Unity 5.6: What's new and a call for testing

We're getting closer! The unity design list has been ablaze with discussions on unity recently. It's been great to watch and read. With that in mind, the unity developers have pushed out another point release for us to preview and test. Here's what's new:

• A lot of bug fixes, especially in areas surrounding the HUD!
• Unity-2d now includes HUD.
• Compiz fixes -- including this awesome performance increase by Daniel https://bugs.launchpad.net/compiz-core/+bug/940139
• Keybinding shortcut changes -- there was noise about switching the keybindings for switching workspace ones and moving windows. This has been reverted to the previous values again

Installing
Prerequisites: Make sure you are running the latest version of precise, and all your packages are up to date. Unfortunately this cannot be installed on oneiric or any previous ubuntu release. 

1) Add the unity ppa (https://launchpad.net/~unity-team/+archive/ppa). You can do this by issuing the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:unity-team/ppa

2) Update apt and run a dist upgrade -- this should prompt you to upgrade unity and some indicators as well as install checkbox-unity.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

3) Restart your unity session by logging out and logging back in again.

Ok, hopefully the upgrade went smooth for you, but if not, head over to freenode #ubuntu-unity channel and let folks know what went wrong.

Testing
So, now that your up and running you can run the through the manual tests the unity team has prepared. Open the dash and type 'unity testing'. The Checkbox Unity Tests should launch. Checkbox will gather some information on your system and then ask you which tests you wish to run. Once complete you will see a link containing your system report and an option to publish it to launchpad. Use the text box below the link to enter your launchpad email address and then hit submit. This will ensure your results and feedback go to the unity developers.

Please ensure you have finished and submitted your testing results ASAP. As usual, the testing window will be closed at the end of this week in order to give the unity developers time to finish fixing the bugs found. Then Unity 5.6 will be pushed to precise.

Filing Bugs
Apport should automatically allow you to file crashes for any issues you find during testing. Please mention any bug reports you file in the comments of the failed tests. If you need to report a bug that didn't cause a crash, simply type 'ubuntu-bug unity' into a terminal window and follow the normal process.

Giving Feedback
If you'd like to give feedback on design for unity, Check out the awesome http://unity.ubuntu.com/getinvolved/ site. If your wanting to contribute code or patches, visit the folks on the #ubuntu-unity on freenode.

Getting Help
Don't hesitate to reach out to the wonderful folks on freenode @ #ubuntu-unity, the unity web site, the ubuntu+1 forums, or myself if you have questions. Thanks for helping test ubuntu!

Opportunity: Manual Application Testing for Precise Beta1

The precise beta1 release is happening this week (I know, I know beta already!). Despite my short tenure in the ubuntu QA community, we've already seen a huge increase in the amount of manual application testing. I thank everyone who helped test when I and others have put out calls for testing this cycle. As part of our desire to continually improve our processes, I'm am adopting the checkbox tool to help do manual testing for the beta1 and beta2 releases during the precise cycle.

For anyone who participated in the Unity testing, you will remember how much nicer it was to use checkbox to deliver the tests and be able to submit feedback directly from your desktop. Running these tests was a huge part getting Unity 5.2 and Unity 5.4 out in precise. Didrocks posted about the response and subsequent lessons learned. For beta1 and beta2, I'd like to move this method of testing onto the default desktop applications.

There are two opportunities here to get involved. First of all, if your interested in helping test our default desktop applications, you will be able to do so directly with checkbox in a similar vein as unity. I will post instructions on testing this week. It will require you to install from a ppa, but I hope to remove the requirement for beta2 :-)

Secondly, if your an application developer who wants to get some testing done you can contribute tests directly to my bazaar branch on launchpad. I've written up instructions for doing so on the wiki. Currently the following testcases are being targeted. If you responsible for any of these applications and haven't spoken to me, I'd love to talk to you about increasing test coverage!

firefox
rythmnbox
empathy
thunderbird
nautilus
libreoffice
software-center
system-settings
deja-dup
totem
evince
file-roller
gedit
eog
gwibber
seahorse
ubuntuone
update-manager
shotwell

If you are a passionate user of any of these applications (or any other applications), get in touch with me as well! You can help contribute tests even if your not capable of submitting a merge request via launchpad :-) EDIT: Since so many have asked, if you can't contribute by submitting a merge request, update the ubuntu testcase wiki and then send me an email.  You can find my address here on my launchpad profile. I will incorporate your tests into the tool. Read the guidelines on the format, and then add the testcase to the applications page. It's important to get the format right so doublecheck your work! That said, please try going through the normal route of writing a checkbox test if you can -- they are really easy to do!

In closing, I would like to thank everyone who helped rewrite testcases on the ubuntu testcase wiki. These testcases were used as a leg up on getting tests for these applications, and have us off to a good start on getting more testing coverage for ubuntu's default applications. I would also like to briefly mention the future of testing for next cycle. My goal is to gather feedback from doing manual testing this cycle with checkbox and use it to blueprint the tools and parameters for how we plan on testing during the Q cycle. I hope to have some sessions around testing during UDS, and look forward to hearing from you about your experiences!

Call for Testing: Wubi

As beta1 for precise draws closer and closer, it's time for testing some new stuff. On the docket is wubi, everyone's favorite way to get ubuntu without having to worry about disk partitioning or losing there current windows installation. Wubi was created out of a desire to lower the barrier of entry for newcomers to ubuntu. So, if you want to help create a wonderful experience for those new users, I would encourage you to help test wubi. The testing window for this goes through the weekend, as the first iso spins will be happening on Monday for iso testing :-)

Setup
Prerequisites: You will need access to a computer that has windows xp or higher installed on it. In addition, the computer will need at least 5 gb of free disk space. As always, make sure you have backups and can restore the computer if required.

1) Download a current daily image (http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/daily-live/current/). You can chose a 32-bit or 64-bit desktop cd.

2) Burn the iso you downloaded. If you need help burning the iso, check out this handy wiki article: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

3) Boot up the windows computer.

Testing
Once you have the cd and the windows computer is booted you can run through the testcases. For this round, we're focusing on 2 tests;  wdi-001 and wdi-002. Check out the wiki page and follow the instructions for each case. http://testcases.qa.ubuntu.com/Install/DesktopWubi
Once you've gone thru both testcases you should have a working ubuntu install alongside your windows installation.
Did everything work? Leave me a comment below and let me know about it. Failed? Check out how to file a bug below.

Filing Bugs
Please file bugs against the wubi package in launchpad (https://bugs.launchpad.net/wubi/+filebug). When filing, please make sure to tag your bug 'beta1'.

Giving Feedback
If you'd like to give feedback, comments or even patches, get in touch with the team on launchpad at https://launchpad.net/wubi.

Getting Help
Don't hesitate to reach out to the wonderful folks on launchpad on the wubi team, the ubuntu+1 forums, or myself if you have questions. Thanks for helping test ubuntu!

How do I use Unity?

I know I use unity to launch applications and run a search thru an occasional lense, but I wasn't sure how else I might be using my ubuntu desktop. To solve my curiosity, I decided to watch my mouse movements and find out how I interact with the unity desktop. Does it help or hinder my workflow, etc. Check out the results below. The answer about which piece of unity I was using the most surprised me a bit. Looks like I <3 my indicators.  The first picture show both my desktops, with no background. In the second, I only show my left monitor with a background snapshot to show you where I was clicking and hovering in more detail in regards to unity itself :-)

To explain the picture a bit, the circles represent where my cursor stopped or rested, while the lines are my movements. You can see I am using the indicators often over the course of this hour. What I was actually doing (besides playing with this tool) was having a video meeting, writing some emails, browsing the web and a hacking around in a terminal session. This is pretty typical hour for me. If you want to make your own graph of your mouse usage habits, check out IOGraphica and share your own discovery about your unity habits.

Call for testing: Upstart 1.4

The upstart team has a new version of upstart that is pending for precise, and would like some feedback on it. The timeline on this is very short (ending Feb 15th), but the team would appreciate any testing that is completed. The shiny new stuff in this release includes:

• You can specify the user and group a job runs as using 'setuid' and 'setgid'
• Logging of job output for system jobs
• This is the first time upstart is writing out anything to a log file!
• '--no-log' (disable logging entirely) 
• '--logdir=DIR' (specify alternate log directory) 
• '--default-console=VALUE' (specify default value for 'console' stanza). 

Installing
Prerequisites: Make sure you are running the latest version of precise, and all your packages are up to date. Unfortunately this cannot be installed on oneiric or any previous ubuntu release. You should feel comfortable recovering your system using a live-cd if necessary -- this may cause you not to be able to boot!

1) Add the upstart ppa (https://launchpad.net/~jamesodhunt/+archive/upstart-job-logging). You can do this by issuing the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jamesodhunt/upstart-job-logging

2) Update apt and run a dist upgrade -- this should prompt you to upgrade upstart

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

3) Restart your computer

Testing
No matter what sort of hardware (real or virtual) the upstart team would appreciate your testing. In particular, testing is valuable on systems that are in active use, as they are likely to have the most modifications and requirements placed upon the software.

Does your system still boot properly after installing the package?

ls /var/log/upstart

Is /var/log/upstart directory is populated with logfiles?

Filing Bugs
Found a bug? Before filing, please edit your boot options to add '--no-log', then file a bug at (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/upstart/+filebug).  Be sure to mention in your bug report that you were testing this version from the ppa, and tag it as 'upstart-1.4'.

Giving Feedback
If you'd like to give feedback on upstart check out the upstart mailing list and post a message. In addition, the team would love to hear from you via launchpad.

Getting Help
Don't hesitate to reach out to the wonderful folks on freenode @ #upstart, the ubuntu+1 forums, or myself if you have questions. Thanks for helping test ubuntu!

Unity 5.4: What's new and a call for testing

Another couple weeks, and another Unity point release. The unity developers have been doing a great job of shipping us updates to try out on a regular cycle. Kudos to them. This means you and I get to preview the coming attractions and help test.
Unity 5.4 sees the reunion of HUD and unity again. This means HUD is going to be getting exposed to everyone running precise after this round of testing. You'll also happily notice the HUD has a much more appealing theme and set of testcases!


Installing
Prerequisites: Make sure you are running the latest version of precise, and all your packages are up to date. Unfortunately this cannot be installed on oneiric or any previous ubuntu release. 

1) Add the unity ppa (https://launchpad.net/~unity-team/+archive/ppa). You can do this by issuing the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:unity-team/ppa

2) Update apt and run a dist upgrade -- this should prompt you to upgrade unity and some indicators as well as install checkbox-unity.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

3) Restart your unity session by logging out and logging back in again.

Ok, hopefully the upgrade went smooth for you, but if not, head over to freenode #ubuntu-unity channel and let folks know what went wrong.

Testing
So, now that your up and running you can run the through the manual tests the unity team has prepared. Open the dash and type 'unity testing'. The Checkbox Unity Tests should launch. Checkbox will gather some information on your system and then ask you which tests you wish to run. Once complete you will see a link containing your system report and an option to publish it to launchpad. Use the text box below the link to enter your launchpad email address and then hit submit. This will ensure your results and feedback go to the unity developers.

Please ensure you have finished and submitted your testing results ASAP. As usual, the testing window will be closed this Thursday at 8am UTC, in order to give the unity developers time to finish fixing the bugs found. Then Unity 5.4 will be pushed to precise.

Filing Bugs
Please file bugs against unity package in launchpad (https://bugs.launchpad.net/unity/+filebug). When filing, please make sure to tag your bug '5.4-rc1' and mention your running Unity 5.4-rc1 in your description.

Giving Feedback
If you'd like to give feedback on design for unity, Check out the awesome http://unity.ubuntu.com/getinvolved/ site. If your wanting to contribute code or patches, visit the folks on the #ubuntu-unity on freenode.

Getting Help
Don't hesitate to reach out to the wonderful folks on freenode @ #ubuntu-unity, the unity web site, the ubuntu+1 forums, or myself if you have questions. Thanks for helping test ubuntu!

Call for Testing: Clickpad

EDIT: This post continues to get hits after 12.04 has been released. The functionality below ships with 12.04. However, if your looking to enable the right click button for your trackpad, see the wiki entry here. You do not need to install the ppa listed below any longer.

"Clickpad" devices are becoming more and more popular. A "clickpad" is a touchpad with buttons integrated into the touch surface. This includes many variations of Synaptics trackpads and all the multitouch Apple trackpads.

This ppa adds support for these devices, and supports the ability to do zone-based right clicking as well as 2 finger operations, such as a click and drag.
The timeframe for testing this PPA is until February 17th.

Installing

Please ensure you are comfortable with recovering your system using only the keyboard if necessary before continuing!

Prerequisites: Make sure you are running the latest version of precise, and all your packages are up to date. Unfortunately this cannot be installed on oneiric or any previous ubuntu release.

1) Add the clickpad ppa (https://launchpad.net/~chasedouglas/+archive/clickpad). You can do this by issuing the following command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chasedouglas/clickpad

2) Update apt and run a dist upgrade -- this should prompt you to upgrade xserver-xorg-input-synaptics.

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

3) Logout of your current session, and log in again for the changes to take effect.

4) Does your clickpad device work? If so, you can skip step 4. At the moment, many clickpad devices are not automatically recognized by the kernel. There is upstream kernel work going on that should alleviate this problem in the final precise kernel. In the meantime, you can force your device to operate in clickpad mode for this testing.

a) Obtain your device id by running xinput. You will see a listing similar to this -- pick out the id of your clickpad. In my case, the id is 10, the SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad.

nskaggs@permacultured:~$ xinput
⎡ Virtual core pointer                     id=2 [master pointer  (3)]
⎜   ↳ Virtual core XTEST pointer               id=4 [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎜   ↳ SynPS/2 Synaptics TouchPad               id=10 [slave  pointer  (2)]
⎣ Virtual core keyboard                   id=3 [master keyboard (2)]
    ↳ Virtual core XTEST keyboard             id=5 [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                             id=6 [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Power Button                             id=7 [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ Sleep Button                             id=8 [slave  keyboard (3)]
    ↳ AT Translated Set 2 keyboard             id=9 [slave  keyboard (3)]

b) Execute the following commands to download a script to force your device to be a clickpad:

wget http://people.canonical.com/~cndougla/enable-clickpad.sh
chmod a+x enable-clickpad.sh

c) Execute the script

./enable-clickpad.sh <device name|device id>

5) Optionally, you can also turn the lower right corner of the clickpad into a right button zone. This zone will allow you to click using one finger on the right lower corner of the touchpad and have the click register as a right click instead of a left click. "Two finger tapping" for right click hasn't changed by using this driver.

a) Execute the following commands to download a script to create a rightclick zone.

wget http://people.canonical.com/~cndougla/enable-rightbutton.sh
chmod a+x enable-rightbutton.sh

b) Execute the script

./enable-rightbutton.sh <device name|device id>

Ok, hopefully the upgrade went smooth for you, but if not, You may need to recover your system using ppa-purge and then file a bug on what went wrong.

Testing
Use your trackpad as normal. Are there any issues?
Attempt a click-and-drag with separate fingers. Did it work?
If you enable the right button zone, does a button press in the lower right corner cause a right click?
Does the trackpad behave as you would expect?

Filing Bugs
Please file bugs against xserver-xorg-input-synaptics package in launchpad (https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xserver-xorg-input-synaptics/+filebug).

Make sure when filing to tag it "clickpad", and mention you are testing from the test clickpad ppa. This will make sure your issue is seen by the developers and they will know it is in relation to this new package.

Giving Feedback
Send your comments and questions to the ubuntu-x mailing list with the subject "Re: CFT ClickPad Support". Don't worry if your not subscribed to the list; emails will be accepted from unsubscribed participants. In addition, you can chat on IRC by visiting the #ubuntu-x channel on freenode.

Getting Help
Don't hesitate to reach out to the wonderful folks on freenode @ #ubuntu-x, the ubuntu-x mailing list, the ubuntu+1 forums, or myself if you have questions. Thanks for helping test ubuntu!