Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Beta 2

We are totally over excited (like we’ve been eating candy floss and toffee apples all night) about this final beta release of Ubuntu MATE 16.10, that now features MATE Desktop 1.15.1 :-D

From this point forward we’ll be focusing on fixing as many issues as we can on the lead up to the final release of Ubuntu MATE 16.10. The 16.10 development cycle has been all about the migration to GTK3+ and creating the new foundations upon which to build our “retrospective future”.

We are preparing Ubuntu MATE 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) for distribution on October 13th, 2016 With this Final Beta pre-release, you can see what we are trying out in preparation for our next (stable) version.

As is now customary, our release artwork was made by Ghost Sixtyseven.

What works?

People tell us that Ubuntu MATE is stable. You may, or may not, agree.

Ubuntu MATE Beta Releases are NOT recommended for:

• Regular users who are not aware of pre-release issues
• Anyone who needs a stable system
• Anyone uncomfortable running a possibly frequently broken system
• Anyone in a production environment with data or workflows that need to be reliable

Ubuntu MATE Beta Releases are recommended for:

• Regular users who want to help us test by finding, reporting, and/or fixing bugs
• Ubuntu MATE, MATE, and GTK+ developers

What changed since the Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Beta 1 release?

This is what has been added, updated or removed.

• Upgraded to MATE Desktop 1.15.1
  • The entire MATE Desktop suite has been upgraded to MATE Desktop 1.15.x
  • These are the final development snapshots and bring many bug fixes and GTK3+ compatibility improvements.
  • MATE Desktop 1.16 will be available via updates soon!
• Updated Ubuntu MATE themes which significantly improves GTK 3.20 compatibility.
• An update for Ubuntu MATE Welcome 16.10.9 is available for install now.
  • Auto-focus the search box.
  • Refine Getting Started.
  • Refine header/footer shadows and footer icons.
  • Reduce flickering under non Ambiant-MATE themes.
  • Fixed installs for Audio Recorder, Gajim, InSync, KDE Connect Indicator, Kodi, Hedgewars, HipChat, MakeMKV, OBS Studio, Play on Linux, Ubuntu SDK, Ubuntu Software, Veracrypt and Wine Devel.
  • Added Deja-Dup, Brasero, gElemental, GNS3, Thunderbird and Skype for Linux Alpha.
  • Many bug fixes.
• Fixed MATE Tweak segfault when switching to Compiz due to a gsettings schema change in Metacity.
• Fixed Weather reports and forecasts.

Known Issues

Here are the known issues.

Ubuntu MATE issues

• Nothing significant.

Ubuntu family issues

This is our known list of bugs that affect all flavours.

• Booting the live image on UEFI hardware may fail to complete, only showing a blank screen.
  • This is caused by an issue with the UEFI Shim and has been reported to fail on Thinkpad laptops as well as in QEMU virtual machines. Other devices may also be affected.
  • #1624096

• LibreOffice 5.2.1 has bugs in it’s GTK3+ implementation that results white borders being shown around the toolbars in dark themes.

• Choosing an Entire Disk install on PowerPC may result in an unbootable system.
  • The work around is to manually partition your hard disk and create an ext2 boot partition.
  • #1606089, #1607128
• PowerPC iso fails to boot with linux-image-4.8.0-11-generic on PowerMac G5 7,3
  • It does work on PowerBook G4 5,6 and 5,8.
  • #1626332
• Ubiquity installer Slideshows and Ubuntu MATE Welcome display a blank window on PowerPC.
  • This is due to a bug in WebKit 2.
  • #1561573, #1597764
• R300 GPU accelerated graphics do not work on PowerPC
  • #1432949, #1575391
• Running Linux on PowerPC can require some tinkering and the following are useful references.
  • PowerPC Known Issues
  • PowerPC FAQ

You’ll also want to check the Ubuntu MATE bug tracker to see what has already been reported. These issues will be addressed in due course.

• Ubuntu MATE Bug Tracker

Feedback

Is there anything you can help with or want to be involved in? Maybe you just want to discuss your experiences or ask the maintainers some questions. Please come and talk to us.