The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

By Geoff
March 21, 2008 in *nix

https://www.edugeek.net/forums/topic/16952-the-ubuntu-team-is-pleased-to-announce-the-beta-release-of-ubuntu-804-lts/

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Geoff

Posted March 21, 2008

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu 8.04 LTS

(Long-Term Support) on desktop and server. Codenamed "Hardy Heron", 8.04

LTS continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest and

greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux

distribution.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Desktop Edition features incremental improvements to

familiar applications, with an emphasis on stability for this second Ubuntu

long-term support release, and is easier than ever to try out with the new

Wubi installer.

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS server follows in the footsteps of Ubuntu 7.10 with even

more virtualization support and security enhancements - enabling AppArmor

for more applications by default, improving protection of kernel memory

against attacks, and supporting KVM and iSCSI technologies out of the box.

The Ubuntu 8.04 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, UbuntuStudio, and

Mythbuntu, also reach beta status today.

Desktop features

----------------

Improved application selection: the GNOME desktop sports a number of

improvements to the default applications, including more feature-full

clients for BitTorrent and VNC, as well as an advanced UI for mastering CDs

and DVDs.

File browsing: an enhanced filesystem layer brings greater performance and

flexibility to Nautilus, the GNOME file browser.

Pluggable audio and video output: the PulseAudio sound server is integrated

in the GNOME desktop for more flexible sound output, and a new Screen

Resolution utility allows easier configuration of multiple video displays.

Wubi installer: a new Windows-based installer option makes it easier than

ever to try out Ubuntu, letting users install a full desktop on Windows

systems without needing to partition their hard drive.

Please see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/beta for details.

Server features

---------------

AppArmor profiles: a greater number of server applications are now protected

by default with AppArmor, a kernel technology that limits the resources an

application is allowed to access, providing added protection against

undiscovered security vulnerabilities.

Memory protection: additional protection now prevents direct access to

system memory through /dev/mem and /dev/kmem, and the lower 64K of system

memory is no longer addressable by default, changes which help to defend

against malicious code. Many applications are also now built as Position

Independent Executables, making it harder for application security

vulnerabilities to be exploited.

Virtualization and iSCSI: KVM is now part of the official Ubuntu Kernel,

which, combined with libvirt, allows for simple and efficient virtualization

on hardware that support virtualization extensions (AMD-V or Intel-VT).

Mounting iSCSI targets is now supported (including in the installer),

allowing Ubuntu to interoperate with this class of cost-efficient Storage

Area Network.

Ubuntu Education Edition

------------------------

Add-on configuration: Edubuntu is now provided as an add-on to Ubuntu

instead of as a separate stand-alone flavor, permitting even greater reuse

of Ubuntu technologies.

Kubuntu features

----------------

Kubuntu comes with the rock solid KDE 3 for those who want a commercially

supported desktop.

For those who want something more exciting, a KDE 4 Remix is available

bringing this cutting edge new version to you first.

Please see https://wiki.kubuntu.org/HardyHeron/Beta/Kubuntu for details.

Xubuntu features

----------------

Xubuntu comes with the light-weight Xfce 4.4.2 desktop environment for those

who want to a desktop that is easy to use, but places particular emphasis on

conserving system resources.

Please see https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardyHeron/BetaAnnouncement/Xubuntu for

further details.

New additions to the family

---------------------------

Two new variants join us for this Ubuntu beta. UbuntuStudio and Mythbuntu

have done releases separately in the past, and with Hardy Heron Beta we're

happy to be able to welcome these fine community projects into the main

Ubuntu release process.

Other

-----

* On the Desktop: KDE 3.5.9, GNOME 2.22, OpenOffice.org 2.4.0rc2, X.org 7.3

* On the Server: Apache 2.2, PostgreSQL 8.3, PHP 5.2.4, LTSP 5.0

* "Under the hood": GCC 4.2.3, glibc 2.7, Linux 2.6.24, Python 2.5

The full release notes can be found at

http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/hardy/beta

About Ubuntu

------------

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, and

servers, with a fast and easy install 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

To Get Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Beta

---------------------------

Download Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Beta here (choose the mirror closest to you):

Europe:

http://gb.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Great Britain)

http://ubuntu.elasztik.hu/ubuntu.bitmind.hu/8.04 (Hungary)

http://it.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Italy)

http://nl.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (The Netherlands)

http://mirror.muntinternet.net/pub/ubuntu/releases/8.04 (The Netherlands)

ftp://ftp.uninett.no/linux/ubuntu-iso/8.04 (Norway)

http://ftp.vectranet.pl/ubuntu-releases/8.04/ (Poland)

http://ubuntu.ynet.sk/release/8.04/ (Slovakia)

http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Sweden)

Asia:

http://tw.releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Taiwan)

North America:

http://ubuntu.osuosl.org/releases/8.04/ (United States)

http://ftp.ussg.iu.edu/linux/ubuntu-releases/8.04/ (United States)

Rest of the world:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.04 (Great Britain)

Please download using Bittorrent if possible.

To upgrade to Ubuntu 8.04 LTS Beta from Ubuntu 7.10,

follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardyUpgrades

The final version of Ubuntu 8.04 is expected to be released in April 2008.

Feedback and Helping

--------------------

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 will help turn this Beta

into the best release of Ubuntu ever. Please report bugs through the

Launchpad bug tracker:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+bugs

If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but are not

sure, first try asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel on FreeNode, on the Ubuntu

Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu forums:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

More Information

----------------

You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this preview release on our

website, IRC channel and wiki. If you are new to Ubuntu, please visit:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

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

Midget

Posted March 21, 2008

beta ey? is this one of those googlesk perpetual betas or is there a RC due in a few months?

cookie_monster

Posted March 21, 2008

The full release is due next month, Ubuntu are pretty good at providing regular releases. Unlike some FOSS apps that never seem to make it to version 1.0

Midget

Posted March 21, 2008

ahhh good, any ideas if this'll be one of the easy to upgrade to ones or will i require a reinstall?

cookie_monster

Posted March 21, 2008

I'm not certain yet but i'd be surprised if you can't ungrade directly from the last LTS version.

Geoff

Posted March 21, 2008

Author

Posted March 21, 2008

beta ey? is this one of those googlesk perpetual betas or is there a RC due in a few months?

Here's the hardy release schedule.

https://wiki.ubuntu.com/HardyReleaseSchedule

ahhh good, any ideas if this'll be one of the easy to upgrade to ones or will i require a reinstall?

There's already info in the Wiki about that.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HardyUpgrades#head-db224ea9add28760e373240f8239afb9b817f197

However I will be doing clean installs where possible, I don't like unneeded cruft on servers. Besides, some of the servers will be coming up for being 3+ years old. So really, I should be replacing them..