Canonical Reveals Unity Desktop and Ubuntu Light
Two big surprised at the Ubuntu Summit in Belgium.
Canonical gave a first glimpse at Unity, a desktop environment designed with netbooks and touch-based devices in mind, and Ubuntu Light, a fast-booting version of Ubuntu. Unity includes a revised panel and application launcher which makes it easier to access most-used applications.
Alongside Unity, Ubuntu announced Ubuntu Light, a 10-second boot implementation of the popular Linux distro that gives users an 'instant-web' experience.
Ubuntu Light comes equipped with chat, media player, Web browser, photo-viewing and IM applications. The operating system is intended to be part of a dual-boot system for commercial PCs, but can run fine on its own.
Unity and Ubuntu Light complement each other in that both the desktop environment and operating system offer simplified, but functional versions of the traditional Ubuntu environment.
Ubuntu Light is available to PC OEMs by contacting Cononical directly at oem@canonical.com. Unity is already available for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS can be downloaded here.
Subscribe to our Linux Newsletters
Find Linux and Open Source Jobs
Subscribe to our ADMIN Newsletters
Support Our Work
Linux Magazine content is made possible with support from readers like you. Please consider contributing when you’ve found an article to be beneficial.

News
-
USB4 Maintainer Leaves Intel
Michael Jamet, one of the primary maintainers of USB4 and Thunderbolt drivers, has left Intel, leaving a gaping hole for the Linux community to deal with.
-
Budgie 10.9.3 Now Available
The latest version of this elegant and configurable Linux desktop aligns with changes in Gnome 49.
-
KDE Linux Alpha Available for Daring Users
It's official, KDE Linux has arrived, but it's not quite ready for prime time.
-
AMD Initiates Graphics Driver Updates for Linux Kernel 6.18
This new AMD update focuses on power management, display handling, and hardware support for Radeon GPUs.
-
AerynOS Alpha Release Available
With a choice of several desktop environments, AerynOS 2025.08 is almost ready to be your next operating system.
-
AUR Repository Still Under DDoS Attack
Arch User Repository continues to be under a DDoS attack that has been going on for more than two weeks.
-
RingReaper Malware Poses Danger to Linux Systems
A new kind of malware exploits modern Linux kernels for I/O operations.
-
Happy Birthday, Linux
On August 25, Linux officially turns 34.
-
VirtualBox 7.2 Has Arrived
With early support for Linux kernel 6.17 and other new additions, VirtualBox 7.2 is a must-update for users.
-
Linux Mint 22.2 Beta Available for Testing
Some interesting new additions and improvements are coming to Linux Mint. Check out the Linux Mint 22.2 Beta to give it a test run.