Ubuntu Look

One of the features that was introduced a year ago into Ubuntu 7.04 “Feisty Fawn” was support for KVM, which is the Kernel-based Virtual Machine. The Kernel-based Virtual Machine provides full virtualization support for Linux when running on x86 hardware with either Intel’s VT or AMD-V technology, which means you can run unmodified guest operating systems such as Linux or Microsoft Windows within your Linux host operating system. As we had shared in benchmarks, KVM — even back to its infancy — has been quite fast at virtualization when compared to Xen or kqemu. However, the KVM virtualization support found in Ubuntu hasn’t been the most user-friendly. Installing and then managing these guest operating systems in Ubuntu 7.04 and Ubuntu 7.10 has required using the command-line interface and thus requiring the user to be familiar with the various QEMU options. However, in Ubuntu 8.04 this has all changed for the better now that virt-manager and libvirt are available from the main Ubuntu repository.

Read more at Phoronix

One of the reasons free operating systems are so great is because of their bug reporting features. Ubuntu is no exception. Like most other GNU/Linux operating systems, Ubuntu allows users to file bug reports using its bug reporting site, Launchpad. In the free software world, each user becomes a potential beta tester and gets the chance to contribute to the community without ever coding or writing documentation. Unfortunately, Launchpad’s bug reporting tool often scares away users who have no idea what a ticket, project, or distribution is.

Read more at FreeSoftwareMagazine

The French paramilitary police force said Wednesday it is ditching Microsoft for the free Linux operating system, becoming one of the biggest administrations in the world to make the break.

The move completes the gendarmerie’s severance from Microsoft which began in 2005 when it moved to open sourcing for office applications such as word processing. It switched to open source Internet browsers in 2006.

Linux is an open-source operating system, which used to be the reserve of computer geeks but is now an easy-to-use system aimed at average users.

The gendarmerie’s 70,000 desktops currently use Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system. But these will progressively change over to the Linux system distributed by Ubuntu, explained Colonel Nicolas Geraud, deputy director of the gendarmerie’s IT department.

Read more at AFP

Put a Rocket in your pocket…

THE idea of low-cost computers running Linux operating systems is steadily gathering ground in the market place. In the UK, Dell report steady interest in their range of Ubuntu-driven machines, and the diminutive Asus Eee, running a customised Xandros desktop, has been a global sensation. Then there’s America, where Everex’s range of PCs featuring the upstart Linux distribution known as gOS have been selling out faster than they can make them. But can cheap and cheerful also mean innovative and interesting?

Read more at Raiden’s Realm

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 75 for the weeks
January 20th - January 26th, 2008. In this issue we cover the upcoming
Alpha 4 freeze, the release of 6.06.2 LTS, MOTU Council elections, an
Ubuntu Demo Day in Swindon, UK, upcoming Hug Day, Full Circle Magazine
#9, the Launchpad logo competition, and, as always, much much more!

== In This Issue ==

* Alpha 4 Freeze Ahead
* 6.06.2 LTS Released
* MOTU Council Election Open
* Ubuntu Demo Day, Swindon, UK
* Hug Day January 29th, 2008
* Launchpad Logo Competition Continues
* Full Circle Issue 9 Available
* In The Press & Blogosphere
* Meeting Summaries
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
* Bugs & Translation Stats
Read the rest of this entry »

“GTPeach” from our chat room asked me if I wanted to ask a question of the RedHat CEO. I asked how he felt about Ubuntu. She told me this:

He went off for quite some time with this question. The summary of points is this: He has a lot of issues with Ubuntu regarding integrity. He says they are similar to Fedora but make too many compromises. They have “different levels of commitment to the Open Source community”. As an example, he says Fedora uses only the Open Source drivers while Ubuntu uses any.

Read full story

I make some CrunchBang Linux screenshots. I think, the default OpenBox theme is to dark, but its good to see, how is bundled OpenBox and Ubuntu. I used the VMware server for taking screenshots.

envy 0.9.10-0ubuntu2 adds the support for the latest Nvidia driver and fixes a bug:
* Fixed: Envy stopped after the process in the virtual terminal ended.
* Added: Nvidia driver 169.09
* Removed: Nvidia driver 169.07

Here are the release highlights from Nvidia’s website:
* Fixed a problem causing the fan on some GPUs to always run at full speed.

Read more at Alberto Milone’s Blog

Today we unleashed Launchpad 1.2.1, our first release of 2008!

Highlights include:

• Delete PPA packages in the web UI: no more sysadmin requests to delete a package from your PPA. To delete packages from your PPA visit: https://launchpad.net/+people/+me/+archive/+delete-packages
• Branch feeds: get the latest commits associated with a person, team, project or individual branch in your feed reader. Take a look at the Bitlbee project’s branch feed
• Code hosting project overviews: quick-glance overview of branches and revisions made to projects with code hosted on Launchpad. See Bazaar’s overview page.

Don’t forget our logo competition! Send us your design for the chance to win an Ubuntu messenger bag.

Read the full Launchpad 1.2.1 release notes!

Full Circle Magazine - Issue 9 is out!

This month, we have:

• OpenGEU - A step-by-step install from OpenGEU creator Luca De Marini.
• How-tos: Directory Server, Ubuntu on an iBook, Installing OpenTTD (Transport Tycoon Deluxe), and part one of the new “Create Your Own Server” series.
• Review of the KDE 4.0 release
• Letters, the Q&A, My Desktop, the Ubuntu Women column, the Top 5, and much, much more!

Get it while it’s hot!

http://www.fullcirclemagazine.org/issue-9/

Download (English)