Ubuntu Hardy Heron Alpha 4 Released

The latest test version of Ubuntu 8.04 was released earlier today. Alpha 4 includes some important new features. From now on you should be able to see significant differences between Gutsy and Hardy. Here's what's included in this release.

Xorg 7.3
The latest version of the X Window System includes better auto-configuration.

Linux kernel 2.6.24
The newest version of the Linux kernel is included, read more about it here.

PulseAudio
PulseAudio is an advanced open source sound server, which can handle audio for all your devices and applications. Some of its cool features include changing the sample format or channel count and mixing several sounds into one.

PolicyKit
With policyKit it is possible to fine tune user access privileges. The aim is to eliminate entire programs running with full root privileges. It will provide more security and flexibility to the end user. Follow the link to learn more about it.






















Firefox 3 beta 2
Firefox 3 has been designed to run faster, lighter and have better integration with GNOME.

Transmission
The current GNOME BitTorrent downloader will be replaced with the more popular Transmission client. I have recently replaced utorrent with this program.


















Vinagre
The new Vinagre VNC client is installed by default in Alpha 4, replacing xvnc4viewer. Vinagre allows the user to view multiple machines simultaneously, can discover VNC servers on the network via Avahi, and can keep track of recently used and favorite connections.

Brasero
This is a cd/dvd burning applictaion which will replace the current Serpentine audio cd burner.

















World Clock Applet
Hardy will come with a new clock-calendar app that will not only show time from other locations in the world but will also display the weather forecast.




GVFS
The new GVFS will replace the ageing GnomeVFS. GVFS will make it possible to fix shortcomings of Nautilus such as the inability to restore files from trash, pause and undo file operations, and make it possible to escalate user privileges for certain operations using PolicyKit for authentication. It also brings a significant performance boost to many operations.



Gnome System Monitor
The new system monitor comes with better looks and displays resource information more smoothly.




As you can see Hardy Heron is shaping up to be the best Version of Ubuntu yet and there's lots more features yet to be included. As always, this is a early test version and is aimed at the more knowledgeable users out there, you should expect some of the new features not to be fully functional yet.

Link:
Official Announcement