Ubuntu 8.10 Technical Overview

Introduction

The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the latest and greatest software the open source community has to offer. This is the Ubuntu 8.10 beta release, which brings a host of excellent new features.

Note: This is a beta release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released on October 30th, 2008.

Download

Get it while it's hot. ISOs and torrents are available at:

*

http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/8.10 (Ubuntu)

http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/edubuntu/8.10 (Edubuntu add-on)

http://releases.ubuntu.com/releases/kubuntu/8.10 (Kubuntu)

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/8.10/beta (Xubuntu)

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/8.10/beta (UbuntuStudio)

http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/8.10/beta (Mythbuntu)

Local mirrors are also available:

Africa

* http://bw.releases.ubuntu.com/ (Botswana)

* http://ls.releases.ubuntu.com/ (Lesotho)

* http://mz.releases.ubuntu.com/ (Mozambique)

* http://sz.releases.ubuntu.com/ (Swaziland)

* http://ubuntu.mirror.ac.za/ubuntu-release/ (South Africa)

* http://zw.releases.ubuntu.com/ (Zimbabwe)

Asia

* http://ftp.jaist.ac.jp/pub/Linux/ubuntu-releases/ (Japan)

* http://debian.nctu.edu.tw/ubuntu-releases/ (Taiwan)

* ftp://dl2.foss-id.web.id/iso/ubuntu/releases/ (Indonesia)

* ftp://ftp.corbina.net/pub/Linux/ubuntu-cd/ (Russian Federation)

* http://ftp.cse.yzu.edu.tw/pub/Linux/Ubuntu/ubuntu-cd/ (Taiwan)

* http://ftp.daum.net/ubuntu-releases/ (Korea, Republic of)

Europe

* http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-releases/ (Germany)

* http://mirror.switch.ch/ftp/mirror/ubuntu-cdimage/ (Switzerland)

* http://ubuntu.ipacct.com/releases/ (Bulgaria)

* http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/ (Sweden)

* http://nl.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/ (Netherlands)

* http://ftp-stud.hs-esslingen.de/pub/Mirrors/releases.ubuntu.com/ (Germany)

North America

* http://mirror.anl.gov/pub/ubuntu-iso/CDs/ (United States)

* http://less.cogeco.net/ubuntu-releases/ (Canada)

* http://linux.nssl.noaa.gov/releases/ (United States)

* http://mirror.csclub.uwaterloo.ca/ubuntu-releases/ (Canada)

* http://mirrors.ccs.neu.edu/releases.ubuntu.com/ (United States)

* http://mirrors.easynews.com/linux/ubuntu-releases/ (United States)

Oceania/Australia

* http://ftp.citylink.co.nz/ubuntu-releases/ (New Zealand)

* http://ftp.iinet.net.au/pub/ubuntu-releases/ (Australia)

* http://ftp.netspace.net.au/pub/ubuntu/releases/ (Australia)

* http://mirror.aarnet.edu.au/pub/ubuntu/releases/ (Australia)

* http://ubuntu-releases.optus.net/ (Australia)

* http://mirror.3fl.net.au/pub/ubuntu/releases/ (Australia)

South America

* http://mirror.globo.com/ubuntu/releases/ (Brazil)

* http://ubuntu.c3sl.ufpr.br/releases/ (Brazil)

* http://cl.releases.ubuntu.com/ (Chile)

* http://espelhos.edugraf.ufsc.br/ubuntu-releases/ (Brazil)

* http://ftp.ucr.ac.cr/ubuntu-cd/ (Costa Rica)

Upgrading from Ubuntu 8.04

To upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release '8.10' is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

New Features since Ubuntu 8.04

These features are showcased for your attention. Please test them and report any bugs you find on Launchpad: http://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu .

GNOME 2.24

Ubuntu brings you the newest GNOME 2.24 desktop environment with tons of bug-fixes and new features, some of which include:

*

Nautilus file manager has tab support (by Christian Neumair) and Eject icons for removable drives in Places sidebar (by Stefano Teso, Cosimo Cecchi, Christian Neumair, and others).

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File Roller archive manager now supports ALZ, RZIP, CAB, TAR.7Z file types also (by Paolo Bacchilega and Changwoo Ryu).

X.Org 7.4

X.Org 7.4, the latest stable version of X.Org, is available in Intrepid. This release brings much better support for hot-pluggable input devices such as tablets, keyboards, and mice. At the same time this will allow the great majority of users to run without a /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. A new failsafe X is introduced, to give better tools for troubleshooting X startup failures.

The fglrx and two of the older nvidia binary drivers are not available for X.Org 7.4 yet, so users of these drivers will be automatically switched to the corresponding open source drivers.

Linux kernel 2.6.27

Ubuntu 8.10 Beta includes Linux kernel 2.6.27, a significant release with better hardware support and numerous bug-fixes.

Encrypted private directory

The ecryptfs-utils package was recently promoted to Ubuntu main, with support for a secret encrypted folder in your Home Folder (by Michael Halcrow, Dustin Kirkland, and Daniel Baumann).

You can help test this new feature by going to Applications → Accessories → Terminal and typing:

*

sudo aptitude install ecryptfs-utils

*

ecryptfs-setup-private

Guest session

The User Switcher panel applet (package fast-user-switch-applet) now provides an extra entry for starting a Guest session (by Martin Pitt). This creates a temporary password-less user account with restricted privileges: the account cannot access any users' home directories, nor permanently store data. This is sufficiently safe to lend your laptop to someone else for a quick email check.

Network Manager 0.7

Ubuntu 8.10 Beta ships Network Manager 0.7 (by Dan Williams and others), which comes with long-expected features, such as:

* system wide settings (i.e., no need to log in in order to get a connection)

* management of 3G connections (GSM/CDMA)

* management of multiple active devices at once

* management of PPP and PPPOE connections

* management of devices with static IP configurations

* route management for devices

More information can be found on the Network Manager wiki.

"Last successful boot" recovery entry

On each successful boot, Ubuntu 8.10 will retain a copy of your running kernel and make it available from the boot loader as a "Last successful boot" option (by Ben Collins). This makes it possible for old kernel packages to be safely auto-removed by the package manager, instead of being kept indefinitely.

DKMS

DKMS (by Dell) is included in Ubuntu 8.10, allowing kernel drivers to be automatically rebuilt when new kernels are released. This makes it possible for kernel package updates to be made available immediately without waiting for rebuilds of driver packages, and without third-party driver packages becoming out of date when installing these kernel updates.

Samba 3.2

A lot of new features have been added in Samba 3.2 amongst them:

* clustered file server support

* encrypted network transport

* ipv6 support

* better integration with the latest version of Microsoft Windows™ clients and servers.

PAM authentication framework

Ubuntu 8.10 Beta features a new pam-auth-update tool, which allows simple management of PAM authentication configuration for both desktops and servers (by Steve Langasek). Packages providing PAM modules will be configured automatically, and users can adjust their authentication preferences by running sudo pam-auth-update.