Posts Tagged ‘Empathy’

Ubuntu 9.10 what I like…

No Comments
Posted 03 Nov 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

Here is the quick summary of what I like (some dislikes) in Ubuntu 9.10.

  • Webcam video quality is very good. Video quality was bad in the last 2 versions of Ubuntu, but it’s back to normal.
  • Pulse audio works with multiple sound devices without installing new packages.
  • Skype 2.1 beta sound and video worked very good (It didn’t work in the previous version of Ubuntu).
  • Empathy IM provides voice and video chat with GTalk, MSN users which is good. Empathy refused to start after a day or two. Not sure why, but I had to reinstall Ubuntu for a different problem and Empathy is working fine. Will watch it for few days.
  • Boot process is faster than Ubuntu 9.04.
  • Login process is longer than Ubuntu 9.04. I think they moved some stuff from boot to login time.
  • Shutdown is lightning fast.
  • Boot logo doesn’t show any progress bar, so you won’t know how far the boot process has progressed. It boots pretty fast, so it may not be a big deal.
  • New icon theme is very good. It shows thumbnails inside each directory’s icon if there are files present.
  • Banshee didn’t recognize my iPod.

I will write more about my experience as I use it. Based on my experience in the past couple of days, I would say Ubuntu has improved a lot in terms of hardware support and usability. Continue the good work.

Tags: , , , ,

Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala released

No Comments
Posted 29 Oct 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

Ubuntu team has released their next iteration of Ubuntu OS, Ubuntu 9.10, code named Karmic Koala. I have already covered extensively the new features in Ubuntu 9.10 during the alpha, beta and RC cycles. Here is a short list of new features in Ubuntu 9.10.

  • Empathy has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client, introducing the Telepathy framework.
  • Ubuntu includes Mozilla Firefox 3.5 for browsing
  • Faster boot with Upstart
  • Ubuntu 9.10 includes the Ubuntu Software Center. It’s supposed to be a replacement for multiple software installation options currently available in Ubuntu.
  • Includes the latest GNOME 2.28 desktop.
  • Ext4 and GRUB 2 by default for new installations.
  • Improvements to AppArmor and Uncomplicated Firewall.
  • The gdm 2.27.91 login manager is a complete rewrite compared to the version in earlier Ubuntu releases.
  • Ubuntu 9.10 includes alpha images for the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon’s EC2.
  • Underlying technology for power management, laptop Hotkeys, and handling storage devices and cameras maps was moved from “hal” (which is going to be deprecated soon) to “DeviceKit-power”, “DeviceKit-disks” and “udev”.
  • Karmic uses GCC-4.4 as the default compiler.
  • Ubuntu One gives 2 GB of online storage to sync and backup your files.
  • Evince, the GNOME document viewer, now ships with an enforcing AppArmor profile. This greatly increases security by protecting you against flaws in the historically problematic PDF and image libraries.
  • Ubuntu 9.10 includes the 2.6.31-14.48 kernel based on 2.6.31.1.
  • The Intel video driver has switched from the “EXA” acceleration method to the new “UXA”, solving major performance problems of Ubuntu 9.04.

For known issues with Ubuntu 9.10, click here. You can download Ubuntu from here.

Kubuntu team has released Kubuntu 9.10. Here are the new features in Kubuntu 9.10:

  • KDE 4.3
  • Kubuntu Netbook Edition for 9.10 is optimised for netbook systems.
  • This release has an emphasis on connecting you to your online social networks.
  • OpenOffice KDE integration
  • KDE & Gnome desktop now share an official FreeDesktop standard for desktop notifications. The notification bubbles generated by KDE or Gnome applications now appear natively on the other desktop.
  • New installer
  • Amarok 2.2
  • Kubuntu 9.10 includes the latest release of KPackageKit.
  • K3b, the popular CD and DVD burning application has now been ported to KDE 4.
  • User management tool from the KDE 3 days has been resurrected for Kubuntu 9.10.
  • The Network Manager applet offers a more robust networking experience than it did in Kubuntu 9.04.
  • GTK+ integration
  • Installing this popular web browser will be a piece of cake in Kubuntu 9.10.
  • For those who prefer the old KDE 3 desktop a Kubuntu KDE 3 Remix is available.

Here are the known issues in Kubuntu:

  • The KPackageKit package manager used in Kubuntu 9.10 does not notify users if the packages they are installing come from repositories that are not secured with PGP. Users that wish to be informed of any packages installed from unsigned sources should use the apt-get command line tool as a workaround. (Launchpad bug)
  • KNetworkManager cannot connect to a wireless network with a hidden SSID. Install network-manager-gnome via a wired connection as a workaround. (Launchpad bug)
  • The “Hardware Drivers” package in Kubuntu (jockey-kde) requires a local package cache to function properly. Immediately after a new installation, this might not exist. If running jockey-kde after installing Kubuntu, first ensure there is a local package cache by running KPackageKit (K-Menu -> System Settings -> Add and Remove Software) and clicking on software updates or in a Konsole shell doing “sudo apt-get update” before running jockey-kde. (Launchpad bug)
  • For Kubuntu Netbook Edition, users who wish to run Wubi from a USB disk that has persistent storage enabled will need to run it with the –force-wubi option from the Windows command line. (Launchpad bug)
  • When using the OEM installation option on Kubuntu Netbook Edition, no “prepare for shipping” icon is placed on the desktop. Users who are doing OEM installations with Kubuntu Netbook Edition can access this feature under by choosing System->Prepare for shipping … from the main bar. (Launchpad Bug)

You can download Kubuntu from here.

ubuntu910

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate available

No Comments
Posted 22 Oct 2009 — by Arun
Category General

Ubuntu has released the release candidate of Ubuntu 9.10, a week before the final release. You can download it from here. Here are the known issues in Ubuntu 9.10. Please go through this if you are planning to upgrade or install before the final release.

  • When creating LUKS encrypted partitions, some earlier versions of cryptsetup did not wipe out any pre-existing filesystem metadata on the partition. The current version of blkid used in the Ubuntu 9.10 RC will refuse to export a UUID for a partition containing more than one type of metadata signature. This means that encrypted disks may fail to be decrypted at boot time, possibly preventing the system from booting at all. Users of LUKS system-level disk encryption are advised to wait until the Ubuntu 9.10 final release before upgrading.
  • Empathy’s MSN messaging support is provided by telepathy-butterfly, the version included in karmic advertises it supports Audio/Video chat however for stability reasons it has been disabled in Karmic. If you wish to test MSN AV support in Empathy, please install telepathy-butterfly from https://edge.launchpad.net/~telepathy/+archive/ppa and report bugs.
  • Installing on Marvell Dove boards requires a network connection. This will be fixed immediately after RC.
  • The default partitioning recipe in the installer will in some cases allocate a swap partition that is smaller than the physical memory in the system. This will prevent the use of hibernation (suspend-to-disk) because the system image will not fit in the swap partition. If you intend to use hibernation with your system, you should ensure that the swap partition’s size is at least as large as the system’s physical RAM.
  • After installation from the Ubuntu 9.10 Release Candidate, other installed operating systems are not correctly displayed in the boot menu. To correct this, users should run sudo update-grub from the commandline after rebooting to their installed Ubuntu system.
  • Ubuntu 9.10 enables the CRDA wireless regulatory framework for controlling which wireless channels are usable and visible in a particular location. If you previously had to use the module option similar to that below in /etc/modprobe.d/options to allow access to certain channels in your locality then you may find that wireless will not function at all: * options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom=EU You should remove this kernel module option on upgrade to Ubuntu 9.10 and use the iw reg command instead.
  • A bug in the apt package included in the Ubuntu 9.10 Beta prevents automatic notification of available package updates. Users who have installed or upgraded to Ubuntu 9.10 prior to the Release Candidate should ensure that updates are being made available by running update-manager manually, clicking Check, and installing the presented updates.
  • The wacom driver in Ubuntu 9.10 supports automatic configuration, but it conflicts with manual device entries for wacom tablets in /etc/X11/xorg.conf, causing the X server to crash either on startup or shutdown. Please comment out or remove the entries from xorg.conf to get rid of the crashes.
  • In Ubuntu 9.10 MySQL 5.1 has been promoted as the default MySQL server. MySQL 5.0 is still available from the universe repository though. Performing an upgrade via update-manager will correctly handle the transition from MySQL 5.0 to MySQL 5.1. However using a dist-upgrade will not: mysql-server-5.0 will be upgraded instead of being replaced by mysql-server-5.1. If MySQL 5.0 needs to be kept the mysql-server and mysql-client packages should be removed before the upgrade is started.
  • If MySQL has been setup to use the MySQL Cluster engine (NDB engine) upgrade to MySQL 5.1 will not work since the mysql-dfsg-5.1 packages don’t support MySQL Cluster. Instead mysql-server and mysql-client should be removed before upgrade and mysql-server-5.0 should be kept. update-manager will automatically take care of this situation. Note that MySQL 5.0 is in universe and thus won’t have have the same maintenance coverage as MySQL 5.1 (which is in main).
  • The avahi-daemon package, which implements the mDNS “zeroconf” standard, includes a check to avoid running when a conflicting .local DNS domain is present. It is reported that some ISPs advertise such a .local domain on their networks, which will leave Ubuntu 9.10 hosts unable to see names advertised on the local network
  • The kpackagekit package manager used in Kubuntu 9.10 does not notify users if the packages they are installing come from repositories that are not secured with PGP. Users who have unsigned package repositories in their /etc/apt/sources.list configuration and wish to be informed of any packages installed from these sources should use the apt-get commandline tool as a workaround.
  • The upstart init system in Ubuntu 9.10 fails to work on the sparc architecture due to an undiagnosed SIGBUS error. Users of Ubuntu on sparc are advised to remain on Ubuntu 9.04 instead of upgrading to 9.10.

Source: Ubuntu

Tags: , , , , ,

Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 5 released

1 Comment
Posted 04 Sep 2009 — by Arun
Category Announcement, Ubuntu

Ubuntu team has released the 5th alpha version of Ubuntu 9.10 code named Karmic Koala. Alpha 5 includes the following changes:

  • Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 5 includes the latest GNOME 2.27.91 development release.
  • Empathy has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client.
  • The gdm 2.27.91 login manager is a complete rewrite compared to the version in earlier Ubuntu releases.
  • Alpha 5 includes alpha images for the Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon’s EC2.
  • Alpha 5 includes the 2.6.31-9.29 kernel based on 2.6.31-rc8.

You can download Ubuntu 9.10 alpha 5 from here.

Here are the list of known issue with alpha 5. Read this before you install or upgrade:

  • Users in some timezones will find that their filesystems must be checked (fsck) immediately after install due to a bug in the installer’s clock handling. Investigation of this issue is ongoing, and Ubuntu expects it will be resolved in Alpha 6.
  • When using the OEM installation option, the desktop fails to come up after reboot for some users. Investigation of this issue is ongoing.
  • The OEM installer is reported to not correctly set up the end user account in Alpha 5. Investigation of this issue is ongoing.
  • Due to a bug in the python-boto package, when running ec2-run-instances to launch an EC2 instance you must pass an additional --user-data x option to the command. This bug will be fixed for Alpha 6.
  • The virtual kernel image has been built without virtio drivers, so installing using the “minimal virtual” option from the Ubuntu Server Alpha 5 will result in an unusable system after reboot. This problem also affects users of the linux-image-virtual kernel package who have installed from earlier alphas. Users are advised to wait until Alpha 6 before installing or upgrading.
  • Installation of an LTSP server using the alternate CD in Alpha 5 will be incomplete because some recommended packages are not installed. This bug will be resolved for Alpha 6. As a workaround, users can install the pulseaudio-esound-compat and dhcp3-server packages after installation.

Kubuntu team has released Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 5. Here are the changes in Kubuntu 9.10 alpha 5:

  • KDE 4.3.1
  • Updates to netbook edition
  • It has been decided that the default web browser to be shipped with Kubuntu 9.10 will continue to be Konqueror. It was decided that it’s superior integration with KDE was worth more than the hassle of switching default web browsers a lot. However, Arora 0.8 will still be shipped on the DVD for those who want to Arora for it’s superior performance with social web applications such as Facebook.
  • A new message indicator has been added which currently has a plugins for Konversation, Quassel, Kopete and Kontact.

You can download Kubuntu 9.10 alpha 5 from here.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 relased

1 Comment
Posted 23 Jul 2009 — by Arun
Category Ubuntu

Ubuntu team has released the 3rd alpha of next version of Ubuntu, Ubuntu 9.10, code named Karmic Koala. Kubunt 9.10 alpha 3 is also out. I found few interesting features in both Ubuntu and Kubuntu that might appeal to end users.

The first one is Empathy replacing Pigdin. This enables users to do text, voice and video chats with Google Talk users, MSN, Facebook and Yahoo users.

The second one is making Ubuntu One ships by default in all systems. I have Ubuntu One account and it’s does it job, but it’s still buggy.

Third is, webcam moving to udev. I thought it happened already since webcam worked fine until Ubuntu 8.10 came out. Ubuntu recognized the webcams fine in Ubuntu 8.04 and the picture qualities were good, but starting Ubuntu 8.10, Ubuntu shows the webcam with general device name than the actual webcam name and the video qualities are extremely bad.

Kubuntu is getting KDE 4.3, which includes more bug fixes and new features. I think it would be better than Kubuntu 9.04.

Kubuntu has released a new netbook version. There are still few bugs to sort out, but it’s a good start.

Kubuntu is removing Konqueror as default browser and  Arora as the default. The reason being, Konqueror is not compatible with many websites. I agree with that though many KDE fans won’t like that. Konqueror is quite powerful, but it’s not simple enough for normal users. Users should have an easy to use browser like Firefox. Though they can install Firefox in Kubuntu, I believe the default browser should be user friendly. I hope Arora is user friendly and can run all plugins and websites.

Kubuntu is bringing more social network features using KDE widgets and Kopete, which is good.

Now, lets move on to the changelog. Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Alpha 3 includes:

  • Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 3 includes the latest GNOME 2.27.4 development release.
  • Empathy has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client, introducing the Telepathy framework.
  • The gdm 2.27.4 login manager is a complete rewrite compared to the version in earlier Ubuntu releases.
  • Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 3 ships the https://ubuntuone.com/ file sharing service by default, providing tightly integrated file synchronization of your computer with other computers and the Ubuntu One network storage service.
  • Alpha 3 includes the 2.6.31-3.19 kernel based on 2.6.31-rc3. The kernel ships with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics (see below). linux-restricted-modules is deprecated in favour of DKMS packages.
  • Karmic Alpha 3’s underlying technology for power management, laptop Hotkeys, and handling storage devices and cameras maps was moved from “hal” (which is going to be deprecated soon) to “DeviceKit-power”, “DeviceKit-disks” and “udev”.
  • Karmic uses GCC-4.4 as the default compiler.
  • The new “ext4″ filesystem is used by default for new installations of Karmic; of course, other filesystems are still available via the manual partitioner. Existing filesystems will not be upgraded.
  • GRUB 2 is the default boot loader for new installations of Karmic, replacing the previous GRUB “Legacy” boot loader. Existing systems will not be upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time.

Here are the known issues in Ubuntu 9.10 alpha 3:

  • The GNOME login manager (gdm) does not yet have a graphical configuration tool.
  • If you install Karmic Alpha 3 alongside Windows, the grub boot menu may not offer to start Windows.
  • If you have internal hard disk partitions aside from Ubuntu itself, GNOME will attempt to automatically mount them at startup and ask for your password. Just cancel the dialog, unless you actually want to work with them.
  • The GNOME desktop displays two mixer applets on the amd64 desktop CD and alternate installs.
  • Building LTSP client chroots currently fails.
  • The Ubuntu Netbook Launcher crashes on shutdown.

You can download Ubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 from here.

Kubuntu team has also released the 3rd alpha of Kubuntu 9.10. Here are the features in Kubuntu 9.10 alpha 3:

  • KDE 4.3 RC
  • Kubuntu 9.10 includes a netbook version of Kubuntu 9.10, suitable to install on light weight hardware like Netbooks.
  • Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 will include Arora, a lightweight and fast webkit-based web browser. Konqueror is not compatible with many popular websites, so Kubuntu team is  considering arora as our default browser in order to try to provide one that more of our users will find satisfactory. Konqueror is still installed, but in Alpha 3, arora is set as the default.
  • Amarok 2.1.1
  • Kubuntu 9.10 will include the latest release of KPackageKit. New in 0.4.1.1 are new notifications, sweet animations, a history feature, usability fixes and a more robust overall experience with less bugs.
  • K3b 1.66.0
  • New social features that include Plasma widget as part of the default desktop experience for all of your identi.ca and Twitter needs, The openDesktop Plasma widget as part of the default desktop experience and  Facebook Kopete plugin so that you can chat with your Facebook contacts from the comfort of the default chat client.
  • QtCurve 0.65.1.
  • Kubuntu 9.10 offers further control over the look of your GNOME apps in KDE using kcm-gtk 0.5.

Here are the known issues in Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3:

  • If you install Karmic Alpha 3 alongside Windows, the grub boot menu may not offer to start Windows.
  • The Kubuntu Netbook Edition is missing the “install” icon on the desktop. You can start the installation from the menu.
  • The Kubuntu Netbook Edition image does not install under Windows (with wubi).

You can download Kubuntu 9.10 Alpha 3 here.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

GNOME 2.26 released

No Comments
Posted 19 Mar 2009 — by Arun
Category Announcement, Linux

GNOME project has released GNOME 2.26. Here are some of the new features/enhancement in GNOME 2.26.

  • Brasero is the default CD/DVD burning utility for GNOME 2.26. Brasero doesn’t work in my desktop. If I have Braseor installed and if I insert a CD or DVD, my system hangs. I had to hard reset it.
  • GNOME 2.26 now includes a plugin for its file manager to enable simple personal file sharing over WebDAV, HTTP and Bluetooth.
  • Evolution, has gained two important features for helping users who are migrating to GNOME from Microsoft Windows environments. First is the ability to import Microsoft Outlook Personal Folders (PST files) directly in Evolution. Second is support for Microsoft Exchange’s MAPI protocol.
  • With the new Coherence DLNA/UPnP client, it is possible to browse and play this content from within the GNOME Media Player.
  • Volume Control Integrated with PulseAudio. The Sound Preferences tool integrates the choice of sound devices, application volumes, alert volume and alert theme in one place. For those without PulseAudio, the old (GStreamer) mixer will still be available and has even been augmented with a sound theme tab to match the new interface.
  • The Display Settings tool now has a better view of which monitors or projectors you have plugged in, and makes it easier than before to set up your monitors in various configurations.
  • The Empathy instant messaging application, which uses the Telepathy communications framework, now includes file transfer where supported by Telepathy (currently Jabber and link-local XMPP), chat room invite support, sound themes and notifications, and an improved VoIP experience.
  • GNOME’s web browser, Epiphany, gains an exciting new feature of an improved location bar, similar to the Awesome Bar popularised by Firefox 3.0.
  • GNOME 2.26 now integrates with the fprintd fingerprint service to allow users to enroll fingerprints for use in authentication.
  • A keyboard modifier (usually Alt) is now required to drag panels around on the screen.
  • Password entry widgets will now warn if you have your Caps Lock key enabled.
  • Changing the Input Method type using the context menu on a text entry widget is now per-widget, rather than per-application.
  • New visual effects, such as the panels sliding in and out at login and logout, and crossfading desktop backgrounds.

Source: GNOME release note.

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

Tags: , , , , , ,