Pre-Release Paradise

It's that time again, when we have a bumper crop of pre-release distributions floating around. That, of course, means that we are soon going to have a bumper crop of distribution updates coming out. Lots of exciting new things coming in those releases, too - significant Linux kernel updates, new/updated desktops (Ubuntu Unity, Gnome 3, KDE 4.6, Xfce 4.8), device drivers for new hardware, such as my Broadcom 4313 wireless adapter and Synaptics ClickPad, and always more improvements in graphic support and performance.

Here are some the significant pre-releases which I currently have installed on at least one of my computers:

openSuSE 11.4 (RC2) - Final release due out this Thursday, 10 March

SimplyMEPIS 11 (RC2) - Final release due out Real Soon Now

Ubuntu 11.04 (Alpha 3) - Final release due out 28 April

Zenwalk Linux 7.0 (RC3) - Final release due out Real Soon Now

Mandriva 2011 Alpha2 - Final release due out 13 June

Mageia (Alpha 1) - Final release due out 1 June

Fedora 15 (Alpha) - Final release due out 10 May

It is going to be a very interesting couple of months, I can hardly wait!

jw 8/3/2011