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When you think of Ubuntu Linux, what do you think of? I would guess you think about the Linux desktop. While Ubuntu is certainly a big player—maybe the biggest—when it comes to the Linux desktop, Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu wants you to know that “A remarkable thing happened this year: companies started adopting Ubuntu over RHEL for large-scale enterprise workloads, in droves.”

Since last summer, Ubuntu has been more popular than Red Hat as a Web server.

Shuttleworth makes this claim because, according to W3Tech, which surveys technologies used on the Web, shows that since July 2011 Ubuntu has overtaken Red Hat Enterprise Linux (RHEL) for Web servers. According to W3Techs, as of February, “Ubuntu s now used on 6% of all Web servers, up from 4% one year ago.”

Now Cloud Market is measuring Amazon Machine Image (AMI), a pre-configured operating system and virtual application software which is used to create a virtual machine, not the number of running systems. As Shuttleworth told me during our e-mail discussion of Cloud Market’s data “I would characterize it as an easily gamed measure of innovation (i.e. a measure that will become less useful if lots of people start talking about it :-) rather than a measure of adoption. It’s a measure of how many people have taken the OS and done their own snapshot with their own customizations, not a measure of how many of each of those images is running.” Since, however, no one to my knowledge has been looking at Cloud Market’s data in this way it strikes me as still showing serious business server interest in Ubuntu.

Ubuntu images are by far the most popular operating system images on the Amazon cloud.

More..

Source : http://www.zdnet.com

We have seen our fair share of Android devices running Ubuntu already, like the Nexus S or the NOOKcolor but to see it running on that large beautiful 10″ display on the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and pushed by that dual-core CPU makes this a little more interesting.

Having Linux run on an Android tablet with a 1280×800 resolution makes for a much better and clearer viewing experience from what users booting to Linux have seen in the past. It is not natively installed and will be running over Android but the overall speed and responsiveness seems pretty great from the video posted. You’ll need a bluetooth keyboard and mouse if you want to dive in and run Ubuntu on your own Galaxy Tab.

Good news for those that want to try this themselves, Android users have the method for booting to Linux down pretty well so the instructions shouldn’t be that bad for most looking to give this a whirl. Obviously you will need to be rooted and know that you need to still be careful when doing these types of mods to your device. For all the details, instructions and downloads head down to the source to get started. Here’s a video of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 running Linux while you’re here.

What does Windows 8 mean for Linux?

The simple answer is ‘nothing’: Windows 8 is unlikely to sway hardened Linux users; dual-booters will continue to dual-boot; and the linux-curious will remain curious.

But on a deeper level Windows 8 is significant: not only is it the first time Microsoft have deviated from the safety of the “Windows 95″ desktop metaphor, but it’s also bringing a bunch of smartphone and tablet concepts, features and technologies to the desktop experience. That’s not an easy thing to do, and from reviews and previews so far it seems Microsoft have outdone themselves in melding the the two successfully.

Metro UI

Ubuntu, GNOME and others have all been busy having their own interface overhauls recently, so the introduction of a new interface for Windows is following the trend of questioning the traditional “desktop metaphor” as it currently exists. They’ve seemingly opted to veer into a different direction than Unity or GNOME 3, and credit for doing something different.

I suspect that the sleek animated transitions and application feedback in the Metro interface so far will cause Linux developers to think a bit more about “polish” and presentation.

Multiplatform

Windows 8 will be ARM compatible, theoretically meaning that the competition for ARM-toting Linux efforts like Linaro is heating up. But Microsoft only demoed Windows 8 on an x86 Intel processor at the BUILD event (which was said to be very hot, very noisy and very sluggish in turning back on).

Microsoft insist that ARM support is being properly attended to, and that future announcements/demos of Windows 8 on ARM will be made.

The “one platform” approach

Windows 8 retains the “old style” Windows desktop as, essentially, another app in the Metro interface. The result is a single OS that is both tailored to tablets, but also to mouse-bound desktop users.

On a Linux related note, Ubuntu 11.04 saw Canonical fold the various netbook spins of Ubuntu into the main release. Similarly, although Canonical insist that Ubuntu is not heading to the tablet sector any time soon there’s no denying that various developments to the Ubuntu interface – particularly with regard to Unity and uTouch – mean Ubuntu already functions well on a tablet, although is by no means ideal.

Windows 8 is being sensible in this ‘unification’ approach. It’s less confusing for consumers, and easier for developers. That said, I still somewhat expect Microsoft to stuff it up by announcing an ensemble of “Tablet Edition Premium” and “Desktop Metro Home Professional” varieties.

Doesn’t close apps

Oh yes – Windows 8 appears, in demos so far, to take the OS X/Smartphone approach to application management and not quitting apps when closing a document/app window.

The result is almost instant launch times when those apps are opened again. Given the memory-hogging nature of many apps, it’ll be interesting to see how memory management works in Windows 8.

Linux developers have recently begun to question loading times of linux applications – but is there a case to be made for introducing a “document-orientated” approach on Ubuntu?

Minimal RAM Requirements

Microsoft “claim” that the ‘base system’ of Windows 8 can be run on as little as 256mB of RAM. Impressive if true, as Ubuntu 11.04 would struggle to perform adequately on such a meagre amount although official “light weight spins” such as Lubuntu are able to thrive on such resources.

Fast Boot Times

Microsoft claim that Windows 8 can boot in as little as 8 seconds. This is helped by the switch to a new filesystem – called ‘Protogon’ – and changes to the way the Windows kernel (the main component of an operating system) behaves during shutdown.

A bold claim that will be interesting to see tested on a typical user hardware rather than high-performance SSD.

Those with long memories may remember that Ubuntu 10.04 promised a 10 second boot, which is didn’t quite manage to achieve.

So what is it?

PlexyDesk is a Qt/QML powered widget space that ‘covers’ the default desktop space with an alternative that, according to its developers, lets you ‘efficiently use your desktop background.’

The app is cross-platform (Windows, OS X and Linux) and works under most desktop environments, such as KDE, GNOME 2, GNOME 3/Shell and Ubuntu Unity.

What can it do?

With the “app” currently in active development there’s not an awful lot to play with just yet, but what is there is more than promising with: -
Small selection of widgets (clock, photo frame, file browser)
Some widgets have extra themes – just right-click to switch between them
Ability to change desktop wallpaper by dragging and dropping an image on to the desktop
3D support
Themepack support for changing themes (QML)
Drag and drop adding of new widgets
For the more technically interested PlexyDesk has an ‘API for writing data models and C++ widget plugins’ and GLSL shader support.

Is it any good?

Plexy isn’t yet complete or stable but the current snapshot feels quite robust, not crashing once during my play with it. Widgets can be freely moved around the desktop although, somewhat annoyingly, none of these can be removed (nor can extra ones added manually.) You can sort of “hide” widgets by double clicking on them, upon which they turn into a semi-transparent square.

The ease of changing background is nifty, as are the different themes some widgets (such as the clock) have when right-clicked on.

Negatives: the ‘File’ widget is a bit slow and cumbersome to navigate, and certainly fails to beat a scatting of icons on the desktop or a smack of the ‘Super’ button to call up the Unity Dash for intuitiveness, and the lack of variety in the widgets will limit the usefulness of PlexyDesk as a replacement for the most ardent of widget fans.

Some extra widgets (many half finished) are available in ‘/usr/share/plexy/themepack/default’. Adding these to the desktop is a matter of dragging and dropping the relevant .qml file from within the relevant folder on to the desktop.

How to Install Plexydesk in Ubuntu

A daily build PPA – which is unstable and unsuitable for users dependent on Ubuntu running smoothly – provides packages for Ubuntu 10.10, 11.04 and 11.10 users. This PPA only contains one package – PlexyDesk – but does pull in a number of Qt dependencies from the main Ubuntu repositories.

To install PlexyDesk in Ubuntu add the following PPA to your Software Sources, update and then install ‘plexydesk’ from the Ubuntu Software Centre: -

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:plexydesk/plexydesk-dailybuild

Source :  omgubuntu.co.uk

Linux users continue to pay more for the Humble Indie Bundle 3 than their Windows or OS X counterparts. 

With just over one day left to nab eleven awesome DRM-free indie games for whatever price you’re willing to pay, I thought it would be nice to take a quick look at how the Bundle is doing before the last day splurge sets in.

So far the Bundle has amassed over $1.8 million – and should surely tip the $2 million mark by the end of its run this time tomorrow. For comparison the totals for the previous Bundles were as follows: -

1. Humble Indie Bundle | $1.2 Million
2. Humble Indie Bundle 2 | $1.8 Million
3. Humble Frozenbyte Bundle | 700k

Generous Linux folks

Once again Linux users are the most generous of the bunch so far, paying on average $12 for the compendium of titles. To put that $12 into context that’s almost $5 more than Mac users pay are willing to shell out, and over $7 more than what Windows users cough up. Previous Bundles have seen Linux and Mac users making up over 50% of all sales.

Why are Linux folks just so damn generous?

I lack a psychology degree, so I can’t expound on that question any certainty. The nature of sharing, supporting and giving that is so central to the Open-Source ethos, mixed in with a desire to thank and support developers who go out of their way to support them, are likely to be strong motives behind the support.

That and paying for software is a bit of a novelty ;)

Extra Titles
Extra titles have been added to Bundle 3 since its launch a week ago, making a total of 12 games (plus a free trial of Minecraft) are now on offer to anyone paying more than the ‘average price’ of $5.71.

• 
  Crayon Physics Deluxe – Physics based puzzle game
• Cogs – Steampunk themed puzzle game
• VVVVVV – Retro-themed platformer with insane gravity element
• Hammerfight - weapon-based melee ‘smash ‘em up’
• And Yet It Moves – Beauitful and award winning physics platformer
• Steel Storm - Top down action shooter
• Atom Zombie Smasher – RTS game, zombie-style
• Braid - Critically-acclaimed puzzle game
• Cortex Command – 2D side-scroller
• Machinarium – Visually stunning point-and-click puzzle game
• Osmos – Single player puzzle game
• Revenge of the Titans – RTS game
• If you purchased your bundle before the extra games were added fear not – just head to your ‘Download’ area (sent via e-mail when you purchased the bundle) to download them.

Buy

With barely over one day left to buy get your skates on and humblebundle.com/

 Source : omgubuntu.co.uk

Deadline.com are reporting that Disney have hired Night At The Museum writer Robert Ben Garant to pen an animated feature about a talking Penguin called, you guessed it, ‘Tux’.

The film is to be an adaptation of “gritty” Japanese graphic novel ‘Tuxedo Gin’, the storyline of which sees a young street fighter “fall into a coma and learns that he …only has enough karma points to be reincarnated as an animal 15 pounds or less.”

That animal is a penguin.

For those unaware of why this is slightly humorous the Linux mascot, Tux, is a penguin. Here’s hoping for a Linux in joke somewhere ;)

We all want the latest features and changes an app has to offer, and for many of us that means using unstable, beta or sometimes even alpha quality software.

This ‘bite of the beta pie’ approach has drawbacks: application performance may not be ideal and you risk files being trashed by buggy new features.

Enter Glimpse which lets ‘unstable’ applications run alongside stable applications in a ‘sandbox’, making the testing of alpha software (for curiosity’s sake or more) a relatively fear-free experience.

The developer of Glimpse, Sergey “Shnatsel” Davidoff, explains: -

“Applications run in Glimpse are allowed to read your real data, but when they write to it or modify it in any other way, all the changes stay within their sandbox. Your real files on your system are left intact.”

Download Glimpse

Glimpse works with Ubuntu 10.10 onwards. Just add the following PPA to your Software Sources:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:glimpse-hackers/stable

Next step is to run an update and install both glimpse and a profile for your Apps to use:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install glimpse glimpse-profile-elementary glimpse-profile-ubuntu

Once download launch ‘Glimpse’ from the Dash. In the window that opens click on the ‘Profile’ you wish to use. Depdning on the profile chosen you may need to download or locate an .iso for Glimpse to use.

From there you just hit the ‘Launch Apps’ button to launch an app in Sandboxed mode (such as the ‘Software Centre’ for adding some Unstable PPAs to play with).

Google Music Manager Finally Launches On Linux

Google Music Beta, which was launched back in May, lets users upload as many as 20,000 tracks for free access and streaming through the web and mobile devices – wherever they are in the world.

Music is cached for offline play on both the desktop and mobile devices.

At the time of Music Beta’s launch Google only provided Windows and Mac version of ‘Google Music Manager’ – their desktop client for adding and seamlessly syncing your music folder with Google Music Beta. With the release of Google Music Manager for Linux, everyone* is now free to take advantage of the cloud-music-storage service.

Those of you already signed up/using the service can grab the linux installer – provided as both 32bit and 64bit .deb packages – by hitting the ‘Add Music’ button to the top of the player window.

Download

Music Beta is currently only available in the United States

Source: www.omgubuntu.co.uk

Linus Torvalds has announced the release of Linux kernel 3.0 on his Google+ profile after a short delay earlier this week.

So what’s new? Well, not a lot really. The new release sees a few new patches as well as a bit of old cruft removed, but as Linus explains in his announcement to the Linux kernel mailing list in May, 3.0 won’t feature a bunch of new stuff.

So what are the big changes?

NOTHING. Absolutely nothing. Sure, we have the usual two thirds driver changes, and a lot of random fixes, but the point is that 3.0 is *just* about renumbering, we are very much *not* doing a KDE-4 or a Gnome-3 here.

No breakage, no special scary new features, nothing at all like that. We’ve been doing time-based releases for many years now, this is in no way about features. If you want an excuse for the renumbering, you really should look at the time-based one (“20 years”) instead.

here are however a few interesting new tidbits such as a Microsoft Kinect driver, Cleancache support, open source graphics driver improvements including initial support for Intel’s Ivy Bridge, and a lot of changes for the open source Intel, Radeon, and Nouveau drivers.

The new kernel pulls support for a few older, rarely used features such as the Reiser4 file system, and according to Michael Larabel over at Phoronix, unfortunately doesn’t fix the power regressions that were found in Ubuntu 11.04.

Of course Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot will indeed ship with kernel 3.0 stable, but Ubuntu’s Desktop Manager Jason Warner couldn’t say when:

“I don’t know exactly when 3.0 final will get into Oneiric, but it will.”

Source : www.omgubuntu.co.uk