14 DAY TRIAL // The development team of the Ubuntu GNOME distribution has just released the second and last Beta build of the Wily Werewolf release cycle, as part of today's Ubuntu 15.10 Final Beta releases.
According to the release notes, Ubuntu GNOME 15.10 Beta 2 is here with most of the GNOME 3.16 desktop environment, including the modernized and beautified GNOME Shell 3.16 user interface, the latest and greatest Linux 4.2.1 kernel, as well as experimental support for the next-generation Wayland display server (a Wayland session is now implemented in the login screen).
However, to activate the experimental Wayland session, users will need to install the gnome-session-wayland package from the official repositories, then log out of the current session and choose the new "GNOME on Wayland" entry from the display manager's Sessions section. Please note that, being experimental and all that, the Wayland session supports only open-source graphics drivers.
"We’re preparing Ubuntu GNOME Wily Werewolf (15.10) for distribution in October 22nd, 2015. With this Beta 2 pre-release, you can see what we are trying out in preparation for our next (stable) version. We have some interesting things happening, so read on for highlights, known issues and other information," reads the announcement.
GNOME Photos and GNOME Music apps are on board
The second Beta release of the upcoming Ubuntu GNOME 15.10 (Wily Werewolf) operating system makes some changes in the default set of applications. For example, the Shotwell image viewer and organizer has been replaced with GNOME Photos, the GNOME Music app is now installed by default, the Bluez 5 package has been added for better Bluetooth support, and there's now a new slideshow in the Ubiquity installer.
Lastly, the Adwaita Dark theme has been updated to support the Ubuntu Software Centre app, the GNOME Online Accounts (GOA) component of the GNOME Control Center app has been updated to support syncevolution, and the GNOME Getting Started Guide will now be displayed on the first login for new installations. Download Ubuntu GNOME 15.10 Beta 2 right now from Softpedia, but do not install it on production machines.