Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 835

Ubuntu Weekly News
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Welcome to the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter, Issue 835 for the week of April 7 - 13, 2024.

In this Issue

  • Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) Beta released
  • Ubuntu Stats
  • Hot in Support
  • UbuCon Asia 2024 - CFP Deadline Extended by April 30
  • LoCo Events
  • Matrix documentation discussion
  • Noble Numbat (24.04) Beta Release Status Tracking
  • Mir Office Hours
  • Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Beta Testing
  • Moderation and Defense of our Matrix Community
  • Call for testing: Ubuntu Frame (Mir 2.16.4 bugfix update), mesa-core22 (minor version update)
  • Celebrating Creativity: Announcing the Winners of the Kubuntu Contests!
  • Other Community News
  • Ubuntu Cloud News
  • Canonical News
  • In the Press
  • In the Blogosphere
  • In Other News
  • Other Articles of Interest
  • Featured Audio and Video
  • Meeting Reports
  • Upcoming Meetings and Events
  • Updates and Security for Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04, and 23.10
  • And much more!

Updates and Security can be found in Addendum for Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 835.

General Community News

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) Beta released

Steve Langasek on behalf of the Ubuntu Release team announces the beta release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop, Server and Cloud products. This release includes the various Ubuntu flavors, and we’re told the images are “reasonably free of showstopper bugs”. Links are provided so we can download and test this product.

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2024-April/000300.html

The release is widely covered, the following is a collection of articles selected by our editors:

Interested in the flavors? Release announcements as follows:

Ubuntu Stats

Bug Stats

  • Open: 144336 (+175)
  • Critical: 320 (+1)
  • Unconfirmed: 72617 (+90)

As always, the Bug Squad needs more help. If you want to get started, please see: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BugSquad

Translations

  • Ukrainian: 87.98% (38258/1121)
  • German: 86.45% (43137/419)
  • French: 82.34% (56196/7366)
  • Spanish: 80.23% (62912/4903)
  • Swedish: 77.83% (70550/1005)

Hot in Support

Ask Ubuntu Top 5 Questions

Ask (and answer!) questions at: https://askubuntu.com/

Ubuntu Forums Top 5 Threads

Find more support at: https://ubuntuforums.org/

LoCo News

UbuCon Asia 2024 - CFP Deadline Extended by April 30

Youngbin Han (sukso96100) announces the extension for UbuCon Asia 2024’s call for proposals. The new date, set for April 30, is due to Visa invitation and travel grant processes. Travel grant applications must be submitted before the deadline. Youngbin shares supporting links for additional information.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubucon-asia-2024-cfp-deadline-extended-by-april-30/44159

LoCo Events

The following LoCo team events are currently scheduled in the next two weeks:

Looking beyond the next two weeks? Visit the respective LoCo Team calendar to browse upcoming events.

Please see:

The Hub

Matrix documentation discussion

Mauro Gaspari provides us with an update on the state of Ubuntu Matrix documentation. Links are provided, and we’re told it’s “a good start”. We’re asked if we believe anything is missing, unclear, or can be improved to so advise. We’re also asked to get involved.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/matrix-documentation-discussion/44042

Noble Numbat (24.04) Beta Release Status Tracking

This post shows the Ubuntu 24.04 beta release status tracking detail. With the beta release already out, much of the detail has been removed (page is updated regularly), but it can be useful for finding known issues that may be found on beta images, and will get fixes made soon.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/noble-numbat-24-04-beta-release-status-tracking/44043

Mir Office Hours

MichaƂ Sawicz posts the next Mir Office Hours event, giving us the agenda, and of course date/time and the link to join. We’re invited to attend, and if we cannot but have questions, we can ask on this thread.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/mir-office-hours/44062

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Beta Testing

Aaron Prisk writes about the release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Beta, and asks us to help test it. We’re given some details of what we can test, with many screenshots. We are given links for more details, including for flavors, or where we can chat with other testers, or if we need to learn more about testing.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-24-04-lts-beta-testing/44040

Moderation and Defense of our Matrix Community

Marc Gilligan posts a page that has become part of the Ubuntu Matrix documentation. This page describes mission, and outlines Defender and Moderator action policies and more. Links to other documentation pages are provided.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/moderation-and-defense-of-our-matrix-community/42404

Call for testing: Ubuntu Frame (Mir 2.16.4 bugfix update), mesa-core22 (minor version update)

MichaƂ Sawicz reports the updates of ubuntu-frame and mesa-core22 packages with channel and versions. Details are provided, including how they can be tested. Any test results welcomed on this thread, with the intention of promoting both to stable in a week.

https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/call-for-testing-ubuntu-frame-mir-2-16-4-bugfix-update-mesa-core22-minor-version-update/44112

The Planet

Celebrating Creativity: Announcing the Winners of the Kubuntu Contests!

The Kubuntu team announces the winners of the Kubuntu Brand Graphic Design and Wallpaper contests. We’re given the names of winners, and second place holders for each category, along with a thank you for all submissions. A link to the Kubuntu teams Github repository is included to view the results.

https://kubuntu.org/news/celebrating-creativity-announcing-the-winners-of-the-kubuntu-contests/

Ubuntu Cloud News

Canonical News

In the Press

Explicit Sync in Wayland is The Answer to NVIDIA Linux Problems!

Sourav Rudra writes about Wayland on NVIDIA GPUs; some users having no problems whilst others do. This post outlines the ‘Explicit Sync’ protocol which isn’t new (predecessor was ‘ditched’), but promises a flicker-free Wayland session and avoids issues with alternative approaches. We’re also told we may see this soon (but will have to wait and see).

https://news.itsfoss.com/explicit-sync-wayland/

Netplan 1.0: Canonical Makes Network Management Simpler and Secure for Ubuntu

Sourav Rudra reminds us that Ubuntu 24.04 LTS release is approaching, and here focuses on one included feature which is Netplan 1.0. We are given some history of Netplan, and the reasons for its creation, before moving to some of the new features in this release. Links for more detail are provided.

https://news.itsfoss.com/netplan-canonical/

Thunderbird Takes Over Maintenance of the Thunderbird Snap

Matt Milano reports that Thunderbird has taken over maintenance of the snap version of their email client. Along with some quotes from official release notes, we’re given a link too.

https://www.webpronews.com/thunderbird-takes-over-maintenance-of-the-thunderbird-snap/

In the Blogosphere

Install & Manage Flatpak Apps with This Full-Featured Tool

Ji m writes about an app that will “install, remove, downgrade, and manage app data with a simple graphical interface” specifically for Flatpaks. Mention is made of Flatseal, before moving to Warehouse. We’re given some screenshots, before being walked through how it can work for us. Instructions for installing on Ubuntu are included, and even removing it if we decide it’s not for us.

https://ubuntuhandbook.org/index.php/2024/04/manage-flatpak-apps-tool/

Nouveau GSP Fix On The Way For Regression That Broke Ampere GPU Support

Michael Larabel reminds us of a fix that broke RTX 30 Ampere GPU support, before telling us David Airlie has submitted an urgent fix. Along with a link to the DRM urgent fix for the Linux 6.9 kernel, we are told back-ported fixes for the Linux 6.8 stable kernel are coming.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Nouveau-GSP-Fix-Ampere-Support

UPower 1.90.4 Fixes Excessive Disk Writes & High CPU Usage

Michael Larabel reminds us what UPower is, and tells us a new version is out. We’re told the new UPower 1.90.4 includes some new features that will benefit laptop and (even) desktop users. We’re walked through a significant bug fix that reduces disk activity, as well as given a link to the sources at FreeDesktop.org GitLab.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/UPower-1.90.4-Released

Ubuntu Maker Canonical Announces New Collaboration With Qualcomm

Michael Larabel reports on Canonical launching Ubuntu Pro for devices. Canonical will be collaborating with Qualcomm, and will focus on Ubuntu Core for embedded devices. It can be expected that Ubuntu improvements will benefit Qualcomm-powered laptops. A link to the official announcement is provided.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Ubuntu-Qualcomm-2024-Partners

Linux 6.8.5 & Other Stable Kernel Updates Due To Native BHI Vulnerability

In another post from Michael Larabel he reminds us of the very recent BHI vulnerability disclosure impacting all Intel processors. We’re told of a “slew of new Linux kernel stable releases” that address this flaw. We are provided with details, and told the new kernel versions which have fixes, before Michael tells us he is working on some benchmarks on performance hits.

https://www.phoronix.com/news/Linux-685-Mitigates-Native-BHI

Hackable Intel and Lenovo hardware that went undetected for 5 years won’t ever be fixed

Dan Goodin reports that hardware from Intel, Lenovo and Supermicro contains a remotely exploitable vulnerability. With details of the flaw being found by Binarly researchers, we are told the boards are found on many products’ “lights-out” management systems, found on servers. With the bad code in a version of lighttpd (open source code), that was soon fixed, the hardware manufacturers kept using the unfixed version in their firmware. Details and links are provided, with Intel and Lenovo saying they aren’t providing fixes.

https://arstechnica.com/security/2024/04/supply-chain-snafu-causes-intel-and-others-to-ship-hackable-hardware-for-5-years/

Other Articles of Interest

Featured Audio and Video

Ubuntu OnAir: Documentation Office Hours 5th April 2024

“In this recording, we discuss and demo some of our documentation testing tools and frameworks.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hoaI9RTvano

Ubuntu OnAir: Documentation Office Hours 12th April 2024

“In this recording, we discuss authoring frameworks and mark-up languages.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jijpeUMzP0

Ubuntu Security Podcast: Episode 225

“This week we cover the recent reports of a new local privilege escalation exploit against the Linux kernel, follow-up on the xz-utils backdoor from last week and it’s the beta release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS - plus we talk security vulnerabilities in the X Server, Django, util-linux and more.”

https://ubuntusecuritypodcast.org/episode-225/

Ubuntu Portugal Podcast: Episode 294 - Especial Wikicon Portugal 2024 - tomo I

“ViajĂĄmos atĂ© Évora, para a Wikicon Portugal 2024, que decorreu de 5 a 7 de Abril, na Biblioteca PĂșblica. ConversĂĄmos com alguns participantes e aprofundĂĄmos alguns temas abordados nas comunicaçÔes, que nos ajudam a perceber o que Ă© o universo Wikimedia: as comunidades que dele fazem parte, a sua cultura colaborativa em modelo “open source” e como partilham semelhanças com o Software Livre e a Cultura dos Comuns. Neste primeiro episĂłdio falĂĄmos com o AndrĂ© Barbosa durante a viagem de ida, antecipando o programa da Wikicon e trazemo-vos tambĂ©m alguns momentos de reportagem noutros espaços da cidade (incluindo uma conversa com Paula SimĂ”es, da D3). Nos episĂłdios seguintes serĂŁo publicadas outras conversas, aqui ou no podcast “Voz dos Direitos Digitais” - com Sofia Matias, Danielly Figueiredo, Vanessa Sanches, Isabel Branco e Rita Duarte.”

https://podcastubuntuportugal.org/e294/

Linux Tex: Ubuntu 24.04 LTS “Noble Numbat” | EXCLUSIVE Sneak Peek!

“
 The next Mega iteration of this super Linux distribution is packed with new features, major improvements and some exciting surprises.
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS brings a completely redesigned Software Center with a sleek and modern interface, the latest GNOME 46 desktop as your window to the digital world, an improved installer with simpler options, and extended support for up to 12 years. 12 years. That’s commitment. 
”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzmxOXA5frU

Linux Network: What’s New in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS: Noble Numbat | Beta

“Today, we’re diving into the latest beta release of Ubuntu, version 24.04 LTS, codenamed “Noble Numbat.” Canonical has just unveiled this beta version for public testing, giving us a sneak peek into what to expect from the final release on April 25th, 2024.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VL-L0cdceIc

Meeting Reports

Upcoming Meetings and Events

Times shown are UTC unless otherwise specified. For more details and farther dates please visit: https://fridge.ubuntu.com/calendars/

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Further News

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Conclusion

Thank you for reading the Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter.

See you next week!

Credits

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Glossary of Terms

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