Sep 30, 2010 13:14 GMT  ·  By

A few minutes ago, the Ubuntu development team unleashed the Release Candidate (RC) version of the up-coming Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system, due for release in October 10th, 2010. As usual, we've downloaded a copy of it in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes in the Ubuntu 10.10 development.

What's new in Ubuntu 10.10 RC? Well, this is the final development release of the up-coming Ubuntu 10.10 operating system, and everyone should get it and test it! This is almost the same as the final version, which will be released in 10 days from today!

Ubuntu 10.10 Release Candidate comes with the final version of the greatly improved GNOME 2.32.0 desktop environment. The kernel packages have been updated to version 2.6.35-22.23, based on Linux kernel 2.6.35.3.

Shotwell is now the default image viewer and editor, and it replaces F-Spot. Also, Gwibber received support for the new Twitter authentication system, and many other improvements.

The Sound Indicator applet has been greatly improved to include controls for music player. Morover, Ubuntu Software Center and the Ubuntu One service received many enhancements!

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Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.10 RC features the new and amazing Unity interface!

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Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.10 RC on eMachines eM350
What's new in Kubuntu 10.10 RC? Well, the Release Candidate version of Kubuntu 10.10 is built on top of KDE Software Compilation 4.5.1, which brings many attractive features.

PulseAudio is now the default sound server, BlueDevil is the default bluetooth stack, Global Menu has been set by default for Plasma Netbook, Rekonq is the default web browser, and the Ubiquity installer has been revamped.

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Kubuntu 10.10 RC
What's new in Xubuntu 10.10 RC? The Release Candidate version of Xubuntu 10.10 is built on top of the Xfce 4.6.2 desktop environment. It also includes a new wallpaper.

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Xubuntu 10.10 RC
On October 10th, 2010, Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) will become the thirteenth release of the Ubuntu operating system. See you again in 10 days, to celebrate the final release of the Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) operating system!

The Maverick Meerkat Release Schedule:

June 3rd, 2010 - Alpha 1 release; July 1st, 2010 - Alpha 2 release; August 5th, 2010 - Alpha 3 release; September 2nd, 2010 - Beta release; September 30th, 2010 - Release Candidate; October 10th, 2010 - Final release of Ubuntu 10.10.

Download Ubuntu 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Netbook Remix 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Server 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Studio 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Download Kubuntu 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Download Xubuntu 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Download Edubuntu 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu ARM 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Download Mythbuntu 10.10 RC (Maverick Meerkat) right now from Softpedia.

Remember that this is 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.