Introduction

Ubuntu 15.10 was released for public use on October 22nd, 2015.  Nicknamed “Wily Werewolf” it comes with a few upgrades and changes that are worth noting.  In this overview, we will briefly touch on the changes and upgrades in the newest version.  Ubuntu 15.10 is primarily noted as a stepping stone to the release of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, the next Long-Term Service release coming in April 2016.  Most of the major features remain largely unchanged from the current 15.04 LTS.

New Features

Linux Kernel 4.2

  • AMDGPU kernel drivers
  • Intel Broxton support
  • F2FS file-system encryption support
  • NV-DIMM support

A kernel for Raspberry Pi 2 has also been added to the archives.

One of the major changes is the migration to utilize systemd as the primary init system going forward.

Ubuntu 15.10Desktop

  • Unity, many bugs have been fixed as well as new features in this version,  focusing primarily on interface improvements, such as locally integrated menus for unfocused windows and scrollbar updates.
  • Compiz has several bug fixes, also of note is the integration with the MATE desktop.
  • Firefox updated to version 41
  • Chrome updated to version 45
  • MATE updated to version 1.10
  • GNOME now updated to version 3.16
  • Blueman 2.0 is now included
  • Able to pair new Steam Controller, can be paired through Big Picture mode in Steam
  • LibreOffice has many upgrades and changes, which can be located here: ReleaseNotes 5.0

Ubuntu 15.10 Server Edition

Ubuntu 15.10 now holds the newest edition of OpenStack, Liberty, including:

  • OpenStack Identity – Keystone
  • OpenStack Imaging – Glance
  • OpenStack Block Storage – Cinder
  • OpenStack Networking – Neutron
  • OpenStack Telemetry – Ceilometer and Aodh
  • OpenStack Orchestration – Heat
  • OpenStack Dashboard – Horizon
  • OpenStack Object Storage – Swift
  • OpenStack Database as a Service – Trove
  • OpenStack DNS – Designate
  • OpenStack Bare-metal – Ironic
  • OpenStack Filesystem – Manila
  • OpenStack Key Manager – Barbican

There is also experimental support being offered for erasure coded storage.

Other changes

  • Juju has been updated to 1.24.6
  • libvirt has been updated to 1.2.16
  • qemu has been updated to 2.3
  • Open vSwitch 2.4.0 is now included by default
  • Ceph has been updated to “Hammer” 0.94.3

As a personal use note, I updated my home computer to this version and did not notice any glaring changes after a few days use.  Things ran mostly how they always have, but maybe a little prettier.  I expect greater things are in store for Ubuntu 16.04.

Official Ubuntu release notes can be found here.

 

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