Ubuntu 18.10 Beta Now Available For Testing The Cosmic Cuttlefish

The Ubuntu 18.10 Beta was released today for the official desktop, server, and cloud products. As well, 18.10 betas are out today for Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu.

It's been a busy Ubuntu 18.10 cycle while for desktop users the most evident change is the new default theme for the GNOME Shell session. Ubuntu 18.10 brings many "under the hood" upgrades from the GCC 8 compiler, the big X.Org Server 1.20 release, the new Linux 4.18 kernel, and a lot of other package upgrades.

There have also been various other changes that range from their SDL2 build now working with the Vulkan helpers to LZ4-compressed initramfs. Some of the ambitious changes like shipping GS Connect with their default desktop hadn't panned out for this "Cosmic Cuttlefish" release.

On the server front, the new Subiquity text-based installer is used by default but the old Debian Installer based images are available for those where some functionality is not present in the new Ubuntu server installer.

More details on the Ubuntu 18.10 Beta release via today's announcement. Ubuntu 18.10 is expected to officially ship on 18 October.