Canonical Releases Latest Beta Ubuntu 16.10 Yakkety Yak

The second beta release of Ubuntu 16.10 codenamed Yakkety Yak has been released after a six-day delay. It is the last beta before the release candidate has to be released on October 9. The final release should see the light of day on October 13.

The kernel used in Ubuntu 16.10 is Linux kernel 4.8. In the long term support version 16.04, kernel 4.4.0.38 is used. In addition, many applications will be provided with an updated version. Furthermore, little has changed compared to 16.04. Aside from some bug fixes, the Unity version is stuck at version 7 and display server X remains in favor of Mir.

Furthermore, Canonical has improved the integration of Snap packages within the Software app and has streamlined the entire Software operation. The advantage of Snap packages over normal software sources is that all the necessary dependencies are contained in a Snap. The project is similar to Gnome’s project with Flatpak. For example, Snaps makes it easier to install two different versions of an application side by side, even if they rely on different resources, because the resources are already packaged in the Snap.

Parts of Gnome used by Ubuntu are in this release from Gnome 3.20 with also several applications already from Gnome 3.22 and no longer from 3.18. Other releases running with the 16.10 release include Ubuntu Mate, which will use Mate 1.16, Lubuntu, which is still not moving to the new LxQt desktop, Kubuntu, and Ubuntu Kylin.