While it's already known that Raring Ringtail, the next major release of Ubuntu will mostly have Gnome 3.6, users can now install Gnome 3.8 Beta in this currently development version of Ubuntu and try out the new features. All you need to do is add a personal package archive and update the packages using apt.

A second ppa named Gnome staging PPA is also available that will allow users to upgrade components that are not available in the main PPA. However, keep in mind that the current Gnome 3.8 packages are in beta stage and subject to bugs and stability issues. Install them only if you are willing to take risks and know how to use PPA purge and roll back your system to an earlier stage.

The following major apps are currently available:

• GNOME Shell 3.7.90
• GNOME Shell Extensions 3.7.90 (with new classic GNOME session)
• GDM 3.7.90, Nautilus 3.7.90
• Clutter 1.13.6
• GTK 3.7.10
• Gedit 3.7.4

View the full package list here.

To add the main Gnome PPA, issue the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update

For the staging PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3-staging
sudo apt-get update