Ubuntu MATE 16.04.2 for Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3

An Ubuntu MATE 16.04.2 image for the Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 is now available for download.

The image for the Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 based on the regular Ubuntu armhf base, not the new Ubuntu “Snappy” Core, which means that the installation procedure for applications uses the traditional tools, ie apt-get.

We have done what we can to optimise the build for the Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3, you can comfortably use applications such as LibreOffice, which in fact is a joy to use :-) But the microSDHC I/O throughput is a bottleneck so we highly recommend that you use a Class 6 or Class 10 microSDHC card. Ubuntu MATE 16.04 also fully support the built-in Bluetooth and Wifi on the Raspberry Pi 3 and also feature **hardware accelerated video playback in VLC and hardware accelerated decoding and encoding in ffmpeg

Ubuntu MATE 16.04.2 running on the Raspberry Pi 3

Changes

These are the changes since Ubuntu MATE 16.04 for the Raspberry Pi was release.

• Performance optimised.
  • Added automated first boot partition resizing.
  • Optimised partition offset calculations
  • Optimised filesystem features.
  • Disabled unnecessary services to reduce CPU cycles and RAM requirements.
• Forked and adapted raspi-config to Ubuntu.
  • Added pi-top brightness and power-off support.
• Backported MATE Desktop 1.16.1.
• Backported BlueZ 5.41.
• Backported ffmpeg 3.2 including Raspberry Pi hardware acceleration for MMAL decoding and OMX encoding.
• Backported i2c-tools and python-smbus 3.1.2.
• Updated raspberrypi-firmware to 1.20161215-1.
• Updated pi-bluetooth to 0.1.2 including failsafe systemd units.
• Updated gpiozero to 1.3.1. A simple API for controlling devices attached to the GPIO pins.
• Updated omxplayer to 0.3.7-git20160923-dfea8c9.
• Updated nuscratch to 20160915+2.
• Updated picamera to 1.12. Pure Python interface to the Raspberry Pi’s camera module.
• Updated pigpio to 1.130. Library for Raspberry Pi GPIO control.
• Updated python-sense-hat to 2.2.0. Sense HAT python.
• Updated raspberrypi-sys-mods to 20170208, which completely replaces raspberrypi-general-mods
• Updated raspi-gpio to 0.20170105. Dump the state of the BCM270x GPIOs.
• Updated rpi.gpio to 0.6.3-1. Python GPIO module for Raspberry Pi.
• Updated rtimulib to 7.2.1-3. Versatile C++ and Python 9-dof, 10-dof and 11-dof IMU library.
• Updated sonic-pi to 2.10.0.
• Updated xserver-xorg-video-fbturbo to 1.20161111~122359.
• Updated Xorg via the LTS Enablement Stack.
• Added cap1xxx; A python library designed to drive various Microchip CAP1xxx touch ICs.
• Added drumhat; A python library designed to control Drum HAT.
• Added envirophat; A python library designed to control Enviro pHAT.
• Added explorerhat; A python library designed to control the Explorer HAT and pHAT.
• Added microdotphat; A python library designed to control Micro Dot pHAT.
• Added mote; A python library designed to control Mote.
• Added motephat; A python library designed to control Mote pHAT.
• Added pantilthat; A python library designed to control Pan-Tilt HAT.
• Added pianohat; A python library designed to control Piano HAT.
• Added piglow; A python library designed to drive Piglow.
• Added rainbowhat; A python library designed to control Rainbow HAT.
• Added scrollphat; A python library designed to control Scroll pHAT.
• Added sense-emu; A client library for the Raspberry Pi Sense HAT emulator.
• Added sn3218; A python library to help control the SN3218 18-channel PWM LED driver.
• Added st7036; A python library to help control the ST7036 LCD driver.
• Fixed first boot configuration. Ubiquity now prompts to join available WiFi networks.
  • #1572793
• Disabled SSH by default.
  • SSH can be enabled via raspbi-config or creating a file named ssh in the /boot partition.
  • sshguard is also automatically enabled when you enable SSH.
• Reduced the image size to 5GB, down from 8GB.

Known Issues

• Ubuntu MATE 16.04.2 for the Raspberry Pi is not snap compatible.
  • We hope to have snapd compatibility in Ubuntu MATE 17.04 for the Raspberry Pi.
  • The 32-bit and 64-bit PC version of Ubuntu MATE 16.04, or newer, are snapd compatible.
• Upon completion of the first boot setup WiFi doesn’t work, at all. Reboot and WiFi will be available.
  • #1572956