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Ubuntu 9.04 Beta has been released:

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu 9.04 Desktop and Server editions. 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.



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.

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

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 been made consistent across applications to provide a pleasing, intuitive experience for users.

Please see http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/jaunty/beta for details.

Server features
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Cloud computing: Eucalyptus puts you in control of your own cloud computing 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.

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 https://wiki.kubuntu.org/JauntyJackalope/Beta/Kubuntu for all the details.

Xubuntu features
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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 https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Xubuntu/JauntyJackalope/BetaAnnouncement 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.

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.

See http://mythbuntu.org/9.04/beta for information about the Mythbuntu beta release.

Other
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* On the Desktop: KDE 4.2.1, GNOME 2.26, OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, X.Org server 1.6

* On the Server: Apache 2.2, PostgreSQL 8.3, PHP 5.2.6, LTSP 5.1

* "Under the hood": GCC 4.3.3, glibc 2.9, Linux 2.6.28.8, Python 2.6.1

The full release notes can be found at http://www.ubuntu.com/testing/jaunty/beta

About Ubuntu
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Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for desktops, laptops, 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 technical support is available from Canonical Limited and hundreds of other companies around the world. For more information about support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support

To Get Ubuntu 9.04 Beta
-----------------------

To upgrade to Ubuntu 9.04 Beta from Ubuntu 8.10, follow these instructions:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/JauntyUpgrades

Or, download Ubuntu 9.04 Beta here (choose the mirror closest to you):

Asia:

* http://mirror.unej.ac.id/ubuntu-cd/9.04 (Indonesia)

Europe:

* http://hr.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Croatia)
* http://ucho.ignum.cz/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (Czech Republic)
* ftp://ftp.klid.dk/ubuntu-cd/9.04 (Denmark)
* http://de.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (Germany)
* http://ftp.uni-kl.de/pub/linux/ubuntu.iso/9.04 (Germany)
* http://ie.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Ireland)
* http://nl.releases.ubuntu.com/releases/9.04 (Netherlands)
* http://no.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Norway)
* ftp://ftp.corbina.net/pub/Linux/ubuntu-cd/9.04 (Russian Federation)
* http://se.releases.ubuntu.com/9.04 (Sweden)

North America:

* http://mirrors.cat.pdx.edu/ubuntu-releases/9.04 (United States)
* http://mirrors.gigenet.com/ubuntu/9.04 (United States)

Oceania/Australia:

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

South America:

* http://ubuntu.c3sl.ufpr.br/releases/9.04 (Brazil)

Rest of the world:

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

Please download using Bittorrent if possible.

The final version of Ubuntu 9.04 is expected to be released in April 2009.

Feedback and Participation
--------------------------

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

http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate/

Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions will help turn this Beta 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

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

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
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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