The distribution is powered by the Linux 4.8 kernel

Oct 13, 2016 14:30 GMT  ·  By

Ubuntu 16.10 is not the only star of the day, as all of its derivatives received new versions, with more or less attractive features, such as Ubuntu MATE 16.10 (Yakkety Yak), which has been announced by project leader Martin Wimpress.

Shipping with Linux kernel 4.8 and the newest MATE 1.16 desktop environment based on the latest GTK+ 3.20 technologies, Ubuntu MATE 16.10 is probably the most important milestone of the official Ubuntu flavor built around the MATE Desktop, a continuation of the beloved GNOME 2 interface that was used by Ubuntu Linux until the launch of the modern Unity UI.

"This has been no small undertaking, we've changed toolkits twice this cycle. First from GTK 2.24.x to GTK 3.18 and then to GTK 3.20. The themes have required two significant upgrades first to support GTK 3.18 and again to support GTK 3.20. We've also upgraded through three MATE Desktop versions this cycle, 1.12 to 1.14, 1.14 to 1.15 and 1.15 to 1.16," reveals Martin Wimpress, GNOME MATE project leader in today's announcement.

Here's what's new in Ubuntu MATE 16.10

Being re-worked from scratch, more or less, Ubuntu MATE 16.10 ships with the ability for users to uninstall default applications without issues. The release includes up-to-date in-house built tools like Ubuntu MATE Artwork 16.10.9 and Ubuntu MATE Welcome 16.10.10, both of which contain a large number of changes that you can view in the official release notes.

Ubuntu MATE 16.10 also brings you the same software versions that are available in the Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) repositories, such as the LibreOffice 5.2 office suite and Mozilla Firefox 49.0 web browser. It's a recommended upgrade for those using Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus), which will receive the MATE 1.16 desktop environment soon via a PPA, but not based on the GTK+ 3.20 technologies.

Download Ubuntu MATE 16.10 for 64- and 32-bit PCs right now!