During my 8 years of Linux on and off usage I have tried more distros than I have chocolate bars. Each one of my previous encounters meant that I had to spend at least 2 days configuring before I have a desktop that I was somewhat comfortable with. With Ubuntu Feisty Fawn’s latest test beta —for the first time ever— this was not the case. I was up and running with all the niceties I wanted within 2 hours.

iDart, or the intelligent Dispensing of Antiretroviral Treatment, is a pharmacy system written in Java that is used at antiretroviral (ARV) pharmacies. Initiated in 2004 as a partnership between Cell-Life and the Desmond Tutu HIV foundation, iDart is in use as five different locations around South Africa aiding in the treatment of over 8,500 HIV+ patients.

Cell-Life announced that it has created an iDart-in-a-box system which was originally implemented and distributed as software for Microsoft Windows. Due to issues with reliability and security, Cell-Life has decided instead to do a complete system utilizing Ubuntu Linux. The iDart-in-a-box includes a mid-range PC, a Zebra label printer, an HP DeskJet report printer, barcode scanner, a UPS and a GSM modem. The cost for this system lies within the hardware as there are no software licensing costs, and one of these systems can be purchased for approximately R10,000 (1,350 US$)

Cell-Life plans to further its commitment to supplying community health clinics with systems that work, all of the time, and with Ubuntu.

To read more about this story please view the entire article at Tectonic. To learn more about the iDart-in-a-box please review the iDart system overview and feel free to download the software as well.

A nice summary of the Edubuntu project, and the use of open source solutions in Education by Melissa Draper, a member of the Ubuntu community.

Ubuntu developers are finalising preparations for the release of the next version — dubbed Feisty Fawn — of the popular Linux distribution in mid-April.

Overnight, Ubuntu developer Tollef Fog Heen announced Ubuntu’s main software repository had been frozen — with no changes allowed to the code — as developers got ready to issue a fifth major test version (“Herd 5”) of the next version of Ubuntu.

• Location: IRC channel #ubuntu-meeting
• Agenda: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/MozillaTeam/Meetings

The Ubuntu GNU/Linux project is not a charity. Rather, founder Mark Shuttleworth says his aim is to build a distribution “which is freely available, showcases the best of free software and is sustainable in its own right.”

The 2007 road map for the Ubuntu Linux operating system includes continuing its focus on the desktop, paying more attention to the server and garnering additional corporate support.

Speaking at Ubuntu user conference UbuCon here at Google’s New York complex on Feb. 16, Steve George, director of support and services at Canonical, said, “The view from the Ubuntu side is that Microsoft has too much of the market. We’re going to continue rolling out and making Ubuntu easy to use on the desktop and we’ll add increased focus on the server this year.” Canonical is the sponsor of the Ubuntu project and maintainer of the Ubuntu Linux distribution.

Ubuntu has dropped a plan to enable by default an interface with fancy 3D graphics for its upcoming Feisty Fawn version due April 19.

it appears as if the folks behind Ubuntu have decided to reclassify Ubuntu for the PowerPC as “unofficial” as of the 7.04 release of the operating system. Although the software will continue to be released for those running Ubuntu on PowerPC architecture, the team will no longer be delaying releases due to PowerPC-related bugs.

MassMutual Financial Group donated 100 computers to Springfield Technical Community College yesterday for use by students who cannot afford to purchase a computer.

Four STCC students will refurbish the computers, which are about three to four years old, and load them with free open source software, a Linux-based system called Ubuntu.