Ubuntu 26.10 "Stonking Stingray" Beta Is Out

The Ubuntu Release team has announced a beta snapshot of Ubuntu 26.10. The release was announced by Utkarsh Gupta. The system carries the code name "Stonking Stingray" and, as the developers put it, continues Ubuntu's proud tradition of integrating the latest open source technologies into a high-quality, easy-to-use Linux distribution.

The beta spans several products at once: the Desktop edition, Server, a WSL image and Cloud builds. The team notes that throughout the cycle it has been busy adding new features and fixing bugs.

Community editions

Beyond the core products, the beta includes the official community flavors: Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Cinnamon, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, Ubuntu Unity and Xubuntu. Installation images for the amd64 architecture are available for each of them.

Further details about the build are provided in the official release announcement and the release notes. Images can be downloaded from the project's mirrors and via torrents; each one comes with SHA256 checksums and digital signatures.

Ubuntu 26.10 is not a long-term support release — it is an interim version preceding a future LTS. The beta is intended primarily for testing: rock-solid stability should not be expected yet, but this is exactly the stage at which the community hunts down bugs ahead of the final release.

Source: DistroWatch