One of Ubuntu’s most useful but rarely discussed features is one-click installation of a variety of popular webapps via Mozilla’s Prism. Here’s a look at what Prism can do in Ubuntu, with some thoughts on why Canonical should work harder to push features like this. In Mozilla’s words, “Prism is an application that lets users […]
In news that will be of interest to both open- and closed-source developers, Canonical is about to open a new revenue stream by offering a suite of commercial services for deploying and managing Bazaar, the open-source version-control system. Here’s the scoop, with some thoughts. In a press release shared with WorksWithU and set to be […]
I recently came into the market for a new Ubuntu netbook, and have been scouring the Internet looking for the best deal. It’s been a fun experience, but also one replete with frustration at certain large computer vendors with byzantine websites that treat Linux as a dirty word. Read on for details.
Netbooks don’t offer quite as many options as a full-blown computer, so there’s not as much to think about when purchasing one. Moreover, I like to think of myself as a flexible guy, so I’m not looking for anything too specific. My only requirements are:
Ubuntu 10.04, which will appear next April 2010 as Canonical’s long-anticipated third LTS (Long Term Support) release, will feature substantial changes in the lineup of applications installed by default. Here’s a look at the biggest ones, with some thoughts. Judging by the controversy over the replacement of Pidgin with Empathy, many Ubuntu users do not […]
Coming on the heels of the campaign announced last summer to fix 100 “papercuts” in Ubuntu before the 9.10 release, a new round of usability bugs have recently been targeted for Ubuntu 10.04. Here’s a look at some of the most notable ones slated to be fixed in coming weeks. Before taking a look at […]
Occasional criticism of Ubuntu as a less-than-perfect Linux distribution, and of Canonical as a selfish member of the free-software ecosystem, is nothing new. But no matter how many flaws one can find with Ubuntu and its developers, they have succeeded in respects where every similar endeavor to date has failed; namely, they’ve achieved a public […]
A few weeks ago, Canonical announced that the ShipIt program, which provides Ubuntu CDs for free, would be scaled back in order to cut costs. Fair enough, but is the new strategy–which centers around making free CDs available only to people already active in the Ubuntu community–in line with the principles that underpin the Ubuntu […]
Ubuntu comes with a nice application called “Hardware Drivers” (a.k.a. jockey-gtk) for installing proprietary drivers for wireless cards and other devices that lack open-source support. This is great, except when your only connection to the Internet is wireless and you have no way to download the driver or firmware you need. Here’s why this situation […]
Ubuntu developers recently began discussing plans for deploying virtual appliances via Debian packages, a move which would open up exciting opportunities, especially in the server market. Here’s the scope, with some thoughts. As Andreas Heck described recently on the Ubuntu developers’ mailing list, initial work has been completed on specifications for exporting virtual appliances from […]
It’s been about ten days since I installed Ubuntu 9.10 on my main computer. Here are some thoughts on the latest and greatest version of Ubuntu, now that I’ve used it intensively for my daily workflow. The Karmic Koala wasn’t received happily by all corners of the Linux community. Criticisms about the release being too […]
Twice a year, when it comes time to upgrade to the newest Ubuntu release, I’m reminded of how nice it is to have my /home directories on separate partitions from the system directories–except when they’re not, because I chose the default Ubuntu partitioning scheme instead of configuring it manually. Indeed, life would be much simpler […]
A build of the nouveau video driver for nVidia cards was included in the Ubuntu repositories beginning with Jaunty. I’ve been meaning to test it for a while, and finally found some hardware recently to give it a shot. Much to the chagrin of free-software stalwarts, nVidia has always refused to provide a full-featured open-source […]
If all goes according to plan, Ubuntu 10.10 will sport Gnome 3, which represents a radical overhaul of Ubuntu’s default graphical user interface in the form of Gnome Shell, when it debuts a year from now. In order to get a taste of what this desktop of the future will look like, I’ve spent the […]
With Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) set to debut this week, here’s a run down of all the new features and changes covered by WorksWithU in the last several months.
As the final non-LTS release before Lucid Lynx in April, Karmic is heavy on new features–which are likely to be less pronounced in Ubuntu 10.04, where Canonical will concentrate on stability and performance.
NetworkManager, the default wired- and wireless-connection client in Ubuntu, has received a substantial aesthetic makeover for Ubuntu 9.10. Here’s a look. Although it’s come a long way since its early days, I was never a huge fan of NetworkManager in earlier Ubuntu releases. It’s always seemed kind of ugly on a compiz-enabled desktop, and even […]
And now a brief break from business-oriented coverage on WorksWithU. As a history Ph.D. student by day and free-software geek by night, I find that my poles of interest rarely converge. That’s why I was so excited when the real-time historical strategy game 0 A.D. was switched to an open-source license in July. I’ve been […]
Starting with Karmic, Ubuntu now has its own slideshow for users to view while waiting for the installation to finish. Besides representing one more thing Ubuntu has in common with Windows XP, the slides have some real value to new users. Below, we take a look. First, here’s a run down of the slides, which […]
There have been promises of an overhaul to Ubuntu’s default theme for quite some time. Ubuntu 9.10, set to be released at the end of this month, will begin delivering on those promises. Below, we take a look at the new system theme and artwork that will debut in Karmic Koala.
The touch-ups to Ubuntu’s default look in Karmic are a bit short of the complete overhaul that Mark Shuttleworth has alluded to since the time of Hardy’s release. But they represent much more than the negligible aesthetic changes that have marked other recent releases.
The Linux Foundation recently announced the second annual Linux Foundation End User Summit, to be held this November. At face value, it might sound like a conference dedicated to assessing and addressing the needs of the type of people who use Ubuntu and other distributions for day-to-day computing. Unfortunately, it’s not quite that. The Linux […]
Given the popularity of Gmail, it’s not surprising that a score of desktop applets have emerged for notifying users of new messages. I recently set out on a quest to find the best one. Here are the results. Until about a month ago, I clung defiantly to Evolution for managing email on my main computer. […]
