Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 Is Out

Digitivity — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 12:10:53 +0000

The latest release of Ubuntu, the easy-to-use Linux distribution, is out. With a version number of 9.10 (which stands for October, 2009), it’s code-named Karmic Koala.

Some features of the new release include:

The Ubuntu Software Center. This is an application that replaces the old Application Add/Remove. It’s nice for browsing available software, and you can install from there too.
Firefox 3.5 Browser
OpenOffice version 3.1
UbuntuOne, a cloud-based file storage and backup service. Ubuntu offers a free 2GB of storage to everyone, with various paid plans after that.
Empathy replaces Pidgin as the instant message client
There’s a new login manager (gdm 2.28) which provides a more integrated login
A revamped Network Manager whose goal is to just have networks work without a lot of fuss
Social network integration, having e-mail, web-mail, IM, and twitter clients all acccessible from a single messages indicator applet running on the top panel.

Some features under the hood include:

Use of DeviceKit instead of hal (hardware access layer) for power management and laptop function keys.
Use of the ext4 filesystem by default on new installations
GRUB 2 as the boot manager for new installations
Non Executable Emulation: Allows installations on computers that don’t have hardware non-executable protection to emulate approximate it.
More applications are build as “position-independent executables”, decreasing the risk of attack by malware
Replacing the input method framework SCIM with IBUS

Download Karmic Koala here.

Digitivity » 9.10

Ubuntu Karmic Koala 9.10 Is Out