Ubuntu Look

I’ve just released the LiveCD for gNewSense 2.1, the second full release of DeltaH.
This bring in a number of updates, fixes and improvements.

Changes since 2.0 include:
- Linux-ubuntu-modules cleared of non-free blobs
- Usplash added, thanks to Jean
- New theme and artwork, thanks to Patricio, Briareo and Leo
- Readded fix for module-init-tools for eepro100
- Builder: LiveCD no longer asks for password on sudo
- Builder: Added support for extra repositories in python-apt
- Builder: Various tweaks, fixes and improvements from Karl

Download links:
LiveCD: http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-livecd-deltah-2.1.iso
LiveCD Torrent: http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-livecd-deltah-2.1.iso.torrent
LiveCD Source: http://cdimage.gnewsense.org/gnewsense-cdsource-deltah-2.1.tar

Upgrading from 1.9/2.0: Follow the upgrade notifications in Gnome. There’s no need to download the 2.1 CD.
To change to the gNewSense theme in Gnome, go to System -> Preferences -> Appearance. Select ‘gNewSense’ in the ‘Themes’ tab and press ‘Close’.

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As always, we’re in #gnewsense on irc://chat.freenode.net.
More details about gNewSense can be found at http://www.gnewsense.org

Yours,
Brian Brazil
gNewSense Head Developer

Generating buzz this morning with the release of the Linux 2.6.27-rc4 kernel is word that Ubuntu may switch to the Linux 2.6.27 kernel for their forthcoming 8.10 “Intrepid Ibex” release. Canonical’s Ben Collins has proposed on the Ubuntu development mailing list that Intrepid be switched to using the Linux 2.6.27 kernel instead of using 2.6.26.

The reasons for this expected switch so late in the development cycle is the updated mac80211, updated to ALSA 1.0.17 codecs, obtain Xen 64 para-virtualization, and use an updated version of the Kernel-based Virtual Machine. Of course, the Linux 2.6.27 kernel has quite a few other updates and features too.

Read more at Phoronix

It’s been a pretty incredible year for open source on the desktop.

Dell has started selling some of its PCs with Ubuntu pre-installed, which means that even non-technical users can acquire a low-cost, powerful open source system without needing to worry about installation and handling drivers and suchlike.

The arrival of the Asus Eee PC, which created a new class of ultraportables that routinely run GNU/Linux – and which run Windows Vista not at all – has brought GNU/Linux to attention of millions of people who might otherwise never have heard the phrase (even the Sun newspaper has been writing about it without further explanation).

Read more at Computerworld

Today we are introducing the first Mythbuntu Intrepid Ibex alpha release: Mythbuntu 8.10 alpha 4.  With this release, we are providing mirroring on sponsored mirrors only.

It is very important to note that this release is not compatible with Mythbuntu 7.10 or any other MythTV 0.20.2 based distribution.

Changes from Mythbuntu 8.04:

Default Guided Partition

* The guided partitoner in the installer will now default the recordings partition to XFS instead of EXT3.

Mythbuntu Apple Trailers

* The Apple Trailer plugin has been forked and is now being kept up by our very own Nick Fox. This plugin is installable from MCC or synaptic and accessible from the frontend.

Stability

* Lots of bug fixes across the board in Ubiquity and Mythbuntu Control Centre.
* Several MythTV bugs that were sent upstream got fixed.

For more detailed feature information please visit us on launchpad

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We appreciated all comments and would love to hear what you think. Please make comments to our mailing list, on the forums (with a tag indicating that this is from 8.10 or intrepid), or in #ubuntu-mythtv.

As previously,
If you encounter any issues with anything in this release (including ubiquity), please file a bug on launchpad:
http://bugs.launchpad.net/mythbuntu/8.10/

Known issues

* Diskless is broken. Diskless clients are unable to boot.

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The ISO is available here:

i386 Builds

Desktop Disk md5sum
Desktop Disk Direct Mirror
Alternate Disk md5sum
Alternate Disk Direct Mirror

AMD64 Builds

Desktop Disk md5sum
Desktop Disk Direct Mirror
Alternate Disk md5sum
Alternate Disk Direct Mirror

Ubuntu distributor Canonical has joined the Linux Foundation, bringing more of a desktop consumer point of view to the enterprise Linux-dominated organization.

Ubuntu has taken on an increasingly important role with its focus on desktops, Windows compatibility, and ease of installation. Mark Shuttleworth founded the Ubuntu project in 2004 to get Linux established as a low-cost education system in South Africa, then built Canonical to support it. He still serves on its technical board.

Read more at Information Week

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #104 for the week of August 10th - August 16th, 2008 is now available.

In this Issue:

* Intrepid Alpha-4 released
* New UWN translation team
* Global Bug Jam: Retrospective
* MOTU school sessions for developer week wanted
* MOTU interview
* Ubuntu stats
* Launchpad news
* In the Press & Blogosphere
* In Other News
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
* And much, much more!

If you have a story idea for the Weekly News, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

I first heard of gOS when it was chosen to power the $199 Wal-Mart gPC. The third iteration of the OS, gOS 3.0 “Gadgets” Beta, was released last week. It’s a great Web-focused desktop, but it doesn’t offer much to experienced or current Ubuntu users.

Read more at Linux.com

gOS is an interesting Ubuntu GNU/Linux offshoot. We’ve reviewed it and interviewed gOS founder Daniel Liu. Now, in this video, you can see the distro in action before you decide whether it is something you want to download and play with for yourself. Remember that this video was made with a beta version of gOS Gadgets 3, so some features don’t work correctly that will almost certainly be just fine in the final version. That caveat given, here’s the video.

Look more at Linux.com

In my last article I looked at gaming on Ubuntu Linux and concluded that it is alive and well! Now we head back into the “useful” side of Linux. Linux has a bad reputation of having to use the Command Line Interface (CLI) to do anything really useful. In this article I will talk about some graphical interfaces for tools to get those “useful” things done.
If you want to know how much disk space you have on a Windows machine, what do you do? There’s a number of different ways of getting that information, but the way that I usually use is to go to Windows Explorer and right click on the drive letter and select Properties. This opens up a window which looks at the drive and tells me how many folders and items there are, how big it is and how much space is left.

Read more at iTWire

“Intrepid Ibex” Alpha-4 released

Hello Ubuntu developers,

Welcome to Intrepid Ibex Alpha-4, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.10.

Pre-releases of Intrepid are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable
system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even
frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and
those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.
Read the rest of this entry »