The Ubuntu development community has officially announced the release of Ubuntu 8.04 alpha 2. Ubuntu 8.04—scheduled for release in April 2008—is a long-term support (LTS) release, which means that it will be supported on the desktop for three years and on the server for five years.
This second alpha, which is available for download from Ubuntu's mirrors, is a development release that is primarily intended for testers. This is the first Ubuntu release to include PulseAudio, an innovative next-generation sound server. Although PulseAudio is installed by default in alpha 2, the volume control tools haven't been integrated yet. There is much that still must be done before Ubuntu's PulseAudio support is fully in place. Ubuntu 8.04 alpha 2 also includes version 2.6.24-2.4 of the Linux kernel and Xorg 7.3, which offers better automated graphics configuration.
Installation ISO images are available for other Ubuntu flavors as well, including Kubuntu, Edubuntu, Gobuntu, Ubuntu JeOS, and UbuntuStudio. Since this is an early alpha, there are still many bugs that need to be resolved and it isn't considered suitable for production environments.
For more information about features planned for inclusion in Hardy Heron, check out our overview from the Ubuntu Developer Summit earlier this month and our coverage of the Hardy Heron visual refresh.
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