It appears that the recent crisis of existence over at Gentoo has resulted in a reinvigoration of the project. LinuxCrazy has interviewed Roy Bamford, the recently elected Gentoo Foundation president, on the current state of Gentoo.
In related developments, Gentoo has released a second beta of Gentoo 2008.0 for testing (the last release was almost a year ago, in May), so it appears that things are progressing with the traditional Gentoo rapidity. Huzzah!
Wow, it’s been a long time since my last post! I’ve been too busy to sit down and organize my thoughts into any coherent blog posts, but I think this one is worth my effort.
The problem: I can’t test the next Kubuntu release. The work I’m doing on my PC right now is too important to risk a few days downtime, and a recent drive controller problem meant a near total rebuild of my data, resulting in lost time. Had I not experienced the controller failure I might have tested the new Kubuntu, but alas, I didn’t get a vote in the controller’s decision to lose its little mind.
Here’s where you come in. You can help out the Kubuntu project by testing Kubuntu this week. Next week is the final release of Kubuntu 8.04, which is available in both KDE 3.5 and KDE 4.0 versions. A call has gone out for help in testing the Release Candidates. If you have some spare time and a PC you don’t mind using for testing, please help out the Kubuntu project in my stead.
P.S. — There’s also a request for help in Ubuntu RC testing, if you prefer Ubuntu.
Inspired by Dell’s IdeaStorm, the Ubuntu qa team has put together Ubuntu Brainstorm. If you have any ideas for making Ubuntu better, submit your ideas to a single site where other Ubuntu users can vote on them. The concept has worked well for Dell, so it will likely work well for Ubuntu. Make Ubuntu better: start brainstorming!
Unfortunately, my title seems to be more truth than hype on my part. Would that it were different. The very idea of Gentoo Linux in trouble gives me a sick feeling.
If you’ve read any of my previous posts, you know that I’m a Kubuntu user, and I love it (I really, really do!). The simple fact remains that Gentoo was what caused me to fall in love with the GNU/Linux operating system in the first place, and I stopped using it for reasons of personal convenience rather than some philosophical disagreement with the Gentoo Way.
Since my decision to stop using Gentoo, I have periodically checked in to see where the project was headed and what cool new features the Gentoo Geniuses had managed to integrate. Let’s face it: if you’re doing anything even slightly odd or if you need every last ounce of speed your system can muster, Gentoo’s your choice. If I can’t get something working in anything else, Gentoo nearly always provides the answer.
Now it seems that, legally speaking, Gentoo has ceased to exist. The organizational structure of Gentoo, namely the Gentoo Foundation, has been broken so badly, for so long, that they merely ended not with a bang, but a whimper. Gentoo’s original founder, Daniel Robbins, has offered to return and revitalize Gentoo. This seems very Jobs-ian to me, but if it could work for Apple maybe it could work for Gentoo.
The new Gentoo plan appears to be very Ubuntu-like to me: easier participation from users and developers at all levels, providing them a real voice in Gentoo’s direction. If you’re at all interested in the future of Gentoo, you may want to sound off and let your thoughts be known about the new offer. It’s set to expire this Friday, January 18. I, for one, am hoping that the Gentoo community will rally around to save Gentoo before it’s too late.
OK, so my previous post may have left you wondering what, exactly, is so great about KDE 4.
Now you can look at the full release announcement, screen shots, and even download a Kubuntu LiveCD featuring KDE 4.
