With only one week left until the final release, Canonical unleashed a few minutes ago the Release Candidate version of the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system. As usual, we've downloaded a copy of it in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes in the Ubuntu 9.10 development. Oh, and once again, we would like to say Happy 5th Birthday, Ubuntu!
What's new in Ubuntu 9.10 RC? Well, this is the last development version of the upcoming Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) operating system and much of the new features that will be part of it were presented here on our website. Nothing really changed from the Beta release, except many bugfixes and lots of updated packages. But, there is a better login screen now, and some nice fade-in/fade-out animation to the boot splash.
As a little reminder, HAL has been replaced by DeviceKit-power, DeviceKit-disks and udev, in order to provide a better power management, better handling of the hotkeys on laptops and better handling of storage devices.
The kernel packages have been updated a lot in the last two weeks, and they are now based on Linux kernel 2.6.31.1. The old linux-restricted-modules package has been replaced by DKMS, and KMS (Kernel Mode Setting) is enabled by default for the owners of Intel's graphic cards.
Ubuntu 9.10 will also bring Quickly, a new piece of software that helps developers easily build and share applications for Ubuntu.
Last but not least, don't forget to spread the world about Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala) by placing one of the countdown timers below, by accessing this website:
· Konqueror Web Browser; · Amarok 2.2; · KPackageKit 0.4.2; · K3b 2 (Alpha 3); · Userconfig 0.9; · QtCurve 0.68.0; · kcm-gtk 0.5.2; · NetworkManager applet improvements; · KDE microblogging Plasma widget; · OpenOffice KDE integration; · Firefox installer; · Message Indicator.
The Karmic Koala Release Schedule:
May 14th, 2009 - Alpha 1 release
June 11th, 2009 - Alpha 2 release
July 23rd, 2009 - Alpha 3 release
August 13th, 2009 - Alpha 4 release
September 3rd, 2009 - Alpha 5 release
September 17th, 2009 - Alpha 6 release
October 1st, 2009 - Beta release
October 22nd, 2009 - Release Candidate
October 29th, 2009 - Final release of Ubuntu 9.10
Download Ubuntu 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Download Ubuntu Server 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Download Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Download Ubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Download Kubuntu 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Download Kubuntu Netbook Remix 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Download Xubuntu 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Download Edubuntu 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Download Ubuntu Studio 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Download Mythbuntu 9.10 RC (Karmic Koala) right now from Softpedia.
Remember that this is still a development release and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended to be used for testing purposes only. Please report bugs to the Ubuntu Bug Tracker.