Ubuntu MATE 18.04 Beta 1 for Raspberry Pi arrives with Ubuntu kernel

Ubuntu MATE 18.04 for Raspberry Pi

About 4 years ago I discovered Ubuntu MATE. Tired of how heavy Unity was on my discreet laptop, I started using it because of its fluidity and because it looked a lot like the first Linux environment I touched. And, although GNOME 3 has improved Unity in this sense, it is still less fluid than MATE. Its developer, Martin Wimpress, knows this and therefore develops, in addition to the main version, a version for the Raspberry Pi.

For those who are not up to date, reading something other than Ubuntu 19.04 this week sounds a bit weird. And is that what Wimpress launched this morning is Ubuntu MATE 18.04 beta 1 for Raspberry Pi, a release that has occurred alongside Ubuntu MATE 19.04 Beta 1. Why this version? Because it is the latest LTS available. We remember that the previous and still supported is Ubuntu 16.04 LTS Xenial Xerus.

What's new in Ubuntu MATE 18.04 beta 1 for Raspberry Pi

  • Ubuntu kernel, fully supported by your kernel and security teams.
  • Automatic online file system expansion.
  • Support for Ethernet and WiFi (when available).
  • Support for Bluetooth (when available).
  • Audio output through the 3.5mm or HDMI analog jack.
  • Access to GPIO via GPIO Zero, pigpio and WiringPi.
  • Support for Python Wheels for Raspberry Pi.
  • USB boot support.
  • Hardware acceleration:
    • The driver fbturbo it is installed by default, although limited to an accelerated 2D window.
    • VLC and ffmpeg they have hardware-assisted video encoding and decoding.
    • The experimental VC4 driver can be activated from raspbi-config.
    • NOTE: arm64 images do not include any VideoCode IV hardware acceleration.
  • Additional software:
    • A raspi-config port for Ubuntu has been included by default.
    • Steam Link available for installation.
    • Minecraft Pi Edition available for installation.

Personally, I don't have a Raspberry Pi but from everything I've read I think Ubuntu MATE is among the best options to use as an operating system on this famous motherboard. The other option that is also worth considering is Rasppan, a Debian-based operating system that has been designed solely and exclusively with the Raspberry in mind. What operating system do you use or would you use on your Raspberry Pi?


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