The entire OS has been rebuilt from the ground up

Jun 30, 2016 21:30 GMT  ·  By

Today, June 30, 2016, Martin Wimpress has informed Softpedia about the immediate availability of the first Alpha release of the upcoming Ubuntu MATE 16.10 operating system, as part of the Yakkety Yak Alpha 1 announcement.

Powered by the same Linux 4.4 LTS kernel as Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus), the first Alpha of Ubuntu MATE 16.10 ships with the MATE 1.14 desktop environment, which was built entirely against the GTK+ 3.18 GUI toolkit to be less resource-hungry, bringing much-improved versions of the MATE Tweak, Software Boutique, MATE Dock Applet, MATE Menu, and Ubuntu MATE Welcome in-house built tools.

"Beaut, beauty! We're stoked to announce Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1, the first distro to ship a fair dinkum MATE Desktop implementation built entirely against GTK3+. Some thought we'd let the kangaroos loose in the top paddock by being the first distro to switch to GTK3+ and it would all come a gutser. But we put in big mobs of effort to ensure it's not complete ball dust. Give it a burl!" said Martin Wimpress in today's announcement.

Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 available for public testing now

Among other changes implemented in the Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 release, we can mention that the GNOME Main Menu featuring an OpenSuSE layout has been dropped, and there are several new wallpapers contributed by the community. Moreover, the Pidgin IM client is no longer installed by default, and it's now finally possible to safely uninstall any and all default apps without the ubuntu-mate-desktop package being removed.

According to Martin Wimpress, Ubuntu MATE 16.10 shares nothing with the Ubuntu MATE 16.04 LTS release, with the exception of the Linux kernel packages, of course, as the team completely rebuilt the operating system from the ground up, thus offering users a GTK3-compatible OS that is more resource-friendly and runs faster. Download Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 right now via our website, but please note that this is a pre-release version, not suitable to become your daily driver.

Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 Welcome
Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 Welcome

Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 (3 Images)

Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 released
Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 WelcomeUbuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 with MATE 1.14
Open gallery