Ubuntu Linux

Ubuntu is a complete desktop Linux operating system, based on the Debian distribution. Ubuntu is sponsored by Canonical Ltd (owned by Mark Shuttleworth), and the name of the distribution comes from the South African concept of Ubuntu — roughly, "humanity towards others". It differs from Debian in that there is a release every 6 months, and support is provided for 18 months after release for each version; in this way, Ubuntu aims to provide an up to date, yet reasonably stable, installation for the average user.

Distinctive features

Ubuntu developers are based heavily around both the Debian and GNOME communities, and the distribution is both GNOME based and synchronises releases with the GNOME project. There are ongoing discussions, however, into improving the position of KDE within the project. These discussions have resulted in the creation of the Kubuntu project. (Ubuntu 4.10 did include KDE 3.2.2, but it was in the universe component rather than the main component, and was not installed by default.)

Ubuntu also has a heavy focus on usability, including the widespread use of the sudo tool for administrative tasks (similarly to Mac OS X) and attempting to offer a full feature set that works straight from the standard install.

Another aim of the project is to emphasise accessibility and internationalization, so that the software is available to as many people as possible.

Beyond just using the same deb package format, Ubuntu has very strong links with the Debian community, contributing any changes directly and immediately, rather than announcing them only at release time. Many Ubuntu developers are also responsible for key packages within Debian itself.

Components

Ubuntu divides all software into four sections, called "components", to reflect differences in licensing and level of support available. By default, a selection of packages from main will be installed that cover the basic needs of most computer users, along with any packages from restricted absolutely required for the system to be usable.

The main component contains only those packages that meet the Ubuntu licence requirements, and for which support is available from the Ubuntu team. This is intended to include everything needed for most general-use Linux systems. Packages in this component are guaranteed technical support and timely security fixes.

The restricted component contains software that is supported by the Ubuntu developers because of its importance, but is not available under a suitably free licence to include in main. This includes packages such as binary-only graphics card drivers. The level of support is more limited than for main, since the developers may not have access to the source code.

The universe component contains a wide range of software, which may or may not have an unrestricted licence, but which is unsupported by the Ubuntu team. This allows users to install all sorts of programs within the Ubuntu package management system, but keeps it separate from the supported packages in main and restricted.

Finally, there is the multiverse component, which contains unsupported packages that do not conform to the Free Software requirements

Releases

A new version of Ubuntu is released every six months, and each release has both a code name and a version number. The version number is based on the date of release, so that 4.10 represents October 2004. Below is a list of previous and planned releases.

Ubuntu-calendar

Ubuntu has a package called ubuntu-calendar. When installed, the package will make Ubuntu download monthly wallpaper imagess along with system upgrades. Some of these wallpapers, showing art photography of nude people, have resulted in Ubuntu being humorously referred to as "the porn distribution", "Linuxxx" and other such names. Installing and using ubuntu-calendar is optional.