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Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) Beta 1 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/b... (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. More Information ---------------- You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this beta release on our website, IRC channel and wiki. To sign up for future Ubuntu announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu's very low volume announcement list at: http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-announce -- ubuntu-devel-announce mailing list ubuntu-devel-announce@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-an... (Log in to post comments)
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) Beta 1 Released. Posted Mar 2, 2012 19:41 UTC (Fri) by xxiao (subscriber, #9631) [Link]
the image for ARM is ubuntu-12.04-preinstalled-desktop-armhf+mx5.img.gz, what does mx5 mean there? is this only for Freescale's imx5 family?
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) Beta 1 Released. Posted Mar 2, 2012 19:50 UTC (Fri) by davidm (subscriber, #35) [Link]
That image is for the FreeScale iMX53 Quickstart board. If you look around a bit you will also find an image for the OMAP beagle XM board and the OMAP 4 Panda board. The OMAP 4 image will also work with the Panda ES board.
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) Beta 1 Released. Posted Mar 3, 2012 21:47 UTC (Sat) by scientes (guest, #83068) [Link]
The armhf userspace will work on any armv7 processor with VFP, but yes, that specific SoC type is what the kernel and boot logic of that image is for.
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) Beta 1 Released. Posted Mar 4, 2012 4:11 UTC (Sun) by rahvin (subscriber, #16953) [Link]
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but from what I understand each ARM architecture requires a separate kernel (and probably complete dist) compile because they all are enough different that you'll have problems though SOC's from the same family may work partially (such as OMAP 3/4/5).
I actually remember Linus complaining about this extensively a few years back, that there is zero standardization in the ARM world except for some similarity between designs based on the same ARM reference design. And as a result you have a huge table of features per SOC that the kernel has to reference during compilation to make sure the executable doesn't end up with features that particular SOC doesn't support.
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) Beta 1 Released. Posted Mar 4, 2012 7:53 UTC (Sun) by geuder (subscriber, #62854) [Link]
ARM is only a blueprint for a CPU and some cells close to it. The SoC implementations do indeed vary a lot, so in practice you end up with a separate kernel for each major SoC family.
For the whole distro (user space) this is not as true. Only floating point causes trouble there, so there you end up with 3 major ways to build your binaries. (only 1 more as in Intel world...)
What Linux was complaining about, was not the multitude of ARMs as such, but the way this was handled in the kernel. Although the SoCs are indeed different in detail, they still more or less implement similar functionality from a software point of view. But because typically one vendor/developer only works with one family of SoCs the high level commonalities were not taken into account too well ending up with a lot of duplicated functionality in the kernel tree. Linux asked for better abstractions and less duplication. That's what I (not being a kernel hacker myself) recall from summer last year. I have not heard anything about the matter since and I would be interested to learn whether there have already been fundamental changes.
Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) Beta 1 Released. Posted Mar 4, 2012 20:51 UTC (Sun) by simosx (subscriber, #24338) [Link]
Code names Posted Mar 5, 2012 11:53 UTC (Mon) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] What? We have to live with this stupid name for 5+ years?!? Why not "Porous Panda", or "Preposterous Panther"? These names stopped being cute sometime around "Fricking Flamingo" or whatever cutesy starting with an "F". Of course, compared with "Beefy Miracle" they almost seems clever...Now seriously, what is it with code names? They do not seem to improve over time...
Code names Posted Mar 5, 2012 12:06 UTC (Mon) by Cyberax (✭ supporter ✭, #52523) [Link]
I'm waiting for the Zealous Zebra, personally. Would it be the last release of Ubuntu?
Code names Posted Mar 5, 2012 12:15 UTC (Mon) by man_ls (subscriber, #15091) [Link] Apparently they roll over and restart with 'A', so we can have more of this "Anorexic Amoeba" nonsense. I would suggest that they switch to the Greek alphabet, so they start with "Alphonse's Alpaca" up to "Omeglic Onager". There are so many alphabets that this scheme might take a few decades to grow old.
Code names Posted Mar 7, 2012 23:31 UTC (Wed) by dfsmith (guest, #20302) [Link]
Given the current Distro size, I was thinking Porky Pig, but there may be trademark issues there....
Code names Posted Mar 10, 2012 11:50 UTC (Sat) by ScottMinster (subscriber, #67541) [Link]
I believe the idea is to make it easier to search for information or problems relating to that specific version. If you search for whatever your problem is and "pangolin", you'll probably get good results. If the distro's code name was a more common animal like "penguin" or "panda", you might get less relevant results.
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