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Ubuntu 8.04 Beta Has a Brand-New Theme...GNOME 2.22, Linux kernel 2.6.24 and more |
By Marius Nestor, Linux Editor
23rd of March 2008, 20:31 GMT
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The beta release of the upcoming Ubuntu 8.04 (codename Hardy Heron) has been released a couple of days ago and it comes with new technologies, such as ActiveDirectory integration, iSCSI support, memory protection, a brand-new firewall, the
latest and greatest 2.6.24.3 Linux kernel and a brand-new theme (see the image on the left):"The Ubuntu developers are moving very quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. This is the Ubuntu 8.04 beta release, which brings a host of excellent new features. " The following updated components are part of this beta release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS:
￭ Xorg 7.3
￭ Linux kernel 2.6.24-12.13 (based on the 2.6.24.3 kernel) with brand-new features:
- dynticks support for amd64, bringing the same power savings already available on 32-bit systems to 64-bit laptops and desktops;
- the "Completely Fair Scheduler", a new process scheduler introduced in Linux 2.6.23 that provides improved interactive performance.
￭ PulseAudio
￭ PolicyKit
￭ Firefox 3 Beta 4
￭ GNOME 2.22.0
Below is a short overview of the new applications and technologies that will be part of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, but don't hesitate to take a look at our "What to Expect from Ubuntu 8.04" article:
￭ A brand-new theme - based on the old Human one, but powered by the popular Murrine engine! Moreover, a new wallpaper, featuring none other than "The Heron" and a revamped login manager are present in this release.
￭ GNOME 2.22 - which comes with amazing features, applications and technologies such as: Cheese, Window Compositing, GVFS, International Clock, Google Calendar support in Evolution, improved GNOME System Monitor, Remote Desktop Viewer and more!
￭ Firefox 3 Beta 4 - which just replaced Firefox 2 and it is now the default web browser in Ubuntu 8.04!
￭ Transmission - as the default BitTorrent client!
￭ Brasero - as the default CD/DVD burning tool!
￭ Inkscape - as the open source solution which allows you to edit text and graphics in PDF documents!
￭ KVM - is now officially maintained within the Ubuntu kernel. Moreover, libvirt and virt-manager have been adapted to Ubuntu, which offer an easy way to create and manage guests out of the box. The kernel also includes the virtio modifications which should greatly improve guest I/O access.
￭ ActiveDirectory integration - a new technology which enables seamless integration of Ubuntu within an Active Directory network.
￭ iSCSI support - has been fully integrated in the kernel and it allows one to mount iSCSI targets as a block device.
￭ Memory Protection - additional access checks have been added so that /dev/mem and /dev/kmem can only be used to access device memory. This will defend your machine against RootKits and other malicious code.
￭ ufw - a new firewall tool designed to make administering a firewall easier for end-users, while not getting in the way of network administrators. However, ufw is a command-line firewall and we think that it will not be embraced by all users!
￭ umenu - just replaced WinFOSS and the Windows open source software. umenu is a simple launcher that offers you the following possibilities:
￭ install Ubuntu from Windows using Wubi;
￭ install Ubuntu on a partition without having to make their CD-ROM the first boot device;
￭ find out more about Ubuntu.
The known issues in this Beta are:
￭ The kernel in this beta is unable to access CD-ROM devices in some configurations, which may prevent users who were previously able to install Ubuntu from installing this beta from CD media. As a workaround, users can boot the installer with the additional "all_generic_ide" boot option or switch the device from Master to Slave with jumpers;
￭ When installing from the Live CD, selecting a point on the timezone map is difficult as the map moves too quickly;
￭ Hibernation does not work in a Wubi installation. Even if this option is available on the desktop, you should avoid using it;
￭ If you have a Broadcom Wireless card, you will get a Jockey crash at startup. Please upgrade to a newer version after installation.
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. Be sure to read all the above issues and report new ones to the Ubuntu Bug Tracker
Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Release Schedule:
30 November 2007 - Alpha 1 release
21 December 2007 - Alpha 2 release
10 January 2008 - Alpha 3 release
2 February 2008 - Alpha 4 release
23 February 2008 - Alpha 5 release
6 March 2008 - Alpha 6 release
20 March 2008 - Beta release
17 April 2008 - Release Candidate
24 April 2008 - Final release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS
About Ubuntu:
Ubuntu is a Linux distribution for your desktop or server, with a fast and easy install, regular releases, a tight selection of excellent packages installed by default, every other package you can imagine available from the network and professional technical support from Canonical Ltd and hundreds of other companies around the world.
Download Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Hardy Heron Beta right now from Softpedia.
Download Kubuntu 8.04 LTS Hardy Heron Beta right now from Softpedia.
Download Ubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon right now from Softpedia.
Download Kubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon right now from Softpedia.
Download Xubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon right now from Softpedia.
Download Edubuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon right now from Softpedia.
Download Fluxbuntu 7.10 Gutsy Gibbon right now from Softpedia.
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Good (3.0/5) |
5 vote(s) so far |
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User opinions: |
| Comment #1 by: muhammed basheer on 25 Mar 2008, 10:46 GMT |  reply to this comment | The linux ubuntu8.04 is good and very user friendly and protective,very good |
| Comment #2 by: JD on 25 Mar 2008, 14:52 GMT | reply to this comment | Personally, based on that screenshot. I think the new theme is worse then 7.10's, it looks older. |
| Comment #2.1 by: patrick73b on 26 Mar 2008, 12:33 GMT | I do not think the new theme is THAT important, I love Ubuntu with or without a fancy theme. |
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