Getting ready for the Lynx's release parties

By boredandblogging | Published: 2010-04-28

The Ubuntu 10.04 LTS release is almost there and we’re getting ready to celebrate the awesomeness of this new shiny version and the great work of everyone involved in making it possible.

All over the world, from Maracaibo to Beijing, people are ultimating the details of their Lucid release parties to mark this new milestone in the Ubuntu family and to have a great time.

Check out the Ubuntu LoCo Directory, where we’ve got already 48 release parties registered. We can surely make this figure grow!

If your party is still not there, either because you haven’t started the organization or because you have not registered it yet, here’s what you can do:

  • If you haven’t organized a release party, check out the guide to help you with the planning
  • If you have a release party scheduled, be sure to:

    • Add it to the LoCo Directory. Add your party to the LoCo directory.
    • Spread the word. Blog about it, advertise it, tell your friends, tell local media, tell podcasts and otherwise promote it.
    • Stay in touch. Join the IRC channel #ubuntu-release-party on irc.freenode.net
    • Take pictures!. If you post photos to Flickr, please tag them with ubuntu, release, party, 2010, 10.04 and lucid. Jono Bacon the Ubuntu Community Manager is wanting to put together a collage of release party group photos, so take a group photo of your party people and email jono AT ubuntu DOT com with a link to the photo online and the subject “Lucid Release Party Photo” — ensure that you specify which LoCo Team party it is at.

Let’s make the Lucid Lynx rock!

Regional Membership Boards need YOU

By boredandblogging | Published: 2010-04-27

We are going to extend the nomination period for the Regional Membership Boards Asia/Oceania and EMEA until Friday 30th April 12:00 UTC. (The Americas Board is all set in terms of nominations.)

On 2010-05-05 the terms of the following members of the Regional Membership Boards will end:

  • Asia/Oceania: Andi Darmawan, Emmet Hikory, Luke Yelavich, Melissa Draper, Robert Collins, Zak B. Elep, ??????? (amachu)
  • EMEA: Alan Pope, Dennis Kaarsemaker, Mark Van den Borre, Matthew Helmke, Stéphane Graber, Szilvester Farkas

You can either nominate yourself or somebody else. Please add some information about yourself to the mail. (Expiring members can be re-nominated too.)

To nominate, please send a mail to the board you are nominating for. Try to explain your nomination. All nominations will be forwarded to the Community Council who will make the final decision.

  • ubuntu-membership-board-emea at lists.ubuntu.com
  • ubuntu-membership-board-asia-oceania at lists.ubuntu.com

We have the following requirements for nominees:

  • be an Ubuntu member
  • be confident that you can judge contributions to various parts of our community
  • be available during typical meeting times of the board in question
  • insight into the culture(s) and typical activities within a geographic region covered by the board is a plus

Here a slightly longer version that explains a bit better what kind of community members we are looking for: Those sitting on membership boards are people who are insightful. They are current Ubuntu Members with a proven track record of activity in the community. They have shown themselves over time to be able to work well with others and display the positive aspects of the Ubuntu Code of Conduct. They should be people who can discern character and judge contribution quality without emotion while engaging in an interview/discussion that communicates interest, a welcoming atmosphere, and which is marked by humanity, gentleness, and kindness. Even when they must deny applications, they should do so in such a way that applicants walk away with a sense of hopefulness and a desire to return with a more complete application rather than feeling

discouraged or hurt.

Thanks in advance to you and thanks a lot also to the dedication everybody put into their jobs as board members.

[Discuss the Regional Membership Boards on the Forum]

Originally posted by Daniel Holbach here on Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 at 10:06 am

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #190

By boredandblogging | Published: 2010-04-26

Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter. This is Issue #190 for the week April 18th – April 24th, 2010 and is available here.

In this issue we cover:

* Announcing the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS
* Call for UDS Plenaries and Lightning Talks
* Ubuntu Launchpad Single-Sign-On Now Open Source
* Mark Shuttleworth promotes Ubuntu Party of Paris
* Farewell to the notification area
* New Ubuntu Members
* Ubuntu Stats
* LoCo Council Meeting
* Ubuntu’s success at Anime Boston 2010!
* LoCo Stories: the Asturian team drives the Asturian Language Academy migration to Ubuntu
* Ubuntu Turkey LoCo Team Interviews Canonical CTO, Matt Zimmerman
* Launchpad News
* Lucid Community Team Review
* Ubuntu IRC Bots Junior Tasks
* Ubuntu, the family album
* Ground Control 1.6 and Website
* Unleash the Beagles !!!
* 200 Artist/Designers!
* In The Press & In The Blogosphere
* Full Circle Magazine Podcast Episode 5: Manual Dexterity
* Ubuntu Weekly Videocast
* Canonical Training Set To Announce New Ubuntu Certified Professional Certification
* Canonical and MuleSoft partner to improve Tomcat packaging
* Canonical open sources Launchpad and Ubuntu Single Sign On code
* Upcoming Meetings and Events
* Updates and Security
* and much, much more

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

* Amber Graner
* John Crawford
* Craig A. Eddy
* Dave Bush
* Chris Johnston
* Liraz Siri
* J Scott Gwin
* Penelope Stowe
* And many others

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!

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

Announcing the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS

By boredandblogging | Published: 2010-04-22

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) Desktop and Server Editions and Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server for Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon’s EC2, as well as Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition. Codenamed "Lucid Lynx", 10.04 LTS continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable, and suitable for testing by any user.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Desktop Edition and Ubuntu 10.04 Netbook Edition continue the trend of ever-faster boot speeds, with improved startup times and a streamlined, smoother boot experience.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server Edition provides even better integration of the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud, with its install-time cloud setup.

Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Server for UEC and EC2 brings the power and stability of the Ubuntu Server Edition to cloud computing, whether you’re using Amazon EC2 or your own Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud.

The Ubuntu 10.04 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu, also reach beta status today.

The final release of Ubuntu 10.04 LTS is scheduled for 29 April 2010 and will be supported for three years on desktops and five years on servers.

Before installing or upgrading to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, please review the instructions and caveats in the release notes:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/1004

In addition, there are a small number of known bugs in the release candidate that will be fixed before the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS release, but warrant highlighting for your attention:

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/1004overview#Known%20issues

About The Release Candidate
—————————————-

The purpose of the Release Candidate is to solicit one last round of testing before the final release. Here are ways that you can help:

  • Upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04 LTS or Ubuntu 9.10 to the Release Candidate by following the instructions in the release notes referenced above.
  • Participate in installation testing using the Release Candidate CD images, by following the testing and reporting instructions at http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/ISO

Desktop features
————————

Social from the start: We now feature built-in integration with Twitter, identi.ca, Facebook, and other social networks with the MeMenu in the panel.

New Design: Cleaner and faster boot, new notification area, new themes, new icons, and new wallpaper bring a dramatically updated look and feel to Ubuntu.

Ubuntu One: Synchronize any folder in your home directory, publish files to share with the Internet directly from your Ubuntu desktop, manage more sync settings with the Ubuntu One Preferences application, use Rhythmbox to choose from millions of songs available for purchase in the Ubuntu One Music Store. Learn more at:

http://one.ubuntu.com/blog

Server features
———————-

Cloud computing: The Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud installer has been vastly improved in order to support alternative installation topologies. UEC components are now automatically discovered and registered, even when the storage controller, cluster controller and walrus are installed on different servers. Finally, UEC is now powered by the latest Eucalyptus version 1.6.2.

UEC and EC2: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS continues the tradition of official Ubuntu Server image releases for UEC and for Amazon’s EC2, giving you everything you need for rapid deployment of Ubuntu instances in a cloud computing environment. UEC images, and information on running Ubuntu 10.04 on EC2, are available at:

http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/10.04/rc

Stability and security: Ubuntu 10.04 LTS brings many improvements over Ubuntu 8.04 LTS to keep your servers safe and secure for the next five years, including AppArmor profiles for many key services, kernel hardening, and an easy-to-configure firewall.

Ubuntu Netbook features
———————————-

Ubuntu Netbook Edition is optimised to run on Intel atom based netbooks. It includes a new consumer-friendly interface that allows users to quickly and easily get on-line and use their favourite applications. This interface is optimised for a retail sales environment.

It includes the same faster boot times and improved boot experience as Ubuntu desktop.

Ubuntu Netbook on ARM
——————————-

The ARM optimised variant of Ubuntu Netbook comes with a lightweight application selection tailored specifically for ARM deployments, including a web-based office and mail solution and a launcher that works with and without graphics acceleration.

Kubuntu features
————————

Kubuntu 10.04 LTS will be the first LTS to feature KDE 4 Platform and Applications. KDE 4 has come a long way since its early releases and is now suitable for the high demands of LTS users. Being an LTS we have focused on bug fixing and stability for this release, but we did find time to add features such as touchpad configuration, Firefox KDE integration, Kubuntu notification improvements, and cross-desktop systray menu standardisation. Kubuntu features the Plasma Desktop while Kubuntu Netbook Remix comes out of preview status with the Plasma Netbook workspace.

See https://wiki.kubuntu.org/LucidLynx/RC/Kubuntu for more details.

Edubuntu features
————————-

Edubuntu 10.04 includes many new features, updates and fixes. Some highlights include:

LTSP and the Ubuntu Netbook Remix interface can now be installed from the Live DVD right after system installation. The disc also features Live LTSP, which allows you to try out LTSP without making any permanent changes to your machine.

New and updated software, including a new menu editor for menus that can be applied to user profiles. GBrainy is a new program in the Edubuntu suite that excercises your brain.

A new icon theme which uses more descriptive icons, a new wallpaper and boot splash screen as well as more subtle window theming that is easier on the eyes.

Mythbuntu features
—————————

Mythbuntu 10.04 introduces MythTV 0.23. This new version is significantly faster and should feel more responsive and stable than older versions. It also integrates better into the OS with better support for things like ConsoleKit and Upstart.

Please see http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.23 for more details about changes introduced in 0.23.

See http://mythbuntu.org/10.04/rc for information about the Mythbuntu beta release.

A more complete tour of the features new in 10.04 LTS can be found at http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/releasenotes/1004overview

About Ubuntu
——————

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, netbooks and servers, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases. A tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.

Professional services including support are available from Canonical and hundreds of other companies around the world. For more information about support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support

To Get the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Release Candidate
——————————————————————-

To upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Release Candidate from Ubuntu 9.10 or Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LucidUpgrades

Or, to perform a new installation or try out 10.04 LTS "live" from CD, download the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Release Candidate here (choose the mirror closest to you):

Africa:

* http://bw.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Botswana)
* http://ls.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Lesotho)
* http://mz.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Mozambique)
* http://na.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Namibia)
* http://ubuntu.mirror.ac.za/ubuntu-release/10.04 (South Africa)

Asia:

* http://ubunturelease.hnsdc.com/10.04 (India)
* http://ubuntutym2.u-toyama.ac.jp/ubuntu/10.04 (Japan)
* http://ubuntu.qualitynet.net/releases/10.04 (Kuwait)
* http://ftp.mtu.ru/pub/ubuntu/releases/10.04 (Russian Federation)
* http://mirror.yandex.ru/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Russian Federation)
* http://ubuntu.mirrors.isu.net.sa/releases/10.04 (Saudi Arabia)
* http://ftp.linux.org.tr/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Turkey)

Europe:

* http://ubuntu.ipacct.com/releases/10.04 (Bulgaria)
* http://hr.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Croatia)
* http://mirrors.dotsrc.org/ubuntu-cd/10.04 (Denmark)
* http://ftp.estpak.ee/pub/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Estonia)
* http://www.nic.funet.fi/pub/mirrors/releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Finland)
* http://ftp.oleane.net/ubuntu-cd/10.04 (France)
* http://ubuntu.mirror.tudos.de/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Germany)
* http://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/ubuntu.iso/10.04 (Germany)
* http://speglar.simnet.is/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Iceland)
* http://ftp.heanet.ie/pub/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Ireland)
* http://releases.ubuntu.fastbull.org/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Italy)
* http://nl.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/10.04 (Netherlands)
* http://no.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Norway)
* http://ftp.vectranet.pl/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Poland)
* http://mirrors.fe.up.pt/pub/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Portugal)
* http://mirrors.xservers.ro/ubuntu/releases/10.04 (Romania)
* http://ftp.antik.sk/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Slovakia)
* http://ubuntu.cica.es/releases/10.04 (Spain)
* http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Sweden)
* http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/mirror/ubuntu-cdimage/10.04 (Switzerland)

North America:

* http://archaea.its.sfu.ca/mirror/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Canada)
* http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Canada)
* http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/ubuntu-iso/CDs/10.04 (United States)
* http://ubuntu.cs.utah.edu/releases/10.04 (United States)
* http://ubuntu-releases.cs.umn.edu/10.04 (United States)
* http://www.gtlib.gatech.edu/pub/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (United States)

Oceania/Australia:

* http://ubuntu-releases.optus.net/10.04 (Australia)
* http://ftp.citylink.co.nz/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (New Zealand)
* http://mirror.ihug.co.nz/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (New Zealand)

South America:

* http://ubuntu.c3sl.ufpr.br/releases/10.04 (Brazil)
* http://espelhos.edugraf.ufsc.br/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Brazil)
* http://www.las.ic.unicamp.br/pub/ubuntu-releases/10.04 (Brazil)

Rest of the world:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/10.04 (Great Britain)

Please download using Bittorrent if possible. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BitTorrent for more information about using BitTorrent.

Feedback and Participation
—————————————

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at

http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help turn this Release Candidate into the best release of Ubuntu ever. Please note that, where possible, we prefer that bugs be reported using the tools provided, rather than by visiting Launchpad directly. Instructions can be found at

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but are not sure, first try asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel on FreeNode, on the Ubuntu Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu forums:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

More Information
————————

You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this preview release on our website, IRC channel and wiki. If you are new to Ubuntu, please visit:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

To sign up for future Ubuntu announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu’s very low volume announcement list at:

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

[Discuss the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS on the Forum]

Originally sent to the ubuntu-announce Mailing List by Steve Langasek on Thu Apr 22 16:32:15 BST 2010

Ubuntu / Launchpad Single-Sign-On Now Open Source

By boredandblogging | Published: 2010-04-21

Jono Bacon (Ubuntu Community Manager) announced on his blog:-

Some time back we made Launchpad available as Open Source, and we have gone on to see a wonderful and thriving Launchpad development community flourish there.

One component in particular that was not made available as Open Source, was the Canonical Identity Provider which is used by the Launchpad Single Sign On and Ubuntu Single Sign on facilities. I am pleased to announce that we are now able to provide this code under an AGPL3 license. Thanks to Stuart Metcalfe who has been coordinating the technical and licensing work to be able to contribute this change.

You can grab the code from this Launchpad project page.