FREE LOOK

The latest version of Ubuntu, 12.04 Precise Pangolin, has just been released. This is a Long Term Support release, which will be supported for 5 years on both the desktop and the server. You can read the official release announcement here:

https://lists.ubuntu.com/archives/ubuntu-announce/2012-April/000159.html


If you are used to using some Torrent client, it is recommended that you download Ubuntu 12.04 through a Torrent - particularly in the first days after the release! This would help decreasing the server load, your download might/will be faster than from a regular mirror and your download will be automatically checked for any possible corruption during download.

You'll find both the regular ISO files and the corresponding Torrent files for the various image versions here:

• http://releases.ubuntu.com/precise/

You can try out Ubuntu from a Live CD/USB without making any changes to your running system before you decide to actually install it, just to make sure that all of your hardware works as expected with this new version. For instructions, please take a look here:

• http://www.ubuntu.com/download/ubuntu/download

If you want to upgrade from a previous version of Ubuntu to 12.04, please take a look at this post:

• http://www.tuxgarage.com/2012/04/how-to-upgrade-to-ubuntu-precise.html

Those who installed Ubuntu 12.04 during the development phase just need to install the available updates via the Update Manager and they would be automatically updated to the final release.

For an overview of Ubuntu 12.04 features, as well as several tips on how to tweak it to better suit your needs, please take a look at these recent posts:

• Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin Review
• Things to do after installing Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin

Short Testimonial

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

Get Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Desktop