Second beta release for Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin

The second and final beta of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS has been announced and made available to interested users for testing. This second beta release will be followed, if all goes according to plan, by the final version of "Precise Pangolin" scheduled to be shipped on 26 April.

Most of the major changes in Ubuntu 12.04 LTS are detailed in The H's report on the release of the first 12.04 beta. The second beta sees the kernel updated to a version based on the Linux 3.2.12 kernel and, apparently due to problems with OverlayFS, AUFS has been re-enabled. Beta 2 sees LibreOffice updated to version 3.5.1 and the final version of Firefox 11.0 included, replacing the beta release which was previously shipped. Unity 5.8, the latest version of Ubuntu's desktop shell, has been incorporated and new options for multiple-monitor handling in Unity is now available.

Ubuntu Server now includes RC1 of OpenStack's forthcoming Essex release; that should be replaced with the final Essex release when 12.04 is published. The old unsupported release of Chef, 0.8.16, has been removed from 12.04 at the request of OpsCode; it appears unlikely that a version of Chef will be available to be included in 12.04 by the release.

Additional details in this second beta release, including a list of known problems, can be found in the release notes and in the change log. A list of planned features and changes can be found on the Blueprints for Precise page. Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Beta 2 is available to download for 32- and 64-bit systems. Users testing the release are encouraged to provide feedback and report any bugs that they find.

The current stable release of Ubuntu is 11.10 "Oneiric Ocelot" from October 2011, while the most recent LTS version is Ubuntu 10.04.4 LTS "Lucid Lynx".

(fab)