Showing posts with label beta. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beta. Show all posts

Thursday, September 21, 2017

Ubuntu 11 10 Oneiric Ocelot Beta 1 is Released!

Ubuntu 11 10 Oneiric Ocelot Beta 1 is Released!


Not just Ubuntu Linux but almost all the GNU/Linux distributions (with few exceptions of course) make sure to release a new version of within like 6 month-cycle. And within these usual 6 months each distro has a slightly different beta release versions of their own ... but for Ubuntu Linux it usually start with "Alpha1" to "Alpha 3" and then two Beta versions (1 and 2)... then arrives the official release.

Whats new?

So, since Ubuntu has already released the Alpha3 few weeks ago, few hours ago the developers made the official announcement of the Ubuntu Beta 1!. As usual the Beta 1 comes with updated package versions + one major difference.

Starting with Beta 1, Ubuntu is letting the users download a DVD image thats about 1.5GB of size! which in comparison with the standard 4+GB ISO image.

According to the developers, this DVD image is actually the expansion of the ever growing, standard CD image thus this new DVD includes additional packages such as Inkscape, GIMP, additional language packages and more LibreOffice related files (clip-arts, templates, extension, etc) as well.

Other new features include...

*. Gnome 3.1.5 (which is on its way to the Gnome 3.2 thats going to be included in the official launch of the 11.10).

*. LightDM is the default display manager.

*. DajaDup comes pre-installed as the data backup manager.

*. New updates to the Ubuntu Application indicators system (including new power manager and a session indicator).

*. Top rated section added to the Ubuntu Software Manager + "major" speed improvements over .deb file installation according to the developers.

*. Major Core infrastructure feature: Now users of the 64-bit version of the Ubuntu Linux OS can install 32-bit packages without the need to use the separate "ia32-libs".

*. Kernel update to the version 3.0.0-9.15 which brings bug fixes and improvements.

As usual the Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Edubuntu, etc distributions have also released Beta 1 versions of their own which brings latest KDE 4.7 Plasma desktop and related package updates, Amarok 2.4.3, Muon software center, pastebinit support in Xubuntu are just a few to mention.

You can try out the latest version of Ubuntu Beta 1 from this download section of the release page. Good luck.

download file now

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Wednesday, September 20, 2017

Twitter 6 42 0 beta 587 by Twitter Inc

Twitter 6 42 0 beta 587 by Twitter Inc


The post Twitter 6.42.0-beta.587 by Twitter, Inc. appeared first on APKMirror.

Feed

If new feed item from http://www.apkmirror.com/feed/, then send me an email at belah2ketupat@gmail.com

IFTTT

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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Ubuntu 16 10 Yakkety Yak Beta 1 released Download Now

Ubuntu 16 10 Yakkety Yak Beta 1 released Download Now


The first beta release of Ubuntu 16.10 Yakkety Yak was recently last week and its available for download. The following images are avialbel for download Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio.


According to the annoucement, this beta release will ship with Kernel 4.4, LibreOffice 5.2, and a number of other software updates that are ready for wider testing.


Yakkety Yak



Ubuntu 16.10 Release Highlight


Ubuntu GNOME 16.10



  • includes GNOME 3.20.

  • uses GTK3 version of LibreOffice

  • GNOME’s Initial Setup utility is included and enabled.

  • Empathy is no longer pre-installed

  • new Characters character map utility

  • The experimental wayland session is included.

Ubuntu Mate 16.10



  • Migrated to GTK 3.20

  • Updated to MATE Dock Applet 0.74

  • Update and rebuild many MATE packages to improve GTK 3.20 support

  • Removed MATE Heads-Up Display (HUD)

LUbuntu 16.10 still uses LXDE in the beta while LXQT is still in development.


Ubuntu Studio 16.10



  • Added dgedit, drumgizmo, gpick, calibre, pdf-shuffler, plume-creator.

  • Replaced gnome-color-manager with dispcalgui

  • Replaced recordmydesktop with vokoscreen

  • Updated multimedia packages

And Ubuntu Kylin 16.10 has fixed many internationalization and localization bugs in Ubuntu itself and bugs in software written by the Ubuntu Kylin team.



Future releases of Ubuntu 16.10:


  • Beta 2: September 22nd

  • Final Freeze: October 6th

  • Ubuntu 16.10 Final: October 13th

Download Images


  • Lubuntu (Download)

  • Ubuntu GNOME (Download)

  • Ubuntu Kylin (Download)

  • Ubuntu MATE (Download)

  • Ubuntu Studio (Download)


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Sunday, September 17, 2017

Ubuntu 16 04 Beta 1 Is Now Available to Download

Ubuntu 16 04 Beta 1 Is Now Available to Download


The first Ubuntu 16.04 beta builds are now available to download.
Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu MATE � oooh-argh � and Ubuntu Kylin are among the official Ubuntu flavors to stick their hands up for inclusion in this development milestone.
The regular version of Ubuntu, i.e. the one most of you are waiting for, only takes part in the second beta release.
Ubuntu 16.04 Beta 2  is set for a March 24 release date.
For this bout of beta level testing the following Ubuntu flavors take part:
  • Lubuntu
  • Xubuntu 
  • Ubuntu MATE
  • Ubuntu GNOME
  • Ubuntu Kylin
Not taking part is Kubuntu.


What�s New in Ubuntu 16.04 Beta 1?


ubuntu kylin login screen


Ubuntu Kylin 16.04 Beta 1 
improves on its alpha releases with a new version of the Youker assistant, a brand-new login screen (kylin-greeter, pictured) and benefits from general improvements to both the look and feel of the Kylin branding and theme.


Download Ubuntu Kylin 16.04 Beta


Xubuntu 16.04 Beta 1 features a modest set of changes.
Testers of the lightweight spin will find new versions of key apps and components, including new versions of the Xfce 4 desktop, whisker menu applet and Orage calendar, plus support for controlling the Parole media player from the sound applet.


Download Xubuntu 16.04 Beta


Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 Beta 1 features a more sizeable set of changes thanks to it shipping with �most of GNOME 3.18�, including GNOME Shell 3.18 and the new GNOME Software utility.
In line with Ubuntu, GNOME Calendar and GNOME Logs are now pre-installed, GNOME Builder is available through the main archive and an �experimental Wayland session� is available to install (but keep it mind it requires open-source GPU drivers).


Download Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 Beta


Lubuntu 16.04 Beta 1 ships with a massive set of changes � just kidding!
As always, Lubuntu ships with no new features. It does offer a selection of small bug fixes and benefits from being based on the Linux kernel (v4.4, fact fans).
A PPC version is also available, making Lubuntu perfect for resurrecting an old iBook, PowerMac or iMac. You could even don a lab coat and call yourself iVictor Lubuntkenstein.


Download Lubuntu 16.04 Beta 1


ubuntu-mate-boutique


Last (but never least) is Ubuntu MATE 16.04 Beta 1.
The retro revivalist once against delivers an impressive changelog for its latest development snapshot.
On offer is a brand new �Software Boutique� (accessed through an updated version of Ubuntu MATE Welcome tool). The MATE desktop has been bumped to v1.12.1 and includes Caja 1.12.4.
Fans (both literal and figuratively) will be pleased to hear that the updated desktop sees reduced CPU usage �across the board�.
Also included is a Unity-style MATE panel layout is available to try. Head to MATE�s appearance settings and select the �Mutiny� panel layout to take it for a spin.


Download Ubuntu MATE 16.04 Beta 1



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Ubuntu MATE 15 04 Vivid Vervet Beta 1 Released Gets Official Ubuntu Flavor Status

Ubuntu MATE 15 04 Vivid Vervet Beta 1 Released Gets Official Ubuntu Flavor Status


Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet Beta 1 was released today. Lets take a look at whats new since alpha 2.

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

Unfortunately I didnt have time to test the other flavors (and for most of them, theres not much to say anyway), so Ill only cover Ubuntu MATE for this first beta release. However, Ill add links to the other flavors release notes (download links included), below:
  • Ubuntu GNOME
  • Kubuntu
  • Xubuntu
  • Lubuntu
  • Ubuntu Kylin

You may also want to read:
  • Ubuntu Flavors 15.04 Vivid Vervet Alpha 2 Available For Testing
  • Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet Alpha 2 Released

I should also mention that as usual, Ubuntu (w/ Unity) doesnt take part in alpha and first beta releases.

Now back to Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet beta 1. The most important news is that Ubuntu MATE is now an official member of the Ubuntu family.

The first Ubuntu MATE release was 14.10, followed by 14.04 (thats not a typo, the 14.04 release was after 14.10 because the Ubuntu MATE devs wanted to provide a LTS, since non-LTS versions are only supported for 9 months), but both versions were unofficial and used PPAs to provide the latest MATE Desktop 1.8, which is no longer the case with Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet beta 1.

Since Ubuntu MATE is now an official Ubuntu flavor, all the packages it ships with are now available in the Ubuntu repositories - that include MATE Menu, MATE Tweak, its default GTK theme(s) and so on.

Speaking of MATE Tweak, the tool has received a pretty important new feature, which allows switching between different panel layouts, including: Ubuntu MATE (default), Eleven (with a top panel for the menu, systray, etc. and Plank at the bottom, as the app switcher/launcher) and more:

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

This also means that Plank, the default elementary OS application launcher, is now installed by default in Ubuntu MATE (but its not used by default).

+Martin Wimpress posted a video which demonstrates this new MATE Tweak feature so check it out HERE. Note that in the video there are more panel layouts than there are available in Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet beta 1 by default, because it depends on the packages installed on the system and for instance, the Ubuntu Indicator Applet, which was available in previous Ubuntu MATE releases, is no longer available in Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet beta 1.

The reason for this is that the default Indicator Applet / Ubuntu Indicators dont support GTK2 by default. For the previous Ubuntu MATE releases, the Indicator Applet was patched to support MATE and it was available in a PPA, but since Ubuntu MATE 15.04 is now an official Ubuntu flavor, it cant ship with PPAs enabled by default and thus, it cant use Ubuntu Indicators out of the box.

However, you can install the Ubuntu Indicator Applet along with the Sound Indicator package (patched for MATE) in Ubuntu MATE 15.04 by following THESE instructions.

Another change in the latest Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet beta 1 is the addition of Folder Color by default:

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

Folder Color is a tool which allows changing individual folder colors (useful to organize your folders, make some important folder stand out, etc.) and besides Caja, it supports Nautilus and Nemo.

Other changes include:
  • added menu categories to System > Preferences;
  • LightDM GTK Greeter Settings was updated to version 1.10;
  • updated the default GTK theme (Yuko) with better GTK 3.14 support;
  • thanks to a GTK2 bugfix, MATE should have better multi-monitor support;
  • MATE Tweak allows switching between Marco and Compiz without requiring a logout/login;
  • added PowerPC as an officially supported architecture;
  • updated LightDM GTK Greeter to 2.0.0 which now includes a MATE logo in the session switcher;
  • merged MATE Compatibility integration into upstream Compiz .

Here are a few more Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet beta 1 screenshots:

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

Ubuntu MATE Vivid 15.04

This being a beta, there are a few known issues, most importantly: MATE 1.8x is not fully compatible with glibc>=2.43.1 and while this was fixed upstream, its not available in 15.04 yet so for now, youll have to use a PPA to get the fixes.

Other known issues include: the notification tray crashes on first start and randomly from time to time (32bit only), live switching between Compiz and Marco is experimental and may result in missing window decorations on some old GPUs (and in VirtualBox, at least that was the case in my test) and more.


Default applications/packages


Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet beta 1 ships with the following applications installed by default: Caja 1.8.2, Pluma 1.8.1, Firefox 34, Thunderbird 31.4.0, LibreOffice 4.4.0, VLC 2.2.0, Rhythmbox 3.1, Shotwell 0.20.2, Pidgin 2.10.9, HexChat 2.10.1, Transmission 2.84, Cheese 3.14.1, two terminals - MATE Terminal 1.8.1 and Tilda 1.2.2 (which can be triggered via the F12 key), and Eye of Mate 1.8.0, on top of MATE Desktop 1.8.1.

Under the hood, the first Ubuntu MATE Vivid beta ships with the Ubuntu Linux Kernel 3.18.0-13, based on the upstream 3.18.5 Linux Kernel, Xorg server 1.16.2.901 and Mesa 10.5.0 RC1 (with RC2 available in the Proposed repository).


Download Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet beta 1


Download Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Vivid Vervet beta 1

The link above includes the official release notes so make sure you read them before testing the latest Ubuntu MATE 15.04 beta 1!

Up next: Ubuntu MATE (and flavors) 15.04 Vivid Vervet final beta, which should be released on March 26th. All the Ubuntu flavors as well as Ubuntu (w/ Unity) will take part in the final beta release.

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Saturday, September 16, 2017

Ubuntu 17 04 Zesty Zapus Beta 2 Installation on VMware Workstation

Ubuntu 17 04 Zesty Zapus Beta 2 Installation on VMware Workstation


Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) Beta 2 installation
Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) Installation on VMware Workstation

This video tutorial shows Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) Beta 2 installation on VMware Workstation/Player step by step. This tutorial is also helpful to install Ubuntu 17.04 on physical computer or laptop hardware. We also install VMware Tools (Open VM Tools) on Ubuntu 17.04 Beta 2 for better performance and usability features such as Fit Guest Now, Drag-Drop File and Clipboard Sharing.

Ubuntu 17.04 Beta 2 Installation Steps:

  1. Download Ubuntu 17.04 Beta 2 ISO
  2. Create Virtual Machine on VMware Workstation/Player
  3. Start Ubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus Installation
  4. Install VMware Tools (Open VM Tools)
  5. Test VMware Tools Features: Fit Guest Now, Drag-Drop File and Clipboard Sharing

Installing Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) Beta 2 on VMware Workstation


Ubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus New Features and Improvements

  1. The default DNS resolver is now systemd-resolved.
  2. For new installs, a swap file will be used instead of a swap partition.
  3. Ubuntu 17.04 is based on the Linux Kernel 4.10.
  4. It support printers which allow printing without printer-specific drivers.
  5. LibreOffice has been updated to 5.3.
  6. The Calendar app now has a Week view.
  7. gconf is no longer installed by default since it has long been superseded by gsettings.
  8. Apps provided by GNOME have been updated to 3.24. Exceptions are the Nautilus file manager (3.20), Terminal (3.20), Evolution (3.22), and Software (3.22).

Ubuntu 17.04 Desktop Minimum System Requirements

  1. 700 MHz processor (about Intel Celeron or better)
  2. 512 MB RAM (system memory)
  3. 5 GB of hard-drive space (or USB stick, memory card or external drive but see LiveCD for an alternative approach)
  4. VGA capable of 1024x768 screen resolution
  5. Either a CD/DVD drive or a USB port for the installer media
  6. Internet access is helpful
Hope you found this Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) Beta 2 installation tutorial helpful and informative. Please consider sharing it. Your feedback and questions are welcome!

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Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Ubuntu Jaunty Hits Beta

Ubuntu Jaunty Hits Beta


As always the ubuntu developers have worked tirelessly to bring us another Beta release which should be stable enough to test for most people here are some of the features you can look at while downloading the iso or doing a release upgrade:

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 on a desktop system, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release 9.04 is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.10 on a server system: install the update-manager-core package if it is not already installed; edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=normal; launch the upgrade tool with the command sudo do-release-upgrade; and follow the on-screen instructions.

If you choose to download the iso be sure to backup your home directory to another partition and checkout ext4 filesystem for improved performance.

Here are the new features since intrepid:


  • GNOME 2.26 - For a Good review of the gnome changes look here
  • Improved handling of multiple monitors with an updated gnome-display-properties by Federico Mena Quintero.
  • X.Org server 1.6
  • New style for notifications and notification preferences - for an example check out the flash video here
  • Boot performance - A number of improvements to the Ubuntu start-up process bring significantly improved boot performance to Ubuntu 9.04 Beta. Please open bugs if you experience any degradation, and tag them with boot-performance.
  • Ext4 filesystem support - One of my favorite additions, it improves boot performance and overall filesystem performance
  • There is a ton of other bug fixes and misc features added, Its been stable for me since alpha 3.

Get it while its hot. ISOs and torrents are available at:
  • http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04/ (Ubuntu Desktop and Server)
    http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/edubuntu/9.04/ (Ubuntu Education Edition)
    http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/kubuntu/9.04/ (Kubuntu)
    http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04/beta/ (Ubuntu Netbook Remix and Ubuntu MID)
    http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/9.04/beta/ (Xubuntu)
    http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/9.04/beta/ (UbuntuStudio)
    http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/9.04/beta/ (Mythbuntu)
    http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/9.04/beta/ (Ubuntu ARM)

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Ubuntu 11 10 Oneiric Ocelot beta 2 Review

Ubuntu 11 10 Oneiric Ocelot beta 2 Review


Well, its been quite a while since Ubuntu Developers started to roll-out the upcoming Ubuntu 11.10 Oneric Orcelot and few days ago they released the beta 2 version. Now, Ive never used the 11.10 because it was too new and wasnt that much production ready, so to speak.

But after hearing the Beta 2 is out now we have like few weeks left and another RC left before the official launch of 11.10, I thought the Beta version 2 should be much closer to the official release of the long awaited 11.10 thus its about time that Id try to come up with a review.

So remember, all the feature that Im gonna talk about are the changes from the current 11.04 Natty release thus if youve used 11.10 since the beginning you may already experienced these features (so dont blame me dudes! :D).

The desktop is identically the same, except the "right-click" now is even simplified (the "Create new Launcher", which is useful as hell for some, is removed)...
Gnome 3 (also known as Shell) has a lot to do with Unity, still!

As most knows, Unity carries some fundamental difference the way desktop UI designs, etc. But it still uses a lot of Gnomes applications thus most of the differences that we see in individual applications such as in "System Settings", user management, etc are due to the changes in the Unitys implementation of the Gnome 3 applications.

Lets begin with some of the changes in the Unity interface changes...

*. "Dash" icon: Except for a single major change, the application launcher is almost the same as in 11.04 version and still it lacks some serious customization abilities.

Anyhow, the most noticeable change is the "Dash" icon, which is now sits on top of the launcher which used to be on the left edge of the screen.


As many others, I also think this is a good move since it helps to make the most out of the screen since if you use something like a small screen device, say a netbook, then every pixel counts!.

And when you click on the "Dash" icon then on the left-edge were greeted with a a "close/maximize" buttons (the minimize is disable which makes sense). So now you can easily close the window by using your mouse thanks to this without the need of the "Esc" button. 


*. Buttons on the "exact left-edge": Thanks to the little movement of the "Dash" icon, now buttons are arranged on the very left-edge on the screen previously they used to just after the "Dash" icon. This helps to give a more sensible location + until you maximize a window youll see a the name of the app/window (or whatever that youre using) on the left-edge (as with below screnshot).

Note the "Text Edi" to the left where the "Dash" icon used to be...
Also when you use an application in full screen mode the buttons are hidden by default a and are only visible when you move the mouse pointer over to the top panel. This helps to give a much more cleaner and uncluttered look. So in general, I personally like whats gone with the "Dash" and the "Buttons".



*. The new "Alt-tab" UI: This is another beautiful looking "window switching" utility which was implemented sometime ago. But for some reason, while I was using it, if I had already an un-minimized window on my desktop screen then the "Alt-tab" display behind it which is not helpful at all since to serve its purpose it should always be on top of everything.

Other than that it looks beautiful and worked nicely.



*. New appearance Window: The appearance window section has also gone through some major changes and I gotta say it looks more polished and professional.


Arranging or adding images is really easy too but the themes have been reduced to four. The standard Ambiance theme + the Radiance version is there as the default ones and two version of the "High contrast" themes ... thats about it for themes.

This makes sense in a way and I guess having one or two themes by default helps the "branding" of Ubuntu but as long as you have a working internet connection around you... installing a new one is pretty darn easy nonetheless.

The Ambiance theme also has gone through few changes it seems. The tittle bar has lost somewhat its "3d-ness" as you can see with the below screenshot when comparing with the 11.04 version.

Perhaps the middle strip is a bit too "thick/sharp"...
*. Nautilus: The default file manager is Nautilus 3.1 thats also shared between Gnome Shell and Unity and the "Path-bar" is now black and looks ugly (at least for my taste). I dont know whether its the "arrow" or the squared version of the selected path on the "path-bar" or the new look-n-feel in the sidebar, but Nautilus looked really weird :D.

"Something is wrong with me... help!" :P...
I think that its the side-bar color that jeopardize things here since it doesnt go well withe the Black title and Pathbar ... so if they can do something about that + add a bit of a 3D separator to the side-bar... well I think it could solve some of the issues (any ideas??). 

*. All new Ubuntu Software Center: This is another major decision by Canonical to drop the Synaptic graphical package manager and replace it with the Ubuntu Software Center.


Now in the past USC was painfully slow and did require reasonable amount of system resource while installing applications, etc. But the new" one feels a bit faster and has gone through some major changes, at first I didnt even recognize her! (kidding).

Although the "Our star apps" takes a huge space out of that window which is waste since as long as I was using it didnt do anything other than displaying that "message". The only good thing about is that you can access all the "starred" apps by clicking on it. Other than that... thats A waste.

Users: Um, what exactly is your purpose again? | USC Star-apps Logo: "Well Im here for... oh you know, I mean I do that... that, but ..."
 Anyhow, when compared with the current USC in 11.04 the "Installed/Get/History" buttons are moved to the top and the categories are to your left and in the middle sit the "starred" apps. A quick reminder, if you want "Synaptic" back (heck you do :P) then simply search "Synaptic" and simply follow the on screen instructions to install it (ahh finally :D).

Other that the UI changes the performance is also improved but not by a huge margin, while I was using it. And I dont think they can make it as fast as Synaptic because USC is designed for achieving different goals (Mark did mention about "different ways of monetizing Ubuntu", nothing wrong with that anyway). But theres still room for improvement but for a start, this is not bad.

The preferences window and the menu are almost the same and nothing major to report there.

"ahh the same old me..."
*. System Settings: This is another area that has gone through some changes and it feels like youre inside Apple Mac OSX Lion :D. I actually liked the "old" interface in 11.04 but in a way this new window lets you access things much more faster.


And as said, most of the individual application changes inside the System Settings, such as Keyboard layout changing or user management is due to the Gnome 3 changes thus has nothing to do with Ubuntu.

The new "Screenshot tool" does something cool (highly relative :D). Now whenever you take a screenshot, itll output a camera shutter sound + will "white" the heck out of your screen too :).

Ehh... what was that all about! :D...
And as many knows, Ubuntu 11.10 comes with a backup software by default called DejaDup which you can access via the System settings which will be appreciated by many for its simplicity and usability.

Other minor changes includes such as: the default image viewer is the one comes with Gnome desktop thus if you wan to crop, etc then youll have to use the Shotwell (which is also installed by default).

LibreOffice still comes without the "indicator menu" support. If they cant find a work-around that... it could be a bit disappointing when 11.10 comes out.


Oh one more small thing, the Terminal window now has a small White strip around it (as in the below screenshot) which looks awesome!. Since this is still one of the most widely used utilities in GNU/Linux... I think most would love it.


The "System Settings" menu has also received few new options. Now you can use it to configure network printers, add a web-cam software (which will take you to installing the Cheese web cam utility in USC), access display settings (another useful update) and startup applications and can configure attached devices directly from the menu as well.


The Shutdown menu is also changed quite a little which now lets you reboot as well.


How was the performance??

Well, I didnt measure the seconds but things were noticeably faster (startup/boot, etc) and the new LightDM theme also loads fast (looks good too). If you use AMD fusion chips, then 11.10 comes with the latest builds of the Kernel 3.0 which brigs enhanced support for these never chips (including ARM). Im also quite pleased with the open-source ATI/AMD GPU driver which worked really well under Compiz without any issues whatsoever + it detected my monitor this time correctly.

As always, if you want the best performance, then I highly suggest that you install the proprietary driver.

But Im not entirely happy with the ACPI since the Fan on my netbook kept running in  a decent speed (even while I wasnt doing anything at all) but I cannot blame this on Ubuntu since it could be some issue with the Kernel and most probably is related to my hardware specifications.

To be honest Ive been one of these that criticized the Unity desktop for sometime but after using it for sometime + when looking at the changes in the 11.10, although they arent that "huge", but from a users perspective these small changes do make a difference and I actually love the Unity desktop. 

But as with Gnome Shell, Unity has its issues and some absolutely hate it (which is totally understandable, but for me personally it only needed just a little getting used to).

But if youre an average computer user or someone whos new to GNU/Linux and still learning about Ubuntu and other stuff from scratch and looking for a professional looking GNU/Linux distribution thats slightly faster than the predecessors + which is user friendly too: then I gotta say that I was a bit wrong about the Unity interface and even though its still at its beta stage, yet, I think Ubuntu 11.10 looks really good.

So if you cant even wait till its out officially... then other than installing it in commercial environment I think its really stable (although Nautilus 3.1 crashed ones, yikes!) enough that you can give it a try, safely :). Good luck.

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Friday, September 8, 2017

Ubuntu Linux 16 10 Yakkety Yak Beta 2 open source OS now available for download

Ubuntu Linux 16 10 Yakkety Yak Beta 2 open source OS now available for download


 
Next month, one of the most important desktop operating systems will get a major update. No, I am not talking about Windows or macOS; I am referring to Ubuntu. True, from a market share perspective Linux-based desktop operating systems are rather insignificant, but for those in the know, Canonicals open source OS is quite brilliant. Its fans and users are very loyal and passionate.
 
Today, the final beta of the upcoming Ubuntu Linux 16.10 becomes available. While this version -- dubbed Yakkety Yak -- will not reinvent the wheel, it should offer enough to delight existing users of the open source operating system. Hey, if its not broke, why fix it, right? That is a lesson Microsoft learned the hard way with Windows 8, but I digress.
 
"Codenamed Yakkety Yak, 16.10 continues Ubuntus proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work through this cycle, introducing new features and fixing bugs", says Steve Langasek, Developer, Canonical.
 
Langasek further says, "the beta images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of 16.10 that should be representative of the features intended to ship with the final release expected on October 13th, 2016".
 
While there arent many new aspects, there are some significant changes. The Linux kernel has been updated to 4.8 and the included GNOME apps have all been updated to 3.20 and higher. The wonderful LibreOffice is now at version 5.2.
 
If you are ready to download Ubuntu 16.10 Yakkety Yak, you can use the below links. Desktop users will most likely want to select Ubuntu Desktop (Unity), but I recommend Kubuntu and Ubuntu GNOME too. Want to install Google Chrome on the operating system? You can follow our how-to guide here.
  • Ubuntu Desktop (Unity)
  • Ubuntu Server
  • Less Popular Ubuntu Images
  • Ubuntu Cloud Server
  • Ubuntu Netboot
  • Kubuntu
  • Lubuntu
  • Ubuntu Studio
  • Ubuntu GNOME
  • Ubuntu Kylin
  • Ubuntu MATE
Photo Credit: da_o/Shutterstock
 
~ Brian Fagioli

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Ubuntu 16 10 Beta 2 for Intel Baytrail and Cherrytrail Devices

Ubuntu 16 10 Beta 2 for Intel Baytrail and Cherrytrail Devices


UpdateThis page refers to earlier work and my latest ISOs and kernel upgrade scripts can be downloaded from my latest post.

Ive decided to re-spin my Ubuntu 16.10 Beta 2 ISO with a kernel that supports HDMI audio and wifi on any Intel Baytrail or Cherrytrail device. The kernel and ISO were developed for Intel Compute Sticks and this version hasnt been extensively tested on multiple devices simply due to the fact that I dont own them! As your mileage may vary depending upon device there are two options available.

The first option is to download my ISO from https://goo.gl/a9fh4L and write to a USB (use Rufus on Windows or dd on Linux). You can then try Ubuntu and/or perform a fresh installation.

Ubuntu 16.10 Beta 2 ISO


The second option is to download just my kernel and upgrade your existing installation. First download the shell script from https://goo.gl/c7ef41 and after making it executable (enter chmod 755 linuxium-install-yakkety-kernel-4.8.0-14-linuxium-linuxium.sh) you can install it as root (by entering sudo ./linuxium-install-yakkety-kernel-4.8.0-14-linuxium-linuxium.sh). Note that the disadvantage of this approach is that you will need to find and install the wifi firmware files in order to get wifi working on a Baytrail device. This is something I can look at fixing later.

Additionally Ive released an upgraded kernel: 4.8.0-17.19 called linuxium-install-yakkety-kernel-4.8.0-17-linuxium-linuxium.sh which can be downloaded from https://goo.gl/yzqqnV for those wishing to be on the very latest release. Another thing I can look at removing is the abundance of the text linuxium at a later stage.

Acknowledgements: Canonical Ltd. (Ubuntu), Pierre-Louis Bossart (HDMI audio), Linuxium (v4.8 HDMI audio), Daniel Bilik (C-state), Bastien Nocera (WiFi) and Larry Finger (Bluetooth).

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Wednesday, September 6, 2017

Ubuntu 15 04 Beta 2 Released Ready for Download

Ubuntu 15 04 Beta 2 Released Ready for Download


ubuntu-desktop
Ubuntu 15.04 Beta 2 is now available for download and testing
The release is the second and final beta in the Ubuntu 15.04 development cycle and will be followed by a Release Candidate build on April 16, ahead of the final release on April 23. 
Beta 2 is of particular interest as it is the first milestone release that the regular Unity-using version of Ubuntu takes part in.

What�s New in Ubuntu 15.04 Beta 2

Now, before anyone gets too giddy about seeing what�s new, remember that Ubuntu 15.04 (Vivid Vervet) is a �maintenance release� and will be largely similar to the 14.04 LTS and 14.10 releases made last
Bug fixes, polish and small usability improvements are the Vivid Vervet�s calling card. Even the most significant change to take place in Ubuntu for a few years, the move to SystemD as the distribution�s init system, is largely imperceptible.

Unity 7.3

Ubuntu�s default desktop shell Unity receives a fresh round of refinements this release cycle.
Locally Integrated Menus (LIM) are enabled by default in Ubuntu 15.04, embedding app menus inside the window border rather than placing them at the top of the screen � though it�s only with this beta that locally integrated menus show up on unfocused windows.
A small change as it may be it is, as we noted when the �Always Show Menus� option arrived in January, one that addresses the concerns some users had over the disappearing mouseover menus discoverability for newcomers.
If you don�t like locally integrated menus you don�t have to use them. A switch in the System settings > Appearance > Behaviour allows menus to go back to the old behaviour, so anyone who prefer their menus tucked neatly at the top of the desktop can quickly revert to their preferred way of working.
The Dash, HUD and logout/shutdown dialog now show up correctly over fullscreen windows, and minor adjustments to the animations on login and logout should make for a faster startup and shutdown experience.

Compiz 0.9.12

The well-worn Compiz window manager gains a much-needed fix from nVidia that solves issues of blank or black windows for users with the Nvidia proprietary driver enabled.
Compiz now supports the MATE desktop fully, complemented by a refresh of the gtk-window-decorator for Gnome2 support.

Application Updates

Beta testers will also find updated versions of Ubuntu�s core default app set, including the Firefox web-browser, Thunderbird e-mail client and Rhythmbox music player.

Download Ubuntu 15.04 Beta

To download Ubuntu 15.04 Beta 2 (and bearing in mind all the usual caveats that come from running beta-quality software) head over to the official downloads page.
Download Ubuntu 15.04 Beta 2

Ubuntu 15.04 Beta 2 � Flavors

Shipping their own beta wares alongside Ubuntu proper is the family of official flavors, including the newly appointed Ubuntu MATE.
The change logs for a few of these, Lubuntu and Xubuntu in particular, are fairly minimal with only a few package updates, misc improvements and bug fixes between them.
Other members are packing more substantive changes this cycle.
ubuntu mate 15.04
Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Beta 2 balms the teething issues that blighted its inaugural beta, with a few minor changes introduced as a result.
The latest versions of Folder Color and Caja (the MATE file manager) actions are both now installed by default and there�s a new lock keys applet for keyboard aficionados to get acquainted with. The MATE Menu applet is also now available as is improved support for those wanting to use Compiz desktop effects.
On the application side the Cheese webcam app has been replaced with the lighter and less fancy guvcview, but an app still great for snapping a quick desktop selfie and the new drop-down Terminal app Tilda. 
Download Ubuntu MATE 15.04 Beta 2
kubuntu 15 04
Kubuntu 15.04 Beta 2 continues to impress visually with the new Plasma 5.2 desktop enabled by default, while the suite of KDE Applications 14.12.2 offers a solid and reliable set of core apps. LibreOffice 4.4 and Firefox 36 also come preloaded.
Download Kubuntu 15.04 Beta 2
GNOME Weather & Maps in 3.14
Ubuntu GNOME 15.04 Beta 2 ships with last October�s GNOME 3.14 desktop shell and associated apps out of the box. While not as shiny as this weeks GNOME 3.16 release (schedules are to blame) it offers a broader set of improvements over the mix of GNOME 3.10 and 3.12 used for its 14.10 release.
As with other community flavors, Ubuntu GNOME 15.04 also comes with the latest versions of popular apps and features a new default wallpaper.
Download Ubuntu GNOME 15.04 Beta 2
Remember: beta releases are intended for testing and feedback purposes rather than daily use. They are not production-ready. You may encounter bugs, find missing or broken functionality and experience quirks will using them.
You can keep yourself and the rest of the world up to speed on Ubuntu�s release plans by sharing our handy graphic on Twitter.

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Thursday, August 31, 2017

Ubuntu 11 10 Oneiric Ocelot Beta 2 is Released!

Ubuntu 11 10 Oneiric Ocelot Beta 2 is Released!


Its been like 2 or 2.5 weeks since Canonical released the Ubuntu 11.10 beta 1 and few hours ago theyve released the last of the "testing versions", the 11.10 Beta 2!. This is the last of all "tests" and all that remains is the official release of the Oneiric Ocelot, scheduled at 13 October 2011 (man Im so excited!, I can criticize, etc... a lot to write about :P).

With this release theyve finally made it possible to fit it inside a standard CD (about 695MB for the 32-bit version) and more ARM architecture support has been added (via different disk images). Below are few of the new updates in the 11.10 Beta 2 version

*. Gnome 3 has been updated to the latest beta 3.1.9 which is on its way to the official Gnome Shell 3.2 released. A quick remainder for those of you whove been just woken up from your hibernation sleep ;-), remember, Gnome 3 is well supported in Ubuntu but it is not included in the default CD disk image. But you can install it via the online Ubuntu repositories nonetheless.

*. Includes the Kernel 3.0.4 version.

*. Comes with the Mozilla Firefox 7.0 beta 6.

*. And Thunderbird 7.0 beta 3.

*. Synaptic is removed (as most knows) but also the default video editor PiTiVi has also been removed.

*. LightDM with a new theme.

*. Banshee 2.2.0.

*. Shotwell 0.11.1.

These are the usual main apps to remind and as usual the Ubuntu Software Center is also updated with some bug fixes, etc as well. All the other official Ubuntu derivatives such as Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, etc have also released their Beta 2 version simultaneous to this release too.

As mentioned, from now, since the CD disk image fits into a 700MB CD, now you can download the beta 2 and use it as a LiveCD rather than the USB version with some of the previous "alpha and beta" versions.

If interested, you can get it from this official release page. Good luck.

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Wednesday, August 30, 2017

Ubuntu 15 04 Vivid Vervet Final Beta Available For Download

Ubuntu 15 04 Vivid Vervet Final Beta Available For Download


Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet final beta was released today, bringing quite a few changes, like locally integrated menus (LIM) by default, upstart was replaced with systemd by default as well as various other improvements and fixes. Lets take a look at whats new!

Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet screenshots


Changes in Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet final beta


Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet final beta comes with quite a few menu changes. Firstly, LIM (locally integrated menu) is now the default menu type:

Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet screenshots

Locally integrated menus are displayed in the windows titlebar for unmaximized windows, instead of the previous default Unity approach, which was to always display the menu on the top panel. LIM was introduced with Ubuntu 14.04 as an alternative to Unitys Appmenu (global menu), but its not used by default in either Ubuntu 14.04 or 14.10.

LIM uses autohide by default however, there are some new options which allow you to change its behavior. Most importantly, you can now disable the autohide feature for both LIM as well as the previously used default Unity global menu. This option is available via Dconf Editor: com > canonical > unity and enabling "always show menus".

Furthermore, LIM was tweaked and it now allows accessing the menus of unfocused windows, a feature that wasnt avaialble until now. Thanks to this, you can directly open the menu of an unfocused window by clicking on it. If you dont like this behavior, you can disable it via Dconf Editor: com > canonical > unity > integrated-menus > unfocused-windows-popup.

If you prefer the old default global menu (Appmenu), you can easily switch back to it, by going to System Settings > Appearance and on the Behavior tab, under "Show the menus for a window", enable "In the menu bar".

Yet another menu improvement in Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet is the addition of JAyatana by default - this provides AppMenu support for Java Swing applications:

Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet screenshots

Other Unity and Compiz changes include:
  • Dash, HUD and the logout dialogs now work over fullscreen windows;
  • tweaks to animations for faster startup and shutdown experiences;
  • fixes for various problems that occur with the nVidia proprietary driver (mostly blank or black windows);
  • many bug fixes and small improvements.

Another change, not visual but a very important one nevertheless, is that Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet switched to booting with systemd by default, replacing upstart. This change affects Ubuntu desktop along with all Ubuntu desktop flavors as well as cloud/autopkgtests (snappy was already using systemd).

This change occurred on March 9 and back then, Martin Pitt said that the plan is to use systemd for a few weeks and if "there are too many or too big regressions", Vivid will be reverted to boot with upstart by default. So the final Ubuntu 15.04 release will most probably boot with systemd by default, but theres still a (minor) chance it wont.

Im using Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet for a couple of weeks and I didnt encounter any issues with systemd, though some users have reported issues with it, like a very long boot time, but hopefully everything will be fixed for the final release. What I can tell you from my test is that my laptop not only boots just as fast with systemd as it did with upstart, but the shutdown process is now very fast - around 2-3 seconds, while before this change, it sometimes took more than 8-9-10 seconds.

And finally, Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet final beta ships with various theme improvements, like support for GTK 3.14, better CSD apps integration (though THIS bug still occurs) and more:

Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet screenshots

... as well as a new default wallpaper:

Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet screenshots


Applications / packages


Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet final beta ships with the following default applications: Nautilus 1:3.14.2, Firefox 36.0.1, Thunderbird 31.5.0, LibreOffice 4.4.1, Ubuntu Software Center 13.10, Gedit 3.10.4, Totem 3.14.2, Rhythmbox 3.1, Empathy 3.12.8, Transmission 2.84, Deja Dup 32, Shotwell 0.20.2, Brasero 3.12, Evince 3.14.2, GNOME Terminal 3.14.2, GNOME System Monitor 3.15.91 and Eye of GNOME 3.14.3, on top of Unity 7.3.1 (+dailybuild) and GTK3+ 3.14.9. 

Here are screenshots with a few of the core GNOME apps that were updated to version 3.14 in Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet:

Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet screenshots

Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet screenshots

Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet screenshots

Under the hood, Vivid final beta ships with Mesa 10.5.0, Xorg server 1.17.1 and the Ubuntu Linux Kernel 3.19.0, based on the upstream 3.19.2 Linux Kernel.

Vivid final beta ships with GTK 3.14.9 and not the latest 3.16 (and mostly GNOME 3.14 apps as you can see from the list above) because GNOME 3.16 was just released and Ubuntu 15.04 had its feature freeze on February 19th. However, at least some important applications were updated to version 3.14, like Nautilus (Ubuntu 14.10 has Nautilus 3.10), GNOME Terminal (Utopic has an ancient version: 3.6.2) and Totem (Utopic has version 3.10.1).

Also, GNOME Shell 3.14.4 is available in the repositories (and available by default in Ubuntu GNOME 15.04 Vivid Vervet final beta, obviously), along with the 3.14 version of GNOME Control Center, GNOME Settings Daemon, GDM and most GNOME apps like Maps, Weather, Clocks, Bijiben, Music, Photos, Boxes as well as GNOME games like Mines and Sudoku.


Download Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet final beta


Before downloading it, remember that Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet is in beta, so you may encounter issues, especially with the recent switch to boot with systemd!

Download Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet final beta | release notes

Ubuntu flavor downloads/release notes:
  • Xubuntu
  • Kubuntu
  • Ubuntu GNOME
  • Lubuntu
  • Ubuntu Kylin
  • Ubuntu MATE

Ubuntu 15.04 (stable) will be released on April 23rd and it will be supported for 9 months.

Are you using Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet? Whats your experience with it so far?

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