Introduction

Ubuntu GNOME 16.10 (codename "Yakkety Yak") Beta 1 is now available. The development team is proud to offer this first beta to encourage testing to ensure the final release is as good as possible.

Ubuntu GNOME 16.10 will be released October 13, 2016. The next milestone on the schedule is Beta 2. The regular release will be supported for 9 months from October 2016 until July 2017. If you need longer support, we encourage you to use Ubuntu GNOME 16.04 LTS which is supported until April 2019.

Please note that you do not have to wait for a milestone to test Ubuntu. All of our daily images from now until the release date are considered beta and should be usable with the usual warnings about pre-release software.

Getting Ubuntu GNOME 16.10 Beta 1

Download a Disk Image

• Bootable images for standard PCs/laptops/netbooks

Instructions for burning the image to a DVD or USB flash drive can be found on the Burning ISO Howto.

Check MD5SUM for the downloaded ISO

It is recommended to check your image file so your pre-release is as it’s supposed to be. Compare your MD5 checksum with the correct ones found alongside the images.

Beta 1 Highlights

Software Updates

• Ubuntu GNOME 16.10 proudly includes GNOME 3.20. Read the official 3.20 release notes to see what's new.

• Select apps have been updated to their GNOME 3.22 Beta 1 (3.21.90) versions.

• Virtually everything GNOME is at least 3.20. See the manifest for specific version numbers of included software.

• LibreOffice 5.2 is included. Ubuntu GNOME 16.10 now uses the GTK3 version by default (other Ubuntu flavors still use GTK2 or the Qt versions).

• GNOME's Initial Setup utility is included and enabled. It offers an easy way to configure language and online accounts integration on first login.

• The instant messaging app Empathy is no longer installed by default for new installs but it is still available for install.

• The new Characters character map utility is installed by default. If you prefer the older version, install gucharmap.

• The experimental wayland session is included. If your computer supports open source graphics drivers, choose GNOME on Wayland from the gear menu below the password entry from on the login screen.

• Many other bugs have been fixed. Where possible, many bug fixes have been backported to Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. Volunteers are requested to identify other bug fixes that can also be provided to 16.04 as Stable Release Updates.

Known Bugs

New since Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

• Initial Setup utility requires logging out and logging back in after selecting a keyboard layout. Alternatively, you can manually click your new chosen keyboard layout in the top bar.

• Initial Setup utility does not include language chooser (1614816).

• GTK+ 3.20 requires theme developers to make changes to their themes. Many (but not all) popular themes are now compatible with GTK+ 3.20.

Also affecting Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

• Systems using NVIDIA proprietary driver on hybrid (prime) systems might fail to boot (1559576).

• The prompt asking for media removal might not be shown during system shutdown from the install image (966480).

• The Weather app stopped showing results August 24 (1616533). This is expected to be fixed soon.

Feedback

Development of Ubuntu GNOME Yakkety Yak (16.10) is ongoing and bugs are fixed every day. Before reporting bugs, please ensure your system is up to date and you're installing the latest build. For verifying installation related bugs, updated disk images are available from Daily bootable images for standard PCs/laptops/netbooks.

Testing Ubuntu GNOME

More Information about Testing Ubuntu GNOME is here

Contact Us

Ubuntu GNOME Official Channels are here