[ubuntu-arizona] Ubuntu-Arizona Weekly Newsletter, Issue #112

[Craig A. Eddy]

Welcome to the Ubuntu-Arizona Weekly Newsletter, Issue #112 for the week
January 4, January 10, 2010.

 * Arizona Loco Newsletter
 * One Hundred Twelfth Edition
 * Powered by Ubuntu
 * Wednesday-January 13, 2010
 * Arizona Loco Team Wiki: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam

 * Next meeting: Sunday January 17, 2010 9:00 PM
 * Server: Freenode: IRC Channel #ubuntu-us-az

== Newsletter ==

=== Summary of the January 10, 2010 meeting ===

scott_ev called the meeting to order at 9:00 PM

Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ArizonaTeam/Meetings/10January3

scott_ev began the meeting by reminding everyone that he is only filling
in temporarily until johnc4510 can get back.

scott_ev then gave some announcements:

 * Ever wonder why we have LoCo teams? My opinion is that one of our
main functions is to promote the use of an OS that allows people to be
freed from confines of the closed, unstable,inflexible, expensive, and
often times pushy and tyrannical Operating Systems that they may think
they are stuck with - and we want to have fun doing it. So we get
together on IRC and set up Installfests, Release Parties, etc.  Here's
part of what Ubuntu has to say:  Ever since the birth of computers,
enthusiasts and fans around the world have collected together in
garages, universities and pubs to talk about their interest, learn from
each other and help promote their interest. Combine this with the huge
popularity of Ubuntu, and you have the Ubuntu LoCo project.  There are a
huge number of Ubuntu LoCo teams spread out across the world including
Australia, Belgium, Chile, China, Croatia, The Czech Republic, Finland,
France, Germany, Greece, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, Italy, Hungary,
Japan, Kurdistan, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain and Latin America, South Africa,
Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tunisia, United Kingdom, United States and
many, many more places.  With the incredible success of Ubuntu around
the world, the LoCo project is here to help groups of Ubuntu fans and
enthusiasts work together in regional teams to help advocate, promote,
translate, develop and otherwise improve Ubuntu. Our worldwide network
of LoCo teams is providing a strong backbone to our already vast and
extensive Ubuntu community.

 * There will be a 10.04 Lucid Lynx release party at Boulders on
Broadway in Tempe (http://www.bouldersonbroadway.net/) on the 24th of
April. Boulders on Broadway has a room upstairs that we will have all to
ourselves.  We'll have wifi access too.  It's going to be a good chance
to eat some good grub, have a few drinks or brewski's and meet some of
the other UbuGeeks that you have only met online.  You're not going to
want to miss this.  Ok, that brings up another point:  We need
volunteers for a couple of things:  we'll need a few extension cords and
power strips.  Also, it's been suggested that we have a few
presentations.  Please be thinking about something you can do along
these lines and let me know.  Someone can pick out new features in 10.04
and present them or concentrate on one for example.  Anything to do with
Ubuntu will be OK.  Things like how to navigate Launchpad and report
bugs...  Actually, if you have a favorite piece of software that you use
you can present that even if it's not in Ubuntu's repos.  Please be
thinking about this.  It will only make the Release Party more of a
success.  We will be heading there from the monthly installfest at UAT.
http://tinyurl.com/yemru26 If you've never been to an installfest at
UAT, you may want to consider checking it out.  Our LoCo co-sponsors it
with PLUG but we are poorly represented.  It's a chance to help another
Linux user or, better yet, possible install Linux an a computer that
currently is running that other OS.

 * I finally made contact with a friend in Tucson that has the contacts
we need for planning future Installfests at the University.  He will be
getting me in contact with the people on campus in the CS department
that we coordinated with last time.  So, it's time to start thinking
about how we want to organize this event.  I'll need feedback from those
of you that attended last time.  And I'm open to input.  We'll need to
do a lot of planning so we can put on a good show for all attendees. 
Remember that the University called it a Windows Removal Event.  That's
because the CS dept has migrated to Ubuntu Linux!  Id imagine they are
wondering where we've been since they wanted us to schedule regular
installfests.  This would be a great opportunity to promote Ubuntu Linux
to students and the general public in Tucson.  We'll need fliers, etc.
etc. We'll need volunteers for a variety of duties so please please
spread the word in channel and via email that we are calling for help. 
If no one else steps up and offers to be the main contact point and
organizer I'll do it.  Is there anyone living in Tucson that will
volunteer to be the person to make face to face contact with our
contacts on campus?  Also, I need someone to compose an email and mass
mail everyone in our mailing list an announcement about this and the
upcoming Release Party.  Anyone that's willing to do this this week? 
tyche mentioned that, "I use the mailing list to send out the team
newsletters.  If you want to send me copy, I'll send  it out for you." 
He also mentioned that there is a Team Calendar: 
http://www.azloco.com/?q=node/28

 * The coolest thing at CES? 
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=3715

 * The Ubuntu Manual Project could use your help. The overview of this
project is to compile a complete beginners manual for Ubuntu, featuring
comprehensive guides, How Tos and information on anything you need to
know after first installing Ubuntu.  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-manual

 * I'm proud to announce an Ubucon at SCaLE8X on Friday, February 19th,
2010. An Ubucon is an organised event for Ubuntu users that's halfway
between an unconference and a convention. The main focus is for Ubuntu
users to get together and meet others, share ideas, and improve their
skills.  If you have a topic you'd like to present, please email your
proposal at nhaines at ubuntu.com. Include your full name, a contact email,
and a description of what your proposed talk would cover.  The deadline
for submissions is Friday, January 15th, 2010. 
http://nhaines.livejournal.com/52619.html .  Oh, if you don't know what
SCaLE is, it's the Southern California Linux Exposition.  And Ubucon is
part of it.  The Expo is heald at the Westin LAX. 
http://www.socallinuxexpo.org/scale8x/

 * In the previous release of Kubuntu the documentation was pretty
terrible, awful in fact.  For those interested in the current status of
Kubuntu Documentation, visit the TODO page on the wiki:
https://wiki.kubuntu.org/Kubuntu/Documentation/Lucid

http://jjesse.wordpress.com/2010/01/09/kubuntu-documentation-todo/

 * The Official Ubuntu Book:
http://www.amazon.com/Official-Ubuntu-Book-Benjamin-Mako/dp/0137021208/
. (Information found at
http://matthewhelmke.net/2009/12/29/ubuntu-unleashed-2010-edition/ )

 * If any of you were having problems joining the new deviantArt group,
the issues have been fixed now. What they've done is made sure that
everyone who joins is automatically approved as a Contributor. So you
should be able to post art, favourites and blog entries to the group
without asking or voting.  Go here to join:
http://ubuntu-artists.deviantart.com/

 * 15 game-changing Linux moments of the decade -
http://www.techradar.com/news/software/operating-systems/15-game-changing-linux-moments-of-the-decade-659030

 * For those of you who have read the recent Slashdot article announcing
Ubuntu’s new membership program, this is clearly a mistake.
http://linux.slashdot.org/story/10/01/06/1420209/Ubuntu-Memberships-Introduced
.  Ubuntu has had the concept of membership for many years, helping us
to identify those who have made a significant and sustained
contribution. This is nothing new and nothing is changing.  More
information on Ubuntu Membership can be found here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Membership

 * Netbook Speculation: Lenovo, Dell, HP and Linux - The VAR Guy's Dave
Courbanou notes that the Netbook, once considered a toy, now seems like
the preferred device for many productivity-driven workhorse travelers. 
Even if you’re not a mobile workaholic, there’s something simplistically
perfect about sofa-browsing while watching TV and catching up on some
e-mail. With a small form factor, there comes caveats at the expense of
size and portability, but recent moves by Lenovo and others show some
promising trends — several of which involve Linux.  While there are many
netbooks to choose from, Dell is still shipping their Mini 10V’s with
Ubuntu Linux, and that’s good news for the Linux world. Since netbook
hardware can be hit-or-miss with big name Linux distros, it’s nice to
see Dell officially supporting the product. 
http://www.thevarguy.com/2010/01/06/netbook-speculation-lenovo-dell-hp-and-linux/

 * Ubuntu Netbook Remix vs Moblin - TuxRadar recognises that over the
last 12 months, netbook and mobile Linux has made massive advances in
features and install base. This is primarily thanks to two netbook
distributions - Moblin and Canonical's Ubuntu Netbook Remix.  Canonical
put a great deal of effort into developing Ubuntu Netbook Remix, pulling
massive boot speed improvements, power management code and a new window
manager into the standard Ubuntu distribution. It also makes good use of
recent additions to Ubuntu, including the Ubuntu One cloud storage
system and the Empathy instant messenger, which makes good use of the
limited screen sizes on these devices.  The best thing about UNR is the
breadth of packages available. You can install anything that any other
Ubuntu user can, which is a massive advantage if you look at the tiny
selection available for Moblin. It's likely that Canonical will be able
to forge stronger relationships with companies like Dell, which is
already shipping a specific version of UNR on its Mini 9 platform.  As
Windows XP is phased out and the cost of bundling Windows 7 rises,
manufacturers will be looking for a cheap and easily maintainable
netbook OS, and UNR fits the bill admirably. 
http://www.tuxradar.com/content/ubuntu-netbook-remix-vs-moblin

 * J.A. Watson, ZDNet UK, reviews with screen shots some of the most
popular Netbook-centric Linux distributions. Watson in regard to Ubuntu
9.10 Netbook Remix states, "I find this to be significantly more
pleasant than the previous UNR releases, simply because they have
removed the large "Places" column from the right side of the screen,
which makes it look much less cluttered and confusing." In his review of
Kubuntu 9.10 with the preliminary KDE Netbook Desktop he notes, "Next up
is Kubuntu 9.10, with the preliminary KDE Netbook desktop, which is
still very much under development. But I think it still provides a good
look at the direction they are going, so I'm including it here." Last up
in his review is Moblin 2.1 desktop, "Now, if this desktop looks nice to
you, or makes sense to you, or looks like something you might want to
use... well... more power to you. After numerous attempts, I still can't
make heads or tails of it, and I find it to be not only confusing, but
also virtually impossible to customize or even adjust in any significant
way."  Watson hopes that readers find this information "useful and the
associated pictures enlightening. 
http://community.zdnet.co.uk/blog/0,1000000567,10014719o-2000498448b,00.htm

 * Most of the info above came straight out of the Ubuntu Weekly
Newsletter that Johnc4510 and tyche both work on.  You can subscribe to
the Ubuntu Weekly News via RSS at: http://fridge.ubuntu.com/uwn/feed

scott_ev then asked xHans for any PLUG and class announcements:

 * PLUG Security Hackfest Tuesday night.  http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/security

 * PLUG East Side meeting Thursday night.  Probably a presentation on
remind, which is a really cool calendaring command line app. 
http://PLUG.phoenix.az.us/node/157

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:28 PM.

== Credits ==
 * Craig A Eddy
 * scott_ev