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First Beta of Ubuntu's Jaunty Jackalope Now Available

April is fast approaching, and that can mean only one thing -- the jackalopes have returned from wherever it is that jackalopes overwinter, and they're making their way to mirrors and torrents near you. The alpha stage of the Jaunty Jackalope (Ubuntu 9.04) release is now behind us, and the first beta version was sighted on mirrors worldwide just moments ago.

While the world won't see the official Jackalope release until April 23rd, the Ubuntu team invites any interested in Jackalope (bug) hunting to download the beta version and join the party.

The 9.04 release is host to a number of new features, which the Ubuntu developers encourage beta testers to put through the paces (and report back with any bugs or unexpected behavior). The beta version includes the newly released GNOME 2.26 desktop, the latest X.org server (featuring newly transitioned free drivers for a number of video cards), a revamped notification system, and faster boot times.

Jaunty is still a beta version, and as always, installation on production machines is strongly discouraged. Ubuntu developers invite the adventurous to report bugs (as well as offer feedback) on suspend and resume functions, hotkey handling, and the new-to-Jaunty kerneloops daemon.

A few issues are already known to exist in Jaunty, including some Intel video chipset-specific X.org bugs, migration assistant issues, and a problem with mdadm's handling of RAID10 arrays at boot. These bugs are currently under investigation, and those interested in test driving Jaunty are encouraged to look over the full list of known issues on the beta overview page.

• ubuntu
• GNOME
• Canonical
• beta
• developer
• Jaunty Jackalope
• bug test
• Jaunty

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