This is our special episode to celebrate the release of Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon which will be out today.

Listener Feedback
First off, a shout out and big thanks to the guys from The Linux Link Tech Show who mentioned us on their last episode as well as adding us to The Linux Link and making our server quake in fear as a result. Thanks guys, you rock! One of their hosts, Dann, also wrote us an email congratulating us on the show and telling us that Agave’s logo isn’t a pot leaf — which Fab also told Dan on episode 1 but neglected to leave that bit of audio in when he edited the outtakes…

We also had another email from thelastknowngod who said he loved the show and wishes us luck with it. He also encourages people to sign up over at the Linux Reality Forums where he’s a moderator. Fab has done so directly after he got the email and has promised to be an active contributor over there before too long.

Our last piece of feedback for this week is from John Kalstrom who asks if Fab has stereo sound on his mythbox. Fab says he’s been trying to figure that out and assumes he does, but can’t be sure. He’ll look into it more, though. If anybody out there has advice for John on how to get the stereo in MythTV on Fedora 5 working, let us know!

After this, Fab shortly talks about the Pligg site he set up at linuxoutlaws.com/contribute for the show to enable listeners to submit stories for the podcast and vote on stories other people have submitted. Please check it out and sign up if you’re interested. You can also leave comments on the various stories and have a look what Dan and Fab are planning for the next show, if you’re interested.

News
Dan tells us about the following new releases that came out recently: Absolute Linux 12.0.7, rPath 1.0.7, Scientific Linux 4.5 and Frugalware 0.7.

We then talk about the Ubuntu Open Week as announced on Jono Bacon’s blog. If you’re interested in learning about Ubuntu, be sure to check that out. We also plug Lug Radio and Jokosher which Fab uses to produce this podcast.

Next we talk about Microsoft having the audacity to promote their shitty FUD-spreading propaganda on Google’s search results for the term “Linux” and also on Linux.com. Fab than ratholes this topic with a hideously geeky analysis, comparing Microsoft and Google to the Shadows and Vorlons on Babylon 5.

In other news, Mozilla announced that they will make a mobile version of Firefox, everbody’s favourite browser. They also say they “plan to rock it”. Also: Windows takes down a TV news station, forcing the poor weather guy to draw his own charts and a british MP says making everyone use Windows isn’t the way to go for a government.

Main Section
On to the main topic of the show, Ubuntu Gutsy. Dan’s been running the last release candidate for some time now and tells us about his experience with installing and using it. He tried the upgrade process and after that did fresh installs of both the 64 and the 32 bit versions to compare them for us. He also talks about some errors he came across in trying to install everything.

Later we talk about new features in Gutsy. Among other things, the following things are new in this version of Ubuntu:

• The new Gnome 2.20
• Compiz Fusion 3D effects
• Desktop search
• Fast user switching
• New interface for installing Firefox plugins automatically
• Graphical configuration tool for X
• Fully automatic printer installation
• NTFS writing
• Power consumption & heat management improvements for laptops
• Harddisk encryption
• AppArmour for improved security
• Improved support for certain wireless cards

We conclude that the improvements are small and gradual rather than big and dramatic, but we think that this is a good sign since it hopefully means all the big stuff is working. Ubuntu is becoming a very easy to use and very polished distribution. It also looks very slick. Also, compared to proprietary operating systems, the amount of changes these guys make in six months are pretty amazing.

Wrapping it up, Dan tells us about his current tour of distributions and Fab reminds everyone again to sign up at the new Pligg site Ante Up! and start contributing. And now go and have fun with Gutsy!