Some Changes I Noticed

I have had the flu (like just about everybody!) and haven’t been able to post for a while.  Now I am back, and finding several things that I’m having to get used to.

1)  Ubuntu Tweak no longer has a PPA.  It can be downloaded from its home page.  After you download from there, Ubuntu Software Center will come up and let you install it.

2)  WordPress.com xmlrpc.php files have been under attack.  This threw me for a loop when I went to log into my usual blog editor (Scribefire) and found that the xmlrpc.php file would not work.  I have preferred that editor to the wordpress.com editor.

In other news:  Several months ago, I gave my daughter my old computer with a brand-new dvd-rom drive and a fresh install of Ubuntu 14.04.  The computer is a bit slow but she liked the price tag ($0.00) and has not wanted me to install Windows.  This means I have had to do research on PPAs to keep my daughter’s computer updating properly.  This is good news, because my daughter is no longer using my own linux box quite so much.  😉

Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) Alpha 1 Released for Flavors

Update to the release schedule:

The first alpha releases of Ubuntu 15.04 are now available for download.  These are basically for testing and finding bugs.  You *will* find breakage.  That is a promise.  😀

The four flavors taking part in this release are Ubuntu GNOME, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Kylin and Lubuntu.  (Ubuntu will only participate in the final beta releae due in March 2015.)

Merry Christmas!

Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) Has Been Released

Utopic Unicorn has been released.  It is now available to download and install.

You can download ISOs of Ubuntu 14.10 and the other flavors from the following sites:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.10/ (Ubuntu Desktop and Server)
http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/14.10/release/ (Ubuntu Cloud Server)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/14.10/ (Ubuntu Netboot)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-core/releases/14.10/release/ (Ubuntu Core)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/14.10/release/ (Kubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/14.10/release/ (Lubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/14.10/release/ (Ubuntu Studio)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-gnome/releases/14.10/release/ (Ubuntu GNOME)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/14.10/release/ (UbuntuKylin)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/14.10/release/ (Xubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/14.10/release/ (Mythbuntu)

If you are upgrading from Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (Trusty) on a desktop system:

Press Alt+F2 and type in “update-manager” (without the quotes) into the command box.

Update Manager should then tell you:  New distribution release ‘14.10’ is available.

Click Upgrade and follow the instructions.

Ubuntu 15.04 Name to Be Vivid Vervet

Mark Shuttleworth has just announced that Ubuntu 15.04 will be called Vivid Vervet:

“In my favourite places, the smartest thing around is a particular kind of monkey. Vexatious at times, volant and vogie at others, a vervet gets in anywhere and delights in teasing cats and dogs alike. As the upstart monkey in this business I can think of no better mascot. And so let’s launch our vicenary cycle, our verist varlet, the Vivid Vervet!”

According to Wikipedia, the Vervet is a monkey that can be found “throughout Southern Africa and some of the eastern countries.”

Ubuntu Sources List Generator Ready for Utopic

The Ubuntu Sources List Generator is a great source for finding new repositories or noting which repositories are already available for an upcoming release.  It has repositories available for Precise, Trusty and Utopic – the latest LTS, the latest full release version and the upcoming release.  You can follow instructions for adding repositories individually, or you can save the file output by the generator and substitute it for you /etc/apt/sources.list.  (I would back up my sources.list first, before replacing it.)

Ubuntu 14.10 Final Beta Has Been Released

The Ubuntu team has now announced the final Beta release of Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) Desktop, Server, Cloud and Core versions.  The release also includes the Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu Studio and Xubuntu flavors.

As announced by Adam Conrad yesterday, Utopic “continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest opens source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.  The team has been hard at work through this cycle, introducing new features and fixing bugs.”

To upgrade to Ubuntu 14.10 Final Beta from Ubuntu 14.04, follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UtopicUpgrades

The Ubuntu 14.04 Final Beta images can be downloaded at:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/14.10/ (Ubuntu and Ubuntu Server)

Additional images can be found at the following links:

http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/14.10/beta-2/ (Cloud Images)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/14.10/beta-2/ (Community Supported)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-core/releases/14.10/beta-2/ (Core)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/14.10/ (Netboot)

The full release notes for Ubuntu 14.10 Final Beta can be found at:

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UtopicUnicorn/ReleaseNotes

Kubuntu:
Kubuntu is the KDE based flavor of Ubuntu. It uses the Plasma desktop
and includes a wide selection of tools from the KDE project.

The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/14.10/beta-2/

More information on Kubuntu Final Beta can be found here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UtopicUnicorn/Beta2/Kubuntu

Lubuntu:
Lubuntu is a flavor of Ubuntu that targets to be lighter, less
resource hungry and more energy-efficient by using lightweight
applications and LXDE, The Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment,
as its default GUI.

The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/14.10/beta-2/

Ubuntu GNOME:
Ubuntu GNOME is a flavor of Ubuntu featuring the GNOME desktop
environment.

The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-gnome/releases/14.10/beta-2/

More information on Ubuntu GNOME Final Beta can be found here:
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/UtopicUnicorn/Beta2/UbuntuGNOME

Ubuntu Kylin:
Ubuntu Kylin is a flavor of Ubuntu that is more suitable for Chinese
users.

The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/14.10/beta-2/

Ubuntu Studio:
Ubuntu Studio is a flavor of Ubuntu that provides a full range of
multimedia content creation applications for each key workflows:
audio, graphics, video, photography and publishing.

The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/14.10/beta-2/

Xubuntu:
Xubuntu is a flavor of Ubuntu that comes with Xfce, which is a stable,
light and configurable desktop environment.

The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/14.10/beta-2/

Regular daily images for Ubuntu can be found at:
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com

Humble Indie Bundle 12

The Humble Bundle people have outdone themselves with their latest, Humble Indie Bundle 12.  They have 10 excellent games available – all of which work on Linux!

The games included in this bundle are:  SteamWorld Dig, Hammerwatch, Gunpoint, Prison Architect (Early Access), Papers, Please, LUFTRAUSERS, Gone Home, The Bridge, Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine, and Race the Sun.  Of these games you can pay what you want for SteamWorld Dig, Hammerwatch and Gunpoint.  Pay More than the average ($7.82 as of this posting) and you can unlock Papers, Please, LUFTRAUSERS, Gone Home, The Bridge, Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine, and Race the Sun.  If you pay $10 or more, you can unlock Prison Architect.

For the first time, Humble Bundle has made merchandise available.  If you pay more than $65, you can unlock the Humble Indie Bundle 12 Entertainment System, containing a 30-page issue of HIB Informer Magazine, two lapel pins with the Humble Bundle logo and Arstotzka Crest from Papers, Please, a HIB 12 Super Shirt, a HIB 12 Shareware 3.5″ floppy disk, the HIB 12 EP on vinyl and a collector’s box for all of this.  As noted on the Humble Bundle website:  “Yes, there is a vinyl record and 3.5″ floppy disk in this package.  For real, not a joke.  If you don’t know what either of those things are then go ask your parents or the Google.”

Beta 1 Releases Available for Ubuntu Flavors

The Ubuntu 14.10 Beta 1 release is now available for Ubuntu flavors:  GNOME, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Kylin and Ubuntu Cloud.

The Ubuntu GNOME Beta 1 includes GNOME Shell 3.12.

The Kubuntu Beta 1 includes KDE Platform 4.14. (The KDE Plasma 5 version is available in a separate image.)

The first beta version for regular Ubuntu 14.10 will be available on September 25.

Here are the links for download:

Ubuntu GNOME 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) Beta 1

Kubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) Beta 1

Kubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) Beta 1 – Plasma 5 Desktop UI Edition Please note that this is a 64-bit version only.

Xubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) Beta 1

Lubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) Beta 1

Ubuntu Kylin 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) Beta 1

Ubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn) Beta 1 – Cloud Image

Ubuntu 14.10 Alpha 2 Releases Now Available for Flavors

Members of the 14.10 Ubuntu family are now out in Alpha 2.  In this cycle, the four versions available for download are GNOME, Kubuntu, Lubuntu and Kylin.  If you want to help test, or just want to see the new features, here they are for download:

Download Ubuntu GNOME 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn)

Download Kubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn)

Download Lubuntu 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn)

Download Ubuntu Kylin 14.10 (Utopic Unicorn)

GOG Now Supports Linux

GOG.com a while ago announced plans to add Linux support to its excellent, DRM-free game list.  They have now launched the first 50 Linux games, with plans to have at least 100 Linux games in the coming months.  So far, these games are available for Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

Here are the games that are now available:

Anomaly Warzone Earth
Ascendant
Bionic Dues
Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold – first time on Linux!
Blake Stone: Planet Strike – first time on Linux!
Bloodnet – first time on Linux!
Braveland
CLARC – first time on Linux!
Darklands – first time on Linux!
Darwinia
Defcon
Don’t Starve + DLC
Dragonsphere – first time on Linux!
Duke Nukem 3D: Atomic Edition
FlatOut – first time on Linux!
Flatout 2 – first time on Linux!
Fragile Allegiance – first time on Linux!
Gemini Rue
Gods Will Be Watching
Hammerwatch
Hocus Pocus – first time on Linux!
Kentucky Route Zero
The Last Federation
Legend of Grimrock
Litil Divil – first time on Linux!
Long Live the Queen
MouseCraft
Multiwinia
Normality – first time on Linux!
Pinball Gold Pack – first time on Linux!
Pinball World – first time on Linux!
Pirates! Gold Plus – first time on Linux!
Realms of the Haunting – first time on Linux!
Rex Nebular and the Cosmic Gender Bender – first time on Linux!
Rise of the Triad: Dark War – first time on Linux!
Shattered Haven
The Shivah HD
Sid Meier’s Colonization – first time on Linux!
Sid Meier’s Covert Action – first time on Linux!
Sir, You Are Being Hunted
Slipstream 5000 – first time on Linux!
Space Pirates and Zombies
Spacechem
Stargunner – first time on Linux!
SteamWorld Dig
Super Hexagon
Surgeon Simulator 2013
Sword of the Samurai – first time on Linux!
Teslagrad
Unrest:Special Edition (Linux build on the way!)
Uplink
VVVVVV

For those of us who already bought games for Windows and jury-rigged them to work on Linux, we will immediately have access  to the Linux versions, with no extra charge.  I can’t begin to say how wonderful it is for Steam to finally have major competition!