Elementary OS June beta 2 is now available to download.
This second beta build of the Ubuntu-based Linux distribution touts a number of changes over the elementary OS june beta released back in July.
Due to the shifting sands on which Juno is built the elementary team advise those planning on testing the release to do so by making a fresh install rather than doing an upgrade from beta 1 or (worse) an older version of elementary OS.
elementary OS June Beta 2
Elementary OS Juno (which is also known as elementary OS 5.0, the team having amended its versioning scheme). It’s based on the latest Ubuntu 18.04 LTS stack, and includes Linux Kernel 4.15.
Although the stable elementary Juno release date is as yet unknown (the team take a ‘when it’s ready’ approach) you can install the elementary OS Juno beta for yourself, right now, using a virtual machine, or spare partition.
Changes new to beta 2 include a new look for folder icons, an improved workflow in the elementary Code app, and a redesigned Date & Time indicator.
It’s easier to spot the current day
Also new (and of particular interest to me, as someone who always ends up undersizing my install partitions) is the crop of new “Housekeeping” options located in Settings > Security & Privacy.
Using these options you can set up a custom schedule to whichold files, trashed files and/or temporary files are deleted.
New settings to keep your system free of cruft
Other changes:
- HiDPI improvements (but no fractional scaling)
- Git integration in “Code” app
- App Centre tweaks
- File manager optimisations
- Theme & icons updates
- Folder icons are now manila, not blue
- Improved “Photos” editing dialog
- New green fern wallpaper
- LVFS dropped from the default install
A better look at those new “Manila” coloured folder icons:
Manilla folder icons are now standard in elementary OS
Elementary would rather you did not download this beta
Elementary developers tend to …get a little antsy anytime that a blog (though mostly this blog, it seems) brings word that a new elementary os beta release is available for testing.
They say news coverage of beta releases (and thus potentially buggy code) “damages” their brand and “hurt[s] adoption and sales”.
This is an understandable opinion for them to have as the project stakeholders, albeit one I find unfortunate as a both a “purveyor of information” and as a (i’d like to think, fairly competent) Linux user.
Either way it’s probably better that I convey their aversion to non-technical users knowing or using what is (to their mind) a purely technical release as well as the news that it’s out!
So folks: if you do not plan to download and install the second elementary os Juno beta to a) hunt for bugs, b) help with QA, or c) test the distro’s various homegrown APIs, libraries and stylesheets with software that you develop then…
—Well, I won’t tell them if you don’t. ?
Download elementary OS June Beta 2
With all the caveats out of the way you can download elementary OS June beta 2 from the project webpage or by hitting one of the fancy-pants buttons below (unless you’re reading via AMP, in which case the very un-fancy hyperlinks below):
Download elementary OS June Beta 2 (1.46GB .iso)
Download elementary OS June Beta 2 (.torrent)
- Source:
elementary