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Canonical/Ubuntu News for November



  • Ubuntu's Saucy Salamander is a Slick but Spiritless Upgrade
    Ubuntu 13.10's new Scopes feature is fed by heuristics to offer matches to your accumulated browsing and search requests gleaned from Github, reddit, Wikipedia, Flickr, Google News, The Weather Channel and Yelp. I find this level of search invasion too intrusive. If I wanted that approach to marketing, I would just bypass Ubuntu completely and grab a Kindle or rely more fully on the Google search engine.


  • Ubuntu 13.10: A desktop tour (Slideshow)
    The most new-user friendly of all Linux desktop distributions, Ubuntu has a new, better release: Ubuntu 13.10, Saucy Salamander.


  • Mark Shuttleworth Apologizes for the Trademark Infringement Letter Sent to Fixubuntu.com
  • Mark Shuttleworth Regrets the “Tea Party” Remarks and Other Canonical Mistakes


  • Mark Shuttleworth Sends Out Apologies


  • Ubuntu 13.10 - meeting the Saucy Salamander
    Looking back on my time with Kubuntu 13.10 the thing which stood out the most was that not much stood out. Apart from having some network issues which slowed things down during my first installation attempt, my time with the distribution was quite good. The installer is nicely laid out, the KDE 4.11 desktop is quite polished, providing a clean, feature-rich environment. I like that Kubuntu comes with a guest account for those odd times people wish to borrow my computer. I'm also happy to see there is an option in the KDE System Settings panel to turn off the guest account for people who see the guest account as a security concern. The new user account manager is slick and easy to use, I'm quite happy to see it included in this release. So far I'm tentatively happy with the new Discover software manager. It looks pretty and it seems to work well enough. The software manager's interface is a little busy for my taste, but otherwise I have no complaints. I think most people will take to it and those who don't can fall back on the older package manager. Overall, Kubuntu 13.10 feels like a stable, mature release that has some nice new features, but nothing ground shaking that would put off existing users. I'm actually sorry this version is not a long-term support release and will only receive security updates for nine months, the short support cycle seems to be the only weak point in an otherwise excellent desktop operating system.


  • A review of "Instant Ubuntu"
    I try to write articles for the readers on this site that I hope they will find useful and so I agreed to write the review on the basis that if it is a great book then I can share that knowledge and if it isn't then I can also share that knowledge.


  • Install Everpad 2.5.6 in Ubuntu 13.10


  • Install Cairo Dock 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 13.10


  • Valve's SteamOS will not be based on Ubuntu
    Today in Open Source: SteamOS will not be based on Ubuntu. Plus: Metro Last Light out for Linux, and the Tuxmachines site has been sold

    [...]

    Tuxmachines Site Sold Foss Force is reporting that the Tuxmachines site has been sold. Here it is in case you missed it last month.
    One of the most popular Linux sites, Tuxmachines.org, announced on October 28th that it has been tentatively sold for $1,000.

    When Ms. Linton, who has also been involved with DistroWatch, started Tuxmachines it quickly grew to be an important destination on news about Linux and other open source projects.

    More at Foss Force
    It's sad that the site is changing hands, but hopefully the new owner will keep it going for a long, long time.


  • Installation and disk partitioning guide for Ubuntu 13.10


  • How-to configure keyboard layouts in Ubuntu Unity (video)
  • Install Ubuntu 13.10 using a USB key from Window or another Linux distribution
    A USB key or thumb drive or USB stick is the best device to use in installing your favorite Linux distribution. It’s not just because it’s reusable forever (unless you mess it up), but the system runs much faster than if you used a CD or DVD disc for installation.


  • Grsync : Graphical rsync backup tool on Ubuntu ( 12.10 / 13.04 / 13.10)
    grsync is a graphical rsync tool in ubuntu linux. It provides a graphical user interface to backup or sync important files & directories to remote machine or in local machine using rsync. It currently supports only a limited set of the most important rsync features, but can be used effectively for local directory synchronization.




  • Flavours and Variants



    • Pear OS 8 Has Been Officially Released
      The highly anticipated Pear OS 8 Linux distribution has been officially released today, November 9, by David Tavares, the father of the Pear Linux Project.

      There's no official announcement for Pear OS 8, but we can tell you that the distribution boasts a new iOS 7 design, created by Ivan Matias Suarez. Moreover, the brand-new Pear OS 8 distribution features a set of pre-installed applications, including Pear Cloud, Clean My Pear 2, MyPear 6, as well as more than 3,000 downloadable packages from its generous software repository.


    • Pear OS 8 Could Arrive for Microsoft Surface Tablet
      David Tavares, father of the Pear Linux project, has just announced that he started a crowdfunding campaign for a new project, called Pear OS 8 Tablet Edition, a version of the Pear OS 8 Linux operating system for the Microsoft Surface tablet.
    • Taming The Iguana.....
      So we found ourselves on unsure footing. While I am sure that the developers of Mint and Zorin are confident in their longevity within the the community.....

      It's simply a risk we cannot take. They are both some of the best examples of what Linux is and should be on the desktop. Both of these distributions will be used in our Reglue computers, as each of them has a specified purpose, depending on the power and size of the computer being installed.






Recent Techrights' Posts

IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 30, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 30, 2025
Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
How Not to Build Software
code forges that need a Web browser perhaps fill some 'niche' demand
GAFAM and "MATA"
The use of dark humour there hopefully helps illuminate what a lot of "modern" technology became like and how it interacts with human civilisation (to what ends and whose gain)
Flying in 2025
worse than ever before
 
Links 31/08/2025: Google Gmail Data Breach and LF Puff Pieces for Pay
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
This is What Google News Has Become
Moments ago
The Slopfarm WebProNews Has Turned Google News Into a Laughing Stock Full of Plagiarism by Slop
If Google News dies of neglect, that's one thing. It's starting to seem like active neglect by Google is a form of participation.
Do What is Moral, as What's Legal Isn't Always Moral
Do what's objectively moral, no matter the costs and the risks
Slopwatch: Google News Assisting Plagiarism and Anti-Linux FUD, Serial Slopper Rips Off Linux-Centric Journalists
This makes the Web a much worse place and lessens the incentive to do journalism
Links 30/08/2025: NVIDIA Fakes Results to Hide a Bubble Already in Implosion Phase, Data Breaches Galore, Important Win for Workers' Union in Canada
Links for the day
In Kazakhstan, Yandex Estimated to be 20 Times Bigger Than Microsoft
Bing is measured as down this month
Shutterstock Not Enough? The Register MS Uses Slop Images in Articles (Seemingly More and More Over Time)
Cost-saving trajectory amid office shutdown?
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Games, PostmarketOS, and Slop
Links for the day
Links 30/08/2025: Imgur Uproar and Many Ukraine Updates (Mediazona Reports Over 200,000 Russians Died for Putin)
Links for the day
Birds Are Not "Pests and Vermin", Privacy is Not a Crime, and GNU/Linux is Not 'Hacking Platform'
I could not help but think of Free software analogies
The Sites Should Be Very Fast Again
That issue is now resolved
Activists, Including Technical Activists, Need Not Pursue Affirmation
Techrights doesn't play or participate in a "popularity contest"
The UEFI 9/11 - Part III - Chaos is Scheduled to Happen Second Thursday of September (No Matter What the Microsofters Tell You)
The clock is ticking
Downplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
Government Sites Should Run Free Software
Not proprietary bloatware with buzzwords
LLM Slopfarms Take No Breaks
When people run sites by bots they don't need to worry about "breaks"
GNOME Having a Meltdown Again
Thanks and farewell to Steven Deobald
Gemini Links 30/08/2025: Low Tech and Hunchbin 1.0.6
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 29, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 29, 2025
Financiers and Sponsors of the Slop Hype (Pyramid Scheme Waiting to End, Bubble That Will Inevitably Implode)
It's also burning the planet
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Google Helps Ponzi Schemes and Slopfarms in Google News
Slopfarms are a real pain
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Retiring at 62 and URL Filtering HTTP(S) Proxy on Qubes OS
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Lisa Cook Sues Convicted Felon and Backdoor Mandate in UK Resisted
Links for the day
Links 29/08/2025: Arti 1.5.0, War on Public Health (CDC), and Slop 'Bros' Made to Pay for Their Mass Plagiarism
Links for the day
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day