubuntu Hall of Fame: James Westby
Good People, Great Teams
Debian Import Freeze
Ubuntu Stats
Changes to Launchpad Legal Page
Open Sourcing Launchpad
12 Days of Launchpad
In the Press & Blogosphere
Ubunt Podcast #16
Edubuntu Meeting Minutes
Upcoming Meetings & Events
Update & Security
General Community News
Next Ubuntu Global Bug Jam
February 20th to February 22nd, 2009. Everybody knows what a great success the UbuntuBugDay is. Some LoCo teams have even taken this a step further. Instead of just meeting on IRC, they make a party out of it, and meet locally to work on bugs together. Ubuntu calls this event the "Global Bug Jam". It is the classic Ubuntu Hug Day, taken to the next level all around the world, during one weekend. It's an opportunity for Local Teams to get together and concentrate on fixing bugs, meet new people, and just have a rockin' good time.
How to:
So you're interested and want to make the event ROCK in your LoCo?
Make sure you read RunningBugJam (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RunningBugJam) - it has a lot of information on
organizing the venue
promoting the event
running the jam and
soliciting the right feedback afterwards
Check out GlobalBugJam.pdf: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam?action=AttachFile&do=view&target=GlobalBugJam.pdf
Also check out Bug Jam Material section: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RunningBugJam#Material
The pre-bugjam session schedule is at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam
A video tutorial is available on the Ubuntu Developer's Channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBY7wfX2jpA
Sessions to teach how to run BugJams on https://wiki.ubuntu.com/RunningBugJam
More information on GlobalBugJams available at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam
Ubuntu Developer Week Returns!
The Ubuntu Developer Week is back again.
From Jan 19th to Jan 23rd the Ubuntu Developers are going to have loads of awesome sessions to share their secrets of success, spend time asking all of your questions, and help you to get involved. It’s an awesome opportunity to get started, get to know a lot of people and it’s going to be a lot of fun.
A lot of things are going to stay the same: we’ll have top-class talkers, top-notch talks and time for asking lots and lots of questions. One thing to be totally excited about is this one: we’ll have a two-hour Getting Started session in English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Fantastic! If English is not your mother tongue, and you’d like to know a bit more about how it all works to feel comfortable, this is your opportunity to ask your questions.
Timetable: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek
Session Details: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek/Sessions
Joining in: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuDeveloperWeek/JoiningIn
Digg it here: http://digg.com/linux_unix/3rd_Ubuntu_Developer_Week_announced
For more information on Global Bug Jam, visit: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam
New MOTU's
Thierry Carrez (Koon) is now a MOTU. Thierry has been working with the Server and Java teams, and describes his goals as: "I am interested in making Ubuntu Server a market-leader solution for servers in large companies, by supporting the common feature-set required for those servers, and providing better integration and usage experience than the alternatives." Please welcome him to the team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~tcarrez Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ThierryCarrez
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-January/000333.html
Iulian Udrea (iulian) is now a MOTU. Iulian has been active in Debian collaboration, bug management, and enjoys helping others to ensure the packages are in the best shape possible. Please welcome him to the team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~iulian Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/IulianUdrea
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-January/000335.html
New Ubuntu Members
The first Americas Council Membership Approval meeting for 2009 took place on January 6th/7th where they accepted the following new members:
Charles Profitt (PrivateVoid) is the Vice President of the New York LoCo team (elected December 11th, 2008 for a two year term), and has done a tremendous job in building a healthy and thriving LoCo Team via a high level of enthusiasm and organizing local events. A number of individuals came out to show their support for Charles, and testified about not only his great LoCo Team work but also great work being done on the forums with Beginners Team. Outside of Ubuntu, Charles is a member of the K-12 Open Source Community http://community.k12opensource.com/ and is active in promoting Linux and Ubuntu in Education. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~cprofitt Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/cprofitt
Shaun Dennie (vor) is a long time Unix hacker and has been using Ubuntu since 5.10. Dennie's experience is clearly represented by the number of tutorials written on the Ubuntu Forums as well this contributor's participation in the forum's Beginners Team, and Forum Moderator Team. Shaun reports really enjoying being a part of the community and would like to take the next step to get even more involved as a developer. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~sdennie Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ShaunDennie
Connor Imes (Rocket2DMn) has been using Ubuntu since Feisty and reports being an active contributor since day 1. Notable areas where Connor had contributed include the forums (especially the Beginners Team and as Staff), and wiki documentation. Besides his great work on the forums and impressive documentation efforts, Imes also frequents the Launchpad bug tracker, and Launchpad Answers tracker to help triage bugs and answer questions. Connor was also involved in the "Summer of Documentation" effort by a handful of Ubuntu Forums Beginners Team members to help get the Community Docs up to date by working with the Ubuntu Documentation Team. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~rocket2dmn Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Rocket2DMn
Eric Hammond (erichammond) applied for Ubuntu Membership based on his primary contributions to Ubuntu of building, maintaining, documenting, promoting, and supporting of public virtual machine images for running Ubuntu on Amazon EC2. Hammond reported on his efforts to foster an Ubuntu on EC2 community which is now around 700 registered members and growing, and his work with the Ubuntu server team in an advisory and testing capacity. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~esh Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/EricHammond
Andres Mujica's (andres-mujica) main contribution to Ubuntu is in Bug triaging as a member of the bugsquad, and is currently working towards becoming a member of the Ubuntu bugcontrol group. Based on Andres work in bug triage, and peer feedback, the board accepted Andres Mujica as a Ubuntu Member. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~andres.mujica Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AndresMujica
David Mandala (DavidM) introduced himself as a generalist, and a computer and electronics-geek who enjoys coding and evangelizing Ubuntu Mobile Linux. As the manager of the Ubuntu Mobile team, and project manager of the Ubuntu Mobile and MID Projects, he has naturally made significant contributions to Ubuntu Mobile and the Ubuntu Mobile community at large. Launchpad: https://launchpad.net/~davidm Wiki: https://launchpad.net/~davidm
The America's Board and the Ubuntu Community wish to welcome these new Ubuntu Members! https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-news-team/2009-January/000332.html
Ubuntu Hall of Fame: James Westby
James Westby is a great guy to work with. He almost never sleeps and is truly helpful. Based in Bristol, England, he is well-known in the Bazaar community and his work on distributed development.
Making collaboration in Ubuntu development easier and more natural is one of his ambitions. James started out by writing bzr-builddeb which makes the task of building maintaining Ubuntu packages in Bazaar trivial. Working in bazaar branches, pulling changes from Upstream, maintaining them with a clear version history is getting easier and easier by the day.
James is also well-known in the MOTU community, and always has an open ear for people looking for help and seeking advice. He organized and hosted a few MOTU School sessions already, and is one of the top reviewers in the sponsoring queue. Nick Ellery says: "James has done more sponsoring than any other developer during the Jaunty release. He's an asset to the new developer community, and an excellent guy to work with!" and Andrew Starr-Bochicchio adds "his work on the sponsorship queue is Hall of Fame worthy".
He stays calm in heated discussions, can easily look at problems from a new angle, and comes up with great ideas.
He loves all kinds of music, particularly Drum'n'Bass music and DJed at two "Ubuntu Allstar" parties. James also likes cooking, so go and check out his blog, he has a few recipes on there.
We can only say: Rock on James and give us more of the Distributed Development goodness! http://hall-of-fame.ubuntu.com/?feature=james-westby
Good People, Great Teams
Jono recently asked everyone to re-connect with the Ubuntu ethos.[1] Ethos is important, critical in fact. It is the glue that will bind us through the turbulent years ahead as Ubuntu continues to grow. Ubuntu has made huge progress in recent years, and have managed to capture some real mindshare. We now need to get out there finish the job.
The next level of the game is going to require many skills. Diversity is going to be the key to Ubuntu flourishing. Great packaging, software development, bug-fixing, rocking documentation, translations, testing, lots of feedback, training, support for new users, and the ability to focus our energy positively will be crucial.
Ubuntu, and the wider Open Source and Free Software ethos is all about people working together, uniting behind an opportunity to make their own world better. Fortunately making your own world better often means making someone else’s world better too. The way Ubuntu is going to win is to enable good people to do great work. Good people is what drives the Ubuntu community forward.
It is LoCo Teams that are on the ground talking to potential users, giving out CDs, talking to local businesses and charities and more. They are a huge asset to Ubuntu. Ubuntu has hundreds of teams around the world doing incredible work, spreading the message of Ubuntu far and wide. They themselves exhibit the very ethos that Ubuntu is sharing with others.
Jono is keen to hear stories concerning you LoCo team. He would like each of you on a LoCo Team to share a story on your blog, or in the comments at this articles link below. He wants to begin building a compendium of stories that showcases the kind of excellent work that LoCos are doing. This is the first step in getting our LoCo Teams better coordinated, sharing experiences and advice, and changing the world one user at a time. http://www.jonobacon.org/2009/01/08/good-people-great-teams/
[1] http://www.jonobacon.org/2008/12/19/the-ubuntu-ethos/
Debian Import Freeze
A short reminder that per https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JauntyReleaseSchedule the DebianImportFreeze[1] is now in effect. Please remember that if you are waiting for bug fixes from Debian for Jaunty, you will now need to file your sync requests explicitly.
[1] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DebianImportFreeze
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2009-January/000517.html
Ubuntu Stats
Bug Stats
Open (47568)-198 over last week
Critical (23) +/-0 over last week
Unconfirmed (18741)-44 over last week
Unassigned (40223) +/-0 # over last week
All bugs ever reported (241586)+1645 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 Intrepid
Spanish (15849)-22 over last week
French (61779)-136 over last week
Swedish (72541) +/-0 over last week
Brazilian Portuguese (76929)-883 over last week
English (UK) (81297)-163 over last week
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 8.10 "Intrepid Ibex," see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/intrepid/
5-a-day bug stats
==== Top 5 contributors for the past 7 days ====
crimsun (174)
chrisccoulson (74)
thelupine (46)
vorian (37)
dholbach (31)
==== Top 5 teams for the past 7 days ====
dcteam (174)
ubuntu-us-florida (82)
ubuntu-us-ohio (42)
ubuntu-de-locoteam (35)
ubuntu-berlin (34)
5-A-Day stats provided by Daniel Holbach. See http://daniel.holba.ch/5-a-day-stats/
Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week
Allow Brainstorm users to login with OpenID
Improve 5.1 and 7.1 sound support in Volume Control
Allow a way of managing .thumbnails folder
optio to save brasero ripped images with .iso extension
Improve Nautilus "Find as you type"
Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea, or vote for or against another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/
LoCo News
Ubuntu-us-fl: Tampa Linux Meetup
The FloridaTeam participated in the Tampa Linux meetup held Jan 10th at J. Christophers. While not strictly an Ubuntu event, they nevertheless had a strong showing. Stickers and CDs were given away, and they were able to pick up several new team members. The best part was the after-party, where Lupine and itnet7 sat down with several of the team members for a mini bug jam/5-a-day how-to in preparation for the GlobalBugJam.
[1] https://launchpad.net/~thelupine
[2] https://launchpad.net/~itnet7
[3] https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GlobalBugJam
http://www.meetup.com/Tampa-Linux
Launchpad News
Notice of Changes to the Launchpad Legal Page
Joey Stanford informs us of changes to the launchpad Legal Page[1]:
1) The Dev wiki [2] is now called out explicitly as having a CC content license. Previously the Dev wiki proclaimed it was licensed under CC but was not listed on our Legal page.
2) The Content License section was updated for clarity. This was a housekeeping task and does not effect any Legal changes.
3) Future notifications of legal changes will be sent only to the Launchpad Announcement list [3]. Previously they were sent to the Launchpad Users list and News blog.
[1] https://help.launchpad.net/Legal
[2] https://dev.launchpad.net/
[3] https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/Launchpad-announce
https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/launchpad-announce/2009-January/000024.html
Open Sourcing Launchpad
The code that runs Launchpad.net will be open-sourced. The process will be completed by July 21st, 2009, coinciding with the 3.0 release (see the schedule of releases).[1] Most of the code, except for a few that are heavily customized for Canonical's work-flow, will be released by that date. The process includes the modularization of elements into independent packages over the next 6 months. Some of that has already been done.
There will also be a number of non-coding tasks that will be accomplished according to the schedule listed on the announcement. Other information includes the podcast, Launchpod #15.[2]
[1] https://dev.launchpad.net/Releases/2009Calendar
[2] http://news.launchpad.net/podcast/launchpod-15-launchpads-going-open-source
https://dev.launchpad.net/OpenSourcing
12 Days of Launchpad
Day six: code review - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-six-code-review
Day seven: personal branches - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-seven-personal-branches
Day eight: Launchpad Bugs by email - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-eight-launchpad-bugs-by-email
Day nine: copying PPA packages - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-nine-copying-ppa-packages
Day ten: karma - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-ten-karma
Day eleven: try things out on staging - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-eleven-try-things-out-on-staging
Day twelve: Loggerhead - http://news.launchpad.net/12-days-of-launchpad/day-twelve-loggerhead
The previous 5 days were reported in UWN 123: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue123
Look for more of the 12 days of Launchpad here: http://news.launchpad.net/
http://news.launchpad.net/
In The Press
A Software Populist Who Doesn’t Do Windows - In December hundreds of volunteers gathered in Mountain View, California for the Ubuntu Developer Summit. During a break in the gathering Ubuntu leader Mark Shuttleworth told the Times, "If we’re successful, we would fundamentally change the operating system market. Microsoft would need to adapt, and I don’t think that would be unhealthy." Mainstream technology companies have taken notice of the enthusiasm around Ubuntu. Dell started to sell PCs and desktops with the software in 2007, and I.B.M. more recently began making Ubuntu the basis of a software package that competes against Windows. The technology research firm IDC estimates that 11 percent of American businesses have systems based on Ubuntu. “It feels pretty clear to me that the open process produces better stuff,” Mr. Shuttleworth said. Such talk from a man willing to finance software for the masses — and by the masses — inspires those who see open source as more of a cause than a business model. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/11/business/11ubuntu.html?_r=1
Freescale and ARM promise £140 netbooks - Chipset manufacturer Freescale on Monday unveiled an ARM-based blueprint for cheap, low-cost sub-notebooks. At the heart of the reference design is the i.MX515 processor, which uses ARM's Cortex-A8 chipset architecture. The design also incorporates a new power management integrated circuit from Freescale, as well as Adobe Flash Lite and the netbook version of Canonical's Ubuntu Linux distribution. According to Freescale, this combination makes it possible for manufacturers to build netbooks with retail prices under $200 (£137) and battery lives of eight hours. Thierry Cammal, Freescale's vice president of global consumer wireless marketing, also claimed Freescale's "cost-competitive" chipset would, together with Ubuntu, cost manufacturers around $20 (£14) to put into netbooks, whereas Intel's Atom combined with Windows XP cost more than $60 (£41). "We are enabling a cheap type of device that could offer new ways to utilise the internet." http://news.zdnet.co.uk/hardware/0,1000000091,39587602,00.htm
Other links to information about Freescale: http://www.internetnews.com/hardware/article.php/3794316 and http://media.freescale.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=196520&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1240267&highlight= which includes Canonical's partner statement.
What Ubuntu must do - There's been a lot of chatter on the Internet about the Macworld Expo, much of it focused on the absence of its iconic keynote speaker, Apple chief executive Steve Jobs. This comes at a crucial time for both Apple, which is gaining market share, and Microsoft, which has seen its dominance in operating systems eroding. Windows Vista is clearly opening up opportunities for Mac OS X and Linux. The next major upgrade for Ubuntu, Jaunty Jackalope, is expected in April, and here’s what this author hopes it will do. Fix all sound issues, although sound support has improved, it is still a stumbling block. Make all the non-free goodness available at the click of one button. Make it easier to install fonts, and make sure everything else just works. Make really cool features part of the standard installation. If Ubuntu can detect a capable graphics card and install the right driver for it, why not have it turn on Compiz the moment it does? As the Ubuntu team tackles more esoteric features such as integrating Web applications onto the desktop, they shouldn’t lose sight of the meat-and-potatoes issues that can make or break an operating system. http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/?page=business6_jan6_2009
How does Ubuntu Linux differ from Debian? - Bring up the topic of Ubuntu and you'll receive a mixed response from unexpected corners. So just how does Ubuntu differ from Debian? Ubuntu is a derivative work from Debian. It’s a Linux distro based on a pre-existing Linux distro. If you prefer a system that just installs and works then look no further than Ubuntu. If you’d rather kick off with a base system and then add what you need, Debian will be your choice. Both have their place in the world. Indeed, without Debian there’d be no Ubuntu, that’s pretty clear. Yet, it can’t be denied Ubuntu has made massive gains in improving the reputation of Linux. The efforts poured into Ubuntu are now making it easier to see Linux as something your grandmother really could use. Ubuntu is shiner than Debian, and its software repositories are smaller, but they’re more up-to-date. Make no mistake, Debian is stunning for what it is – that being an expert’s system, and a highly-customizable operating system. But Ubuntu is stunning too for what it excels at – Linux for ordinary folk. http://www.itwire.com/content/view/22545/1141/1/0/
Hands-on Linux - Anyone who knows anything about Linux has heard about Ubuntu. It's easily the most popular desktop Linux around. There's a very good reason for that: Ubuntu 8.10, a.k.a. Intrepid Ibex, is easy with a capital "E." The GNOME-based interface is easy enough to use, but Canonical backs it up with a strong community. If there's something you want to do on Ubuntu -- anything at all -- chances are you can find the answer on one of the Ubuntu forums such as the Ubuntu Forums and the Ubuntu Community Team Wiki. This support isn't a feature per se, but it shouldn't be underestimated. Of course, you may not need that much help. For example, with the new Network Manager 0.7 you can not only easily hook up to wired and Wi-Fi networks, but you can also now easily connect with 3G access points. So who is Ubuntu for? To my mind, there's no question about it -- Ubuntu is the best beginner's Linux in the land. It's also more than good enough for experienced Linux power users, but if you're just getting your feet wet with desktop Linux, Ubuntu is the Linux for you. http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&taxonomyName=Operating+Systems&articleId=9124087&taxonomyId=89&pageNumber=1
In The Blogosphere
Ways YOU can contribute to Ubuntu! - Blogger ushimitsudoki presents a list of ways to contribute to Ubuntu (or Linux in general), and provides his thoughts on each. Some of his ideas include Brainstorm: This is a place for people to contribute and discuss ideas to improve Ubuntu. You can propose an idea, vote an idea up or down, and comment on other people’s ideas. Ubuntu Forums: The Ubuntu Forums are big, but they are an easy entry point to make some casual contributions. You can answer a technical question, or just share your thoughts. Create your own blog: You can get blog space for free. You don’t have to be a good writer, or a technical wizard or anything like that. Just write about things you experience or think about. #ubuntu: These are IRC channels where Ubuntu users gather to talk about Ubuntu, help each other, or just hang out. Visit/Join a LUG: You might have a LUG (Linux User’s Group) in your area. It might be small and filled with awesomely cool people, or might be much larger. It’s a safe bet they are interested in gaining new members. Other ways of contributing include squashing a bug, starting or joining a project, or just spreading the word. All of them require a little bit of nerve to jump in, but the Ubuntu community is a good community to get started with. http://meandubuntu.wordpress.com/2009/01/09/ways-you-can-contribute-to-ubuntu/
Computers For Everyone - “Just point and click. If any one can do that they can use a computer,” said Court Skinner director of Computers For Everyone in East Palo Alto. Skinner is known as the local computer guide in East Palo Alto. He doesn’t use Windows. He uses Ubuntu, an operating system based on Linux. One day he decided to collect the computers that a company had thrown away and fixed them in order to make them usable for people in East Palo Alto. People have continued to donate computers to him. He decided to create a program that would help people get free computers. It usually takes Skinner about a day to fix and download the applications for the computers. In order to apply for a computer there is a short application process where people write down their basic information and the purpose for the computer so he knows what programs to install on the computer. http://www.epa.net/launch/news/localnws/item?item_id=648395
One Last Look: What You Were Reading in 2008 - Looking at the most viewed articles during 2008 gives us a glimpse at what was most interesting to people, or perhaps even a sample of the most important trends during this last year. Ubuntu articles, in general, had many just outside the top five. Three very popular Ubuntu articles were: Ubuntu Server: Canonical's Third Way to the Enterprise, Build a Portable Security Tool with the ASUS Eee PC and Ubuntu, and Ubuntu's Enterprising Ibex Springs Into Release. Ubuntu has taken the world by storm, increasing the size of the Linux community by providing many improvements to the user experience. It is undoubtedly the most popular Linux distro, and most articles about Ubuntu news or Ubuntu tutorials gets a lot of attention. http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/_featured/article.php/3794176/One-Last-Look--What-You-Were-Reading-in-2008.htm
In Other News
Ubuntu Podcast #16
Josh Chase and Nick Ali from the Georgia US LoCo released episode #16. Some of the topics covered in this episode include:
Upcoming interview with Jorge Castro to discuss his work and the Global Bug Jam
Notifications in 9.04
LoCos on TV
Ubuntu Privacy Remix
Tabbed Browsing in Nautilus
http://ubuntupodcast.net/2009/01/07/ubuntu-podcast-episode-16/
Meeting Summaries
Edubuntu Meeting Minutes
Much of the meeting was spent going over the Edubuntu Strategy Document (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Edubuntu/StrategyDocument) and related issues including:
Clarification of educational level categorizations by mapping student age ranges with categories
DISCUSSION: Grade level and educational categorizations vary from country to country. Teachers and administrators need to know what software, artwork, etc. apply to them and their students.
ACTION: RichEd to send email seeking comment on age ranges for preschool, primary, secondary, tertiary designations
ACTION: RichEd will draft the South Africa and out the UK mapping tonight and send to the others for input … LaserJock for US, nubae for Austria, Spain, Germany
Edubuntu’s Launchpad team structure needs review and reworking.
DISCUSSION: A development team is needed to provide for things like bzr branches and PPAs. The creation of an ~edubuntu-contributors team was discussed as a less “harsh” term than “-dev”. There is also confusion as to what the difference between the ~edubuntu and ~edubuntu-members teams are for.
ACTION: LaserJock to create edubuntu-dev Launchpad team and arrange for ~edubuntu as an umbrella team to hold all official Edubuntu Launchpad teams
Clarification of Edubuntu’s goals/branding/naming
DISCUSSION: The debate about the use of “Edubuntu” and “Ubuntu Education” continued. RichEd explained that Canonical would like to use “Ubuntu Education” for the .iso and contents (Canonical-supported applications) for purposes of marketing to OEMs and leveraging of Ubuntu’s brand strength. The community members agreed with this. Further, the “Edubuntu” term will be used for the project, community, and community-supported packaging.
ACTION: LaserJock to draft “Edubuntu and Ubuntu Education” clarification statement and run it by RichEd et. al
Review of Jaunty specs and tasks (see Roadmap link below)
The Edubuntu RoadMap was reviewed and several ideas for Jaunty tasks were added. LaserJock encouraged everyone to think of bite sized, feasible tasks for the Jaunty time frame and add them to the RoadMap. This will allow the team to track efforts and give a place for new contributors to “plug in”.
ACTION: Everybody is going to help fill out https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Edubuntu/Devel/RoadMap
Next Edubuntu meeting is scheduled for: January 21st, 18:00 UTC in #ubuntu-meeting
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
==== Server Team Meeting ====
Start: 16:00 UTC
End: 17:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ServerTeam/Meeting
==== Kernel Team Meeting ====
Start: 17:00 UTC
End: 18:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: Not listed as of publication
==== LoCo Council Meeting ====
Start: 21:00 UTC
End: 22:00 UTC
Location: #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCouncilAgenda
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
==== Foundation Team Meeting ====
Start: 16:00 UTC
End: 17:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== QA Team Meeting ====
Start: 17:00 UTC
End: 18:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/QATeam/Meetings/
Thursday, January 15, 2009
==== Forum Council Meeting ====
Start: 00:30 UTC
End: 01:30 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ForumCouncilAgenda
==== Ubuntu Mobile Team Meeting ====
Start: 12:00 UTC
End: 13:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: None listed as of publication
==== Desktop Team Meeting ====
Start: 13:00 UTC
End: 14:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/Meeting
==== Ubuntu Java Meeting ====
Start: 14:00 UTC
End: 15:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
Agenda: None listed as of publication
Saturday, January 17, 2009
==== Beginners Team Eduaction Focus Group ====
Start: 18:00 UTC
End: 20:00 UTC
Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-classroom
Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BeginnersTeam/FocusGroups/Education/Events/01172009
The Education Focus Group of the Ubuntu Forums Beginners Team is looking for more instructors.
Updates and Security for 6.06, 7.10, 8.04, and 8.10
Security Updates
USN-702-1: Samba vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/USN-702-1
USN-703-1: xterm vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-703-1
USN-701-1: Thunderbird vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-701-1
USN-701-2: Thunderbird vulnerabilities - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-701-2
USN-704-1: OpenSSL vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-704-1
USN-705-1: NTP vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-705-1
USN-706-1: Bind vulnerability - http://www.ubuntu.com/usn/usn-706-1
Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
None Reported
Ubuntu 7.10 Updates
None Reported
Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
gstreamer0.10-fluendo-plugins-doc 0.10.6-2hardy3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012154.html
pdvd-doc 4.52-1hardy5 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012155.html
acpi-support 0.109-0hardy1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012156.html
debian-installer 20070308ubuntu40.7 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012157.html
pygobject 2.14.2-0ubuntu2 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/hardy-changes/2009-January/012158.html
Ubuntu 8.10 Updates
gstreamer0.10-fluendo-plugins-doc 0.10.6-2intrepid3 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009586.html
pdvd-doc 4.52-1intrepid5 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009587.html
linux-backports-modules-2.6.27 2.6.27-11.11 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009588.html
acpi-support 0.114-0intrepid1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009589.html
wine 1.0.1-0ubuntu3~intrepid1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009590.html
module-init-tools 3.3-pre11-4ubuntu17.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009591.html
nvidia-graphics-drivers-180 180.11-0ubuntu1~intrepid1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009592.html
linux 2.6.27-11.23 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009593.html
cheese 2.24.2-0ubuntu0+intrepid1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009594.html
glibc 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu8 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009595.html
glibc 2.8~20080505-0ubuntu8 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009595.html
zsnes 1.510-2.1ubuntu1.1 - https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/intrepid-changes/2009-January/009596.html
Archives and RSS Feed
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http://fridge.ubuntu.com/uwn/feed
Additional Ubuntu News
As always you can find more news and announcements at:
http://www.ubuntu.com/news
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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
Craig A. Eddy
Kenny McHenry
Dave Bush
Dan Trevino
And many others
Glossary of Terms
1. CC - Creative Commons
1. IRC - Internet Relay Chat
1. MID - Mobile Internet Device
1. MOTU - Master Of The Universe - Developers responsible for the Universe and Multiverse repositories.
1. OEM - Original Equipment Manufacturer
1. PPA - Personal Project Archive
Other acronyms can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/glossary
Ubuntu - Get Involved
The Ubuntu community consists of individuals and teams, working on different aspects of the distribution, giving advice and technical support, and helping to promote Ubuntu to a wider audience. No contribution is too small, and anyone can help. It's your chance to get in on all the community fun associated with developing and promoting Ubuntu. http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate
Feedback
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