The developers behind the Ubuntu project have announced the availability of Ubuntu 12.04, codenamed Precise Pangolin. The new version of the popular Linux distribution brings updated software, several major user interface improvements, and a number of changes to the platform’s default application lineup.

Ubuntu is released every six months on a time-based schedule. The version number is based on the year and month of the release. Version 12.04 is the sixteenth release since the original launch of Ubuntu in 2004. Ubuntu’s audience grew at a rapid pace and quickly elevated it to the status of the most popular Linux distribution for the desktop. The distribution has since been expanded to support servers and mobile and embedded systems.

Ubuntu 12.04 is a long-term support (LTS) release, which means that it will receive security and stability updates for an extended duration. LTS releases, which are issued every two years, have historically offered three years of support on the desktop and five years on the server. Regular Ubuntu releases, by comparison, are only supported with updates for 18 months.

Ubuntu 12.04 is the first LTS release that will receive a uniform five years of support in both environments. The support guarantee is backed by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. LTS releases are significant because the extended support period makes them more suitable than regular releases for deployment by hardware manufacturers and enterprise Ubuntu adopters.

Canonical’s official release announcement touts 12.04 as a release for the enterprise desktop, highlighting things like OEM certification and the availability of enterprise-centric software from partners VMware and Citrix.

Due to the longer lifespan and nature of the intended users, the focus of LTS releases tends to be on stability and robustness rather than new features and major technical changes. Version 12.04 conforms with that pattern, offering much less feature churn than the last few releases.

Unity in 12.04

The two Ubuntu releases in 2011 were somewhat transitional because of the introduction of Canonical’s new Unity shell on the desktop in version 11.04. Many of the gaps in Unity were closed in the subsequent 11.10 release, which brought some much-needed refinement. Unity is reasonably mature at this point and didn’t undergo dramatic changes for the 12.04 release. The environment has largely stabilized in time for the LTS update.

The most significant change in Unity for 12.04 is the addition of the HUD, a new keyboard-driven menu interface for advanced users. The feature exposes all of the menu items in an application through a convenient search system. When the user activates the HUD and begins typing, the system will display available menu items that match the inputted text. The user can then activate the desired menu item through the HUD.

The HUD is implemented to use fuzzy matching and some basic predictive capabilities in order to give users relevant matches. It effectively provides a command-oriented interface for every application on the desktop. It’s built on top of Unity’s global menu system, which gives it full access to menu contents. In addition to boosting Unity’s efficiency for heavy keyboard users, the HUD also serves as a compelling technical demonstration of how Unity’s underlying D-Bus menu framework can be used to provide richer presentation of application functionality.

In addition to the HUD, Unity also gained a number of smaller improvements. The developers have worked to expand the amount of functionality exposed through quicklists, the context menu items that show up when the user right-clicks an item in the Unity dock. The quicklist for the Nautilus file manager, for example, will now provide convenient access to the user’s directory bookmarks.

Software changes

Ubuntu 12.04 brings a number of changes to the lineup of applications that are bundled with the distribution. One of the most notable changes on that front is the removal of Banshee, which has been dropped in favor of a return to Rhythmbox. Ubuntu originally switched from Rhythmbox to Banshee last year for the 11.04 release.

Canonical’s relationship with the Banshee community has been somewhat tenuous due to the controversy over the company’s decision to change the affiliate codes in the application’s Amazon music store plugin. The decision to change back to Rhythmbox is largely attributed, however, to the application’s better support for running in ARM environments—an issue that is going to be increasingly important as Canonical pursues its mobile strategy.

Ubuntu 12.04 also includes an updated version of LibreOffice, better management tools for Canonical’s Ubuntu One synchronization service, and an improved Software Center that offers better performance and usability. In the area of hardware support, Ubuntu has gained better compatibility with trackpads that have the buttons integrated into the trackpad surface, such as Synaptics ClickPads.

Release

The desktop and server variants of Ubuntu 12.04 are available today from the Ubuntu website. There are also a number of other flavors, such as the LXDE-based Lubuntu and KDE-based Kubuntu, that are releasing today. Lead Kubuntu developer Jonathan Riddell recently announced that 12.04 would be the last release of Kubuntu that is officially supported by Canonical.

Although Kubuntu has gained some measure of popularity and has seen a number of large rollouts, Canonical intends to focus solely on its own Unity environment going forward. Kubuntu development, which is largely community-driven, will continue with sponsorship and support from Blue Systems.

In addition to the standard 32-bit and 64-bit versions for the x86 architecture, Ubuntu is also available for a number of ARM environments. Desktop and server images are available for SoCs with TI’s OMAP3 and OMAP4 processors. ARM builds can be brought to a number of other ARM systems, but it’s worth noting that the lack of ARM11 support precludes running the latest version of the distribution on the popular $35 Raspberry Pi board.

During our preliminary tests of Ubuntu 12.04 prereleases, we have found that it largely meets our expectations for an LTS release. It’s an incremental update that is fairly reliable, but doesn’t introduce many ambitious changes. Advanced users will benefit from the introduction of the HUD, but most users won’t notice major differences.

The Ubuntu release mirrors are currently under a lot of stress, so we recommend downloading via BitTorrent. The update mirrors are also getting hammered right now, so users might want to wait before performing an upgrade on an existing installation. For more details about the release, you can refer to the official release announcement.