Issue157
WORK IN PROGRESS
Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #157 for the week August 23rd - August 29th, 2009. In this issue we cover ...
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In This Issue
General Community News
Ubuntu Stats
Bug Stats
- Open (#) +/- # over last week
- Critical (#) +/- # over last week
- Unconfirmed (#) +/- # over last week
- Unassigned (#) +/- # over last week
- All bugs ever reported (#) +/- # over last week
As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad
Infamous Bugs
Translation Stats Jaunty
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.04 "Jaunty Jackalope," see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/jaunty/
Translation Stats Karmic
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
- Language (#) +/- # over last week
Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 9.10 "Karmic Koala", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/karmic/
# NEEDS UPDATING. # #=== 5-a-day bug stats === # #==== Top 5 contributors for the past 7 days ==== # # * person (#) # * person (#) # * person (#) # * person (#) # * person (#) # #==== Top 5 teams for the past 7 days ==== # # * team (#) # * team (#) # * team (#) # * team (#) # * team (#) # #5-A-Day stats. http://qa.ubuntu.com/reports/five-a-day/
Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week
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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
New in Karmic Koala
Launchpad News
Ubuntu Forums News
In The Press
5 Annoying “Papercuts” to be Fixed in Ubuntu 9.10
The Linux Loop reminds us that Ubuntu 9.10 is coming in October, and, in addition to some new features, it will also feature 100 fewer “papercuts”. Papercuts are minor bugs that cause a usability issue. Five of these paper cuts include:
- Renaming "Auto eth0" to something more easily understood by new users
- Modifying how scrolling works on a touchpad so that workspaces don't fly by
- Adding icons for the various file systems on a user's computer
- Having icons that clearly tell a user when they should and should not remove USB and other drives
- The printing notificatio will give the document name instead of the print job number
http://www.linuxloop.com/2009/08/26/5-annoying-papercuts-to-be-fixed-in-ubuntu-9-10/
Coming Soon: Ubuntu App Centre – Replacing Add/Remove, Synaptic, Gdebi, Update Manager…
OMG! Ubuntu! reports that Ubuntu is currently developing a centralised “App Store” to simplify the adding/removing/updating/configuring of software within Ubuntu. The plan is to completely replace Synaptic, Software Sources, Gdebi, and (if appropriate) Update Manager with a centralised ‘App Centre’. This ‘App Centre’ aims to combine the ”human-readable” approach of Add/Remove, the power of Synaptic and the ease of Update manager all within one single interface. It’s hoped this “one stop” approach will make handling software easier, improve visibility and prominence of applications, potentially free space on the Ubuntu CD and, above all else, be better for end users. The team behind it have set out a preliminary road map for the development of an Ubuntu ‘App Centre’ that stretch over the next four releases. (9.10 –> 11.04 ) with the full replacement the current Package Management tools by App Centre being introduced during 10.04 and refinement/new features being added to it after that. The Ubuntu ‘App Centre’ has the makings of being the single greatest evolution for the Ubuntu Desktop so far. http://d0od.blogspot.com/2009/08/ubuntu-appcentre.html
Canonical Unveils The Ubuntu Software Store
Michael Larabel of Phoronix notes that beyond pushing out a new graphical boot screen just before the feature freeze went into effect for Ubuntu 9.10, Canonical released the first public version of their own app store, previously codenamed AppCenter, but now known as the Ubuntu Software Store (or software-store as its package is called). With the Ubuntu Software Store, Canonical is hoping to unify all of the different package management needs into a single, unified interface. While this will not be achieved in Ubuntu 9.10, Canonical is hoping that all of the capabilities of the update-manager, Synaptic, the computer janitor application, gdebi, and other package management-related programs will be merged into Ubuntu Software Store. When this has occurred, it will be easier on the new end-user having to just deal with a single program to provide all of this functionality. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_software_store&num=1
Checking In On Ubuntu Karmic's Boot Time
Phoronix's Michael Larabel tells us that by the time Ubuntu 10.04 LTS rolls around next April, Canonical is interested in seeing Ubuntu boot on an Intel Atom netbook (specifically the Dell Mini 9) in less than ten seconds. Phoronix installed Ubuntu 8.10, 9.04, and a 9.10 development snapshot on two netbooks and one laptop to see how Ubuntu's boot time is changing. Under Ubuntu 8.10 it took 33 seconds to boot, just 14 seconds to boot Ubuntu 9.04, and the Ubuntu 9.10 development snapshot took 14 seconds too. Also worth noting from the Bootchart graphs is the maximum disk throughput, which peaked at 58MB/s in Ubuntu 8.10, but for Ubuntu 9.04 and 9.10 was at 72 MB/s. 14 seconds for a boot time is nice, but still not the 10 seconds or less that we will be looking for on this Mini 9 within the next eight months or so when Ubuntu 10.04 LTS rolls out. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=ubuntu_910_boot&num=1
Early Ubuntu 9.10, OpenSuSE 11.2, Mandriva 2010 Benchmarks
Michael Larabel of Phoronix did some benchmarks of Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 4 last week, but Ubuntu is not the only Linux distribution preparing for a major update in the coming months. Also released in the past few days were OpenSuSE 11.2 Milestone 6 and Mandriva Linux 2010.0 Beta 1. To see how these three popular distributions compare, Phoronix set out to do their usual Linux benchmarking dance. Depending upon the test scenario, different leaders came out on top. For the most part, all three distributions performed roughly the same, which is not that surprising since all of the core packages are the same between Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 4, OpenSuSE 11.2 Milestone 6, and Mandriva Linux 2010.0 Beta 1. Once these distributions are officially released, Phoronix will be out with new numbers and will throw Fedora and others into the mix. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=linux_aug_09&num=1
Ubuntu 9.10 Gets A New Splash Screen, Not Plymouth
Phoronix's Michael Larabel recalls that Plymouth, a project to replace the aging Red Hat Graphical Boot (RHGB) software, was introduced last year with Fedora 10. Canonical then decided it would look at integrating Plymouth into Ubuntu 9.10, but at the most recent Ubuntu Developer Summit it was decided that no Plymouth would be coming to Ubuntu. There is now actually a new splash screen for Ubuntu 9.10 and it's not Plymouth. Just in time for the Ubuntu Karmic feature freeze there is Xsplash, which is a splash screen that uses the X Server. Stay tuned as the boot splash screen for Ubuntu 9.10 is likely to receive more refinements before the final release of the Karmic Koala comes in late October. http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=NzQ4Mw
Sharp's 5-inch PC-Z1 NetWalker honors Zaurus legacy with touchscreen Ubuntu
Engadget's Thomas Ricker says that fanboys have been running Ubuntu on Sharp's deceased Zaurus lineup of PDAs for years. Now Sharp makes it official with the launch of this 5-inch, 1024 x600 TFT LCD touchscreen NetWalker smartbook, aka the PC-Z1. It's not a Zaurus per se, but the compact 161.4 x 108.7 x 19.7 ~ 24.8mm / 409g device certainly resurrects its ghost. Underpinning the device is an 800MHz Freescale i.MX515 CPU built around the ARM Cortex-A8 architecture, 512MB of memory, 4GB of on-board flash storage (with microSDHC expansion for another 16GB), 802.11b/g WiFi, 2x USB, and QWERTY keyboard going 68 percent of full-size. The PC-Z1 features a 3-second quick launch, non-removable 10-hour battery, and is purposely positioned by Sharp as a taint -- it ain't quite a smartphone and 't ain't quite a laptop. http://www.engadget.com/2009/08/27/sharps-5-inch-pc-z1-netwalker-honors-the-zaurus-legacy/
Top 15 Linux Distributions for Netbooks
Bablotech states that as all of us know a netbook has very limited resources, so running Windows Vista or Windows 7 on a netbook is not really a great idea. Although Windows XP can run much better on a netbook, if we compare the Linux distributions available for netbooks (e.g. Ubuntu netbook remix) then Linux surely beats windows. Bablotech goes on to say that Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix is the most feature-rich open platform for netbooks, and it debuts as a simple download for most popular netbook models. Ubuntu Netbook Remix includes a new consumer-friendly interface that allows users to quickly and easily get on-line and use their favorite applications. http://www.bablotech.com/2009/08/25/top-15-linux-distributions-for-netbooks/
In The Blogosphere
Likewise Software: Ubuntu Meets Microsoft Active Directory
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/24/likewise-software-ubuntu-meets-microsoft-active-directory/
Rethinking Empathy in Ubuntu 9.10
http://www.workswithu.com/2009/08/24/rethinking-empathy-in-ubuntu-910/
Ubuntu 9.10 vs. Mac OS X Snow Leopard vs. Windows 7
http://www.junauza.com/2009/08/ubuntu-910-vs-mac-os-x-snow-leopard-vs.html
The Ubuntu Server: Slowly Gaining Acceptance
http://beginlinux.com/blog/2009/08/the-ubuntu-server-slowly-gaining-acceptance/
In Other News
Meeting Summaries
Upcoming Meetings and Events
Community Spotlight
Updates and Security for 6.06, 8.04, 8.10 and 9.04
Security Updates
Ubuntu 6.06 Updates
Ubuntu 8.04 Updates
Ubuntu 8.10 Updates
Ubuntu 9.04 Updates
UWN #: A sneak peek
Archives and RSS Feed
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Additional Ubuntu News
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Conclusion
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Glossary of Terms
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