As seen on identi.ca/twitter this morning, Ubuntu 10.04 will be codenamed “Lucid Lynx”.
Thoughts?
Lucid Lynx? Ubuntu 10.04 Codename Announced
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Tag Archives: Ubuntu
Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic Koala” Alpha 5 Reviewed
I very briefly tried out the fifth alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10 “Karmic Koala” tonite and I thought I would share some of my immediate impressions with the rest of you. To sum it up, I hope others are having better luck with it than I did.
System
The machine that I installed on is a Dell Latitude D630. That is a Core 2 Duo 2.10GHz, 2G RAM, 80G HDD, Integrated Intel video and Intel 3945ABG wireless adapter. It is pretty standard hardware as far as I’m concerned–the intel hardware is all supported just fine.
Negatives
I installed using the alpha 5 alternate installer (text based). I used LVM + encryption for my partitioning and otherwise used all default settings, but my problems started before the installer was even finished. Actually, I don’t know if I can accurately say that because the installer never actually did finish. It got to the point of adding the user(s) and then hung. I finally decided to reboot the machine and see what state it was in.. maybe it could be salvaged. Luckily it seemed to be in working bootable order. at least at first glance..
Some of you may remember that I’m a dvorak user. Most of the time this doesn’t cause any problems as I’m the only user on my machine and I can configure the keyboard anyway I’d like. There are those few exceptions however where it ends up causing issues. This was one of them.
When I tried logging into my new installation I noticed the keyboard settings weren’t in place. It was still trying to use qwerty, even though I had used dvorak throughout the installation. I tried setting it manually, which worked during my session, but didn’t persist. I even tried reinstalling the console-setup package to alter the system-wide keyboard. That didn’t seem to take effect either.
I noticed some other oddities as well, most of them linked back to the keyboard layout issue.
Positives
On the positive side I was very impressed with the improved boot time and splash screen. I didn’t time the boot, but I want to say the speed was improved. The graphics were also a bit cleaned up. Ohh, and the horrible GDM graphic from 9.04 was gone as well!
I was also glad to see that ext4 is the new default filesystem. I’ve been running ext4 since it become “stable” and I’ve had no problems with it at all. It is *much* faster than ext3 as well as most of the other common file systems.
The addition of GRUB2 will be very interesting I’m sure. I didn’t get to play with it much, but I’m glad to see that is finally being used. I understand there are a lot of technical improvements in GRUB2 vs the traditional “legacy” GRUB.
I also noticed that some of the issues I’ve had in the past with Intel video were gone. This is due to the replacement of EXA with UXA. For any of you Intel users, this is a big one to be excited about, particularly if you have issues currently on Ubuntu 9.04.
Conclusion
In conclusion I think there are going to be a lot of very noticeable improvements in Ubuntu 9.10 and I’ll be happy to use it. Based on my keyboard issues however it will be hard for me to use at this point. I’ve gone back to Ubuntu 9.04 for the meantime. Perhaps I’ll try it again when it hits Beta.
What regressions or improvements have you found with Ubuntu 9.10 releases? Are you excited to see it coming or are you going to be reluctant to upgrade? I’d really like to hear that other people are having better luck than I did. Chances are, considering my problems were dvorak related, you probably did.
Ubuntu 9.04 “Jaunty” Released: Torrents Available Here
What a difference thirty minutes can make. I checked for the final release before I left for work, nothing. I checked when I got into work and there it was! I also noticed that the main site was already lousy with traffic and it is only going to get worse. I thought it’d be a good idea to share the .torrent links from here, which will allow you to download the latest image without affecting the main site or any of the mirrors.
Find your preferred version below and start downloading. Also, please be a good citizen and seed at least 1:1.
note: alternate images are text-based installers. desktop images are live-CD installers.
Update: added Edubuntu torrents.
Update: added Netbook Remix (no .torrents) metalink
Ubuntu
ubuntu-9.04-alternate-amd64.iso
ubuntu-9.04-alternate-i386.iso
ubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso
ubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso
ubuntu-9.04-server-amd64.iso
ubuntu-9.04-server-i386.iso
Kubuntu
kubuntu-9.04-alternate-amd64.iso
kubuntu-9.04-alternate-i386.iso
kubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso
kubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso
Mythbuntu
mythbuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso
mythbuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso
Ubuntu Studio
ubuntustudio-9.04-alternate-amd64.iso
ubuntustudio-9.04-alternate-i386.iso
Xubuntu
xubuntu-9.04-alternate-amd64.iso
xubuntu-9.04-alternate-i386.iso
xubuntu-9.04-desktop-amd64.iso
xubuntu-9.04-desktop-i386.iso
Edubuntu
edubuntu-9.04-addon-amd64.iso
edubuntu-9.04-addon-i386.iso
Netbook Remix
jaunty-netboox-remix-i386.metalink
Announcing the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.04
The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop and Server editions and Ubuntu Netbook Remix. Codenamed “Jaunty Jackalope”, 9.04 continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.
We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable, and suitable for testing by any user.
Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop Edition brings faster boot speeds and a new notification system to your everyday computing experience.
Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition makes it easy to experiment with cloud computing using Eucalyptus on your own servers, and sports an improved mail server integration stack based on postfix and dovecot.
Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix brings a new, easy-to-use interface that is designed to be used on the smaller screens of netbook devices.
The Ubuntu 9.04 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu, also reach RC status today.
The final release of Ubuntu 9.04 is scheduled for 23 April 2009 and will be supported for 18 months on both desktops and servers. Users requiring a longer support lifetime may choose to continue using Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, with security support until 2011 on the desktop and 2013 on the server, rather than upgrade to 9.04.
Before installing or upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04 please review the instructions and caveats in the release notes:
In addition, there are a small number of known bugs in the release candidate that will be fixed before the Ubuntu 9.04 release, but warrant highlighting for your attention: Known Issues
About The Release Candidate
—————————
The purpose of the Release Candidate is to solicit one last round of testing before the final release. Here are ways that you can help:
* Upgrade from Ubuntu or Kubuntu 8.10 to the Release Candidate by following the instructions in the release notes referenced above.
* Participate in installation testing using the Release Candidate CD images, by following the testing and reporting instructions at
ISO Testing
Desktop features
—————-
Faster boot times: improvements to Ubuntu’s start-up process mean you can spend less time waiting and more time being productive with your Ubuntu desktop.
Notification system: notifications, those alerts that signify a change of status on your system or whether someone is contacting you, have been made consistent across applications to provide a pleasing, intuitive experience for users.
Server features
—————
Cloud computing: Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (powered by Eucalyptus) puts you in control of your own cloud computing security and infrastructure, compatible with Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) but running on your own servers behind your firewall. Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04 will also see Ubuntu available on Amazon EC2 — making it the most complete cloud environment available today.
Turn-key mail servers: the dovecot-postfix package in Ubuntu 9.04 provides an all-in-one solution for deploying SMTP, POP3, and IMAP services with integrated server-side filtering support.
Netbook Remix features
———————-
Built-for-purpose interface: favourite applications and websites are just a click away, making Ubuntu Netbook Remix a great choice for netbook users.
Faster boot times: improvements to Ubuntu’s start-up process mean you can spend less time waiting and more time being productive with your Ubuntu Netbook desktop.
Ubuntu Netbook Remix is known to work on these netbook models:
Asus Eee PC 900
Acer Aspire One
Dell Mini 9
Kubuntu features
—————-
Kubuntu, built on the amazing KDE 4.2, brings users a complete, full-featured KDE4 desktop with many new applications and innovations.
Please see Kubuntu Features for details.
Xubuntu features
—————-
Xubuntu comes with the light-weight Xfce 4.6 desktop environment for those who want a desktop that is easy to use, but places particular emphasis on conserving system resources.
Please see Xubuntu Features for further details.
Ubuntu Studio features
———————-
Ubuntu Studio includes updates to input hardware and sound device management from Ubuntu Desktop and a complete suite of tools for generation of audio, video, and graphic content.
Ubuntu Studio 9.04 also features a streamlined installation process, giving you a familiar Ubuntu desktop and all of your studio applications in a
single step.
The realtime kernel flavor (linux-rt) has returned and is again used by default in Ubuntu Studio. The rtirq script (http://alsa.opensrc.org/Rtirq)
is also now included in the ubuntustudio-audio package. It is recommended that users not use the new EXT4 filesystem with the linux-rt kernel on production systems due to some reports of instability.
Jack-audio-connection-kit now includes support for the Free Firewire Audio Drivers (FFADO, www.ffado.org).
Mythbuntu features
——————
As of 9.04, Mythbuntu fits better into the Ubuntu ecosystem by using the same build methods as all other remixes and derivatives. Because of this, 9.04 has been a focus around stability and preparing for an easy transition to the next version of MythTV (0.22) later this year.
Unfortunately, the main Mythbuntu website, Mythbuntu is temporarily down due to a problem with the hosting provider. RC images
will still be available at Mythbuntu . We’ll restore the other mirrors as soon as the main site returns.
A more complete tour of the features new in 9.04 can be found at 9.04 Overview
About Ubuntu
————
Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, netbooks and servers, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases. A
tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.
Professional services including support are available from Canonical and hundreds of other companies around the world. For more information about support, visit Support.
To Get the Ubuntu 9.04 Release Candidate
—————————————-
To upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 Release Candidate from Ubuntu 8.10, follow these instructions:
Or, to perform a new installation or try out 9.04 “live” from CD, download the Ubuntu 9.04 Release Candidate here (choose the mirror closest to you):
Asia:
* http://ftp.tcc.edu.tw/iso/Ubuntu/9.04 (Taiwan)
Europe:
* http://ubuntu.univ-nantes.fr/ubuntu-cd/9.04 (France)
* http://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/ubuntu.iso/9.04 (Germany)
* http://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (Greece)
* http://ie.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Ireland)
* http://nl.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04 (Netherlands)
* http://es.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Spain)
* http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Sweden)
* http://ubuntu-releases.datahop.it/9.04 (United Kingdom)
North America:
* http://less.cogeco.net/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (Canada)
* http://mirrors.cat.pdx.edu/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (United States)
* http://ubuntu.media.mit.edu/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (United States)
Oceania/Australia:
* http://ubuntu-releases.optus.net/9.04 (Australia)
* http://ftp.citylink.co.nz/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (New Zealand)
Rest of the world:
http://releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Great Britain)
Please download using BitTorrent if possible. See
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BitTorrent for more information about
using BitTorrent.
Feedback and Helping
——————–
If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at
Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help turn this Release Candidate into the best release of Ubuntu ever. Please note that, where possible, we prefer that bugs be reported using the tools provided, rather than by visiting Launchpad directly. Instructions can be found at Reporting Bugs.
If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but are not sure, first try asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel on FreeNode, on the Ubuntu Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu forums:
http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/
More Information
—————-
You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this preview release on our website, IRC channel and wiki. If you are new to Ubuntu, please visit:
http://www.ubuntu.com/
To sign up for future Ubuntu announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu’s very low volume announcement list at:
http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-announce
Four Years and Counting..
I was taking a look at my blog stats the other day and realized that this post will make post number seven-hundred on this blog. Seven-hundred posts since February 2006. I can hardly believe it! This April also marks four years since I started using Ubuntu (the 5.04 release). I can’t believe how fast the time has gone–a lot has happened in that time, both personally and professionally. I credit all of my professional success in that time to finding Ubuntu, and then passionately trying to learn as much as I could about it.
When I first found Ubuntu I was working part-time at a support center, making minimum wage. I had no marketable skills and not working very hard toward gaining any either. Looking back I wonder what I was thinking! Where was I going? It’s almost frightening now to think about.
After I found Ubuntu I realized that there was a world of information right at my fingertips, and based on its very nature all I needed to do was open the hood and take a look! I quickly learned the basics, and started documenting my notes on a website that I setup on an old PIII under my desk. This site began as a place to simply document my notes and has since grown into one of the most widely used Ubuntu-specific resources on the web!
Within a year of finding Ubuntu I had taught myself enough to become a professional Linux Trainer, traveling the country and teaching for companies like Red Hat, Oracle, Dell, and more. There were many times in class when I would just sit back and wonder how did I ever get here. I was being paid to talk about the wonders of Linux.
I have since stopped training (primarily due to the travel) and I now work as a contractor for the US Department of Defense as a System and Network Administrator. I thoroughly enjoy my job and enjoy getting up in the morning every day. It strikes me again and again that all of the skills that I’ve learned, and the path that I’ve taken in my life, all started with finding and embracing Ubuntu and learning as much as I could! I want to thank everyone that has taken time to help me along the way, and for everyone that has been so supportive.
In thinking about how much I’ve learned and how much I’ve grown by teaching myself (for the most part) these skills I can only imagine where I might be if I had someone to mentor me along the way. If I had someone along the way to push me in the right direction and be available to help with questions who knows how different things might be.
On that note, I have been thinking about taking on one or two people in a mentoring role. I’d very much enjoy the chance to be able to continue teaching, and I’m sure there are some of you out there that would like a brain to pick. If you are interested in something like this, and expect to have time to put toward regular training, please let me know. I imagine something along the lines of scheduled training/discussion via IM/IRC and to work together on projects throughout the community.
Join me in #ubuntu-tutorials on irc.freenode.net and we’ll see if we can work something out.
Thinking About Covering More Than Just Ubuntu…
I’ve been doing some thinking about how I might be able to light a fire under this blog again and get back to a regular post schedule. I feel like I’ve exhausted much of the Ubuntu subect matter that this blog has generally focused on. In that regard I’ve been tempted to post a number of technical artices that relate to other *NIX systems, such as CentOS, FreeBSD, Arch Linux, etc. The main reason that I have not is that the historic content and name of the blog make me feel like I’m limited to Ubuntu related content as much as possible. (As well as being syndicated on the Ubuntu Planet)
So I am curious to hear back from you regarding your thoughts on opening this blog up to additional topics and platforms.
This would include many tips and tricks I’ve come across in working on RHEL/CentOS at work for the past six months as well as other systems I’ve been tinkering with, like FreeBSD, Gentoo and Arch Linux.
I realize there may be topics that extend beyond the current reader base, but my hope is that it’ll become a resource for much more than just the Ubuntu crowd. We are all in the same boat after all.
I’m going to sit on this for a bit.. please comment and let me know your thoughts. If you are open to the idea, what topics, distributions or tools are you interested in?
Standard Process for Restoring IPtables at Boot?
I got to thinking about something the other day when I rebuilt my webserver using Debian 5.0. How does Debian/Ubuntu standardize on reloading the iptables rules at boot time?
I know that Red Hat and its variants use the /etc/sysconfig/iptables file as a save and restore point, and there is an init script, iptables, that starts at boot prior to the network script, but is there a similar standard on Debian/Ubuntu?
The solution I’ve come up with (and I’m very curious to hear what others have done) is the following:
First, I manually enter my base iptables rules…
iptables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -m state --state RELATED,ESTABLISHED -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s 17.88.115.150/32 -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s 111.70.51.51/32 -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -s 16.10.111.177/32 -p tcp -m state --state NEW -m tcp --dport 22 -j ACCEPT
iptables -A INPUT -j REJECT --reject-with icmp-host-unreachable
...etc, etc.
*(ip addresses have been scrambled to protect their identity) 
I then run:
iptables-save > /etc/default/iptables
From this point forward I manually update my ruleset by editing the file directly with a text editor.
To reload these rules at boot-time I have added a line to my /etc/network/interfaces configuration as follows:
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet static
address foo
netmask bar
gateway baz
dns-search domain.tld
dns-nameservers foo
pre-up iptables-restore < /etc/default/iptables
That last line tells the machine that, before you activate these network settings, run iptables-restore and read from the file /etc/default/iptables. This seems to work well enough so far, but I’m still curious what others have done. Do you simply write an init script on your own and maintain the ruleset within that file? Do you use a file similar to what I’ve done, but source it via an init script? I’m curious, as there does not seem to be a standard that I’m aware of.
Upgrading Using the Alternate CD (8.04 -> 8.10)
Continuing the series on upgrading Ubuntu to 8.10 “Intrepid” today I’ll outline using a downloaded CD for the upgrade. If you already have the CD downloaded there is no need to use one of the previous methods and use your bandwidth. You already have the packages available on the CD, and you can use that as a source.
What you’ll need to do is insert your 8.10 “Intrepid” CD into the machine to be upgraded. You should recieve a graphical notification that a new version is available and the upgrade process should begin.
If for whatever reason this process does not start automagically you can manually begin the process with the following:
gksu "sh /cdrom/cdromupgrade"
If you are a Kubuntu user you can begin the process with this command:
kdesu "sh /cdrom/cdromupgrade"
Good luck.
Install Xubuntu Desktop alongside Ubuntu
If you’re new to Ubuntu you may or may not be aware of the fact that we like our choices here. One of the big choices is the desktop environment that you work in. The big two are Gnome and KDE, but there are quite a few more. Xubuntu, or Ubuntu using the XFCE desktop environment, is another official release variant from the Ubuntu community. If you’ve never tried it out I’ve got instructions below on how to install it in parallel to your existing desktop, giving you the option of selecting one at login.
Installing the Xubuntu Desktop
Installing the XFCE desktop environment can be done by way of the Ubuntu package repositories. It has been simplified with the creation of a meta-package, which is a simple package containing a longer list of required packages. To install the XFCE environment is done with the following:
sudo apt-get install xubuntu-desktop
When this is finished you’ll need to logout of your current session and select XFCE as the next session you’d like to use. This option is found on the login screen. Look for “Sessions” and select XFCE. This can be made the default or just a temporary change.
Being able to select the session, or the environment that we’re going to use gives us the opportunity to try out multiple desktop environments without needing to reinstall or affect our current system much. If you don’t like one, simply install and select a different session.
If you’d like to remove the XFCE environment at some point you can use:
sudo apt-get remove xubuntu-desktopsudo apt-get autoremove
Presenting at OSCON 2008 : July 21-25, 2008
Some of you might remember, long ag, that I asked for some feedback regarding a presentation at Ubuntu Live 2008. Well, as it turns out the Ubuntu Live conference was cancelled by my presentation was migrated to OSCON instead. I’m pretty excited to be going to OSCON this year, especially as a speaker. I went last year, but just to work in a booth as a volunteer. This year will be a much more fun!
If you’re going to be at OSCON come and say hello. I’ll be presenting:
LTS Tutorials : Using Ubuntu in the Enterprise – 10:45 on 23 Jul 2008
I’ll be covering things like automated installations with kickstart and preseed, automated “stack” setup with the server installer (LAMP, etc), basic security with ufw, and more. I think it’ll be a lot of fun and I hope to be able to show how Ubuntu Server can make Enterprise Linux simpler while remaining just as stable and secure as anything else.
If you haven’t yet registered I’ve outlined some of the available discount codes below. If you can get the time, and if the discount help, OSCON is *really* a lot of fun and the education you get is worth every penny.
OSCON Registration Discount Codes
os08fts -65% off with proof of full-time student status: a copy of ID & class schedule demonstrating enrollment in 12 or more units per semester/quarter. Fax to (707) 829-1342. Please use os08fts in the discount field.
os08team -10% off per person if you register 3 or more people from one company. Please use os08team in discount field. Proof of status of employment (copy of business card) for each attendee must be faxed to (707) 829-1342.
os08np -40% off with proof of full time employment at a non-profit organization and verification of non-profit status (501 c3 or equivalent). Fax to (707) 829-1342. Please use os08np in the discount field.
os08gov -10% off with proof of full-time employment with a government agency. Use discount code os08gov, and fax proof to (707) 829-1342.
os08as -25% off with proof of full time academic employment status on organization letterhead. Fax to (707) 829-1342. Please use os08as in discount field.