Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Beta released

Hello clububuntu readers, I have great news for you! Ubuntu 9.04 Jaunty Jackalope Beta is now available for download.

Some of the great features in Ubuntu 9.04 include: ext4 support, new login screen, some new wallpapers, faster boot-time and updated versions of software.

NOTE: Install this version of Ubuntu only on your Personal Computer. Because it is still in Beta you might experience some bugs.

To upgrade your existing installation simply press Alt+F2 and type "update-manager -d" (of course, without the quotes). A window will pop out telling you a new release is available. Press upgrade and wait.

If you want to install Ubuntu 9.04 Beta from scratch on your PC or on a virtual machine please see the download links below.

Download links:

ubuntu-9.04-beta-desktop-i386.iso (CD, x86)
ubuntu-9.04-beta-desktop-amd64.iso (CD, AMD64)
 

also check here and here if the above links do not work.

Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter #134

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #134 for the week of March 15th- March 21st, 2009 is now available.

In this Issue:

• Ubuntu 9.04 Beta Freeze in effect
• LoCo Team information request
• Ubuntu Server: KVM call for testing
• MOTU Release Charter
• QA Team next testing day
• Ubuntu Drupal 6.3.0 released
• Ubuntu Stats
• Ubuntu India re-launches User Forums
• Ubuntu Honduras begins to work
• FossConf 2009, Madurai and Ubuntu Tamil Team
• Announcing Eucalyptus
• Ubuntu Forums nuts and bolts
• Daniel Holbach: Time to Party
• Soren Hansen: gtk-vnc and virt-viewer mozilla plug-in
• Thierry Carrez: What I want Ubuntu Server to be
• In the Press & Blogosphere
• What is Qimo?
• Ubuntu Podcast #22
• Team Meeting Summaries
• Behind MOTU Interview: Roderick Greening
• Upcoming Meetings & Events
• Updates & Security

And much more!

Except where otherwise noted, content in this issue is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License BY SA Creative Commons License

GNOME 2.26 released

GNOME 2.26 is the latest version of the GNOME Desktop: a popular, multi-platform desktop environment for your computer. GNOME's focus is ease of use, stability, and first class internationalisation and accessibility support. GNOME is Free and Open Source Software and provides all of the common tools computer users expect of a modern computing environment, such as e-mail, groupware, web browsing, file management, multimedia, and games. Furthermore, GNOME provides a flexible and powerful platform for software developers, both on the desktop and in mobile applications.

The GNOME Desktop is released every six months and contains many new features, improvements, bug fixes, and translations. GNOME 2.26 continues this tradition.

Some cool new stuff in GNOME 2.26 include:

• Comprehensive New Disc Burning
• Simpler File Sharing
• Evolution Evolves its Migration from Windows
• Media Player Improvements
• Volume Control Integrated with PulseAudio
• Support for multiple monitors and projectors
• Almost Telepathic Communication
• Location Epiphany
• Fingerprint Reader Integration

Source: library.gnome.org

Ubuntu gets eye-candy updates

Today I updated my Ubuntu (9.04 Alpha 6)installation to find out we have 2 new wallpapers. I posted the original files below:

But wait, that's not all! We also have a new boot splash screen:

Of course, Ubuntu is not about beauty, it's more about open-source, speed and stability but this kind of updates are great to have.

Installing Conky in Ubuntu, a light-weight system monitor

After showing you webilder yesterday in this post, we will continue our desktop customisation guide with Conky. This little application is a light-weight (uses little RAM) system monitor. It brings that geeky feeling to your wallpaper, showing things such as CPU Temperature, Battery information, RAM information, WiFi status and other cool stuff. (see screenshot at the bottom of the article)

To install Conky just go to Terminal and paste the following code:

sudo apt-get install conky
tired of copy pasting this lines? press this link to automatically install conky.

Now here comes the nice part. Conky is fully customizable through a configuration file called ".conkyrc" (of course, without the quotes).

Go to Terminal and type in:

nano ~/.conkyrc

The above command will create a file called .conkyrc in your home directory (home/username/.conkyrc). This is the file we are going to use in order to configure our conky installation. Press this link and copy-paste all the code in our newly created file. (Right-Click > Paste)

To save the file press CTRL + X, press Y (yes, we want to save the changes) and save the file with the same location (don't change it!).

In the steps above we simply created a .conkyrc file, added the code to it and saved it.

Well, it's over! Now you can run conky, enter Terminal and type

conky

Don't like how it looks? Or are you looking for other configuration files? No problem, there are loads of them over the internet. You can try to google it or go to this thread.

Customize your Ubuntu wallpaper with webilder

Today I am going to show you how to customize your Ubuntu wallpaper. Well, you might think that it's not that hard, you take a picture and set it as your background. Yes, I know, this is the fast way, but where to find that good picture to set it as a wallpaper?
Weblider is an application just for you, it searches Flickr and Webshots to download some great wallpapers from around the internet. Trust me, it's great!

Before installing webilder you will need to add its repository to your software sources. 

1) Go to Terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and type:

gksudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2) Go to the bottom of the file and paste the following repositories:

deb http://debian.websterwood.com/ intrepid main
deb-src http://debian.websterwood.com/ intrepid main

3) Enter Terminal, update the repositories and install welilder:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install webilder webilder-gnome 

After installing webilder I suggest you adding Webilder to your panel. To do so, right-click on the upper-panel and press "Add to panel". Search for Weblider Desktop Applet and add it.

In Webilder, go to Tools > Download Photos and let it get some photos for you. After this, you can set them as your wallpaper. The only problem you might encounter is the resolution, but most of the photos have a good one.

That's all! Enjoy your new wallpaper...

Wormux, the game we recommend you today

Wormux is a free game where funny animals fight on a 2D map with funny weapons. Though currently under heavy development, it is already very playable, with lots of weapons (Dynamite, Baseball Bat, Teleportation, etc.). For the moment, you can not play against computer opponents.

There are also lots of maps available for your battling pleasure!
Wormux takes the genre to the next level, with great customisation options leading to great gameplay. There is a wide selection of teams, from the Aliens to the Chickens. Also, new battlefields can be downloaded from the Internet, making strategy an important part of each battle.

Download links (provided by getdeb.net):
1st .deb file here
2nd .deb file here

Download the two files and install them using GDebi Package Installer.
Want to try other cool games? Try assault cube, supertux kart or poker.

Source: wormux description

Jaunty Jackalope Alpha 6 released

Hello guys, as you might already know the next version of Ubuntu,  9.04 will be called Jaunty Jackalope and the final version will be released on April 23rd. We are here now to inform you that the lastest Alpha release is now available, just see the download links.

Download links:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Ubuntu Desktop, Server, Netbook Remix, and MID)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Ubuntu Education Edition)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Kubuntu) Kubuntu release notes
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Xubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (UbuntuStudio)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/jaunty/alpha-6/ (Mythbuntu)

Some of the great features in Ubuntu 9.04 include: ext4 support, new login screen, faster boot-time and updated versions of software.

NOTE: Install this version of Ubuntu only on your Personal Computer. Because it is still in Alpha you might experience some bugs.

To upgrade your existing installation simply press Alt+F2 and type "update-manager -d" (of course, without the quotes). A window will pop out telling you a new release is available. Press upgrade and wait.

More official stuff here.

7 reasons you should download a copy of Ubuntu now!

This article is for those of you who want to move to linux but didn't make the move yet. Here I will post the key things that might make you go and download Ubuntu from here.

1. It is safe. In the world of Ubuntu there aren't any viruses. If there is a bug, it will immediatly get fixed because Ubuntu is open-source, this means, the coding is available to everyone.
2. You can try it live. Just pop in the CD in the CD-ROM, restart your PC and test-drive Ubuntu without the need of installing anything.
3. Install Ubuntu within Windows. Afraid of partitioning? No problem, using Wubi you can install it like any other application in Windows. After this, restart your PC and you can dual-boot into Ubuntu.
4. It's free. All you need is an internet connection (necesarry to download Ubuntu) and a blank CD. Want the original CD? Go to shipit.ubuntu.com and get your free copy.
5. It's stable. Programs rarely crash.
6. It's open source. The code is available to everyone. This means, you can take part of the improvment.
7. Time. It will always move as it was just installed.

Decided to make the big move? Great! After downloading you copy of Ubuntu you can read how to install Ubuntu or read our Frequently Asked Questions or read the tips for newcomers.

appnr, your online installer

appnr is a web-based tool for installing applications in Ubuntu. The website just offers a cool interface for installing applications via the APTurl thingy which consists of installing a program just with one single click on a link (in a browser).

of course, appnr also has a downside. The applications you found there are not always at the latest version available. The version is the one Ubuntu repositories have.

so, what are you waiting for?! just go and visit the website at appnr.com

if you can not install applications from there, please consider installing APTurl using the command below:

sudo apt-get install apturl

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Release Schedule

As I already told you, the next version of Ubuntu scheduled to be released in October will be called Karmic Koala. Here you have it:

Alpha 1 - May 14th

Alpha 2 - June 11th

Alpha 3 - July 23th

Alpha 4 - August 13th

Aplha 5 - September 3rd

Alpha 6 - September 17th

Beta - October 1st

Release candidate - October 22nd

Final release - October 29th

Source: wiki.ubuntu.com