Ubuntu News Archives

The third Alpha release in the road to Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" is now available for download. Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 3 has improved PolicyKit integration and Firefox 3 Beta 2. Download links and more information is available from the Ubuntu website.

Back in July, Mark Shuttleworth asked the community whether they wanted a high-end free software laptop. This theoretical laptop would "just work" with Linux through open-source drivers and everything down to the BIOS (and eventually, the firmware) would have a free software license. It's going on six months later and we haven't heard any update on the possibility for this high-end free software laptop. However, with yesterday's announcement of Dell adopting Ubuntu 7.10 with DVD support, we decided to follow up with Mark Shuttleworth regarding any free software laptop plans.

It's been just over a month since the release of Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon, but the first alpha release for the next major Ubuntu release, Ubuntu 8.04, is now less than a week away. We shared with you back during the Ubuntu Live conference that Ubuntu 8.04 will be a Long Term Support release, similar to Ubuntu 6.06 LTS. The codename for Ubuntu 8.04 LTS is Hardy Heron. Once Ubuntu 8.04 "Hardy Heron" Alpha 1 is released we will provide screenshots and additional coverage. There are six Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha and one Beta releases before its final release in April. The Hardy Heron release schedule is available from the Ubuntu Wiki.

Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon was released last month, but shipping today is Ubuntu JeOS. JeOS was announced earlier this year as an operating system designed for virtualized environments and one where ISVs can build virtual appliances. JeOS stands for Just Enough Operating System. The 7.10 edition of Ubuntu JeOS can be downloaded directly from Ubuntu with more information in the JeOS press release and mailing list announcement.

Right on time, Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" has been released. From the number of articles we've had on Ubuntu 7.10 during its development cycle, Gutsy Gibbon is certainly an interesting creation and is definitely worth checking out both on the desktop and server. Along with the Ubuntu 7.10 release is Kubuntu 7.10, Xubuntu 7.10, Edubuntu 7.10, and Gobuntu 7.10. Mythbuntu 7.10 and Ubuntu Studio 7.10 should be out anytime as well. The Ubuntu 7.10 press release can be read from Canonical.

Jono Bacon, the community manager for Ubuntu, has just announced that Ubuntu 8.04 will be called "Hardy Heron". This continues in the alphabetical naming scheme after Dapper Drake, Edgy Eft, Feisty Fawn, Gutsy Gibbon, and now Hardy Heron. As we have shared before, Ubuntu 8.04 will be a Long Term Support release. Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron will arrive next April, while Gutsy Gibbon will ship this October. What do you think of the name Hardy Heron? Tell us in the Phoronix Forums. Jono's announcement can be read on his blog.

Following a developer meeting this week, the decision has been made to leave Xserver 1.4 out of 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon and then include it in Ubuntu 8.04, in what is currently another eight months away. The reason behind abandoning Xserver 1.4 is that it won't be released until after the Ubuntu Gutsy feature freeze, but at the same time the development version (Xserver 1.3.99) is already available. Xserver 1.4 is what X.Org 7.3 will use. Dependent upon X.Org 7.3 is also Ubuntu's displayconfig-gtk and their bullet-proof-x. Unless the Ubuntu developers decide to make an exception or extend their feature freeze, Xserver 1.4 is out of the question for Ubuntu users until next year. Mark Shuttleworth frequently talks about wanting the major open-source projects to coordinate and schedule their release cycles with one another, but it doesn't look like Mark wants to play ball on this one by adjusting the Ubuntu 7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon" release cycle so late in the game.

The Ubuntu Live 2007 conference earlier this week was a huge success. This was the first-ever Ubuntu Live conference, but O'Reilly and Canonical had done a remarkable job organizing this three-day Portland conference. You can view our coverage from Ubuntu Live 2007 here. Additional information is available from the Ubuntu Live website and there are additional photographs on Flickr. Phoronix was media partners for this Ubuntu event, and we are already looking forward to Ubuntu Live 2008!

Continuing on with announcements from Ubuntu Live 2007, Mark Shuttleworth has just announced that Bazaar, Ubuntu's revision control system, will reach version 1.0 this September. More information to come soon from Ubuntu Live 2007.

Mark Shuttleworth has just announced during his keynote at Ubuntu Live 2007 that the next Ubuntu LTS (Long Term Support) release will be Ubuntu 8.04. This will be the first LTS release since Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake. Mark had went on to add that Canonical is committed to delivering a new LTS release every two years. Ubuntu 8.04 will be out in April of 2008.

Ubuntu Live 2007: In the next month Canonical will launch "Landscape", which is a web-based systems management and monitoring solution. Landscape is designed for small and medium sized businesses.

While Dell now ships Ubuntu-loaded desktops and notebooks, it's not good enough for Ubuntu-founder Mark Shuttleworth. Mark's latest challenge is to create a high-end laptop that will run free software perfectly. The Ubuntu specifications for a free software laptop include an Intel WiFi adapter using the open-source driver, Intel open-source graphics, ACPI with suspend and hibernate support that "just works" with Linux, the OpenBIOS / LinuxBIOS, at least five-hour battery life using the Linux tickless kernel, and a 1024 x 768 screen resolution or better. A long-term goal for this project is also completely free software firmware and hardware codec support with patent licenses included.

The Ubuntu Live 2007 discount code has been updated for Phoronix readers. To save 35%, use the discount code ubu07phrx when purchasing your conference pass. You also have a chance to win a free pass from Phoronix.

Yesterday we presented a preview of Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 1, and today was the first alpha release. Some of the changes in Ubuntu 7.10 Tribe 1 compared to Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn include the use of GNOME 2.19.2, 2.6.22-rc3 based kernel, new device drivers, improved codec search, and many other improvements that we highlighted in our article. More information on Tribe 1 is in the Ubuntu Wiki.

We are pleased to announce that Phoronix is now media partners with O'Reilly for the upcoming Ubuntu Live conference. As we shared with you back in January, Ubuntu Live is taking place during this year's OSCON at the Oregon Convention Center and will run from July 22 to July 24. Mark Shuttleworth will be speaking there and there will also be a variety of technical and BoF sessions on various Linux and Ubuntu topics. O'Reilly has extended the early registration discount along with providing other discounts for academic instructors, students, and for non-profit organizations. More information on this Ubuntu conference presented by Canonical and O'Reilly is available at their official website.

Yet another accomplishment for the Canonical team is being awarded as one of the top 100 products of 2007 by PCWorld magazine for Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn. Out of the 100 best products (with Google Apps Premier Edition, Intel Core 2 Duo, and the Nintendo Wii taking the top three spots), Ubuntu 7.04 managed to take the 16th spot ahead of such products as the Microsoft Xbox 360 Elite, Nikon D40X, Mozilla Firefox 2, and the nVidia GeForce 8800 GTX. The Canonical press release for this achievement can be at Ubuntu's website.

While a month after the release of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, the first release of Ubuntu Studio is now available for downloading. This DVD-sized build contains a variety of audio, graphics, and video editing software for Linux and is yet another distribution in the growing Ubuntu family. At this time UbuntuStudio.org (the project's homepage) appears to be taking a beating from the traffic, but there are HTTP and Bit Torrent links available. For the Ubuntu 7.10 release, these Ubuntu Studio packages should be available from the main Ubuntu repositories.

With Intel recently introducing a low-power processor and Chipset architecture for mobile Internet devices, Canonical has announced they will begin working on an Ubuntu mobile and embedded project. This new Ubuntu embedded/mobile edition will not arrive until Ubuntu 7.10 this October. Matt Zimmerman's announcement also states Intel is working with Ubuntu on making this new project a reality.

It's just been three days days since the unveiling of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn, but work is now underway in preparing for Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon. The gutsy-changes mailing list has opened up to begin going over the changes for this next Ubuntu installment. The first three changes on the list are for accepting the following packages: glibc 2.5-2ubuntu1, binutils 2.17.20070420cvs-0ubuntu1, and tzdata 2007e-3ubuntu1. You can check out the mailing list here. Continuing in Ubuntu's ritualistic six-month release cycle, Gutsy Gibbon will be available for download in October of this year.

The day has finally come that we see the release of Ubuntu v7.04, or perhaps better known as Ubuntu Feisty Fawn. For months now at Phoronix we have been covering the beta and alpha releases of Feisty Fawn, but today is the final non-LTS release. Desktop and server downloads are available from Ubuntu.com. Likewise, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Edubuntu will all be available today. Ubuntu Studio should also be available shortly. You may be interested in our Visual History of Ubuntu. After you have given Feisty Fawn a try, be sure to share your thoughts on it in the Phoronix Forums.

Warty Warthog, Hoary Hedgehog, Breezy Badger, Dapper Drake, Edgy Eft, and now Feisty Fawn, but what is the codename for the next Ubuntu release? Gutsy Gibbon. Ubuntu 7.10 non-LTS will be known as "Gutsy Gibbon" and will actually include two releases. Coming along side the "normal" Ubuntu release will be a new ultra-free version that includes "no firmware, drivers, imagery, sounds, applications, or other content." This new version will be developed in conjunction with the gNewSense project from the Free Software Foundation. Mark Shuttleworth hopes that Ubuntu Gutsy Gibbon will feature Composite support by default. The final release of Ubuntu 7.10 is tentatively scheduled for October 18, 2007. The Gutsy Gibbon roadmap can be read on the Ubuntu Wiki.

The beta release for Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn is now available for download. Among the improvements in this release is the migration-assistant, improved wireless networking support, and much improved multimedia support. The Ubuntu 7.04 release announcement can be read here.

Over at MichaelLarabel.com I have revisited Ubuntu's Migration Assistant. This utility makes it effortless to transport your settings and files from Windows or another Linux distribution into a new Ubuntu system. This utility works surprisingly well with plenty of more options to come.

The final Herd (alpha) release is now available from Ubuntu mirrors before the beta and release candidate versions of the upcoming 7.04 Feisty Fawn release. New in Ubuntu Feisty Fawn herd 5 is artwork improvements, X.Org 7.2, improved desktop effects support, and much more. The most notable changes are detailed here.

Are you looking to re-master a LiveCD/DVD of Ubuntu Dapper Drake and Edgy Eft (or Linux Mint)? Well, head on over to the Phoronix Forums where Fragadelic has written a script to make this process very easy.

Ubuntu Feisty Fawn will not ship with the proprietary display drivers for NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards. This decision was made by the Ubuntu Technical Board, but the status quo of offering the drivers through Ubuntu repositories will remain. Official PowerPC support for Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn has also been dropped. More information is available here.

The third Herd (Alpha) release of Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn is now available for download. Among the changes are GNOME 2.17.90, GTK+ 2.10.9, Xfce 4.4 for Xubuntu, Ubuntu's graphical installer has a new advanced partitioning tool, painless codec installation, KVM and VMware's VMI layer, and a lot of other changes. Download links and more information is available in the Wiki.

On top of O'Reilly's Open Source Convention (OSCON) going on at the end of July in Oregon, the first-ever Ubuntu Live 2007 conference will be taking place. The schedule and details are still being worked on, and there is also a call for presentations. More on Ubuntu Live 2007 is available here.

First there was Ubuntu, and now the *buntu craze has flourished into an array of derivatives. From Xubuntu to Ubuntu Christian Edition, each version aims to offer something that the other doesn't (at least without downloading any of the packages manually). The latest Ubuntu project to crop up is Ubuntu Studio. The hopes of Ubuntu Studio is to create a derivative for multimedia creation with audio, video, and graphics. The Ubuntu Studio home-page is available here, and a Wiki has also been setup. No downloads are available at this time, but the hope is that it will be ready in time for the release of Ubuntu Feisty Fawn this April. Also, if you have any questions for Mark Shuttleworth, be sure to shoot on over to the Phoronix Forums.

The second development release for Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn" has hit the mirrors. Ubuntu 7.04 Herd 2 integrates GNOME 2.17.5, ZeroConfNetworking, F-Spot v0.3, GTK+ 2.10.7, KVM virtualization support, WINE 0.9.29, and much much more. The changes and download links can be found here.

In time for the April release of Ubuntu Feisty Fawn, Phoronix will be hosting an interview with Mark Shuttleworth -- the founder of Ubuntu as well as a space tourist. With that said, if you have any questions you would like to see answered by Mark, please head on over to the THIS THREAD in the Phoronix Forums.

For our last article for 2006 we have compared the 32-bit and 64-bit performance of Ubuntu. We not only used Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft but also Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn Herd 1 for comparison. This article can be read here and a discussion thread. Have a happy new year!

The first development build for Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn" has been released. While Ubuntu has tagged development builds as Colonies, Knots, and Flights in the past, this time around the development versions will be Herds: Ubuntu Feisty Fawn Herd 1, Feisty Fawn Herd 2, etc... Featured in Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn Herd 1 is GNOME 2.17, new disk analyzer, Linux 2.6.19 kernel, and a massive package merge from Debian. The release announcement can be read here, while here is the mailing list announcement. Ubuntu 7.04 Herd 1 screenshots will be up on Phoronix later, but if you give this development release a go, be sure to share your trial experience on the Phoronix Forums.

An Ubuntu Developer Summit (UDS) is currently taking place in Mountain View, California, as developers begin to prepare for Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn (what an interesting codename). This summit is taking place from November 5 to November 10 on the Google Campus. A Wiki page is available for additional details. A few Ubuntu developers have also been blogging about their UDS experience -- Joey Stanford, Melissa Draper, and Dennis Kaarsemaker.

Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft has been released this morning! Unlike the release four months ago of 6.06 Dapper Drake, Edgy Eft will only be supported for 18 months unlike the LTS (Long Term Support) found in Drake. Some of the Ubuntu highlights are the integration of GNOME 2.16, more mono programs, shutdown/startup improvements, and server improvements as well. The release announcement can be read on the mailing list.

Following in the 6-month release cycles, the next installment of Ubuntu will come out in April of next year. Ubuntu 7.04 has been codenamed "The Feisty Fawn". Mark Shuttleworth has already mentioned a few details about what users can expect in this next release: improvements to hardware support in laptops, desktop and high-end server market, and adoption of upcoming desktop technologies. Ubuntu Feisty Fawn will also focus upon multimedia enablement and desktop effects. Additional planning will begin next month at the Ubuntu Developer Summit. These comments on Ubuntu 7.04 can be found in the Ubuntu list. Meanwhile, Ubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft will officially be launched on October 26, 2006.

Edgy Eft -- the codename for the Ubuntu 6.10 cycle -- has finally reached Beta. Ubuntu 6.10 Beta 1 delivers GNOME 2.16.0, X.Org 7.1, OpenOffice.org 2.0.4 RC2, and the usual assortment of other packages. Kubuntu and Xubuntu are also coming out with their 6.10 Beta 1 candidate. More on Edgy Eft Beta 1 can be found here.

The most recent move out of the Ubuntu Foundation has been the creation of an ubuntu-desktop-effects team. This group of people will focus on the integration of 3D effects into the Ubuntu desktop using Compiz, XGL, and AIGLX. At the time of posting there are currently no open bugs for this department, no support requests, and there are ten direct members. More on this desktop effects team can be found at Launchpad. Mark Shuttleworth has pointed out on his blog that they are also in need of experienced OpenGL developers. The official project announcement can be read here.

The second development (knot) release of Ubuntu 6.10 (codename: Edgy Eft) has been released. Ubuntu 6.10 Knot 2 has been upgraded to X.Org 7.1, GNOME 2.16.0 Release Candidate 1, and many more changes. Like usual, all of the official *buntu derivatives have been upgrades to Knot 2 included Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Edubuntu. The release announcement is on the Ubuntu mailing list.

Now available from the Ubuntu Universe repository is Upstart. Upstart is a replacement for the init daemon in Ubuntu. NetSplit has an article discussing the reasons for this change, the daemon's design, and what all is affected.

A maintenance release for Ubuntu/Kubuntu/Xubuntu/Edubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake has been released. As addressed in the change-log, Ubuntu 6.06.1 LTS brings several fixes and updates in this latest release.

Ubuntu Edgy Eft Knot 1 has been released. Edgy Eft is the codename for Ubuntu v6.10, while Knot is their title for development milestones -- similar to the Flight series with Dapper Drake. Despite the two month delay in the Ubuntu v6.04/6.06 Dapper Drake development cycle, the next Ubuntu release is already targeted for this October. Continuing in the Ubuntu tradition, Edgy Eft Knot 1 images are available for Xubuntu, Edubuntu, Ubuntu, and Kubuntu. The development announcement is here.

Similar to Fedora Weekly News, the Ubuntu documentation team has begun producing a weekly newsletter in regards to the Ubuntu Linux distribution. Among the topics in this weekly newsletter are current events for Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, and Xubuntu, as well as other pertinent information. The first issue of the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter is already up on the Wiki.

FINALLY, the official replacement for Ubuntu Breezy Badger 5.10 has arrived! As was promised after the two month delay, Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 has arrived on June 1st. This release is also ground-breaking as it is the first release from the Ubuntu team to offer long-term support. This LTS means three years of updates for the desktop side, and five years worth of updates for servers running Ubuntu 6.06. It is also the first time that Ubuntu has been targeted at the enterprise environment. Due to all of the massive improvements with Dapper Drake, we would recommend heading on over to Ubuntu, or to look at our screenshots, and other news posts.

Yesterday Mark Shuttleworth had announced that Ubuntu Dapper Drake v6.06 will include full support for SPARC and UltraSPARC T1 (Niagara). More information on Ubuntu SPARC support can be read in Mark Shuttleworth's blog. Ubuntu Dapper Drake 6.06 LTS is expected to ship on June 1st -- tomorrow.

Today the Ubuntu team has announced the release candidate for version 6.06 -- Dapper Drake. The long-term support will provide three years of desktop support for this 6.06 product, and five years when it comes to server-side operations. It is now recommended that *buntu 5.10 users make the upgrade. Release candidates today are available for Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Edubuntu. The Xfce-designed Xubuntu is not yet available. The final version of Ubuntu 6.06 Dapper Drake is due out on June 1, 2006. More on this at Ubuntu Linux.

Ubuntu's Wiki has been updated with some information for Ubucon -- an Ubuntu Conference to be held after LinuxWorld this year. Ubucon is a free Ubuntu-oriented conference, similar to Fedora's FUDCon. The two-day conference begins on August 18 at Google's Mountain View Headquarters. Google is helping out Ubuntu with the conference in form of the venue, and even some food for the attendees. The schedule for this conference is still being worked out. More on this can be found on the Wiki.

While yesterday we were presented with word of Sun Microsystems announcing the move of Java going open-source, and recasting Java licensing for GNU/Linux and OpenSolaris distributions, today Sun is at JavaOne proclaiming its love for Ubuntu Linux. Both Ubuntu and Sun have said they really enjoy each-others products. Ubuntu Dapper Drake v6.06 LTS is expected to be available on Sun Servers starting June of 2006. More on this announcement is at ZDNet.

Ubuntu Dapper Drake Flight 7 Alpha has been released. The release is slated to be relatively free of bugs, however, it is still not recommended for use on production machines. Largely only bug fixes have been applied to this release. Some of the notable changes include fixing crashes in the LiveCD installer, file-systems are now mounted in the correct order, and leading and trailing spaces in passwords now work properly. This new release is available for Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, and Edubuntu. More is at Ubuntu. The final release of Ubuntu Dapper Drake v6.06 is due on June 1.