Issue494

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WORK IN PROGRESS

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 494 for the week January 2 - 8, 2017.

In This Issue

General Community News

Welcome New Members and Developers

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open (128048) +93 over last week
  • Critical (413) +6 over last week
  • Unconfirmed (63597) +66 over last week

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

Ask Ubuntu Top 5 Questions this week

Most Active Questions

Top Voted New Questions

Ask (and answer!) questions at http://askubuntu.com

LoCo Events

The following LoCo team events are currently scheduled in the next two weeks:

Looking beyond the next two weeks? Visit the LoCo Team Portal to browse upcoming events around the world:

http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/

The Planet

Ted Gould: Inkscape Snap

Ted Gould writes that a new Inkscape version is out, being 0.92, and that a snap package is available. Ted provides more details on benefits of snaps, and how they were produced for Inkscape.

http://gould.cx/ted/blog/2017/01/04/Inkscape-Snap/

Ted Gould: Snapping Unity8

Ted Gould further writes about snapping up Unity8 which has been in the works for some time. He gives us the history, benefits and status of where the process stands today (including pictures).

http://gould.cx/ted/blog/2017/01/05/Snapping-Unity8/

Kubuntu General News: Plasma 5.8.5 bugfix release in Xenial and Yakkety Backports now

The Kubuntu team announce the release of Plasma 5.8.5 with its bug-fixes and translations. To update and use it, the kubuntu-ppa/backports can be used, with screen-dumps and links provided for using PPAs.

http://www.kubuntu.org/news/plasma-5-8-5-bugfix-release-in-xenial-and-yakkety-backports-now/

Leo Arias: Call for testing: IPFS

Leo Arias wishes everyone Happy New Year, and makes a call-out for testers of IPFS (peer-to-peer hypermedia protocol) candidate snap. He says that if you'd like to know more a link (with video) is provided to the IPFS website, plus guide to testing, summaries of testing days, and command needed to test.

http://elopio.net/blog/call-for-testing-ipfs/

Canonical News

In The Blogosphere

Watch This Terrifying 13ft Robot Walk, Assisted by Ubuntu

Joey Sneddon of OMG! Ubuntu! shares a video and talks about the first manned robot's first steps. He says that the "robot-powered suit" responds and mimics the actions of the person in the cockpit, standing 13 feet tall. Joey adds that there is no mention that the robot uses Ubuntu but is clearly visible being used to monitor and debug the robot.

http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/01/method-2-giant-ubuntu

Nexus 5 Compatible With Ubuntu Phones as of Ubport

Christopher McCandles of gigjets.com reports that Ubuntu Touch fans now have voice support working on the Fairphone 2 port and that new changes can be found on Ubport's system image server which can be installed on Nexus 5 or Fairphone 2 via devel_rc-proposed, noting it's still a daily build and will likely contain bugs and daily updates.

http://gigjets.com/01/nexus-5-compatible-with-ubuntu-phones-as-of-ubport/

Canonical Clarifies Ubuntu Phone State: Nothing Really Until Snap-Based Image Ready

Michael Larabel, writing for Phoronix, informs us that there isn't going to be any Ubuntu Phone releases or major OTA updates until Snap-based images are ready. He then reports on Canonical's Pat McGowan's responses to questions from Ubuntu Phone users, providing a summary of what Pat said: no plan for OTA-15, Click-based on its way out but security updates still provided for important components. Michael shares a link to Pat's comments on ubuntu-phone mailing list.

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Ubuntu-Phone-Snap-Hold

uNav 0.64 Turn-by-Turn GPS Navigation App Now Available for Ubuntu Phones

Marius Nestor of Softpedia reports on the latest from developer Marcos Costales’ uNav, now at version 0.64. He lists the improvements in this relatively minor release, including: “centering on POI (Point of Interest) in search instead of in an area, correct roundabout of arrow directions for some countries, and Breton voice support.”

http://news.softpedia.com/news/unav-0-64-turn-by-turn-gps-navigation-app-now-available-for-ubuntu-phones-511576.shtml

Debian vs. Ubuntu

Bruce Byfield of Datamation tells us Debian and Ubuntu have been in the top three Linux distributions on Distrowatch for the last four years, and the top six since 2005. After giving us a short history of Ubuntu, Bruce compares Debian and Ubuntu, looking at in turn desktops, admin and package management, governance and community, and then finally making a choice.

http://www.datamation.com/open-source/debian-vs.-ubuntu.html

Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 to Be Based on the GNOME 3.22 Stack, Now Ships Linux 4.9

Marius Nestor of Softpedia looks into the alpha release of Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 based on the GNOME 3.22 stack. He says that both Flatpak and Snap support are provided out of the box and that the impression was good. Marius includes a number of links in the article including one to download the 17.04 daily build, release notes etc.

http://news.softpedia.com/news/ubuntu-gnome-17-04-to-be-based-on-the-gnome-3-22-stack-ship-with-linux-4-9-511570.shtml

Review: Dell’s new Kaby Lake XPS 13 Developer Edition laptop amazes

Bryan Lunduke of Network World reviews the new Kaby Lake XPS 13 developer edition laptop. As a summary, 10% price drop and runs any GNU/Linux distribution so you've got to love. It's still not a cheap laptop, 13" 3200x1800 screen with i7-7500U, 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. Finally it comes with Ubuntu 16.04 installed by default.

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3155261/linux/review-dells-new-kaby-lake-xps-13-developer-edition-laptop-amazes.html

Upcoming Meetings and Events

For upcoming meetings and events please visit the calendars at fridge.ubuntu.com: http://fridge.ubuntu.com/calendars/

Updates and Security for 12.04, 14.04, 16.04 and 16.10

Security Updates

Ubuntu 12.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2017

Ubuntu 14.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2019

Ubuntu 16.04 Updates

End of Life - April 2021

Ubuntu 16.10 Updates

End of Life - July 2017

Subscribe

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Archives

You can always find older Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter issues at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter

Additional Ubuntu News

As always you can find more news and announcements at:

and

Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

See you next week!

Credits

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

  • Elizabeth K. Joseph
  • Chris Guiver
  • Paul White
  • And many others

Glossary of Terms

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://community.ubuntu.com/contribute/

Or get involved with the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter team! We always need summary writers and editors, if you're interested, learn more at: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Join

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Weekly News Team. If you have a story idea or suggestions for the Weekly Newsletter, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/Ubuntu-news-team and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Ideas. If you'd like to contribute to a future issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, please feel free to edit the appropriate wiki page. If you have any technical support questions, please check http://community.ubuntu.com/help-information/ for more information on where to get help.

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