14 DAY TRIAL // Announced at the middle of April 2007, the next version of Ubuntu Linux distribution (7.10, codename Gutsy Gibbon) has already started to stir up a lot of interest among the Ubuntu fans around the world. The Ubuntu team announced today the features that Ubuntu 7.10 will bring in late October this year. Here's a quick overview of the features you will find in Ubuntu 7.10:
Desktop
Ubuntu 7.10 will ship with the latest version of the GNOME desktop (2.20), which will be released a few weeks before the final version of Gutsy Gibbon. On the other hand, Kubuntu will ship with the latest version of the KDE desktop (3.5.7). Moreover, Kubuntu users will have the possibility of installing KDE 4.0 RC2 packages.
Ubuntu 7.10 will be the first distribution to include the newly merged Beryl and Compiz projects, which will be the default window manager on systems that will support it.
Hardware Support
The Linux kernel 2.6.22 with the usual selection of updated and additional drivers will be part of the Ubuntu 7.10 release.
Ubuntu 7.10 will include the most awaited release of Xorg, version 7.3, which brings bleeding-edge features such as:
￭ better graphics hardware support; ￭ hotplug monitors and input devices; ￭ easier configuration; ￭ hotplugging-supported drivers (no xorg.conf).
You should also expect improvements to the Restricted Driver Manager, and the "winmodem" chips will be supported out of the box (where drivers are available).
Mobile
Ubuntu 7.10 will be the first release available for hand-held devices and other mobile/embedded form factors, through the Mobile and Embedded edition.
Server
Ubuntu 7.10 Server Edition aims to attract more and more server administrators and it will bring attractive features for small businesses and organizations. Novel's AppArmor security framework will also be available for those that want it.
Stability and Performance
Last but not least, Ubuntu 7.10 is promised to be more stable and powerful than the previous releases were. The system should work much better when the filesystem is full, allowing the user to make room and continue his work without interruption.
Moreover, Upstart 0.5 will be on board of Ubuntu 7.10 to provide flexible and reliable service supervision. Also, the boot process will "suffer" improvements and reduce start-up time.
The release schedule for Gutsy Gibbon was also made public. The development process started as expected, on June 7th, with the first Alpha release, and it will end somewhere around October 18th with the final release:
￭ June 7th - Tribe CD 1 (first alpha release) ￭ June 28st - Tribe CD 2 (second alpha release) ￭ July 26th - Tribe CD 3 (third alpha release) ￭ August 9th - Tribe CD 4 (fourth alpha release) ￭ August 23rd - Tribe CD 5 (fifth alpha release) ￭ September 6th - Tribe CD 6 (sixth alpha release) ￭ September 27th - Beta Release ￭ October 11th - Release Candidate ￭ October 18th - Final Release
You can download and test this first Alpha version of Ubuntu 7.10 right now from Softpedia.
You can download and test this first Alpha version of Kubuntu 7.10 right now from Softpedia.
You can download and test this first Alpha version of Xubuntu 7.10 right now from Softpedia.
You can download and test this first Alpha version of Edubuntu 7.10 right now from Softpedia.