UBUNTU 12.04 LTS

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin)

Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Precise Pangolin) is the current Ubuntu Long Term Support (LTS) release, made available on schedule on 26 April 2012. Ubuntu 12.04 is Canonical's 16th release of Ubuntu and its fourth long term support version. The name for the release was announced by Shuttleworth on 5 October 2011 and is named after the pangolin anteater.[136] Unlike previous LTS releases that have been supported for three years for the desktop version and five years for the server version, this release will be supported for five years for both versions.

Changes in this release include a much faster start up time for the Ubuntu Software Center and refinements to Unity. This release also replaced the Banshee media player with Rhythmbox, as the default media player and dropped the Tomboy note-taking application and the supporting Mono framework as well. Also the windows dodge feature has been removed from the Unity launcher starting with Ubuntu 12.04.

In January 2012 Shuttleworth announced that Ubuntu 12.04 would incorporate a new head-up display (HUD) feature that will allow hotkey searching for application menu items from the keyboard, without the need for using the mouse. Shuttleworth said that the HUD "will ultimately replace menus in Unity applications" but for Ubuntu 12.04 at least the menus will remain.

Ubuntu 12.04 is the first Ubuntu release shipped with IPv6 privacy extensions turned on by default. Ubuntu 11.10 already supported IPv6 on the desktop and in the installer (stateless address autoconfiguration SLAAC, stateless DHCPv6 and stateful DHCPv6).

Like other LTS releases 12.04 will include point releases that bundle updates to shorten downloads for users installing the release later in its lifecycle. The point releases and dates are: 12.04.1 (23 August 2012), 12.04.2 (14 February 2013), 12.04.3 (15 August 2013) and 12.04.4 (24 January 2014). There are no further point releases of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS scheduled after the release of the next LTS version, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

Writing about Ubuntu 12.04 after its release, Jesse Smith of DistroWatch wrote "Over the past two years many people, myself included, have questioned Ubuntu's direction. The developers have tackled a number of projects, some of which seemed misguided at the time, Unity being chief amongst them. However, with the release of 12.04 LTS I feel that the various puzzle pieces, which may have been underwhelming individually, have come together to form a whole, clear picture...Not everything is roses and I did run into a few issues...the HUD doesn't work across all applications (LibreOffice being the odd program out) and performance in a virtual machine was a bit of a let-down.

Jim Lynch reviewed Ubuntu 12.04 and concluded, "Ubuntu 12.04 is definitely worth an upgrade if you’re running an earlier version. Unity is finally coming into its own in this release, plus there are other enhancements that make upgrading worthwhile. Ubuntu is getting better and better with each release. I was one of the Unity skeptics initially, but I’ve come to accept it as part of Ubuntu.

In June 2012 TechRepublic writer Jack Wallen, who had been very critical of earlier versions of Unity said of Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, "I’ve noticed something lately. Since Ubuntu 12.04 was released, and I migrated over from Linux Mint, I’m working much more efficiently. This isn’t really so much a surprise to me, but to many of the detractors who assume Unity a very unproductive desktop… well, I can officially say they are wrong...I realize that many people out there have spurned Unity (I was one of them for a long time), but the more I use it, the more I realize that Canonical really did their homework on how to help end users more efficiently interact with their computers. Change is hard period. For many, the idea of change is such a painful notion they wind up missing out on some incredible advancements. Unity is one such advancement

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UBUNTU 12.04 LTS PRECISE PANGOLIN

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