Introduction
The
Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to bring you the absolute latest
and greatest software the Open Source Community has to offer. The
Karmic Koala Alpha 3 is the third alpha release of Ubuntu 9.10,
bringing with it the earliest new features for the next version of
Ubuntu.
This
is an alpha release. Do not install it on production machines. The
final stable version will be released on October 29th, 2009.
Upgrading from Ubuntu 9.04
To
upgrade from Ubuntu 9.04 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 '9.10' is
available. Click Upgrade and follow the on-screen instructions.
To upgrade from Ubuntu 9.04 on a server system: install the update-manager-core package if it is not already installed; edit /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and set Prompt=normal; launch the upgrade tool with the command sudo do-release-upgrade; and follow the on-screen instructions.
New features in Karmic
Feature development for Karmic is happening with full speed. Please see the Karmic blueprint list for details.
Please test and report any bugs you find:
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 come
from an automatic sync from Debian's Unstable branch. For a list of all
packages being accepted for 9.10 Karmic Koala, please subscribe to
karmic-changes:
GNOME
Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 3 includes the latest GNOME 2.27.4 development release.
Empathy has replaced Pidgin as the default instant messaging client, introducing the Telepathy framework.
The gdm 2.27.4 login manager is a complete rewrite compared to the version in earlier Ubuntu releases.
Kubuntu
Kubuntu includes its first Netbook release, Social from the Start and the latest KDE packages. See the Kubuntu technical overview
Ubuntu One file sharing
Ubuntu Karmic Alpha 3 ships the https://ubuntuone.com/
file sharing service by default, providing tightly integrated file
synchronization of your computer with other computers and the Ubuntu
One network storage service.
Linux kernel 2.6.31
Alpha 3 includes the 2.6.31-3.19 kernel based on 2.6.31-rc3. The kernel ships with Kernel Mode Setting enabled for Intel graphics (see below). linux-restricted-modules is deprecated in favour of DKMS packages.
hal deprecation
Karmic Alpha 3's underlying technology for power management, laptop Hotkeys, and handling storage devices and cameras maps was moved from "hal" (which is going to be deprecated soon) to "DeviceKit-power", "DeviceKit-disks" and "udev". When testing Alpha 3, please pay particular attention to regressions in those two areas and report bugs.
New Intel video driver architecture available for testing
The
Intel video driver has switched from the "EXA" acceleration method to
the new "UXA". This solves major performance problems of Ubuntu 9.04,
but could use further testing to flag any regressions it may bring.
Feedback
about the new "kernel mode setting" feature is also heavily
appreciated. This will reduce video mode switching flicker at booting,
and dramatically speed up suspend/resume. Please see the instructions and feedback page for details.
New default compiler
Karmic uses GCC-4.4 as the default compiler, which in some parts is more strict than GCC-4.3, see list of changes. Please make sure to test packages on karmic or in a karmic chroot before upload.
ext4 by default
The
new "ext4" filesystem is used by default for new installations of
Karmic; of course, other filesystems are still available via the manual
partitioner. Existing filesystems will not be upgraded.
If you have full backups and are confident, you can upgrade an existing ext3 filesystem to ext4 by following directions in the Ext4 Howto
(note that the comments on that page at the time of writing about
Ubuntu's use of vol_id vs. blkid are out of date and are not applicable
to Karmic). Maximum performance will typically only be achieved on new
filesystems, not on filesystems that have been upgraded from ext3.
GRUB 2 by default
GRUB
2 is the default boot loader for new installations of Karmic, replacing
the previous GRUB "Legacy" boot loader. Existing systems will not be
upgraded to GRUB 2 at this time, as automatically reinstalling the boot
loader is an inherently risky operation.
If you wish to upgrade your system to GRUB 2, then see the GRUB 2 testing page for instructions. See also the upstream draft manual.
Some
features are still missing relative to GRUB Legacy. Notable among these
are lock/password support, an equivalent of grub-reboot, and Xen
handling.
Download Alpha 3
Get it while it's hot. ISOs and torrents are available at:
Known issues
As
is to be expected at this stage of the release process, there are
several known bugs that users are likely to run into with Karmic Alpha
3. We have documented them here for your convenience along with any
known workarounds, so that you don't need to spend time reporting these
bugs again:
-
The GNOME login manager (gdm) does not yet have a graphical configuration tool. (395299)
-
If you install Karmic Alpha 3 alongside Windows, the grub boot menu may not offer to start Windows. (402795)
-
If
you have internal hard disk partitions aside from Ubuntu itself, GNOME
will attempt to automatically mount them at startup and ask for your
password. Just cancel the dialog, unless you actually want to work with
them. (396448)
-
The
GNOME desktop displays two mixer applets on the amd64 desktop CD and
alternate installs. It is already fixed in the i386 desktop images, and
will be fixed if you upgrade your system after installing. (401294)
-
Building LTSP client chroots currently fails. (383177)
-
The likewise-open5 package is currently non-functional because of an incompatibility with MIT Kerberos 1.7. The likewise-open package (version 4) continues to be usable, and likewise-open5 will be fixed in the near future. (385475)
-
The Ubuntu Netbook Launcher crashes on shutdown. (395468)
-
The Kubuntu Netbook Edition is missing the "install" icon on the desktop. You can start the installation from the menu. (402878)
-
The Kubuntu Netbook Edition image does not install under Windows (with wubi). (402850)
