Ubuntu Karmic Koala in First Alpha
The first alpha release of the successor to Ubuntu 9.04 is available for download. Ubuntu 9.10, code-named Karmic Koala, includes Kernel 2.6.30 and GNOME 2.27.1.
Karmic Koala, aka Ubuntu 9.10, is expected to appear in its final version some time in October of this year. Developer Martin Pitt announced its first alpha only weeks after Ubuntu 9.04 shipped.
Alpha 1 is first and foremost for developers only, albeit stable, and as a rule includes a whole bunch of bugs. A collection of prior postings and a chance to subscribe for posting new ones are on the Karmic-changes page.
The alpha currently has the developer version of Kernel 2.9.30, GNOME 2.27.1 and the driver architecture for Intel processors that should migrate from the EXA to UXA acceleration method over the course of the Karmic Koala release cycle.
Ubuntu especially needs testing of the new "kernel mode setting" feature designed to reduce the flicker of video mode switching at boot-up and speed up suspend/resume. Karmic Koala also uses GCC 4.4 as the default compiler, which also went through some fundamental changes.
CD images are available for Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu. There are also images for ubuntu versions for ARM processors, Netbook Remix, MIDs and server systems. Live CD versions are unfortunately not yet available because Kernel 2.6.30 lacks support for the aufs filesystem.
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