Help make Ubuntu gr-r-r-eat!

Monday October 6th 2008 is the second Ubuntu Testing Day where we will be focusing on testing of upgrades of 8.04 (Hardy Heron) to 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex).

What is a testing day?

The Ubuntu Testing day is a special day where the Ubuntu Community comes together with a shared goal of testing an specific set of ISO images (Alpha, Beta, RC, Gold or Point releases). Taking the idea from the Ubuntu Bug Day, we want to apply the same concepts to ISO testing.

Who can join in?

Everyone. You don’t need to be a developer. You don’t need to know how to code. Everyone is welcome. If you don’t know how to help, then just stop on by and we’ll explain everything to you. In fact, one of the objectives of the Testing Day is to help people willing to start testing Ubuntu to make it better.

How to join in?

Come to #ubuntu-testing on freenode IRC. We will be there all day and night helping to resolve any testing queries you might have. Normal testing activity takes place in #ubuntu-testing at other times also.

What we will be testing?

This time we will be focusing on testing distribution upgrades. If you want to upgrade your Hardy system (*buntu 8.04) to Intrepid (*buntu 8.10) this is a great way to help on your way.

Also, my colleague Marc Tardif (cr3) will be giving a session at the #ubuntu-classroom IRC channel at 15:00 UTC about the testing infrastructure, giving an overview on the tools available to make Ubuntu testing easier and more fun.

Please, join us tomorrow and help make Ubuntu even better!

Counting Down to Hardy Heron

The other day I upgraded to the Hardy Heron beta, and the experience - as expected - was mostly flawless.

I inititated the upgrade last thing at night and left it downloading. The next morning it was waiting for me to answer a question, which I did and then continued working while it proceeded in the background. It needed input from me a few times concerning configuration files, but for the most part no interaction was required. A while later it was complete and asked me to reboot. I did because it was a convenient time for me, but throughout the whole process I just carried on working with no problems at all.

I’ve no experience of upgrading (or even installing) OS X, but I know the same experience would be difficult to replicate on Microsoft Windows, especially when you consider that all my applications were upgraded at the same time as the Operating System.

Once Hardy is formally released - and I’ve got the opportunity - I plan to completely re-install this machine and wipe all traces of Microsoft Windows from it forever (Vista is still lurking around on here, wasting space along with a defunct recovery partition).

So if like me you’re waiting for the release of Hardy, add the counter to your website. Find the massively complicated installation instructions here.