Ubuntu MATE 16.04 for Raspberry Pi 3 includes built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth support

Martin Wimpress, the project leader Ubuntu MATE, announced yesterday the launch of the second beta of version 16.04 LTS (Xenial Xerus) for the Raspberry Pi 3 and Raspberry pi 2. With this update, Ubuntu MATE users on their small but powerful Raspberry Pi motherboards will see the new welcome screen, a window that has been modified to display Raspberry Pi specific functions. Although, logically, the update includes more news in addition to the new window.

But the best of all comes in the form of new support: Ubuntu MATE 16.04 Beta 2 for Raspberry Pi 3 Supports built-in Wi-Fi and Bluetooth hardware thanks to the BlueZ 5.37 component, which will allow you to enjoy stable connections without the need to do the work yourself. On the other hand, the operating system includes Kernel 4.1.19 LTS and raspberrypi-firmware 1.20160315-1, wiringpi 2.32, nuscratch 20160115, sonic pi 2.9.0 y omx-player 0.3.7 ~ git2016206 ~ cb91001.

Now available Ubuntu MATE 16.04 Beta 2 for Raspberry Pi

Ubuntu MATE 16.04 Beta 2 for Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 is available for download. Many thanks to Pi Podcast hosts Joe Ressington, Winkle Ink, and Isaac Carter for testing out some of the early images and providing us with valuable feedback. Thanks to them, this Beta is in decent shape.

Another interesting change that comes with the second trial version of Ubuntu MATE 16.04 for Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 is that it is now possible to activate the hardware accelerated OpenGL technology. Finally, it seems that the team has also managed to migrate the configuration modifications to raspberrypi-sys-mods y raspberrypi-general-mods.

If you want to try this new beta, something that we do not usually recommend unless you are developers or know where you are getting, you can download the ISO image of Ubuntu MATE for Raspberry Pi 3 from your official website. If you want to play it safe, there are also Ubuntu MATE 15.10.3 ISO images available.