Ubuntu 8.04 gets ready for beta

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Mar. 17, 2008

The next major, long-term support version of Ubuntu is days away from its first, and only, beta release.

Ubuntu has announced that Ubuntu 8.04 is now in beta freeze. What this means is that no new package changes are going to be allowed in the well-regarded Linux distribution. The only exceptions will be for bug fixes for already known problems.

After all the program packages work together properly in this version, the beta release will be made. At this time, the beta is scheduled for March 20. The release candidate of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS (Long Term Service) should arrive on April 17. The final shipping version is scheduled to go on April 24.

The new Ubuntu, Hardy Heron, will be using the 2.6.24-11.17 Linux kernel. The most significant change in this Linux kernel is that it includes the Completely Fair Scheduler. This is a new process scheduler that's meant to provide better interactive performance. The effect should be to make desktop Linux distributions work faster with foreground applications.

Administrators will be interested in knowing that Ubuntu 8.04's PolicyKit will make it possible to extend to a particular user or user-group the ability to run management applications, for example, network connection management, without needing to grant them the ability to run the entire application as root. This will improve system security, while, at the same time, allow users the power they need to perform frequent tasks without jiggling your elbow.

For an interface, Ubuntu will be using GNOME 2.22. This just-released version of GNOME includes an improved network drive interface, GVFS (GNOME Virtual File System Framework). This is a userspace virtual-file system framework, which enable GNOME applications to access remote file systems easily. So, for example, with it you should be able to read and write to CIFS (Common Internet File Systems) drives, such as those provided by Windows Server 2003 or Samba, as to a local drive.

Ubuntu 8.04 also includes a rich mix of the cutting-edge, open-source applications such as Firefox 3.0, OpenOffice 2.4 and Thunderbird 2.12. Cutting edge really is the right term since versions of two of those applications, Firefox and OpenOffice, are also in beta testing at this time.

Still, if all goes well, come late April, we'll see the newest Ubuntu arrive with the newest, sharpest Linux applications around.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

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