Ubuntu Look

Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth says that the PC desktop is facing a new revolution in the way that information is managed and that he hopes that free software will lead the way.

In a recent posting on his blog Shuttleworth says that “there’s a revolution coming as we throw out the old ‘files and folders’ metaphor and leap to something new, and it would be phenomenal if free software were leading the way.”

Shuttleworth says that the idea that managing data was becoming harder for the average user was a key theme of the recent Gnome user experience hackfest which he attended.

Read more at Tectonic

With the release of Ubuntu 8.10 coming out later this week we decided to use this opportunity to explore how the performance of this desktop Linux operating system has evolved over the past few releases. We performed clean installations of Ubuntu 7.04, Ubuntu 7.10, Ubuntu 8.04, and Ubuntu 8.10 on a Lenovo ThinkPad T60 notebook and used the Phoronix Test Suite to run 35 tests on each release that covered nine different areas of the system. After spending well more than 100 hours running these tests, the results are now available and our findings may very well surprise you. Read the rest of this entry »

Latest Ubuntu Linux distribution — Intrepid Ibex — set to debut as the company behind it continues to grow.

There is a business behind the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system and according to its lead commercial sponsor Canonical, that business is good. Canonical is set to debut its latest Linux release Ubuntu 8.10 also known as the Intrepid Ibex on October 30th. The new release will include networking, virtualization and user management improvements.

The Ibex release will also be a milestone for Canonical, a company that is barely four years old that is now challenging established Linux and proprietary vendors alike. Canonical is claiming that its users, contributors and revenues are all growing as Ubuntu aims to grow its overall share of the operating system market.

Read more at InternetNews

It is very frustrating when you don’t know every programming language (I’m a PHP guy). There are so many things I’d like to change in Ubuntu Intrepid Ibex (it is still a great Linux OS), but don’t have the time/knowledge to do. I am very active in promotion, but maybe someone who knows his stuff will read this list of ideas for inspiration. Or let’s just have a conversation about it in the comments!

System Hardware Rating

This is a new idea I got just a few days ago: wouldn’t it be cool if a new user popped in A Ubuntu LiveCD, which would quickly analyze the your system and grade its performance? If it were good enough it would continue with the launch, and in the case of a bad ’system grade’ it would pop up a warning that the system isn’t good enough for optimal performance and that if you want you should maybe download Xubuntu or a lighter OS?

Read more at http://www.internetling.com/

This is the first in a series of interviews with Ubuntu developers about their work, and features that will be available in future versions.

Dustin Kirkland is a developer on Canonical’s Ubuntu Server Team, working from Austin, Texas, USA. He is the author of the highly anticipated encrypted private directories feature in the upcoming Ubuntu 8.10 release. Previously, Dustin worked for IBM in various capacities, including as an on-site employee at Red Hat. There he discovered his interest in working with Linux at the distribution level, which eventually led him to Canonical.

Dustin was also interviewed separately for Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #114.

One thing you have worked on for Intrepid is Encrypted Private directories. Could you tell us a little about what they are, and why they might be useful to someone?

Read more at Fridge

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #114 for the week of October 19th - October 25th, 2008 is now available.

In this Issue:

* Ubuntu 8.10 RC released
* Intrepid Release Parties
* Intrepid bug fixes
* Pre-order Intrepid CDs
* Spread Ubuntu Alpha 0.1
* MOTU News
* Ubuntu Stats
* LoCo News
* Interview with Dustin Kirkland
* In the Press & Blogosphere
* Ubuntu Podcast #10
* Dell’s Mini Issues Getting Bigger?
* Interview with Jon Ramvi of the Ubuntu Eee project
* Obama Ubuntu? Or a hoax?
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Community Spotlight
* Updates & Security

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!