Once it gets closer to the official release date of a new version of Ubuntu, I frequently download the latest daily build from the repository and install a fresh version in a virtualized environment, so I can try out and test not only the new OS, but also any software that I am developing or evaluate to run on Ubuntu.
Jorge Castro from Canonical recently introduced a nifty tool called TestDrive that simplifies the installation process by automatically downloading the ISO and configuring a VM. TestDrive is a command-line tool and it prompts you to select an ISO image you want to test. It will then download the image, configure and launch a VM. A very neat feature is that TestDrive caches the ISO images and utilizes rsync to update only the items that have changed, this way you don’t have to download the entire ISO again just to test a new daily build.
TestDrive is pretty straight forward and easy to use. The primary goal is to provide a very simple method for allowing non-technical Ubuntu users to test and provide feedback on the current Ubuntu release under development. It supports both KVM and VirtualBox. You can configure your preferred virtualization software, the default ISO caching path, and the default memory configuration by editing the file /etc/testdriverc.
Installation is also straight forward, on Lucid simply call $ sudo apt-get install testdrive. Alternatively download and install it from the project’s PPA and don’t forget to visit its project page on Launchpad.