Herd3

Revision 25 as of 2007-02-02 13:39:44

Clear message

Introduction

Ubuntu "Feisty Fawn" 7.04 has two and a half more months to go until its release date planned in April 19th, and already many exciting features have been introduced. Herd 3, the third Alpha release kicks off the most active period in the release schedule.

Note: This is still an alpha release. Do not install it on production machines. The final stable version will be released in April 2007.

GNOME Desktop 2.17.90

GNOME has been updated to 2.17.90, the sixth release before 2.18. This includes additional language support, a new Gnome Control Center, and the usual round of bug fixing and general polish.

GNOME Control Center

GNOME Control Center changes settings including fonts, keyboard and mouse properties, sound setup, themes, desktop background, accessibility, and screen resolution.

The new interface in Feisty groups similar tasks, and includes instant search.

attachment:g-c-c.png

Evolution 2.9.4

Evolution 2.94 adds many new features including a vertical preview.

attachment:EvolutionSmall.png

Ekiga 2.0.4

attachment:Screenshot-Ekiga.png

Epiphany 2.17.90

Epiphany is a web browser that's powerful and simple. It uses the same rendering engine as Firefox but integrates more closely with the GNOME desktop. New features in this release include new theming options, bookmarks, history, and menus.

GEdit 2.17.4

GEdit is a graphical programmer's editor with tabs, syntax highlighting, automatic indentation, Unicode support, spell-check, print preview, and a wide variety of plugins. This release includes more intelligent behavior and a half dozen translation updates.

Xfce 4.4

Thunar

Thunar replaces the previous file manager, Xffm. It includes basic file management functionality as well as advanced features, including the ability to rename multiple files at a time and recognition of removable media upon inserting the media or plugging in the drive.

attachment:thunar1.png

Xfce-panel

The Xfce-panel can now support multiple panels out of the box. The new Panel Manager allows for easy configuration of panel preference, including, Transparency and Panel Opaqueness.

Many Panel plugins now run as seperate processes, preventing crashes from unstable plugins from crashing the whole panel.

Preferred Applications

An new and easy way to specify preferred Web Browser, Mail Reader, Terminal Emulator and other apps.

Installation

Ubuntu's graphical installer, Ubiquity, now features a new advanced partitioning tool that integrates partitioning and selection of mount points, and makes the underlying behavior more consistent with that in the alternate install CD's partitioner.

There are still several missing pieces here: the [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Ubiquity/AdvancedPartitionerRewrite graphical disk view] isn't implemented yet; validation doesn't work properly; and it's slower than it should be. Backups are still recommended before using this. If you want to use the old partitioner instead, run ubiquity --old-partitioner from a terminal window.

Desktop search for Ubuntu has developed in leaps and bounds.

Tracker

Now available from Ubuntu repository is the latest stable release of Tracker, a fast small desktop search tool. Version 0.5.4 features incredible indexing speed, very low resource usage, improved mime and text file detection, and FUSE-based filesystem support. Frontend improvements include better deskbar integration and bug fixes.

Beagle

Also available from the repositories is Beagle, a desktop search tool. This version contains bug fixes, memory usage reductions, and a few new backends.

attachment:DesktopSearchSmall.png

Easy Codec Installation

Easy Codec Installation has been implemented in Feisty Fawn Herd 3, When trying to play media files, Ubuntu will try to install the necessary codecs automatically, and start playing the desired file.

attachment:Easy_Codec_Installation.png

Kernel

The latest updates of Feisty's kernel brings with it additional stability and drivers expanding the already large list of hardware Ubuntu supports.

Kernel Virtual Machine

Users with Intel's VT or AMD-V technology can use KVM, which offers fast paravirtualization. This is still in testing and may not make the final release.

attachment:QemuSmall.png

VMware

Feisty's kernel also includes VMware's VMI layer. This is also being tested and may not make the final release.

Download Herd 3

Get it while it's hot. ISOs and torrents are available at:

Reporting Bugs & Testing

Feisty Fawn has bugs! (I bet you're not surprised). Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help fix bugs and improve future releases. Please report bugs through Malone.

If you want to help out with those bugs, the Bug Squad is always looking for help.

If you plan to do an installation of Feisty Herd 3, be sure to head to [https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Testing/ReportingResults Test Reporting Wiki]. With just a few minutes of time at your hands, you can really help to improve Ubuntu. We have two different tests; one takes just a short while, but the other is more thorough.

Participate in Ubuntu

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of ways you can participate at

More Information

You can find out more about Ubuntu on our [http://ubuntu.com website] and [http://wiki.ubuntu.com wiki].

To sign up for future Ubuntu development announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu's development announcement list at:

Previous Herds

Credits

Herd 3 release notes were brought to you by:

  • Martin Albisetti
  • Bryan Karen
  • Tony Yarusso
  • Colin Watson
  • Eldo Varghese
  • Mike MacCana

Feedback

This document is maintained by the Ubuntu Marketing Team. Please feel free to contact us regarding any concerns or suggestions by either sending an email to ubuntu-marketing@lists.ubuntu.com or by using any of the other methods on the Ubuntu Marketing Team wiki page.