Now that Ubuntu 8.10 is available (as well as its official cousins, Kubuntu 8.10 and Xubuntu 8.10), all of the unofficial community-run projects based on Ubuntu are updating their code. And that includes Mythbuntu, an operating system designed to turn your PC into a media center by fusing the open source MythTV software with Ubuntu.

Mythbuntu 8.10 incorporates many of the updates that you'll find in a stock version of Ubuntu. It uses the Xfce 4 desktop environment, but if you use your Mythbuntu system primarily as an operating system you'll rarely see the desktop.

One of the coolest features in Mythbuntu 8.10 is support for Wubi. What Wubi does is let you install Mythbuntu (or Ubuntu) from within Windows as if it were just another Windows program. Once installed, you can reboot your system and just select the Mythbuntu option at boot. This makes it easy for anyone who's ever wanted to try Mythbuntu or MythTV to take it for a spin without repartitioning your hard drive. If you don't like it, you can just uninstall Mythbuntu from the Windows add/remove programs utility.

[via eHomeUpgrade]

You probably know by now that Ubuntu comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes. There's the stripped down Xubuntu for slower-performing systems, Edubuntu for kids and teachers, and Kubuntu with the more Windows-like interface.

But there are also community supported projects like Ubuntu Studio and Mythbuntu. These projects aren't sponsored by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. But they build on Ubuntu Code. While Ubuntu Studio features a slew of packages for creating and editing audio, video, and images, Mythbuntu is more of a Windows Media Center/TiVo alternative.

At its core, Mythbuntu is Ubuntu without all of those useless packages like OpenOffice.org, Evolution, or desktop effects. Don't expect any productivity software here (although you can install it if you like). Mythbuntu is dedicated to media. The application ships with the XFCE4 lightweight desktop, because you'll probably rarely ever see the desktop,

Mythbuntu includes everything you need to set up a MythTV frontend and/or backend. That means you can watch and record live TV (with the help of a TV tuner), watch videos, listen to music, or browse pictures -- all while using a 10-foot user interface. In other words, the graphics are all designed to look good from ten feet away. You could just add the MythTV packages to your current Ubuntu system, but Mythbuntu works right out of the box.

Because Mythbuntu comes works as a LiveCD, you can test out hardware compatibility before installing any software. The LiveCD works as a MythTV frontend, letting you mount shared network drives to play audio or video.

We first took a look at Mythbuntu this summer when it was in alpha. Mythbuntu 7.10 is the first full release, and the team plans to follow the Ubuntu development schedule. That means there should be a new version out every six months.

[via Digg]

Seems like there's a new Ubuntu-based Linux distribution coming out at least once a month. Last month it was Ubuntu Studio, a distro designed for creative professionals interested in audio, video, and image editing. This week we saw the alpha release of Mythbuntu, a distro for those who'd rather consume media than create it.

Just as Ubuntu is designed to make Linux accessible to the casual user, Mythbuntu is designed to bring media center software to the masses. Of course, that's what Windows Vista does, but for anyone interested in open source applications, MythTV is the way to go, and Mythbuntu makes installation a relatively painless process.

The current version is a public alpha, so don't expect everything to work perfectly. But if you download the disc image, burn it to a CD, pop it in your computer and reboot, you should load up a MythTV frontend. That's the part that lets you interact with media. If you want a fully functioning media center that can record record television shows, you'll want to install the backend as well. If you've already got a backend machine running, you can access it from the frontend included on the liveCD.

Still, the LiveCD is a great option for anyone who wants to see how MythTV works without having to repartition or reformat their hard drive.