The first Alpha of the Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx development cycle will be released later on today. This will be the first of 3 Alpha releases, the following of which will arrive January 14th and February 25th respectively.

Whilst I do not recommend installing Lucid Alpha 1 on any machine that you intend to use daily, you will find the relevant download details available at the following link: -

(Note that this link is not live as of yet so comments complaining about wrong link/lies/what’s going on will be deleted/ignored.)

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/lucid/alpha1

Yesterday we were the first to bring you the news about malware being targeted at Ubuntu users, and today, sadly, another malicious file was uploaded to gnome-look, this time masquerading as a theme called 'Ninja'.

If you fear you've installed it head over to the ubuntuforums @ This thread to help get a fix.

I've e-mailed Gnome-look twice for a response or comment regarding these rogue finds but as of 5PM-ish I'm yet to receive a reply. It would be great to know whether gnome-look (or any of their affiliated sites) intend to introduce safeguards to stop the exploitation of trusts that the Linux community has built up.

Docky developer DBO post a thread on the Ubuntu Forums asking for some feedback on a UI issue. Knowing so many this blogs readers to be devout Docky enthusiasts i though I'd highlight the question here so that many of your can also add your votes.

DBO asks: -

I am looking for some feedback on a new way of titling menus in docky. I am not sure if its worth keeping or not, or if anyone has an ideas for improvement. Let me know what you think (screenshots attached).

Without Titles: -

With Titles: -

Vote Link

Head on over to the thread page @ http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1347311 where you’ll find the poll to vote in.

I personally think that the “titles” are logical and beneficial to users by helping to better separate the two sections as letting newer users know instantly ‘what is where’.

http://www.gimpusers.com/tutorials/gimp-2-8-new-features.html

Single Window Mode

http://www.gimpusers.com/news/2009-10-14/compiling-gimp-27-git-ubuntu-904-910.html

http://www.gimpusers.com/news/2009-09-19/single-window-mode-gimp-2-8-confirmed.html

AWN is a dock-like window and launcher manager for Linux. But you already know that, right?


Evolution
AWN 0.4. is the next major version due for release and is currently in beta for people desperate to try it out.

The point-four series has reworked AWN from a bottom-bound dock into something much more powerful and flexible, adding a slew of new features, enhancements and UI improvements along the way for good measure.

• Intellihide? Check.
• Panel Mode? Check.
• Swish Docky inspire Applets? Check.
• Squishy Icon Animations Still There? CHECK!!!!

What isn't! Let's over-view the new major features one-by-one: -

Styles
Previous version of AWN come with two styles: Flat or 3D. Both of these still reside in point-four but the following are also added: -

Floaty 


Curvy


Edgy



None


"Extended"
Checking 'expand the panel' in the settings dialog extends the dock the full width of your screen. You can then add the 'panel expander' applet to shove notifications, trash cans and whatever else to one end of the panel, whilst keeping your launchers and windows the other end.

Like so: -

Position
AWN 0.4 allows a user to place the dock wherever they wish on screen. (top, bottom, left or right).


It is still only possible to have one dock on screen. Docky allows for multiple docks in various positions.

Auto-hiding
Talking of Docky it's worth mentioning AWN 0.4's new 'hiding features' that were no doubt inspired by the 'intellihide' feature the former introduced.

The full list of 'behaviours' in AWN are: -

• Standard  - Keeps AWN on top, doesn't hide
• Panel Mode - Works almost like a gnome-panel; maximizing windows snap to the top of the panel. 
• Autohide Keep Below - AWN stays under windows
• Autohide Fadeout - AWN fades outs when a window covers the dock
• Transparency - AWN stays on top but goes "transparent" so you can see the window beneath (see image below)
• Custom
  

Launchers Only
AWN allows a user to have a launcher only dock with no window management.


Window Grouping
All windows of one application are grouped under one icon on the dock.

Icons
Drag and drop arranging of icons is now supported.


Applets
Applets now have the opportunity to behave differently. Again, part of this is surely inspired by GNOME Do Docky: -


Settings Dialog

AWN-Manager has been retired and replaced with the shiny new config dialog 'awn-settings'.
The best way to install AWN 0.4 is to add the AWN:Testing PPA. This will make sure you get all of the latest features, fixes... and new bugs!

You can find it @ https://launchpad.net/~awn-testing/+archive/ppa 

Desktop blog editor BloGTK! released a new version - version 2.0 - back in September that, somehow, I missed news of!

What's new
It would be easier to say what isn't new with 2.0. The entire application has been re-written, sports a much more user-friendly editing and account management interface  and includes support for even more blogs and blog features.

What's not so good?
Given this is the first release of the newly re-incarnated BloGTK! it'd be wrong to be too critical of BloGTK!s deficiencies. It is slightly less capable than Blogilo (formally known as Bilbo Blogger) and both are still miles behind the "yard stick" of desktop blog editors - Windows Live Writer.


Composing isn't WYSIWYG meaning you need to pay attention to parsing/formatting. The preview mode corrects some of the short comings here, but it would be nice to have a directly editable WYSIWYG mode.

You may have to hover over icons in the editor mode to check their functions. An option to have text with icons would be a sane additions.

No support for tags on Blogger blogs - as with Blogilo. I hope this is because of an API issue and not because, as another blog editors' developer puts it, "blogger is not as good as wordpress".

Looking Forward
The next major release, 2.1, is seeking to add image upload support via Picasa (for Blogger blogs) as well as native uploads for other blogging systems.

BloGTK is continuing to evolve, and I’m getting more and more assistance in making it better. Again, thank you to everyone who has contributed code and bug reports and feature suggestions. Every little bit helps.

Download/Install
Jaunty & Karmic users can add the following PPA to install and stay up-to-date with all the latest BloGTK! developments.

https://launchpad.net/~jayreding/+archive/ppa

Task management application ‘Getting Things GNOME!’ has just pushed a new version out of the stable door, saddling it with all manner of new plug-ins, UI improvements and 99 firmly squashed bugs. Well done guys! This release is the last on the road to the “full-featured” 0.2 release.

Amongst the new features are: -

• Plugin support
• 6 plugins shipped with the app - Remember the milk synchronization, hamster integration, bugzilla, geolocation, tomboy, and notification area
• Better performance
• Tag group support
• Much implored editor mode
• “fuzzy” due dates (“let me pencil that in sometime around never.”)

I’m a GTG! user myself and the thought of RTM sync makes me want to kiss several of the developers. …In an uber-manly fashion, of course.

I would love to see some form of CouchDb/UbuntuOne sync happening in future releases, but for now 0.1.9 has more than enough to satisfy!

Download

You can get the latest update to GTG! by adding the following PPA: -

https://launchpad.net/~gtg/+archive/ppa