The Buzz Media » Ubuntu

The Growing Divide in Ubuntu – Apple’s Methods meets Linux Community

Riyad Kalla — Thu, 03 Nov 2011 17:18:26 +0000

This article is my opinion. Mark Shuttleworth is dragging Ubuntu (and by extension) Linux, kicking and screaming into the “design-first” world of computing lead by Apple. This progress requires that he, to some extent, ignore an entire community that has never prided itself on or been particularly good at design aesthetics. Ignoring such a community has… it’s [...]

Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx) Default Search Switching to Yahoo/Bing

Riyad Kalla — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 18:08:36 +0000

Canonical, the creators of the Ubuntu Linux distribution, have announced that after negotiating a new profit-sharing arrangement with Yahoo, they will be changing the default search provider in Firefox on Ubuntu 10.04 and beyond to Yahoo Search (from the long-time default of Google Search). The interesting bit here is that back in July of 2009, [...]

Google Chrome OS Based on Ubuntu

Riyad Kalla — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 18:21:51 +0000

As we type this Google is in the process of announcing their new Chrome OS operating system at a Google Event (TechCrunch Live Coverage). Just like the Chrome browser is based on the Chromium OS project, Chrome OS will be based on the Chromium OS project. Glancing around the source repository for Chromium OS it [...]

This is Why Linux Will Never Compete on the Desktop

Riyad Kalla — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 15:42:37 +0000

About a year ago I started writing an article titled “Linux on the Desktop: 10 Years of Wasted Time”. I was trying to summarize why Linux does not compete on the desktop for the mainstream computer user. As a Linux user since RedHat 5.0, then a Gentoo user for years then a Mandrake user for [...]

Global, Mac-like Menubar on GNOME with gnome2-globalmenu

Riyad Kalla — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:05:49 +0000

Caught the introduction of this story over on OS News — apparently folks have been voting on the addition of a global, application-context sensitive menubar in Gnome for a while. The design of the bar is very similar to the way the global bar in Mac works. For those that don’t know, there is a [...]

HP Mini 1000 "Mi" Netbook Uses Custom Ubuntu Interface by HP

Riyad Kalla — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 23:19:26 +0000

HP has just dropped news about their upcoming netbook the “Mi”, and besides running Ubuntu 8.04 it is actually rocking a completely custom UI designed by HP specifically for the Netbook. Looking nothing like Canonical’s Ubuntu Netbook Remix distribution, it seems that HP went back to the drawing board with this and implemented their own [...]

Microsoft Will Never Understand Usability – Vista Device Driver Security Example

Riyad Kalla — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 17:42:58 +0000

We took our first look at Microsoft’s inbility to create something genuinely useful and a minature review of Vista when we evaluated Windows Vista Backup at the beginning of the year. The premise of that article being that by evaluating a single program, and all the usability/functionality flaws it had, you got an impression of [...]

Setting up Apache Tomcat 6.x and ZK in Ubuntu

Ray Gomez — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 18:58:11 +0000

Apache Tomcat is the name in JSP, and you’ll need to get a copy before being able to try out the many cool web applications and frameworks out there (like ZKoss’s ZK). Finding a development need to run JSP pages (and wanting to try out ZK), I decided to get the latest Tomcat version (6.0.18) [...]

Linux Alternatives to Apple's Time Machine

Ray Gomez — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 03:46:42 +0000

Have you ever caught yourself drooling over Apples Time Machine, but just couldn’t bare jumping ship to MacOS X? You are in luck because you have a few projects to choose from. Most of these applications use rsync (a filesyncing program for *nix) and cron (a task scheduler) to mimic the characteristics of Time Machine. [...]

Quick Printer Setup with system-config-printer

Ray Gomez — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 17:44:35 +0000

After being quite fed up with the cups web-admin app, I decided to go on a little hunt. I’m sure the CUPS admin page is great for some people but you never quite know if the back button will wreak havoc on your crazy LDAP-authenticated, SSL-encrypted setup that shares a printer from the basement room [...]

Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) Alpha 3, Screenshots and New Theme Proposals

Riyad Kalla — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 14:55:11 +0000

We don’t normally start tracking the Ubuntu releases until they hit about the Alpha 3 stage; after all the big software updates have made it in, any theme work is mostly done and the final release is starting to take shape. Well, that happened yesterday: Ubuntu 8.10 “Intrepid Ibex” Alpha 3 was released. New Ubuntu [...]

Ubuntu Hardy Heron 8.04 Theme: Gelatin

Riyad Kalla — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 16:25:57 +0000

The snapshot above is of the new “Geltin” mockup theme that is being proposed as the default theme for Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) and all releases after that until the next LTS (long term support) release (I believe they are on a 18 month or 2 year cycle for every LTS release. I don’t think [...]

Ubuntu Hardy Heron Theme Work Begins

Riyad Kalla — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:04:31 +0000

Work has begun on designing and developing the new theme for Ubuntu’s next release: Hardy Heron. The Ubuntu desktop has used the “Human” theme for quite a while now, and while it’s been quiet attractive, there is work to use a redesigned theme with the upcoming release to really mark the next LTS version (long [...]

Ubuntu Dev Gets MPAA Univ "Toolkit" Taken Down

Riyad Kalla — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 02:54:57 +0000

Ok for those that didn’t know about this, the MPAA released what they were calling the “University Toolkit” a few weeks ago. It was a customized version of Ubuntu, that sits on your network, sniffs all your traffic and reports all the information it finds using a standard Apache install with logs, charts, diagrams, etc. [...]

"Real" 3D Desktop with Compiz Fusion

Riyad Kalla — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 14:03:17 +0000

This is pretty slick, it looks like Wondor hacked up an anaglyph plugin for Compiz Fusion to actually re-render the desktop pulling apart R/G/B to give it that 3D effect. The trick is you have to have a pair of 3D glasses laying around to see it in action. And yes, Compiz Fusion is what [...]

Ubuntu Power Saver Settings Could Damage Hard Drive

Riyad Kalla — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 21:02:44 +0000

It seems that the default ACPI (power saving) settings for hard drives while running on battery power mode could be causing your hard drive to run an insane amount of load cycles, manifesting itself in “clicking” sounds and also the hard drive’s mechanical portions to be stressed quite a bit more than normal and life [...]

Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) To Get New Theme

Riyad Kalla — Tue, 30 Oct 2007 00:27:32 +0000

Covered in brief detail (yet to be filled out) the Ubuntu Wiki describes that every LTS (Long Term Support) release of Ubuntu, next of which will be the 8.04 release next year) should have a fresh theme to it. All previous releases of Ubuntu have had the very nicely done Human theme, but it looks [...]

Vista to Ubuntu Migration Superguide

Riyad Kalla — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 03:41:21 +0000

NOTE: Ashton’s guide is for Ubuntu 6.06, a lot of things he disliked in the guide have been taken care of in either 7.04 or 7.10, the newest release. While the guide has some good information in it, please keep in mind that some of the “wtf” gripes he may have may not exist any [...]

Ubuntu 7.10 Reviews

Riyad Kalla — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 22:54:30 +0000

No that is not a Mac desktop you are looking at, that’s Ubuntu 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon). While we covered the 7.10 release a few times before, now that it’s officially out, people smarter than me have coughed up some pretty great reviews of it. Lunapark6 has a in-depth review with a lot of screenshots covering [...]

Ubuntu 7.10 Gets Compiz by Default

Riyad Kalla — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 15:28:50 +0000

After much debate it looks like the Ubuntu committee has voted to have Compiz turned on by default in the 7.10 release. NOTE: Compiz is the compositing technology that allows for the eye-candy effects like 3D desktops, fading-windows, transparencies, etc. For the folks saying “it’s about time!” the problem is that Compiz has never been [...]

Ubuntu to Work with Intel on Embedded / Low Power Devices

Riyad Kalla — Mon, 07 May 2007 01:30:46 +0000

OSNews pointed me over to this announcement on the Ubuntu mailing list, and it looks like Ubuntu will be working to get a low-power/embedded version of Ubuntu on some new Intel platforms. When you combine that announcement with the Dell announcement, the light at the end of the tunnel of Hardware on Linux issue is [...]

Dell + Ubuntu == Official

Riyad Kalla — Wed, 02 May 2007 16:52:08 +0000

Nice, it looks like it’s official now.

Dell to Start Offering Ubuntu Linux (7.04)

Riyad Kalla — Tue, 01 May 2007 14:18:21 +0000

Slashdot and just about everywhere else is pointing to the official announcement that Dell will start offering Ubuntu (7.04) as a pre-install OS option later this May on some of it’s lower end PC models; to test the waters. I’m hugely excited for what this means for Linux, mainly from the aspect of hardware support. [...]

Ubuntu 6.06 + ThinkPad T60 Wifi (ipw3945) + WEP/WAP

Riyad Kalla — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 01:04:46 +0000

Ok the short story here is that the wireless adapter on the ThinkPad T60 series of notebooks (ipw3945 driver) work fine with Ubuntu 6.06 (Dapper Drake) IF you are using no encryption or WEP encryption. I put “if” in bold back there because I’m a moron, let me explain: I received my ThinkPad T60 from [...]