Try out Ubuntu Unity with quick install
Posted by Dave in General, Web/Tech May 11th, 2010 | CommentsHey there! Thanks for visiting. This article is out of date, as you may know Unity is now the default shell in Ubuntu 11.04. I’m blogging at http://conjurecode.com now. Hope to see you there.
Canonical recently unveiled a new version of Ubuntu, dubbed Unity (Ubuntu Light), built specifically with netbooks in mind, featuring super short boot times, and a whole slew of interface enhancements. It is still incomplete, but early versions of it are available to OEMs and to adventurous tinkerers.
It is quite easy to get up and running if you’re using Ubuntu already. I have an Ubuntu desktop at home but decided to try this setup on my laptop via VirtualBox, which is sporting a relatively fresh install of Ubuntu 10.04 with Guest Additions installed. Follow the instructions below to try out Ubuntu Unity. It shouldn’t take you more than 5 to 10 minutes in total and only takes a few steps, don’t let the liberal set of screen shots fool you!
1. The first step is to add the repository where Unity is being held as a Software Source. Click System > Administration > Software Sources, and select the “Other Software” tab. You should something similar to the image below:
2. At the “Other Software” screen of the Software Sources window, click Add, and then Click “Add Source” after entering : ppa:canonical-dx-team/une
3. After adding this new source, it will notify you that information about available software is out of date (we just added a new source afterall, let’s find out what is available in it!) So click “Reload” and let it do it’s thing.
4. Next we are going to install Unity by going to Applications > Ubuntu Software Center, and then searching for “Unity”. Among the results, select “Launcher” and click “Install”. This will install the Unity launcher and all of it’s dependencies.
5. Once the install is complete, close the Software Center window, and log out. This will bring you back to the Ubuntu login screen. You should see a new Session type at the bottom right, which may be selected by default (it was for me), called “Ubuntu: Unity Netbook Edition”. Ensure it is selected and log in as usual.
6. Congrats, that is it! You should be loaded into the default (albeit incomplete) Unity environment. Most noticeable is the new dock or app launcher to the left and the integrated search in the top panel.
The Ubuntu logo at the top right acts as an Expose-esque app switcher once you have a few windows open, give it a try.
There are a lot of exciting features that haven’t been implemented yet, but you can play around with the new dock, and for people who actually have netbooks, perhaps see about getting it to book up quickly. I am booting into it on a VM via the method you see in steps 5 and 6, which doesn’t take advantage of the new speedy shell. Checkout the Ars Technica article to get all the details on new features in Unity, and especially the comments for a lot of interesting concerns that people have for the new interface. Hope you enjoy!
You can find the official product page here:
http://www.canonical.com/products/unity
Ars Technica has already done a fairly good roundup of current and soon to be released features in Unity here:
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mohsen davari
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