Ubuntu is going to enter into smartphone and tablets market

The Ubuntu Developer Summit, an biannual event at which members of the Ubuntu development community gather to lay out a roadmap for the next version of the Linux distribution, will take place next week in Florida. As usual, Ubuntu founder Mark Shuttleworth will start the event with a keynote.

According to an early report from UDS blog, Ubuntu will announce plans to bring Ubuntu to smartphones and tablet computing devices. The company says that it has been discussing the plan with hardware partners for the past 18 months. No specific hardware vendors have been named yet and there is presently no concrete timeline for product availability.

Canonical’s focus for the first half of 2012 will be stabilization and improving the platform for the enterprise desktop. As we previously reported, Ubuntu 12.04—scheduled for release in April—will offer an extended long-term support period for business users. After the 12.04 release, the focus will reportedly shift towards mobile.

Ubuntu’s new Unity shell will play a key role in Canonical’s plans to bring the Ubuntu user experience to smaller screens. The platform already has preliminary tablet support, including experimental functionality for touchscreen-based window management. It seems likely that the Qt-based Unity 2D experience will serve as the mobile implementation. The Qt Quick user interface design framework is well-suited for building touch-friendly mobile experiences.

Although few details about the Ubuntu mobile platform are available now, more information will likely surface on Monday during Shuttleworth’s talk at the Ubuntu Developer Summit.

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Upgrade your ubuntu kernel to latest 3.1.0-2.3

Yesterday ubuntu has released latest kernel 3.1.0-2.3 package and you can download the sources from there site and compile them for upgrading you ubuntu kernel.

You can also download deb packages from here and install them manually.

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Posted in: Open Source

ubuntu 11.10 feautures

With over 10 million users worldwide, Ubuntu is the world's third most popular operating system for desktop and laptop computers. Based on open-source software, Ubuntu is free to download and use for any purpose, and comes complete with 5 GB of free storage on the Ubuntu One cloud music and file syncing service. Ubuntu One apps are available for iPhone and Android, as well as for Windows PCs (Ubuntu can be installed alongside Windows or Mac OS X).

Ubuntu is primarily financed by UK-based Canonical, Ltd., a startup which offers the proprietary Ubuntu One service, as well as support contracts to companies that use Ubuntu. New versions of Ubuntu are released every six months, and are a free upgrade. The latest version, Ubuntu 11.10 for October 2011, was given the code name of "Oneiric Ocelot," and added the following features:

Improved Software Center

Ubuntu has always offered an App Store-like ability to add and remove free, open-source programs. The new Software Center introduced in Ubuntu 11.10 has a more shopper-friendly design, with star reviews and a front page featuring top-rated apps. 

Improved selection of games and apps

Included in Ubuntu's catalog are the free LibreOffice suite, comparable to Microsoft Office, as well as the Gimp and Inkscape graphics programs which are comparable to Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. And with the opening of the Ubuntu Developer program, indie game and app developers have been selling their wares through Ubuntu, including productivity apps like Wunderlist and Wiiware and XBox indie games like World of Goo and Braid. All of the apps in the Software Center are installed and updated automatically once selected, much like apps from the App Store or Android Market. 

User interface tweaks and enhancements

While Microsoft's Windows 7 operating system uses enormous "ribbon" menus, Ubuntu's menus are merged with the taskbar at the top of the screen, Mac-style, and are hidden until you mouse over them. In the Oneiric Ocelot revamp, the window controls (close, minimize and maximize) are now hidden as well. Also, the Ubuntu logoed "Start Menu" button is now another icon on the Mac OS X-style launcher on the left side of the screen, to make it easier to pick out and click on. 

New and improved "Dash" menu

The Dash, or Ubuntu's "Start Menu," now features a variety of lenses that let you search for files that you recently used, or songs that you have in your library. The music search even looks through the Ubuntu One music store, while the app search shows results from the Software Center, letting Ubuntu users complete their collections if needed. 

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Posted in: Open Source