It appears that Unity 2D — the Qt non-accelerated desktop version of the Ubuntu Unity desktop — will be abandoned by Canonical. There’s also going to be some GNOME 3.6 packages appearing in Ubuntu 12.10.

The new version of Ubuntu–12.04, codename “Precise Pangolin”– is officially here, meaning two things: I get to be really happy about new features, and some people get to complain about Unity in the comments. Horray!

These removal commands were created based on what Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc. packages were added to a default Ubuntu installation. It’s possible that the commands might remove some other packages you have since added to the default and want to keep. If that’s the case, keep track of which packages those are and reinstall them.

The release of Ubuntu 12.04 (Precise Pangolin) hasn’t exactly made critics warm to Ubuntu’s Unity interface. However, Unity having gone through several versions, a definite tone of acceptance — or maybe resignation — colors discussion of the new release.

Join us as we speak to Canonical CEO, Jane Silber, about the community’s perception of arrogance, the fiery reception of Unity and Canonical’s plans to dominate much more than just your desktop…

The Unity Dash provides a lightweight, instant and easy means to browse and retrieve interesting content. Through the use of lenses, it enables the user to search for information both locally and remotely. In this article you’ll learn how to easily write a lens to comfortably search the Wikipedia right from your desktop.

Ubuntu 12.04 has a number of challenges to overcome before we think it’s ready for the planned LTS release later this month. We kick off a irreverent list with a few gripes about Unity and the Dash…

Ubuntu continues to take Unity into the future of desktops, and with its new HUD system, the desktop has now gone boldly where none has gone before. Jack Wallen introduces the Head-Up Display.

Remember back when Ubuntu switched to Unity and the world came to an end? That was pure fun times, eh? Well, the world didn’t actually end and Unity continued on… and boy did it continue on. Recently Unity 5.8 was added to the daily builds of Ubuntu 12.04 so we can all peek inside to [...]

Unsetting is another graphical configuration tool for Unity, Unsetting allows you to change the themes for GTK, window manger, icons, cursors, switch off the global menu and the overlay scrollbars used in Unity

Referring to Ubuntu’s emphasis on usability, Mark Shuttleworth described making Unity the default desktop environment as “the biggest leap forward in that mission that Ubuntu has ever taken . . . . We brought something new to the very core of the user experience.” That was ten months ago. Since then, many distributions have shown [...]

Canonical is designing a new heads-up display interface for the next version of Ubuntu. Its last interface tweak, Unity, was somewhat controversial. Now it looks like Ubuntu will double down on that departure and bring users even further from the typical desktop OS experience.

With today’s updates, the upcoming Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) operating system received many new features and improvements, including the Privacy Settings, Video Lens for Unity and the HUD (Head-Up Display) system described in this article.

Because the default Music Lens of Ubuntu 11.10 allows you to only search music imported in the Banshee audio player, the Ubuntu Music Scopes contain Unity Launcher plugins that allows you to search local music in the Rhythmbox, Clementine and Guayadeque music apps, directly from the Unity Dash.

Open source experts like Red Hat and SUSE learned long ago how difficult and often unwise it can be to try to establish bigger projects with just their own distributions. If Canonical realises this, too, and changes its methods of operation accordingly, the Unity desktop will have a much better chance of becoming the third [...]

Ubuntu’s Unity interface is a step away from traditional graphical user interfaces. The intention is to make it the basis of a standard interface for everything from PCs to tablets to phones, and it’s implementation has been somewhat controversial – it’s worth exploring Unity to see what it has to offer.

Tired of Ubuntu’s Unity desktop environment? Try Cinnamon, the latest desktop environment from Linux Mint. Cinnamon offers a more traditional, GNOME 2-like layout, but it’s based on the modern GNOME Shell — and you can install it on Ubuntu.

Say hello to the Head-Up Display, or HUD, which will ultimately replace menus in Unity applications. Here’s what we hope you’ll see in 12.04 when you invoke the HUD from any standard Ubuntu app that supports the global menu:

Think Unity means you need to find another Linux distribution? Try one of these tools first. If you’re still not happy, then you can start looking around for a new desktop or a new distribution.

With Ubuntu 12.04 scheduled for release in April 2012, the Ubuntu developers have released a test version of Unity 5.0, the newest version of Ubuntu’s desktop interface.

The Unity desktop environment that was recently made default in Ubuntu Linux has been nothing if not controversial, as has the alternative GNOME 3. Fortunately, thanks to the customizability that has long been a hallmark of open source software in general and Linux in particular, you can modify both of these desktops so that they [...]

We recently published a how to about how to install Unity 5.0 in Ubuntu 12.04. But now even the Ubuntu 11.10 users can install and test Unity 5.0, thanks to the power of PPA. You just need to remember that Unity 5.0 is not stable yet and it might break certain things.

Are you a cutting edge Ubuntu user that’s been using Precise Pangolin since it was made available December 1? If you are, you’ll want to try out the just-released Unity 5.0. It’s an absolute test version, and you won’t want to install it on your production machine, but if you’re running 12.04 we’ll assume you’re [...]

The new interface introduced with the latest version of Ubuntu has had a mixed response. MyUnity offers an easy way to change some of the visual settings. This can make the Launcher and Unity in general easier to use as well as that satisfaction in having it set up exactly as you want

If your computer is so old that it was last spotted in the wild roaming with the dinosaurs before they were flamed by an extinction-level event, then (like me) you just might just be grateful for Unity (2D) to extend the lifetime of your machine.

Ubuntu’s Unity desktop environment has customizable keyboard shortcuts and animations, but its options are all hidden. We’ll show you how to get started with the CompizConfig Settings Manager and point out some of Unity’s more interesting configuration options.

MyUnity is a tweaking tool for the Unity desktop that allows you to tweak and customize your Unity desktop to your liking. While it doesn’t cover every possible tweaks under the sun, it does make the Unity desktop more customizable and easier to use.

Has Canonical’s controversial new desktop interface improved enough to not only be an amiable desktop for Ubuntu, but to fend off the competition from Windows 8?

Ubuntu: If you’re using the newest versions of Ubuntu, you probably have an annoyance or two with the Unity interface. MyUnity is a system tweaker based around changing Unity’s behavior and appearance.

Being part of the Ayatana project, a keyboard shortcut hint overlay will be displayed in the upcoming Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) operating system every time a user presses and holds the Super key (also known as the Windows key).