Ubuntu 12.04 “Precise Pangolin” Beta 1 Is Released

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the first beta release of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Long-Term Support) Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products.

Codenamed “Precise Pangolin”, 12.04 continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution. The team has been hard at work throughout this cycle, introducing new features and fixing bugs.


This release introduces a new set of images for the ARMv7 “hard float” ABI, denoted as armhf. There are still some armel images around, as we finish the migration, but 12.04 for ARM will be based on armhf.

The technology that allows GPUs to go into a very low power consumption state when the GPU is idle (RC6) is now enabled by default for Sandy Bridge systems, which should result in considerable power savings when this stage is activated.

The CD image size has been adjusted to 703MB to squeeze in every bit of package goodness we can on the installation CD images.

With Ubuntu 12.04, Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, and Ubuntu Studio also reached Beta 1 status today.


Ubuntu Changes
————–

Some of the new features now available are:

* A new way to quickly search and access any desktop application’s
and indicator’s menu, called the HUD, can be accessed by taping the
Alt key and entering characters.

* Unity setting can now be configured by the System Setting panel, and
Nautilus support has been added to the Unity launcher.

* Support for ClickPad devices has been enhanced an now when a button
is pressed on the trackpad surface, a second finger may be used to
drag the cursor.

* The default music player has been switched to Rhythmbox, which again
includes the UbuntuOne music store.

* LibreOffice has been updated to 3.5 beta 2. Please report any
regressions that you notice.

* When installing packages through the software center, the corresponding
language support packages are now installed automatically as well.

Please see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/ for details.


Ubuntu Server and Cloud Images
——————————

* Improvements to OpenStack, LXC, and server provisioning have been
included.

* The identity service (Keystone) used by OpenStack for authentication (authN)
and high-level authorization (authZ) was updated to Keystone-light
(redux branch).


Ubuntu Core
———–

Ubuntu Core is a minimal rootfs for use in the creation of custom images,
and now includes ARM hard float (armhf) images. Developers can use
Ubuntu Core as the basis for their application demonstrations, constrained
environment deployments, device support packages, and other goals.


Kubuntu
——-

Kubuntu 12.04 Beta 1 has updated KDE’s plasma and applications to 4.8. In
addition other significant changes include:

* Telepathy-KDE brings improved instant messaging to Kubuntu, offering
easy chat capabilities on Facebook, MSN, GMail and many other services.

* Amarok 2.5 has added an MP3 shop and integration with GPodder, an
online personal podcast archive.

* The Calligra office and creativity suite is now available,
featuring Krita the world’s best painting app and top MS Office file
importers.

Please see https://wiki.kubuntu.org/PrecisePangolin/Beta1/Kubuntu for
details.


Edubuntu
——–

Edubuntu 12.04 Beta 1 now ships the newest upstream version of LTSP 5.3,
offering improved support for fat clients and other improvements. Other
significant changes include:

* Epoptes, the new classroom management software, has an updated
user interface.

* The Ubiquity slideshow has been updated.

* pastebinit and vim are now both installed by default.

For more details on what has changed in Edubuntu 12.04, please refer to
http://www.edubuntu.org.


Xubuntu
——-

Xubuntu 12.04 Beta 1 now uses the new Ubiquity installer. Other significant changes include:

* Alacarte is available by default, and will show all Xfce-related menu
items on Xubuntu as well.

* New wallpaper and other tweaks and improvements to the
looks of Xubuntu are in, including lots of GTK3 fixes for the
Greybird theme.

For more information about the changes in Xubuntu 12.04, please go to http://xubuntu.org/.

Lubuntu
——-

Lubuntu 12.04 now uses Lightdm as the display manager with the default gtk greeter. A new software-center optimized for Lubuntu is now available by default as well.

For more information about the changes in Lubuntu 12.04, please go to https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Lubuntu.


Ubuntu Studio
————-

Ubuntu Studio 12.04 Beta 1 ships a live DVD for the first time, and is properly configured for the lightdm greeter. The XFCE transition is now almost complete, and there is an updated application set for typical desktop tasks (i.e. text editor, movie player, etc)


Please see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/precise/beta1 for more details on the above products.


About Ubuntu
————

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, and servers, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases. A tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.

Professional technical support is available from Canonical Limited and hundreds of other companies around the world. For more information about support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support.

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at: http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate.

Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions really help us to improve this and future releases of Ubuntu. Instructions can be found at: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs.


To Get Ubuntu 12.04 Beta 1
————————–

To upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04 Beta 1 from Ubuntu 11.10, follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/PreciseUpgrades

Or, download Ubuntu 12.04 Beta 1 images from a location near you:

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/download (Ubuntu and Ubuntu Server).

In addition they can be found at the following links:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/precise/ (Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server)
http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/precise/beta-1/
(Ubuntu Cloud Images)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/precise/beta-1/
(Ubuntu DVD, preinstalled ARM images, source)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-core/releases/12.04/beta-1/
(Ubuntu Core)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/12.04/ (Ubuntu Netboot)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/precise/beta-1/
(Kubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/precise/beta-1/
(Xubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/precise/beta-1/
(Edubuntu)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/precise/beta-1/
(Ubuntu Studio)
http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/precise/beta-1/
(Lubuntu)


The final version of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS is expected to be released on April 26, 2012.