Ubuntu Certification from LPI

By boredandblogging | Published: 2006-04-04

The Linux Professional Institute (LPI) and Canonical Ltd. have announced the development of a certification exam for the Ubuntu distribution. The certification will consist of a single exam on top of LPI’s existing 101 and 102 exams. Jim Lacey, President and CEO of the Linux Professional Institute, had this to say:

We have long considered LPIC-1 to be the entry-level professional certification for all Linux distributions. This collaborative initiative with Ubuntu clearly demonstrates how Linux software developers can leverage our existing distribution-neutral program to create professional certification programs for their own software packages

[Discuss]

Kubuntu in the Press

By boredandblogging | Published: 2006-03-31

Javier writes in pointing out some recent Kubuntu articles in the press. Firstly, Phil Hughes from Tux Magazine takes a good look at the upcoming Dapper Drake version of Kubuntu.

You’ll find the latest Kubuntu 5.10 Live CD featuring KDE 3.5.1 and KOffice 1.5 beta in the current edition of the UK’s Linux User Magazine. And finally, Carla Schroder, author of the Linux Cookbook brings us Tuning Kubuntu.

[Discuss]

Warty ready to Retire

By boredandblogging | Published: 2006-03-30

After eighteen months of faithful service, Ubuntu 4.10 (aka the Warty Warthog), will be end-of-lifed on 30 April 2005. Matt Zimmerman made the expected notice on the announcement mailing list, along with the upgrade path for those of you still running Warty:

The supported upgrade path from Ubuntu 4.10 is via Ubuntu 5.04. Instructions and caveats for the upgrade may be found at Hoary Upgrade Notes. Note that upgrades to version 5.10 and beyond are only supported in multiple steps, via an upgrade first to 5.04, then to 5.10.

[Discuss]

Teaching Digital Arts With Ubuntu

By boredandblogging | Published: 2006-03-23

NewsForge reports a wonderful success story for an Iowa art professor who migrated his students from Mac OS X to Ubuntu for their digital arts course. Way to go!

I’m an art professor, and last semester I embarked on an exciting new adventure by erasing Mac OS X from nearly all of the Macintoshes in our digital media lab and installing Ubuntu in its place.

I began seriously planning this change last school year, when I realized how fully the current feature sets of free software programs could satisfy the technical needs of the students in my classes. I decided that the time had come to teach our undergraduate art students about free software programs such as the GIMP, Scribus, and Quanta Plus, instead of proprietary programs such as Photoshop, QuarkXpress, and Dreamweaver.

The switch to free software has been a big success here in the Department of Art and Design at Maharishi University of Management in Fairfield, Iowa. This semester I plan to take the switch further in my video classes by replacing Avid DV Express, Final Cut Express HD, Soundtrack, and iDVD with Kino, Cinelerra, Rosegarden, and DVDstyler.

[Discuss]

New MEPIS Linux Test Version Uses Ubuntu Base

By boredandblogging | Published: 2006-03-21

Great news for lovers of Ubuntu and MEPIS:

MEPIS founder Warren Woodford has announced a test release of SimplyMEPIS 6.0, incorporating software from the Ubuntu Dapper package pools. This is the first version of SimplyMEPIS with an Ubuntu base.

Ubuntu has a 6 month stable release cycle that will enable MEPIS to offer its customers a dependable release schedule. Woodford states “The switch to the Ubuntu pools was made to provide our users with a more stable underlying system. Of course it’s important for our users that MEPIS remains true to its unique vision. I believe this release demonstrates that we can combine the magic of the MEPIS user experience with the goodness of the Ubuntu foundation.”

[Discuss]