The Web (and Ubuntu) Can Make a Difference

The week of September 14-21, 2009 is Mozilla Service Week, brought to you by the good folks behind Firefox and Thunderbird. They’ve partnered with Idealist.org, a non-profit jobs listing site, to link service-minded techies with non-profit organizations in need to their help.

We’re looking for people who want to share, give, engage, create, and collaborate by offering their time and talent to local organizations and people who need their help.

Mozilla believes everyone should know how to use the Internet, have easy access to it, and have a good experience when they’re online. By utilizing our community’s talents for writing, designing, programming, developing, and all-around technical know-how, we believe we can make the Web a better place for everyone.

Spread the word:

• Put a badge on your blog.
• Post a flyer at your school or workplace.

The Ubuntu NGO Team is also working on making Ubuntu a great platform to help non-profits. Check out Daniel’s recent post for some updates on our work, including efforts to make life with Ubuntu easier for organizations working in places with out cheap and accessible Internet.

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A Few Ubuntu-related Ubiquity Scripts

Awhile back I hacked up a few Ubuntu releated scripts for Ubiquity. No, not the Ubuntu installer. The Firefox add-on.  Now that I have one of these fancy blog thing-a-majigs, I figured I’d share them with all of you. Hopefully some one else will find them useful.

To make a long story short, Ubiquity is GNOME-Do for your browser.

I’ve got a number of simple scripts that you can use with it to do Ubuntu related tasks in Firefox:

• AptURL – Install a package using AptURL. If you’re reading a post about a package, just highlight the package name and call Ubiquity. No need to open a terminal or package manager. Usage: apturl [package]
• Debian Package Search – One of the sites I end up using the most in my MOTU work is http://packages.debian.org/ This brings it just a keystroke away. Usage: debian-packages [package]
• Launchpad Ubuntu Package Search – You guessed it. Search Ubuntu packages on LP. Usage: lp-packages [package]
• Launchpad Team and People Search – What do you think it does? Usage: lp-team-and-people [team or person]
• Launchpad Ubuntu Bug Search – Simular to the two above…  lp-ubuntu-bug [bug # or description]
• Ubuntu Man Page Search – Read the man page! Usage: ubuntu-man [package]
• Ubuntu Package database searcher- This one searches packages.ubuntu.com It was written by David Futcher (bobbo), and it was what inspired me to make all the others. Usage: ubuntu-packages [package]
• Report Ubuntu Bug – Report a bug in a Ubuntu package on Launchpad. (Although, chances are you should really be using Apport.) Usage: ubuntu-report-bug [package]

You can grab them with:

bzr branch lp:~andrewsomething/+junk/ubiquity-commands