A few minutes ago, the second and last Beta version, as well as the last development release, 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 Beta 2? Well, Ubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 includes newer kernel packages based on the stable Linux kernel 3.0.4 upstream release, the newly released GNOME 3.2 Release Candidate desktop environment, LibreOffice 3.4.3, Mozilla Firefox 7.0 Beta 6, and Mozilla Thunderbird 7.0 Beta 3.
Starting with Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot), Canonical will provide a DVD ISO image that will be considered an extension to the usual CD image. The DVD will contain all the supported translations (language packs) and popular applications, such as The GIMP, InkScape, PiTiVi, and a complete version of the LibreOffice open source office suite.
Ubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 comes with lots of bugfixes, especially for Unity and Compiz, as well as new features, such as a new music lens for Banshee, nicer LightDM theme, improved Unity 2D and full support for Chinese, Korean, Japanese, and other script languages.
Last but not least, OneConf has been added in Ubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 to keep your installed apps in sync across computers. To activate it, go to "File -> Sync between computers..." option in Ubuntu Software Center.
Synaptic Package Manager and PiTiVi have been removed from Ubuntu 11.10, but their are still supported and available for installation in the default software repositories.
Kubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 also includes the Muon Suite 1.2, which contains a set of utilities for installing and managing applications. Muon Suite 1.2 is composed of Muon Software Center and Muon Package Manager, for browsing and installing apps.
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 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.
Download Ubuntu Server 11.10 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.
Download Ubuntu Cloud 11.10 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.
Download Kubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.
Download Xubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.
Download Edubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.
Download Ubuntu Studio 11.10 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.
Download Mythbuntu 11.10 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.
Download Lubuntu 11.10 Beta 2 (Oneiric Ocelot) right now from Softpedia.
Remember that this is a beta 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.