12.10Alpha2

Introduction

The Ubuntu GNOME Remix is a mostly pure GNOME desktop experience built from the Ubuntu repositories. The Quantal Quetzal Alpha Release of Ubuntu GNOME Remix 12.10 is a developer snapshot to give you a very early glance at the next version of Ubuntu GNOME Remix.

Get Ubuntu GNOME Remix 12.10

Download Alpha 2

This release is for developers only. The Ubuntu Desktop images are now bigger than a standard CD, and you should use a USB or DVD for installation.

You can download a torrent of the Alpha 2 ISOs below:

GNOME and the Academic Computer Club Umeå University have graciously provided the following standard downloads temporarily. Please use the torrents if possible as they can provide faster download speeds and are less of a burden on the servers.

Jeremy Bicha is providing another standard download mirror:

Images have been produced for 32-bit and 64-bit PCs. Neither ARM nor amd64+mac images will be available unless dedicated testers will volunteer to certify the official Ubuntu alpha/beta/release milestones.

The next planned milestone is Beta, scheduled for the same week as Ubuntu 12.10 Beta 2 (September 27).

What's Included

  • The Ubuntu GNOME Remix ships with the second GNOME 3.6 beta, GNOME 3.5.91.
  • GNOME Shell 3.5.91 and GDM 3.5.91. Among other improvements, the login and lock screen have been redesigned.
  • Web (epiphany-browser).
  • Abiword for word processing and Gnumeric for spreadsheets.
  • Software (gnome-package-kit) is included in this alpha release. It also includes its own update manager. You can install updates by opening Software and clicking Check for Updates in the Software app menu.
  • GNOME Classic (gnome-panel 3) is included but GNOME Shell is the default session if your hardware supports it.
  • Tweak Tool and dconf Editor are provided for customizing advanced settings.
  • Cheese is a fun webcam app.
  • Gwibber allows you to easily connect via social media.
  • The complete GNOME Games collection.
  • Rhythmbox is the default music player.
  • Shotwell is the default photo manager.
  • Useful utilities like Simple Scan and Transmission.

What's Not Included

  • Some GNOME apps will not be upgraded to 3.6 for the 12.10 release. If you want these, try the GNOME3 PPA. Affected apps include Aisleriot, Nautilus, System Settings, and Totem.

  • Web does not support Flash in Ubuntu 12.10 (1001229). If you need Flash, try Firefox or Chromium.

  • Boxes is not included as it didn't seem to be working (1038763) . Also, qemu-linaro (qemu-kvm-spice) doesn't built on i386 in Ubuntu. qemu-kvm with spice support does build in Debian though on i386. (928432)

  • Documents is not included as it currently depends on LibreOffice, at least as packaged in Debian & Ubuntu.

  • LibreOffice is a more powerful office suite.

  • Ubuntu One is not included by default as it doesn't feel like a GNOME app.

  • If you want the GNOME Classic with-effects session to work, install compiz.

  • If you want Ubuntu-style notifications in GNOME Classic, install notify-osd.

Fixed Bugs

Since the last Alpha, these bugs have been fixed:

  • The installer is barely readable with the default Adwaita theme (1044788).

  • Many other installer bugs have been fixed.

  • The login screen persists after log in when GDM is run in fallback mode instead of the fancy GNOME Shell mode (BGO:683068).

  • GDM autologin for the live session has been fixed (1046630).

  • GNOME Shell 3.5.91 has been included.

  • Gnome-shell now works with software rendering (1047828)

  • 3D driver auto-loading when running as a Vmware guest (1039157)

  • Most Ubuntu gsettings overrides have been moved to ubuntu-default-settings (1039792). This fixes the window buttons showing up on the left in GNOME Classic.

Known issues

As is to be expected, at this early stage of the release process, there are some significant known bugs that developers may run into with the Quantal Alpha 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:

  • Booting from the live image displays a "Undefined video mode" error. You can either wait 30 seconds or press the spacebar to skip the wait. The error only seems to affect the live image. (1049650)

  • The system status menu (the "cog" indicator at the far right in GNOME Classic) doesn't show up in some cases or display correctly when using the default Adwaita theme or the accessibility themes (975563).

  • A separate ubuntu-control-center will probably not make it into Ubuntu 12.10 but is still a goal for 13.04.

  • We need a ubiquity-slideshow-ubuntu-gnome (1051162).

  • We need a plymouth-theme-ubuntu-gnome-logo and plymouth-theme-ubuntu-gnome-text.
    • - Maybe a variant of the default wallpaper for the logo theme and an appropriate blue for the text theme
  • We also want a blue version of the purple Ubuntu isolinux art. This is what you see when first booting a Ubuntu image.

  • Virtualbox drm driver fails to auto-load (Debian:686994).

Issues shared with Ubuntu

As the Ubuntu GNOME Remix is based on Ubuntu 12.10, please see the Ubuntu known issues.

Reporting bugs

It should come as no surprise that this Alpha release of Quantal Quetzal 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 have any questions on how to start with helping out with bugs, please read the Bug Squad documentation to learn what constitutes a bug, how a bug is triaged, the life-cycle of a bug, and other information related to bugs. If you decide to help out even more proactively with bugs, not just those in GNOME Remix, the Bug Squad is always looking for new members who are enthusiastic about fixing bugs.

Participate in Ubuntu and GNOME

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

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

More information

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

The GNOME logo and GNOME name are registered trademarks or trademarks of GNOME Foundation in the United States or other countries. The Ubuntu GNOME Remix is not directly produced, endorsed, or supported by the GNOME Foundation.

UbuntuGNOME/ReleaseNotes/12.10Alpha2 (last edited 2012-09-15 06:02:03 by jbicha)