Ubuntu Look

You would think that a GNU/Linux distribution dedicated to shipping only free software would be uncontroversial. After all, isn’t free software what GNU/Linux is all about? Yet, when the latest version of GNewSense was announced recently, Slashdot readers were divided in their reactions.

Some thought the distribution would have too limited appeal, and argued that what was needed was a distribution so popular that hardware and software vendors would have to support it. Others suggested that GNewSense had two uses: As an indicator of what the free software community has done so far, and as a summary of what still needs to be done before the goal of a completely free operating system is realized.

GNewSense began at a conference in Tunis in 2005 when Paul O’Malley heard Mark Shuttleworth and Richard Stallman talking about the possibility of a politically free version of Ubuntu, whose various incarnations include proprietary wireless drivers and access to non-free video drivers. O’Malley raised the idea on chat channels, and the project began in June 2006 when Brian Brazil joined the project.

Read more at Detamation

Kubuntu Tutorials Day is back. Join the Kubuntu team on IRC, #kubuntu-devel, for some fascinating chats with Free Software’s finest developers.

There are five months of development ahead for Intrepid, so this is the perfect way to learn how to get involved.

• 19:00UTC
  Getting Involved
  What’s happening in Intrepid and how can you join? Artwork, documentation, packaging, programming and more.
  Richard Johnson (nixternal)
• 20:00UTC
  Usability. Is it just about removing options?
  Celeste Lyn Paul (seele)
• 21:00UTC
  Packaging and merging howto
  Turn your apps into .debs, fix the packages already in the archive.
  Jonathan Riddell (Riddell)
• 22:00UTC
  Plasma with Python
  Plasmoids that are easy to make.
  Michael Anderson (nosrednaekim)
• 23:00UTC
  Bug triage
  How to squish the beasties.
  Ralph Janke (txwikinger)
• From end of talks onwards…
  Kubuntu Q&A
  Got a question? We’re here to answer.
  Your Friendly Kubuntu Team

See Kubuntu Tutorials Day page for more information.

The Canonical OEM team has been approached by a number of OEM’s who want to sell netbooks (small, low-cost laptops with an emphasis on the web) based on Ubuntu. Almost universally, they’ve asked for standard Ubuntu packages and updates, with an app launcher that’s more suited to new users and has the feeling of a “device” more than a PC.

There are some very cool launchers out there - AWN is a current favourite of mine - but people seem to prefer the more 2-dimensional tabbed approach, so the OEM team implemented a lightweight but still very classy launcher for this use case. The work received a detailed review in Ars Technica and has been covered in Free Software Magazine and elsewhere.

Read more at Mark Shuttleworth Blog