The good and bad news about Dell and Ubuntu

Image via CrunchBaseBy Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Editorial by The Computer Doctor

A friend of mine recently got a surprise. She was setting up her brand new Dell Inspiron m101z with its dual-core AMD Athlon processor, 4GB RAM and Windows 7 Home Premium. She wasn't happy because it was already slower than her ancient XP Pentium M machine. Out of the blue, she got an Ubuntu Light v1.0 Setup window. What the heck?

She was puzzled, but since she's technically savvy, she quickly figured it out. Besides, she was pretty sure that Dell technical support was wrong when they first told her that "Ubuntu Light is the software for setting up themes on the system." Ah, no, it's not. Dell is now shipping Ubuntu Light as an instant-on operating system on some of its Dell laptops.

Ubuntu Light is a simplified version of Ubuntu that's for original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) only and uses the Unity interface. It's designed to boot up in as little as eight seconds on PCs with a solid state disk drive (SSD) or 15 seconds on a device with a hard disk drive. It can also access the data on the Windows part of the drive and can be enabled or disabled from the Windows 7 Control Panel.

In short, from a Windows user's viewpoint, Ubuntu Light is a feature. Worse than Dell not advertising Ubuntu Light, they're not even telling their internal staff about it. My friend knew on seeing the Ubuntu Light setup windows appear knew what Ubuntu was, and she had some idea what it would be good for. Most users would find it puzzling at best.

I asked Dell about it, and they never did get back to me. Come on, Dell — if you're going to ship Ubuntu on a Windows 7 notebook, tell people about it already. It might get you a few new customers who, even if they don't know Linux from a llama, like the idea of a fast-on operating system for Web browsing.

That's not my only problem with Dell. A friend asked me about buying a laptop with at least a 15" screen and Ubuntu pre-installed on it. Before I told him where to shop, I checked out the usual suspects: Dell, system76, and ZaReason. They all offer excellent PCs and laptops with pre-installed Ubuntu.

Then I looked a little closer at Dell's offering, the Inspiron 15N. It's a fine laptop for $624 — but what's this? The Inspiron 15 with Windows 7 Home Premium for $399? A closer look showed me that it had only 2GB of RAM instead of the 15N's 4, but when I added in two more GB of RAM, my bill still only came to $489.

What's the idea, Dell? The Windows machine is a much better deal. Or it was, anyway; even as I am writing this blog, I see that the Windows Inspiron 15 is no longer available for order online. I suspect it's sold out.

It's great that Dell sells PCs and laptops with Ubuntu already on them, but how about giving Ubuntu a fair shake? Let people know that it comes ready to use as an alternative operating system on at least one of your Windows 7 laptops, and make the Ubuntu-only systems' pricing to those that come with Windows. Both moves will help Dell's sales, and in the latter's case, it will also help their bottom line, since they don't pay Canonical as much as they do Microsoft for the operating system.

**** EDITORIAL ****
Steven, I loved your article and could not agree with your overtones of frustration with Dell more, but you are not comparing apples to apples (no reference to Macintosh intended).

No mainstream OEM PC retailer makes any money off of it's hardware. In fact to keep the cost of PC's down they actually loose money on the hardware and offer the bare minimum customer service to the point of near non-existence. How do they make money then? The Operating System vendors offer rebates and kickbacks (known in a more honest time as bribes) to the OEM manufacturers.

Use the following formula M+(OS-B)=P.

If the cost of making your PC is $800 and a OEM wholesale version of Windows 7 cost $200 and they give a rebate of $400 then you get a final price of $600.

On the other hand If the cost of making your PC is $800 and the cost of Ubuntu is $0 and the the Ubuntu rebate is $0 then your final price is $800 but to make the price any lower then your Manufacturer will have to take a hit or dip into the profit margin of their mainstream machines.

Is this fair? Of course not (they call that a rhetorical question). But to the savy consumer, why not buy your lower priced Windows machine, Dual boot Ubuntu and run the risk of possibly voiding the warranty that you probably won't need and if you do will have a major pain in the rear using and thank Microsoft for having enough market share to donate some money towards getting you that lower priced machine?

Related articles

• Ubuntu Light .iso available to download from Dell support site (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• Dell likely first to deliver Ubuntu Light netbooks (electronista.com)

Slew of New Business Tools Coming to Ubuntu

By Katherine Noyes, PCWorld

If you use Ubuntu in your company, you're already familiar with its many advantages for businesses. But guess what? You ain't seen nothin' yet, as they say.

Particularly in the wake of the release last month of Canonical's user-friendly Ubuntu 10.10, or Maverick Meerkat, partners have been virtually lining up outside the company's door to help deliver business tools with high-level commercial support.

Boxed Ice, Opsview, Riptano, Unoware, Vladster, Wavemaker, and Zend all joined as Canonical Software Partners in the last few weeks, for example, and will work closely with the development teams that deliver Ubuntu to ensure that installation and operation are of the highest quality.

Then, too, there's Centrify, which has partnered with Canonical to provide security and compliance solutions for Ubuntu enterprise deployments; together, the companies are sponsoring an upcoming webcast, "Ubuntu for the Enterprise: Five Steps to Ensure Successful Adoption."

All in all, it‘s great news for business users of the world's most popular Linux distribution.

"In the past year, we've seen an increase in partners joining our ecosystem, an indication of Ubuntu's worldwide acceptance and growing use in the enterprise," said Matt Asay, COO of Canonical. "We welcome our newest partners and encourage our customers to take advantage of all that they offer."

Linux-Focused Business Tools

So what do these newest partners offer? Here's a quick summary:

* Boxed Ice's Server Density is a server monitoring tool provided as a service that makes it easy to monitor server performance and applications such as Apache and MySQL. E-mail, SMS and iPhone alerts offer notification when things go wrong, and the tool also helps users troubleshoot historical problems and plan future capacity.

* Opsview offers a commercially supported open source solution that delivers business-powered monitoring without the complexity or expense of proprietary software. Among the tool's benefits are a single console for managing and monitoring distributed deployments and a comprehensive view of your physical, virtualized and hybrid cloud infrastructure.

* Riptano's Cassandra is a scalable, high-performance database for online transactions that offers geographic distribution of data across multiple data centers and linear, incremental scalability. Resources can also be added on an as-needed basis.

* Unoware provides enterprise-level business and IT solutions that implement the best standards for SOA, BPM and EAM. They can run entirely on Linux platforms such as Ubuntu Server.

* Vladster delivers Point of Sale and inventory management solutions for small and medium-sized businesses. Its open source IncoPOS, for example, includes a variety of powerful non-free add-ons for easy data visualization and smooth interaction with other management systems.

* WaveMaker software is an open and easy-to-use Web and cloud development platform with visual, drag-and-drop tools that "flatten the Java learning curve" by 92 percent and create standard Java applications with 98 percent less code, the company says. WaveMaker applications are cloud-ready and include built-in support for multi-tenancy and elastic scaling.

* Zend Technologies provides products and services for developing, deploying and managing business-critical PHP applications. Zend products are deployed at more than 30,000 companies worldwide, it says.

* Centrify focuses on securing and auditing access to cross-platform systems and applications through Active Directory. As of last week, Canonical has certified and is distributing Centrify's free Active Directory integration solution, Centrify Express, through its Ubuntu Software Partner Repository. By using Centrify Express, IT professionals can quickly and easily integrate Ubuntu 10.04 LTS or Ubuntu 10.10 servers and desktops into Microsoft Active Directory for centralized authentication and single sign-on.

A Free Webinar for Businesses

Last but not least, Centrify and Canonical's free webinar on Ubuntu in the enterprise will demonstrate how organizations are enabling the broader deployment of Ubuntu by integrating it into their existing Active Directory infrastructure and management processes. The webinar will take place on Dec. 2; registration is now open.

Bottom line from all this? With each passing day, Ubuntu is getting better, not just for consumers but for businesses too. With this ever-increasing list of compelling business advantages, when will you break down and take Linux for a test drive?

Related articles

• Linux on the Cloud: The Ubuntu Way (itexpertvoice.com)
• Convirture and Canonical to Team Up to Provide Virtual Machine and Private Cloud Management (prweb.com)
• Centrify Offers Free Access to Active Directory Authentication for Macs (themactrack.com)

Ubuntu to drop X Server for Wayland

By The Computer Doctor


I didn't see this coming: Mark Shuttleworth, founder of Ubuntu backer Canonical, has announced that somewhere down the road, Ubuntu will be switching Ubuntu's base graphics system from the venerable X Windows System to Wayland.

In his blog posting, Shuttleworth wrote: "The next major transition for Unity [Ubuntu's new GNOME-based desktop interface that will be introduced in the next Ubuntu release] will be to deliver it on Wayland, the OpenGL-based display management system. We'd like to embrace Wayland early, as much of the work we're doing on uTouch and other input systems will be relevant for Wayland and it's an area we can make a useful contribution to the project."

That's pretty gutsy. The X Window System, which is the networking windowing system that provides the foundation for almost all Unix and Linux desktops, has been too slow for ages. But no one as big as an Ubuntu has ever said that they were willing to replace X with another windowing system.

Wayland is not an X server nor is it an X Server fork, as has sometimes been said. As the Wayland FAQ states, "It's a minimal server that lets clients communicate GEM (Graphics Execution Manager) buffers and information about updates to those buffers to a compositor. To do this, it uses OpenGL, a high-performance, cross-language, cross-platform graphics applications programming interface (API). Wayland also doesn't require new drivers; it builds on the existing Linux graphics APIs and drivers.

Couldn't Canonical just use X? Shuttleworth admitted they could have, but "We don't believe X is setup to deliver the user experience we want, with super-smooth graphics and effects. I understand that it's *possible* to get amazing results with X, but it's extremely hard, and isn't going to get easier. Some of the core goals of X make it harder to achieve these user experiences on X than on native GL, we're choosing to prioritize the quality of experience over those original values, like network transparency."

You won't need to give up X-based applications though to use Wayland. Shuttleworth also said, "We're confident we'll be able to retain the ability to run X applications in a compatibility mode, so this is not a transition that needs to reset the world of desktop free software. Nor is it a transition everyone needs to make at the same time: for the same reason we'll keep investing in the 2D experience on Ubuntu despite also believing that Unity, with all its GL dependencies, is the best interface for the desktop. We'll help GNOME and KDE with the transition, there's no reason for them not to be there on day one either."

Whether KDE or GNOME will want to join is a still unanswered question. Some users have other concerns.

Shuttleworth concluded, "In general, this will all be fine - actually *great* - for folks who have good open source drivers for their graphics hardware. Wayland depends on things they are all moving to support: kernel modesetting, gem buffers and so on. The requirement of EGL is new but consistent with industry standards from Khronos - both GLES (Graphics Layout Engine) and GL will be supported. We'd like to hear from vendors for whom this would be problematic, but hope it provides yet another (and perhaps definitive) motive to move to open source drivers for all Linux work."

Wayland implements a protocol that allows clients – applications – to communicate with a compositor which, in turn, addresses the hardware via the kernel. The compositor's task is to pass keyboard, mouse, touch screen or similar events, to the addressed clients. The clients update their own windows and only inform the compositor that a window area has changed. The compositor will then render the change on screen – and handle such transformations as the resizing or rotating of a window.

Wayland dispenses with many legacies of the X Window system, which is 25 years old – including the long disused X primitives for drawing lines and patterns, functions for handling fonts and colour tables, and network transparency. Current X Window toolkits can be ported to Wayland – a Qt port is already in development. X11 applications can be used with Wayland if the X Server acts as a Wayland client, uses the Wayland input devices and renders its root window or individual X11 windows via Wayland. Apparently, only relatively few changes are required to enable this functionality.

Wayland was started by Red Hat developer Kristian Høgsberg in 2008. Project development is now coordinated by Freedesktop.org.

Related articles

• Unity to embrace Wayland Display Server (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• Is Shuttleworth Crazy, Brave, or Smart? (ostatic.com)
• NVIDIA have 'no plans to support Wayland' (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• Links 27/10/2010: Unity Debate Carries on, Fedora 14 Goes Gold, Qt Goes Modular, Community Goes Away From Oracle (techrights.org)
• Compiz to be Rewritten for Ubuntu Wayland (ostatic.com)

Ubuntu splits from GNOME GUI

By Larry Dignan
Editor in Chief of ZDNet and SmartPlanet as well as Editorial Director of ZDNet's sister site TechRepublic.

Canonical’s Mark Shuttleworth on Monday detailed how Ubuntu will split from the GNOME user interface for Unity, which is its netbook approach. Simply put, Ubuntu will have a custom user interface.

The reaction to various press reports from Computerworld, Ars Technica and others has gone to extremes:

• First, Canonical could be portrayed as evil because it’s flipping its middle finger to the open source community.
• Others say that GNOME was hard to work with.
• And then you get your Unity sniping.

Don’t expect much unity in the open source community over Ubuntu’s very significant change.

The reality: If Ubuntu really wants to be a player on the desktop it will have to have more control over its user interface. Meanwhile, it makes no sense to have a UI for netbooks and PCs. In fact, the UI is everything. And as Apple has shown you can’t really do interface by committee.

Now Shuttleworth acknowledged Ubuntu has a lot of work to do. Ubuntu OS needs to rethink everything from windows management to what the interface should look like. Ubuntu’s decision to go to a UI over GNOME (GNU Network Object Modeling Environment) is risky. However, if you can take a shot at broader adoption you do it. The Ubuntu interface (right) isn’t going to get the masses excited.

In other words, this split from GNOME looks like a solid decision to me. Dell is selling Ubuntu laptops and if Ubuntu wants other PC makers to follow it needs a hot interface. Let’s face it: If the best thing Ubuntu can do is mimic the interface of Windows it will never get beyond the enthusiasts. Show us something innovative via the Unity pragmatism and maybe you’ll sway others to Ubuntu.

Related articles

• Ubuntu's Netbook Edition: Now With More "Unity"! (makeuseof.com)
• Ubuntu 10.10 Maverick Meerkat Review | 10 Types Of People (10people.co.uk)
• Ubuntu Switches To Unity (lockergnome.com)
• Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal - Unity replaces Gnome as default shell (downloadsquad.com)

Has Dell Dropped Ubuntu Linux?

Image via WikipediaBy: David Murphy

Has Dell dropped Ubuntu Linux as an operating system selection for its panoply of PCs? Yes… and no. PC Pro is reporting that one can no longer pick up consumer PCs preloaded with the popular Linux distribution, but that's only if one's trying to order online.

PC Pro goes on to quote a company spokesperson: "We've recently made an effort to simplify our offerings online, by focusing on our most popular bundles and configuration options, based on customer feedback for reduced complexity and a simple, easy purchase experience. We're also making some changes to our Ubuntu pages, and as a result, they are currently available through our phone-based sales only."

However, the same spokesperson—in an interview with PC Pro—went on to suggest that a majority of Dell's sales go toward consumer PCs laden with Microsoft's Windows operating system. Ubuntu systems tend to shop out to, "advanced users and enthusiasts," a sentiment that's reflected in Dell's own on-side material about Linux.

On the company's "Windows or Ubuntu?" page, Dell states that the former is the better choice of an OS for those that are already familiar with Windows programs or, conversely, for those completely new to the world of computing in general. Ubuntu, on the other hand, should be reserved for those that, "do not plan to use Microsoft WINDOWS," or those who are, "interested in open source programming."

The caveat, however, is that this material—as well as the lack of online Ubuntu options—seems to be limited to the European Dell hub. The standard dell.com domain still features a "Top Ten" list of facts to know for consumers interested in an Ubuntu system, as well as purchasing links to both an Ubuntu-backed Dell Mini 10n notebook and a Dell Inspiron 15n notebook.

That said, Slashdot commenter "Nimey" points to a key visual indicator that Dell's Ubuntu support, in general, might be waning.

"They don't offer any with 10.04, and two of the four models they offer still have 9.04," Nimey writes. "Doesn't seem like they're too keen on it."

According to Canonical, Ubuntu's primary commercial sponsor, the Linux distribution is currently used by more than 12 million individuals. Data taken by the site Distrowatch—which has been tracking the popularity of hundreds of Linux distributions since its inception in 2001—ranks Ubuntu as the most popular distribution based on an analysis of hits to the site's official "Ubuntu" section.

Related articles

• Linux tablet runs Windows and Mac OS X, too (linuxfordevices.com)
• Daily 5: Five ways to help spread Ubuntu (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• Is Dell Giving Up on Linux? (trustedreviews.com)
• Is Dell Wavering In Its Support For Ubuntu? (ostatic.com)

Replace OpenOffice.org With The Zoho Webservice Suite In Ubuntu 10.04

by Asian Angel (firefox_fangirl)

If you have already installed (or are thinking about installing) Ubuntu 10.04 on your computer then I have something great to show you here. By default OpenOffice.org is included with Ubuntu but it can be a little slow or clunky sometimes. That is where the Zoho Webservice Suite comes in…it is gentle on your system’s resources and great to use.

Know what else is great about it? You do not even have to have a Zoho account or log in to Zoho to use it! ^__^ If you are really wanting a terrific alternative to OpenOffice.org then keep reading! ~__^

Adding the Zoho Webservice Suite to Ubuntu

To get things started go to the “Applications Menu” and select “Ubuntu Software Center”.



When the “Ubuntu Software Center Window” opens enter “Zoho” as a search term to quickly find the three “Zoho Suite” components. On my system I started with installing the “Webservice Spreadsheet” component.



Once you click on “Install” you will have to enter your password before you can proceed with adding all three components to your system.



Once you start the installation process all three components will install together without any further prompts.



When you look at the “Office Sub-menu” you will be able to see all of that Zoho goodness nicely tucked in at the bottom of the menu.

Note: The Zoho Webservices will open up in your system’s default browser.



A Good Look at the Word Processor, Presentation, & Spreadsheet Components

When you create a new document you will have a nice clean looking setup to work with….zero clutter on the sides and everything that you need at the top.



Here is a closer look at both sides of the toolbar shown above…

To give you an idea of just how nice the Zoho Webservices can be here is a quick look at the “ribbon-style toolbar sections” for the Word Processor. You can access each portion either through a drop-down menu or by bringing that “section” forward. There are plenty of tools available to create and/or edit documents on your system.


Adding an image to the example document that I created was extremely easy.



You can create beautiful documents in just a few minutes.



Ready for the Presentation Component? You will find most of the tools are located in the sidebar on the right side. Notice the “tabbed interface” at the top and the “collapsible sections” at the bottom. Looks like a great presentation just waiting to happen.



A nice start on a new presentation…



The Spreadsheet Component has the simplest toolbar layout of the three but is still ready to help you get your work done.



I had all three running at the same time in Firefox…you literally turn your default browser into an “instant office suite”.

Note: It is possible to run multiples of the same type at one time (i.e. word document, etc.).



Saving and Reopening Files

To save your documents after working on them you will need to export them. Each of the Zoho Webservice components has an “Export Drop-Down Menu” that lets you choose the format that you wish to save your documents in. When you export your documents it goes through the same process as downloading a file. The choices available for the Word Processor…

Note: For each of the documents shown here I chose Microsoft formats.



The formats available to save your presentations in…



And finally the formats available for spreadsheets.



There are the three example documents saved to the hard-drive and ready for use later.



Opening up and editing existing documents on your hard-drive is extremely easy to do. Just right click on them and select the “Open with Zoho Webservice option” that matches the document type.



If you have been wanting a good alternative to OpenOffice.org on your Ubuntu 10.04 system then I think that you will be really pleased with the Zoho Webservice Suite. I know that I am. ~__^

Note: For anyone wanting to add the Zoho Webservice Suite to an older version of Ubuntu visit the Official Homepage for details.

New To Ubuntu Or Just New To 10.04

Image by [- Benja -] via Flickr

Many of my readers often comment to me that Linux is just too hard to bother with, but more often than not that really means that it's a little bit scary.

I'm going to share a secret with you... once upon a time I was a little scared too. I've been working on PC's since 1983 and all I ever knew was the Microsoft way. It's time to change some thinking. When you bought your PC you bought two things. First you bought some hardware (PC case, hard drive, CD/DVD drive, power supply, ethernet card, ect.) and Secondly you bought an operating system (Microsoft Windows, or Macintosh OSX, or something similar). The hardware has basic rules of functionality like how many partitions can be created on the hard drive, how much memory can be installed, what speed can the processor safely run at. The operating system has rule on how it functions and how it will let the hardware function. There is no rule that states that the computer you bought must remain exactly the same as the day you purchased it (besides the rules governing the warranty).

The question really is, if all you know is all you know then how do you learn something new? One of the easiest ways to learn some of the Linux distributions is to use a live CD. This is a CD that has the basic operating system and it can run off of the CD (albeit a lot slower than on a hard drive) and you can see how things work without worrying about bonking your hard drive.

My first Linux OS was using a Knoppix live CD in German as a Pre-Install environment for Windows XP to repair something. I didn't even know I was using Linux and it was so intuitive that I was able to use the functionality without even having the benefit of my native language.
My second Linux OS was Mepis which I loved for about a year, but I moved to Ubuntu for a larger support community (let the hate mail flow).

I used the basics of Ubuntu for almost a year before I found the Ubuntu Pocket Guide which was a free guide based on Ubuntu 8.04. In addition to that guide I would suggest new users to check out the Ubuntu Users Manual for 10.04 and take a look at their free users manual.

Use these manuals to get your feet wet and then you can check out user forums for specific questions and answers to help you go further than these manuals will take you.

Related articles

• Free Getting Started with Ubuntu [Ebook] (lifehacker.com)
• Free Getting Started with Ubuntu Manual Helps Out Linux Rookies [Ebook] (lifehacker.com)
• Ubuntu 10.04 Manual Released (techie-buzz.com)
• Press reaction to Ubuntu 10.04 (omgubuntu.co.uk)

Move Window Buttons Back to the Right in Ubuntu 10.04

One of the changes in the Ubuntu 10.04 that has annoyed me the most is the Mac OS-inspired change to have window buttons on the left side. I didn't spend my whole life using Windows and now Ubuntu to start pretending that I like anything about Macintosh!!! In this article I'll show you how to move the buttons back to the right.

As of the final release of Ubuntu 10.04 the maximize, minimize, and close buttons appear in the top left of a window.

How to move the window buttons

The window button locations are dictated by a configuration file. We’ll use the graphical program gconf-editor to change this configuration file.

Press Alt+F2 to bring up the Run Application dialog box, enter “gconf-editor” in the text field, and click on Run.

The Configuration Editor should pop up.

The key that we want to edit is in apps/metacity/general.

Click on the + button next to the “apps” folder, then beside “metacity” in the list of folders expanded for apps, and then click on the “general” folder.

The button layout can be changed by changing the “button_layout” key. Double-click button_layout to edit it.

Change the text in the Value text field to:

menu:maximize,minimize,close

Click OK and the change will occur immediately, changing the location of the window buttons in the Configuration Editor.

Note that this ordering of the window buttons is slightly different than the typical order; in previous versions of Ubuntu and in Windows, the minimize button is to the left of the maximize button.

You can change the button_layout string to reflect that ordering, but using the default Ubuntu 10.04 theme, it looks a bit strange.

If you plan to change the theme, or even just the graphics used for the window buttons, then this ordering may be more natural to you.

After

After this change, all of your windows will have the maximize, minimize, and close buttons on the right.

Now that we have this annoyance fixed, what do you think over all of the new Ubuntu 10.04 look and feel?

Ubuntu 10.04 hit by major bug on release day

Image by [phil h] via Flickr

by Erez Zukerman

It's the end of April. Spring is here, and so is Ubuntu 10.04. Or at least, that's the plan. Canonical's rigid release schedule is awesome for many reasons -- one of which is the amount of excitement it generates around each new Ubuntu release. However, I don't think this is the kind of excitement Mr. Shuttleworth had in mind when the "fixed schedule" policy was set.

As it turns out, after the final release ISOs were already created (or "spun" in Ubuntu geek-speak), a critical bug came up; and no, I don't mean something like "OMG, we put the window buttons on the wrong side!". I mean something like "once you install Ubuntu, you will not be able to boot your other operating system." Oops. It doesn't kill the other OS, and it's fixable when it happens (it's a problem with the GRUB2 bootloader configuration), but it's certainly not something you want to have happen to people just trying out your OS (or even upgrading from previous versions).

Granted -- it doesn't happen with each and every installation, but it can happen. The Ubuntu team considered a quick-fix, but eventually went for the more responsible (and safer, in terms of PR) option of re-spinning the ISOs. However, re-spinning all ISOs would push the release into May, which would be a PR flop in itself. So they're just re-spinning some of the most popular ones, like the x86 and x64 desktop releases, as well as the Netbook remix. Exciting stuff!

The Fix
The partition(s) of the other operating system(s) are not being destroyed and the menu entries for GRUB can be re-generated using update-grub.

Related articles

• Jono Bacon: Let's Make Ubuntu a Trending Topic (jonobacon.org)
• Announcing the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (fridge.ubuntu.com)
• new Ubuntu 10.04 Items now available In the Ubuntu Store (omgubuntu.co.uk)
• 5 ways to celebrate Ubuntu 10.04's release (omgubuntu.co.uk)