We’re preparing Lubuntu 16.04, Xenial Xerus, for distribution in April 2016. 16.04 will be an LTS. As 16.04 is an LTS, the focus is on looking out for and fixing bugs.

NOTE: This is an alpha pre-release. Lubuntu Pre-releases are NOT recommended for:

Regular users who are not aware of pre-release issues

Anyone who needs a stable system

Anyone uncomfortable running a possibly frequently broken system

Anyone in a production environment with data or workflows that need to be reliable

Lubuntu Pre-releases ARE recommended for:

Users who want to help us test by finding, reporting, and/or fixing bugs. You can find more about helping to test and bug hunt at lubuntu testing.

Lubuntu developers

Getting Lubuntu 16.04 Alpha 1

The full listing of available images is here. You must check both the download and then the install media on 1st boot before attempting an install. Instructions for burning the image to a CD / DVD or copying to a USB flash drive can be found on the Burning ISO Howto.

Upgrading from Previous Versions

To upgrade to Lubuntu 16.04 from previous 14.04 or 15.10 releases, follow the Upgrade Instructions.

Alpha 1 Highlights

LXQt is still in development, as such Xenial Xerus is GTK based.

The Alpha 1 Xenial Xerus snapshot includes the v4.3 kernel which 16.04 will ship with.

Known Problems

Family Shared Applications

This is our known list of bugs that affect all flavours and also any applications that lubuntu uses but relies on others to maintain.

The input box for editing a Wired connection static IP address doesn't appear correctly (1530323).

Software properties gtk implies my cpu is unknown and not working. (1444682).

gnome-disk-utilty does not allow swapoff of zram devices (1458383).

Abiword language selector text cut off in abiword (1484785).

gnumeric menu ->help ->about gnumeric -> license button, does not work. (1516454).

Shutdown/Restart of live session guest does not work in Virtualbox, KVM or VMWare (1447038).

Prompt for entering password for encrypted system not displayed at boot time (1530548 Workaround Exists).

Plymouth does not display the graphical boot splash (1370707).

LXDE

This is our known list of bugs that affect lubuntu and are maintained by us.

lxpanel volume applet settings opens empty terminal window (1434774 Workaround Exists).

run dialog called from one desktop opens on the desktop with preferences dialog, regardless of which desktop is current (1445818).

Lubuntu Software Centre only lists installed applications when lubuntu installed via alternate image (1467517 Workaround Exists).

changing multiple desktop names only results in the first being changed. (1522625).

Lubuntu Desktop Installer

All Desktop images now require a DVD or USB.

Ubiquity slideshow shows "Lubuntu 15.10" on 16.04 daily images (1530383).

Lubuntu Alternate Installer

Lubuntu maintains a CD sized image in this alternate image.

No reported bugs that exclusively affect the alternate release

PowerPC

PowerPC is only supported on Lubuntu LTS releases.

At this time there are no reported bugs that exclusively affect the PPC release.

Do check with the PowerPCFAQ for known issues that are PPC specific.

Feedback

Development of Lubuntu 16.04, the Xenial Xerus, is ongoing and bugs are fixed every day. Before reporting bugs, please ensure your system is up to date. For verifying installation related bugs, updated disk images are available from Daily bootable images for standard PCs/laptops/netbooks.

Please feel free to contact us with feedback.