news 28 Posted December 22, 2015 Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 447 for the week December 14 - 20, 2015. Our next issue will be a two week issue covering December 21 - January 3rd. Happy Holidays! == Links to UWN == * Wiki page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue447 == In This Issue == * Ubuntu is about people * Ubuntu Stats * Supporting the UbuCon Summit * Attending UbuCon Summit US in 01/2016 * LoCo Events * Nicholas Skaggs: Google Code In: Week One Summary * Lubuntu Blog: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year * Colin King: Firmware Test Suite, 15.12.00 * Daniel McGuire: The Ubuntu Firefox Startpage * Martin Pitt: What's new in autopkgtest: LXD, MaaS, apt pinning, and more * Canonical Cloud Chatter: December 2015 * Ubuntu Touch OTA-8.5 released * Testing Ubuntu Apps As A Service * Canonical News * In The Press * In The Blogosphere * Featured Audio and Video * Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings * Upcoming Meetings and Events * Updates and Security for 12.04, 14.04, 15.04 and 15.10 * And much more! == General Community News == === Ubuntu is about people === David Planella writes a retrospective post about the history of collaboration with a view on past and now discontinued in-person Ubuntu Developer Summit events and the rise of community-organized UbuCon in their wake, writing: "while over the years we have learnt to work productively in a remote environment, the need to socialize is still there and as important as ever to reaffirm this bonding that keep us together." He goes on to bring these topics together as he talks about the UbuCon Summit, "a super-UbuCon" with "some of the most influential members of the wider Ubuntu community, with first-class talks content, and with a space for discussions to help shape the future of particular areas of Ubuntu. It's the evolution of an UbuCon." His post concludes with some details about the upcoming UbuCon Summit in Pasadena, free registration information and more. http://davidplanella.org/ubuntu-is-about-people/ == Ubuntu Stats == === Bug Stats === * Open (121198) +145 over last week * Critical (291) -6 over last week * Unconfirmed (60478) +82 over last week As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad === Ask Ubuntu Top 5 Questions this week === ==== Most Active Questions ==== * How to make my system delete all the files in a certain directory older than a certain time while keeping the directory structure intact? http://askubuntu.com/questions/709763/how-to-make-my-system-delete-all-the-files-in-a-certain-directory-older-than-a-c * How to count the total number of files/folders on a system? http://askubuntu.com/questions/711293/how-to-count-the-total-number-of-files-folders-on-a-system * If I upgrade my system will my desktop manager change to Unity? http://askubuntu.com/questions/710846/if-i-upgrade-my-system-will-my-desktop-manager-change-to-unity * How to enter password only once in a bash script needing sudo http://askubuntu.com/questions/711580/how-to-enter-password-only-once-in-a-bash-script-needing-sudo * 000 permission for a single file is not working well [on hold] http://askubuntu.com/questions/709646/000-permission-for-a-single-file-is-not-working-well ==== Top Voted New Questions ==== * How to make my system delete all the files in a certain directory older than a certain time while keeping the directory structure intact? http://askubuntu.com/questions/709763/ * Can I minimize a window into a box on Unity? http://askubuntu.com/questions/710925/ * If I upgrade my system will my desktop manager change to Unity? http://askubuntu.com/questions/710846/ * How to enter password only once in a bash script needing sudo http://askubuntu.com/questions/711580/ * 000 permission for a single file is not working well http://askubuntu.com/questions/709646/ People Contributing the best questions and answers this week: muru (http://askubuntu.com/users/158442/muru), Fabby (http://askubuntu.com/users/344926/fabby), zorbon.cz (http://askubuntu.com/users/35669/zorbon-cz), kos (http://askubuntu.com/users/380067/kos) and Justin (http://askubuntu.com/users/328221/justin) Ask (and answer!) questions at http://askubuntu.com == LoCo News == === Supporting the UbuCon Summit === Michael Hall reminds us that the UbuCon Summit is near, with the two dates being January 21 and 22. He tells us some of the highlights of the event, and that amongst the speakers will be Mark Shuttleworth as well as developers from Canonical and leaders from the Ubuntu community. https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-community-team/2015-December/000961.html === Attending UbuCon Summit US in 01/2016 === Sujeevan Vijayakumaran, head of the organisation team for UbuCon Europe, writes about how he's looking forward to the upcoming UbuCon Summit in Pasadena, California. https://svij.org/blog/2015/12/19/attending-ubucon-summit-us-in-012016/ == LoCo Events == There are no LoCo events on the schedule for the next couple of weeks. Looking on to January and beyond? Visit the LoCo Team Portal to browse upcoming events around the world: http://loco.ubuntu.com/events/ == The Planet == === Nicholas Skaggs: Google Code In: Week One Summary === Nicholas Skaggs summarizes the first week of Google Code In. He also shares some statistics about the amount of tasks completed, the number of students that did tasks for Ubuntu, and the number of Ubuntu mentors assigning tasks. http://www.theorangenotebook.com/2015/12/google-code-in-week-one-summary.html === Lubuntu Blog: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year === Lubuntu's artwork maven Rafael Laguna wishes us a Merry Christmas and rings in the New Year with another fantastic wallpaper, this time including the official Lubuntu mascot, Lenny! http://lubuntu.me/merry-christmas-and-happy-new-year/ === Colin King: Firmware Test Suite, 15.12.00 === Colin King informs us that Canonical's Hardware Enablement Team continue to enhance the Firmware Test Suite [FWTS] on a regular basis. He lists the changes in the latest release, 15.12.00, and thanks the community contributions which he says makes FWTS a better tool to support different architectures and systems. http://smackerelofopinion.blogspot.com/2015/12/firmware-test-suite-151200.html === Daniel McGuire: The Ubuntu Firefox Startpage === Daniel McGuire quotes a Reddit post which complains about the default Ubuntu Firefox Startpage, saying that it isn't useful or good looking. Daniel links to a bug report, shows us some existing alternatives, the structure and design features of which he will take into consideration when he starts working on some mockups of his own version of the Startpage. https://danielseanmcguire.wordpress.com/2015/12/17/the-ubuntu-firefox-startpage/ === Martin Pitt: What's new in autopkgtest: LXD, MaaS, apt pinning, and more === Martin Pitt runs through the new features of the last two major autopkgtest releases, 3.18 and 3.19. His post looks at the new LXD virtualization backend, the MaaS setup script, using packages from -proposed, and the Unified testbed setup script. http://www.piware.de/2015/12/whats-new-in-autopkgtest-lxd-maas-apt-pinning-and-more/ == Ubuntu Cloud News == === Canonical Cloud Chatter: December 2015 === James Donner takes a look at what Canonical's Cloud Marketing Team have been involved with recently. Amongst the activities that he refers to are a Big Data for Telcos eBook, testing Autopilot on VMware, and a short talk on testing charms. James' post also includes a reminder of the next UbuCon Summit in January. http://insights.ubuntu.com/2015/12/18/canonical-cloud-chatter/ == Ubuntu Phone News == === Ubuntu Touch OTA-8.5 released === Lukasz 'sil2100' Zemczak announces a 'hotfix' release of Ubuntu Touch which is codenamed OTA-8.5. He says that all users should receive the update within 24 hours of release, points us to the release notes, and thanks everyone who participated in the hotfix. https://lists.launchpad.net/ubuntu-phone/msg17311.html === Testing Ubuntu Apps As A Service === Alan Pope describes in detail an experimental app tester called Marvin that he and Stuart Langridge made, for Ubuntu Click Packages, which emails you screenshots and logs of an app while running on a device that you may not own. He appeals to developers for feedback and suggestions for possible improvements, and links to the site where Marvin can be found. http://popey.com/blog/2015/12/16/testing-ubuntu-apps-as-a-service/ == Canonical News == * WANdisco joins the Charm Partner Programme - http://insights.ubuntu.com/2015/12/15/wandisco-joins-the-charm-partner-programme/ * Resolving Big Data in the New Year - http://insights.ubuntu.com/2015/12/16/resolving-big-data-in-the-new-year/ == In The Press == === The First Person to Hack the iPhone Built a Self-Driving Car. In His Garage === Ashlee Vance of Bloomberg writes a piece about George Hotz, who gave a tour of the self-driving car he designed from his home in San Francisco. The operating system running in the car to display the automated driving technology and feeds from cameras and Lidar system is noted to be very clearly running Ubuntu with Unity. http://www.bloomberg.com/features/2015-george-hotz-self-driving-car/ == In The Blogosphere == === Convergence Is About Ubuntu Phones Turning into Desktops and Desktops into Phones === Silviu Stahie of Softpedia shares a perspective, fueled by the computing power of phones today, that looking forward phones and desktops will be interchangeable. He predicts: "In a couple more years, we will probably switch systems altogether; we'll be using our desktop computers for regular work, and at the end of the day, they turn into regular phones." http://news.softpedia.com/news/convergence-is-about-ubuntu-phones-turning-into-desktops-and-desktops-into-phones-497658.shtml === How The Two Most Popular Laptops On Amazon Run With Ubuntu Linux === Michael Larabel of Phoronix writes a benchmarked comparison of the Toshiba Satellite C55-C5241 and the ASUS F555LA-AB31, the top two models on Amazon in the United States. He touches upon the default Windows installation, talks about the specifications and hardware along with the feel of each system. Concluding: "At the end of the day these are two fine, lower-end laptops that can play nicely with Linux if you are using a modern distribution such as Ubuntu 15.10." http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=article&item=amazon-2-laptops&num=1 === Zero-Day GRUB2 Vulnerability Hits Linux Users, Patch Available for Ubuntu, RHEL === Marius Nestor of Softpedia reports on the recent zero-day GRUB2 vulnerability that all supported Ubuntu releases were patched for on December 15th. The vulnerability was caused by a bug in "upstream GRUB2 packages, which not correctly handled the backspace key when the bootloader was configured to use password-protected authentication, thus allowing a local attacker to bypass GRUB's password protection." He concludes by providing a link to Hector Marco's report on the vulnerability. http://news.softpedia.com/news/zero-day-grub2-vulnerability-hits-linux-users-patch-available-for-ubuntu-rhel-497688.shtml === Lessons from UbuCon: Canonical needs its own live events === Swapnil Bhartiya writes for CIO in an article about the upcoming UbuCon Summit in Pasadena, California. He makes the case that Canonical shouldn't just be working with community-driven events, but also "start organizing their own events along the lines of SUSECon, LinuxCon, Docker" where they invite their corporate partners. http://www.cio.com/article/3016089/linux/lessons-from-ubucon-canonical-needs-its-own-live-events.html === Watch: Pi-Cubes HVAC Automation System Runs on Raspberry Pi 2 and Ubuntu Snappy === Marius Nestor from Softpedia shares more details and a video about the recently Kickstarted Pi-Cubes, explaining "Pi-Cubes is a modular, app-enabled HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) home automation system based on the Raspberry Pi and powered by Canonical's Snappy Ubuntu Core OS." He talks about the Pi-Cubes SDK for developers and encourages interested parties to visit their official website for more information. http://news.softpedia.com/news/watch-pi-cubes-hvac-automation-system-runs-on-raspberry-pi-2-and-ubuntu-snappy-497813.shtml == Featured Audio and Video == === Ubuntu Community Team Q&A - 15th December 2015 === Michael Hall and Alan Pope host the final Q&A session of 2015 on behalf of Canonical's Community Team. After briefly talking about the upcoming UbuCon in Pasadena, Google Code In, and changes to scopes in Ubuntu 16.04 the team answer general questions which are put to them on IRC. === Ubuntu Podcast from the UK LoCo: S08E41 - Santa with Muscles - Ubuntu Podcast === It's Episode Forty-one of Season Eight of the Ubuntu Podcast! Alan Pope, Mark Johnson, Laura Cowen and Martin Wimpress and are connected and speaking to your brain. In this week's show... We look at what's been going on in the news: * Let's Encrypt has entered public beta... (And if you're interested, there's an open source tool to monitor the expiration of certificates.) * Mozilla will stop developing and selling Firefox OS smartphones... * ownCloud have established a community project with Western Digital to bring self hosted cloud Storage to home users... * The Linux HomeFront project have a Linux and Open Source 'Man of The Year 2015' poll... * Jim Killock, Executive Director of the Open Rights Group, has launched an Indiegogo crowd funding campaign against mass surveillance in the UK... * Mozilla Firefox 43.0 brings the long-anticipated integration of GTK+ 3... We also take a look at what's been going on in the Ubuntu community: * Ubuntu Online Search in Unity Dash switched off by default in 16.04... * Ubuntu Touch LibreOffice DocViewer has been finally released on Ubuntu Store... * Pebble watch support for Ubuntu Touch is coming... * Ubuntu Touch to Get FM Support for Aquaris E4.5 and E5 HD... There are even events: * 10th Egham Raspberry Jam - Gamification - Sunday 17 January 2016, 14:00 to 17:00 (GMT) - Gartner, Surrey * SCaLE 14x - January 21-24, 2016 - Pasadena Convention Center, California (including UbuCon Summit - 21st to 22nd) * FOSDEM 2016 - 30 Jan 2016 to 31 Jan 2016 - Brussels, Belgium * LinuxConf AU 2016 - Geelong, Victoria, Australia in 2016, between 1st-5th February 2016 at Deakin University's Waterfront Campus. * DevConf.cz 2016 - February 5th - 7th 2016 - Brno, Czech Republic Share this post Link to post
