Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) Final Beta released

[Steve Langasek]

The Ubuntu team is pleased to announce the final beta release of the
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Desktop, Server, and Cloud products.

Codenamed "Bionic Beaver", 18.04 LTS continues Ubuntu's proud tradition
of integrating the latest and greatest open source technologies into a
high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.  The team has been hard
at work through this cycle, introducing new features and fixing bugs.

This beta release includes images from not only the Ubuntu Desktop,
Server, and Cloud products, but also the Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu
Budgie, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu flavours.

The beta images are known to be reasonably free of showstopper CD
build or installer bugs, while representing a very recent snapshot of
18.04 that should be representative of the features intended to ship
with the final release expected on April 26th, 2018.

Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server, Cloud Images:
  Bionic Final Beta includes updated versions of most of our core set
  of packages, including a current 4.15 kernel, and much more.

  To upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 Final Beta from Ubuntu 17.10, follow these
  instructions:

  https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BionicUpgrades

  The Ubuntu 18.04 Final Beta images can be downloaded at:

  http://releases.ubuntu.com/18.04/ (Ubuntu and Ubuntu Server on x86)

  This Ubuntu Server image features the next generation Subiquity server
  installer, bringing the comfortable live session and speedy install of the
  Ubuntu Desktop to server users at last.

  This new installer does not support the same set of installation options
  as the previous server installer, so the "debian-installer" image
  continues to be made available in parallel.  For more information about
  the installation options, please see:

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver/ReleaseNotes#Ubuntu_Server

  Additional images can be found at the following links:

  http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/daily/server/bionic/current/ (Cloud Images)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/18.04/beta-2/ (Non-x86, and d-i Server)
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/netboot/18.04/ (Netboot)

  As fixes will be included in new images between now and release, any
  daily cloud image from today or later (i.e. a serial of 20180404 or
  higher) should be considered a beta image.  Bugs found should be filed
  against the appropriate packages or, failing that, the cloud-images
  project in Launchpad.

  The full release notes for Ubuntu 18.04 Final Beta can be found at:

  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver/ReleaseNotes

Kubuntu:
  Kubuntu is the KDE based flavour of Ubuntu. It uses the Plasma desktop
  and includes a wide selection of tools from the KDE project.

  The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/18.04/beta-2/

  More information on Kubuntu Final Beta can be found here:
  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver/Beta2/Kubuntu

Lubuntu:
  Lubuntu is a flavor of Ubuntu that targets to be lighter, less
  resource hungry and more energy-efficient by using lightweight
  applications and LXDE, The Lightweight X11 Desktop Environment,
  as its default GUI.

  The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/18.04/beta-2/

Ubuntu Budgie:
  Ubuntu Budgie is community developed desktop, integrating Budgie
  Desktop Environment with Ubuntu at its core.

  The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-budgie/releases/18.04/beta-2/

  More information on Ubuntu Budgie Final Beta can be found here:
  https://ubuntubudgie.org/blog/2018/04/03/18-04-beta-2

UbuntuKylin:
  UbuntuKylin is a flavor of Ubuntu that is more suitable for Chinese
  users.

  The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/18.04/beta-2/

  More information on UbuntuKylin Final Beta can be found here:
  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver/Beta2/UbuntuKylin

Ubuntu MATE:
  Ubuntu MATE is a flavor of Ubuntu featuring the MATE desktop
  environment.

  The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/releases/18.04/beta-2/

Ubuntu Studio:
  Ubuntu Studio is a flavor of Ubuntu that provides a full range of
  multimedia content creation applications for each key workflows:
  audio, graphics, video, photography and publishing.

  The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/18.04/beta-2/

  More information about Ubuntu Studio Final Beta can be found here:
  https://wiki.ubuntu.com/BionicBeaver/Beta2/UbuntuStudio

Xubuntu:
  Xubuntu is a flavor of Ubuntu that comes with Xfce, which is a stable,
  light and configurable desktop environment.

  The Final Beta images can be downloaded at:
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/18.04/beta-2/

  More information about Xubuntu Final Beta can be found here:
  http://wiki.xubuntu.org/releases/18.04/release-notes

Regular daily images for Ubuntu, and all flavours, can be found at:
  http://cdimage.ubuntu.com

Ubuntu is a full-featured Linux distribution for clients, servers and
clouds, with a fast and easy installation and regular releases.  A
tightly-integrated selection of excellent applications is included,
and an incredible variety of add-on software is just a few clicks
away.

Professional technical support is available from Canonical Limited and
hundreds of other companies around the world.  For more information
about support, visit http://www.ubuntu.com/support

If you would like to help shape Ubuntu, take a look at the list of
ways you can participate at:
http://www.ubuntu.com/community/participate

Your comments, bug reports, patches and suggestions really help us to
improve this and future releases of Ubuntu.   Instructions can be
found at: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/ReportingBugs

You can find out more about Ubuntu and about this beta release on our
website, IRC channel and wiki.

To sign up for future Ubuntu announcements, please subscribe to
Ubuntu's very low volume announcement list at:

  http://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-announce

On behalf of the Ubuntu Release Team,

-- 
Steve Langasek                   Give me a lever long enough and a Free OS
Debian Developer                   to set it on, and I can move the world.
Ubuntu Developer                                    http://www.debian.org/
slangasek at ubuntu.com                                     vorlon at debian.org