I’m not a developer, i’m a decent sys admin, i can code websites and do basic php, so i would of thought, what the heck can i do for the community.  Well that’s quite simple, i can advocate.  If anyone wants to know about alternatives to MS i can show them Ubuntu, if anyone complains about viruses i can show them Ubuntu.  If i talk to my mates or family and they complain all the time about how crap <insert os here> is, i can show them Ubuntu.  there are a probably a thousand ways to promote Ubuntu to your community, how you want to do it is up to you.  If you’re wanting to give away Ubuntu cd’s to family or friends, then go here, you could even just download the ISO and make a copy on request.

But what if i want to talk to like minded individuals?  This is easy to, in the UK, the ubuntu-uk community has a number of ways to communicate with each other.  Here are a few [please note that there are hundreds of what are called Loco teams around the world, so if you're not in the UK, then go here and see if there is one in your area]

IRC

Internet Relay Chat is a real time way of talking to people, you install an application and you basically chat, about anything really, there is a Code Of Conduct you should abide to but all in all it’s pretty relaxed and if anything does go wrong you can allways #blamepopey [don't ask]

irc.freenode.net #ubuntu-uk    that’s the UK community on the freenode network, if you want to say hello my nickname is MooDoo

Mailing Lists

Another simple one, subscribe to the mailing lists and join in the conversation, it’s not real time you just receive emails and reply to the ones you want to – https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-uk

ok that’s just two, there are a few more such as the forums, but i’ll leave you to go check them out, you should travel your own path yourself :p

I mentioned earlier the Ubuntu Code of Conduct, you might want to read it, ”It’s our bible for collaboration and helps define the way we all work together.”

That was a brief intro into the Ubuntu Community, to be honest i’ve not even broken the surface, it’s a ride that i think you should all take if you want to get more involved in it.

Tomorrow……the community you don’t see [launchpad/wiki/user pages]

Tomorrow…….Community

Music

Playing music is something i do quite often, it’s nice to listen to some tunes while surfing or working and my music player of choice is Rhythmbox, you’ll find it in the menu as it’s one of the apps that’s installed by default.  It’s looks loosely resemble itunes, but that’s where the similarity ends.  **One thing that i will mention is that, if you’ve not already installed the ubuntu-restricted-extras, rhythmbox will prompt you to install codecs to play your media**

Surfing

The default web broweser is Firefox, works fine, but a few people i know have suggested i try Google Chrome As i’m running a 32bit version of Lucid i downloaded the 32bit Deb, there are multiple ways to install a .deb [a packaged file] but i simply used sudo dpkg -i filename.deb and yes it does seem faster

Photos

The new default photo manager with Ubuntu is now a app called Shotwell, i love this app, it’s clean, simple to use and does actually work [for all my needs]  Looking at the Shotwell page the version that is supplied with ubuntu is not the latest version, not a problem as i’m sure it will upgraded, but i want it now as it has a better support for RAW files which some of my photos are.  Right so how to i get the latest version?  I’ve read about PPA’s on the internet so was wondering if Shotwell has one, hell yeah baby

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install shotwell

I also like to use certain apps that arn’t installed by default, i wondered why apps weren’t installed and it basically all comes down to the fact that on the Live cd [i'll come to that in a bit] there isn’t enough space.  But it’s simple enough to install, from command line

sudo apt-get install miro vlc leafpad gftp <insert anything else you want here>

That was just a very brief intro to apps, there are hundreds if not thousands more…..now it your time to go play and take a look at what’s available.

Tomorrow i’m going to step away from the laptop and find out a little more about the company that produces ubuntu, Canonical

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

After a few downloads and a restart i’m all up to date.  Now to install some other stuff, which leads me on to codecs and repositories.

I’m not going to go through what a repository is here so i’m just going to link to a page that explains it all.  I’ve enabled all the repos i want and done another update.  Kushty:)

To quote from here -

“Ubuntu strives to make all software that meets the licensing terms in theUbuntu License Policy available. However patent and copyright restrictions complicate free operating systems distributing software to support proprietary formats.”

Well that doesn’t help i want to play all my mp3′s, watch dvds, watch flash in webpages, all stuff that i can’t at the moment [yes i know there are alternatives, i'm just doing it from my point of view and what i think to be the easiest way of doing things]

ok ok i’ll get to the point – From the command line : sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Now i’m listening to Muse [i'll come one to the app i'm using in the next post] and surfing the web…lovely

Tomorrow …… Applications

I’m typing this via my blog on my ubuntu lucid laptop using my wireless connection….lovely

Tomorrow…….mp3/flash/codecs

I can’t wait to meet you all in person one day, just to shake your hand and say thanks [knowing me i might even give you a hug too ]

Something i also should of mentioned ages ago is the appointment of the new Fedora project leader, welcome Jared [more here]  not forgetting the fantastic outgoing FPL Paul Frields [you rock my friend]

Fedora – All the way baby!!!!

Larger image here [why you'd want to view it i've no idea]

Now there really is no excuse not to download Fedora…..

Image on Flickr