Introduction

The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest and greatest software the Open Source community has to offer. The Precise Pangolin Alpha 1 Release of Ubuntu 12.04 is a developer snapshot to give you a very early glance at the next version of Ubuntu.

Get Ubuntu 12.04

Upgrading from Ubuntu 11.10

To upgrade from Ubuntu 11.10 on a desktop system, press Alt+F2 and type in "update-manager -d" (without the quotes) into the command box. Update Manager should open up and tell you: New distribution release '12.04' is available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.

To upgrade from Ubuntu 11.10 on a server system: install the update-manager-core package if it is not already installed; launch the upgrade tool with the command sudo do-release-upgrade -d; and follow the on-screen instructions. Note that the server upgrade is now more robust and will utilize GNU screen and automatically re-attach in case of e.g. dropped connection problems.

Download the Alpha 1

This release is for developers only. Most of these images are oversize; you can use either a DVD or USB for installation instead of a CD.

You can download Alpha 1 ISOs from:

• http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/precise/alpha-1/ (Ubuntu Desktop and Server)
  http://uec-images.ubuntu.com/releases/precise/alpha-1/ (Ubuntu Cloud Server)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/precise/alpha-1/ (Kubuntu)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/precise/alpha-1/ (Xubuntu)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/edubuntu/releases/precise/alpha-1/ (Edubuntu DVD)
  . http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/precise/alpha-1/ (Lubuntu)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/mythbuntu/releases/precise/alpha-1/ (Mythbuntu)
  

New features in Precise

Please see the Precise blueprint list for details.

Please test and report any bugs you find:

• http://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

Updated Packages

As with every new release, packages--applications and software of all kinds--are being updated at a rapid pace. Many of these packages came from an automatic sync from Debian's Unstable branch, others have been explicitly pulled in for 12.04 Precise Pangolin.

For a list of all packages being accepted for 12.04 Precise Pangolin, please subscribe to precise-changes: https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/precise-changes

Linux kernel 3.2

Alpha 1 includes the 3.2.0-2.5 Ubuntu kernel which is based on the latest mainline v3.2-rc3 release candidate kernel. This is an update from the v3.0 kernel in Oneiric. Some additional highlights include:

• Consolidated amd64 server flavour into generic
• armhf — enable armhf and create the first flavours
• Support for additional ALPS touchpads
• Updated seccomp patch set
• Set CONFIG_PANEL_DVI=y on arm
• Enable CONFIG_EXT2_FS=m
• Build in CONFIG_SATA_AHCI=y
• Built-in xen-netfront and xen-blkfront
• Allow brcmsmac and b43 to both build

General

Until Ubuntu 11.10, the Unix group for administrators with root privileges through sudo had been admin. Starting with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, it is now sudo, for compatibility with Debian and sudo itself. However, for backwards compatibility, admin group members are still recognized as administrators.

Automatic Apport crash reporting has been enabled by default again to catch problems early on. It now checks for duplicates on the client side, which will avoid uploading debug data and creating Launchpad bug reports unnecessarily in many cases now.

Ubuntu

The default music player has been switched to Rhythmbox. There is no UbuntuOne Music Store yet, this still needs to be ported to GTK 3.

Ubuntu ARM

TO DO: ??

Ubuntu Server

TO DO: ??

Ubuntu Server Cloud images

There are no significant changes for Alpha1.

Kubuntu

TO DO: ???

Xubuntu

TO DO: ???

Edubuntu

TO DO: ???

Lubuntu

TO DO: ???

Mythbuntu

TO DO: ???

Known issues

As is to be expected, at this very early stage of the release process, there are some significant known bugs that users may run into with the Oneiric Alpha 1 Release. The ones we know about at this point (and some of the workarounds), are documented here so you don't need to spend time reporting these bugs again:

Boot, installation and post-install

• Sometimes the installer crashes in the middle of copying files to the target system. This mostly seems to happen with installation in virtual machines such as KVM, VMWare, or VirtualBox, but it has been observed on real hardware as well. The workaround is to just re-attempt the installation. (894768)

• On the pre-installed ARM images, sometimes the installer packages are not removed after first-boot setup, which will cause the first-boot setup to be re-run after next boot. The workaround is to manually remove the packages ubiquity oem-config oem-config-gtk jasper. (871785)

• There is no network support on some Beagle board versions. (838200)

Graphics and Display

Desktop

• The background image of the login greeter still says "Ubuntu 11.10". (892394)

Migration

Kernel

Software Center

Ubuntu Server

Ubuntu Cloud

Kubuntu

Edubuntu

Xubuntu

Lubuntu

Ubuntu Studio

Mythbuntu

For a listing of more known issues, please refer to the Precise Pangolin bug tracker in Launchpad.

Reporting bugs

It should come as no surprise that this Alpha 1 release of Precise Pangolin contains other bugs. Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help fix bugs and improve the quality of future releases. Please report bugs using the tools provided.

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

Participate in Ubuntu

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

• http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

More information

You can find out more about Ubuntu on the Ubuntu website and Ubuntu wiki.

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

• http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-announce