Flash is everywhere on the web nowadays. From YouTube (and the myriad of other video sites), to corporate websites, to online portfolios, a web experience without Flash Player installed isn’t really a complete web experience.

The problem with Flash Player is that it isn’t free software or open source. Well, it’s not necessarily a problem depending on your viewpoint on non-free software is, but even if you are pragmatic and do install the official Flash Player for Linux from Adobe, you have to install it manually, as most distributions don’t include it by default. And installing it manually can be a pain.

For some time, the GNU Project has been working to build a free replacement for Flash Player which implements the file format so you can enjoy Flash content while using GPL’d code, which solves the pre-install problem (vendors can safely bundle GPL code) and the non-free problem. That project is called Gnash.

It is not perfect yet, in fact as you may have guessed from the title of this post, it’s still only Alpha quality and only implements some of the Flash 7 standard right now. I thought I’d give the latest Alpha release a road test to see how usable it is and how much Flash content will work.

Read the rest of Alpha road test - Gnash 0.8.1

Ubuntu Community Manager Jono Bacon has announced on his blog what the name of the Ubuntu 8.04 release will be - Hardy Heron. This version of Ubuntu, coming after Gutsy Gibbon (7.10) currently planned for October, will be a Long Term Support (LTS) release with 5 years of desktop support, not unlike previous LTS release Dapper Drake (6.06).

I am delighted to have the pleasure of announcing the Hardy Heron (Ubuntu 8.04), the next version of Ubuntu that will succeed Gutsy Gibbon (Ubuntu 7.10, due for release in October 2007). Not only will the Ubuntu community continue to do what it does best, produce an easy-to-use, reliable, free software platform, but this release will proudly wear the badge of Long Term Support (LTS) and be supported with security updates for five years on the server and three years on the desktop. We look forward to releasing the Hardy Heron in April 2008.

With the opening of each new release cycle of Ubuntu, we have more and more opportunity at our fingertips. Not only are our friends in the upstream world constantly innovating and extending their applications and software, but the Ubuntu community continues to see incredible growth in its diverse range of areas such as packaging, development, documentation, quality assurance, translations, LoCo teams and more. Each new release gives us all an opportunity to shine, irrespective of which bricks in the project we are laying, and this is at the heart of our belief - working together to produce an Operating System that will empower its users and shape the IT industry, putting free software at the corner-stone of our direction.

As mentioned already, Gutsy Gibbon, version 7.10 is due out this October and the current version of Ubuntu is 7.04, Feisty Fawn.

You can read more on Jono Bacon’s blog and find out more about Ubuntu on the official site.

Remember the good old days when to change a screen resolution or driver, you had to edit xorg.conf or reconfigure X.org? Those fine times are now over, or they will be, with the release of Ubuntu 7.10.

As of an update from a few days ago, users are now able to access a graphical user interface for editing xorg.conf, though only for graphic and display settings. This tool has support for dual monitors at the moment, and with the release of X.org 7.3 it will be possible to add even more. You can turn on and off both (or one) of your monitor(s), change the available resolutions, orientations, and set mirror or exteneded desktops.

On the Graphics Card tab, you have a selection of drivers and video memory. You can pick your graphics card and have it select a driver for you, or you can choose the driver yourself (useful for binary ATI/NVIDIA drivers).

The Test feature as of writing is a little buggy, but this is an alpha version still; updates will follow.

This feature is actually Ubuntu-specific at the moment, though other distributions are sure to adopt it soon. It is part of Ubuntu 7.10’s “Bullet Proof X” blueprint that states, in a general sense, that if X for some reason fails to start, then it will fall back to a failsafe mode with this GUI running to help get you back on your feet.

There is much improvement to be made with X as 7.3 releases, but whether this will make it into Ubuntu 7.10 in time is another story. Feature freeze is now in effect, however it was broken for an X update once before. Whether we’ll see it all depends on when it is released. Count on FOSSwire for our take on X.org 7.3 later this month or next.