The beta version of Ubuntu 9.10, which appeared last week, brought a number of much-anticipated aesthetic improvements to the desktop. Here’s a look at the slick new login manager that users can expect when Karmic is officially released at the end of this month.
Screenshots don’t do justice to the new gdm experience, so I’ve created a quick screencast using a live session:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJDNmBlUyKM[/youtube]
Carla Schroder of Linux Today published an essay recently dealing with the low level of female participation in open-source projects. Although the article doesn’t deal with Ubuntu in particular, it nonetheless prompted some thoughts about the role of women in the world’s most popular Linux distribution. The near-absence of women from free-software development is not […]
The Ubuntu Software Store debuted last month in the latest alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10. Since its announcement, however, there has been more than a little debate over the application’s name, if not the concept behind it, with many commentators questioning the implication of the word “store.” Here’s the scoop. Billed as an eventual replacement […]
I’ve spent the last few weeks testing Ubuntu One, Canonical’s file-storing and sharing service. Below is an outline of my experience, and thoughts on the future of the application. Ubuntu One, which will be installed by default in Ubuntu 9.10, allows users to sync files between different Ubuntu computers. The service runs in the background, […]
For a long time, Ubuntu was the only big-name Linux distribution with a specially tailored netbook version. That changed recently with the announcement of Fedora Mini, which stands poised to compete with Ubuntu Netbook Remix on Linux-based netbooks and similar devices. Here are some thoughts on what this development means for Ubuntu and Canonical’s netbook […]
Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth announced objectives for Ubuntu 10.04, a.k.a “Lucid Lynx,” to attendees of the Atlanta Linux Fest (more conference coverage) last week. Here’s a look at the major points highlighted by Shuttleworth, and what they mean for the future of Ubuntu.
First, the video of Shuttleworth’s remarks:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l02bhwofEqw[/youtube]
And now some thoughts…
The decision to replace Pidgin with Empathy in Ubuntu 9.10 has not been without controversy, or second thoughts on the part of Ubuntu developers. Much of the discontent centers around concerns that Empathy does not yet offer the features to compete with Pidgin. With this in mind, I took a look at how Pidgin and […]
Cloud computing, the latest and greatest trend of the IT world, has become a central element of Ubuntu’s server strategy. With this development in mind, I’ve given some thought lately to how much of my electronic life actually depends on access to “the cloud.” Although cloud computing remains a somewhat ambiguous concept, most definitions center […]
After placing its bets for years on Xen, Red Hat moved recently towards official support for KVM, the virtualization hypervisor built into the Linux kernel. Here’s a look at what this change might mean for Ubuntu, which has promoted KVM from the beginning. Once upon a time, the only reliable virtualization products for the enterprise […]
Free-software hackers like to brag about the robustness of their code. But a less-celebrated area where open-source programmers also shine is coming up with names for their applications. Developers don’t often receive the credit they deserve for the clever and fitting titles they apply to their software, so here’s a quick and lighthearted look at […]
Wireless on Linux is a perennial embarrassment. Although the situation has improved immensely since a few years ago, the inability to get wireless cards working acceptably often tops the list of user frustrations. Here’s an outline of what’s wrong with Ubuntu’s approach to wireless drivers, and how to fix it. Until a few weeks ago, […]
Gnome is a great desktop environment. But it’s not perfect. If I could pick five things for the Gnome developers to change or improve, here’s what they’d be. Before I criticize Gnome, however, let me emphasize how much I like it. I’ve been through half-a-dozen desktop environments in numerous Linux distributions, and have settled on […]
As WorksWithU reported last week, the Gnome application Empathy was set to become the default instant-messaging client in Ubuntu 9.10 upon its release October, replacing Pidgin. But Ubuntu developers have been reconsidering that decision in the last few days. Here’s the story, with some thoughts. Last Thursday, a message was sent to the Ubuntu developers […]
WorksWithU reported a couple weeks ago on new features in Ubuntu 9.10, like kernel mode setting and GRUB 2, that are likely to please geeks. But Ubunti 9.10 (codenamed Karmic Koala) will also sport changes aimed at traditional users. Here’s a look at a few of them.
They include…
One of the less prominent Ubuntu features that has received an overhaul for Karmic is the command-not-found handle, which helps users find the program they’re looking for when they type an unrecognized command in the terminal. Following is a brief outline of improvements made to this tiny utility, and why they matter. In previous versions […]
If you thought using free software protected you from the privacy invasion and forced advertising that are often bundled with proprietary platforms, you may have thought wrong. Until recently, the alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) sported a feature in Firefox called “Multisearch,” which modified Google searches in order to collect data about user […]
As WorksWithU reported last week and Canonical announced the following day, the company has released a new set of support services targeted at Windows and Mac OS X expatriates migrating to Ubuntu. At first glance, the entry-level “Starter Desktop” package might appear a bit lackluster, at least to experienced Ubuntu users. But that’s exactly what […]
One of the timeless challenges of open-source development is keeping software as up-to-date as possible while also maximizing stability. With this difficulty in mind, Ubuntu’s developers recently discussed the operating system’s policy on updates. Here’s the story, with some thoughts. Sebastien Bacher pointed last Wednesday to the dilemma of delivering Gnome updates to end-users in […]
Ubuntu 9.10 will use GRUB 2 as its default bootloader, replacing GRUB legacy. In this post, we take a look at some of the new features offered by this change. Most of the enhancements of GRUB 2 will benefit only power users, since normal people are unlikely to want to boot to the grub command […]
Launchpad, a Web application developed by Canonical for managing software development, was finally open-sourced last week. But with a number of its other products remaining proprietary, what are Canonical’s real intentions towards living by the free-software ideology that drives projects like Ubuntu?
