Ubuntu Unity 23.04 “Lunar Lobster” has now been released! You can download it from https://ubuntuunity.org/download/.

New changes

It is the first distribution to ship Unity 7.7 out-of-the-box, and brings many improvements to the table, including:

• A brand-new dash, similar to that displayed in the concepts designed for Ubuntu 16.04.
• A slightly bigger panel, that is translucent by default and looks much better in light mode.
• indicator-notification is installed by default, and allows you to see any notifications that may have popped up while you were away.
• The official widgets implementation, UWidgets, is now supported. We’re currently working on a store for downloading and managing them, and it will be made available within the next couple of weeks.

And some changes:

• The Settings app’s shell UI has been drastically improved.
• The launcher BFB is now half-transparent, and fits in with the rest of the default Yaru icons, similar to Ubuntu Unity’s custom BFB for Unity 7.5 in 21.04.

Ubuntu Unity merch

Thanks to Maik Adamietz of the Ubuntu Unity team, we are glad to announce a collab between HelloTux and Ubuntu Unity.

From HelloTux’s website:

We are not just another t-shirt shop with some Linux shirts - we are a shop with only Linux and free software shirts. It does really matter.

HelloTux is a family business and a global provider of shirts and merch for FOSS projects. We encourage you to check out their awesome merch, and do take a look at their Ubuntu Unity merch too!

https://www.hellotux.com/ubuntu-unity

Additional information

You can also install Ubuntu Unity on an existing Ubuntu install by removing gnome-shell and other GNOME apps, and then installing the ubuntu-unity-desktop package (all the Ubuntu Unity packages are in universe in the official Ubuntu archive).

Special thanks to Dmitry Shachnev (mitya57), our MOTU/uploader, who has been uploading all our packages to the universe pocket of the official Ubuntu Unity repositories, including many last-minute emergency uploads. This release would not have been possible without his help and support.

I would also like to thank Maik and Tobiyo, fellow members of the Ubuntu Unity team, who have actively and patiently been answering all your support-related queries, and moderating our Telegram, Matrix, IRC and Discord groups/servers.

For support or queries, please join us on Telegram at t.me/ubuntuunitydiscuss, or on IRC (#ubuntu-unity on libera.chat).