Take a Full (Circle) look at Ubuntu Hardy

Full Circle issue 13 is here, with a ton of info, including a full review of Ubuntu Hardy. And despite coming out on a Friday the 13th issue is a keeper.

Of course the Flavor of the Month is Ubuntu Hardy, an in it’s honor they also look at organizing an Ubuntu demo day/party. They also have a TV Feast for Ubuntu, the second part of their GIMP tutorial series, and how to automate your backups via email. And of course they haven’t forgotten about their tutorial on creating your own server, part 5 is in the new issue.

What else is there? How about an interview with MOTU Luca Falavigna, a Top 5 unusual consoles, and a My Opinion column on What is Web 2.0? Plus the usual news, My Desktop, Ubuntu Women and Ubuntu Youth columns. And still more than I’m going to type.

Whether you use Ubuntu or not, this issue of Full Circle is definitely worth reading. And, as all good open source projects are, it won’t cost you a cent other than your download bandwidth. Unless you want to print some of the PDF file out, that is.

What about Peng’s Mac4Lin article? This issue is so jam packed there’s no way his article would have fit without makin the issue even bigger. We’ll definitely let you know when it makes it to print.

Peng’s links for Saturday, 31 May

I bet you guys thought I was taking the weekend off and I wouldn’t have another links post until at least Monday. Nope! I found some great links that I don’t want to hold on to that long. I also managed to update my search folder in Thunderbird so I finally have all of the articles I flag for blogging in one place.

• WineHQ News: Wine 1.0-rc3 Released. WINE (Wine Is Not an Emulator), one of the best ways to run Windows software under Linux got a step closer to their 1.0 release with their third release candidate.They’re only doing big fixes, but a crap load of bugs got squashed, even since RC2 came out on the 23rd.
• Christer Edwards: Install VMware Server 1.0.6 on Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy”. It can be easy to set up a virtual machine under Linux so you can for example, have access to Windows programs that don’t play so well in WINE without logging out of Linux. Christer has a brand new tutorial for us with that specifically sets up a virtual server in Ubuntu Hardy.
• Martin Albisetti: Big Buck Bunny, open source at it’s best. Martin made a short film featuring a great big bunny. You should definitely check out this wonderfully made story, if for no other reason than to see how good a 100% open source animated film can look.
• Torley Linden: Fixing the small stuff and making a big difference. Nanci is usually the one who blogs the SL things, but I read Torley’s latest post and it makes sense for everyone, especially web designers.

Adorable Feline Pic of the Day

Will I have a post tomorrow? You’ll have to come back and see. For now get out there and enjoy your Saturday, especially if it’s sunny where you are.

Google changed their favicon. Want it for your Firefox search bar?

The other day Google threw a lot of users by changing their favicon, that little icon that pops up in the address bar when you visit their site. But if you use Firefox’s search bar it still has the old icon. Thanks to the ed-meister on MozillaZine Forums we have an easy way to update the favicon.

Peng’s links for Friday, 30 May

• Jorge Castro/Planet Ubuntu: (Also) In defense of Firefox. Mozilla’s history of supporting Linux hasn’t been all that great, especially in Firefox 2, but Jorge says that they’re doing much better in Firefox 3. (If only Jorge would use the proper shorthand for Firefox. It’s Fx, not FF. Or am I simply picking at a nit?)
• CNET Worker’s Edge: Firefox add-on shows all the files downloaded by the current page. Dennis O’Reilly writes about a tool that is unfortunately helpful in this age of malware being buried in so many unsuspecting places. The View Dependencies extension for Firefox shows the source for all the content on a given page.
• Robert Accettura/Planet Mozilla: Rebreaking The Web. Web Standards was supposed to put an end to the hodgepodge of features added by different web browsers, and the proposed HTML 5 standard is trying to bring the standards up to modern times, especially since the HTML 4 standard came out late in the last century. But some browsers are once again trying introducing their favored goodies, completely bypassing the standards working groups. Meh. I thought for sure we were past this kind of crap.
• Tom Dryer: PCMan Lightweight Alternative File Manager. Some people hate Nautilus, the fiole manager program in GNOME, and some people wish there were simply something more lightweight to do the job. Tom tells us about PCManFM, a file manager that works not only in GNOME but also in KDE. And it has a feature that Nautilus is getting soon: Tabbed browsing, a la Firefox. I’ve checked it out a little, and it’s pretty nice for being a quick little bugger.
• Sci Fi Wire: SCI FI Premiere Dates Unveiled. Have you been chomping at the bit for new episodes of Stargate Atlantis and Eureka? We now know when our favorite SciFI Channel original shows will return for the new summer season.

Adorable Feline Pic of the Day

Today’s pic is a no-brainer. As soon as I saw it I knew it would get posted today.

I also found another sister site to the Cheezburger site where most of my adorable kitty pics come from. The FailBlog is filled with pictures that fail for one reason or another. Many of them are funny (in kind of a sick way), and some of them make you want to say “oh no you didn’t!” Go on. You know you want to see them. :p

It’s Friday! Saturday’s just a day away! Have an awesome weekend.

Launchpad rolls out version 1.2.5, and hardy-proposed

Launchpad, the bug tracker used by many Linux developers including the *Ubuntu family of distros, has upgraded their code with lots of great features for users.

New SL quick tips, and Torley tells on customer service

Torley rolled out 16 new quick tip videos that were prompted by resident requests. And at less than 2 minutes long you can get your answer and keep on boppin’ down the virtual road to your destination.

Peng’s links for Thursday, 29 May

[Updated to include a link I missed. - Peng)

• jdrago_999/Ubuntu Forums: Reflections after 1 month of Ubuntu 8.04. I rarely post links to posts on the UF but this one is so nice I had to share it. The user in question has used Linux on servers for about a decade but had “never successfully made the leap to Linux on the Desktop.” I think that has now changed.
• Mary Colvid/Planet Mozilla: At last, a shot at Guinness World Record fame! Mozilla has a chance at setting a new world’s record for the most software downloaded in 24 hours on the day Firefox 3 is officially released. (Sorry, the date hasn’t been set yet.) I talked with Nanci and we decided we’re not going to pimp this event due to our issues with Firefox 3, but we definitely wanted to let you know it was on the horizon.
• David Thomas: Microsoft’s deceptive advertising, again. Microsoft is trying to show they’re now open source proponents, but when you look at what they’re offering you may find that you have to laugh at them.
• Tristan Nitot/Planet Mozilla: How Firefox 3 performance boost makes a difference in the real world. There have been numerous claims about how much faster Firefox 3 is, but Tristan that it’s not just hype. He even gives you a real life test case that you can try for yourself.
• Marc Hershberg/LA Dodgers.com: Relive the 1988 World Series. The Dodgers are releasing a seven disk box set of DVDs includes over 17 hours of footage from the Dodger’s championship run against the Oakland A’s, including footage from their NLCS battle against the Mets. This set will be a winner for all baseball fans, not just Dodger fans.

Need to make your computer let you know the time?

I saw a post on the UbuntuWeblogs (Planet Ubuntu Users)  this morning that I was going to include in this morning’s links post but I wasn’t sure how to run it so I held off. Now I’m glad I to say that I can now show you how to have your computer remind you of the time, something that can be very handy if you do a bit of Stumbling, or reading Reddit links, two things that can leave you passing a lot more time than you realize.

Peng’s links for Wednesday, 28 May

[Updated 12:00 pm with a followup to Giorgio's link about the Flash 9 vulnerability. - Peng]

• Tom Dryer/Planet Ubuntu: How to Lock Down GNOME. Sometimes you need to set up a computer for someone who has a tendency to delete things that they shouldn’t, like the window list, or for use in a public setting where you don’t want people changing things. There’s a graphical tool that helps you lock down your settings so they can’t be easily changed or deleted, and Tom shows you how to install and use it..
• Madhava/Planet Mozilla: Download Manager in Firefox 3. The Download Manager has gotten quite an update in Firefox 3. Madhava posted a very nice article explaining all of the changes and what they mean to you.
• Alex Faaborg/Planet Mozilla: Firefox 3 Themes. Alex has put a ton of time into the new default themes for Firefox 3, and while not everyone loves the new theme (especially the new keyhole navigation) it’s generally accepted that integrating the themes with the host platform (operating system) is a good idea. In case you’re not already running the Release Candidate for Firefox 3, and even if you are and wonder what some of the new visual indicators mean,  Alex gives a great preview of what all of the changes are, and what some of them mean.
• Giorgio/Planet Mozilla: Unpatched Flash Vulnerability Widely Exploited in the Wild. There’s a new vulnerability in Adobe Flash Player 9 (formerly the Macromedia Flash Player). Giorgio explains what’s going on and why you may want to use the FlashBlock extension for Firefox or disable your Flash 9 plugin in both Firefox and Internet Explorer. This vulnerability is being exploited out on the web so if you run Adobe Flash 9 you definitely need to take notice. It could be interesting to note that the vulnerability doesn’t seem to affect the new beta of Flash 10, so there’s another reason you may want to give it a spin. UPDATED 2:00 pm: Poor Giorgio. He posted an update to his alert about the Flash vulnerability he started getting popups all over the place stating that AVG had found a threat. Of course the threat wasn’t really a virus, but it still had to be dealt with.
• Michael Kaply/Planet Mozilla: The Browser With No Name. Sorry, this isn’t a take on the old America tune, but a problem when people want to put out a variation of Mozilla Firefox while making enough changes that make them unable to legally be allowed to use the Firefox name.
• Tommy Lasorda: Singing the 7th Inning Stretch at Wrigley Field. The Dodgers are visiting Wrigley Field this week and Tommy got to sing for the 7th inning stretch yesterday. He was kind enough to share a picture of it on his blog.
• LA Times Breaking News: Hollywood studios, AFTRA agree on contract. One of the two actors unions (the other is the Screen Actors Guild) has probably avoided an actor’s strike this summer, although the deal still has to be presented to the national AFTRA board and ratified by their membership. Hopefully SAG will be able to get a new contract as well. An actor’s strike so soon after the writer’s strike wouldn’t do anyone any favors. Including the movie and television viewers.

Adorable Feline Pic of the Day

This is a tough call today. I found three absolutely adorable feline pics and I simply couldn’t decide which one to use.  I ended up calling a two-way tie. The first has a cute tie-in to Tommy’s pic.

That one may just be cuter than Michigan J. Frog. But the second one comes from Cute Overload with the title Danger Will Robinson!!!

Please don’t move your nose too suddenly, puppy! And of course the other Cheezburger pic I was considering is almost too cute to pass up, but I didn’t want to bore those of you who don’t like lolcats with a third picture. Plus it could have increased your load time a bit too much for my taste.

I think I made the right call posting the two of them. What do you guys think?

[UPDATED] Yes, Virginia, there will be a second Release Candidate for Firefox 3

[Updated to include the target date for release. - Peng]

There was a Firefox 3 status meeting today and they decided there were enough bugs squashed since RC1 came out that they will spin up a second RC before officially launching Firefox 3.