FREE LOOK

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, codenamed 'Precise Pangolin', is scheduled to be released on April 26th. We are reviewing it based on its Final Beta - as it's already Feature Freeze, there shouldn't be any noticeable changes in the final release, apart from possible additional bug fixes, of course.

While older LTS (Long Term Support) releases were supported for 3 years on the desktop and 5 years on the server, 12.04 will be the first release that will be supported for 5 years on both the desktop and the server. And being an LTS release, focus was on stability rather than introducing new features. Still, there were quite a few new features introduced in this release, e.g. the HUD. Apart from that, Unity has also grown up by now, so it is quite stable and feature-rich.

The Ubuntu developers had decided earlier to set the target size for the default Precise ISO to 750MB, meaning that it wouldn't fit on a usual CD anymore. But they still managed to keep it within the burning limit of the latter, around 700MB, so the door for users of CDs is now still open.

HUD

Unity's HUD (Head-Up Display) is an innovative alternative to the traditional application menus, it's based on the same technique the Global Menu is based on. Tapping the <Alt> key brings up the HUD and you can then search for anything you want to do. For example, let's say you want to do anything with 'tabs' in Chromium, tap <Alt> and type 'tab'.


You can read more about the HUD here in Mark Shuttleworth's blog post:

http://www.markshuttleworth.com/archives/939

Shortcuts Help Overlay

Pressing and holding down the <Super> key now brings up the Shortcuts Help Overlay. It can really prove beneficial in learning more about how to use Unity efficiently.


Unity Launcher