news 28 Posted June 13, 2011 Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 220 for the week of June 6 - June 13, 2011. == Links to UWN == * Wiki page: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuWeeklyNewsletter/Issue220 == In This Issue == * Weekly Ubuntu Development Update * Ubuntu 9.10 and Ubuntu 6.06 LTS End of Life * Oneiric Ocelot Alpha 1 Released * Ubuntu Stats * LoCo News * Ubuntu Community Week * LoCo Team Re-Approvals * Launchpad News * New Ubuntu Members through Council * Raphaël Hertzog: Official Debian/Ubuntu packages for Dropbox * Matt Zimmerman: DEX finishes first batch of derivative patches for Debian * Victor Palau: Ubuntu Certification Going Forward * Jorge Castro: Unity Community Contributor plans for 11.10 * Nigel Babu: Cleaning up the Planet * Ara Pulido: Ubuntu Friendly Squad * Daniel Holbach: Getting people involved * Jono Bacon: Community Team Plans For Oneiric * PCWorld: Tony Bradley: 30 Days With Ubuntu Linux * Braid is now available in the Ubuntu software center * Tom's Hardware: Adam Overa: Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), Reviewed In Depth * Full Circle Issue #49 is released * Featured Podcasts * Weekly Ubuntu Development Team Meetings * Upcoming Meetings and Events * Updates and Security for 8.04, 10.04, 10.10 and 11.04 == General Community News == === Weekly Ubuntu Development Update === Daniel Holbach posted a summary of the current state of Oneiric development. It includes upcoming dates and milestones relevant to developers, a discussion with Paolo Sammicheli on his experiences as a developer, and tips about getting involved with Ubuntu. More information can be found at: http://daniel.holba.ch/blog/?p=1013 === Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) end-of-life reached on April 30, 2011 === The support period for Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) formally ended on May 1, 2011. Ubuntu Security Notices no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 9.10. More information can be found at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2011-May/000148.html === Ubuntu 6.06 LTS (Dapper Drake) End of Life === On June 1st, 2006, Ubuntu 6.06 "Dapper Drake" was released. Ubuntu supplies security updates and critical fixes for a period of 5 years for the server edition of LTS (long term support) releases. The period in which these fixes and updates are supplied has now ended for Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Server. More information can be found at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2011-June/000149.html === Oneiric Ocelot Alpha 1 Released === The first Alpha release of Oneiric Ocelot is out. The Alpha images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Oneiric. Pre-releases of Oneiric Ocelot 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 developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs. More information can be found at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-devel-announce/2011-June/000853.html == Ubuntu Stats == === Bug Stats === * Open (89375) +8842 over last week * Critical (135) +97 over last week * Unconfirmed (49726) +4198 over last week As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad === Translation Stats Lucid === 1. English (UK) (8) -4378 over last week 2. Spanish (5858) -2836 over last week 3. Brazilian Portuguese (27205) -2772 over last week 4. French (34565) -4995 over last week 5. Turkish (43273) -8114 over last week Remaining strings to translate in Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat", see more at: https://translations.launchpad.net/ubuntu/maverick/ === Ubuntu Brainstorm Top 5 this week === * Switch windows more easily using Unity launcher - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/28065/ * Option for invisible mouse cursor. - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/28094/ * Login screen appears to "freeze" after entering password - not a bug - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/28063/ * Using Ubuntu on USB is quite not easy - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/28091/ * Bluetooth Applet only shows in deprecated Notification Area - http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/28067/ Ubuntu Brainstorm is a community site geared toward letting you add your ideas for Ubuntu. You can submit your own idea or vote for or against another idea. http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/ == LoCo News == === Ubuntu Community Week: It's New! === A new learning event titled "Ubuntu Community Week" is starting this cycle which aims to help Ubuntu users find the community, participate in the community, create their community, and much more. This event is scheduled to take place from Mon 18 July - Fri 22 July, 2011. More information can be found at http://randall.executiv.es/ucw . If you're interested in presenting, there's a call for presenters at https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/loco-contacts/2011-June/005413.html === We want to know about the best LoCo Team Blogs! === If you have a blog that you use to post about the awesome things your LoCo Team does, then you should add it to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoPortalFeeds . The new loco.ubuntu.com will use some of those feeds to provide people with an overview of all of the amazing things going on in the LoCo community. More information can be found at: https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/loco-contacts/2011-June/005401.html === Planet Ubuntu-it gets new theme === The theme for Planet Ubuntu-it has been updated to match the Ubuntu website style. The code is available on Launchpad for people to modify. More information can be found at: http://en.leoiannacone.com/?p=182 === LoCo Team Re-Approvals Are Underway === One week after being announced, 3 LoCo teams out of a total of 27 teams have submitted applications for re-approval. The LoCo Council is using bugs on Launchpad to track re-approval statuses. Teams can also request to have their applications reviewed at the LoCo Council's monthly IRC meeting: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoCouncil/Agenda More information can be found at: http://www.lczajkowski.com/?p=1037 === Ubuntu UK LoCo CDs === Alan Bell announced that while his chickens might enjoy playing with the CDs, the Ubuntu UK LoCo would rather send them to people who need them. People on dialup can request a CD by emailing alanbell [at] ubuntu.com with a clear subject saying you would like a CD and then sending a stamped self-addressed envelope large enough to hold a CD to the address he replies with. The LoCo will also be giving CDs to people distributing recycled PCs pre-installed with Ubuntu so that they can also include a CD with the computer, and to people representing Ubuntu at events and conferences. More information can be found at: http://www.theopensourcerer.com/?p=2937 == Launchpad News == === Initializing page JavaScript from the JSONCache === JSONCache is a nice way to initialize on-page JavaScript. It is only available for users who are logged in, but allows you to get any object you might need on any page. More information can be found at: http://blog.launchpad.net/general/initializing-page-javascript-from-the-jsoncache === Getting started with launchpadlib === Are you interested in writing a script to pull information from Launchpad, but put off due to not being a developer? In this new series of blog posts, a user in this exact situation attempts to show that even a non-developer can learn to use launchpadlib to interact with Launchpad from a Python script. More information can be found at: http://blog.launchpad.net/api/getting-started-with-launchpadlib === JavaScript development: YUI testing === YUI tests are a fast and easy way to do test-driven development. They feel like a safety net when making changes and are a good way to test your model code and HTML changes. YUI testing is being utilized by several members of the Launchpad team. More information can be found at: http://blog.launchpad.net/general/javascript-development-yui-testing == Ubuntu News == === Congratulations to the new Ubuntu Members === The Forum Council has recently started granting Ubuntu Membership to people who primarily contribute on the forum. They have just finished their first round of membership approvals, granting Ubuntu Membership to 19 individuals. More information can be found at: http://blog.bodhizazen.net/linux/congratulations-to-the-new-ubutnu-members/ == The Planet == === Raphaël Hertzog: Official Debian/Ubuntu packages for Dropbox === Dropbox is a popular service to synchronize files between multiple computers. However, due to some issues, the Ubuntu packages that Dropbox provides do not work on Debian. Raphaël went ahead and prepared new packages for Debian, which are now available to install with 'apt-get install nautilus-dropbox' from Debian's non-free repository, Ubuntu's multiverse repository (oneiric only), or ppa:hertzog/nautilus-dropbox . He is also looking for someone to take over maintaining the package. More information can be found at: http://raphaelhertzog.com/?p=1624 === Matt Zimmerman: DEX finishes first batch of derivative patches for Debian === The DEX team has completed their first project! Several hundred Ubuntu patches whose status wasn't clear have now been cleaned out or merged into Debian or upstream. DEX's next major project is called "big-merges" and will focus on identifying packages with big differences between the Ubuntu and Debian versions and getting them as close to identical as possible. Also, Allison Randal is working on Python 2.7 in Ubuntu and Debian, Nathan Handler is developing tools for cross-distribution work as part of Google Summer of Code, and Stefano Zacchiroli added a derivatives BoF to DebConf 11. More information can be found at: http://mdzlog.alcor.net/2011/06/08/dex-finishes-first-batch-of-derivative-patches-for-debian/ === Victor Palau: Ubuntu Certification Going Forward === Victor Palau writes about changes to Ubuntu certification this cycle. The "Ubuntu Ready" program will be closed down before the release of Oneiric in favor of the Ubuntu Certified program, which will be Canonical's only official certification program going forward. There will also be a community-based Ubuntu Friendly program using Canonical Platform Services' remote testing tools. More information can be found at: http://victorpalau.net/2011/06/06/ubuntu-certification-going-forward/ === Jorge Castro: Unity Community Contributor plans for 11.10 === The Unity team is continuing their effort to make it easy to contribute to Unity by adding a list of "backlog bugs" which are approved by the design team and just need to be implemented. Focusing on these bugs will hopefully improve the Unity experience significantly, and can be done early in the cycle. There's also a new Launchpad team to help organize people who want to work on bugs like this. More information can be found at: http://ubuntu-news.org/2011/06/07/unity-community-contributor-plans-for-11-10/ === Robbie Williamson: Interested in the progress towards Ubuntu Server 11.10? === Robbie Williamson highlights the Ubuntu Server work item status page for people interested in how the Server team is doing this cycle. The page has a burndown graph for work items and lists relevant topics, blueprints, and assignees. More information can be found at: http://undacuvabrutha.wordpress.com/2011/06/09/interested-in-the-progress-towards-ubuntu-server-11-10/ === Nigel Babu: Cleaning up the Planet === One privilege that goes along with Ubuntu Membership is the ability to add a blog to Planet Ubuntu. One issue that has come up is that there no easy way to remove the feeds of all people who have let their membership expire. Therefore, the Community Council has decided that the 'nick' field should contain the Launchpad ID of an Ubuntu Member that will be responsible for it. This policy also applies to blogs for teams and other organizations. More information can be found at: http://nigelb.me/ubuntu/2011/06/10/cleaning-up-the-planet.html === Jono Bacon: Future LoCo Team Portal Plans === Jono discusses his plans to make the LoCo Directory more tab-worthy, a hub of activity, and to encourage teams to share updates and other achievements. He is going to be having phone calls with several people to try and make these goals a reality. He has also prepared an initial design for how this LoCo Team Portal could look. More information can be found here: http://www.jonobacon.org/2011/05/26/future-loco-team-portal-plans/ === Ara Pulido: Ubuntu Friendly Squad === The Ubuntu Friendly program (https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuFriendly) is a community-driven hardware validation program. They have just created the Ubuntu Friendly Squad (https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-friendly-squad) for people to start participating in the program. People participating at this stage will Share this post Link to post
