Introduction to Ubuntu 8.04

The Ubuntu team is happy to bring you the absolute latest and most stable software that the open source and free software communities have to offer. This is their latest result: Ubuntu 8.04 LTS.

Upgrading from Ubuntu 6.06 LTS and 7.10

• If you are upgrading from Ubuntu 7.10 or Ubuntu 6.06 LTS, we have easy-to-follow upgrade instructions.

New Features since Ubuntu 7.10

New Core System features

GNOME 2.22

Ubuntu 8.04 LTS brings you the latest and greatest GNOME 2.22.1 with lots of new features and improvements, such as a new version of the Nautilus file manager that uses the faster and more reliable GVFS backend and shows a list of possible actions upon insertion of removable media, an international clock applet that can show time and weather information for multiple locations around the world, the new Seahorse keyring manager, and Google Calendar support in Evolution.

Linux kernel 2.6.24

This release includes the 2.6.24-16.30 kernel based on 2.6.24.3. This brings in significant enhancements and fixes that have been merged in the last few months into the mainline kernel, including:

• dynticks support for amd64, bringing the same power savings already available on 32-bit systems to 64-bit laptops and desktops
• the "Completely Fair Scheduler", a new process scheduler introduced in Linux 2.6.23 that provides improved interactive performance.

PolicyKit

PolicyKit allows fine-grained control over user permissions and enhances usability and security, by allowing administrative applications to be run as a normal user and gain extra privileges dynamically only for privileged operations instead of requiring the whole application to run as root.

Ubuntu 8.04 features PolicyKit integration with the "Network", "Users and Groups", "Services" and "Time and Date" tools in the System / Administration menu and the panel clock applet for authorization, as well as gnome-mount and HAL for fine-grained access control for devices and power management. All the privileges can be configured using the System / Administration / Authorizations interface, which itself uses PolicyKit for authorizing the changes.

PulseAudio

This release comes preinstalled with the PulseAudio sound server, which makes it possible to mix audio from multiple applications together, assign audio from individual applications to specific sound cards, adjust volume levels of each individual application, and perform advanced operations on audio streams such as transferring the audio to another computer or changing sample formats and channel counts.

Xorg 7.3

The latest version of the X window system, Xorg 7.3, is provided, with an emphasis on better autoconfiguration with a minimal configuration file.

This release brings a new Screen Resolution utility that allows users to dynamically configure the resolution, refresh rate, and rotation of a second monitor. This will be particularly handy for laptop users that connect to a projector or external monitor.

New Software Functions

Firefox 3 Beta 5

Firefox 3 Beta 5 is the default browser, bringing much better system integration including GTK form buttons in web pages, a native GTK print dialog, file chooser dialogs with image previews, and icon theming that matches the desktop environment.

Brasero

The Brasero CD/DVD burning application, which complements the CD/DVD burning functions of Nautilus and replaces the Serpentine audio CD burning utility, is installed by default.

Transmission

The GTK version of the popular Transmission BitTorrent client comes preinstalled in Ubuntu 8.04 LTS, replacing the Gnome BitTorrent downloader.

World Clock Applet

Integrating the features of the intlclock applet, the GNOME panel clock in this release can display the time and weather in multiple locations.

Vinagre

The new Vinagre remote desktop (VNC) client is installed by default, replacing xvnc4viewer.

Vinagre allows the user to view multiple machines simultaneously, can automatically discover servers on the network without needing manual configuration (via Avahi), and can keep track of recently used and favorite connections.

Uncomplicated Firewall

The Ubuntu 8.04 LTS release includes ufw (Uncomplicated Firewall), a new host-based firewall application configurable from the command line which is designed to make administering a firewall easier for end users while not getting in the way of network administrators.

Totem

The Totem movie player now has a YouTube plugin that makes it possible to search for and play YouTube videos directly, a local search plugin for searching for video files via Tracker, and DVB support that lets you watch digital TV broadcasts.

Inkscape

Inkscape 0.46, which is available in the Universe repository, is a major update that introduces native PDF support, providing an easy, open source solution to editing text and graphics in PDF documents. Users will appreciate being able to draw up flyers, posters, and other documents, save them as PDF (or as the native .svg) in inkscape, and send them to a print shop for printing without ever leaving Ubuntu or loading a proprietary tool.

New and Improved Support

ActiveDirectory integration

Likewise Open, available from the Universe repository, enables seamless integration of Ubuntu within an Active Directory network. Users can use their AD credentials to log onto Ubuntu machines and access any kerberized services provided by an Ubuntu server.

iSCSI support

iSCSI Initiator has been fully integrated in the kernel, allowing Ubuntu to mount iSCSI targets as a block device. iSCSI is available in the Ubuntu Server installer if iscsi=true is passed on the kernel command line at the beginning of the installation process.

Memory Protection

Additional access checks have been added so that /dev/mem and /dev/kmem can only be used to access device memory. These changes will help defend against rootkits and other malicious code.

The lower 64K of system memory is no longer addressable by default. This will help defend against malicious code that attempts to leverage kernel bugs into security vulnerabilities.

Applications compiled as Position Independent Executables (PIE) are now placed into memory in unpredictable locations, making it harder for security vulnerabilities to be exploited.

SELinux Support

In addition to supporting AppArmor, Ubuntu 8.04 LTS now includes support for security enhanced Linux (SELinux). System security, especially for the high-assurance marketplace, can be provided using SELinux - a kernel feature allowing fine-grained mandatory access control (i.e., type enforcement, role-based authorization). SELinux is available in the Universe repository and can be installed via the "selinux" package.

umenu

WinFOSS and the Windows open source software have been replaced by umenu, a simple launcher that lets the user install Ubuntu from Windows using Wubi, install Ubuntu to a partition without having to make their CD-ROM the first boot device, and find out more about Ubuntu at the www.ubuntu.com website.

Virtualization

KVM is now a fully maintained option for virtualization, and libvirt and virt-manager have also been integrated in Ubuntu, allowing for easy guest creation and basic management of virtual machines out of the box. Virt-manager can be used to administer guests on a remote server.

The kernel also includes virtio, greatly improving I/O performance in guests.

Wubi

There is a new installation option for Windows users. Wubi allows users to install and uninstall Ubuntu like any other Windows application. It does not require a dedicated partition, nor does it affect the existing bootloader, yet users can experience a dual-boot setup almost identical to a full installation. Wubi works with a physical CD or in stand-alone mode, by downloading an appropriate ISO to install from. It can be found on the root of the CD as Wubi.exe. A full installation within a dedicated partition is still recommended, but Wubi is a great way to try Ubuntu for a few days and weeks before committing dedicated disk resources.

Installation

File systems are now mounted with the relatime mount option by default, for improved performance. More information about this feature is available at kerneltrap.org.

LTSP

The alternate CD now provides a quick option to install an LTSP terminal server. You can read more about this feature at https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuLTSP/LTSPQuickInstall.

Download

Get it while it's hot. Visit the download page to get Ubuntu 8.04 LTS now, or see a list of other ways to get Ubuntu.