14 DAY TRIAL // The Ubuntu MATE project posts the details about the donations they've received each month, detailing who gave money and where they are going. They've been doing this for quite some time, and many times they've used those funds for donations to other projects. Now they are saving the money because Ubuntu MATE 15.10 for Raspberry Pi is coming out, and they think it's going to be a hit.
We usually cover the donations made to the Ubuntu MATE project, and the guys in charge have always made some contributions to other projects, but not this time. This is not something to worry about, but it's, in fact, good news. It's a known fact that Ubuntu and all the flavors will get new updates next week, on October 22, but it looks like the Raspberry Pi platform will be supported too, even if it's not on the official list.
The Raspberry Pi 2 version of Ubuntu MATE has been quite successful, and it looks like it will soon become the favorite OS for the small mini-PC, outside of the official Raspbian. The thing is that the Ubuntu MATE 15.10 for Raspberry Pi 2 is not a part of the Ubuntu family, but it's being built by the same people. They need to provide the infrastructure for downloads, and they are not using Canonical's servers. That means it's not going to be free.
Ubuntu MATE 15.10 for Raspberry Pi 2 to land next week
"Ubuntu MATE 15.10 for the Raspberry Pi 2 will be released next week and we anticipate a surge in downloads. We are putting some cash aside for what we expect to be an expensive bandwidth bill next month. We are going to run some small paid projects for Ubuntu MATE during the 16.04 development cycle. We are saving the remainder of this months surplus for that initiative, the details of which will be shared here in due course," wrote developer Martin Wimpress.
As usual, you can download the current iteration of Ubuntu MATE 15.10 for Raspberry Pi 2 from the official website, or you can wait until next week and get the new one.