22 Aug 2010

Testing Upcoming Release of Ubuntu With TestDrive

Launchpad | GUI | Introducing | TestDrive Lucid |

One of the easiest ways to get involved with testing a new release of Ubuntu is to use TestDrive. TestDrive makes it very easy to download and run the latest daily Ubuntu development snapshot in a virtual machine (KVM, Virtualbox, etc.) without affecting the rest of your system.

Actually, TestDrive can be configured to download and run any URL-accessable ISO image in a virtual machine, although the primary goal is to provide feedback on the current Ubuntu release under development. Here is how to get going with TestDrive.

My Own Private Cloud - Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud

I am in the process of installing the Ubuntu Enterprise cloud using the Ubuntu server edition. I intend to use the cloud for developer services to see how feasible it is to make those services a real commodity.

For example, continuous integration is a service that is growing in use for software development and has on occasion peaks of very high load. Some of the load could be distributed to the cloud as a service, reducing the need for extra capacity internally (which would not be maximised) and turning that service into an operational cost rather than a capital cost.

Some useful links for configuring and using Ubuntu Enterprise cloud:

Thank you.
@jr0cket

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4 Aug 2010

agile

Lean or Agile - Understand and Use Both - Wisely

The term agile evolved to encapsulated the principles behind software development practices such as extreme programming, scrum and other iterative and incremental approaches.

Lean has been around a lot longer, (possibly a great deal longer - Chinese Emperors) but has infrequently seemed to gather momentum in software development until recent years.

On the surface that there is a great deal of commonality between the two approaches. For example with Agile, teams focus on doing enough work to get the job done whilst leaving options open, to help managing the inevitable change with less pain and risk (eg. failing early). This agile practice could be viewed as minimising waste, a lean concept, but do most agile teams have the opportunity to understand that they are minimising waste and the implications of doing so?

Gettng More Familiar With Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a way to use your computer (PC, Laptop, etc) to do all the common things you currently do with Windows or Mac but without the software licensing costs and restrictions. Ubuntu is free to use and has thousands software packages to choose from, however Ubuntu provides you with a good selection by default to get you started quickly (browser, office, music and photo managers, multimedia and games, etc).

Here are some ways to get more familiar with Ubuntu and make the most of community driven software.