14 DAY TRIAL // This past weekend, Ubuntu Snappy developer Michael Vogt announced the availability of the Release Candidate (RC) development milestone of the upcoming Ubuntu Snappy Core 16 operating system.
For those not in the know, Ubuntu Snappy Core, or sometimes called Ubuntu Core, is a slimmed-down version of the Ubuntu Linux operating system designed to be deployed in various embedded and IoT (Internet of Things) devices, such as Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 single-board computers, but basically any ARM-powered computer.
The Ubuntu Snappy Core 16 Release Candidate build comes approximately five weeks after the release of the Beta version and promises to include various assertion and interface improvements, mount sharing fixes, as well as several other small fixes for bugs reported by users since the Beta.
Ubuntu Snappy Core 16 to launch soon for Raspberry Pi 3, 2 and PCs
If you weren't able to get Ubuntu Snappy Core 16 Beta for your supported device, you should know that the Release Candidate (RC) version is now available for Raspberry Pi 3, Raspberry Pi 2, and DragonBoard 410c single-board computers (SBCs), as well as 64- and 32-bit PCs, and you can download them right now.
While the PC version of Ubuntu Snappy Core 16 is bootable directly in a QEMU- or Virtualenv-based virtual environment, to try out the Raspberry Pi or DragonBoard images you'll need to write them on an SD card using the commands listed below for your reading pleasure.
unxz ubuntu-core-16-pc.img.xz
dd if= ubuntu-core-16-pc.img of=/dev/sdXX
Make sure you replace "/dev/sdXX" in the second command above with the path to your SD card (e.g. /dev/sdc). Please be aware of the fact that your SD card will be wiped by the commands above, so back up any files. Also, try to keep in mind that you'll need your Ubuntu credentials when trying these pre-release images of Ubuntu Core 16.