Friday, July 27, 2012

Ubuntu 12.10 Alpha 3 Arrives

The third alpha release of Ubuntu 12.10 is now ready for download. There is some bug fixes, along with some visual improvements.

Various user-visible changes are present, including a new Session Menu, refined Software Updater and 3rd party driver installer. Ubuntu 12.10 final is scheduled for release on October 18th. The first beta is expected on September 6th.

 There is some new, updated packages in this Alpha. Those are listed below.
  • Linux Kernel 3.5
  • LibreOffice 3.6.2 RC
  • Firefox 15 Beta
  • GNOME 3.5.4
One of the most notable parts in this release is the "Additional Drivers" panel being integrated with the "Software Sources" application. Now if you need to install additional drivers, you'll see it in the "Software Sources" application, and not a separate app like other versions of Ubuntu.
New Nautilus
The new, sleeker Nautilus has also arrived in this alpha. It currently does not have very good theme integration in Unity, but then again this is an alpha release. This update has been described as ‘vandalism’ by GNOME co-founder Federico Mena-Quintero.

Session Menu 
As stated before, the "me" and "system" menus have been merged together to create the "session" menu. It is meant to save space, and it does. Joey from OMG! Ubuntu! made this perfect screenshot. As you can see, your name is no longer actually displayed on the menu bar, but now you can see it by clicking the power button/icon.

Software Updater
The Software Updater (Sounds weird, right?) has also gotten some improvements in terms of UI changes. You will now get simpler Windows for when you are checking for updates, and when there is no updates to install.

Install/Download
You can grab various builds of this Alpha release here. Remember, this is an alpha release, so it is advised that you run this in a virtual machine, or just from a live CD/DVD/USB environment.