ubuntu daily

No Automatix for Ubuntu henceforth

The Digitizor — Sun, 18 May 2008 18:56:41 +0000

The software-auto-installer script automatix which has faved many a hearts will unfortunately not be available for Ubuntu 8.04 and the releases henceforth. The main automatix developers, as they say, have become busy with their other commitments and won`t be able to work for automatix. Automatix, thi is fo n00bs, is a aut – installation script that simplifies your life by suitably categorising your daily-needs (Softwares and Apps, DUH) in Ubuntu world, and fetching them through the wire for you. However, the main developers have also hinted about an Automatix3, which will be a whole new app, the catch being it will be exclusive to Pioneer Warrior for some reasons they have stated here. But the Good news is, Ubuntu 8.04`s brand new Codec and Software finder tool and it`s re-engineered Synaptic Software Manager are just so awesome that absence of automatix won`t create much of a difference.

Back again!!

The Digitizor — Sun, 11 May 2008 05:43:31 +0000

Hello guys!!

I was a bit busy with my other commitments but now I am back full-on. Sorry for not blogging anything about on Ubuntu 7.10. I am currently downloading Ubuntu 8.04 and will blog again in a few minutes after I get my 8.04 box up and running.

The way of the Gutsy Gibbon

The Digitizor — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 15:06:03 +0000

yes pals!!!! the wait is now over. Ubuntu 7.10 is finally out.

Go grab the gibbon now.

7.10 Beta Official Released

The Digitizor — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 03:41:35 +0000

The 7.10 Beta Version has been officially released for users to try it out. The Final stable version is due for release today (18 oct, 2007) at 2359 HRS

www.ubuntu.com

7.10 Beta

dell linux team, ubuntu and retrospection

The Digitizor — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 15:59:46 +0000

LXer had interviewed John Hull, manager of the Dell Linux Engineering Team (DLet) by e-mail. The interview reveals much about DELL`s satisfaction with it`s Ubuntu machines, what all DELL is doing to get Ubuntu running on all their hardware, and also what all has happened in these four months since DELL started vending Ubuntu pre-installed machines in the US. Here, in this post I will summarize the interview. You can find the full interview at LXer on this page.

File photo of John Hull, Courtesy LXer

John Hull has been with DELL since the last 7 years and now he heads the Austin-based Linux engineering team of DELL (One team is stationed at Bangalore in India). DELL has been supplying the Poweredge systems with Red Hat and SuSE distros since long. And these teams mak sure that every hardware in the Precision system works under Linux. Now they do the same for systems running Ubuntu. They also work with the open source community to produce drivers and fix kernel and application bugs.

John says that DELL`s decision of selling Ubuntu based PCs to customers has also made them aware of the fact that DELL has been doin Linux since long but only on Servers like the Precision. Before this announcement people hardly knew this business of DELL selling linux based machines. John refused disclose the approx sales figures of Ubuntu based DELL PCs since their inception which he said was against DELL`s policies to release official sales figures. But the market and community estimation is 1% of the total sales, or about 20,000 systems annually. He also said that customers were certainly showing their interest and buying systems preloaded with Ubuntu.

On being asked that why DELL`s linux PCs which were introduced back in 2000 (having Red Hat 6.1) were not a big hit, he said that Linux has improved with time in user friendliness and support from hardware vendors for linux device drivers. Things have certainly canged from they were in 2000. According to me, seven years is hell lot of time for things to change. He also talked about getting all bug fixes in the factory itself and also said stuff about making modifications to the factory-installed image as necessary. Dell, as he said, also adds driver packages and scripts on top of the standard operating system to make sure that the customer experience is as nice as possible. Although, The Ubuntu Factory Images from DELL, as John says, are available for download now. You can find the CD image here and the DVD image here. He also talked about the possibility of DELL adding additional applications for enhancing user experience. He laso informed that how DELL is working hard and tie-ing up with the Engineering teams of other hardware vendors to bring in good collaborated driver support for linux.

On being asked about ubuntu`s future with dell, he spoke about continuing to support Red Hat and SUSE on PowerEdge servers worldwide, support Red Hat on our Precision Workstations worldwide, and delivering Ubuntu Linux on select consumer systems in select markets.

What I feel is that Canonical and DELL should work together more extensively. This will only benefit the Linux community in the form of newer drivers and applications and faster update releases for the drivers.

A very great Support site for UBUNTU from DELL can be found here. Indeed, it is is awsome support site. We expect such commitment from Computer brands towards the Linux community.

Goobuntu (google`s modified Ubuntu)

The Digitizor — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:26:03 +0000

During my random visits on various webpages on the internet, I found here that Google internally uses a Linux Distribution based on Ubuntu and they have named it as Goobuntu. While both Google and Mark have refuted the rumors about Google distributing Goobuntu to the public. And this should not happen either. Google has been innovating things and undertaking new projects, majority of which hae been successful to the height of free softwares. Google has also been porting and rewriting the various windows based Google applications for the Linux platforms. So google distributing an OS based on Ubuntu doesn`t quite go with the image it has created among it`s users. During my further searches relating to goobuntu, I have also found a screenshot which heavily confirms the existence of Goobuntu. An wikipedia entry to the found can be found here.

Heres `s the screenshot (Image Coutesy Flickr)

Google`s Linux Software repository

The Digitizor — Wed, 17 Oct 2007 07:08:07 +0000

Google has a repository for distributing it`s own Linux applications. It also helps to stay up-to-date with the current releases of the various applications. It is good as in I could install picasa for linux through the apt. Here`s the Link to the repo:

http://www.google.com/linuxrepositories/index.html

On Ubuntu, the repository can be added by issuing the following command in a terminal:

wget -q -O – https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | apt-key add -
apt-get update

A screenshot of the page:

Ubuntu codenames demystified : Part 1

The Digitizor — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 17:10:35 +0000

Canonical releases a new version of Ubuntu every 6 months and gives it a an unique codename. Till now all these code names have been something or the other related to animals and birds. So, lets have an insight into what actually do these codenames mean.

The very first version of Ubuntu to be released was 4.10. It was codenamed “Warty Warthog” . Warthog is a wild animal belonging to the pig family. It has 4 large wart-like tusks on it`s head.

A Warthog (Photo Courtesy : Wikipedia)

The next release was version 5.04, codenamed “Hoary Hedgehog”. A Hedgehog is a small spiny mammal found through parts of Europe, Asia, Africa, and New Zealand.

A Hedgehog (Photo Courtesy : Wikipedia)

Ubuntu codenamed the 5.10 release as “Breezy Badger”. This was when Ubuntu made big news and was the hor topic of discussion in the linux world. This happened due to the constant support from canonical that ubuntu was receiving. Ubuntu became the first Linux Distro to have a Startup Splash Screen called USplash (a graphical bootloader) like the Windows and unlike other Linux Distros. Coming back to the codename, Badger is the common name for any animal of three subfamilies, which belong to the family Mustelidae: the same mammal family as the ferrets, the weasels, the otters, and several other types of carnivore. There are eight species of badger, in three subfamilies: Melinae (the Eurasian badgers), Mellivorinae, (the Ratel or honey badger), and Taxideinae (the American badger).

A Badger (Image and Description Courtesy : Wikipedia)

The next version, 6.06 that is, became the first ever release of Ubuntu bearing Long Term Support officially from canonical and ubuntu. By Now Ubuntu had lambasted all common myths about linux that it is user unfriendly. It had managed to create a “Linux is Use-Friendly” image among various linux fanatics and Evangelist alike. 6.06 was codenamed “Dapper Drake”. A Drake refers to a Male Duck.

A duck and a Drake (Photo Courtesy : Wikipedia)

Read the second part of this article

Gutsy Desktop (First-Look)

The Digitizor — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 15:15:27 +0000

The Wallpaper has changed. As you see in this image, it has become kind of dark, chocolat-ish. I did not like the colour though. The Default Wallpapers from vista are awsome. May be Ubuntu should have a few such sexy wallpapers as default. There has been two new additions on the taskbar – the user switcher and the desktop search button. Here`s the image:

Image courtesy : Wikipedia

Ubuntu 8.04 codenamed Hardy Heron

The Digitizor — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:53:23 +0000

The 8 series of Ubuntu, Ubuntu 8.04 is scheduled for release in the Month of April 2008. As usual, it has a animal-istic code name, Hardy Heron (A heron is a kind of a bird) this time. To be precise, the Beta version releases on March 27, 2008 and the Final Version releases on 24th april, 2008. It is supposed to be released with an LTS tag that is, Ubuntu 8.04 will have Long Term Support. This includes 3 yrs of Official security and update support for desktop versions and 5 years for server versions respectively.

More About the release announcement can be found here