Announcing the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.04

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the Release Candidate for Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop and Server editions and Ubuntu Netbook Remix.  Codenamed “Jaunty Jackalope”, 9.04 continues Ubuntu’s proud tradition of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

We consider this release candidate to be complete, stable, and suitable for testing by any user.

Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop Edition brings faster boot speeds and a new notification system to your everyday computing experience.

Ubuntu 9.04 Server Edition makes it easy to experiment with cloud computing using Eucalyptus on your own servers, and sports an improved mail server integration stack based on postfix and dovecot.

Ubuntu 9.04 Netbook Remix brings a new, easy-to-use interface that is designed to be used on the smaller screens of netbook devices.

The Ubuntu 9.04 family of variants, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, and Mythbuntu, also reach RC status today.

The final release of Ubuntu 9.04 is scheduled for 23 April 2009 and will be supported for 18 months on both desktops and servers.  Users requiring a longer support lifetime may choose to continue using Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, with security support until 2011 on the desktop and 2013 on the server, rather than upgrade to 9.04.

Before installing or upgrading to Ubuntu 9.04 please review the instructions and caveats in the release notes:

Release Notes

In addition, there are a small number of known bugs in the release candidate that will be fixed before the Ubuntu 9.04 release, but warrant highlighting for your attention: Known Issues

About The Release Candidate
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The purpose of the Release Candidate is to solicit one last round of testing before the final release. Here are ways that you can help:

* Upgrade from Ubuntu or Kubuntu 8.10 to the Release Candidate by following the instructions in the release notes referenced above.

* Participate in installation testing using the Release Candidate CD images, by following the testing and reporting instructions at
ISO Testing

Desktop features
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Faster boot times:  improvements to Ubuntu’s start-up process mean you can spend less time waiting and more time being productive with your Ubuntu desktop.

Notification system:  notifications, those alerts that signify a change of status on your system or whether someone is contacting you, have been made consistent across applications to provide a pleasing, intuitive experience for users.

Server features
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Cloud computing:  Ubuntu Enterprise Cloud (powered by Eucalyptus) puts you in control of your own cloud computing security and infrastructure, compatible with Amazon’s Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) but running on your own servers behind your firewall.  Ubuntu Server Edition 9.04 will also see Ubuntu available on Amazon EC2 — making it the most complete cloud environment available today.

Turn-key mail servers:  the dovecot-postfix package in Ubuntu 9.04 provides an all-in-one solution for deploying SMTP, POP3, and IMAP services with integrated server-side filtering support.

Netbook Remix features
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Built-for-purpose interface: favourite applications and websites are just a click away, making Ubuntu Netbook Remix a great choice for netbook users.

Faster boot times: improvements to Ubuntu’s start-up process mean you can spend less time waiting and more time being productive with your Ubuntu Netbook desktop.

Ubuntu Netbook Remix is known to work on these netbook models:
Asus Eee PC 900
Acer Aspire One
Dell Mini 9

Kubuntu features
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Kubuntu, built on the amazing KDE 4.2, brings users a complete, full-featured KDE4 desktop with many new applications and innovations.

Please see Kubuntu Features for details.

Xubuntu features
—————-

Xubuntu comes with the light-weight Xfce 4.6 desktop environment for those who want a desktop that is easy to use, but places particular emphasis on conserving system resources.

Please see Xubuntu Features for further details.

Ubuntu Studio features
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Ubuntu Studio includes updates to input hardware and sound device management from Ubuntu Desktop and a complete suite of tools for generation of audio, video, and graphic content.

Ubuntu Studio 9.04 also features a streamlined installation process, giving you a familiar Ubuntu desktop and all of your studio applications in a
single step.

The realtime kernel flavor (linux-rt) has returned and is again used by default in Ubuntu Studio.  The rtirq script (http://alsa.opensrc.org/Rtirq)
is also now included in the ubuntustudio-audio package.  It is recommended that users not use the new EXT4 filesystem with the linux-rt kernel on production systems due to some reports of instability.

Jack-audio-connection-kit now includes support for the Free Firewire Audio Drivers (FFADO, www.ffado.org).

Mythbuntu features
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As of 9.04, Mythbuntu fits better into the Ubuntu ecosystem by using the same build methods as all other remixes and derivatives.  Because of this, 9.04 has been a focus around stability and preparing for an easy transition to the next version of MythTV (0.22) later this year.

Unfortunately, the main Mythbuntu website, Mythbuntu is temporarily down due to a problem with the hosting provider.  RC images
will still be available at Mythbuntu .  We’ll restore the other mirrors as soon as the main site returns.

A more complete tour of the features new in 9.04 can be found at 9.04 Overview

About Ubuntu
————

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, netbooks and servers, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases.  A
tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included, and an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks away.

Professional services including support are available from Canonical and hundreds of other companies around the world.  For more information about support, visit Support.

To Get the Ubuntu 9.04 Release Candidate
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To upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 Release Candidate from Ubuntu 8.10, follow these instructions:

Jaunty Upgrades

Or, to perform a new installation or try out 9.04 “live” from CD, download the Ubuntu 9.04 Release Candidate here (choose the mirror closest to you):

Asia:

* http://ftp.tcc.edu.tw/iso/Ubuntu/9.04 (Taiwan)

Europe:

* http://ubuntu.univ-nantes.fr/ubuntu-cd/9.04 (France)
* http://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/ubuntu.iso/9.04 (Germany)
* http://ftp.ntua.gr/pub/linux/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (Greece)
* http://ie.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Ireland)
* http://nl.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04 (Netherlands)
* http://es.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Spain)
* http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Sweden)
* http://ubuntu-releases.datahop.it/9.04 (United Kingdom)

North America:

* http://less.cogeco.net/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (Canada)
* http://mirrors.cat.pdx.edu/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (United States)
* http://ubuntu.media.mit.edu/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (United States)

Oceania/Australia:

* http://ubuntu-releases.optus.net/9.04 (Australia)
* http://ftp.citylink.co.nz/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (New Zealand)

Rest of the world:

http://releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Great Britain)

Please download using BitTorrent if possible.  See
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BitTorrent for more information about
using BitTorrent.

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

Participate

Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help turn this Release Candidate into the best release of Ubuntu ever.  Please note that, where possible, we prefer that bugs be reported using the tools provided, rather than by visiting Launchpad directly.  Instructions can be found at Reporting Bugs.

If you have a question, or if you think you may have found a bug but are not sure, first try asking on the #ubuntu IRC channel on FreeNode, on the Ubuntu Users mailing list, or on the Ubuntu forums:

http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-users
http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

More Information
—————-

You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this preview release on our website, IRC channel and wiki. If you are new to Ubuntu, please visit:

http://www.ubuntu.com/

To sign up for future Ubuntu announcements, please subscribe to Ubuntu’s very low volume announcement list at:

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