Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the second issue of UDN, the Ubuntu Desktop News. The previous issue was released more than six weeks ago, but we're sure you remember that we wrote "UDN will be randomly issued once in a while" :-)
Please note that there is no definitive format for UDN and that *you* can change it and make it better. Like the Ubuntu Desktop. If you want to contribute to UDN, just send a mail to the ubuntu-desktop mailing list! In this issue: * "Good day"? * Here comes the desktop lover * Snappier multimedia experience * New interface to install packages * What's new in the Dapper desktop? * Light on... ekiga * Interview with a desktop hero * Love tasks for Desktop lovers * Desktop Team meetings * Hug days * About the Desktop Team "Good day"? =========== One big event that happened in dapper is the promotion of avahi [1] to the main repository. Since this doesn't sound exciting, let's look at what it enables: share your bookmarks on the local network and browse the ones of other users (works with epiphany), or do the same for your music (works with rhythmbox), or talk with some people (works with ekiga), or even discover the shared desktop on your network (works with vino). Got the idea? Welcome to the zeroconf world: discover services on your local networks and use them without any configuration! [1] http://avahi.org/ Here comes the desktop lover ============================ In the last issue of UDN, some love tasks were proposed to help people start contributing to the Ubuntu Desktop. This is where the magic of the Ubuntu love stepped in: Alain Perry contributed a patch to change the default directory in the GTK+ file chooser (which was one of the love tasks). But Alain didn't stop there: he continued and wrote a patch for nautilus to make it use the Documents folder in the sidebar, so that it is consistent with the patched GTK+. Wooohoooo: Alain is a desktop lover and we love his contributions! Snappier multimedia experience ============================== Did you notice that there's no noticable delay any more when starting a new song in rhythmbox? And that seeking in totem is now working better than ever? GStreamer 0.10 [2] has landed in dapper and more and more applications are now using it. While it still have some rough edges (DVD support is not available yet, for example), it makes the multimedia experience really smoother. Not all plugins are installed by default since some of them cannot be in main for legal reasons, but more plugins are available in the universe and multiverse repositories. [2] http://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/ New interface to install packages ================================= More and more packages are getting in Ubuntu. This is a great thing since it gives more choise to the user. But it was getting difficult to find the package you're looking for in gnome-app-install: lots of packages generally means scalability issue in an interface. Sebastian Heinlein and Michael Vogt worked on this and proposed a new interface for gnome-app-install. After some comments and some small changes, this new interface [3] is what is available in dapper now. Fast and good work! [3] http://people.ubuntu.com/~mvo/gnome-app-install/new-look/gai--new-look.png What's new in the Dapper desktop? ================================= Are you wondering what's new in dapper? Well, as usual, there's a lot of small (and not so small) new features and fixes. Here's a quick highlight on some of them. Since the last issue of UDN, three new GNOME versions have been uploaded: 2.13.4, 2.13.5 and 2.13.90. It really shows how active our lovely packagers are: dapper users could benefit from all the new GNOME goodness right after the GNOME releases. A small patch was added to evolution so that you can use bogofilter [4] to detect spam in your mails, instead of spamassassin [5]. You really don't have to live with spam, and you can choose how to live without them now :-) [4] http://www.bogofilter.org/ [5] http://spamassassin.apache.org/ To offer an even more integrated experience, people have been working on a GNOME frontend for the X-Chat IRC client. It's called XChat-GNOME [6] and has been rocking for some time. And it's now the default IRC client in Ubuntu. You'll feel interface love when you'll try it. [6] http://xchat-gnome.navi.cx/ New versions of the notification framework have come in, with interesting UI experimentations for the notifications. There has been the old look [7], a new bubble look [8], and another standard look with a small close button [9]. But it might change again with the new version that will be in dapper soon ;-) [7] http://people.ubuntu.com/~mvo/notification-daemon/notify_unchanged_small.png [8] http://people.ubuntu.com/~mvo/notification-daemon/bubble.png [9] http://people.ubuntu.com/~mvo/notification-daemon/notify_right_top_small.png The PenguinTV software [10] is now packaged. It's a new feed reader, but it is a bit different from the other ones: it has been designed so that podcasts and video blogs work really nicely in it. [10] http://penguintv.sourceforge.net/ Note that the Dapper desktop also benefits from a lot of fixes and updates made by the Debian developers. Many thanks to them! Light on... ekiga ================= Ekiga [11] is the new version of GnomeMeeting, with a new name, but also lots of new features and enhancements. Ekiga is a Voice Over IP software, and also features video calls. It uses standard protocols (SIP and H.323), which are enabling users to choose the software they use to communicate. The ekiga community also launched ekiga.net, a service that enables users to have a public SIP address so they can easily be reached. But ekiga can also connects to any SIP account, making it possible to have call-in and call-out with an external service provider. NAT traversal is of course included to make it easy for all users to use VoIP. You don't have to use ekiga to have VoIP, but it just works, so try it. And free your speech! Ekiga features: * audio and video calls (SIP and H.323 protocols) * zeroconf support (find people to talk with on the local network) * call-in (with an external provider) * call-out (with an external provider) [11] http://www.ekiga.org/ Interview with a desktop hero ============================= Daniel Holbach is working in various areas on Ubuntu: if you find a team where he's not participating, then this is nearly a bug (no, don't report it in malone): he's everywhere. But he is probably best known through all the love coming from this german Ubuntero. Let's talk a bit with the man behind the legent, most famous for his dogwalks. UDN: One of the photos I've seen of you is you with a flower. We could say that you're the incarnation of the Ubuntu love. What's the Ubuntu love for you? Daniel Holbach: Thanks for that assessment. :-) Ubuntu Love is the feeling that you get as soon as you enter the Ubuntu world. Your input and ideas are appreciated, you become a valued member of the team and feel hugged by life. I often felt the blazing energy when I talked people who just got involved and started to make things just work. Ubuntu Love is the kind of atmosphere that we should keep as the most precious aspect of our community. UDN: Did you ever do the famous Ubuntu circle with some people? If yes, is there a photo available? DH: I shall get one from the London sprint. ;-) UDN: It's kind of hard to believe, but you seem to be involved in a lot of teams in Ubuntu: MOTU, Desktop, Accessibility, and probably some other that you'll list for us. What's your favorite team and how do you manage to handle all the tasks? DH: You forgot the Bug Squashers team! To be honest, I can't really say which team I like best. Every team has its special "history", one longer, one shorter than the other. It's great I can get to know so many people and work together with them. UDN: Can you tell all our readers who is Murphy and why Murphy is well-known? DH: Murphy is my seven year old dog [12], a Tibetan Terrier (for our readers interested in the canine world) who even after such a long time manages to make me laugh with silly ideas she gets. (Dropping walnuts under my office chair, so I'd roll back and crush them for her, hump my leg whenever I arrive at a place with many people, I know...) The dogwalking breaks I take keep me sane, although pitti suspects me to work for a secret service during that time. [12] http://murphy.gplan.info/galleries/Murphy/tn_18.JPG UDN: I think you start working on Ubuntu as a MOTU, am I right? How did you progress from a simple user, to a MOTU and then to a I'm-touching-everything-except-the-kernel guy? DH: That's a good question. I started off as a Debian- and GNOME-User, filed (silly) bug reports, asked questions, started my own project for university and always pondered getting involved in projects like in Debian. Michael Vogt then invited me to test Ubuntu, I got to know some people and was amazed by the Ubuntu Love spirit. The possibility to just DOIT! - to help out with whatever you're good at or what interests you was the opportunity I finally jumped at and I was hugged for life: I met great people, I learnt a great deal and those people even value my work. UDN: I've heard you're having some... hrm, how can I say it... "interesting" discussions with Michael (Vogt) on phone. I also overheard you saying to Michael that you're not the one who likes to be kicked... What is the exact relation between Michael and you? :-) DH: Erm *mutter* ripped out of context *cough*. Michael is a great friend of mine - I'm very grateful for having had the opportunity to get to know him - he's considerate and helpful. When I'm thinking about something and don't manage to see the answer, he usually thinks in a different way, which often contains the enlightening bit, that helped. About our phoning habits: we always phone while one of us is either washing the dishes, walking the dog or does other stuff. UDN: What would you like to see improved in the near future of Ubuntu and of the Ubuntu community? What would you like to never change? DH: I think I answered part of this already. What I'd love to see is a more energetic and funny Bug Team. Some people like Phil Bull started off doing bug triage and it's incredible to see this all happen. I personally wished we'd be more and I'm sure, once we're getting bigger, we'll be the team with the highest fun factor. :-) UDN: Ton apprentissage du Français progresse-t-il bien ? Que penses-tu de faire du Français la langue officielle d'Ubuntu ? DH: Non, ça ne progresserait pas du tout (toujours Harry Potter 4). Je suis capable de lire et comprendre des choses faciles, mais former sentences françaises demandes beaucoup de ma temps toujours. :-) Je suis membre de la conspiration française. Bien sûr nous voulons une langue officielle d'Ubuntu! UDN: Tell us a bit about Berlin, where you live. (Or correct me if I'm wrong :-)) DH: Berlin rocks. It is very diverse, there's a constant rustle and bustle, and even so, you can always find the spot that fits your mood best. The situations I experienced in the city reassured me that my gut feeling was right: even if people sometimes sound a bit harsh in the beginning, its their openmindedness which attracted me and makes things of a different sort happen. UDN: Thanks Daniel! We're waiting for the photo at the London sprint! Since the London sprint is now over, we can wonder if Daniel made such a photo ;-) Love tasks for Desktop lovers ============================= Love tasks are some things that we'd like to see in the Ubuntu Desktop. Some of the tasks might be hard to implement, other might be easy. This is a good first step to join the Desktop Team: try to complete them and contribute to Ubuntu! If you have some difficulties, just ask: everyone in the Desktop Team will be happy to help you. If you're interested in completing them, just send a mail to the ubuntu-desktop mailing list! There are several interesting programs for the desktop that needs to be packaged. We've selected three of them as love tasks: * GShow TV [13] * Gnomolicious [14] * gnome-translate [15] [13] http://staff.akumiitti.fi/~pvakevai/gshowtv/ [14] http://www.nongnu.org/gnomolicious/ [15] http://www.nongnu.org/libtranslate/gnome-translate/ Desktop Team meetings ===================== The latest Desktop Team meeting took place on December 16th. Daniel sent the minutes [16]. There was some technical discussion (we want a new dbus, we'll have GStreamer 0.10, etc.), but other themes were discussed, such as getting more documentation for for the team to help people, but also to move more discussion to the ubuntu-desktop mailing list (this worked well :-)). Bugs were another topic of the meeting since there are a lots of them and the team looks for the best ways to control the number of open bugs. The next meeting is not scheduled yet, but it will be held in #ubuntu-meeting, as usual. An announce will be sent to the ubuntu-desktop mailing list so that everybody interested in the meeting can attend. [16] https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-desktop/2005-December/000118.html Hug days ======== Every day is a hug day in the Ubuntu world. But there are special hug days that are also bug days. Some people also say that every day is a bug day. And then, logically, every day is a hug day and a bug day. Well. That's true. But there are some special days. Okay, maybe this wasn't clear? :-) Let's start again with a real introduction. Hug days are the Ubuntu bug days [17]. We're not sure yet if people outside the Desktop Team refer to them as hug days too. Anyway, if you have some free time, you can make a difference by triaging some bugs. It's not hard and everyone with a browser can do it. And guess what: you'll be able to meet a lot of Desktop Team people there. It's really a good way to contribute. The next hug day will happen on Friday February 17th, in #ubuntu-bugs. [17] http://wiki.ubuntu.com/UbuntuBugDay About the Desktop Team ====================== For more information about the Desktop Team, see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam Everyone is of course welcome to join the team: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/DesktopTeam/GettingStarted If you want to send some great news for the next issue of UDN, please send a mail to the ubuntu-desktop mailing list: http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop Vincent -- Les gens heureux ne sont pas pressés. -- ubuntu-desktop mailing list ubuntu-desktop@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-desktop
