This week was focused on polishing the installer experience and the desktop in general. Here are the changes made, with links to the full details.
[Lubuntu 18.04.1 has been released!](https://lubuntu.me/bionic-1-released/)
[Lubuntu 16.04.5 has been released!](https://lubuntu.me/xenial-5-released/)
[We're taking a new direction.](https://lubuntu.me/taking-a-new-direction/)
#### Desktop Experience
The past couple of weeks have been focused on more desktop polish and some heavy infrastructure and project changes.
Unfortunately, a lot of the fixes we've been working on are blocked by the in-progress Qt 5.11.1 transition. It has been uploaded to the cosmic-proposed pocket, where it awaits automated testing before it becomes generally installable. More technical details about that process are available [here](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ProposedMigration).
This transition is also being done in Debian Sid as well.
Huge thanks to [UBports](https://ubports.com/) for contributing financially to allow Lubuntu contributors to spend time on this! You can help sponsor their work (and therefore, some of our work) [here](https://ubports.com/donate).
### Desktop Experience
- [LXPanel-Qt: Don't auto-unmute the volume when it's changed.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rLXQTPANELPACKAGING9635deb67b79e0483f89baa61b855428b688913b)
- If something is playing way too loud on your computer, now you can mute the volume, change it, and unmute, without the volume unmuting while you're changing it.
- Default settings:
- [Remove /usr/share/applications; these files are native in LXQt.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rDEFAULTSETTINGS758e4746525465c15c1cc7cfec2ba7c38b182d90)
- [Don't launch a file manager on Ctrl + Alt + D, because that already shows the desktop in LXQt.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rDEFAULTSETTINGS804d49dfc6350f0c16fd19ec2b44f5b9964191db)
- [Remove the volume button shortcuts as these are built into LXQt.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rDEFAULTSETTINGS5209b412656d71f5ecb6296c6a9dc941e9460665)
- [Double the splitter position for the PCManFM-Qt Places panel.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rDEFAULTSETTINGSc58864779695ded62d70e34e13c756133a45588b)
- [gksu -> pkexec in PCManFM-Qt.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rDEFAULTSETTINGSaaa50f079236906a8f8ac97d96b37c281fcd9d4e)
- [QTerminal: Remember the maximization state of the window.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rQTERMINALPACKAGING6a643cd600a187bf472232b0d41ecfa7c932d1f9)
- [Launchpad bug report.](https://pad.lv/1754496)
- [Upstream bug report (submitted by us).](https://github.com/lxqt/qterminal/issues/450)
- [Upstream pull request (submitted by us).](https://github.com/lxqt/qterminal/pull/451)
- We [replaced](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rCALASETTINGS88e201e0c82eda4438f78ad949b25a43409556a2) some awfully complex one-liners with more robust lines, thanks to KDE Neon.
- This also fixed Calamares so it can be installed on BIOS, non-secure boot UEFI, and secure boot UEFI computers, something that was not previously possible.
- [By default](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rCALASETTINGSec8d1863c8ae49a73cff15547aa773e02d953dfa), GRUB is now installed to `/boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu` instead of `/boot/efi/EFI/lubuntu`.
- [Make](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rCALASETTINGS912a94ead53188a2f222e3d72a2f8d5e553b7373) `/bin/bash` the default shell.
### Lubuntu Seed
- [Remove ship; it's no longer used.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rSEEDd8529092ee6708b0c2693eb338d508c45cf8cba8)
- [Make vim a recommends, not a hard dependency.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rSEED1b4ee934da65a22550f43e54725c7d68af75e713)
- [Recommend zsync by default.](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rSEED2df3b53a1fccffb4bdafa86297189954cb455ccd)
### Miscellaneous
- [SDDM 0.18.0](https://github.com/sddm/sddm/releases/tag/v0.18.0) has been uploaded to Debian Sid and Ubuntu Cosmic.
- Packaging changes were made to make it easier for other Ubuntu flavors and derivatives. Instead of hardcoding the Breeze theme in, we now have a theming system in Ubuntu very similar to Debian's, where a package can install their SDDM theme into the ubuntu-theme directory in a postinst script.
- This fixes CVE-2018-14345; we're looking into cherry-picking this patch into previous stable Ubuntu releases.
- Thanks to [Nate Graham](https://pointieststick.wordpress.com/) for [the pointer](https://phabricator.kde.org/T9244), we backported fix for [a bug](https://bugreports.qt.io/browse/QTBUG-66036) which visually affected KDE-based programs under HiDPI screens.
## Infrastructure and Project Changes
@ -21,7 +74,13 @@ This week was focused on polishing the installer experience and the desktop in g
The official Lubuntu blog is now [being kept](https://phab.lubuntu.me/source/blog/) under Git in our Phabricator instance. All blog posts from here on out will be written in Markdown and then published using the scripts there.
### Phabricator
We're (slowly) working on converting all of the posts over to Markdown and keeping them there.
Translations for each post are kept under the `l10n` directory of each post (with the file being named like `LANG_CODE.md`) and the localization code is put in a YAML list in the info.yaml (see the 16.04.5 announcement for an example). This is because Weblate does not support translations for Markdown at the moment.
### Lugito
- In select repositories, Lugito will [automatically](https://phab.lubuntu.me/rLUGITOf91111a1807701daf1c3cdb4ee7bd2db7b57fc6a) comment on bug reports that are in commit messages with a message that the fix is in progress.
### Miscellaneous
@ -31,26 +90,19 @@ As always, feedback is appreciated.
## Incoming / Fix needed
- [Lubuntu 18.10 lxqt-panel - 2 Notifications on log-in: 2 shortcuts "cannot be registered"](https://pad.lv/1781511)
- [xdg user-dirs not being read/stored correctly for desktop icon in left panel](https://pad.lv/1768961)
- Filed upstream: [Error when using a non-start disk for location of personal files.](https://github.com/lxqt/lxqt/issues/1389)
- ["Format" partition edit option appears to keep reverting to "Keep"](https://pad.lv/1773610)
- [Custom partition mount point not kept with "OK"; kept with <Enter>](https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/calamares/+bug/1773608)
- [sddm will not start lxqt desktop correctly](https://pad.lv/1781392)
- [Calamares fails in UEFI mode after external command in Lubuntu Cosmic](https://pad.lv/1781015)
## Solved / Marked as invalid/duplicate
- [Two usual install options may have been absent](https://pad.lv/1773613)
- We're taking a new direction with the installer that doesn't necessarily involve these options directly.
- [lubuntu fails to install on real hardware uefi](https://pad.lv/1781539)
- Marked as a duplicate of: [Calamares fails in UEFI mode after external command in Lubuntu Cosmic](https://pad.lv/1781015)
## Solved
- [Lubuntu Cosmic can't determine my location](https://pad.lv/1781310)
- [Lubuntu Cosmic Has a "Install Lubuntu 18.10" on the desktop](https://pad.lv/1781309)
- [Calamares fails after external command (cannot remove non-existing file) in Lubuntu Cosmic](https://pad.lv/1780977)
- [Calamares fails after external command checking for UEFI mode in Lubuntu Cosmic](https://pad.lv/1780875)
- [Lubuntu 18.10 lxqt-panel - 2 Notifications on log-in: 2 shortcuts "cannot be registered"](https://pad.lv/1781511)
- [Calamares fails in UEFI mode after external command in Lubuntu Cosmic](https://pad.lv/1781015)
## Want to help?
@ -75,8 +127,18 @@ Here are the translators who have contributed so far:
- Marcin Mikołajczak (Polish)
- Tony Cuesta Escobar (Catalan)
This week we have added Norwegian Bokmål! Thanks to Einar Mostad for translating.
Thank you for your valuable contributions!
## Spanish group
We have [a Lubuntu Spanish Telegram group](https://t.me/lubuntues) that has as many members as [our (English) Development group](https://t.me/lubuntudevel) at the time of writing!
This is a general-purpose Spanish-only Lubuntu group for enthusiasts and contributors alike. Feel free to join!
Thanks to [Wolfenprey](https://twitter.com/Wolfen48K), the newly-appointed head of the Lubuntu Spanish Team, for driving this!
# Roadmap
You can find the Cosmic Cuttlefish release cycle [here](https://wiki.ubuntu.com/CosmicCuttlefish/ReleaseSchedule).
@ -95,10 +157,22 @@ Our artwork team is still working on Lenny, and we'll let you know when we have
This section is for highlighting exceptional Lubuntu coverage since the last issue.
## English
- [Lubuntu 18.10 May Support 32-Bit PCs If There's Demand, Here's How You Can Help](https://news.softpedia.com/news/lubuntu-18-10-may-support-32-bit-pcs-if-there-s-demand-here-s-how-you-can-help-521998.shtml)
- [Future Lubuntu Releases Won't Focus on Old PCs, Will Offer a Modular Linux OS](https://news.softpedia.com/news/future-lubuntu-releases-won-t-focus-on-old-pcs-will-offer-a-modular-linux-os-522141.shtml)
- [Ubuntu Linux-based Lubuntu no longer focusing on old hardware after move to LXQt](https://betanews.com/2018/07/30/ubuntu-linux-lubuntu-old-lxqt/)
- [Destination Linux EP81 - Canonical Fanboys (coverage starts at 26:24)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xlY0GQ-XvY)
## Spanish
- [Lubuntu cambia de rumbo: los “equipos obsoletos” ya no son el objetivo](https://www.muylinux.com/2018/07/30/lubuntu-cambia-rumbo/)
- [Lubuntu ya no será una distro para PCs antiguos](https://www.computekni.com/2018/08/lubuntu-ya-no-sera-una-distro-para-pcs.html)
Did you find any other exceptional stories about Lubuntu? [Let us know](https://lubuntu.me/links/) and we'll be happy to include them here.
# Contact us
Follow us on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/LubuntuOfficial) for the latest Lubuntu updates! We're working on having tweets automatically propogate to [our Mastodon account](https://mastodon.technology/@lubuntu) for people who prefer not to use Twitter.
Feel free to get in touch with us [here](https://lubuntu.me/links/) for support, and for press/marketing purposes or if you have a private inquiry, you can get in touch with Release Manager Simon Quigley [here](mailto:tsimonq2@lubuntu.me).
Simon Quigley
6 years ago