Welcome to Ubuntu 5.10, Breezy Badger!
The Ubuntu Project is built on the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Philosophy: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language, and that people should have the freedom to customize and alter their software in whatever way they need. For those reasons:
Ubuntu will always be free of charge, and there is no extra fee for the "enterprise edition", we make our very best work available to everyone on the same Free terms.
Ubuntu comes with full professional support on commercial terms from hundreds of companies around the world, if you need those services. Each new version of Ubuntu receives free security updates for 18 months after release, some versions are supported for even longer.
Ubuntu uses the very best in translations and accessibility infrastructure that the Free Software community has to offer, to make Ubuntu usable for as many people as possible.
Ubuntu is released regularly and predictably; a new release is made every six months. You can use the current stable release or help improve the current development release.
The Ubuntu community is entirely committed to the principles of free software development; we encourage people to use open source software, improve it and pass it on.
Creating a desktop operating system is challenging, but it's also great fun. Read further in this document to learn how you can participate in the Ubuntu Project, and about the free software projects that produce the key components of Ubuntu.
The Ubuntu community is made up of software developers, documentation writers, translators, graphic artists, and most importantly, the people who are using Ubuntu in their everyday life. We invite you to join this community and help shape Ubuntu into an operating system that better meets your needs.
You don't have to be a software developer to help improve Ubuntu. You can participate by translating Ubuntu into your own language, test it on desktops, laptops, and servers, help improve the Ubuntu web site with guides and tips for users, answer questions on the forum or mailing lists, contribute artwork, and more. Any contribution, big or small, will shape the future of Ubuntu for all of us. To find out how to participate, visit this webpage!
Read more about Ubuntu and its growing community at www.ubuntu.com.
There are many ways to get help with Ubuntu. You can obtain paid support, or use one of the many free support options, such as:
Ubuntu Documentation, where you will find comprehensive guides to Ubuntu released by the Ubuntu Documentation Project.
The Ubuntu Wiki, where we collaborate on the policies and strategy documents that define the direction Ubuntu will follow. There is also a section in the wiki dedicated to community-contributed documentation on using Ubuntu.
The Ubuntu Community Mailing Lists, where we discuss news, ideas and issues with Ubuntu.
The Ubuntu Community Web Forums, where you can ask questions looking for help, and discuss any aspect of Ubuntu.
Chat with the community on Freenode IRC Channel: #ubuntu.
Access Ubuntu's local help by clicking the help icon on the top panel of your desktop or from the System menu.
The default desktop environment for Ubuntu 5.10 is GNOME, the emerging standard for free software desktops. GNOME provides a modern desktop environment for users, a powerful platform for developers and is fully translated into over 40 languages. You can learn more about the GNOME project at www.gnome.org
Another leading Unix and Linux desktop is KDE. The Kubuntu team is responsible for creating a version of Ubuntu optimized with KDE. Kubuntu releases are synchronized with Ubuntu and can be downloaded at www.kubuntu.org. You can also transform an existing GNOME desktop to a KDE desktop, by removing the GNOME software and installing kubuntu-desktop.
Ubuntu 5.10 includes OpenOffice.org suite. OpenOffice.org includes a word processor, spreadsheet, presentation, database and drawing tool combination that is compatible with other popular office suites. It also includes Base, a powerful database application that runs on its own built-in HSQL database engine. Base can also extend to your existing databases such as Adabas D, ADO, Microsoft Access and MySQL. It can also connect to any database through industry-standard ODBC and JDBC Drivers. Read more about the OpenOffice.org project at OpenOffice.org.
The core operating system at the heart of Ubuntu is the GNU (pronounced “guh-noo") operating environment. The GNU project is the brainchild of Richard Stallman, and is now sponsored by the Free Software Foundation. The project was launched in 1984 to develop a complete operating system which is free software: the GNU system. GNU is a recursive acronym for “GNU's Not UNIX” that reflects the fact that the GNU environment follows the design principles and replicates many of the commands of UNIX, but is in fact a completely independent implementation.
GNU has a very particular philosophy, which is central to the projects that derive from it, such as Ubuntu. It can be essentially summarized like this: "Free software is a matter of freedom: people should be free to use software in all the ways that are socially useful". "Free software" does not mean that you shouldn't have to pay for it, it also means that you should be able to use the software in any way you wish: the code that makes up free software is available for anyone to download, change, fix, and use in any way. So apart from the fact that free software is often available without charge, this freedom also has technical advantages: when programs are developed, the hard work of others can be used and built upon. With non-free software, this cannot happen and when programs are developed, they have to start from scratch. For this reason the development of free software is fast, efficient and exciting!
You can find out more about this philosophy here.
You might have heard of this amazing thing called "Linux". Linux is a "kernel", it is the core piece of software that starts up when you turn your computer on, and it in turn runs all of the other applications that make up the whole desktop environment. In many ways it's a tiny part of the whole mix, but its role is so important that many people describe the whole desktop as "Linux". Linux is the software which has come to define the worldwide movement to embrace free software. Variants of the GNU operating system, which use the Linux kernel, are now widely used; though these systems are often referred to as “Linux,” they are more accurately called GNU/Linux systems. Today we use the Linux kernel together with many of the GNU applications. That's why we call Ubuntu an example of GNU/Linux software. Find out about GNU/Linux at www.linux.org.
There are many GNU/Linux distributions (e.g., Fedora, SuSE, Debian, Mandriva, Gentoo), but Ubuntu distinguishes itself with clarity of focus, simplicity of installation and use, and a development approach that is both transparent and welcoming.
By default, Ubuntu includes a core selection of the best desktop software for typical desktop users. Almost everything else, the entire free software universe of applications, is available over the Internet for easy installation directly onto this basic desktop environment. Our package management uses the powerful "APT" package management system, which allows easy installation and clean removal of programs, as well as automatic download of any extra packages required. Ubuntu's core list of officially supported software packages is reduced to only the important applications. This allows for greater quality control. For advanced users, the "Universe" and "Multiverse" archives provide instant access to more applications that are maintained and supported by the Ubuntu community.
By focusing on quality, Ubuntu produces a robust and feature rich computing environment that is flexible for use in home and commercial environments. The project has more time to spend on the finer details and is able to release a version featuring the latest and greatest versions of the most popular free software every six months. Ubuntu supports the PC (Intel Pentium, AMD Athlon, and IBM-compatible PCs), 64-bit PC (AMD64, Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Intel Xeon) and PowerPC (Apple iBook, Powerbook, G3, G4 and G5) architectures.