If you waited to download or upgrade Ubuntu today, do the right thing, use a torrent (here’s the official list with links to all Ubuntu editions torrents available).
You can get the Alternate ISO from there and upgrade from a local file rather than downloading all the packages individually… specially today!
Trisquel GNU/Linux is a Linux distribution using a free version of the Linux kernel as distributed by the Linux-libre project. The main goals of the project are the production of a fully free software (free as in free speech) system that must be easy to use, complete, and with good language support. (from Wikipedia).
Trisquel 5.5 is an Ubuntu derivative based on Ubuntu 11.10 and was released on Monday. I discovered Trisquel through the Free Software Foundation, which distributes it on a nice wallet-USB key to all new members. Trisquel 6.0 will be based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS.
I started using it as my main OS at home last year (with version 5.0) when the numerous changes brought with Unity, problems with accessibility and increasing UI regressions prompted me to explore other options. As I’ve been choosing my new hardware and peripherals to be supported with free software, there wasn’t any transition or adjustments needed. Even some PPAs I used (notably, LibreOffice) are fully compatible. To my surprise, several fellow Ubuntu users also already knew about it and have been experimenting with it. So if you’re in a similar situation, I’d encourage you to download and try Trisquel some time.
With Ubuntu 12.04 LTS there has been some improvement to get a good fallback mode but I rely on too many things that used to be there and « just work » like multi-monitor support, applets, directory encryption at user creation, etc. and I kept removing non-free features I don’t use like Ubuntu One. I’ve found it’s actually less effort than I thought to push the IT freedom mindset a bit further, use a derivative that chooses a conservative path (even remaining ~6 months behind current Ubuntu releases) and I am learning a lot from Trisquel’s helpful community – particularly hardware! That’s in no small part thanks to Christopher Waid from ThinkPenguin.
Even being a commercial support services customer at Canonical during the last year wasn’t enough to work around some issues. It’s still a great way to bring attention to important issues when you know how to report bugs and can follow-up tightly on such reports. My current job doesn’t leave much time for experimentation and bug-reporting, but I still used 12.04 LTS both at home and at work as my main environments during alpha an beta. Although there are good intentions to help the « old timers », I can’t be always afford such experimentation, and exploring ways to get closer the « 100% free software » experience also means taking the challenge of exploring other options.
(Lisez ci-bas en français!)
Starting tomorrow I will be in Boston for the annual conference of the Free Software Foundation, « LibrePlanet 2012« . We’ll be four people from Quebec (actually 5, just got last minute confirmation of another former colleague!), wanting to learn about what has been been brewing abroad and also wanting to share about our experiences here in Quebec. The LibrePlanet teams structure offers a way for people in the same area to gather and share their love for Free Software – much like the LoCo Teams welcome Ubuntu users.
I’d like to thank my employer, Microcom, for supporting my participation in this event by releasing me from work for the next few days and providing a vehicle for transport. I would also like to highlight a special sponsorship from Avencall, which will make possible blogging our participation and two presentations summarizing the event withing the next couple of weeks. Keep a close eye at the Agenda du Libre du Québec
Avencall is the company behind XiVO, an open source (GPLv3) unified communications system based on Asterisk for small, medium and large businesses. XiVO communications systems are industrial and packaged solutions with a wide range of value added features such as unified messaging, conferencing, IVR, customer telephony integration, web services, contact center services, fixed-mobile convergence and so on. XiVO systems are a mix of powerful, scalable and cost effective solutions.
XiVO has been awarded by Digium as the First Asterisk Custom Communications Solution in EMEA. Did I mention all their work is freely licensed under the GPL v3? If you haven’t yet, take a look at their open hardware work.
You can follow our progress here and at my identi.ca microblog.
See you in Boston, then!
Comme j’ai écrit ces derniers jours, à partir de demain je serais à Boston pour la conférence annuelle de la Free Software Foundation, « LibrePlanet 2012« . J’emmène quatre autres libristes québécois avec moi (en fait 5, un ancien collègue vient de confirmer!), voulant en savoir plus sur ce qui se passe ailleurs en technologies libres mais aussi voulant partager nos expériences et activités ici au Québec. Les « LibrePlanet teams » offrent une structure semblable au LoCo Teams Ubuntu , où les gens peuvent se rassembler pour échanger sur leur passion – les logiciels et les technologies libres.
Je voudrais remercier mon employeur, Microcom, pour appuyer ma participation à cet événement en me libérant pour la durée de celui-ci et en fournissant un véhicule pour le transport. J’aimerais aussi souligner une commandite spéciale d’Avencall, qui rendra possible la rédaction de billets sur mon carnet pour documenter notre participation et deux présentations résumant nos activités d’ici quelques semaines. Gardez un oeil attentif sur l’Agenda du Libre du Québec!
Avencall est éditeur et intégrateur de XiVO, une gamme de solutions libres de communications unifiées basée sur Asterisk pour les petites, moyennes et grandes entreprises. Les solutions XiVO sont souples, puissantes et industrialisées. Elles permettent de bénéficier de fonctionnalités à valeur ajoutée (messagerie unifiée, SVI, CTI, services centre d’appels, convergence fxe-mobile, etc. )
XiVO a été récompensé par les « Digium Pinnacle Awards » en tant que Première Solution basée sur Asterisk dans la zone EMEA (« Europe/Middle-East/Asia »).
Savez-vous que tout leur code est publié sous license libre GPL v3? Si vous n’avez pas encore jetté un coup d’oeil, allez voir leur design de matériel libre.
Vous pourrez suivre nos activités ici ainsi que sur mon microblog identi.ca.
On se voit donc à Boston!
Don’t miss it! À ne pas manquer!
This year I was able to bring two simultaneaous events together, in different locations.
Cette année j’ai pu programmer 2 événements différents, ça se passe demain, à deux endroits différents :).
Les détails à / All details at: http://wiki.softwarefreedomday.org/2011/Canada/Montreal
See you there! À demain!
631 BACKERS
$20,193 pledged of $25,000 goal
69 hours to go
I really like the ideas and work presented by Novacut, so I decided to help the project by pledging some money to it. You can do it too.
Here’s a fan video (by filmmakers, heh) that explains well why this project is important – Ubuntu logo included. If you haven’t read DoctorMo’s Letter to Creative Industry, take a look – then share it with anyone you may know in the film industry. You can also read about Novacut on the Yorba blog. Yorba makes Shotwell, the photo management app that replaced F-Sport in Ubuntu – and Lombard, a video editor for Gnome. Some heavy criticism also comes via Danny Piccirillo’s earlier post. Read the comments in Danny’s blog post, many people bring positive support to Novacut, which I agree with. I hope current FLOSS editors continue evolving and can hook into Novacut (or the other way around) and we can all have a huge mash up someday.
Oh, there is also a wiki page with most useful links to the project as it relates to Ubuntu.