The Xubuntu team is pleased to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 15.04 Beta 1. This is the first beta towards the final release in April.
The first beta release also marks the end of the period to land new features in the form of Ubuntu Feature Freeze. This means any new updates to packages should be bug fixes only, the Xubuntu team is committed to fixing as many of the bugs as possible before the final release.
xfce4-power-manager now handles light-locker’s settings in its “Security” tab
xfce4-panel now has an intelligent hiding mode
xfwm4 has window previews, better support for CSD and corner-tiling
the display dialog now has improved support for multiple monitors
the appearance dialog shows previews of themes’ palettes and icon-themes
Thunar now has improved keyboard navigation
Known Issues
Currently installing is only functioning correctly from the livesession install icon.
From either the boot screen OR the try/install dialogue - directly installing has windows created offscreen, this can be either the first install option screen, or where that works - the final Installation Complete dialogue goes offscreen. (1425690)
It is possible to move the offscreen windows, ensure that ubiqity is focused (alt+tab) then with alt+space+m and then Move the offscreen dialogues can be moved so they are visible.
If you boot to Try from the boot screen or from the Try/Install dialogue - tests have shown that these options function correctly.
The Xubuntu team hears stories about how it is used in organizations all over the world. In this “Xubuntu at..” series of interviews, we seek to interview organizations who wish to share their stories. If your organization is using Xubuntu and you want to share what you’re doing with us please contact Elizabeth K. Joseph at lyz@ubuntu.com to discuss details about your organization.
Late last year we heard from developer Greg Blumenthal when he told us that he’d been deploying Xubuntu to customers who were “extremely happy” with their new systems. This month we took some time to ask him some questions about his work and the deployments.
Can you tell us a bit about yourself and the organizations you work with?
I am a freelance LAMP developer. Most of my clients are Mexican debt collection agencies, although I also work with food processing companies, telemarketers, and B2B VoIP companies.
What influenced your decision to use Free/Open Source Software for your customers?
Stability, ease of installation, ease of management, timely security updates. Interestingly, cost is NOT an issue here, as pirate copies of Windows are readily available.
What made you select Xubuntu specifically?
Low memory footprint, ease of installation on older systems, and ease of configuration to appear as familiar as possible to the end-users.
Can you tell us a bit about your Xubuntu setup?
I remove games, xchat, and other work distractions, and add openssh-server (allowing remote management), ntp, samba, and a SIP client (usually Zoiper or SFLphone). Everything is configures for Spanish with either Spanish or Latin American keyboards. I even install it in Spanish, even though English is my first language.
Is there anything else you wish to share with us about your work or how you use Xubuntu?
The biggest challenge is always sound. Whether it is ALSA or PulseAudio, I spend more time and effort managing sound issues for my clients than all other issues combined.
Huge thanks to Greg for taking the time to talk to us, and best of luck in his continued work with Xubuntu!
The Xubuntu team is pleased to announce the immediate release of Xubuntu 14.04.2 Xubuntu 14.04 is an LTS (Long-Term Support) release and will be supported for 3 years. This is the second Point Release of it’s cycle.
Light Locker replaces xscreensaver for screen locking, a setting editing GUI is included
The panel layout is updated, and now uses Whiskermenu as the default menu
Mugshot is included to allow you to easily edit your personal preferences
MenuLibre for menu editing, with full Xfce support, replaces Alacarte
A community wallpapers package, which includes work from the five winners of the wallpaper contest
GTK Theme Config to customize your desktop theme colors
Updated artwork, including various enhancements to themes as well as a new default wallpaper
Some of the known issues include:
Window manager shortcut keys don’t work after reboot (1292290)
Sorting by date or name not working correctly in Ristretto (1270894)
Due to the switch from xscreensaver to light-locker, some users might have issues with timing of locking; removing xscreensaver from the system should fix these problems
To see the complete list of new features, improvements and known and fixed bugs, read the release notes.
Manual testing of the development version is an important part of the development cycle. The goal of manual testing is to find bugs that have been introduced during the cycle.
Finding these gives developers the opportunity to fix issues before the release. The sooner they are found, the bigger the possibility is that the bugs are fixed before regular users see them on their desktop. Without manual testers, our releases would be buggy. All that being said, we need your help doing manual testing.
Unfortunately, manual testing can often be a tedious and thankless job for the contributors who are doing the testing and bug reporting for the community. This cycle we’re hoping to change that up a bit.
We will be giving out 7 Xubuntu Sticker Bundles from now through April to selected top testers on the following schedule:
Timespan
Admissible test reports
February
Test reports from start of cycle to 28th February
March
Test reports from 1st March to 31st March
Final Beta
Tests reported during the milestone
April
Test reports from 1st April to 23rd April (end of the cycle)
Final Release
Tests reported during milestone
Cycle
Tests reported during the whole Vivid Vervet cycle
Depending on the success of this initiative we’ll look into adding Xubuntu t-shirts and Ubuntu books to the program during the LTS cycle leading up to April 2016.
How can I participate?
To help us out with testing and be considered as a sticker bundle recipient, do the following:
Follow the Xubuntu-devel and/or Xubuntu-users mailing lists for calls at milestones when specific image testing is required.
Report all of your tests to the image tracker, for you to be considered your name needs to be on the trackers.
Learn more about ISO and package testing on the Ubuntu wiki.
Xubuntu Stickers
Terms
Test images are available outside of the milestone periods for dailies. A limit of one sticker bundle is available per tester. The winning tester will be notified at the end of each period and contacted by our marketing lead for shipment details.
Thanks
Thanks to UnixStickers.com for graciously donating the Xubuntu Sticker Bundles for us to give out.
Thanks to the Ubuntu Community Fund for covering the price of incidental materials and shipping for these bundles.
Finally, thanks to everybody who has done manual testing for us!
