#ubuntu

discussion about Ubuntu Software Center. The basic idea is good but I think needs screenshots, ratings and in general better descriptions of the apps. The Maemo app installer by @danielwilms would be a good example here.

Qt roadmap session. They're trying to move towards schedules 6 month release schedule. Qt Quick (QML) is a big deal in the 4.7 release, which is now in beta.

In 4.8 Qt Quick will get multitouch and a cross-platform widget set. Multitouch will need work also on the X11 level. Project Lighthouse enables Qt on Linux without X.

WebKit is moved to its own module as it requires a faster release schedule than Qt itself because of quickly evolving web technologies.

Ubuntu Maverick will target application developers. The developer exeperience will build on top of DesktopCouch, Python, Quickly (template-based app code generator), Quickly Widgets (PyGTK baseclasses llike data grids), LaunchPad and Ground Control for collaborated development, and finally Software Center for distributing the app.

DesktopCouch is a bit weird, a schema-based storage system written on top of a schema-free database. Midgard would've done this way better.

The desktop is your IDE idea is pretty cool, though. Very similar to the integrated developer experience we aim to have with Midgard3 on the web end. Bringing the development tools to end users meshes well with the ideas of free software. The session will be 10am tomorrow.

There was a suggestion that #midgard could be the content repository endorsed as CouchDB compatible for resource constrained devices like smartphones. We already do CouchDB replication with Midgard

Tracker session. Tracker is an index of all user data... Contacts, media, ... Tracker is in direct competition with CouchDB, but the problem is that Couch is a really slow querying system. Tracker does have a CouchDB bridge where Tracker data is available as a Couch compatoble JSON resource.

Tracker's advantage is being able to index not only local data, but also user's data in the cloud. The goal is global search of your data.

Zeitgeist is also discussed. Often you know when you made some document but you might not remember where you put it. Most users have their desktop filled with files like Spreadsheet 59.xls.

One issue with Tracker is that it ususally produces too many results. We need pagerank and faceted search on the desktop.

Lowe-hanging fruit for getting Tracker into Ubuntu is media indexing... Making photos from disk and from Flickr appear in your F-Spot, MP3s appear in Rhythmbox. Latest Nautilus can already use Tracker for searching files.

The new Ubuntu Netbook shell looks very promising http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/05...

Puppet, automating deployment and maintenance of bunch of computers in the cloud. Puppet uses configuration sets that you will be able store in backends like zookeeper or CouchDB. Then puppetmaster distributes the configs to nodes where changes are done automatically to conform with the configs. Here is the state I want to have these servers in. Make it so.

Simple puppet use case is distributing SSH keys across all servers where a user needs access.

Puppet would be quite interesting for #midgard setup: describe a server setup, tell where the application's replication master is, and tell nodes to check out a given version of the web app.

The desktop is your IDE. Ground Control integrates Bazaar and Launchpad right into the GNOME file manager, allowing developers to check out projects and make commits as part of normal file organization. With Unix using the system and programming for the system are in the same environment, using same tools. The idea is to bring the same concept to the desktop.

Ruby on Rails had the advantage that it brought all development and bootstrapping tools to the command line, and many developers have preferred that over traditional IDEs. So maybe Ubuntu development shouldn't require Eclipse. But of course there are also those people who live in Eclipse or Visual Studio.

A powerful part of RoR is that it generates all basic UIs automatically based on your data model, and then you can jump in and make changes in the places where you want. TextMate makes RoR development efficient by understanding the project structure so you can jump between model and controller etc.

Quickly aims to provide RoR-like infrastructure for developing Python applications for the desktop. The command-line tools for scaffolding a project and generating the necessary base code are already there. The Quickly commands are being integrated into Nautilus. Nautilus also has some bug tracker integration, but it is still quite basic.

When you have Ground Control installed you will have a Projects folder under your home directory. In the Nautilus has buttons for checking out a project from Launchpad. When you have the project you can then check out any bzr branches, or select a bug to fix. Ground Control will check out the appropriate branch. In the branch then you'll have buttons for making commits and marking the bug as fixed.

Do you want to meet and discuss Geoclue stuff after this session ends?

@segphault would be great to discuss that and some Gwibber ideas. Jorge is trying to book a geolocation session for the afternoon

Interesting observations by @segphault about CouchDB's limitations on the desktop. Maybe Midgard2 could have a place on Ubuntu after all http://arstechnica.com/open-source/reviews/2010/05...

There is a Midgard2 session at 3pm and a GeoClue session at 4:15pm. Then I shall catch the train to Tilburg http://summit.ubuntu.com/uds-m/2010-05-11/

Diffanimation: using animations for better change visualization with text content. Pretty cool video of a Wikipedia edit war visualized

There is now a blueprint for making Ubuntu location-aware with GeoClue https://blueprints.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+spec/desk...

Wrote some more comprehensive notes about the event, especially about Ubuntu's possibilities with GeoClue and Midgard http://bergie.iki.fi/blog/notes_from_my_first_ubun...