We have a mere 7 days until Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx LTS is released and this morning I got an email from Steve Langasek through the Ubuntu Announcement email list letting me know that they now have a release candidate available for testing.
You can read the release notes on the Ubuntu web site to get the instructions and caveats, along with some known issues. Some of the important new features in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS are (thanks to the OMG Ubuntu! site for their great coverage):
- Built-in integration with Twitter, identi.ca, Facebook and other social networks
- Faster booting with a cleaner look
- New icons and themes as well as some great new wallpapers
- The brand new Ubuntu One Music Store
- Improved cloud computing installer
- Dmraid “fake raid” support right out of the box
Some of the items you may need to pay particular attention to if you’re looking to upgrade from Ubuntu 8.04 Hardy Heron LTS are
- Changes to the GRUB menu.lst
- Wireless regulatory domain via module options is no longer supported since 9.04
- Bonded network interfaces require hotplug-style configuration since 9.10
- Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is still disabled (since 9.04) so you may need to reenable it
- Update notifications changed in 9.04
- MySQL 5.0 has been upgraded to 5.1 in 9.10
- /etc/event.d is no longer used (since 9.10)
As always, this release (while a release candidate) is not necessarily final code and could contain dangerous bugs that could damage your system. Please don’t use it on the computer you use for your daily work without backing it up in the event that you find you need to roll back to your current version or restore lost or damaged files.
You can perform an upgrade to Ubuntu 10.04 LTS if you already use Ubuntu, and download disk images to use in getting Ubuntu 10.04 LTS installed on your system, and we strongly recommend that you use torrents if possible. I snagged the rc from the torrents this morning and had the task finished in almost no time at all.
If you do use the release candidate disk images please report any issues you find with these instructions.
I’d love to be able to tell you that you can request free Ubuntu 10.04 LTS installer disks from shipit.ubuntu.com but ShipIt has been closed for well over a week, despite their promise that it’s only for “a few days”. Meh. Luckily the good folks over at OMG Ubuntu! has news of a way to get free copies of the Ubuntu 10.04 LTS install disks from OS Discs for the next 7 days, although you’re limited to one disk per person. Luckily they can use Google Checkout, complete with letting you keep your email addy from the OS Discs databases. I’ve used Google Checkout for online purchases and have been completely satisfied. I’d take OS Discs up on their offer if I were you.
One more note about OMG Ubuntu! If you’re on Twitter you should definitely follow them to get notified when they post new articles. I hope you’ll also follow me on Twitter.
"
