With only two days before final release, let’s take a look at what’s new in the next LTS release of Xubuntu. Here’s 14 things that make the biggest splash this time around.

New Look

1. Brand new theme for the LightDM GTK+ Greeter login/lock screen.

LightDM GTK+ Greeter with the latest Greybird theme.

2. A new “Suru”-styled default wallpaper.

The new default wallpaper for Xubuntu 14.04 “Trusty Tahr”

3. Six wallpapers were selected from a pool of community-submitted wallpapers and included. See each of the winning submissions here.

Balance – one of the community-submitted wallpapers.

4. A new panel layout. As featured below: [Whisker Menu] [Window Buttons] [Notification Area] [Indicator Plugin] [Clock]

A new panel layout, whisker menu, and updated indicator stack.

5. “Whisker Menu”, a modern menu applet, is included by default.

6. The indicator stack has been updated. Network, Power, and Sound are included and fully functional.

7. The themes included come from the popular Shimmer Project and Numix Project.

Albatross (Shimmer Project)

Bluebird (Shimmer Project)

Greybird (Shimmer Project)

Numix (Numix Project)

Orion (Shimmer Project)

8. Xscreensaver has been removed in favor of Light Locker. Light Locker uses LightDM to lock the screen, merging the functionality of the login screen and the lock screen. Light Locker Settings is included to make configuration a simple task.

A simple configuration utility to complement Light Locker.

9. Mugshot, the simple user configuration utility, is now included by default.

Mugshot with the latest Greybird theme.

10. The Alacarte menu editor has been removed in favor of MenuLibre.

MenuLibre with the latest Greybird theme.

11. Parole Media Player’s plugins are once-again fully-functional.

Parole’s plugins work again in Ubuntu 14.04

New Xfce Features

12. The Xfce Display Settings now supports monitor hotplugging.

The Xfce Display Settings can now automatically configure a newly connected display.

13. The Xfce Compositor now supports zooming. Just hold Alt and scroll the mousewheel up or down.

Keyboard Shortcuts

14. Xubuntu 14.04 features more keyboard shortcuts and better compatibility with multimedia keyboards.