The second alpha of Ubuntu 12.04 has been made available for download.
As Ubuntu 12.04 is a ‘Long Term Support’ release development is focused on creating a dependable stable experience. As such this latest Alpha features only a handful of modest user-visible changes to the desktop.
New in Alpha 2
New Unity Configuration options have been added to the User Interface (formerly called ‘Appearance‘) pane in System Settings.
The leaner, faster Unity 5.0 is included. This brings a handful of minor new features to the desktop including Lens Quicklists:
Home folder Quicklists: –
Additional options in CCSM for adding a ‘Show Desktop’ item, changing Dash colour, etc.
The Unity Greeter – Ubuntu’s login screen – has been updated to display the wallpaper of the user selected.
Unity’s Overlay Scrollbars sport a slightly chunkier look: –
One new function you might be expecting to find in the Alpha is Ubuntu’s much-heralded ‘HUD’. This is not included in the Alpha build but it can be installed in Ubuntu 12.04 by adding the HUD testing PPA.
General Stuff
Alpha 2 specifics aside there are a number of other general changes testers should be aware of:
- Rhythmbox is the default music player
- There is no Ubuntu One Music Store plugin at present
- Tomboy and gBrainy are no longer installed by default
- LibreOffice 3.5 beta 2 is installed
- ‘Apport’ Crash reporting is enabled by default
Download Ubuntu 12.04 Alpha 2
Ubuntu 12.04 can be downloaded in a variety of disc images by hitting the blue button below.