Big Day for Canonical: Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Final
After reaching the Release Candidate (RC) milestone on the 22nd of October (the same day that Microsoft released the final version of Windows 7 onto the market), Ubuntu 9.10 will today, the 29th of October, be released as a final, stable operating system.
Jane Silber, COO with Canonical, comments: “Ubuntu 9.10 gives users more reasons than ever to seriously consider Linux at a time when many are thinking again about their operating system options. We are delivering a platform for users interested in an easy-to-use, great-looking, web-friendly operating system. A faster, more beautiful boot and login sequence, file and contact synchronisation through online services and great experiences on the most popular notebook, desktop and netbook models continue to drive Ubuntu into the mainstream of computing choices.”
If you’ve followed the evolution of the Karmic Koala, you already know what the operating system has to offer. But in case you didn’t here are some Ubuntu 9.10 highlights:
- To improve boot performance, Canonical has transitioned to Upstart.
- Improved look and feel of the boot up process. The operating system boots up faster and the old animation has been replaced by xsplah.
- Ubuntu Software Center replaces Add/Remove in the Applications menu.
- Gnome 2.28 desktop environment
- Firefox 3.5
- Pidgin has been replaced by the Empathy instant messaging client.
- Seamless application development with Quickly. Developers can come up with new Ubuntu applications and share these apps with other Ubuntu users via .deb packages or personal package archives.
- Images for common use on Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon's EC2
- Ubuntu One: service that provides Linux users Cloud synchronization functionality.
- Linux kernel 2.6.31
- New Intel video driver architecture
- By default, Ubuntu 9.10 Beta uses the ext4 filesystem and the GRUB 2 boot loader
- Improved iSCSI installation process
- AppArmor with better parser which gives it faster initialization on boot speeds.
- Several new profiles have been added.
- AppArmor integration in Libvirt when using KVM or QEMU
- Uncomplicated Firewall with support for filtering by interface and egress filtering when using the ufw command
- Enhanced module loading blocking
- More applications were built as Position-Independent Executables (PIE)
Ubuntu 9.10 will become available for download later in the day on the official Ubuntu webpage here. If you rely on the free Ubuntu CD that Canonical used to hand out, you are out of luck. To cut costs (because CDs don’t grow on trees you know), Canonical has announced that it will provide free CDs only to:
- Local Community team members
- Ubuntu contributors
- New Ubuntu users that set up an account, signed in and requested a CD. This is a onetime deal. Canonical will send you one free CD; the next time you ask for a free CD, Canonical will ask you to download Ubuntu off the web or purchase a CD from the Canonical Store.
Jane Silber, COO with Canonical, comments: “Ubuntu 9.10 gives users more reasons than ever to seriously consider Linux at a time when many are thinking again about their operating system options. We are delivering a platform for users interested in an easy-to-use, great-looking, web-friendly operating system. A faster, more beautiful boot and login sequence, file and contact synchronisation through online services and great experiences on the most popular notebook, desktop and netbook models continue to drive Ubuntu into the mainstream of computing choices.”
If you’ve followed the evolution of the Karmic Koala, you already know what the operating system has to offer. But in case you didn’t here are some Ubuntu 9.10 highlights:
- To improve boot performance, Canonical has transitioned to Upstart.
- Improved look and feel of the boot up process. The operating system boots up faster and the old animation has been replaced by xsplah.
- Ubuntu Software Center replaces Add/Remove in the Applications menu.
- Gnome 2.28 desktop environment
- Firefox 3.5
- Pidgin has been replaced by the Empathy instant messaging client.
- Seamless application development with Quickly. Developers can come up with new Ubuntu applications and share these apps with other Ubuntu users via .deb packages or personal package archives.
- Images for common use on Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (UEC) and Amazon's EC2
- Ubuntu One: service that provides Linux users Cloud synchronization functionality.
- Linux kernel 2.6.31
- New Intel video driver architecture
- By default, Ubuntu 9.10 Beta uses the ext4 filesystem and the GRUB 2 boot loader
- Improved iSCSI installation process
- AppArmor with better parser which gives it faster initialization on boot speeds.
- Several new profiles have been added.
- AppArmor integration in Libvirt when using KVM or QEMU
- Uncomplicated Firewall with support for filtering by interface and egress filtering when using the ufw command
- Enhanced module loading blocking
- More applications were built as Position-Independent Executables (PIE)
Ubuntu 9.10 will become available for download later in the day on the official Ubuntu webpage here. If you rely on the free Ubuntu CD that Canonical used to hand out, you are out of luck. To cut costs (because CDs don’t grow on trees you know), Canonical has announced that it will provide free CDs only to:
- Local Community team members
- Ubuntu contributors
- New Ubuntu users that set up an account, signed in and requested a CD. This is a onetime deal. Canonical will send you one free CD; the next time you ask for a free CD, Canonical will ask you to download Ubuntu off the web or purchase a CD from the Canonical Store.
