Ubuntu One Gets A New Qt Interface For Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

A new Ubuntuone-Installer version was uploaded to the Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin repositories today and with it, Ubuntu One has switched to a new Qt interface by default, replacing the old GTK version.

According to a bug report, the Ubuntu One team is no longer supporting the GTK interface so it will be removed soon.

Among the reasons behind this decision are: deprecated pygtk bindings, uniform  interface across all the platforms, usability and others.

UbuntuOne Installer:

And the Qt UbuntuOne Control Panel interface:

Currently, there's a bug and launching UbuntuOne from the Unity Launcher, the installer fails. This can be solved by manually installing the Ubuntu One Control Panel Qt interface:

sudo apt-get install ubuntuone-control-panel-qt

The latest ubuntuone-installer package also installs the new Rhythmbox UbuntuOne Music Store plugin, replacing the Banshee one:

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Rhythmbox (2.95) Finally Ported To GTK3, Install It In Ubuntu 11.10

After a year, we finally have a new Rhythmbox release - 2.95, and the major change is that it has been ported to GTK+ 3. For the past year, most Linux distributions have packaged Rhythmbox from GIT because even though the Rhythmbox development is active, there were no new releases.

Besides full GNOME 3 support, the new version also comes with a redesign for some UI parts and according to the changelog, this is only the beginning. For now, it doesn't look anything like the "Music" mockups we've seen a while back though.

Other changes in Rhythmbox 2.95:

• new album art database
• Grilo plugin for UPNP and Jamendo
• Rewritten visualization plugin (using clutter)
• New encoding profile system
• Plugins now based on libpeas
• Much improved dbus media server plugin

The new visualization plugin isn't available in the WebUpd8 Rhythmbox PPA (see below) because I've used the official Ubuntu packaging, and this plugin was removed in Ubuntu because it uses Clutter, which the Ubuntu developers are trying to avoid.

Install Rhythmbox 2.95 in Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot

If you're using Ubuntu 11.10 Oneiric Ocelot, you can install the latest Rhythmbox 2.95 from our Rhythmbox PPA (I almost forgot we have a Rhythmbox PPA :D ):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/rhythmbox
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox

If you use Ubuntu 12.04 alpha, Rhythmbox 2.95 should be available as an update already (it was uploaded today).


The Rhythmbox 2.95 source can be downloaded via ftp.gnome.org.

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Rhythmbox Confirmed As Default Music Player In Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, Jupiter Might Be Included Too

In an Ubuntu-Desktop mailing list message, Jason Warner (Ubuntu Desktop Manager) has confirmed that Rhythmbox will be the default music player in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, replacing Banshee:

Thank you all for sending feedback on the default music player for 12.04. It is clear the right decision for 12.04 is to make Rhythmbox the default music player. Thank you, above all else, for keeping the conversation cordial and making the decision about what is best for Ubuntu.

As a reminder, among the reasons behind this decision are: stability, startup speed, cd space, GTK2/GTK3 and arm support - for more info, see: this and this.

See the whole thread here.

Update: the Default Apps Discussion blueprint has been updated a few seconds ago and it points out that even though Ubuntu 12.04 will switch to Rhythmbox starting with alpha 1, the Banshee GTK3 port and stability on ARM will be reviewed around Precise beta 1 and it will then be discussed if Ubuntu Precise will stay with Rhythmbox or switch back to Banshee.

But there's something even more interesting regarding the default application selection in Ubuntu 12.04: the Default Apps Discussion blueprint has been updated a few minutes ago by the same Jason Warner and it mentions that Jupiter Applet might also be included by default as a way to solve power issues:

I would also like to get Jupiter applet in by default. Jupiter uses a systray whitelist. We can use that, create an indicator or possibly a system settings. We'll need to work with design on how best to get this in for Precise.

The weird part is that the blueprint also says that Tomboy and Gbrainy will be removed along with Banshee, so if Jupiter itself will be used (and they won't just use some Jupiter features integrated into the System Settings), Ubuntu 12.04 won't be mono-free, since Jupiter uses Mono (and it would be the only app that uses Mono on the CD). Sure, the blueprint doesn't indicate that Jupiter will definitely be included by default in Precise, but the blueprint update still seems a bit awkward (only from the CD space point of view, Jupiter is an amazing application). But then again, maybe Jason somehow isn't aware of the fact that Jupiter uses Mono.

For those not familiar with Jupiter, this is an applet designed for netbooks and laptops that you can use to switch between maximum and high performance and power saving mode, change the screem resolution and orientation, enable or disable the bluetooth, touchpad, WiFi and so on. It also provides Asus EeeePC SHE (Super Hybrid Engine) support.

Many have reported battery life improvements while using Jupiter, here's an example (read the whole thread).

In the same blueprint, it was also confirmed that FreeRDP and Remmina will replace rdesktop and vinagre in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin.


What do you think about these changes?

Rhythmbox news via Ubuntu Dicas.

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Rhythmbox Might Replace Banshee In Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, More News

The Ubuntu Developer Summit has started this week and there were two very interesting sessions today: GNOME version and default applications in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin.

It seems that Ubuntu 12.04 will continue to use most GNOME 3.2 applications by default, but use GTK 3.4 and pick up some new GNOME 3.4 components such as GNOME Games, Gedit, Eye Of GNOME and others. Some more important applications such as Empathy or Nautilus will probably stay on 3.2. Further more, Totem will stay on version 3.0 (like it is for Oneiric too) because Totem 3.2 uses clutter so videos won't work for everyone. The reason for this is that Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin will be released just a month after the GNOME 3.4 release (see the release schedule here) so there is not enough time to get everything ready.

As for the second session, most people who have attended the default applications session today at UDS-P have agreed to replace Banshee with Rhythmbox by default. However, decision is not final as there are a few things that need to be checked first (like Unity Music Lens integration, etc.).

The main reason for this is that Banshee still uses GTK2 and the GTK3 branch is currently blocked by some missing GTK# 3 features. And this blocks porting the Ubuntu One Music Store plugin to GTK 3 and it prevents it from working properly on ARM.

At the end of the session, it was even discussed to completely remove Mono from the CD since only Tomboy and Gbrainy would be using it, but no decision regarding this was taken.

Two new GNOME 3.2 applications were rejected from being included in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin by default: Sushi (file previewer) and GNOME Documents. The first one doesn't integrate well with Ubuntu (buttons on the wrong side, no overlay scrollbars etc.), uses Clutter so it doesn't work for everyone and more. As for GNOME Documents: it doesn't do too much for now and also, this functionality basically already exists in Unity, through lenses and also, it uses Tracker and Clutter and is aimed at GNOME Shell.

PiTiVi video editor was proposed for reinclusion as default in Ubuntu, but was rejected because apparently the Ubuntu developers don't want a video editor by default. And if they would want one, OpenShot would have probably be chosen. So the final decision was: "it belongs in the Software Center".

Zeitgeist Privacy Manager was also proposed to be included by default, but no decision has been taken yet.

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