The newest version of Ubuntu, 15.10 has been set upon the world. As usual the ReleaseNotes has most of the information that you’re looking for.
Welcome to the world Utopic Unicorn! You can read about Desktop features, download the official flavors or just read the full Release Notes.
Congrats to the Ubuntu team!
Ubuntu 13.10 Final BETA released and available for download
Ubuntu 13.10 BETA continues the previous-cycles’ centering of quality and robustness, delivering a stable, fast and further optimized operating system (yet, Ubuntu 13.10 stable is to be released on October 17th 2013, OS version aimed at production machines).
In today’s version of “completely pointless but epically awesome hacking news”: Google Devs Install Ubuntu on Google Glass | OMG! Ubuntu!
In a session at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco, cheekily titled “Voiding your warranty”, developers shared how to root Google Glass and install an alternative operating system on it. OS of choice for the demo being Ubuntu.
That’s pretty damn cool :)
Very true, but all I can think of is that the Ubuntu blatant copying of the Mac OS interface has reached an all time high. This is basically a copy of the “Launchpad” app that came with Lion (and no mac user I know uses Launchpad anyway).
Ubuntu released Ubuntu 13.04 today. There are a bunch of new updates you can find on the virtual tour or just check out the overview of the desktop or just download it now.
Congrats on the Ubuntu team.
Gwibber Dropped from Ubuntu 13.04 and replaced with a new app called ‘Friends’.
But anyone booting into the new-fangled Ubuntu 13.04 desktop later this month will notice that it’s missing; Gwibber does not come pre-installed on Ubuntu any longer.
It also comes with a new Unity ‘social lens’ app so you can search your friends right in the Unity dash. Something I doubt I’ll ever use, and plan on removing as I did the Unity music, video, and shopping lenses.
Note that if you’re running the Beta of Ubuntu 13.04, you need to do an additional ‘sudo apt-get install friends-app’ after you do the ‘sudo apt-get dist-upgrade’ (the former installs the app, the latter upgrades and removes gwibber).
Via Webupd8: Intermatrix U7: The First Ubuntu Touch Tablet Available For Pre-Order, To Ship In October 2013.
Ubuntu on tablets is the next big thing for Mark Shuttleworth’s company, and there’s a nice 6 minute video going through the UI.
I have three thougths:
- If they can pull this off, if, I will be super impressed. The UI and touch interface, and the way that multitasking is done looks, to this iPhone fanboy, awesome. But that’s a big “if”.
- I didn’t see a single hardware keyboard in there. Seems an odd thing to exclude. No conspiracy theory here, the video was mostly about the UI and multitasking, it just seemed an odd thing to not show in the video or on the webpage. Which leads me to…
- The one time that “real” work was mentioned, they talked (pun intended) about using your voice for entry. The example they gave was using an image editor and entering the term ‘exposure’ in a HUD window, then selected the menu entry for adjusting exposure and moved a slider. This to me says a couple of things:
- The HUD, which seems like a ridiculous concept to use on a desktop or laptop, may just have been a brilliant long-con to deal with porting desktop apps to tablets and phones without having to have the user poke at menu items.
- Voice input as the only way to access menu items will be a horrible user interface. I assume that this is just part of their demo.
- A lot of this was a slick demo (hell, not even a demo but a product marketing video), and things like “just sit back, point your remote at the tablet and use it as a TV” made me laugh, because the last time I tried to setup a remote with Linux it involved recompiling LIRC.
That all said, we’ll see what happens on 25-28 of February and Mobile World Congress and more when this is fully announced, and demoed. If it looks and works as slickly as they show though, I’ll buy an android tablet and use it (budget allowing).
LibreOffice Hits 4.0, Adds Unity Integration & ‘Persona’ Theming:
“LibreOffice 4.0 is a milestone in interoperability and an excellent foundation for our continued work to improve the User Interface,” says Florian Effenberger, Chairman of the Board of Directors at The Document Foundation - the hands steering the project.
From OMGUbuntu.
Webupd8 has a nice list and details of the Unity Changes in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail.
I was so happy to hear that my favorite Linux ranter Fab put out a special video rant about the Mark Shuttleworth keynote, where he picks apart all the crap that was spewed about the Ubuntu Phone.
I have to say I don’t disagree with most of what Fab has to say here, and that’s said as a Linux user, lover, and full time at-work user of Ubuntu desktop.
Lest anyone be kept on pins and needles about the big announcement teaser from Ubuntu, you’ll be happy to know that Ubuntu for Phones has been announced.
First and foremost, I’m excited about this, I really am. Even though I’m a freedom-hating iPhone and Mac user (in addition to Linux of course), Ubuntu is doing something new and interesting. The use of edges and the “welcome screen” looks very cool.
I am, however, wondering a bit about the whole “reinventing the wheel” thing, instead of building off of Android. However, I do look forward to seeing what shakes out of this!
Note: the phone section of the video starts around 5:30.
Mark Shuttleworth Blogs that Ubuntu in 2013 is all about mobile.
That’s why Unity in 2013 will be all about mobile - bringing Ubuntu to phones and tablets. Shaping Unity to provide the things we’ve learned are most important across all form factors, beautifully. Broadening the Ubuntu community to include mobile developers who need new tools and frameworks to create mobile software. Defining new form factors that enable new kinds of work and play altogether. Bringing clearly into focus the driving forces that have shaped our new desktop into one facet of a bigger gem.
Apparently there’s a surprise from Ubuntu being announced tomorrow.
“Save the date: Jan 2—Ubuntu set to disrupt a new ecosystem,” wrote Katherine Noyce, presumably quoting Canonical sources. “Ubuntu will announce a brand-new product.”
Tablet? Phone? TV? Or something boring like a new LTS setup?
Good stuff as always from Ars: Review: Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal a mix of promise, pain.
Write this down: Ubuntu 12.10, the late-year arrival from Canonical’s six-month standard release factory, marks the first new release within the company’s current long-term support cycle. Got it? Good, because it may be the best takeaway from the latest Ubuntu release, codenamed Quantal Quetzal. After that, it’s a bit of a rocky ride.
Ubuntu has released the latest version of their software, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal Quetzal. Here’s the release announcement.
You can see what’s new, take a tour or just download.
Steam for Linux to Arrive ‘In a Few Days’, so says a request to Ubuntu developers.
Iiiinteresting….
Web Upd8 has the details on the new Ubuntu 12.10 Beta 2, including download links and what’s changed since beta 1.
The latest Ubuntu controversy is that in Ubuntu 12.10 searching from the main “Dash” will return Amazon affiliate results as well as “normal” results. These aren’t “ads” but they are (according to Mark Shuttleworth) simply “products”. OMG Ubuntu has some commentary as Mark Shuttleworth Explains Ubuntu’s New ‘Amazon Suggestions’ Feature:
Amazon product results, whilst undoubtedly useful, generate a small cut of revenue for Canonical and Ubuntu each time a purchase is made. So were they implemented solely to be self-serving? Or is their introduction a win-win; a way to give users a new feature and make money for Ubuntu at the same time?
What do you think? Overblown, or start of a mass migration away from Ubuntu to Mint, Fedora, or another distro?
Personally I’ll be ignoring this until it becomes annoying (if it does).
Found this this morning, that the Ubuntu 12.10 Login Screen Adds Remote Desktop Access. This basically means that you can set it up so that you are able to use the main desktop login screen to also do RDP/VNC/etc/ICA/Vmware View remote logins to other systems.
The feature will allow you to enter a full-screen remote login without needing to login to Ubuntu itself, or install additional apps. It all happens ‘out of the box’.
Now, as if that wasn’t handy enough Canonical are also integrating Remote Login with the Ubuntu Single Sign On service.
Ubuntu 12.10 Beta 1 is Available for Download and OMG Ubuntu has a nice rundown of what’s new.
WebUpD8 has other news including a video of 12.10.
Ok, this is pretty damn cool: The Ubuntu ‘Keyboard PC’. Really confusing for any potential computer thieves as well :)
Ubuntu for Android Gets Shown Off and Detailed. Very cool, though I think that the realities of using this (ie: having to have the HDMI dock for example) might not be as awesome in real life, but it’s still a very cool system! A true “computer in your pocket”. Kudos to my coworker Ben for passing this on.
Note: Video language is Portugese.
Sublime Text 2.0 is released and if you’re using Ubuntu, here’s how to install it.
Sublime Text 2 is a cool, TextMate-like text editor that runs on Linux, Windows and Mac OSX. After being in alpha / beta testing for more than a year, the first stable version has finally been released today.
Nice tip for Ubuntu 12.04: How To Remove Media Players From The Ubuntu Sound Menu. Definitely a handy tip to keep Rhythmbox out of there if you’re an Amarok guy!
How To Cut Your Linux PC’s Boot Time in Half With E4rat, via How-To Geek.
Anyone else brave enough to try this?
The Bad
- Thunderbird still takes up 50% of the CPU doing nothing? - Check
- Alt-tab behaviour between multip-desktops even worse than before? - Check
- Random crashes of core system components (unity-music-lens, desktop notifications, sound)? - Check
- Default music player still has the user adding podcasts by XML feed? - Check
- Default music player doesn’t save position in a file? - Check
The Ugly
- Unity dock menu still has odd, unefined behaviour? - Check
- Unity Dash even worse a UI disaster than before (doesn’t save search between modes, icons and defaults ? - Check
- Potential security flaws like showing what you have running in the dock and any tool tips exposed when the password prompt dialog goes up still there? - Check
The Good
- Unity Dash seems faster. Maybe.
- Haven’t hit the “HUD” key accidentally
- Refreshed look and feel
- Ubuntu software center (app store) not a horrible slow beast!
- Newly added apps go into the dock (a la MacOS).
- My keyboard’s multimedia keys actually work! (We’ll see how long this lasts though).
- New desktop notifications do look nice, though you still can’t close them like with growl on MacOS
- My Skype icon has moved to my main desktop menu bar now (good yes, though I don’t understand why it’d move from one or the other).
Long story short, and bitching aside, this is still a good OS update and a lot of the issues that I found with the previous verions of the post-gnome2-era desktop have been resolved, but the desktop is still plagued with UI issues, odd bugs and a lack of general polish (amidst the lot of great polish that has been given) to areas that would stop me from being able to give this to a non-linux user and being confident they’d figure it out.
Ubuntu has released the latest version of it’s mainstay operating system, [version 12.04 “Precise Pangolin”] to the world. This has the third (and from everything I’ve read, greatly improved) version of the “Unity” user interface. This is also an LTS (Long Term Support) release which will be supported until April of 2017.
You can read the press releases for the desktop or server versions (neither of which mention the release by name interestingly), take a tour using their sweet web UI mockup of the distro or heck, just go and download it right now. Iloveubuntu.net has a review based on the final release.
5 problems with Ubuntu 12.04 part 1 goes into a bunch of potential issues with the new “Unity Dash” when confronted by “normal” people.
What Wendy Windows sees next is an entirely blank window overlay with a search bar at the top. And nothing else. At first glance she doesn’t see the Lens icons at the bottom of the window at all, but even if she did would she recognise which represents applications? Should she take her chances she would eventually be met by a list of applications, but it needs to be expanded and cycled through before she’ll get the result she’s looking for.
It’s a nice article that (in my opinion) goes into some of the issues that will hold Linux back from mass adoption when they try to be too cute with the new UI, and how sometimes the tried and true old start menu or mac doc are the Right Choice(tm). Definitely be interesting to see what happens with the new Ubuntu release.
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Beta 2 Released and webupd8.org has screenshots and a screencast showing the new features.
The first beta release of Ubuntu 12.04, Precise Pangolin has been released to the world. Tons of features and updates to this new LTS release.
‘Ubuntu Business Remix’ Launched by Canonical
Based on Ubuntu 11.10, the spin ships with a host of ‘corporate-focused’ software, such as VMware View, Adobe Flash and OpenJDK, by default, whilst removing packages businesses aren’t likely to need, e.g. Gwibber, games, file-sharing apps, etc.
Video and screenshots of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin Alpha 2 Released. Some nice tweaks in there, I wish they’d hit some of the bigger points (ie: why can’t the dash be on the right, what about multimedia keys working in Amarok, etc), but still, great to see progress (and this is only alpha 2 after all).
Ubuntu Desktop Designers: 'Unity Should Be Configurable'. Good, glad it's on their radar. Turns out it was supposed to be, but other higher priority tasks were in the way. I was hoping that the break between 11.04 and 11.10 would give them the time to add that configuration in, but I guess not. Fingers crossed for 12.04.
OMG Ubuntu has a look back at previous versions on Ubuntu's 7th Birthday, which is today. Fun walk back down memory lane.
So Monday morning I finished the Ubuntu 11.10 install on my work laptop and got a bit of a feel for the new UI and changes. I posted on my Google+ account two posts that might be of interest:
Lunduke.com has a good » Ubuntu 11.10 Review. Short story, he likes it.
And they pulled it off. By Jove, they pulled it off.
Yup, after a full day of releases in the Apple world yesterday, today is all about Ubuntu, with Ubuntu 11.10 released by Canonical. If you haven't had a chance to hear about this, check out the tour (which by the way, is about the coolest thing I've ever seen, a full HTML5 (I assume) UI of the Ubuntu desktop... wow. Check out what happens when you install an application in the software center).
Check out the full desktop features here.
Not a huge amount else to say, download, install and enjoy. That's what I'm going to be doing tonight after work (or to be safer, this weekend when I'll have time to un-break anything that messes up as this is my work machine) :)
Huge congrats to the Ubuntu team!
OMG Ubuntu has a nice list of the Recent Unity Updates upcoming in the October 11.10 Ubuntu Linux release.
Jonobacon has the Ubuntu 11.10 (So Far) Screenshot Tour. Looks like things are shaping up nicely for the October Ubuntu Linux release.
OMG Ubuntu has the latest in the Ubuntu 11.10 Update progress. Some (IMHO stupid) changes in regards to button behavior, but lots of other nice and slick updates for the upcoming release of Ubuntu's desktop OS. Also looks like they're adopting the alt-~ "alt-tab switch windows of the same app" feature from MacOS. Interesting.
elliotth's blog has his review of the new Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal.
If Mac OS is the continuing evolution of Steve Jobs' vision of how we should use our computers, it's becoming increasingly clear that Ubuntu is Mark Shuttleworth's indirect request that we all just fuck off and get ourselves an OS from someone who actually gives a shit.
As you can tell he doesn't pull any punches :)
Want to give the new Natty Narwhal version of Ubuntu Linux before it's out? Using some cool remote desktop stuff you can now Try Ubuntu online before you download. Not 100% with the 3D stuff, and it's only a 15 minute session, but it definitely is neat to check things out first. Kudos for the test drive guys for setting this all up.
Sadly this In-depth Unity Design Review is really a video of screenshots, but it brings up a bunch of good points. While I haven't used Unity yet, this video and the description of how it works has made me really nervous about Ubuntu's Natty Narwhal, scheduled for release in a couple of weeks.
Natty Narwhal with Unity: Worst Ubuntu beta ever. In case you can't tell from the article title, they didn't like it.
Before you ask, yes, I am going through a backlog of RSS on OMG Ubuntu :) Here's some nifty stuff from the last few days:
So you like Ubuntu and GNOME and have played with the various "elementary" themes. If so, you might be interested in the elementary Project, essentially a Ubuntu "complete mod" using the elementary look and feel, and eventually including various custom built elementary apps to replace nautilus, rhythmbox, etc.
Interesting interview by Jon-o-Bacon with some Ubuntu devs where they talk about the "Unity" development, and what's going to be going on for the next Ubuntu release. If you're unfamiliar with Unity you can get more information about it.
I know it's a bit late, but if you didn't know already, you should be informed that Ubuntu 10.10 was Released on Sunday. Main new features include:
- New "ubuntu" font
- Updated and improved installer
- Faster boot process
- Changed and updated some program (photo manager changed, faster Evolution mail client, better Gwibber twitter client, and improved sound applet integration).
- Many more...
Hit up Ubuntu.com for details and downloads.
Well, the RC for the latest version of the Ubuntu Linux distro is available! You can get Ubuntu 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) now. You may want to check out the known issues first though. They do consider this a stable RC ready for all though.
[...] we formally announce Ubuntu 10.10 Release Candidate. Codenamed "Maverick Meerkat", 10.10 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.
Here's the announcement email.
The "100 paper cuts" initiative for Ubuntu's next version, has hit it's goal.
Think that your Ubuntu install isn't quite Mac-like enough? Check out the Five tips, hacks and tweaks to get a Mac-like experience in Ubuntu from the guys over at OMG Ubuntu.
Via OSNews is a link to the 5 things to look forward to in Ubuntu 10.10 at techthrob.com. Biggest thing for me is #2, the use of UbuntuOne to sync configurations into the cloud, allowing you to (theoretically) boot up a new Ubuntu install and have it look like your previous install without having to copy your configuration files around.
So a cool Ubuntu Lucid Lynx Video Review over at OMG! UBUNTU! By a girl. Who likes Linux. You may pick your jaws up from the floor now nerdy guys. It's a nice overview of the OS and the newest features, hitting both the high and low points of some of the more prominent UI issues.
You know, I love Linux, and while I used to be an extremest, I'm not (as much) anymore. However I find it really funny that while the Linux-heads are denouncing "CrApple", the golden child of Linux (Ubuntu) is moving more and more towards Apple-esque conventions. Case #1 is this new Ubuntu 10.10 Application Menu, which follows not that long after the debacle about the window menu buttons moving from the right of the window to the left (same as on OS/X).
Granted, this is for the netbooks, so it does make sense...
Toms Hardware has Benchmarked And Reviewed Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx. They have, as always, been thurough in their testing and evaluation.
Ayatana has posted some great mockups of "windicators", the new feature penciled in for the 10.10 Ubuntu release.
I just finished installing Ubuntu 10.04 on my own machine as an upgrade, this article got my attention, as well as it's other article with the 10 days of 10.10 feature requests. Good stuff all around, competition is good and all that.
The controversial decision by Ubuntu for moving the window control icons from the right to the left might become a bit more interesting now that some of the documents about what's to be done is coming to light. Mark Shuttleworth has posted some mockup drawings of the things that will be able to be done in the next version of Ubuntu now that the right side of the window border is freed up.
Merry Ubuntu release day!!
As of this time, the home page of Ubuntu.com hasn't been updated, but I got the email that Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (desktop and server) has been released to the world (or will be very very soon).
Release notes are here and the mailing list announcement.
In a story entitled Source Is Not a Democracy, Slashdot takes on the debacle that's been created by Ubuntu moving the window buttons from the right to the left in the latest iteration of their Linux Desktop release. Probably the most best comment is the one entitled -1 Troll, where Ubuntu is noted as just a contributer with a very popular source tree, and it's noted that everyone who runs Ubuntu also has the ability to change the buttons to be wherever they want (where or not they can or not is another question).
Personally I think this is the biggest non-story to create a story in the open source community, but then again, I'm a linux and mac fanboy who can deal with buttons on either side of the window, as long as alt-f4, ctrl-w or alt-tab work like they should :)
After a slew of Alphas, the latest release of Ubuntu has hit Beta. You can see more information at the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS Technical Overview page. Looking forward to seeing how this works on my home machine!
The
Brand section of the Ubuntu Wiki has been updated with some of the nice and fresh look that they are teasing for the next LTS version 10.04.
The new style of Ubuntu is driven by the theme "Light". We've developed a comprehensive set of visual guidelines and treatments that reflect that style, and are updating key assets like the logo accordingly. The new theme takes effect in 10.04 LTS and will define our look and feel for several years.
I have to say that I like it. The brown isn't 100% gone, but it's mostly left, replaced by a clean look, with some sections (the menu bar and dark-grey on white icons) taking their cue from the Mac menubar (IMHO). More examples are here.
OMG Ubuntu has a nice look at the latest Ubuntu Alpha and What's new in Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha 3.
Nice HOWTO article on Setting up virtualization on Ubuntu with KVM for anyone who was thinking about it but a bit intimidated.
Tombuntu has a quick First Look at Ubuntu 10.04 Alpha also known as Lucid Lynx.
Seems not everyone is happy with the latest Ubuntu release Karmic Koala, asking Is Karmic Ubuntu's Vista?
Personally I've had no issues with it, so far anyway. There are a couple of minor issues, neither of which I don't think is related to the distro. One is my hard drive seems to be having some errors, but smartctl says there are none, and the other was it took some magic when I swapped video cards, trading an nVidia for an ATI. I documented how to do this here though.
It's Ubuntu 9.10 release day! Check out the main page, or just head over and download it. I've been running the RC and Beta at home, and other than it being on an under powered computer, There's tour of features, and also Lifehacker previously had a look at the beta and has a nice article on the updates it's gotten from the 9.04 version as well as a lovely screenshot gallery.
Congrats to the Ubuntu team on another fine release! I'm really looking forward to the (rumored) big changes (ie: more revolutionary and less evolutionary) coming in the 10.04 LTS release of Lucid Lynx. This will (in theory) have the new GNOME 3.0 software which will make it a revolutionary release (or at least, not just some tweaks in GNOME).
OSNews points out that Kubuntu Gets Some Love in the latest "Karmic" Alpha 5 that was just released. It's up to KDE 4.3.1, lots of improvements all around, etc.
Top 10 Tricks for Making Your Playlists Rock from lifehacker.
My buddy Len pointed out that there was a new alpha refresh of Flash Player 10 for 64bit linux. He also noted that (on ubuntu) running:
sudo apt-get remove swfdec-mozilla libswfdec-0.8-0
Helped as well.