   #copyright

Ubuntu (Linux distribution)

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Software

   CAPTION: Ubuntu

   Ubuntu 7.04 "Feisty Fawn" running GNOME.
   Website:                 http://www.ubuntu.com/
   Company/
   developer:               Canonical Ltd./ Ubuntu Foundation
   OS family:               Linux
   Source model:            Free and Open Source Software
   Latest stable release:   7.04 (Feisty Fawn) / April 19, 2007
   Latest unstable release: 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) / October 18, 2007
    Available language(s):  multilingual
   Update method:           APT, Synaptic
   Package manager:         dpkg
   Supported platforms:     i386, AMD64, PowerPC, PlayStation 3, UltraSPARC
   Kernel type:             Monolithic kernel (Linux)
   Default user interface:  GNOME
   Working state:           Current

   Ubuntu ( IPA pronunciation: /u'buntu/) is a widely used Linux
   distribution predominantly targeted at personal computers. Based on
   Debian GNU/Linux, Ubuntu concentrates on usability, regular releases,
   ease of installation, and freedom from legal restrictions. Ubuntu is
   sponsored by Canonical Ltd., a private company founded by South African
   entrepreneur Mark Shuttleworth.

   The name of the distribution comes from the Zulu and Xhosa concept of
   ubuntu, and can be roughly defined as, "the belief in a universal bond
   of sharing that connects all humanity". Ubuntu’s slogan – “Linux for
   Human Beings”, encapsulates one of its main goals – making Linux more
   available and easy to use.

   The most recent version, Ubuntu 7.04 (Feisty Fawn), was released on
   April 19, 2007. Version 7.10 (Gutsy Gibbon) is scheduled for release on
   October 18, 2007.

History and development

   Originally referred to as no-name-yet.com, Ubuntu's first release on
   October 20, 2004 (version 4.10, following the "Y.MM" standard) began as
   a temporary fork of Debian GNU/Linux, with the aim of drawing from
   Debian's code regularly in order to allow for a new version of Ubuntu
   to be released every six months, in step with the six month GNOME
   release cycle. In contrast to other general-purpose forks of Debian
   such as Xandros, Linspire and Libranet, Canonical remains close to
   Debian's philosophy with Ubuntu and uses predominantly free software
   rather than making the inclusion of proprietary applications part of
   their business model.

   Ubuntu uses Debian's Advanced Packaging Tool to manage installed
   packages. Ubuntu packages are generally based on packages from Debian's
   unstable repository; however, they are not always compatible with each
   other. Several Ubuntu developers are also maintainers of packages
   within Debian's repositories, and Ubuntu changes are contributed back
   to Debian as they are made, rather than being announced only at release
   time. Ian Murdock, the founder of Debian, criticised Ubuntu in April
   2005 for incompatibilities between its packages and those of Debian
   sarge, saying that Ubuntu had diverged too far to remain compatible.

   Bugs in Ubuntu are tracked through the Launchpad web interface, which
   integrates with the Bazaar version control system in a similar way to
   SourceForge's integration with CVS.

   Ubuntu is currently funded by Mark Shuttleworth through Canonical Ltd.
   On July 8, 2005, Canonical announced the creation of the Ubuntu
   Foundation and provided an initial funding of US$10 million. The
   purpose of the foundation is to ensure the support and development for
   all future versions of Ubuntu, but as of 2006, the foundation remains
   dormant. Shuttleworth describes the foundation as an emergency fund
   should Canonical's involvement end.

   On May 1, 2007 Dell announced it would sell desktops and laptops with
   Ubuntu pre-installed. It also stated that customers would be able to
   buy support for Ubuntu through Dell, the support coming from Canonical.

Features

Usability

   Ubuntu uses GNOME as its default desktop environment, intended to
   provide a free, simple and intuitive interface. Whilst offering a full
   range of desktop applications including OpenOffice.org, Mozilla Firefox
   and GIMP, it aims to avoid overlap in its default feature set rather
   than providing many different variants of similar packages.

   After the initial Ubuntu installation, the user is greeted by a default
   desktop with no desktop icons and an orange-brown user interface,
   unusual in an operating system as nearly all others use blue as their
   default colour. Applications are located under the 'Applications menu',
   a desktop launcher menu in the top-left corner. Open windows can be
   viewed on the taskbar along the bottom of the screen. Ubuntu is
   available in over 40 languages, and also allows users to submit
   additional translations using the Rosetta Translation tool.

   Ubuntu's focus on usability includes the widespread use of the sudo
   tool, which allows users to carry out administrative tasks without
   initiating a potentially unsafe superuser session.

Distribution

   Ubuntu ships as an ISO image that fits on a single CD or alternatively,
   in the case of the older version, Dapper Drake 6.06 LTS, and just
   released Feisty Fawn 7.04, mailed free to anyone requesting them via
   Canonical's ShipIt service. This is intended to reduce the amount of
   time it takes to download Ubuntu and the possibility of losing part of
   the installation software and/or to aid those users who are not
   comfortable/able to burn an ISO image to CD. Many Linux distributions
   necessitate the downloading of multiple ISO images and hours of
   installation process, while Ubuntu is one of the few distributions that
   can be installed quickly, and from a single CD. Additionally, all
   Ubuntu versions since 4.10 can be downloaded for free.

   Since version 6.06 LTS, Ubuntu's disc has served both as a live CD and
   an install disc. This disc boots into a fully featured desktop,
   allowing the user to see whether his hardware is compatible and
   experiment with the applications available. The CD also allows the user
   to install Ubuntu to the hard disk using the Ubiquity application, and
   preserves documents created on the live desktop. An alternate install
   disc using the text-mode debian-installer is also available, aimed
   towards those with lower system specifications, towards administrators
   installing Ubuntu on many systems, and for complex disk partitioning.

   The live CD also contains a collection of free and open source
   applications including Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, AbiWord,
   Blender and ClamAV, prepared in collaboration with the OpenCD project,
   which can be installed if Windows is running while the CD is in the
   drive.

   There are two types of releases: one for desktop and laptop computers
   and one for servers. The desktop and laptop version is available for
   x86 and x86-64 computers. The server edition is available for both
   platforms in addition to SPARC and does not ship as a Live CD (using
   the text-mode installer exclusively).

Accessibility

   Ubuntu emphasizes accessibility and internationalisation, to reach as
   many people as possible. Since version 5.04, UTF-8 has been the default
   character encoding. High-visibility themes, screen-reading software,
   and an on-screen keyboard all come with Ubuntu.

   Canonical's Rosetta tool is a part of the Launchpad web-based
   application which allows Ubuntu users to contribute translations of
   Ubuntu software in a straightforward way.

Ease of installation

   Ubuntu is installed using a live CD (or LiveDistro). Users may boot
   their computer from the CD instead of the hard disk. When they are
   ready to install, they launch an installer which guides them through
   the process.

   Details of the installation process can be found on the main Ubuntu
   site and at Easy Ubuntu Linux.

   After installation, Ubuntu also offers an automatic updating feature.
   With user permission, the system will find, retrieve, install, and
   configure software updates.

Community

   Ubuntu places particular emphasis on community involvement with the
   development process.

   Ubuntu has a number of official web forums where discussion of the
   operating system is encouraged. Canonical host a number of mailing
   lists for the project and the developer mailing lists and Ubuntu's
   developer conferences remain open to users. Ubuntu's regular
   development conferences are open to the general public.

   Users are encouraged to make use of The Fridge, a community weblog
   intended to keep users informed with Ubuntu-related news.

   The Human user interface theme in Ubuntu is characterised by shades of
   brown and orange, with art intended to mimic African tribal imagery.
   Illustrations of human beings in global communities feature prominently
   in Ubuntu promotional artwork.

Package classification and support

   Browsing Ubuntu core packages in Synaptic.
   Browsing Ubuntu core packages in Synaptic.

   Ubuntu divides all software into four sections, called components, to
   reflect differences in licensing and level of support available. The
   components are Main, Restricted, Universe and Multiverse.

   Main and Universe contain software which meets the Ubuntu license
   requirements, which correspond roughly to the Debian Free Software
   Guidelines. Main may also contain binary firmware and selected fonts
   used in supported software that cannot be modified without permission.
   In all cases, redistribution is unencumbered.

   Non-free device drivers remain in the Restricted component, where
   support is present because of their importance, but limited due to lack
   of, or limited, access to the source code.

   It is intended that Main and Restricted contain all software needed for
   a general-use desktop operating system. Other, unsupported programs are
   placed in Universe (free) and Multiverse (Non-free). Multiverse
   contains software packages which may infringe on U.S. and international
   patent or copyright law. Examples of these include software that
   enables the playback of patented media formats. Due to the questionable
   legal status of unofficial DVD-decoding in some parts of the world,
   Libdvdcss was removed from Ubuntu's official repository, but can still
   be downloaded at the VideoLAN Project's website. Encoding and decoding
   libraries for many proprietary media formats such as Windows Media are
   also unavailable by default.

   Ubuntu Backports is an officially recognized project to backport newer
   versions of certain software that are available only in unstable
   versions of Ubuntu. The repository is not comprehensive; it mostly
   consists of user-requested packages, which are approved if they meet
   quality guidelines.

   Unofficial utilities such as EasyUbuntu and Automatix aim to automate
   the installation and configuration of software which is not officially
   packaged for Ubuntu for legal or philosophical reasons. They are not
   recommended by the Ubuntu development team and have been accused of
   breaking updates.

   Ubuntu has a certification system for third-party proprietary software,
   and Canonical manage a special repository for certified proprietary
   packages named Commercial, which includes software that Canonical have
   obtained special permission to distribute. As of this writing, the
   repository includes the Opera web browser and the RealPlayer media
   player.

Releases

   Restricted drivers manager in Feisty Fawn.
   Restricted drivers manager in Feisty Fawn.

   Each Ubuntu release has an alliterative code name and a version number
   based on the year and month of release (Example: April, 2007 saw the
   release of 7.04 Feisty Fawn). Canonical provide support and security
   updates for most Ubuntu versions for 18 months after release. There are
   three current versions of Ubuntu: 6.06 Dapper LTS (Long term support),
   6.10 Edgy Eft and 7.04 Feisty Fawn.

List of releases

   Version Release date Code name Sub Version Supported until Notes
   4.10 20 October 2004 Warty Warthog Sounder April 30, 2006 Initial
   release, support for x86, x86-64, PowerPC. ShipIt.
   5.04 8 April 2005 Hoary Hedgehog Array October 31, 2006 Inclusion of
   update-manager/upgrade-notifier, Kickstart compatibility, improved
   laptop support.
   5.10 13 October 2005 Breezy Badger Colony April 13, 2007 Graphical boot
   process with progress bar (USplash), OEM Installer Support, Launchpad
   tracking, GCC 4.0
   6.06 LTS 1 June 2006 Dapper Drake Flight June, 2009 (desktops) LiveCD
   and Installer on one disc, Ubiquity installer. First Long-Term Support
   release.
   June, 2011 (servers)
   6.10 26 October 2006 Edgy Eft Knot April, 2008 Automated problem
   reports, Upstart
   7.04 19 April 2007 Feisty Fawn Herd October, 2008 Migration assistant,
   KVM, Easy codec/restricted drivers installation, Desktop effects, WPA
   support, PowerPC no longer officially supported
   7.10 Planned for 18 October 2007 Gutsy Gibbon Tribe April, 2009
   planning in progress
                                  Legend:
   no longer supported still supported current pre-release version planned

Changes in releases

   The first release, 4.10, introduced an update manager and improved
   laptop capabilities. 5.04 was the first release to allow bugs to be
   reported via Launchpad. It also intoduced a graphical progress bar
   during boot-up. Third release, 6.06 LTS, was the first to include the
   Live CD and installer on the same disc. Four months later, 6.10
   introduced automatic problem reports and a new startup manager called
   Upstart. The latest release, 7.04, includes wireless WPA support,
   easier installation of restricted codecs and optional desktop effects
   such as a wobble on moving a window. During the installation, wizard
   can detect Windows XP accounts and transfer data from them. There is
   also a KVM virtualisation support. The planned 7.10 release will
   include more graphical desktop effects, an unattended installation and
   more Click'N'Run options.

Long Term Support

   Ubuntu support periods.
   Ubuntu support periods.

   Release 6.06 LTS, codenamed "Dapper Drake", is the first Long Term
   Support release of Ubuntu. Canonical intends to support LTS releases
   with updates longer than other Ubuntu releases. Package updates are
   planned and paid technical support is available for three years on the
   desktop and five years on the server.

   Ubuntu 6.06 LTS initially included GNOME 2.14, Mozilla Firefox 1.5.0.3,
   OpenOffice.org 2.0.2, Xorg 7.0, GCC 4.0.3, and version 2.6.15 of the
   Linux kernel. The first maintenance release, version 6.06.1, appeared
   on 10 August 2006, and is still distributed alongside more recent
   releases.

   Version 6.06 was the first to be distributed as a single compact disc
   that served both as a Live CD and an install disc. This disc boots into
   a full-featured desktop, allowing users to see whether their hardware
   is compatible and experiment with the applications available and then
   install Ubuntu to the hard disk using the Ubiquity graphical installer.
   The installation process preserves documents created on the live
   desktop. An alternate install disc using the text-mode debian-installer
   is available for download, and is aimed at people with lower system
   specifications, administrators installing on many systems, and for
   complex disk partitioning including the use of LVM or RAID.

   Because of the longer support cycle, ShipIt program continued to ship
   Dapper, rather than switching to newer Edgy Eft. However, since 11
   April 2007, Feisty Fawn is available for ordering on the ShipIt
   website.

   The next LTS release is expected to be released in 2008 - either
   Gutsy+1 (8.04) or Gutsy+2 (8.10).

Edgy Eft

   The following Ubuntu release, version 6.10, known as "Edgy Eft",
   debuted new features such as a new System V init daemon replacement
   called Upstart, as well as improvements to the memory usage of
   applications like Evolution and Nautilus which led to an increase in
   the speed of system boot up and application launch compared to version
   6.06. Major applications in this release include GNOME 2.16.1, Mozilla
   Firefox 2.0, OpenOffice.org 2.0.4, X.Org Server 7.1.1, GCC 4.1.1, and
   version 2.6.17 of the Linux kernel.

   Like previous releases, Edgy allows for direct upgrades from the
   previous version. Upgrading from version 6.06 is not performed
   automatically like normal package upgrades, requiring a special switch
   to Update Manager. Other methods, such as the dist-upgrade feature of
   apt-get, are not recommended. Some users reported serious trouble in
   the process.

Development

   The next stable release will be Ubuntu 7.10, codenamed "Gutsy Gibbon".
   Currently, this release is scheduled for 18 October 2007. Gutsy is
   planned to also include a version containing only software that can be
   modified and redistributed, that is free software, in conjunction with
   gNewSense.

System requirements

   The current Ubuntu release, 7.04, requires 256 megabytes of RAM, and,
   when installed to the hard disk, requires at least three gigabytes of
   hard-disk space if installed as the usual Desktop installation. The
   Server installation requires 64MB of RAM and 500MB of hard disk space.

Known problems

   Upgrading to Ubuntu 7.04 from previous versions has been known to cause
   the boot process to fail. The main symptom is a partial boot followed
   by a command prompt showing several processes failing due to "unknown
   stanza". A critical file necessary for booting Ubuntu contains a typo,
   which has caused this problem. Currently the best way to solve this
   problem is to reformat the hard drive or partition containing Ubuntu
   and do a complete re-install from the Ubuntu Live CD. Support for
   solving this problem may be found at the Ubuntu Team Wiki.

Variants

   Kubuntu 7.04
   Kubuntu 7.04
   Xubuntu 6.06
   Xubuntu 6.06

   Variants of Ubuntu are divided into two broad categories:
    1. Subsets of the distribution created by and within Ubuntu with a
       custom installer or live CD that highlight certain aspects or
       software within the distribution. These are variously referred to
       as subproject, or flavours. They are analogous to "custom
       distributions" in the Debian community.
    2. Derivatives of Ubuntu created by individuals, groups or
       organization working outside of the Ubuntu project but using or
       tracking Ubuntu software. These projects are technically forks of
       Ubuntu.

Official/internal variants

   There are several official variants of Ubuntu available, with releases
   simultaneous with Ubuntu's, as their packages are drawn from the same
   repositories. They are:
     * Kubuntu, which uses KDE instead of GNOME as the default desktop
       environment.
     * Edubuntu, "designed for school environments, and should be equally
       suitable for kids to use at home."
     * Xubuntu, which uses the Xfce as the default desktop environment and
       is designed for less powerful computers.
     * Ubuntu Server Edition, which provides server applications.

   Kubuntu, Ubuntu and Edubuntu can be ordered as CDs from the ShipIt
   service.

Unofficial derivatives

   Other derivates include unofficial variants that usually use alternate
   windowing systems.
     * Elbuntu uses the Enlightenment window manager.
     * Fluxbuntu uses the Fluxbox window manager. It is intended for use
       on machines too slow to run a full desktop environment well.
     * Linux For Clinics aims to create a medical friendly Ubuntu
       distribution.
     * Uberyl A Ubuntu based distribution that has Beryl and Automatix by
       default.
     * Ubuntu Lite shares a similar goal (intended for use on machines too
       slow to run a full desktop environment ), but uses IceWM instead.
     * Ubuntu Studio is a release geared towards multimedia production and
       uses the GNOME desktop environment.
     * nUbuntu uses Fluxbox to be more lightweight, but aims to appeal to
       experienced Linux users, particularly in the area of network
       security.

Specific derivatives

   Mark Shuttleworth has also endorsed the creation of an Ubuntu
   distribution using only Free Software Foundation-approved free
   software. Its release is now planned to coincide with Gutsy Gibbon. A
   project with similar goals, gNewSense, was released on November 2,
   2006; gNewSense is not an official version of Ubuntu.
     * LinuxMCE (Linux Media Centre Edition) is an alternative to
       Microsoft's Windows Media Centre based on Ubuntu.
     * Scibuntu aims to make scientific programs more accessible.

   It was widely rumoured that Google would be distributing an Ubuntu
   derivative called Goobuntu. Google confirmed that it has created a
   modified version of Ubuntu but insisted there are no plans to
   distribute it outside the company.

   xUbuntu (not to be confused with Xubuntu) is an PC-/Xbox-enabled
   version of Ubuntu GNU/Linux distribution. xUbuntu is not a stand-alone,
   independent distribution. The install process, the bootloader, the
   kernel and the kernel modules - are all customized for PC and Xbox
   (i386).

Support

   The Ubuntu website offers both commercial and community support.
   Community support is free while commercial requires payments.

   Community support is available in the forms of forums, IRC channels,
   blogs and documentation.

   Ubuntu's Documentation lists extensive guides on all branches of
   Ubuntu, such as Ubuntu server version, Kubuntu and Xubuntu. There are
   also extensive documentation to help with installation for i386, amd64,
   powerpc, sparc, hppa and ia64 machines. Extracts from the official
   Ubuntu book are also included. Documentations are available in HTML and
   PDF form.

   The community documentation is an alternative to the official
   documentation. The community documentation is available in many
   languages such as, but not limited to: Hebrew, German, French, Russian,
   Italian, Korean and Chinese. Community Documentations are available on
   topics such as installation, maintenance, hardware, applications,
   switching from other operating systems and drivers.

   Versions are supported for 18 months after release. Long term support
   (LTS) editions are supported for four to six years.

Community

   Ubuntu-Women is a women-oriented project under Ubuntu and sponsored by
   Canonical to provide a platform and encouragement for women to
   contribute to free and open source software.

   Started in January 2006, the goal of Ubuntu-Women is to supplement and
   inspire women to be more aware of the technical aspects of the Ubuntu
   world. Here, women can communicate openly and ask questions to
   volunteers and mentors. By getting involved in this project, one gets
   the opportunity to create new FLOSS software.

   Participation in Ubuntu-Women is open to both men and women using
   Ubuntu.

   Each-One-Teach-One is a mentoring program where women can interact with
   experts who volunteer in specific technical, documentation, translation
   fields which provides them the necessary information and support to
   grow in the Ubuntu world.

Response

   Statistics from Google Trends suggest that since late 2005, Google has
   been receiving increasingly more searches for Ubuntu than for other
   popular Linux distributions. The Ubuntu page on DistroWatch has been
   the most frequently accessed of a comprehensive list of Linux
   distributions for more than a year. Ubuntu was awarded the Reader Award
   for best Linux distribution at the 2005 LinuxWorld Conference and Expo
   in London. It has been favourably reviewed in online and print
   publications. At Debconf 6 in May 2006, Mark Shuttleworth stated that
   "about 6 million Breezy CDs" had been distributed through Ubuntu's
   ShipIt program. Many reviewers of Ubuntu point out a main part of
   Ubuntu's success is its community. Ubuntu was voted distribution of
   2006 on LinuxQuestions.org.

   The French Parliament has decided to switch to Ubuntu in June 2007.

   Ubuntu and Canonical have received some criticism from the free
   software community for the decision to include a larger number of
   proprietary drivers in the default installation for version 7.04, and
   as a result have decided to make these drivers optional. Ubuntu has
   also received criticism from the Debian community, citing that Ubuntu
   developers have forked the OS significantly enough to cause a break
   between Debian and Ubuntu developers.
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