Canonical’s opportunity to simplify Ubuntu

Ubuntu has led the Linux community’s efforts to improve on form, not simply function, and thereby make the Linux experience as good or better than Mac OS X in terms of usability. Mark Shuttleworth, founder and CEO of Canonical, the company set up to shepherd development and commercialization of Ubuntu, is the heart of that effort.

As announced on Thursday, however, Shuttleworth is resigning as Canonical CEO to focus on improving the Ubuntu user experience:

From March next year, I’ll focus my Canonical energy on product design, partnerships and customers. Those are the areas that I enjoy most and also the areas where I can best shape the impact we have on open source and the technology market.

Is this good or bad for Ubuntu? And what about Canonical?

Canonical is reportedly doing $30 million per year in sales, and is working on some significant projects that may establish it as the de facto Linux distribution for Netbooks, if it isn’t already. (Ubuntu is arguably the community choice for personal computers.)

Even so, Linux still has a long way to go to match the user experience of Mac OS X, or even Windows. Shuttleworth has given me a sneak peak of his vision for where Ubuntu can go from a UI perspective.

I was blown away. This is a man who “gets it.”

Even so, he and the Ubuntu community still have a ways to go to match Microsoft or Apple in user experience, and certainly in market share. To get there, Ubuntu needs Canonical, and Canonical needs Shuttleworth fixated on improving Ubuntu’s user experience.

When I asked what his resignation as CEO means for Ubuntu, and his involvement with it, Shuttleworth responded:

I don’t expect to be less visible, just have stronger management for the business units.

More informations

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The Ubuntu Release Cycle

When I visited The official site of Ubuntu, I got the useful informations that have to be known by Ubuntu's user. You can check how long your ubuntu version will be supported.

From its outset Ubuntu project has been committed to a regular release cycle and has managed to deliver on that commitment without fail. It is the regularity and reliability of these releases that makes Ubuntu a great option for users and businesses who can plan upgrades and new installs with a reliability that is very unusual in the operating system market. This diagram gives our long term commitment to releases and demonstrates the key difference between a Long Term Support release and our standard releases.

LTS Desktop and Server

Long Term Support releases for desktop and server. There are deployment platforms with wide hardware and software support and ideal or individuals and businesses making a longer term investment in Ubuntu

Standard release

These are the 6 monthly release that contain the best of the new from the Open Source and commercial worlds and suited to users happy to upgrade regularly.

Point Release

These are 6 monthly updates to the long term support cycle. These are primarily bug fixes and patches with occasional feature enhancements that maintain the integrity of the release over a long cycle. The point releases continue up to the next LTS release which then offers an obvious upgrade path for users

LTS Server
This is the extended support period for server.

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Find Out Info about Web Hosting

Web hosting is a place to put the web files or other files that can be accessed through Internet connection. Web hosting is very crucial role in the world website, because websites makers need to support their performance for the web. For those of you who want to create a website, you should find out info about web hosting first. Web performance is strongly influenced by the web hosting, because the process of data retrieval from a web site specified by the web hosting. Many who offers web hosting with good quality that you can find on the internet, and they also provide a variety of interesting features that can allow a user to regulate their website.

Many of the features provided by web hosting to make the web easier to set up like fantastico used to install the CMS automatically. To obtain information about web hosting, you can find references on ipage hosting. It provides information about best web hosting that can benefit you. Detailed information about web hosting is also a good guidance for you, because every web hosting must have reliable features to win the competition and captivate consumers. That you are not wrong to vote in determining web hosting, please go directly to its site.

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Changes in Ubuntu: Five Stages of Grief

While you weren't looking, the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution changed several features under the hood. Kyle Rankin, coauthor of The Official Ubuntu Server Book, points out the most distressing changes and explains why you need to suffer through them and ultimately come to acceptance.

Of all the things I love about Linux, I think I love its stability the most. I'm not talking about uptime here, even though it's great. What I mean is the sense you get from Linux that it's on a solid foundation. Concepts like "everything is a file," "small programs that do one thing well," and the overall file system layout are well-worn principles with all the major kinks worked out. I get the sense of a collected wisdom, accumulated in the system over the years, guiding Linux forward. Sure, Mozilla's browser will change its name every few years, and both GNOME and KDE have gone through their start-from-scratch phase, but /dev files, initrd, at, cron, and System V init—I can always count on these things being there.

Not so fast. It turns out that a few things in that list I just mentioned have already been replaced in a modern Ubuntu system…and the rest are on their way out. Perhaps that fact makes you want to reach for your torch and pitchfork, but hear me out first. By the time you reach the end of this article, I hope that you'll have gone through the five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and finally reached acceptance of the impending death of these classic parts of Linux infrastructure.

Denial: System V Init

My own journey through the five stages of grief started a few months ago. I was documenting the System V init system under Ubuntu for The Official Ubuntu Server Book when I discovered that my Ubuntu system didn't have an /etc/inittab file. Considering that inittab is the core configuration file for init, that missing file piqued my curiosity. Soon I discovered that not only had it been replaced, but that change happened years ago—and I never noticed until now!

If you're new to Linux, you might need a quick tutorial about init. The System V init system governs how Linux starts. After the kernel loads, the System V init program (/sbin/init) starts. This program then launches other scripts that mount file systems and start core services; in the case of a desktop system, init then ultimately starts X so you can log in.

One of the core characteristics of System V init is its use of runlevels. Runlevels define up to seven different states of the system, each having an associated number. When init switches to a particular runlevel, it starts or stops certain programs based on that runlevel's settings. For instance, when you tell init to change to runlevel 0, it prepares to halt the computer, shuts down services on the system, unmounts the file systems, and (if your power management works) powers off the system. Runlevel 6 does much the same thing, except that at the end the system reboots.

Learn more here

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Openoffice3.2 RC1 has been Available for Downloaded

Announced yesterday the release of Openoffice3.2 RC1, the new release comes with new features and improvements. Note that the final release of Openoffice 3.2 is planned for January 2010. Note:- This is still in RC version so not recommended for production systems.

The features of Openoffice3.2 RC1:

1. Faster start up times


2. ODF Support


3. Proprietary File Support


4. Support for Postscript based OpenType fonts


5. Autocorrect word completion


6. Mediawiki support moved to an Extension


7. Cell borders now support multiple selection


8. Autofill now handles additional cases


9. Improvements to sort


10. Better handling of merged cells


11. Complex copy and paste, full story

Download here

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HOWTO : ipod touch 3G/iphone sync over USB without jailbreaking under Karmic

All credits should go to :

Paul McEnery, stonecut & marcan and ubuntuforum

Here we go :

1. Add on sources.list the bellow line
   deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/pmcenery/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
   
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list



2. Install the following necessary packages
   
sudo apt-get install gvfs gvfs-backends gvfs-bin gvfs-fuse libgvfscommon0 ifuse libgpod libiphone-utils libiphone0 python-iphone ibplist++1 libplist-utils python-plist libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-udeb libusbmuxd1 usbmuxd



3. Edit the FUSE config file.
   
sudo gedit /etc/fuse.conf

   -> Remove the “#” in front of “user_allow_other”, save and exit.
   Next, open “System” -> “Administration” -> “Users and Groups” in Ubuntu Menu.
   Click on the little key at the bottom to unlock it for making changes. Then, select your username and click on “Manage Groups”.
   
   Find the “fuse” group and double-click on it. Make a checkmark next to your name in the window that opens. Click on OK and close all dialogs. You’re now in the “fuse” group.
   Next, completely log out and in again – do a reboot to be safe. This is important !
   Open up a terminal again. Let’s verify we’re really in the “fuse” group:
   
   We can now mount the phone as regular user after connecting it, run
   
ps ax | grep usbmuxd

   to verify that usbmuxd is listening if you want):
   
ifuse /mnt/ipod/

   We can also unmount as regular user (a sudo shouldn’t be necessary):
   
fusermount -u /mnt/ipod/


4. Prepare ipod itunes directory :
   Ok, now mount the device with “ifuse /mnt/ipod/” (if not still mounted) and create the “iTunes_Control/Device” directory:
   
mkdir /mnt/ipod/iTunes_Control/Device/

   Then, get your UUID:
   
lsusb -v | grep -i iSerial

   It’s the first number and should be 40 characters long. Then, run:
   
ipod-read-sysinfo-extended

   (mountpoint here is /mnt/ipod/)
   This should generate a file named iTunes_Control/Device/SysInfoExtended.
   Make sure it’s not empty and whatnot; it should be a large-ish plist (XML file) with a bunch of info.
   
fusermount -u /mnt/ipod/



5. Reboot your computer


6. Plug the ipod : you should see it appear on the desktop
   and it should now be
   
   
   
   1. directly mounted in rhythmbox and you can add music files (transfer rate still slow but acceptable)
   
   
   2. mounted in gtkpod but you'll have to launch the "ifuse /mnt/ipod".
   
   
   3. NOT visible in amarok 2.2.1 and still haven't figured out why...
      rhyhmbox is unable to remove music files, so please use the previous gtkpod part either to remove files or add videos to the ipod.
   
   Hopefully amarok will handle it soon so everything can be performed from the same app (and gtkpod is a real pain !).



7. That's all folks
   Hope this helps,

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How to Connect onto OPEN / WEP WLAN via Terminal | Linux

When you lost your network manager on Ubuntu or another linux distro, you will need command line to help you, so can connect on internet or network connection. Network manager is a GUI application that can make ease us to configure our wireless card to be connected on wireless connection. We will share how to connect on wireless connection using terminal, this way can help you when your network manager was disappearing on kicker :P or if you have been using linux server.

Note: replace yourinterface with your wireless interface.
Open terminal to check the name of wireless interface,

iwconfig



1. Connecting to an OPEN / WEP WLAN (DHCP)
   Note: for OPEN WLAN DHCP, please follow line b and c.
   
   
   
   1. iwconfig yourinterface mode managed key yourwepkey(128 bit WEP use 26 hex characters, 64 bit WEP uses 10)
   
   
   2. iwconfig yourinterface essid youressid (Specify ESSID for the WLAN)
   
   
   3. dhclient yourinterface(to receive an IP address, netmask, DNS server and default gateway from the Access Point)


2. Connecting to an OPEN / WEP WLAN (Manual IP Setup)
   Note: for open, please follow line b - e.
   It may be necessary to run some packet capture software (e.g. Ethereal) to determine the IP addresses of both the Default Gateway and DNS servers.
   
   
   
   1. iwconfig yourinterface mode managed key yourwepkey (128 bit WEP use 26 hex characters, 64 bit WEP uses 10)
   
   
   2. iwconfig yourinterface essid youressid (Specify ESSID for the WLAN)
   
   
   3. ifconfig yourinterface youripaddress netmask yoursubnetmask
   
   
   4. route add default gw yourgateway (Configure your default gateway; usually the IP of the Access Point)
   
   
   5. echo nameserver yourdnsserver >> /etc/resolve.conf (Configure your DNS server)

iwconfig Commands:
Note: replace [interface] with your interface name as required (e.g. eth1, wlan0, ath0 etc.)

iwconfig [interface] mode master (set the card to act as an access point mode)

iwconfig [interface] mode managed (set card to client mode on a network with an access point)

iwconfig [interface] mode ad-hoc (set card to peer to peer networking or no access point mode)

iwconfig [interface] mode monitor (set card to RFMON mode our favourite)

iwconfig [interface] essid any (with some cards you may disable the ESSID checking)

iwconfig [interface] essid “your ssid_here” (configure ESSID for network)

iwconfig [interface] key 1111-1111-1111-1111 (set 128 bit WEP key)

iwconfig [interface] key 11111111 (set 64 bit WEP key)

iwconfig [interface] key s:mykey (set key as an ASCII string)

iwconfig [interface] key off (disable WEP key)

iwconfig [interface] key open (sets open mode, no authentication is used and card may accept non-encrypted sessions)

iwconfig [interface] channel [channel no.] (set a channel 1-14)

iwconfig [interface] channel auto (automatic channel selection)

iwconfig [interface] freq 2.422G (channels can also be specified in GHz)

iwconfig [interface] ap 11:11:11:11:11:11 (Force card to register AP address)

iwconfig [interface] rate 11M (card will use the rate specified)

iwconfig [interface] rate auto (select automatic rate)

iwconfig [interface] rate auto 5.5M (card will use the rate specified and any rate below as required)


ifconfig Commands:
Note: replace [interface] with your interface name as required (e.g. eth1, wlan0, ath0 etc.)

ifconfig [interface] up (bring up specified interface)

ifconfig [interface] down (take down specified interface)

ifconfig [interface] [IP address] netmask [subnet-mask] (manually set IP and subnet-mask details)

ifconfig [interface] hw ether [MAC] (Change the wireless cards MAC address, specify in format 11:11:11:11:11:11)

More detail on Madwifi Docs

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Shuttleworth Stepping Down as Canonical Head, Silber New CEO in 2010

After five years as CEO of Canonical Ltd., Mark Shuttleworth is stepping down from that role, as current Canonical COO Jane Silber steps up as the new executive leader of the popular Linux distribution vendor.

The changeover is starting now, and will be effective on March 1, 2010.

Outside observers might get more than a little jolt at the news, but in reality Shuttleworth and Silber have shared many of the same responsibilities leading Canonical since Silber joined the company in 2004. This shift represents a definite change, but not a radical one.

As COO, Silber's primary focus has been delivering execution of the strategic visions of Shuttleworth as CEO, she explained in a phone briefing earlier today. As CEO, Silber will capitalize on her strengths as a operational leader to focus Canonical on their current strategic goals, while Shuttleworth will provide strategic support as he focuses on product design and development.

Both executives strongly emphasized that the new leadership will not represent a major shift in strategy for Canonical: don't look for the company to suddenly focus solely on enterprise business at the expense of other aspects of its business. Silber and Shuttleworth have been leading Canonical together for quite some time, and much of Canonical's strategy has been created by these two and the rest of the executive team all along.

This change, in Shuttleworth's own words, is subtle. He kindly gave me an example during the call, highlighting the role of Neil Levine, VP, Corporate Services, who currently reports to Shuttleworth. Shuttleworth described his relationship with Levine as working to build a strategy for Levine's area of expertise, while Levine delivers metrics and execution plans to Silber in her role as COO.

Under the new management, Levine would deliver and implement metrics and execution plans to Silber, while Shuttleworth would support Levine with strategy planning.

And what will Shuttleworth be doing? According to his blog announcement, "I’ll focus my Canonical energy on product design, partnerships and customers. Those are the areas that I enjoy most and also the areas where I can best shape the impact we have on open source and the technology market."

These areas represent a real passion for Shuttleworth, who also plans to continue his roles on the Ubuntu Community Council and the Ubuntu Technical Board. By embedding himself further in the community and product development aspects of Canonical, he hopes to be able to delver more visions for the company while Silber effectively steers the ship where she believes it should sail.

More detail

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