Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 released

The Ubuntu MATE team has unveiled Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1, first development snapshot of official Ubuntu community edition that offers classical Ubuntu experience using MATE Desktop. Ubuntu MATE 16.10 is the first distribution to ship MATE desktop that is completely built using GTK v3.0.

The final release of Ubuntu MATE 16.10 with code name Yaketty Yak is schedule to release of 13th october 2016 and current development release is a foot step to upcoming stable release. Being a development release, Ubuntu MATE team does n't recommend this release for newbies and users who don't like to see frequent error messages and break downs. However, the team encourages developers and enthusiasts to take privilege for testing and reporting bugs.


Following are some of the planned features in Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1, some of these features are already implemented while some other features are under implementation.
  • GNOME Main Menu (as used in the openSUSE layout) has been dropped as it is a GTK2+ component and no one in the MATE team believes this applet is good enough to port to GTK3+.
  • The Mutiny layout is currently missing but will be re-instated when the topmenu-gtk MATE applet has been rebuilt for GTK3+
  • Pidgin will no longer be installed by default, however, it will available in Software Boutique.
  • Cheese is not currently installed by default but will be re-instated as a default application when merge proposal 298171 is merged and released.
  • Indicator Session is not currently available in Ubiquity while installing Ubuntu MATE but will be re-instated when merge proposal 297183 is merged and released.
  • Ubuntu MATE project was started over, and completely rebuilt Ubuntu MATE 16.10 from the ground up.
  • It is now possible to safely uninstall all the default applications without the ubuntu-mate-desktop package also being removed.
  • Memory consumption of Ubuntu MATE 16.10 Alpha 1 is lower than that of Ubuntu MATE 16.04.Upgraded to MATE Desktop 1.14, which is now built entirely against GTK 3.18.
  • Indicator support for MATE Desktop, when built against GTK3+, has been significantly improved.
  • Ambiant-MATE and Radiant-MATE themes have been completely reworked to support GTK 3.18.
  • We have initial HiDPI support (almost) working. Don’t get too excited, this is an all or nothing implementation. When enabled all GTK3+ applications (not just MATE) will be rendered using high quality pixel doubling. If you have a 2160p display, it looks ace :-D
  • Upgraded Ubuntu MATE Welcome to 16.10.4
  • Upgraded Software Boutique with several refinements like updated software info, search facility, responsive display, more applications ..etc.
For more information and complete list of features, see release announcement published in Ubuntu MATE blog.

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