ubermix 3.23 is out and available for your consideration. With nearly 9 years of active development behind it, ubermix is ready to take on your next generation devices, with strong touch support and updates that make it an excellent choice for both personal and school use.
Here are just a few of the new features of ubermix 3.23:

Touch Support

After months of testing, ubermix 3, the latest and greatest version of the popular operating system, has been released into the wild! Based on Ubuntu 16.04 (Xenial Xerus), ubermix 3 brings with it a wealth of improvements and interface refinements, based on feedback from thousands of students and educators from all over the world. User experience and flexibility have been a big focus for this release, as has been support for the latest hardware and a host of new, default applications.


At first glance, the thing that jumps out is the new dock along the bottom of the screen, which offers a familiar, icon-based experience that people have become accustomed to in the UIs of modern devices. The dock offers an immediate "something to do" and a familiar location to find and switch between running applications.

At the top right is a new Power & Settings menu, that offers quick, easier access to system settings and functions.


Other things experienced users will immediately notice are that the "Activities" menu has been changed to "Applications" (now that the actions that were there have been moved to the Power/Settings menu), an attractive dark theme throughout, and smoother, more fluid transitions when interacting with the interface.

The default application list has also been updated, with the latest and greatest versions of old favorites and many new ones. New additions include:

	Clementine - A new music player with support for listening to internet radio from Spotify, Jamendo, Last.fm, Magnatune, SKY.fm, SomaFM, Icecast, Digitally Imported, Soundcloud and Google Drive and possibly Google Music in the future.
	Gazebo - A well-designed robot simulator makes it possible to rapidly test algorithms, design robots, and perform regression testing using realistic scenarios.
	Nitroshare - A cross-platform, peer-to-peer application designed to make transferring files from one device to another extremely simple.
	TypeCatcher - Google Fonts provides web developers and designers with hundreds of open-source web fonts that can be used for free. This app makes it easy to download and install them.
	Shotcut -  A free, open source, cross-platform video editor. Super fast, with a sleek, intuitive design. Supports HD, wide-formats, and a variety of device and transport options.
	ArduinoIDE - The Arduino Integrated Development Environment connects to popular, inexpensive Arduino and Genuino open-source hardware to upload programs and communicate with them. Includes Hummingbird robotics support and Ardublock for younger students.
	Atom - Atom is a text editor that's modern, approachable, yet hackable to the core. It's extremely flexible and customizable, with a built in package manager, smart autocompletion, and multi-pane views. Ideal for scripts and code.
	Darktable - Open source photography workflow application and RAW developer. A virtual light table and darkroom for photographers. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable light table and enables you to develop raw images and enhance them.
	LibreCAD - A fully comprehensive 2D CAD application. LibreCAD can read DXF and DWG files (and others). It writes DXF files, but can also export SVG, JPG, PNG, PDF and other files. It has layers, blocks, splines, polylines, ellipse tools, advanced tangent line & circle tools, transformation tools, an advanced snapping system and more.
	Synfig Studio - 2D animation software, designed as powerful industrial-strength solution for creating film-quality animation using a vector and bitmap artwork. It eliminates the need to create animation frame-by frame, allowing you to produce 2D animation of a higher quality with fewer people and resources.
	QT QR Code Generator - Software that let's you generate QR codes easily, scan an image file for QR codes and decode them or use your webcam to scan a printed one.
	Geary - An email application that allows you to read and send email with a simple, modern interface. Supports Gmail (including labels and archive), Yahoo! Mail, Outlook.com, and popular IMAP servers (Dovecot, Cyrus, Zimbra, etc.)
	Getting Things Gnome - Getting Things GNOME! (GTG) is a personal tasks and TODO-list items organizer, inspired by the Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology.
	KeepNote - With KeepNote, you can store class notes, TODO lists, research notes, journal entries, paper outlines, etc in a simple notebook hierarchy with rich-text formatting, images, and more. Using full-text search, you can retrieve any note for later reference.
	Planner - An planning application with the goal to be an easy-to-use no-nonsense cross-platform project management solution. Features Definition of tasks and subtasks, resources and resource groups, dependencies between tasks, display of the critical path, calendars with working/non-working time, gantt chart and resource usage overview, HTML export of project plans, translated to over 50 languages.
	BlueJ - An integrated, interactive Java development environment, featuring class structure diagrams, interactive invocation and an easy-to-use interface.
	Python IDLE -IDLE (Integrated DeveLopment Environment or Integrated Development and Learning Environment) is an integrated development environment for Python, which has been bundled with the default implementation of the language.
	PiTiVi - An intuitive and flexible video editor that integrates well with ubermix and can appeal to newbies and professionals alike. Pitivi has a beautiful and intuitive user interface, a clean codebase and a fantastic community.
	Backups (Deja-dup) - A simple backup tool. Features support for local, remote, or cloud backup locations, such as Amazon S3 and Rackspace Cloud Files, securely encrypts and compresses your data, incrementally backs up, letting you restore from any particular backup, schedules regular backups.

There are a number of changes under the hood as well. Now that storage is less of an issue and devices typically include at least 32Gb of space, the default size of the user changes space has been increased to 8Gb and automatic update prompts have been turned on. What this means, however, is that system updates will begin to take up the user space as they are applied. While the default settings will be fine for most users, advanced installers should consider this when selecting a size for the user changes partition while doing an advanced install.

This release will carry ubermixers well into the future, with updates through May 2019. To download, click Download and Install above.

Enjoy!

ubermix 2.4 is the latest release, bringing ubermix in sync with upstream Ubuntu 14.04.4 (Trusty Tahr) and adding a number of improvements, including:

• Updated installer key to newer kernel for better hardware support. The latest key should work with most current and near future devices, including Acer's new Travelmate B117 (tested and confirmed).
• Better EMMC storage handling on Cloudbook-style devices.
• Improved support of USB3 install keys - prevents overwrite when no other disks are found.
• Major Linux kernel update to version 4.2.
• Major xorg server update to Ubuntu 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) equivalent.
• Updates to the EFI installer for UEFI devices.
• Updated Openshot to version 2.0.
• Added browser-check to default image, which notifies of web browser updates.
• Cinnamon UI updated to 2.8 stable.
• Changed the partition layout on the installer key to make it easier to increase the key size for those creating custom images.

Changes you'll notice right away include:

Improved Applets

For example, the Sound applet will now overlay track and media controls over cover art when playing music, and offers more detail for input and output options.

An improved power applet that shows battery state for all devices (like wireless mice, etc.) and offers brightness controls for screens and keyboards.


Also, the window list now shows previews of windows when you point to a window button


Improved Settings

There have been many changes to settings panels including an updated Displays panel that shows not just the device it is connected to but also the port, many new Window options for behavior and alt-tab appearance, and much, much more.

Openshot 2.0

A completely rewritten Openshot with an updated UI and better performance. More about Openshot's recent changes can be found on the Openshot blog.




Easier for Customizers

A new partition layout on the installer key makes it far easier to extend the size of the key to accommodate larger images. For further details, see the Customization page.

All of these additions make ubermix 2.4 the best ubermix yet. Click Download and Install above to get it right away, and Enjoy!

ubermix 2.2 has been released with a new kernel, new graphics server, and support for new hardware. Additional changes include (from the changelog):

• Added onboard on-screen keyboard (for touch devices)
• Updated synaptics touchpad to latest upstream and patched for proper palm detection
• Updated Inkscape to latest upstream
• Updated Pinta to latest upstream
• Added thermald for better battery life and thermal control on fanless devices
• Improved disk setup on initial install on Win8 devices

ubermix 2.2 is based on Ubuntu 14.04.2 LTS, which is a Long Term Support release, expected to receive updates and security fixes through 2019.

The newly included 3.16 kernel and graphics server include a raft of features including new Kepler GPU support, improved Intel, NVidia, and Radeon graphics support, improved touchscreen and detachable keyboard support, and enhanced support for gaming controllers.

Since many new devices offer touch support, ubermix 2.2 now includes the onboard on-screen keyboard by default, as well as other enhancements to improve the experience on touch-enabled devices.

Inkscape was also updated to version 0.91, which includes an entirely new renderer and over 700 bug fixes. Expect significantly faster rendering of complex images, and new and improved measurement, text, and color tools.

Pinta gains new add-in options, redesigned shape tools, and more flexible layout tools.

Enjoy!

Photo Credit: shioshvili via Compfight cc

We are pleased to announce the immediate availability of ubermix 2.02 and 2.02 "lite". The 2.02 update brings with it improved compatibility with Apple hardware. While ubermix 2.0 could always install directly on Intel-based Macintosh systems, in some cases it could be challenging to get the wireless interface configured because the latest systems not only have a custom Broadcom wireless card, but they also lack a wired network port, making it difficult to download and install the appropriate driver. Now ubermix 2.0 includes in the install package for the latest Broadcom wireless driver in the image itself, significantly easing the install process.

For those not yet ready to give up on bulky, clunky, and slow Mac OS, ubermix 2.02 makes it easy to setup a side-by-side, dual-boot installation of ubermix and Mac OS, without losing any existing data on the Mac OS side of the installation. Be sure to check out http://wiki.ubermix.org/page/Apple_Mac for details and instructions.

The version 2.02 release also introduces ubermix lite, a trimmed down version of ubermix for older hardware. First off, ubermix lite is a refactored, 32-bit version that will run on older Intel and AMD hardware that don't support 64-bit, like older Asus EeePCs, Acer Aspire netbooks, and desktop systems from the mid-2000s. It's launcher shares much of the design language of full ubermix 2.0, however does not require any sort of graphics acceleration, making it fast and light on older systems. And its memory footprint is smaller, making it a better fit for systems with 1Gb or less of internal memory.

When you are ready to get going with either ubermix on your Mac or ubermix lite on your older hardware, head over to the Download and Install page to grab the latest version.

We are pleased to announce that ubermix 2.0 stable is now available! ubermix 2.0 brings with it two years of expertise and ideas from all over the world, and is a significant update to the ubermix platform, bringing with it a number of key features, including:

• Built on the latest underpinnings from Ubuntu, version 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr)
• Broad hardware support, including the latest tablet and hybrid devices
• 64-bit kernel and applications, bringing support for larger memory configurations and applications
• Modern, easy-to-use interface with plenty to love for novices and power-users alike
• A larger base of more than 80 powerful applications, including greater opportunity to code and learn to code
• Significant improvements to the installation and customization options, providing greater speed, flexibility and performance for large deployments
• Across the board refinement of all ubermix-specific customizations, making this the most powerful, reliable ubermix ever!

For further details, have a look at our prior post about the release candidate.

It is important to note that ubermix 2 might not run well (or at all) on some of your oldest hardware. For example systems with just 512Mb of RAM and/or a video card lacking acceleration will struggle. And if a system is so old that it is only 32-bit capable, ubermix 2 will not install. While an ubermix 2.0 "lite" is currently under consideration, for such applications, ubermix 1.x is still available, will continue to receive updates through version 1.6, and will be fully supported through the end of 2015.

Also, please bear with us while we update our site and documentation - there is much to go through! We should have everything up to snuff in short order.

If you are ready to give ubermix 2 a go, head on over to the Download and Install page for instructions. And if you need help, be sure to check the wiki and forums.

Thank you to the entire ubermix community for all your support and encouragement! A big thank you to Andrew Schwab, Mike Vollmert, Larry Rego, Thomas Hartley,  Bob Henderson, Urko Masse, David Hicks, Jason Ricker, Gary Hampton, and the entire Inyo County tech team for your help and support with development and testing. You're all awesome!

Calling all testers: the final release of ubermix 2.0 is just about ready for liftoff and, after a number of beta test rounds with key ubermixers around the world, we are pleased to pre-release ubermix 2.0rc1 (release candidate 1) to the general public. Please try it on all your devices and let us know what works and what doesn't, so that we can make the final version the best it can be in a few weeks. You can find a download link at the end of this post.

ubermix 2.0 (code name: HoneyBadger) brings with it two years of expertise and ideas from all over the world, packaged on the latest underpinnings from Ubuntu, version 14.04 LTS (Trusty Tahr). The interface has been updated as well, and is now based on a custom version of Cinnamon, which is modern, light, flexible, and easy to use.


You'll notice in the screenshot above that the categories are all there, just like ubermix 1.x, and that favorites are now in a column on the left. You can drag-n-drop icons from the main list to the favorites bar, or right click on any application and add to the favorites list from the options that appear.

There is also a "search" box at the top, which is active the moment the menu is open (which you can accomplish by clicking "Activities" or pressing the left Super [Windows] key.) Simply start typing and the application list will narrow to the applications that match your search. You then simply press the enter key to open the desired app.

Window snapping is another great feature. If your screen is large enough, simply drag a window to the top, bottom, left, or right edge, and ubermix will automatically resize it to fill half the screen, for side-by-side work. Or you can drag to a corner for a 4-way split.


Switching between running applications is also improved. Alt-tab switching will show you a live preview of the window in each application, and there is a new "Scale" button in the toolbar that shows all open windows, allowing you to click on the one you want.


These are but a few of the improvements - there is plenty more to discover in ubermix 2.0!

Besides interface improvements, ubermix 2.0 comes with a bunch of new applications to go with your old favorites, including:

• Shutter: The ultimate screenshot tool that allows you to edit and annotate your screenshots with all the circles, arrows, and text you want immediately after capturing the screen, a window, or a selected area.
• Anki Memory Trainer: Powerful, intelligent, modern flashcard-style memory trainer (replaces iGnuIt)
• Kojo: A learning environment with many different features that enable play, exploration, creation, and learning in the areas of Computer Programming, Math and Science, Systematic and Computational Thinking, Art, Music, and Creative Thinking.
• WriteType: A word processor that helps students experience success in writing. It features Word Completion, Reading Back the Document, Highlighting, Grammar Checking, Auto-correction, and multiple languages.
• Blender: Free and open 3D creation software. Incredible design, engineering, animation, movie and game making software for advanced users.
• Fotowall: Creative tool that lets you organize photos and videos. Make the perfect arrangement with your photos, add text, live video from your webcam and the best internet pictures into amazing collages.
• Calibre:  e-book library management application developed by users of e-books for users of e-books. Features extensive creation and annotation features, broad format support, and the ability to search for new e-books from a variety of free and paid sources.
• FocusWriter: FocusWriter is a simple, distraction-free writing environment. It utilizes a hide-away interface that you access by moving your mouse to the edges of the screen, allowing the program to have a familiar look and feel to it while still getting out of the way so that you can immerse yourself in your work.
• Geany: Geany is a small and lightweight Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for programming. I supports a wide-variety of languages, Syntax highlighting, Code folding, auto-completion, and auto-closing of HTML/XML tags.
• Google Web Designer: Create engaging, interactive HTML5-based designs and motion graphics that can run on any device.
• Ninja IDE: NINJA-IDE (from the recursive acronym: "Ninja-IDE Is Not Just Another IDE"), is a cross-platform integrated development environment (IDE) for Python programming. It features a Powerful Code Editor, Amazing Code Locator, simple Project Management, and is Highly Extensible.
• Kazam: Kazam provides a well designed and easy to use interface for capturing screencasts and screenshots. It can record desktop video and multiple audio streams simultaneously with control over audio levels and the screen region being captured.
• MuseScore: Create, play back and print beautiful sheet music with free and easy to use music notation software.

For techies, ubermix 2.0 brings a number of key improvements, including the following:

• ubermix 2.0 is now running the latest 64bit Linux kernel from Ubuntu, bringing significantly improved device support, support for larger memory configurations, and more efficient use of hardware, which brings noticeable improvements in overall performance. With that, there is something of a drawback: While ubermix 2.0 will run fine on most systems, particularly ancient devices may be unable to run it due to lack of 64bit support. For those systems I would recommend sticking with 1.x, which will continue to receive updates through May 2015 and maintenance through 2017. 
• There is a new "Advanced Install" option that will allow you to set the base system and user changes partition sizes during the installation process, making it far easier to customize the install to your liking.
• ubermix 2.0 is no longer tied to fixed partition sizes on the disk, so there is little cost to having a large base partition. Rather than taking an image of the entire partition when updating a key, it instead shrinks the partition down to the smallest possible size first, prior to copying the image to the key. Conversely, when upgrading from one version to a newer one, rather than looking to see that the disk is configured identically, the installer instead looks to see if the base system partition is big enough to hold the update and, if so, offers to upgrade. All this means smaller keys, greater flexibility, and quicker installs.
• ubermix now supports the latest UEFI hardware, which includes most newer devices that come with Windows 8 by default, including higher end tablets.

There's plenty more to check out in ubermix 2.0. If you'd like to get to know ubermix 2.0 right away, download ubermix-key2.0rc2.img and follow the "Creating a USB key" instruction on the ubermix.org web site to create your install key today!

Update 5/14/14: The link above now reflects Release Candidate 2. 

We are pleased to announce that ubermix 1.4 has been released, and is available for download at http://ubermix.org/files.html . Version 1.4 bring ubermix in line with the recently released Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS, and is largely a "hardware enablement" and basic update release. In particular, ubermix 1.4 features a new version of the Ubuntu kernel, version 3.11, and matching X.org (user interface/graphics) stack, aimed at providing improved support for a wider variety of hardware.

Other changes include new versions of Firefox, Chrome, Thunderbird, and LibreOffice.

Because this release includes newer/bigger versions of a variety of apps, the overall install size of the base image has (by necessity) been increased to 5 Gb (see http://ubermix.org/customization.html for a better understanding of the base image.) While all prior 1.x versions have had the ability to be updated in-place, without reformatting the disk or losing user data, the increased size of the ubermix 1.4 image will require a reformat of the disk. Please bear this in mind when installing on top of an existing install, and be sure to backup any data as necessary prior to installing.

Also, due to the increased size, a 2 Gb USB install key is no longer sufficient to hold the image. Therefore, the next logical size (4Gb) is recommended for USB keys.

Support for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS stretches into 2017 and as such, so does ubermix. ubermix 2.0 will be based on the next LTS release, Ubuntu 14.04, which is due this April. Expect ubermix 2.0 (codename: honeybadger) beta releases shortly after that.

Today, ubermix 1.3 was posted on the ubermix download page, bringing with it quite a few changes and improvements, including:

• Updated all the base packages to parity with Ubuntu Precise major revision 12.04.3. In addition, the version numbering scheme was changed to match (hence the jump from 1.083 to 1.3) to better align with Ubuntu point releases (ie Ubuntu 12.04.3 = ubermix 1.3).
• Updated xorg (X window subsystem) to the same codebase as Ubuntu 13.04 (Raring Ringtail). This brings with it a significant number of video driver updates and performance/reliability improvements.
• Replaced ubermix's custom Linux kernel to Ubuntu stock version 3.8.x (also from Raring Ringtail), now that Ubuntu has caught up to ubermix. Eases compatibility, troubleshooting, and support, now that we match Ubuntu bit-for-bit.
• Added the capability for any end-user to install any Ubuntu kernel (including updates) without breaking ubermix.
• Improved Google Earth reliability and performance, especially on lower-end Intel systems.
• Updated the Unity desktop environment, for those who prefer it to the ubermix lightweight launcher. For details see the Alternate Environments wiki page.
• Improved bootup process handling, including the addition of an alternative mechanism to get to the reset menu by simply holding down shift at startup. This should be far easier for end users, as they no longer have to press esc during the magic 3 seconds right after the hardware splash screen at bootup. Simply hold down shift until the menu appears.
• Special setup and scripts for troublesome Cedar Trail netbook graphics, are no longer necessary. Cedar Trail works perfectly on out-of-the-box ubermix, without alteration.
• Brightness control function has improved dramatically - fixes will likely no longer be necessary on even the most quirky of systems.

These changes should make large and small ubermix deployments even easier, no matter what hardware you might have.

If you haven't yet tried ubermix for yourself, be sure to check out the VirtualBox VM (works on Mac, Windows, and Linux) on the downloads page. And if you're ready to install, download the install key file from the same location and follow the instructions here to make your very own.

Photo Credit: Nathan E Photography cc

It's hard to believe that a whole school year has passed and another is about to begin! Our little ubermix project has grown up to a huge movement, with more than 50 school districts and other organizations now deploying at scale, on over 80,000 devices all around the world! We've also got a bunch of press, including eSchool News Fifty of the best ed-tech products for schools, District Administration's 2012 Readers' Choice Top 100 Products, several articles on OpenSource.com, and the cover of this quarter's Ed Tech Magazine.

Now that many of you are gearing up for the new school year, I wanted to make sure you have all the latest information about ubermix and to inform you of an important fix for an issue with older Broadcom wireless cards and the latest release.

With the release of version 1.08x, ubermix has surpassed the default Ubuntu 12.04 software base in a number of ways. Specifically, ubermix 1.08x brings:

• A significantly newer, custom kernel and drivers, which provides increased performance and better support for the latest hardware (including a number of touchscreen devices).
• Updated versions of a number of applications to the latest source releases, including LibreOffice, GIMP, Nitro, and others.
• A variety of optional add-ons, including Everpad (Evernote client), Google Apps Icon Pack, and an indicator that checks for updates to the latest web browsers.
• The addition of an ubermix software repository in the default installation, which makes keeping ubermix up-to-date far easier.
• Reliability and performance improvements across a number of ubermix-specific functions.

You can download and install the latest ubermix image and/or virtual machines from the ubermix Download and Install page. If you need help, be sure to check the ubermix wiki and forums, and of course, feel free to contact me directly.

With all the driver updates and changes, it was recently discovered that there is an issue with older Broadcom 43xx series wireless cards in some older netbooks and other devices running the latest release. Symptoms include inability to connect to wireless, frequent disconnects, or no wireless adapter appearing at all.

If you experience this or similar issues, rest assured that they are easily fixed by installing an older version of the Broadcom wireless driver. First, make sure that you have a Broadcom 43xx series card by following the instructions on the wiki here. If you do, simply follow these instructions to install the older driver.

All the best to each of you in the coming year!

Photo Credit: just.Luc via Compfight cc

Last week ubermix 1.0 was officially released into the wild, with hundreds of users downloading the image within the first few hours of it being posted. We've been thrilled by your enthusiasm and excited to see ubermix spread to reaches far and wide.