OStatic

People attending day three of Ubuntu Open Week were treated to a full day of of some of the most diverse sessions yet. From a Q & A session featuring Community Manager Jono Bacon, to a look at how to produce podcasts in Ubuntu, there were all sorts of cool things to learn about during the course of another busy day at the online conference.

Cody Somerville ran a session on Xubuntu that covered the official Ubuntu derivative in detail. "As an official derivative, Xubuntu uses the same archive as Ubuntu does offering you all the same packages," says Somerville. "The difference between Xubuntu and Ubuntu is the set of packages that are installed by default. Xubuntu uses the Xfce4 desktop environment which prides its self on being light weight and fast while remaining user friendly."

When asked what the difference is between the Xubuntu and the other Ubuntu;s other lightweight derivative Fluxbuntu, Somerville says each are targeted at a different audience and do different things. He considers Xubuntu a "happy medium" between Fluxbuntu and Ubuntu. "I think you'll find that Xubuntu is fast, sharp, responsive -- it provides a good desktop to get work done in," he says.

Jono Bacon fielded questions from community members on everything from how many people use the various iterations of Ubuntu ("it's impossibly difficult to tell") to details about the Community Council ("the highest governing body in the Ubuntu community"). Many of the questions centered around the growth of the community which Jono says "will grow in tandem with the user base - the user base is the community to a large degree, and we need to ensure that our community scales and accomodates this new growth."

Other sessions included an overview of KDE 4, a look at Ubuntu artwork, and how to package Firefox extensions. The day came to a close with a presentation by Alan Pope about producing podcasts in Ubuntu. He covered -- in amazing detail -- the entire process of creating a podcast, from conception and preparation all the way through to encoding and publishing. Pope wrapped up the session by letting attendees know that he and his colleagues are "more than happy to help any other ubuntu people to setup their own podcasts."

Tomorrow's sessions promise more, with an overview of how to get involved in Ubuntu projects followed by additional presentations that will last throughout the day.

• ubuntu
• xubuntu
• KDE 4
• podcasts
• jono bacon