Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 Has Linux Kernel 3.0 and Firefox 5

A few minutes ago, the second Alpha version of the upcoming Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) operating system was made available for testing by the Ubuntu developers. As usual, we've grabbed a copy of it in order to keep you up-to-date with the latest changes in the Ubuntu 11.10 development.

What's new in Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2? Well, Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 is now powered by the latest development version of the upcoming Linux kernel 3.0, which provides lots of new drivers and better hardware support.

Another good news is that Mozilla Thunderbird 5.0 is now the default email client, replacing Evolution Mail and Calendar. Read more about Thunderbird 5 on Ubuntu 11.10 on our in-depth article.

As expected, GNOME 3 is now default desktop environment, with Unity on top of it. This is how Ubuntu 11.10 looks at the moment. Unity is still there and has been improved, allowing users to tweak it more...

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The good news is that the desktop is accessible again, so users can create folders and access desktop settings...

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The default browser for Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 is now the newly released Mozilla Firefox 5.0.

There's a backup tool included by default in Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2, called Deja Dup, which will allow users to easily backup and restore their important files...

And last but not least, Synaptic Package Manager is still there, is hasn't been removed...

Last but not least, GCC 4.6.1 and a snapshot of Mesa 7.11 are included in this second Alpha release of Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot).

What's new in Kubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2? Well, the developers decided not to release the ISO images for Kubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2. Sorry guys! Below is a screenshot of a daily build of Kubuntu 11.10 tested on a netbook.

Kubuntu 11.10 Alpha 1 Netbook interface

What's new in Xubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2? Well, the second Alpha version of Xubuntu 11.10 features the beautiful Xfce 4.8 desktop environment. LightDM has been added in this release, as default login manager, replacing GDM.

File roller has been replaced by XArchiver, Mousepad was replaced by Leafpad, and Evince replaced by ePDFView.

On October 13th, 2011, Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot) will become the fifthteenth release of the Ubuntu operating system. See you again in one month (August 4th), for the third and last Alpha version of the upcoming Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot). The Oneiric Ocelot Release Schedule: June 2nd, 2011 - Alpha 1 release July 7th, 2011 - Alpha 2 release August 4th, 2011 - Alpha 3 release September 1st, 2011 - Beta 1 release September 22nd, 2011 - Beta 2 release October 13th, 2011 - Final release of Ubuntu 11.10

Download Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Server 11.10 Alpha 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.

Download Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud 11.10 Alpha 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.

Download Xubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.

Download Edubuntu 11.10 Alpha 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia. Remember that this is an alpha 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.