Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Final Beta Released

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Final Beta Released

Posted by timothy on Friday March 25, 2016 @02:42AM from the double-secret-probation-beta dept.

prisoninmate writes: Canonical pushed the first-ever public Beta ISO images of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus), which the company calls "Final Beta" builds, and it looks like they ship with Linux kernel 4.4.6 LTS, the ability to move the Unity Launcher to the bottom of the screen, though, the option remains hidden, for now, the LibreOffice 5.1.1 office suite, GNOME Software as the default package manager, and GNOME Calendar as default calendar app, which supports Google Calendars as well. Official flavors like Ubuntu Studio, Kubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu GNOME, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, and Unbuntu Kylin had also participate in the Beta 2 release. Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and its official flavors are currently scheduled for release on April 21, 2016. (Xenial is kind of a cool word, too.)

69 comments

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 02:46 · Score: 4, Interesting

I think this one may finally be the Windows 10 killer. With all the Office functionality, modern web browsers, professional programming tools combined with ease of use and great hardware compatibility there's really no reason not to make the jump. There's probably some concern in Redmond this morning.
1. Re:Windows 10 killer by Junta · 2016-03-25 02:56 · Score: 2
  
  Though I'm on board with the sentiment, the truth is that vision has been the case for the last four to six years. Nothing about this release particularly changes the equation. One exception being office functionality, MS Office churns and there's many subtle incompatibilities to contend with.
  
  --
  XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
2. Re: Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 02:56 · Score: 0
  
  I'm excited the network manager openvpn stuff actually works on this release! Yay!
3. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 02:58 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry, no. The office functionality is still nowhere near office. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting and that is the one thing that is holding me back. I opened a word document with LibreOffice recently, saved it, and now it is corrupt to everything but LibreOffice. The Word document had some additional bells and whistles (referencing and formatting for APA 6 standards) so maybe that was what it was due to. And before you say that I should just keep it in ODF - businesses and schools just simply don't accept that. As soon as I see Office on Linux, I will move and never look back. I don't care if I have to pay for it just as I do now. It is the ONLY thing keeping me on windows.
4. Re: Windows 10 killer by pdvalentini6650 · 2016-03-25 03:03 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  That is overoptimistic. This release is not that different from the last one besides the LTS. It was not a Windows 10 killer back then and it is not going to be now.
5. Re:Windows 10 killer by ausekilis · 2016-03-25 03:05 · Score: 1
  
  You'll be waiting a long time then. There was a push a few years ago for a "standard office document format". Libre/Open Office pushed the open document format (their default these days), while MS tried to push an MS XML format. The end result of all the conflict seems to be we have an Open office format, and MS did their little pity party with minimal support for ODF, and still pushing their proprietary format.
  
  With Office on Android, there may be slightly less of a wait... but I doubt we will ever see a full-on Office on Ubuntu or any linux distro.
  
  I buy that businesses and schools don't accept ODF... but they often accept PDF and in some cases insist on it. You could also go web-based with Google Docs or Office365.
6. Re:Windows 10 killer by squiggleslash · 2016-03-25 03:15 · Score: 1
  
  Office 365 Online works fine under GNU/Linux in Firefox FWIW. Though personally I don't find it good enough, it does strange things with tables for example (which render perfectly fine in preview mode but not when editing the document... and this is true regardless of browser/platform, I saw the same behavior in Edge)
  Office seem to be taking the dumb-it-down approach these days, while LibreOffice seems to be focusing on usability without losing core functionality. I'm not actually opposed to what Office is doing, I think the Office Mobile apps in particular are a pleasure to use, but LibreOffice does, for one, seem to be doing it just a little bit better, albeit more slowly.
  As for your corruption issues, I have no idea, but there are doubtless a variety of solutions including saving in other formats that the two suites share. These kinds of issues are mostly inevitable and a good reason not to keep switching suites mid project.
  
  --
  You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
7. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 03:39 · Score: 0
  
  Adobe CS is still the king as well. If CS was available on linux, I'd have moved over. GIMP and Inkscape are pretty good, but they aren't equivalents.
8. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 04:16 · Score: 0
  
  If it's anything like Ubuntu 14.04 LTS it's going to be a steaming pile of shit compared to Windows. When I tried 14.04 the system updated the video drivers at first boot and then booted to a black screen. With no way to even get a terminal I had to nuke the partition and decided to put Windows 7 on it.
9. Re: Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 04:40 · Score: 1
  
  M$ office isnt even compatible with itself at this point.
10. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 04:50 · Score: 1
  
  Sounds like a PEBCAK.
11. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 04:58 · Score: 0
  
  Yeah, I only did it as a test case on one of my documents to see if LibreOffice was good enough. Office 365 online works OK, but the formatting still goes funny (as you state) and you cannot do anything "high end" on it - and as you probably know, it might be a bit of a challenge to format something in the document and hope that it looks right in preview mode (which is how it usually looks in standard offline word).
12. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 05:01 · Score: 0
  
  If web based were feature rich like the offline version, I would do it in a heartbeat. The collaboration that you can do through it is astounding. Unfortunately, it seems it is just a bit better than an editor that does RTF. As far as the PDF thing - all entities I deal with require it in word format. Wish I could do it in PDF.
13. Re:Windows 10 killer by imbusy · 2016-03-25 05:27 · Score: 1
  
  I actually wanted to switch to Ubuntu instead of upgrading to Windows 10, but I also use a headless desktop and a laptop as a thin client. Windows 10 simply has much better support for remote desktop. I wrote down my experiences here: https://medium.com/@imbusy/rem...
14. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 05:54 · Score: 0
  
  I think this one may finally be the Windows 10 killer.
  
  Sorry, but no. At this point, if Windows 10 can't kill itself, then no flavor of Linux will be able to kill it. The past few months have already proven that Microsoft's userbase is to accept any abuse Redmond can imagine, so why would they say the safe word now?
15. Re:Windows 10 killer by Billly+Gates · 2016-03-25 06:51 · Score: 1
  
  I think this one may finally be the Windows 10 killer. With all the Office functionality, modern web browsers, professional programming tools combined with ease of use and great hardware compatibility there's really no reason not to make the jump. There's probably some concern in Redmond this morning.
  And probably twice as stable too :-)
  Oddly I tried WIndows 10 for the last time earlier this week. VIsual Studio couldn't install any phone or Android SDKs in hyper-v and the icons are not even in the taskbar. Windows 8.1 with a start menu program it is unfortunately. Sigh ... there is no way it will be ready this Summer when the free cutoff is.
  But in a more serious note
  Serious linux fans but NO.
  We had 15 years. No apps, with the exception of 10 it just works and continues to work, comes with pc, our jobs require profeciency in that platform, and for a non programmer (Even programmer) lots and lots of world class apps. Office, Adobe suite, pro engineer, skype, GPO objects, active directory, and Visual Studio which includes Gnome and Android app development (no you did not misread that). Oh, for my Hyper-V as it is a type-1 hypervisor unlike the now defunct VMWare workstation which is no longer supported and the aging Oracle Virtualbox. I run my Unix vm's under that which Liinux and FreeBSD have Hyper-V guest services packages.
  I plan to run Ubuntu this way.
  
  --
  http://saveie6.com/
16. Re:Windows 10 killer by Billly+Gates · 2016-03-25 06:56 · Score: 1
  
  Online is not an ideal or feature complete way to do office full time. It is a great tool to view and do a few edits on another pc but that is about it. Now if Office 2016 supports Windows 10 better then maybe Redmond can be a great killer.
  
  --
  http://saveie6.com/
17. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 07:33 · Score: 0
  
  Having seen the same exact thing happen on multiple versions of multiple distros across multiple hardware combinations, I can safely say that this can occur without the user fucking anything up.
18. Re: Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 08:11 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  If anything is a Windows 10 killer, it's Windows 10 itself.
19. Re:Windows 10 killer by Medievalist · 2016-03-25 10:03 · Score: 1
  
  Having seen the same exact thing happen on multiple versions of multiple distros across multiple hardware combinations, I can safely say that this can occur without the user fucking anything up.
  Feel free to link your bug reports.
  Oh, right, it's just not worth your time to report problems with free software. You're much too busy to help out other people who are willing to give you the products of their labor for free. What was I thinking.
20. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 10:11 · Score: 0
  
  in my common case, theres every reason to not make the jump:
  All the Windows only programs, including the games.
21. Re:Windows 10 killer by thegarbz · 2016-03-25 10:13 · Score: 1
  
  Online is not an ideal or feature complete
  Define feature complete. Quite frankly when I look at the move by private people, businesses, schools and government institutions to Office365 I pretty much consider it "good enough" for most applications.
  The GGP mentioned referencing as a feature that broke it. To be perfectly honest I thought common practice that when you're writing a document complicated enough to need that kind of feature set defaulted to LaTeX. I was mocked for writing my thesis in Word and the referencing features were the single biggest headache I have, and if I had my time again I would have just gone with LaTeX in the first place.
22. Re:Windows 10 killer by Blaskowicz · 2016-03-25 10:25 · Score: 1
  
  I used to have the virtual consoles (ctrl-alt-f1 etc.) show as blank, depending on the video driver and the configuration. I even used the console while "blind" on at least one occasion (and could do what I needed such as killing something or restarting Xorg)
  That was pretty specific though (specific to Xorg version and Ubuntu/Mint version and the graphics card)
  Also, often times the console technically works perfectly but text at 2048x1536 is not fun to read (that's the fun little habit of running at highest resolution possible it has)
  The situation of GP was likely salvageable but how to do it ought to not be a desktop user's business.
  Still, for quite some time Linux Mint's Release Notes have instructed how to boot with "nomodeset", a common workaround to make the video driver at least work (if only so you can upgrade/downgrade/change it), features be damned.
  We would rather do without such problems but there are a handful errata / little things like that, if they can be kept to a very small handful it's not entirely terrible. One other example would be very recent wifi (USB dongle) doesn't work.
  If Ubuntu 14.04 or other is a pile of shit for that, then you could say Windows 7 is a pile of shit because after installation it's stuck at 800x600 (or 1024x768 if you're lucky) on some old laptop.
23. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 22:54 · Score: 0
  
  That souns like Ubuntu. Why people still use it at all I dont know.
24. Re:Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-26 02:20 · Score: 0
  
  I think this one may finally be the Windows 10 killer.
  The biggest Windows 10 killer is (and will continue to be) Windows 10.
25. Re:Windows 10 killer by greenfruitsalad · 2016-03-26 03:22 · Score: 1
  
  that has held you back? i've been using ms office without a single problem on gnu/linux for the last 10 years (occasionally needed at work).
  step 1) apt install playonlinux
  step 2) start playonlinux and click the big INSTALL button
  step 3) select Microsoft Office and follow prompts
  this process has been that easy for at least 10 years. first, i used plain wine, then i paid for crossover, now i use playonlinux which is free.
26. Re:Windows 10 killer by vandamme · 2016-03-26 04:52 · Score: 1
  
  Yeah, if you could actually buy PCs with it.
  Although if you look really hard, you can get a Dell XPS 13 with Ubuntu for $101 less than with Windows. A real win-win-win (the third win being not paying money to Microsoft to help advertise Windows).
27. Re:Windows 10 killer by imort.kz · 2016-03-31 17:19 · Score: 1
  
  I’m afraid it’s a wishful thinking and nothing more. It will be an ‘OS for not-almost-geeks’, maybe for those who interested, but definitely not for everyone. If you’re using Office, and have attracted to Word/Excel/Outlook, you can’t just start using LibreOffice without much pain, if you’re usual user. You’ll just look for that, try something, probably face a problem you didn’t know how to deal with, and return back. And of course, casual users just didn’t need ‘professional programming tools’ at all. I have an experience of installing Kubuntu for my relatives while they used this old laptop only for web-browsing, and it was normal (it was before the iPad era begins), but you can guess: ‘Hey, I’d bring this cool card game from my friend on my flash why can’t I run it on my laptop?!’ What I want say is that if Ubuntu will be absolutely brillliant OS far better that all others by any means, even that will not means quick and easy migration from Windows to Ubuntu. It’s just because of old habits and existing workflows for almost all of us. I really glad that there is an option here, and you can try and choose, but you didn’t need to be extra optimistic, I heard this song about Ubuntu and Linux for 15 years at least. I also reviewed this topic shortly here.
28. Re: Windows 10 killer by Anonymous Coward · 2016-04-02 13:57 · Score: 0
  
  There is a multi platform program called abiword that may help you
Re:LTS by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 02:56 · Score: 0

Long Term Support, in case you aren't just being shitty.
What gcc is it baselined with? by Helios030 · 2016-03-25 02:56 · Score: 1

What is the baseline gcc for this?
1. Re:What gcc is it baselined with? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 03:07 · Score: 0
  
  5.3.1. http://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/gcc
2. Re:What gcc is it baselined with? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 03:14 · Score: 1
  
  gcc 5.3.1 see there: http://packages.ubuntu.com/xenial/gcc
ugly duck by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 02:57 · Score: 1

Man, I look at screenshots from Ubuntu 6 to 9, and it was so pretty and functional. From 10 onwards things seemed to start to go down the drain, and now the thing looks so damn ugly and, even on fast computers, it feels slow (even when it isn't really slow).
And I know people joke about the default desktop background looking like vomit, but it really does look unpleasant, and the desktop looks constricted and claustrophobic even on big screens, in a way that Gnome 2 never did.
I never really liked Ubuntu, I went almost straight to Debian, but I regret the way it's going. Ubuntu doing well was good for every other distribution and for Linux and free software as a whole.
1. Re:ugly duck by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 03:37 · Score: 0
  
  While the desktop background can be changed by anyone, even my technology-oblivious spouse said that Unity is ugly and she does not need all that crap on her desktop. Swapping Unity for Gnome2 is not hard, but rooting out all the unity packages now increasingly embedded into the system is a hassle. Time to jump the ship. I am thinking Mint Xfce.
2. Re: ugly duck by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 03:41 · Score: 0
  
  I love the current Ubuntu color scheme, although I agree that Unity seems very cramped. I usually just go for gnome-session-fallback or Ubuntu Mate with the Ubuntu purple/black/orange color scheme. Both of those options are super fast.
3. Re: ugly duck by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 04:44 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Kubuntu. All the package mgmt and interoperability of Ubuntu with an awesomely usable and customizable KDE desktop.
4. Re:ugly duck by bmo · 2016-03-25 04:50 · Score: 1
  
  Or you can simply not install Unity and go with a different desktop.
  >mint XFCE
  If you're hopping distros because of the default desktop, you're doing it wrong.
  --
  BMO
5. Re:ugly duck by Threni · 2016-03-25 06:29 · Score: 1
  
  How do you "not install unity" on an Ubuntu install? Surely it's easier to get mint?
6. Re:ugly duck by JackieBrown · 2016-03-25 06:41 · Score: 1
  
  How about xbuntu?
  http://xubuntu.org/
  Here is a whole list of options
  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Ubuntu...
7. Re:ugly duck by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 07:04 · Score: 0
  
  It seems Xubuntu is doing something wrong. They are supposed to be more light-weight, not eat more memory! This might be an experiment error but until this is debunked I am staying away from Xubuntu.
8. Re:ugly duck by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 07:08 · Score: 0
  
  I would not call switching to an Ubuntu derivative "hopping distros". I am also worried that Ubuntu team is making too many changes too rapidly which cannot good for overall stability, and I did have some issues with the latest updates.
9. Re:ugly duck by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 07:57 · Score: 0
  
  Your reference is from 2009. There is no question that Xubuntu uses less memory than Unity. And Lubuntu uses even less.
10. Re: ugly duck by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-26 03:51 · Score: 0
  
  What aorexic 1980's systems are you using that RAM is at such a premium?
Still comes with Amazon crap by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 03:26 · Score: 1

Still comes with an Amazon icon installed... Ubuntu is still not "free"
1. Re: Still comes with Amazon crap by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 03:57 · Score: 1
  
  How does an icon that links to Amazon not make it free?
2. Re: Still comes with Amazon crap by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 05:03 · Score: 0
  
  Look at Google....
Consistency by danielcolchete · 2016-03-25 04:47 · Score: 3, Interesting

I really like how consistent Ubuntu is, how they always deliver on their promises. In exactly two years we will be posting about 18.04, witch is very similar to 17.10. It's really something you can rely on, you always know what you are getting.
It's super how they do it with all the new versions of everything! I'm moving from Debian to Ubuntu on my data centers (3) this year, probably will go with 14.04 at first, but should follow soon with 16.04. Kernel 4.4 brings a lot more performance for people with 10K+ TCP connections in a server and 14.04 already have that! With Debian/Centos/RedHat we would have to wait a few years as they don't support those things officially.
I really like how you can trust Ubuntu on their support.
1. Re:Consistency by Bengie · 2016-03-25 08:28 · Score: 3
  
  http://kernelnewbies.org/Linux...
  
  TCP implementation has been refactored to make the TCP listener fast path completely lockless. During tests, a server was able to process 3,500,000 SYN packets per second on one listener and still have available CPU cycles
  
  Thanks for the heads up!
2. Re:Consistency by AntiSol · 2016-03-25 22:28 · Score: 1
  
  they always deliver on their promises
  Like this one?
  Don't get me wrong, Ubuntu has done a lot of great things and overall they've been a very positive thing for the Linux world, but they're not all awesome and they're far from perfect.
Will SecureBoot be enforced? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 05:01 · Score: 0

So have they finally fixed the issues with the boot loader (GRUB) not verifying that it's booting a signed kernel when using UEFI and SecoreBoot?
Hibernate by kervin · 2016-03-25 05:08 · Score: 1

Will my laptop support hibernate/resume as Windows 98 did?
1. Re:Hibernate by JackieBrown · 2016-03-25 06:43 · Score: 1
  
  Depends on the laptop. Same as on window 98 an onward
This is the year of the Linux Desktop! by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 05:27 · Score: 0

Finally! Er... wait! No, I'm not falling for THAT again!
Launcher by christurkel · 2016-03-25 06:40 · Score: 1

The launcher positioning on the bottom is great but unless they changed something, autohide is broken. You can set it to autohide but the hot corners are still for the left side option only.

--

CDE open sourced! https://sourceforge.net/projects/cdesktopenv/
The Linux Desktop is here already by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 07:02 · Score: 0

I've been using Linux desktops for years. Works flawlessly. Ive recently been forced by work to use Windows and I have had more problems then I ever had in the past.
The only things I've had problems with are the "let's make it more like windows" crap. If I wanted a windows desktop I'd use windows. If I wanted free windows, I'd use my work laptop.
windows has only made progress when it abandons its boat anchor of a legacy and presses on. why should linux tie itself to that boat anchor?
I want to use a command line, I can make things work by connecting seveal small programs via pipes. It works, it is efficient, it is usable.
32bit UEFI support? by Blaskowicz · 2016-03-25 07:21 · Score: 1

This gonna be a rather big issue. Netbooks are the cheapest laptops around again, this time they are ultra-flat. They feature tablet-like hardware (2GB RAM soldered to the motherboard, eMMC) and come with Windows 10 32bit.
An example is Asus with Atom Z3735F
Want a Windows 10 killer? The 32bit bootloader support ought to be there for final or even beta.
1. Re:32bit UEFI support? by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 09:05 · Score: 0
  
  That is a 64bit machine. There is zero reason to install a 32bit version of Linux on it.
2. Re:32bit UEFI support? by Blaskowicz · 2016-03-25 10:02 · Score: 1
  
  I'm referring to the specific caveat that 32bit UEFI only accepts 32bit bootloaders (and 64bit UEFI only accepts 64bit bootloaders).
  The processor now is invariably 64bit (on x86 consumer hardware) but the issue stands.
  If some 32bit bootloader that loads a 64bit linux kernel is hacked up, that's okay, job is done. The pressing problem is of early booting. It's the only reason to bring that up.
  In fact from what I gather, some people have got 64bit linux (Ubuntu daily build) to run on some 32bit UEFI system, while the 32bit version of the distro doesn't run (perhaps lacks some GPT support).
  Also.. to maximize CPU performance, 64bit version is better. To minimize RAM use and even save a bit of storage (due to no need for :i386 libraries installed for some apps) 32bit version can be prefered, and it's low RAM / low storage machines here.
Re:LTS by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 07:34 · Score: 1

Lennart's Testing Software
First ever! by dfsmith · 2016-03-25 07:39 · Score: 1

The New York Times published its first-ever public 2016-03-25 newspaper today. Hey, this "first-ever" adjective is fun!
Re:Inb4 systemd trolls fill their diapers by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-25 08:10 · Score: 0

And the systemd devs continue to use social pressure exclusively to support their otherwise unsupportable pile of garbage.
Ubuntu MATE by Artemis3 · 2016-03-26 05:51 · Score: 1

For you there is Ubuntu MATE. I consider it the first choice for others to try linux first.
Gnome2 was abandoned by the gnome devs, but others took the code, fixed bugs and kept developing on. That is what the MATE Desktop Environment is. Anytime you miss Gnome2, think of MATE.
Plus Ubuntu MATE happens to have some of the MATE developers directly involved, they have a goal of friendly and familiar first, just like Ubuntu used to.

--
Artix
Your Linux, your init.
updated? by xuvetyn · 2016-03-26 12:13 · Score: 1

what about Ubuntu/BSD?

--
alive to the universe, dead to the world
not really a new thing by Anonymous Coward · 2016-03-26 12:54 · Score: 0

The only reason Win 10 is on my machine is games. For almost every other purpose Linux has done it just as well, if not better most of th time. Same can be said about XP, to present
Ubuntu GUI by KirillSolovey · 2016-03-31 08:23 · Score: 1

Such a long discussion, seems like you people have been waiting for it for ages))) To upgrade to Ubuntu 16.04 Final Beta from Ubuntu 15.10 go https://help.ubuntu.com/commun.... Read how to operate through GUI : https://serversuit.com/communi...