The Fridge

The Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase is an initiative to showcase free culture artists in each version of Ubuntu. Each time a new version of Ubuntu is released, we will include a package full of example content (rather craftily named…example-content), and with Ubuntu being installed on so many computers around the world, it is a great opportunity to bring the Ubuntu ethos to the creative arts and showcase some free culture content.
A carefully chosen panel of creative types in the Ubuntu community (Cory Kontros, Luis de Bethencourt, Luke Yelavich, Lydia Pintscher and Tony Whitmore) picked their top three entries from each of the categories (Audio and Video) and then sent the finalists to the Community Council to pick the winners.
The winners are:
Andrés Vidau (Audio Winner) - Download Entry
Andrés Vidau was born in Mexico City in the roaring 70’s. It wasn’t very long before he found his way into playing the drums. He and 3 friends formed the band: GasMoztaza. Starting in music with some punk rock and ska rhythms. A few years later got into electronic music and formed the band: Caravanacid which enjoyed a moderate success within the Mexican Trance Scene. From Mexico City he moved to the Caribbean where he made underwater movies for diving tourism and then finally moved to Barcelona where he resides now. Patas de Trapo is a track that was born in a one-track side project, and in collaboration with guitar player Mauricio Barron, current member of indie rock band A Colores. With Mauricio playing the guitar and Andres sequencing the rest of the song. Andrés is an Electronics Engineer and Ubuntu user since Gutsy Gibbon.
Andrew Higginson (Video WInner) - Download Entry
Andrew is not your typical English computer user. He is fourteen and produces artwork on his computer, with Free Software. The likes of Inkscape and The GIMP are his tools, all for the low price of nothing. He discovered Ubuntu in the latter part of 2006 and since then hasn’t gone back. Projects like Wikipedia allowed him to develop his artwork skills, something he is very thankful for, as it allows him to ‘wow’ his friends as he does now. He loves the fact that Free Software enables someone with his lack of an income, to produce such great pieces of work, at such high quality, without having to break the bank. Free software has not only introduced him to unleash his creative side in computing, but to be able to give back to such programs that initially helped him is an extraordinary experience, that only free software can offer. His creation – ‘Stop Motion Ubuntu’ that you see in the Examples folder, was his first venture away from still images to moving ones. Again he only used free software, available in Ubuntu – and his webcam. While not sure how it would turn out, he is surprised at how well it was received and will certainly continue to use video as a new medium. When he hasn’t got homework scattered across the desk, Andrew spends most of his time creating artwork, coding with Python, helping new Ubuntu users (like he once was) via Launchpad Answers and when he can, writing on his blog. Generally he moves from project to project, helping out wherever he can.
Both Andrés and Andrew’s submissions will be on the Ubuntu 8.10 disc, exposing their work to millions of Ubuntu users. Congratulations guys!
Also, we are going to do this for every release of Ubuntu, so creative people…get those creative juices flowing ready for the Jaunty Jackalope Ubuntu Free Culture Showcase!

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #111 for the week of September 28th - October 4th, 2008 is now available.
In this Issue:
* Ubuntu 8.10 Beta released
* Intrepid Countdown banner
* Intrepid CDs for Approved LoCo’s
* New Ubuntu Members
* Ubuntu Testing Day
* Kernel Hug Day
* PackageKit call for testing
* Ubuntu 8.10 release party(San Francisco)
* MOTU News
* Ubuntu Stats
* LoCo News
* Launchpad News
* In the Press & Blogosphere
* In other News
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
If you have a story idea for the Weekly News, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

Approved LoCos can pre-order Ubuntu 8.10 CDs. The following selection will be mailed:

• Ubuntu: PC: 230
• Kubuntu: PC: 50
• Server PC: PC: 50
• Server 64bit: PC: 20

For detailed instructions on how to place the order, see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LoCoGettingCds.

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #110 for the week of September 21st - September 27th, 2008 is now available.
In this Issue:
* Potential hardware-damaging e1000e driver: Intrepid
* Ubuntu 8.10 beta freeze now in effect
* Ubuntu 8.10 beta approaching
* Ubuntu 7.04 reaches end-of-life, October 19, 2008
* Intrepid Release Parties
* Ubuntu Upstream report
* Ubuntu Server survey launched
* Introducing the Ubuntu Wanted project
* Progress of Romanian Translation Team
* Ubuntu Stats
* Regular Bug Jams in Berlin kicked off
* ABLEconf co-hosted by Ubuntu Arizona LoCo
* In the Press & Blogosphere
* Mark Shuttleworth named “IT Community Hero of the Year”
* Full Circle Magazine #17
* Ubuntu-UK podcast #15
* Ubuntu Community interview with John Crawford(johnc4510)
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
If you have a story idea for the Weekly News, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

Ubuntu announced the release of 7.04 almost 18 months ago, on 19 April 2007. As with the earlier releases, Ubuntu committed to ongoing security and critical fixes for a period of 18 months. The support period is now nearing its end and Ubuntu 7.04 will reach end of life on Sunday, October 19th, 2008. At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 7.04.
The supported upgrade path from Ubuntu 7.04 is via Ubuntu 7.10. Instructions and caveats for the upgrade may be found at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/GutsyUpgrades. Note that upgrades to version 8.04 LTS and beyond are only supported in multiple steps, via an upgrade first to 7.10, then to 8.04 LTS. Both Ubuntu 7.10 and Ubuntu 8.04 LTS continue to be actively supported with security updates and select high-impact bug fixes. All announcements of official security updates for Ubuntu releases are sent to the ubuntu-security-announce mailing list, information about which may be found at https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-security-announce.

The Ubuntu Server community wants to ask a broad set of users to share just exactly how they are using Ubuntu Server and in what kind of organisations. A previous shorter survey from Canonical was completed by those requesting free server CDs, but this is the first time the Ubuntu server team is requesting information from the community worldwide.
Co-sponsored by RedMonk Research, the survey [http://survey.ubuntu.com/] will gather more detailed knowledge in order to:

• Improve future product releases
• Prioritize feature requests
• Guide partnerships to add technologies
• Drive the focus at the next Ubuntu Developer Summit in December 2008

The anonymous survey takes 10 to 20 minutes to complete and is open to anyone deploying Linux servers today, whether or not they use Ubuntu. The Ubuntu Server Community Team will present the results in the beginning of December.
“Our survey earlier this year provided insight into the diversity and global reach of the Ubuntu Server customer base,” said Nick Barcet, Ubuntu Server product manager. “With this survey, we hope to understand more about them – including how they are using our software in their businesses – in order to better serve them in the future.”

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #109 for the week of September 14th - September 20th, 2008 is now available.
In this Issue:
* Intrepid Ibex Alpha 6 released
* Codecs & DVD playback in Intrepid for all users
* Xubuntu News
* New Kubuntu Bug Team
* MOTU Team News
* FSD: Ubuntu-VE, Ubuntu-NI, and Ubuntu-NO
* Ubuntu-ZA leadership change
* Launchpad 2.1.9 released
* In the Press & Blogosphere
* In Other News
* Mozilla Team Meeting Summary
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
If you have a story idea for the Weekly News, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!

The Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue #108 for the week of September 7th - September 13, 2008 is now available.
In this Issue:
* Introducing Jaunty Jackalope
* UI Freeze in place, Alpha 6 freeze ahead
* Last push for Intrepid documentation
* Ubuntu 9.04 Developer Summit Sponsorship
* Status of Ubuntu Romanian Localization Team
* Ubuntu Developer Week
* MOTU
* New Ubuntu Members
* Intrepid Spanish Translation
* New Ubuntu Cyclists Team
* Ubuntu Stats
* LoCo News
* In the Press & Blogosphere
* In Other News
* Meeting Summaries
* Upcoming Meetings & Events
* Updates & Security
If you have a story idea for the Weekly News, join the Ubuntu News Team mailing list and submit it. Ideas can also be added to the wiki!