Go open source or go home

Ubuntu 11.04 codenamed Natty Narwhal announced!

2010-08-17T12:38:00.000-07:00

Yep, today Mark Shuttleworth announced Ubuntu 11.04 on his blog. Ubuntu 11.04 will be called Natty Narwhal. A Narwhal, if you don't know is an Arctic animal.

Mark said that for 11.04 they wanted a codename that will reflect all the work that they have putting in the design and architecture of Ubuntu over the past few releases.

Mark also went on to say "We’ll make the N release the best-dressed ever" in his post and that probably hints towards more changes in the look of Ubuntu.

Mark Shuttleworth on Ubuntu 11.04's name

The Narwhal, as an Arctic (and somewhat endangered) animal, is a fitting reminder of the fact that we have only one spaceship that can host all of humanity (trust me, a Soyuz won’t do for the long haul to Alpha Centauri). And Ubuntu is all about bringing the generosity of all contributors in this functional commons of code to the widest possible audience, it’s about treating one another with respect, and it’s about being aware of the complexity and diversity of the ecosystems which feed us, clothe us and keep us healthy. Being a natty narwhal, of course, means we have some obligation to put our best foot forward. First impressions count, lasting impressions count more, so let’s make both and make them favourable.

You can read Mark's post on his blog about Ubuntu 11.04 here: http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/478

Ubuntu 10.10 Alpha 3 released

2010-08-05T10:14:00.000-07:00

The 3rd Alpha of ubuntu 10.10 is out, ready for testing/development purposes.
It's has a few changes from the last Alpha e.g. an improved software center and sound applet.

Download it now from http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/maverick/alpha3

Gnome 3 delayed...again

2010-07-28T10:00:00.000-07:00

Gnome 3, arguably the 1st major overhaul of the Gnome desktop. It's release has been delayed yet again until March 2011.

The news was announced by Gnome and the reason behind this delay is to allow the Gnome developers another release cycle to mature Gnome 3.

Gnome said "we feel that our users and downstream community are better served by holding the GNOME 3.0 release until March 2011. This gives adequate time not only for feature development, but user feedback and testing."

Compiz fusion ubuntu

2010-07-27T20:34:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, this is just a simple post where i show you guys some cool compiz effects in ubuntu. I recorded this quite a while ago and these are some very nice effects and you guys should check it out :)

Jolicloud netbook OS adds touchscreen support

2010-06-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

Jolicloud is a great operating system for netbooks, based on Ubuntu, this OS has reached a new height by adding touch screen support in its next release, Jolicloud 1.0.

Their is a video demonstrating touch support in Jolicloud 1.0 is working. It looks good so far but don't take my word for it, check out the video to see for yourself.

Lubuntu 10.10 Alpha 1 is out

2010-06-14T17:59:00.000-07:00

The 1st Alpha of Lubuntu 10.10 is now available for you to try out. Lubuntu is a light weight version on Ubuntu based on LXDE. Keep in mind that this an alpha and it is not for people who want a stable OS.

You can download it at http://people.ubuntu.com/~gilir/lubuntu-maverick-alpha1.iso

"Global menu" in Ubuntu 10.10 Netbook edition

2010-04-28T17:07:00.001-07:00

Canonical has announced that they are going to have this thing called the Global menu in Ubuntu 10.10 netbook edition.

In the netbook edition for 10.10, we’re going to have a
single menu bar for all applications, in the panel.

Our focus on netbooks has driven much of the desktop design work at
Canonical. There are a number of constraints and challenges that are
particular to netbooks, and often constraints can be a source of insight
and inspiration. In this case, wanting to make the most of vertical
space has driven the decision to embrace the single menu approach.

This will help save screen space since netbooks have a small screen.

To see the detailed article about Global menu visit http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/359

Ailurus 10.04.2 released

2010-04-24T18:18:00.001-07:00

The latest version of Ailurus, Ailurus 10.04.2 is here. If you don't know what Ailurus is, it's basically an application that is designed for making Linux easier to use. You can use it to install software and change system settings (kinda like ubuntu tweak)

Ailurus 10.04.2 is released today. The
major improvement is that you can launch specific function alone.
Except “install software” function, other functions can be started
within one second. The shortcuts are in “Applications” menu ->
“System Tools” item -> “Ailurus - Quick Start” item.

Other improvements are:

In “system information” function:

display OpenGL version

In “system setting” function:

explain how to one-click change font size
change icon of login window
do not cause error when cancel cleaning up operation

In “install software” function:

optimize software installation process
display software license
add “hardware”, “language support”, “embedded system”, “Nautilus context menu” categories
add Acire, a Python code snippets management tool
add Eclipse VEditor, a Verilog editor
add PiTiVi, a video editor
add “World of padman”, a 3D shoot game
add Firefox Stylish extension
add ImageMagicK, an image editor
add OSD-Lyrics, a lyric displayer
improve “quick install popular software” function

In “clean up” function:

clean up recent documents list
clean up APT/YUM cache
clean up Linux kernel
clean up Ailurus cache

In “search fastest repository” function:

display remaining search time

Other improvements:

fix bug in previous version
do not exit if failed to load icon
improve new version checking code

Currently Ailurus supports Ubuntu 8.04~10.04.

Install

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ailurus sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install ailurus

Turpial-yet another twitter client for Linux

2010-04-17T06:35:00.001-07:00

Turpial is yet another twitter client for linux, written in python it's light, fast, fully functional and integrated to the user desktop.
To install it, add this repository to your software sources.
ppa:effie-jayx/turpial
Then open up the terminal and update your repositories if you haven't already.


sudo apt-get update
And now just install turpial
sudo apt-get install turpial

Fedora 13 beta available for download

2010-04-14T19:41:00.001-07:00

Fedora 13 beta codenamed Goddard is here, wohooo!
You can get the beta at http://fedoraproject.org/get-prerelease?anF13b however it's recommended not to install it on your production computer since it's a beta and there still might be bugs in it.

Linux MPX Multi-touch

2010-04-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

This is the Linux MPX Multi-touch table, still in development it's not as fancy as the Microsoft surface but it sure tells you how far the penguin world has come. This will be interesting to look at as it's development progresses.
For more info. on this visit: http://gizmodo.com/278613/linux-mpx-multi+touch-table-may-become-alternative-microsoft-surface

Sony brings Linux back to the PS3!

2010-04-09T06:12:00.001-07:00

A few days ago Sony disabled the "Install other OS" option on the PS3 disabling the ability of installing Linux on the PS3 but now for some reason they've taken back that decision and re-enabled that option so you will be able to install Linux again on your PS3. Cool! but really what's the deal? 1st they disabled it for "Security reasons" now they re-enabled it. Are they going to disable it again, I don't know but this certainly is nice of Sony to let it's PS3 users install Linux on the PS3.

Ubuntu 10.04 beta 2 released

2010-04-08T14:06:00.001-07:00

Ubuntu 10.04 beta 2 is here, WOHOOO!

The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. This is the second Ubuntu 10.04 beta release, which brings a host of exciting new features.

Note: This is a beta release so don't install it on your main PC because it might still contain some bugs. The final stable version will be released on April 29, 2010.

Here is the download link:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/10.04/ (Desktop and server)

If you want to upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 beta 2 from Ubuntu 9.10 or 8.04 then press ALT+F2 and type in update-manager -d and the update manager windows should open and prompt you that a new distribution is available and do you want to upgrade. You can just go on from there.

Source

Google default search engine again for Ubuntu 10.04!

2010-04-08T10:03:00.001-07:00

Canonical have taken back their decision of having Yahoo as the default search engine in Ubuntu 10.04 and replaced it with Google which was the default search engine before Canonical changed it to Yahoo.

Your Ad Here

Each release we determine the best default web browser and the best
default search engine for Ubuntu. When choosing the best default search provider, we consider factors such as user experience, user preferences,and costs and benefitsfor Ubuntu and the browsers and other projects that make up Ubuntu. Up until Ubuntu 9.10 these defaults have always been Firefox and Google. Earlier in the 10.04 cycle I announced that we would be changing the
default search provider to Yahoo!, and we implemented that change for
several milestones.

However, for the final release, we will use Google as the default
provider. I have asked the Ubuntu Desktop team to change the default
back to Google as soon as reasonably possible, but certainly by final
freeze on April 15th.
It was not our intention to “flap” between providers, but the
underlying circumstances can change unpredictably. In this case,
choosing Google will be familiar to everybody upgrading from 9.10 to
10.04 and the change will only be visible to those who have been part of
the development cycle for 10.04.
Source

Ubuntu 10.04 CD labels are here!

2010-04-07T09:01:00.001-07:00

One of the members at canonical Leandro Gomez has released the CD labels for Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. There are 17 different designs for Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu and the new kid on the block; Lubuntu!
If you wanna download these labels, go to: http://spreadubuntu.neomenlo.org/es/material/unusual/ubuntu-1004-lucid-lynx-cd-labels
You can print, modify and redistribute these images!

Firefox nears gaining 25% market share

2010-04-07T08:31:00.001-07:00

This month's market share statistics, as collected by NetApplications' NetMarketShare service, paint an increasingly-familiar picture of the continued growth of diversity in the browser market. Firefox, which has been growing steadily over the past several years, gained more than a quarter of a percentage point in March — a figure that may seem small, but considering the billion-plus users of the internet, represents millions of additional users. That increase brings Firefox's share to 24.52%, within a mere half a percent of controlling one-fourth of the global browser market.

Scribefire for Google Chrome

2010-04-06T19:23:00.001-07:00

You guys know of ScribeFire, the Firefox addon that lets you create a publish a blog post right from you browser, it's a great addon and i just found out something that Google Chrome fans will be pleased about.
Their is a developer named Christopher Finke who is trying to create ScribeFire for Google Chrome, cool. Christopher even wrote a blog post on the progress of ScribeFire for Google Chrome as of April 2, 2010. Here is the link to the post: http://www.scribefire.com/2010/04/02/progress-update-scribefire-for-google-chrome/.

Release schedule for Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat)

2010-04-03T17:38:00.000-07:00

You probably have heard about Mark Shuttleworth announcing the next version of Ubuntu after 10.04, 10.10 (If you haven't heard then check out this post).
Anyway they now have also released the release schedule as well for Ubuntu 10.10 codenamed Maverick Meerkat.

Ubuntu 10.10 (codename Maverick Meerkat) will be released this year on 28th October 2010.

June 03rd, 2010 – Alpha 1 release

July 1st , 2010 – Alpha 2 release

August 12th, 2010 – Alpha 3 release

September 2nd, 2010 - Alpha 4 release

September 23th , 2010 – Beta release

October 21st , 2010 - Release Candidate

October 28th, 2010 – Final release of Ubuntu 10.10

More detailed schedule is at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MaverickReleaseSchedule

Histwi-Desktop twitter account management

2010-04-03T10:24:00.000-07:00

Want to manage your twitter account right from your Linux desktop?
Introducing Histwi.

Features:

Download and save all your Tweets to Database

View and export all saved tweets to html or txt file

Compare your Following to Followers

Follow/Unfollow any your friends

Tracking new followers and unfollowers

Advanced Twitter Search.

Managing multiple Twitter accounts

To install it open up the terminal and type the following commands in order

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nikolay-blohin/histwi

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install histwi

Screenshots and full story at: http://www.ubuntugeek.com/histwi-%E2%80%94-powerful-twitter-tools.html

No Linux for PS3

2010-04-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

Sony is dropping support for the open operating system on its Playstation 3

The move will take effect Thursday with the release of a firmware update to version 3.21. That new version will disable the "Install Other OS" feature that was available on older PS3 systems -- those released prior to the current slimmer models that launched last September.

Users for still want to use Linux on their PS3, don't upgrade your firmware to 3.21 but that will obviously leave you Frozen in time and you probably won't be able to install games that are going to be released in the future.

Makagiga-Free useful that does a variety of tasks

2010-04-01T18:07:00.000-07:00

Makagiga is a free, easy-to-use, cross-platform application for doing a variety of tasks, such as text editing, todo listing, RSS reading, and simple image viewing. Plugins are used to implement its various capabilities. It can perform file import/export, backing up files, Internet searching (Google, Wikipedia), and more.

Features

To-do manager, Notepad

RSS feed reader

Widgets (calendar, sticky notes, etc.)

Plugins (image viewer, Internet search, and more)

Portable

Versions for Linux, Windows, …

Document import/export

It’s free and open-source!

Install Makagiga in Ubuntu

Download .deb package from http://makagiga.sourceforge.net/download.html

Something new comin in 10.10. OOO!

2010-03-19T08:31:00.000-07:00

By now most of you know that new look that Ubuntu 10.04 will bring, you know the one which will have the close, minimize/maximize buttons on the left. There's been a lot of criticisims about that style looking too much like Mac OS. Mark ShuttleWorth responded to those criticisms saying he got "something new" planned for 10.10.
He says that the reason he put the button on the left is because he will be using the right side for "something new", interesting ehhh....
So I ask you Linuxers, What do you think that something new might be?

Will it be something that will order pizza for you?

I don't know you tell me, so leave you responses in the comments section below!

That's it for this rather short post, see you next time :)

Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx Alpha 3 screenshots

2010-03-06T17:41:00.000-08:00

For a full image gallery visit http://www.debianadmin.com/ubuntu-10-04-lucid-alpha-3-screenshots-gallery-updated-with-new-wallpapertheme.html?pid=255
They are 29 in total on that website.

Open Source Flash Alternatives locked out because of BBC iplayer

2010-03-04T18:20:00.000-08:00

As a result of recent updates to the BBC's Flash-based iPlayer, open source media players can no longer play its content.

The updates, which reportedly took effect Feb. 18, implement SWF Verification, a copyright protection mechanism that excludes free alternatives to Flash player, such as that offered by the XBMC community, among others. The result is that such open source plugins can no longer stream iPlayer content, The Register reported.

The change came just four days after Flash maker Adobe (Nasdaq: ADBE) touted its content protection offerings in a corporate blog post on the topic of monetizing video online.

For more info. visit http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/BBC-iPlayer-Locks-Out-Open-Source-Flash-Alternatives-69453.html

Fresh new look coming up for Ubuntu 10.04-New look, feel and branding

2010-03-03T17:42:00.000-08:00

Ubuntu rebuilds itself, the new version 10.04 is going to dump the human theme and start off with the Light. This means that there will be a new look, feel, logos, icon and of course a new simplified boot screen. I am really excited about this. If you want more information and even a gallery of what's coming up in 10.04 visit https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Brand