Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 401

By lyz | Published: 2015-01-27

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is issue #401 for the week January 19 – 25, 2015, and the full version is available here.

In this issue we cover:

The issue of The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

  • Paul White
  • Elizabeth K. Joseph
  • Mary Frances Hull
  • Ian Nicholson
  • And many others

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

Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA Creative Commons License

Vivid Vervet Alpha 2 Released

By lyz | Published: 2015-01-22

The second alpha of the Vivid Vervet (to become 15.04) has now been released!

Pre-releases of the Vivid Vervet 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 flavor developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting and fixing bugs as we work towards getting this release ready.

Alpha 2 includes a number of software updates that are ready for wider testing. This is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs.

While these Alpha 2 images have been tested and work, except as noted in the release notes, Ubuntu developers are continuing to improve the Vivid Vervet. In particular, once newer daily images are available, system installation bugs identified in the Alpha 2 installer should be verified against the current daily image before being reported in Launchpad. Using an obsolete image to re-report bugs that have already been fixed wastes your time and the time of developers who are busy trying to make 15.04 the best Ubuntu release yet. Always ensure your system is up to date before reporting bugs.

This alpha features images for Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, UbuntuKylin and the Ubuntu Cloud images.

Kubuntu

Kubuntu uses KDE software and now features the new Plasma 5 desktop. The Alpha-2 images can be downloaded at:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/vivid/alpha-2

More information on Kubuntu Alpha-2 can be found here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/VividVervet/Alpha2/Kubuntu

Lubuntu

Lubuntu is a flavour of Ubuntu based on LXDE and focused on providing a very lightweight distribution. The Alpha-2 images can be downloaded at:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/vivid/alpha-2/

More information on Lubuntu Alpha-2 can be found here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/VividVervet/Alpha2/Lubuntu

Ubuntu GNOME

Ubuntu GNOME is an flavour of Ubuntu featuring the GNOME desktop environment. The Alpha-2 images can be downloaded at:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-gnome/releases/vivid/alpha-2/

More information on Ubuntu GNOME Alpha-2 can be found here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/VividVervet/Alpha2/UbuntuGNOME

UbuntuKylin

UbuntuKylin is a flavour of Ubuntu that is more suitable for Chinese users.

The Alpha-2 images can be downloaded at:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/vivid/alpha-2/

More information on UbuntuKylin Alpha-2 can be found here:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/VividVervet/Alpha2/UbuntuKylin

Ubuntu Cloud

Ubuntu Cloud images can be run on Amazon EC2, Openstack, SmartOS and many other clouds. The Alpha-2 images can be downloaded at:

http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/vivid/alpha-2/

Regular daily images for Ubuntu can be found at:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com

If you’re interested in following the changes as we further develop Vivid, we suggest that you subscribe to the ubuntu-devel-announce list. This is a low-traffic list (a few posts a week) carrying announcements of approved specifications, policy changes, alpha releases and other interesting events.

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce

A big thank you to the developers and testers for their efforts to pull together this Alpha release!

Originally posted to the ubuntu-devel-announce mailing list on Thu Jan 22 15:04:50 UTC 2015 by Walter Lapchynski

Interview with Charles of the Ubuntu Community Council

By lyz | Published: 2015-01-21

The Ubuntu Community Council is the primary community (i.e., non-technical) governance body for the Ubuntu project. In this series of 7 interviews, we go behind the scenes with the community members who were elected in 2013 serve on this council with Mark Shuttleworth.

In this, our first interview, we talk with Charles about his experience with Ubuntu and beyond.

cprofitt_2015

Tell us a little about yourself

I am currently an IT professional at a K-12 school dI am an IT professional for a K-12 school district responsible for running the server infrastructure, disaster recovery, information security, and virtualization. I introduced Linux and Open Source to the district. I started playing around with Linux in 1993, but did not start using it regularly until 2006. At first I was the typical distro hopper, but I soon found the Ubuntu Community and realized that I had found a home. The Ubuntu Community was full of knowledgeable friendly and helpful people.

How long have you been involved with Ubuntu? And how long on the Ubuntu Community Council?

I have been active with Ubuntu since 2008 when I got involved with the New York State Ubuntu LoCo Community. I have been involved with the Ubuntu Forums, Ubuntu Beginners Team, IRC OPs, Ubuntu Bug Squad, Ubuntu Documentation, Ubuntu New York, Ubuntu Education, and Ubuntu News. I served on the Ubuntu Beginners team Council, The Ubuntu LoCo Council and am currently on The Ubuntu Community Council.

What are some of the projects you’ve worked on in Ubuntu over the years?

Laptop Testing Team, Ubuntu IRC operators, Ubuntu Educators, Ubuntu Leadership (development of leadership), Ubuntu Screencast, Ubuntu New York, Ubuntu Power users, Ubuntu Bug Control, Ubuntu Bugsquad, Ubuntu Accomplishments, Ubuntu Documentation Team, Ubuntu Documentation Team Wiki Administrators, and Ubuntu Accessibility

What is your focus in Ubuntu today?

My focus in Ubuntu today is on the community, both local and global.

Do you contribute to other free/open source projects? Which ones?

I want to use the word contribute carefully as I do not have any code contributions outside of the Ubuntu community. I have contributed in terms of support, testing and community with openVAS, Cacti, Racktables, Security Onion, Kali and nmap.

If you were to give a newcomer some advice about getting involved with Ubuntu, what would it be?

Enjoy using Ubuntu and share your success with others. When you want to contribute to Ubuntu find an area you are passionate about and seek out any assistance you need to grow in that area.

Ubuntu LoCo Team Global Jam Packs

By lyz | Published: 2015-01-20

For a long time now Canonical has provided Ubuntu LoCo Teams with material to use in the promotion of Ubuntu. This has come in the form of CDs and DVDs for Ubuntu releases, as well as conference packs for booths and shows.

We’ve also been sent several packages, when requested by an Ubuntu Member, to LoCo Teams for their own events, such as release parties or global jams.

Ubuntu Mauritius Team 14.10 Global Jam

This cycle we are extending this offer to any LoCo team that is hosting an in-person Global Jam event. It doesn’t matter how many people are going, or what you’re planning on doing for your jam. The Jam Packs will include DVDs, stickers, pens and other giveaways for your attendees, as well as an Ubuntu t-shirt for the organizers (or as a giveaway, if you choose).

Since there is only a few weeks before Global Jam weekend, and these will be shipped from London, please take your country’s customs process into consideration before ordering. Countries in North America and Europe shouldn’t have a problem, but if you’ve experienced long customs delays in the past please consider waiting and making your request for the next Global Jam.

To get an Ubuntu Global Jam Pack for your event, all you need to do is the following:

  • Register you Global Jam event on the LoCo Team Portal
    • Your event must be in-person, and have a venue associated with it
  • Fill out the community donation request form
    • Include a link to your LoCo Team Portal event in your request
  • Promote your event, before and after
    • Blog about it, post pictures, and share your excitement on social media
      • Use the #ubuntu hashtag when available

You can find all kinds of resources, activities and advice for running your Global Jam event on the Ubuntu Wiki, where we’ve collected the cumulative knowledge from all across the community over many years. And you can get live help and advice any time on the #ubuntu-locoteams IRC channel on Freenode.

Originally posted here by Michael Hall

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 400

By lyz | Published: 2015-01-19

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is issue #400 for the week January 12 – 18, 2015, and the full version is available here.

In this issue we cover:

The issue of The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is brought to you by:

  • Paul White
  • Elizabeth K. Joseph
  • Ian Nicholson
  • John Mahoney
  • Aaron Honeycutt
  • Vishnu Narayanan
  • Amber Graner
  • And many others

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

Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA Creative Commons License