I understand that the next version of Ubuntu will have a spiffy international clock, which is in the latest version of GNOME. But, I don’t want to wait that long! I need one now…

Fortunately, it is very easy as there are .debs for the Gutsy-compatible version available!

Launchpad project is here.

.debs are here!

Ubuntu Linux has released the beta version of Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” with a number of improvements over Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon.”

Some of the changes have been available since Alpha 6, but the goodies in this beta include

• The new 2.6.24 kernel with many significant improvements over the kernel used for Ubuntu Gutsy
• Xorg 7.2, with better autoconfiguration and a more minimal configuration file
• GNOME 2.22, the newest version of the GNOME desktop environment including the latest version of the Nautilus file manager
• A new Policy Kit which makes it easier to grant users specific levels of authorization
• Pulse Audio us now the default audio system, taking over from ALSA and OSS
• Firefox 3 Beta 4 is the new default web browser. Please Note: This is a beta version and is not recommended for general use. Many things are changing in Firefox 3, including the user profile. Profiles for Firefox 3 should never be shared with Firefox 2, because Firefox 2 simply cannot read them. If you are not comfortable with using beta software, including with the risk of things breaking in the course of development, you should remove Firefox 3 and install Firefox 2 with the Synaptic Package Manager.(I personally like Firefox 3, especially since I use Zoomer 0.9 to give me the old school text zoom, but I strongly disagree with Ubuntu’s decision to include a beta web browser as the default. I still think users should have to specifically opt-in to using a beta web browser as their default browser.)
• The Transmission Bit Torrent client is now installed by default, making it easier to obtain legal files over Bit Torrent networks.
• The xvnc4viewer has been removed as the default VNC client, and has been replaced by Vinagre
• Brasero CD burning application takes over for Serpentine, making it even easier to burn CDs and DVDs. I’ve used both programs and love Brasero.
• As I mentioned before, the Calendar panel applet has been replaced with the International Clock applet which now includes weather information for your desired locations
• and much more, including better demo support that lets you run it under Windows to see if Ubuntu may be right for you

There’s also a beautiful new default wallpaper for Hardy that gets away from the rather bland wallpapers of earlier versions of Ubuntu. I think you’ll like it.

Of course this is still a beta release, with the final release scheduled for 24 April, and as a beta release it is not recommended for use on your regular computer. Some programs are still getting updated and some bugs are still getting fixed so if you use it on your production (regular use) computer you should have your important data backed up first. Now would be a great time to go through the wonderful checklist that Nanci wrote about. And for those who do install the beta, as long as you take all of the updates that come down the pipe your computer will up to date as the Release Candidates and the final version of Ubuntu Hardy are released.

For all the details check out the official announcement, the Introduction to Ubuntu 8.04 Beta and grab an ISO disk image that you can burn to a disk so you an see how Ubuntu Hardy can run on your current hardware. Remember, you can run the LiveCD without installing anything or interfering with your current operating system in any way, although Ubuntu does run slower from the LiveCD than it will from your hard drives.

The GNOME Foundation released the latest version of the GNOME desktop environment yesterday with several new additions, including something that has been a popular add-on for some time now.

One of the best additions is Cheese, an application similar to Apple’s PhotoBooth, which lets you take pictures and make videos using your computer’s webcam. Several effects can be applied to your images and send them into F-Spot or even set an image as your account photo.

They’ve also added some improved window compositing (Visual Effects in Ubuntu), a new network-transparent virtual filesystem and support for digital television within Movie Player. Evolution has gotten an upgrade to support Google Calendars and custom message labels for email.

Oone of the best additions could be the International Clock, one of the most popular third-party applets for the panels.

There’s a lot more in GNOME 2.22 and you can get the full story in the GNOME 2.22 Release Notes.

I’m also happy to say that not only will GNOME 2.22 be available in Ubuntu Hardy, the packages are already being checked in so it will be available in the next testing release (which is expected to be beta 1).

Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron Alpha 4 al parecer trae algunas novedades diferentes de las cuales ya hemos hablado.

NOTA: Para visionar correctamente las imagenes podeís hacer click derecho sobre ellas y darle a View Image o Ver Imagen.

Los nuevos añadidos son;

Transmission

La versión GTK de este popular cliente de BitTorrent y que replaza a nuestro queridisimo Gnome BitTorrent Downloader.

Vinagre

El nuevo cliente de VNC (Virtual Network Computing), Vinagre viene por defecto instalado en Ubuntu 8.04 sustituyendo al ya conocido xvnc4viewer.

Vinagre nos permite ver múltiples ordenadores simultaneamente, también puede encontrar servidores de VNC vía Avahi y mantener un historial sobre los últimos servidores usados y las conexiones favoritas.

Brasero

La aplicación que sustituirá a la utilidad Serpentine audio CD burner y la cuál se complementará con las funciones de grabación de Nautilus y que viene instalada por defecto en la Alpha 4.

Applet Reloj Mundial

Integrando las funciones de intlclock (Novell’s International World clock applet) , el reloj del panel de GNOME puede mostrarnos el tiempo y la hora de diferentes zonas.

GVFS

Nautilus 2.21.6 usará GVFS (Gnome Virtual File System) en la Alpha 4. En un futuro muy cercano GVFS podría corregir ciertos problemas de Nautilus como no poder recuperar cosas de la papelera, pausar y deshacer operaciones. Así como hacer posible la integración de PolicyKit para gestionar los privilegios de los usuarios. También aumentará el rendimiento notablemente.

Monitor del Sistema GNOME

El monitor de sistema GNOME tiene una renovada pestaña de Recursos, con los gráficos de Cairo que se mueven sin tropezones y añade nuevos widgets.

Virtualizacion

KVM es ahora oficialmente mantenido desde dentro del Kernel de Ubuntu.
libvirt y virt-manager han sido adaptados a Ubuntu.
El Kernel ahora incluye las modificaciones de virtio las cuales mejoran la experiencia de los invitados (Guests).

Firewall

UFW (Uncomplicated Firewall) es una nueva aplicación de firewall para facilitar el manejo de los mismos para el usuario final, sin entrometerse en el trabajo de los administradores de red. Por el momento UFW se maneja desde consola para controlar firewalls que estén en el propio sistema.

Wubi

Wubi es un nuevo método para usar Ubuntu para los usuarios de “Ventanas“. Wubi permite instalar y desinstalar Ubuntu como otra aplicación cualquiera, no requiere de una partición y no toca el arranque. Aún así los usuarios pueden experimentar un arranque dual casi identico como si fuese una instalación completa. Wubi trabaja con un CD/DVD físico o en modo stand-alone (Auto) bajandose el ISO requerido. Se puede encontrar en la carpeta principal del CD/DVD como “Wubi.exe”. Se sigue recomendando el uso de particiones para cada sistema pero Wubi da la oportunidad de probar este gran sistema operativo durante unos dias o semanas antes de usar particiones.

Descargar Alpha 4

Actualizado: Los enlaces funcionan correctamente, parece que lo que haya pasado lo han solucionado.

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Ubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Kubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Edubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/jeos/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Ubuntu JeOS)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Xubuntu) http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/gobuntu/releases/hardy/alpha-4/ (Gobuntu)

Para terminar he de decir que mi compañero CeeC de Entre Tuxes y Pepinos también ha publicado su artículo sobre Ubuntu 8.04, os invito a verlo.

Linux users are undoubtedly familiar with the calendar panel applet that pops up, but there’s a new panel applet that makes it even better, courtesy of the SLED programmers over at Novell.

intlclock takes the standard calendar display and adds two cool new features, multiple world clocks and a graphic showing where it’s night across the globe.It’s not available for Ubuntu Feisty (yet), but the good people who put together Ubuntu Studio has put together a package to make it easy for people testing Gutsy to try it out. Just download the package from the link I just gave you and install it by running

sudo dpkg -i intlclock_1.0-ubuntu0_i386.deb

Once you’ve installed it you can use it under the Miscellaneous category in Add to Panel… applet. As you can see I’ve added clocks for London, New York (I need to change that to Boston), Chicago (which I’ll change to my hometown of New Orleans) and Los Angeles.

Thanks to Will Farrington over at Ubuntu Planet for turning me on to this.