Ubuntu One

   1 [12:01] <cjohnston> ralsina: its all you
   2 [12:01] <ClassBot> Logs for this session will be available at http://irclogs.ubuntu.com/2011/01/29/%23ubuntu-classroom.html following the conclusion of the session.
   3 [12:01] <ralsina> thanks cjohnston
   4 [12:01] <ralsina> Hi, my name is Roberto, I work in Ubuntu One at Canonical, and my goal here today is to help you learn about Ubuntu One,
   5 [12:01] <ralsina> and share some of the reasons why we at the Ubuntu One team are really excited about what we have to offer you now, and our
   6 [12:01] <ralsina> plans for the future.
   7 [12:02] <ralsina> So, what's ubuntu one?
   8 [12:02] <ralsina> Here's our standard definition, taken form the webpage:
   9 [12:02] <ralsina> "The personal cloud that brings your digital life together"
  10 [12:02] <ralsina> That's not really a bad definition, assuming you know what a "personal cloud" is, and that you have a "digital life" ;-)
  11 [12:03] <ralsina> I think of Ubuntu One as my own chunk of Internet.
  12 [12:03] <ralsina> It's as if I took a piece of Internet and put it into my computer.
  13 [12:03] <ralsina> That way, I can do things like taking a file, save it inside Ubuntu One, and voilá, it's on the Internet! I can then do things with that file, like sharing it with other people.
  14 [12:03] <ralsina> If I have more than one computer connected to the Internet, then of course my own piece of the Internet that's Ubuntu One is also there, so when I put a file into it, I get it on all my computers.
  15 [12:04] <ralsina> And if I have a cell phone that has an internet connection, like an iPhone or one with Android, why, my chunk of the Internet is there too.
  16 [12:04] <ralsina> (Sadly I don't yet, I got a symbian phone before I joined the company ;-)
  17 [12:05] <ralsina> If you have a windows computer? You can get Ubuntu One there, too.
  18 [12:05] <ralsina> And if you don't have the Ubuntu One application installed, you can still use it online via our webpage: http://one.ubuntu.com
  19 [12:05] <ralsina> What I just described is our file syncing service.
  20 [12:05] <ralsina> But that's not all Ubuntu One provides, there are also ways to put your contacts, your bookmarks, your music, your notes, in that "personal cloud".
  21 [12:06] <ralsina> Later on, we will see how to do many of those things.
  22 [12:06] <ralsina> So now, let's see how you can use Ubuntu One, too.
  23 [12:06] <ralsina> I will be using for all examples a fresh install of Maverick Meerkat. If you have a different version, things may be slightly different, but you can probably figure it out with no problems.
  24 [12:07] <ralsina> Note: feel free to ask anything at any time, I am happy to stop and answer, don't be shy!
  25 [12:08] <ralsina> So, if you are using Ubuntu, you should have what's called the "me" menu near the top right
  26 [12:11] <ralsina> Sorry about the delay, lost connection for a second
  27 [12:11] <ralsina> As I said, you have the "me" menu, and in it, there is an Ubuntu One item. If you click on it
  28 [12:12] <ralsina> Of course, questions are to be asked in #ubuntu-classroom-chat , not here :-)
  29 [12:12] <ralsina> This is my first time doing this on IRC, so expect me to stumble on things  ;-)
  30 [12:14] <ralsina> Well, I have no idea why the name was chosen, I was not around at the time :-)
  31 [12:14] <ralsina> I think it sounds nice, though!
  32 === starcraftman is now known as starcraft
  33 [12:14] <ralsina> If you choose Ubuntu One in the me menu, you will see this window:
  34 [12:15] <ralsina> http://img5.imagebanana.com/img/fzs8k4re/CreateUbuntuOneaccount_002.png
  35 [12:15] <ralsina> With that, you can create your own Ubuntu One account.
  36 [12:15] <ralsina> Anyone can have one, and you get 2GB of storage.
  37 [12:16] <ralsina> If that is not enough, you can later buy extra storage
  38 [12:16] <ralsina> If you already have an account, you can just sign in, using the big button at the bottom.
  39 [12:17] <ralsina> Once you login you will see this, the preferences for Ubuntu One:
  40 [12:18] <ralsina> http://img5.imagebanana.com/img/w1vctj8f/UbuntuOnePreferences_003.png
  41 [12:18] <ralsina> Of course with your name on it, instead of mine.
  42 [12:19] <ralsina> Once you sign in, you can start using it.
  43 [12:20] <ralsina> For the simplest service, file sync, you just put whatever you want uploaded into the "Ubuntu One" folder in your home
  44 [12:20] <ralsina> geekoshopper asked " can we expect a Ubuntu One to be integrated into Kubuntu desktop anytime?"
  45 [12:20] <ralsina> Well... did I mention my email address is ralsina@kde.org?
  46 [12:20] <ralsina> ;-)
  47 [12:21] <ralsina> However, don't expect it very soon.
  48 [12:21] <ralsina> Currently we are working on cleaning up the lower layers to make them less platform-dependent.
  49 [12:21] <ralsina> Once that's done, I will be working on my own time on a Qt-based client, that could be improved into a KDE client later on.
  50 [12:22] <ralsina> mpounta asked "why it still says "disconnected" even if we are connected to the service?"
  51 [12:22] <ralsina> mpounta: well, it was not connected ;-)
  52 [12:23] <ralsina> MrChrisDruif asked "Why are there only paid upgrade plan? Dropbox has an upgrade plan with social media and friend invites etc too a max of 8GB.."
  53 [12:23] <ralsina> MrChrisDruif: well, currently they are just not there. We may do something similar on the future, or not. Not really my area, I'm afraid.
  54 [12:25] <ralsina> So, if you put files into your "Ubuntu One" folder, they will be replicated on the storage you have online, and in any other computers where you are running Ubuntu One.
  55 [12:25] <ralsina> If this is the first time you use this computer, you have to go to the Devices tab and "Connect" this computer
  56 [12:27] <ralsina> Once you have some files in "Ubuntu One" folder, if you open it in Nautilus, you will get something in the right-button menu
  57 [12:28] <ralsina> A "Ubuntu One" sub-menu, with options like "Publish" and others.
  58 [12:28] <ralsina> For example, I clicked "Publish" on an image I have in my Ubuntu One. http://ubuntuone.com/p/a6b/
  59 [12:28] <ralsina> You get the link by right-click -> Ubuntu One -> Copy Web Link
  60 [12:29] <ralsina> As you can see, Ubuntu One is a very easy way to share things with your friens.
  61 [12:29] <ralsina> friends*
  62 [12:29] <ralsina> Just keep in mind that anyone can see those files just by having the URL, so don't use it for private stuff!
  63 [12:30] <ralsina> You can later stop publishing the file by using the "Stop Publishing" option.
  64 [12:31] <ralsina> You can also "Share" specific folders with other Ubuntu One users.
  65 [12:31] <ralsina> That way, for example, you can share your family photos with other family members. These are private, and only the users you select will see them.
  66 [12:32] <ralsina> For using Ubuntu One with notes, you use the Tomboy application.
  67 [12:33] <ralsina> For contacts, there an evolution plugin.
  68 [12:33] <ralsina> And for bookmarks, there is a Firefox extension.
  69 [12:34] <ralsina> Ubuntu One also has a Music Store
  70 [12:34] <ralsina> MrChrisDruif asked: Isn't syncing music the same as syncing files, but only specified to music?
  71 [12:34] <ralsina> No, it's not the same.
  72 [12:34] <ralsina> You could, of course, just put MP3 files in your Ubuntu One folder
  73 [12:35] <ralsina> But ubuntu one also supports streaming your music to mobile devices.
  74 [12:35] <ralsina> So you can listen to your music without having to sync it to the device.
  75 [12:36] <ralsina> I missed a question by Ddorda: "will the Ubuntu One server become open sourced in the future?"
  76 [12:36] <ralsina> Ddorda: there are two answers to that question
  77 [12:36] <ralsina> One answer is "I don't know"
  78 [12:37] <ralsina> The other is that there's nothing preventing the implementation of a free server, but currently Canonical is not doing it.
  79 [12:38] <ralsina> Back to music: you can stream any music you have, not just the songs you buy from the Ubuntu One Music Store, BTW
  80 [12:39] <ralsina> more about the server: the protocol is open, and there's an open source implementation of the protocol at http://launchpad.net/ubuntuone-storage-protocol
  81 [12:40] <ralsina> Ok, so, back to Ubuntu One
  82 [12:41] <ralsina> I would like to share some of the plans we have
  83 [12:42] <ralsina> We are currently working on creating reasonable APIs so 3rd parties can use them to develop interesting applications that take advantage of Ubuntu One services.
  84 [12:42] <ralsina> Just think about what that could be used for.
  85 [12:42] <ralsina> And if you come up with an interesting use, please tell me about it :-)
  86 === xindz is now known as xindz`off
  87 [12:43] <ralsina> For the next version, we will have a completely new control panel, which is much more capable than the current one.
  88 [12:44] <ralsina> And there are lots of new services coming I can't mention ;-)
  89 [12:44] <ralsina> We are releasing a whole new Windows client, that' s a complete rewrite.
  90 [12:45] <ralsina> Question by danyR: "  photo syncing between shotwell, your own cloud and mobile devices, isn't that right?"
  91 [12:45] <ralsina> Yes, that is planned.
  92 [12:46] <ralsina> It' s not done yet, but is scheduled for Natty Narwhal.
  93 [12:46] <ralsina> Also, there is a lot of integration with the new Unity shell, that should provide a great user experience.
  94 [12:47] <ralsina> We are trying to make Ubuntu One a seamless part of the Ubuntu desktop.
  95 [12:48] <ralsina> MrChrisDruif: QUESTION: You mentioned something about music syncing/streaming, how would we go about using that? Is it also over the Internet or only at our home network? Is there a limit to how much music can be synced/streamed?
  96 [12:48] <ralsina> How much music you can sync depends only on how much storage you have available.
  97 [12:48] <ralsina> And I have seen a 2TB storage plan (really ;-)
  98 [12:49] <ralsina> The streaming is currently only supported for mobile devices, and it works over wifi or 3G
  99 [12:49] <ralsina> But I have seen at least one hack to make it work on a desktop.
 100 [12:50] <ralsina> Of course strwaming music to a mobile device can be expensive, depending on your data plan.
 101 [12:50] <ralsina> danyR: QUESTION: how about an OSX port?
 102 [12:50] <ralsina> danyR: not scheduled, but if I can make my Qt client... well, it's half way there. Probably many OSX users would hate using a non-customized portable UI, but it can be done.
 103 [12:51] <ralsina> danyR: make that TWO hacks to stream on the desktop ;-)
 104 [12:51] <ClassBot> There are 10 minutes remaining in the current session.
 105 [12:52] <ralsina> MrChrisDruif: QUESTION: Would it be possible to sync an entire Ubuntu account (the one you log in) with Ubuntu One? =D
 106 [12:52] <ralsina> MrChrisDruif: well, I am going to try to do something like that as an experiment (that' s ehy I have 80GB of storage right now ;-)
 107 [12:52] <ralsina> But I expect it' s impractical.
 108 [12:52] <ralsina> There is a project called oneconf that syncs your apps configuration over Ubuntu One
 109 [12:53] <ralsina> danyR: QUESTION: what's the current status of oneconf? ubiquity integration not planned for natty, is it?
 110 [12:53] <ralsina> I am not sure on the schedule for oneconf
 111 [12:54] <ralsina> So, using oneconf and the ability to share selected folders and files, you can get *almost* to sharing your whole account
 112 [12:54] <ralsina> A quick check tells me it would take 2 months to upload my current home folder, so keep that in mind when you choose what to sync ;-)
 113 [12:55] <ralsina> And as aquarius said on -chat, sharing the settings is not a trivial task
 114 [12:56] <ClassBot> There are 5 minutes remaining in the current session.
 115 [12:56] <ralsina> You can share the config files, sure, but then when you have the same app running at the same time on two devices, you are going to get conflicts.
 116 [12:56] <ralsina> Ok, ask questions or we wrap :-)
 117 [12:57] <ralsina> Feel free to contact me here for questions in the future, I am here most of the day at #ubuntuone
 118 [12:57] <ralsina> I think that' s all then :-)
 119 [12:58] <ralsina> it was great to have this conversation with you people, have a nice day!
 120 [12:58] <ralsina> danyR: QUESTION: where do you see Ubuntu One in 1 year? where, for what, could it be used?
 121 [12:58] <ralsina> let' s see if I can answer that in 2 minutes :-)
 122 [12:59] <ralsina> danyR: I expect the local storage will become the place where you put stuff that' s not important, or too large to move over the air.
 123 [12:59] <ralsina> I also expect many apps will use Ubuntu One implicitly
 124 [13:00] <ralsina> in the sense that you will not even know it' sthere, but data will just be available  for you everywhere.
 125 [13:01] <ralsina> And I don' t think I can explain much more over IRC in one minute :-)
 126 [13:01] <cjohnston> Thank you ralsina! Up next is starcraftman!

UserDays/01292011/Ubuntu One (last edited 2011-01-29 18:47:25 by ptr)