The Ubuntu developers are moving quickly to release Ubuntu 11.10 (Oneiric Ocelot). The beta version of the Canonical's free and open source Linux distribution is released now.

Beta 1 includes the 3.0.0-9.15 Ubuntu kernel which is based on the v3.0.3 upstream stable kernel. Some of the most notable changes since Ubuntu 11.10 Alpha3 with respect to the kernel include:

• Rebase to v3.0.3
• Enable missing IPv6 options
• Ivy Bridge: KVM support for SMEP
• Fix integer math bugs in panel fitting
• Turn on extra EAPDs on Conexant codecs
• Deliver more Atheros, Ralink, and iwlagn NIC drivers to d-i
• Package macvlan and macvtap for virtual
• Package x86_energy_perf_policy and turbostat
• dell-wmi: Add keys for Dell XPS L502X
• hfsplus: ensure bio requests are not smaller than the hardware sectors
• Ecryptfs: Add mount option to check uid of device being mounted = expect uid
• Update ideapad-laptop to v3.1
• mac80211: be more careful in suspend/resume
• xen-blkfront: Drop name and minor adjustments for emulated scsi devices
• xen: Do not enable PV IPIs when vector callback not present
• Native driver support for changing backlight intensity on i915
• Numerous config updates