Software Review: by Drew Kwashnak
Stylin'
Along with the new style, a very visible, and controversial, change is the movement of the minimize/maximize/close buttons from the right corner of the windows to the left. It takes a little bit of time to get used to its new location and I find myself moving the mouse all over trying to find it. Apps A change that I understand, whether or not I agree with it is another matter, is the removal of the Gimp image editor and inclusion of the PiTiVi video editor programs. The Gimp is the closest open source equivalent to Adobe Photoshop and can even open and save Photoshop's .psd files. It was removed because the program and interface is "complicated" and the most common features are duplicated in the F-Spot photo management software. Thankfully, it is just as easy to install Gimp as it is any other program. You will find it under the Featured Applications for Graphics in the Ubuntu Software Center, or in Synaptic. As for PiTiVi, I'll have to wait and see about that one. Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but PiTiVi doesn't provide for importing over firewire from my turn-of-the-century Sony Handycam. There are still means of getting the video from the tape to the computer but that will require yet another program such as Kino. After that, then PiTiVi can be used to add transitioins and the like. UbuntuOne
New for Lucid, though, is the UbuntuOne Music Store, integrated with the default music player Rythmbox. Much in the same fashion as the iTunes store, within the music player one can search through music offerings, buy and download DRM-free MP3 songs and albums right to the computer. This music is able to be burned to a CD, placed on any music player recognized by Rythmbox and the music is placed in your UbuntuOne account ready to sync with your computers. The UbuntuOne Music Store is more than just DRM-free music! The Iberian Lynx, which the Lucid Lynx is named after, is an endangered species and so 50% of Canonical's Revenue from music bought through the UbuntuOne Music Store will go to the charity SOS Lynx. Unlike iTunes, though, the popular music player Banshee also has a plug-in available for handling the UbuntuOne Music Store and other players, such as Amarok, are likely to follow. Ubuntu 10.04, Lucid Lynx, can be downloaded from the Ubuntu website today and feel free to come to the DACS Linux SIG every third Wednesday for help, to share your knowledge or explore what Linux has to offer! Drew Kwashnak is a Linux user at home and has successfully moved the entire household to Linux. Not that they had much of a choice. |
April is an exciting month, and not only for it's array of pranks one day or the generally warming days! April is one of the two months that Ubuntu Linux releases their latest version! This time around, not only are they releasing a new version called Lucid Lynx, this is a Long Term Support (LTS) version! An LTS version is supported with security updates for 5 years for servers and 3 years on the desktop. The non-LTS releases are supported for 18 months, or until the 3rd new release.
There are a number of improvements with this latest version and the most immediately noticeable change are the large-scale ones in Ubuntu's styling. Gone are the days of the mud brown or chocolate brown theme. Ubuntu changed their default color scheme to purple, and adjusted the icons and theme elements accordingly. To go along with this new color scheme, Ubuntu includes two new themes; the dark Ambiance and light-colored Radiance. The old Human theme is still available from the repositories.
The latest improvements in Ubuntu are related to their cloud offering, UbuntuOne. UbuntuOne is a cloud-based drive offered by Canonical, the corporate backer and developer for Ubuntu. They started a little over a year ago offering 2 GB of space, or 50GB for $10/month, and provided a means to sync files, contacts, notes and bookmarks automatically. Files, contacts and notes can also be accessed, edited and updated through a web browser and will sync up the next time the computer connects. It also allows publishing selected files so that they can be shared with friends as well as a new, paid-for feature of synchronizing UbuntuOne with a Mobile phone's contacts!
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DacsGear!
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