Ubuntu Cares

One of my favorite new things about Ubuntu 10.04 is the UbuntuOne Music Store. It’s quite similar to iTunes, but built for flawless integration with Ubuntu 10.04.

However, the Music Store is more than just a place to buy music. It’s a place to help save an endangered species. The Lynx.

Here’s how…Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, the new release from Ubuntu, is code-named the Lucid Lynx. Unfortunatley the Iberian lynx is endangered with some estimates putting the numbers as low as 150 animals remaining. So at Canonical we’ve decided to give our users the chance to help the people at the charity SOS Lynx.

If you’re thinking about buying music online, please try using the UbuntuOne Music Store.

To contribute to the charity all you have to do is buy a track at the normal cost. That’s it. Canonical will give away 50% of their share of the revenue up to a total of $1004. You can of course directly contribute to the charity if you prefer.

What time is it?! Upgrade time!

That’s right, it’s that wonderful time of the year when Canonical releases the newest edition of Ubuntu. This time it’s Ubuntu 10.04 LTS*, codename Lucid Lynx.

There are lot’s of nice improvements made in the lastest release, some of them including:

• Faster boot times
• New Themes
• Has social integration (Facebook, Twitter, etc…)
• The UbuntuOne Music Store

I’ve always been a believer in keeping up with the latest and greatest. Every six months I’m watching and waiting for the newest release. I love it, it’s gives me a thrill. To be honest, the “problems” are fun for me too. I like the challenge of learning how to fix things, because I know that once I’ve fixed it, it stays fixed.

Something I do want to urge everyone to do. Check the integrity of your download. There’s nothing worse than downloading that brand new Operating System, burning it to a CD or DVD, installing it and having problems on initial boot-up.

Lets face the facts, downloading is not always perfect. With so many people downloading on release day, it’s no wonder I would need to check the integrity of my download. How do I check the integrity you ask? I’ll show you.

First open a terminal and go to the correct directory to check a downloaded iso file:

cd download_directory

Then run the following command from within the download directory:

md5sum ubuntu-10.04-desktop-amd64.iso
(md5sum ubuntu-10.04-desktop-i386.iso if you’re running a 32-bit Operating System)

md5sum should then print out a single line after calculating the hash:

3e0f72becd63cad79bf784ac2b34b448 ubuntu-10.04-desktop-amd64.iso

or

d044a2a0c8103fc3e5b7e18b0f7de1c8 ubuntu-10.04-desktop-i386.iso

Compare the hash (the alphanumeric string on left) that your machine calculated with the corresponding hash on the UbuntuHashes page.

An easy way to do this is to open the UbuntuHashes page in your browser, then copy the hash your machine calculated from the terminal into the “Find” box in your browser (in Firefox you can open the “Find” box by pressing <Ctrl> <F>).

When both hashes match exactly then the downloaded file is almost certainly intact. If the hashes do not match, then there was a problem with either the download or a problem with the server. You should download the file again from either the same mirror, or from a different mirror if you suspect a server error. If you continuously receive an erroneous file from a server, please be kind and notify the webmaster of that mirror so they can investigate the issue.**

Why should I check my .ISO’s integrity before burning to a CD or DVD? To put it simply… This might mean the difference between going to the Ubuntu Forum pissed and looking for help with a problem or going to the Ubuntu Forum proclaiming your love for 10.04. Integrity checks will never hurt you.

How can I get Ubuntu 10.04?

• Standard Server Download: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
• Torrent Download: http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors#bt

*Long Term Support

**Thank you Community Ubuntu Documentation

How could you?…

As some of you all may be aware, Songbird will no longer be supporting Linux. They have decided that they can no longer focus energy on us. Here is a snippet from their blog post…

Songbird Singing A New Tune

After careful consideration, we’ve come to the painful conclusion that we should discontinue support for the Linux version of Songbird. Some of you may wonder how a company with deep roots in Open Source could drop Linux and we want you to know it isn’t without heartache.
We have a small engineering team here at Songbird, and, more than ever, must stay very focused on a narrow set of priorities. Trying to deliver a raft of new features around all media types, and across a growing list of devices, we had to make some tough choices.

 

Well, you know what I say to that? You don’t want to support me; I will no longer support you.

My understanding is that they will continue to have a “version” that is available to Linux users; however, it will never receive feature additions. So what’s the use of it?

I was so happy with it for a long time. The path that they were on was looking so bright. But no longer…

I am currently on the market for a new music player. For the time being I will be using Rhythmbox. I have also heard that Banshee is a nice player. If anyone has ideas for what I should use, please let me know.

I do like having a playlist. Meaning players like mplayer and the ilk are out of the question.