Seconda beta per Ubuntu 12.04 che si avvicina sempre più al rilascio stabile previsto per Aprile.
Oltre a Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Beta 2 sono stati rilasciate rilasciate derivate Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Mythbuntu, Ubuntu Studio ed Edubuntu.
Vediamo dunque cosa c'è di nuovo

Ubuntu Kernel

  • Beta-2 includes the 3.2.0-20.33 Ubuntu kernel which is based on the v3.2.12 upstream stable Linux kernel. This is an update from the 3.2.0-17.27 Ubuntu kernel which shipped in Beta-1 (based on upstream stable Linux kernel v3.2.6).
  • As with Beta-1, the Beta-2 kernel no longer carries separate amd64 -server and -generic kernel flavors. These have been merged into a single -generic kernel flavor to help reduce the maintenance burden over the life of this LTS release. i386 systems have had their default kernel changed to PAE. We have also removed the non-SMP PowerPC kernel flavor to help reduce maintenance costs. Hardware coverage is essentially the same between both the SMP and non-SMP PowerPC flavors and any consumers of the non-SMP PowerPC flavor will be automatically upgraded/updated to the SMP PowerPC flavor.
  • Due to concerns surrounding OverlayFS, AUFS has been re-enabled for the Beta-2 kernel. We are warning anyone relying on AUFS that we will continue to advocate dropping AUFS in favor of a sufficient upstream solution at each development cycle.
  • Other notable Beta-2 changes include the addition of seccomp filter patches, an updated AppArmor patch set, misc kernel config changes and bug fixes.

Ubuntu Desktop

New Applications and Defaults

  • The default music player has been switched to Rhythmbox, which again includes the UbuntuOne music store.
  • LibreOffice has been updated to 3.5.1 Please report any regressions that you notice.

Interface updates

  • The System Setting's "Appearance" panel now allows users to easily configure some properties of Unity.
  • Nautilus quicklist support has been added to Unity launcher.
  • There is a new way to quickly search and access any desktop application's and indicator's menu, called the "HUD". Tap the Alt key and enter some letters and words, and it will show the corresponding entries, including some fuzzy matching. Press enter to execute the action. This one is executed on the current focused application as well as all indicator facilities (like managing emails, sound list, quit…). Also it learns from your previous choices to make the search more and more accurate for you.

ClickPad support

ClickPad devices are trackpads where the physical button is integrated into the trackpad surface. Ubuntu Precise now has enhanced support for these devices. When the button is pressed on a ClickPad device, a second finger may be used to drag the cursor.
  • ClickPad support requires extra handling that conflicts with "Click Action" support. Click Actions allow for separate actions when multiple fingers are active on a trackpad. The default Ubuntu settings enable right button behavior when two fingers are in contact with the trackpad surface and the physical trackpad button is pressed. Because of conflicting behavior, ClickPad devices do not support Click Actions in this release.
  • Most Synaptics brand ClickPads are recognized out of the box. Apple MacBook trackpads are recognized as well. Support for Apple Magic Trackpads and more Synaptics brand ClickPads will follow in the next release.

Ubuntu One

  • All new Control Panel provides an installer, setup wizard, ability to add/remove folders to sync, and more
  • Proxy support is now fully functional
  • Ubuntu One music store in Rhythmbox
  • Ubuntu One contacts sync has been removed
  • Nautilus ribbon with enable sync check box has been removed

Other

  • Until Ubuntu 11.10, the Unix group for administrators with root privileges through sudo had been admin. Starting with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, it is now sudo, for compatibility with Debian and sudo itself. However, for backwards compatibility, admin group members are still recognized as administrators.
  • Automatic Apport crash reporting now checks for duplicates on the client side, which will avoid uploading debug data and creating Launchpad bug reports unnecessarily in many cases now.
  • When installing new software through software-center, corresponding language support packages (translations, spell check modules particulat to that software, help files, etc.) are now installed along automatically. This removes the need to open "Language Support" after installing new software.
  • pm-utils now has two new scripts to power down USB and various PCI devices in battery mode. A number of desktop packages were fixed to wake up less often. Both of these reduces power consumption and thus battery lifetime.
  • resolvconf is now used to manage /etc/resolv.conf on all Ubuntu systems. For systems using Network Manager DNS resolution is now done through dnsmasq, which should help split-DNS VPNs and faster DNS resolution. You can learn more here
  • Output from Upstart jobs is now logged to per-job files in /var/log/upstart/, unless the job specifies otherwise by setting console to something other than the default of log (see init(5)).

Ubuntu Core

  • This flavor provides a minimal Ubuntu environment suitable for highly customised installs, and mainly just saw the general version upgrades for the contained packages.
  • In sync with the rest of the Ubuntu ARM images, builds for the ARMv7 hard float (armhf) architecture are now available. This is the supported architecture for all ARM Ubuntu images now.

Ubuntu Server

  • 12.04 Beta 2 is shipping the latest milestones of OpenStack Essex, which is currently at RC1 state. The alignment of the development cycles will mean that 12.04 Final will include the Essex Final release, due April 5th.
  • Openstack component, Keystone is a new, from scratch rewrite this cycle, replacing the existing upstream source from Oneiric / 11.10.
  • Zentyal packaging available in Universe. (928501)
    • These packages are a rename of the existing ebox packages along with a new upstream release fixing known issues in current ebox packages on precise.
  • Chef 0.8.16 (948437) and corresponding Ohai packages (948438) removed from precise at the request of OpsCode.
  • Hadoop charm refoctored to be one charm instead of two based on BigTop packaging.
  • acpid introduced to both Server and Cloud images by default.
  • Made improvements to machine deployment orchestration.
  • OpenMPI 1.5 for ARM available in Universe. (889644)
    • openmpi 1.5 introduces ARM support. As this is an upstream beta, we have not transitioned openmpi in the archive, but instead added a separate openmpi1.5 package for those who wish to use it.
  • KVM, the virtualization solution, is now at version 1.0. It additionally has nested KVM enabled by default, allowing virtualisation experience within cloud instances.

Kubuntu

  • The Kubuntu team is proud to add "Kubuntu Active" as a tech preview, the first Ubuntu flavour designed for tablet devices. It uses KDE's Plasma Active workspace and is currently available as an i386 image.
See more details at the Kubuntu Beta 2 page https://wiki.kubuntu.org/PrecisePangolin/Beta2/Kubuntu

Xubuntu

For more information and download links for stable releases of Xubuntu, go to http://xubuntu.org/

Edubuntu

  • This beta fixes a few issues that were identified in the previous beta release, including improved translations, a new epoptes release and a new LTSP.
  • Edubuntu 12.04 will be the first 5 year LTS release of the Edubuntu project.
  • For this release we focused on quality and stability and refrained from any significant feature improvements.
  • iTalc, our classroom management tool has been replaced by Epoptes, which is more stable and better integrated with Edubuntu and LTSP.
  • LTSP is updated to the new major 5.3 release, fixing many bugs, improving performance, bandwidth usage and providing better fat client support.
  • Freemind and Geogebra were dropped from the default Edubuntu installation in an effort to avoid Java on our DVD. Both of these are still available via the Software Center, but aren't covered by the LTS support term.
  • The KDE version of edubuntu-desktop will only be supported on a best effort basis and isn't covered by the LTS support term either.
  • Edubuntu now includes vim and pastebinit by default to make the command line experience of advanced users more pleasant.
To learn more on Edubuntu and download a stable version of it, go to: http://www.edubuntu.org

Mythbuntu

A pre-release MythTV 0.25 snapshot is now in Precise. The final release of MythTV 0.25 will be uploaded to Precise when it's complete.
  • NOTE: Any MythTV 0.24 versions on your network are incompatible with MythTV 0.25. If you want to test Precise, you will need to upgrade your other machines to MythTV 0.25 as well. See http://mythbuntu.org/auto-builds for information about upgrading earlier Ubuntu releases to 0.25.
  • There have been some upgrade problems found with packages that have changed (mythvideo, libmyth-0.25-0). These are now fixed.
  • There were some logging problems with new rsyslog support. These are now fixed.
  • For more information about what has changed in MythTV 0.25 please see: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Release_Notes_-_0.25

Lubuntu

  • Lightdm is used as the display manager, with the default gtk greeter.
  • A new software-center optimized for Lubuntu available by default.
  • Lubuntu artwork has been updated.

Ubuntu Studio

The Ubuntu Studio Development Team is proud to announce the Beta 2 release for Ubuntu Studio 12.04 (LTS?).
This release marks an incredible progression in terms of development for Ubuntu Studio. Highlights include:
  • live DVD image
  • GUI installation (in lieu of text based per alternate image)
  • new installation slideshow
  • lowlatency kernel installed as default
  • transition to XFCE is 99.99% complete (always that 0.01% to look for)
  • using greybird theme (thanks shimmer, xubuntu devs)
  • slightly revised panel layout
  • new "desktop applications" due to XFCE transition, but not all XFCE apps were choosen
  • improved menu structure
  • better Pulse Audio <-> JACK bridging (i.e. integration)
  • improved ice1712 mixer (envy24control -> mudita24)
  • better (not great) lightdm theme
  • new desktop wallpaper image
Le iso possono essere scaricate ai seguenti indirizzi: