16.04 Xenial Xerus Alpha 2 Released For Ubuntu Flavors

[phoronix]

Phoronix: 16.04 Xenial Xerus Alpha 2 Released For Ubuntu Flavors

While earlier this week it was looking like Ubuntu 16.04 Alpha 2 might not happen for the opt-in flavors, it ended up getting released today...

http://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Xenial-16.04-Alpha-2

[Dick Palmer]

Anyone noticed if they've dropped a 4.4 kernel in yet? Tempted to take it for a spin if they have... but not tempted enough to go hunting for the answer myself

[sarfarazahmad]

also what abt unity 8 and mir ? are they in there?

[kaprikawn]

I've not kept up with the progress of Ubuntu, is there any actual improvements to the desktop version in this release? Or is it yet another release of essentially package version number bumps?

I remember when I actually used Ubuntu being excited about releases, this was like Jaunty era, where things actually changed. You saw things like the netbook remix and things like that where Canonical were actually trying to do stuff. Now, I just really can't understand why people bother with this distro (yes, I'm a self-confessed Ubuntu hater).

So where's Mir and Unity 8? Are they even available in test/experimental form?

[bregma]

So where's Mir and Unity 8? Are they even available in test/experimental form?

They've been available in test/experimental since at least 14.10. Just 'apt-get install unity8-desktop-session-mir'. Still requires Free video drivers, just like Wayland.

[Cerberus]

I've not kept up with the progress of Ubuntu, is there any actual improvements to the desktop version in this release? Or is it yet another release of essentially package version number bumps?

I remember when I actually used Ubuntu being excited about releases, this was like Jaunty era, where things actually changed. You saw things like the netbook remix and things like that where Canonical were actually trying to do stuff. Now, I just really can't understand why people bother with this distro (yes, I'm a self-confessed Ubuntu hater).

So where's Mir and Unity 8? Are they even available in test/experimental form?

Online search is off by default in 16.04 LTS and some scopes are removed, you can turn it on if you want it. Ubuntu Software Center is getting an overhaul or will be replaced temporarily with Gnome Software Center. Unity 8 and Mir will be available in experimental form, either as installed later on or maybe also as a separate image, like someone said it is available for a while now but it is becoming more usable since 15.10 cycle, they need to implement installation of X applications via containers, so they are confined, and they will work via XMir, also there is an ongoing evolution of snaps and Snappy base in the Ubuntu that will finally eliminate dependency hell and enable some other nice features like rollbacks, separation of OS from applications etc. That wont be ready for 16.04 LTS. Even when it becomes ready, deb based Ubuntu is not going away, though it will likely be replaced in the future when Snappy base and snaps become a fully viable replacement for all purposes. Snappy Ubuntu Core already powers smart devices, drones etc. When they complete X applications installation and start via XMir with a GUI, you can do it manually now, then Unity 8 may be called a proper beta. There are videos of X applications running on Unity 8 on Youtube, also videos of X applications working on Ubuntu phones. I expect Unity 8 to be in a solid beta form that is usable for daily use by 16.10. GTK applications can run natively on Mir I believe, others need XMir.

[Hibbelharry]

Anyone shouldn't expect anything to special from 16.04 which will be an LTS Release. LTS Release are just not the ones where they put in anything experimental.

Now, I just really can't understand why people bother with this distro (yes, I'm a self-confessed Ubuntu hater).

Ubuntu is in my opionion still are more pragmatic Debian. If you care about media playback or anything else which contains any patent/royalty/trademark concerns, then stuff is missing in debian and present in Ubuntu. I also heavily rely and trust in the Ubuntu ppa Universe, which contains packages for almost anything you could wish. I haven't found an a alternative similar huge ressource in any othe Linux Distribution, including Arch.

[unixfan2001]

Curious. Is anyone else running into issues with the app store in unity 8? I'm trying to install the terminal app. It fails with an incredibly ambigious error message.
"Error. Please..."

I can't even read past the "please" because the scaling is all screwed up and resizing the window will just increase the empty space, not actually reveal more content.

EDIT: NVM. Touch Core Apps is not yet available on 16.04. Shame.