Ubuntu News

Sorry the site hasn't been updated much lately. We've had a lot work on other projects, one of which has been launched today.
It's called Yer Hotel and it's a web-based game, where players build their own hotels and attract visitors to them.

There's no point in talking about it - just go ahead a see Hotel Kuku in Krakow to visit my own establishment. Please create your own hotel and test-drive the game!

Jono Bacon announced the name of Ubuntu 8.04, which is going to be “Hardy Heron”! As Jono wrote, Hardy Heron is not going to be only another great Ubuntu but it will also wear the LTS badge, which means that Hardy is going to be supported for three years on the desktop and five on the server!
Everyone is welcome to think and develop ideas for Hardy Heron, as it's blueprints are already open at Launchpad.

Few hours ago we informed that Dell expanded its Ubuntu offering. They introduced a brand new Inspiron version, coded 1420 N. Unlike previously, this time we can make exact price comparison with a Windows-based model (Inspiron 1420). De-select a custom color of the Windows notebook (and save $20) and the only difference will be an operating system. Ubuntu ($774) vs. Windows Vista Home Basic Edition (the most crippled version, $799). So it looks like Home Basic costs Dell $25 + what_it_gets_from_software_vendors_for_installing_their_crapware.

Dell has just introduced two new Ubuntu-based models - Inspiron 1420N notebook (beginning at $774) and Inspiron 530N desktop ($449). The latter one replaced Dimension E520n.

The notebook looks more interesting. First of all, it looks like Dell is trying to allow more customizations, starting with... colors. My sister's ecstatic and I'm... well... the fact that I'm even writing about such an irrelevant thing must mean that I'm spending way too much time around her. Anyway, if you care what's on the other side of the screen, you may choose Alpine White, Espresso Brown, Ruby Red, Midnight Blue, Spring Green, Flamingo Pink, Sunshine Yellow. Apparently, black paint is $20 cheaper, though... .

1420N features Santa Rosa processors. The default one is T5250 (1.5GHz/667Mhz FSB/2MB cache).

On the graphics front, your choice has shrunk to just one position. While E1505N may come with either Intel GMA 950 or nVidia GeForce Go 7300, 1420N comes with Intel GMA X3100. I'm having mixed feelings here - on one hand more choice is good, but on the other I like seeing proprietary drivers being left out of the picture. The 14.1 inch display sports a maximum resolution of 1280x800 (WXGA) by default. Making it glossy is free, but pushing the resolution to 1440x900 (WSXGA) costs $50.

Fun with RAM starts at 1GB (667Mhz) and can be upgraded to either 1.5 (for $75), 2GB ($150), or 4GB for... $1000. Unfortunately, Dell failed to mention shipping rates to mental institutions. Hard drive choices are quite different from E1505N. While default is the same (80GB, 5400 RPM), you have an option of going with 160 GB / 7200 RPM hdd but don't have as many options in the middle.

An option to have bluetooth ($20) is something new, but the rest of those "less important" options are what makes me wonder if we're going to have more choices in the (near) future. Wireless card, webcam and sound card tabs are there, but they contain only one option. Are they there because they'll be expanded or because someone was too lazy to remove them?

ZDNet Australia asked local Dell's spokeperson Paul McKeon about their Ubuntu offering and was told that the decision hasn't been made yet. He gave two reasons: multitude of languages in Oceania and support problems.

I can't speak about localization efforts in that region, but the second claim is a bit peculiar. Systems bought on the US site are supported by Dell only on the hardware level. Software-related support is optional and handled by Canonical. And Canonical lists 32 companies that provide commercial support for Ubuntu in Oceania (27 in Australia and 5 in New Zealand).

The story is rather short:

• some company made an iGasm, a sex toy that works with audio devices. Apple's lawyers were not happy about iGasm's posters, which are pretty much identical with their own ads.
• Stephan blogged about it. His posts automatically appear on Planet Ubuntu.
• Elkbuntu (Melissa Draper) had a brief chat with Stephen (who later on posted log). Elkbuntu said she thinks it's not appropriate for a family-friendly site (Planet) and that she's writing an email to Community Council. Hermann denended his post claiming that in free society this kind of stuff is suitable for children.
• Hermann wrote a blog post, in which he announced that he quits Ubuntu.

It's definitely not a cool thing to see a developer leave. But honestly, after reading the "I quit" post alone I'm a bit disgusted. Not because of iGasm post. I've read it when it was first published and didn't find it improper (or interesting if that matters...). The key issue here is that by posting stuff on his blog, he made it available through Ubuntu Planet. And [whoever's responsible for the Planet] certainly doesn't have to be fine with _anything_ _anybody_ wishes to publish. It's not black and white - everyone places a border somewhere. It's those shades of grey where most disputes occur. Melissa found it to be inapropriate and wanted to do something about it. Stephan's response was: (not his exact words): "it's perfectly fine, you're prudent and uneducated, if you don't agree with me, I'll burn all bridges". This kind of reaction is in fact a way of taking away someone else's freedom. Hermann clearly expressed your view that she doesn't have a right to have a different opinion than he does.

BTW... wouldn't it be nice if there was a way to "tell" the Planet not to include particular post? For example bloggers could use a <!--noplanet--> tag anywhere within their post...

Yes, it has finally happened (although we certainly didn't have to wait long). Three different systems are available: XPS 410n and Dimension E520n desktops and Inspiron E1505n notebook. Few interesting details:

• Ubuntu offerings are a little less expensive than Vista systems. I was affraid it's not going to be the case because of all the sponsored crapware that comes pre-installed with Windows. Nat Tuck tried to find a as similar as possible configurations and compared their prices.

Matt Zimmerman announced Ubuntu Mobile and Embedded project on ubuntu-devel-announce mailing list. The dev team will cooperate with Intel on this version. I guess it's time to start searching for brown cellphones :).

It's a so called long weekend here in Poland - thanks to national holidays on May 1 and 3 we basically get the whole week off. I'm going sailing in the morning and won't be back till friday, May 4. That means ubuntunonews.info in the mean time. I guess I should say "I'm sorry" and stuff like that, but I'm just to happy to get out of the city :P

Information Week published a comparison of Ubuntu and Windows Vista (link to a print version, original is posted in a way forcing you to view ads on 8 pages). It covers several different issues - installation, hardware support, software installation, networking, word processing, local search, multimedia, photo management, and backup. The conclusion: a tie. The author, Serdar Yegulalp "is a former Senior Technology Editor with Windows Magazine (also Winmag.com), and has been writing about and working with NT and related technologies since its 3.51 release". Now's the time for our side of the story.