Ubuntu 10.10 "Maverick Meerkat" Alpha 1 Released

While to many it feels like Ubuntu 10.04 was just released yesterday (in reality it's been out for one month), the first alpha release of Ubuntu 10.10 (a.k.a. the Maverick Meerkat) has been released.

Ubuntu 10.10 Alpha 1 doesn't bring too many of the planned changes yet, but it is running against the Linux 2.6.34 kernel (though it will ship with 2.6.35 by default later on), the latest GNOME 3.0 development packages (from the GNOME 2.31 series), the KDE 4.5 development desktop, and other newer packages than what is found in Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (including Phoronix Test Suite 2.6.1).

Those interested in testing out this first alpha of Ubuntu 10.10 can read this Ubuntu.com page. Read the mailing list announcement for the Maverick Alpha 1 download links for Ubuntu, Ubuntu Studio, Xubuntu, Kubuntu, and Ubuntu Server editions.

Planned features for Ubuntu 10.10 include netbook interface improvements with the integration of the Unity Desktop, work on Ubuntu Light, rootless X Server support with an updated X.Org stack, Btrfs file-system support, and many other new features and packages. Ubuntu 10.10 is scheduled for release on 10 October, 2010.