Oracle’s free XE (Express Edition) version is available for Ubuntu.
Oracle Database 10g Express Edition (Oracle Database XE) is an entry-level, small-footprint database based on the Oracle Database 10g Release 2 code base that’s free to develop, deploy, and distribute; fast to download; and simple to administer.
Ubuntu and LPI have announced the Ubuntu Professional Certification, using LPI’s LPIC-1 distro-neutral certification as a base. This exam will provide certification of skills on Ubuntu for system administrators.
The Ubuntu certification will consist of a single exam on top of LPI’s existing 101 and 102 exams. This will give candidates the advantage of an existing global standard, LPIC-1, plus the “Ubuntu Certified Professional” status. The exam is being developed by LPI’s product development team and Ubuntu community members from around the globe. The exam is expected to be completed in early May with the first paper exams being available in mid-May to qualified LPIC-1 candidates who are attending LinuxWorld Johannesburg.
While not at the same level as the RHCE since the LPIC-1 standard is for a junior system administrator, the Ubuntu Professional Certification is a great step forward in helping organisations adopt Ubuntu and Ubuntu-derived distributions such as Impi because they can have a measure of the skillset of their staff.
For entry level user training, there is the ICDL (International Computer Driving Licence).
PenguinLabs founder Morgan Collett holds an LPIC-1 certification and assisted with setting the Ubuntu Professional Certification exam.
The next milestone in the development of Ubuntu 6.06 (”dapper”) has been released: Flight 6.
This has GNOME 2.14 and many improvements over Flight 5, especially in terms of bug fixes.
If you plan to do an installation of Dapper Flight 6, be sure to head to Testing. With just a few minutes of time at your hands, you can really help to improve Ubuntu. We have two different tests; one takes just a short while, but the other is more thorough.
- Testing/Current - Simply note how your installation went
- Testing/Short - the short test
- Testing/Long - the longer test
Tectonic reports that HP is going to sell laptops with Linspire loaded.
CNET News.com interviewed Bill Gates, after we heard that Windows Vista has been delayed again and will only be available to the public in 2007. Here’s a brief extract:
Should there be a new version of Windows every 18 months?
Gates: (Features) like the browser user interface, the media capability, some of those things you can have updates more often than even every 18 months and users who want that can download those things because they don’t affect compatibility. Whereas the file system or the scheduler, the rights protection pieces, the device driver interfaces–those you’re never going to modify more often than every three years, or in many of those cases you want to leave those things alone for way longer than that.
Ubuntu provides a new version of the “browser user interface, the media capability,” the full OpenOffice.org suite, not to mention the underlying Linux operating system - every six months. Of course the file system and device driver interfaces may not change for three years, but there are certainly bug fixes and improvements in that time that Linux users benefit from whereas Windows users have to wait 2 3 4 5 6 years for these kind of updates.
Mad Penguin has a look at stores selling computers with Linux preloaded in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Beginning Ubuntu Linux: From Novice to Professional by Keir Thomas is now available on Amazon.
Other Ubuntu books listed on Amazon but not yet available:
Ubuntu 6.04, code named “dapper drake”, has a new milestone CD released: Flight 4.
A writeup of new features (including screenshots) is available on the Ubuntu wiki.
Get it here:
The latest version of Ubuntu Linux has been released.
This new version, code-named “Breezy Badger”, or just “breezy”, is an excellent upgrade to the previous release, with newer versions of the operating system and included applications. You can obtain it by downloading a CD image (if you have an ADSL or diginet connection to the Internet) or get somebody who has it already to burn a CD for you. You can order free CDs to be sent to you - although this does take a few weeks.
PenguinLabs offers hardware compatibility testing for Ubuntu, and this new release includes improved compatibility with more desktops, laptops and servers than before.
