Ubuntu 12.10 "Quantal Quetzal" officially released

Nearly six months after Ubuntu 12.04 LTS arrived, Canonical and the Ubuntu developers have released version 12.10 of their Ubuntu Linux distribution, code-named "Quantal Quetzal". The new version of the popular open source operating system uses a kernel based on the 3.5 Linux kernel and updates Unity desktop with a number of new features and enhancements.

One of the more controversial changes to the Unity desktop shell is the addition of a new Shopping Lens, which shows commercial results from Amazon's online store when searching. The 12.10 release further integrates Canonical's Ubuntu One services, including improvements to the Ubuntu One Music Store, introduces support for Web Apps and is the first Ubuntu version to support UEFI Secure Boot.

Ubuntu 12.10

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Many of the distribution's components and bundled packages have been updated to newer versions: these include GCC 4.7.2, Python 3.2, OpenJDK 7, the 3.6.2 release of the LibreOffice productivity suite, and version 16.0.1 of both the Firefox web browser and the Thunderbird email client. The developers have also improved the Software Centre and have streamlined the Update Manager, renaming it to "Software Updater" and setting it to automatically check for updates when launched.

A more detailed look at these and other new features can be found in The H feature "What's new in Ubuntu Desktop 12.10".

Ubuntu 12.10 is available for download for both desktops and servers from the project's site. Version 12.10 of the official derivatives, including Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Edubuntu and Ubuntu Studio, are also available for download.

(crve)