Ubuntu Tutorials

Those of you that follow the Ubuntu development mailing lists may have already come across this news, but it has been announced that Ubuntu will change the default search provider in Firefox from Google to Yahoo!. This is based on a revenue sharing agreement between Canonical and Yahoo!, allowing Canonical to continue to support the infrastructure required to continue to develop the distribution.

With this change, whatever your search bar default is will also match your default start page. If your search default is Google, your start page will be Google. If it is set to Yahoo!, your start page will also be Yahoo!.

Personally, I like the idea of Canonical continuing in its goal of becoming a profitable, successful business. More money for Canonical means more developers, which means continued improvements and stability.

On the other hand, it has been years since I’ve used anything other than Google for web searches. It think it would feel very foreign to use something else.

Perhaps I’ll change my default search to Yahoo! for the rest of the week, just to see what the change will be like.

What do you think about this change? Will you change your default search back to Google? Stick with Yahoo! and help support Canonical? Use a different browser altogether?

If this article has been helpful, please consider linking to it.

The packaging presentation this morning really got me excited about getting involved in that area of Ubuntu so I put a few things together in order to try and keep me on this road.

1. I took a lot of notes and have a lot of links for reference and study.
2. I’m putting together a schedule to try and keep me on track.
3. I put together a new blog to document my progress and pitfalls.

If you’re interested in following my journey toward MOTU add http://blog.zelut.org/feed/ to your Feed Reader.

I’d love to get other people interested and educated about packaging by way of that blog.  If you are MOTU and want to help keep me on track please stop by.  If you’re a casual user that would like to start participating please also stop by.  Remember, the more skilled people we have handling and improving packages the better Ubuntu will be!

I worked on 5 bugs today.  A few of them were new bugs that I found in Hardy, a few of them were follow-ups with previous bugs that I’d worked on or submitted.  I think the 5-A-Day is a great program, and I’m glad to see so many people have jumped on board.  I’m going to try and continue working on it.

…I just hope I can get the bugs worked out of update-signature so I can actually share the bugs I’ve worked on

I installed Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy” Alpha 4 a day or two ago and I finally got some time to poke around with some of the new features. The new features that are of the most interest to me are the security related features such as firewalling, SELinux, etc.

note: SELinux will not be default in Ubuntu 8.04 but the Ubuntu Hardened team has been working hard on getting it usable. If you’d like to help in the testing and development of SELinux on Ubuntu join our team!

The feature that I played with this afternoon is Ubuntu’s “Uncomplicated Firewall”. I have to say that when I first heard we were going to reinvent the wheel again (I mean, we have iptables, right?) I was a little discouraged. After playing with ufw I have to say I am pretty impressed.

ufw is simply a front-end to iptables. We’re still using the same iptables/netfilter underneath, just not requiring iptables syntax–trying to make things a little more “for human beings” I suppose you could say.

Now I may not be the “standard” Ubuntu user as seen by the rest of the Linux world. I know my way around Linux, spend the majority of my time on the command line and even teach Linux for a living. What I’m trying to say is I’m familiar enough with iptables, so I wondered how we could possibly make it easier. Well they did a good job. Here are a few examples:

sudo ufw default deny – sets the default policies to deny (drop)

sudo ufw allow 22/tcp – allows tcp connections on port 22

sudo ufw deny 25 – denies connections on port 25 (tcp/udp)

sudo ufw allow proto udp 192.168.0.1 port 53 to 192.168.0.2 port 53 – we can even be specific between source and destination ports and ips.

… you get the idea. It’s really simple, nearly human readable syntax. I still think iptables is pretty easy, but I think I’ll be perfectly comfortable using ufw as a front-end to iptables moving forward with Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy”.

Welcome to Hardy Heron Alpha-4, which will in time become Ubuntu 8.04.

Pre-releases of Hardy are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage.  They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.

Alpha 4 is the fourth in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Hardy development cycle. The Alpha images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Hardy. You can download it here:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Ubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Kubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Edubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/jeos/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Ubuntu JeOS)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/gobuntu/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Gobuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (UbuntuStudio)

See http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Mirrors for a list of mirrors.

Alpha 4 includes several new features that are ready for large-scale testing.  Please refer to http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/alpha4 for information on changes in Ubuntu and https://wiki.kubuntu.org/HardyHeron/Alpha4/Kubuntu for changes in Kubuntu.

This is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs.  For a list of known bugs (that you don’t need to report if you encounter), please see: http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/alpha4

If you’re interested in following the changes as we further develop Hardy, have a look at the hardy-changes mailing list:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/hardy-changes

We also suggest that you subscribe to the ubuntu-devel-announce list if you’re interested in following Ubuntu development. This is a low-traffic list (a few posts a week) carrying announcements of approved specifications, policy changes, alpha releases, and other interesting events.

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce

Bug reports should go to the Ubuntu bug tracker:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu

For those of you that want to help make Ubuntu the best it can be I would encourage you to help us test the latest alpha release, codename “Tribe 4″. I have been running since Tribe 2 on one of my machines and it has been surprisingly stable. There have been some bugs, as is to be expected, and they’re getting reported (from me anyway), but the more of us we can get testing the more bugs can get squashed before the final release.

One thing to think about is the longer you wait to help test the less time they have to fix bugs before the final release. Details below:

Welcome to Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 4, which will in time become Ubuntu 7.10.

Pre-releases of Gutsy are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.

Tribe 4 is the fourth in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Gutsy development cycle. The Tribe images are known to be reasonably free of show-stopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Gutsy. You can download it here:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/gutsy/tribe-4/ (Ubuntu desktop and Server)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/gutsy/tribe-4/ (Kubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/gutsy/tribe-4/ (Edubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/gutsy/tribe-4/ (Xubuntu)

See http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Mirrors for a list of mirrors.

Some new exciting features have landed which cannot wait to be tried and tested. Please refer to the following web pages for details:

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/tribe4 (Ubuntu)
https://wiki.kubuntu.org/GutsyGibbon/Tribe4/Kubuntu (Kubuntu)

This is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs. Among these are the following (so you don’t need to bother reporting these if you encounter them):

* When starting the Ubuntu live CD, or on a freshly installed Ubuntu system, you will sometimes get a crash report for the Deskbar applet. Please ignore this crash.
(https://launchpad.net/bugs/131247)

* The desktop CD does not install translation support from network repositories. Please use System -> Administration -> Language Support to add translations after the installation.
(https://launchpad.net/bugs/131294)

* On Kubuntu, OpenOffice.org does not start. Please install the package “openoffice.org-gnome” for now to make it work.
(https://launchpad.net/bugs/127944)

* The “Check CD” CD menu option does not work on the Kubuntu desktop CD. Unfortunately there is no workaround.
(https://launchpad.net/bugs/131209)

* On Edubuntu server installs, the “Building LTSP root” step takes a very long time (in the order of 15 minutes) without visible progress. It will eventually finish, though.
(https://launchpad.net/bugs/121547)

If you’re interested in following the changes as we further develop Gutsy, have a look at the gutsy-changes mailing list:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/gutsy-changes

Please be aware that this list usually has several dozen mails every day.

We also suggest that you subscribe to the ubuntu-devel-announce list if you’re interested in following Ubuntu development. This is a low-traffic list (a few posts a month) carrying announcements of
approved specifications, policy changes, alpha releases, and other interesting events.

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce

Bug reports should go to the Ubuntu bug tracker:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu

Enjoy!

As many of you know I have recently upgraded to the alpha of Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy” and, for the most part, things have been running just fine.  However, last nite, I tried to port some things from Thunderbird to Evolution and somehow lost all the contents of my Inbox.  I have searched thru my archives and I have tried to reply to most of you, but if I have missed you and you’ve emailed me over the last few weeks please send me a note again.  I’d hate to leave you hanging.

Update on Gutsy:

So far I have submitted three bugs, and otherwise things have run very well.

I’ve got a quick update tonite concerning coming into day 2 of using Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy”.  A few things that I’ve found so far…

1.  I recently checked out the AllPeers extension for Firefox.  It’s apparently broken in Gutsy.  I’m sure it might be made to work, but the best I could do was launch Firefox in safe mode (firefox -safe-mode) and disable / uninstall the AllPeers extension.
2. My machine now gives a beep when I close the lid.  I think I like it–it isn’t outright annoying… yet.
3. Everything seems to be in working order outside of the above changes.

I’ll have another tutorial coming up soon.  Forgive me for being lax on them.  I’ve been at OSCON / vacation

Attending Ubuntu Live this last week really inspired me to take a look at my community contributions and see what I can improve on.  One of the areas that I would like to improve on is bug testing and development contributions.  The first way I want to do this is testing and reporting for Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy”.

So, I have upgraded my machine and will be posting updates both here and to launchpad.  While Gutsy is still in alpha we still have enough time to make changes and improve on the most critical things.  By the time it gets to Beta and release client in many cases it is too late.

If you know what you are doing (not afraid of the command line and have a fallback machine if needed), you can use the following command to safely upgrade your machine to Gutsy.  REMEMBER, GUTSY IS STILL ALPHA SO DON’T EXPECT A LOT OF SUPPORT DURING THIS TIME.  USE AT YOUR OWN RISK, BUT KNOW THAT YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS AT THIS POINT ARE CRITICAL.

ALT-F2: gksudo "update-manager -c -d"

Good luck, please post any oddities to bugs.launchpad.net, and we’ll see you in October with a final product!

Welcome to Gutsy Gibbon Tribe 3, which will in time become Ubuntu 7.10.

Pre-releases of Gutsy are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, or even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.

Tribe 3 is the third in a series of milestone CD images that will be released throughout the Gutsy development cycle. The Tribe images are known to be reasonably free of show-stopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of Gutsy. You can download it here:

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/gutsy/tribe-3/ (Ubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/gutsy/tribe-3/ (Kubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/gutsy/tribe-3/ (Edubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/gutsy/tribe-3/ (Xubuntu)

See http://wiki.ubuntu.com/Mirrors for a list of mirrors.

Another set of new features landed in Tribe 3, and are ready for large-scale testing. Please refer to the following web pages for details:

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/tribe3 (Ubuntu)
https://wiki.kubuntu.org/GutsyGibbon/Tribe3/Kubuntu (Kubuntu)
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/GutsyGibbon/Tribe3/Xubuntu (Xubuntu)

This is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs. Among these are the following (so you don’t need to bother reporting these if you encounter them):

* The desktop CD hangs on a lot of systems, especially slower ones with little RAM. Sometimes it is just slow, sometimes it will hang eternally. If you experience this and waiting a bit longer does
not help, try to restart the computer and the live CD. If that still does not help, please use the alternate CD.
(https://launchpad.net/bugs/126964)

* On Edubuntu server installs, the “Building LTSP root” step takes a very long time (in the order of 15 minutes) without visible progress. It will eventually finish, though.
(https://launchpad.net/bugs/121547)

If the graphical system does not come up or is very slow, please file a bug against compiz:

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/compiz/+filebug

Please include a copy of the files ~/.xsession-errors and /var/log/Xorg.0.log, and the output of glxinfo and xdpyinfo.

If you’re interested in following the changes as we further develop Gutsy, have a look at the gutsy-changes mailing list:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/gutsy-changes

Please be aware that this list usually has several dozen mails every day.

We also suggest that you subscribe to the ubuntu-devel-announce list if you’re interested in following Ubuntu development. This is a low-traffic list (a few posts a month) carrying announcements of
approved specifications, policy changes, alpha releases, and other interesting events.

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce

Bug reports should go to the Ubuntu bug tracker:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu

Enjoy,

The Ubuntu Development Team
http://www.ubuntu.com