It’s here! Rejoice! The 3rd – and final – alpha release of Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal has been released for your testing pleasure.
Significant changes are present from Alpha 2 – including a revamped Dash, indicator improvements and the usual round of application updates.
The first Beta release of Ubuntu 11.04 is pencilled in for the end of March with a second set to follow mid-April. As we recently reported on, there will be no official release candidate for Ubuntu 11.04.
New look Dash
Unity’s Dash, File Places and Application Places sport a redesigned look with better search filtering, the ability to go full screen and other visual improvements to the overall design.
Shortcut overlays
The Launch now sports some cool ‘Shortcut overlays’ to help you work quicker. Just hit the Super (Windows key) + relevant number/lettered key to zip through your work one-handed.
Panel theming
The top panel now adheres to your chosen GTK theme and can have translucency adjusted.
Launcher changes
Unity’s launcher has benefitted from a whole raft of changes and enhancements since the last Alpha release. Some of these new options include: -
- Drag and drop of files onto launcher to open in app
- Quicklist support
- Launcher API for displaying progress dialogues and counters (see image)
- Launcher hiding options
- Launcher backlight options
Indicator Datetime
Everyone’s favourite indicator-clock adds appointment support and neat new stack of customization options.
Call requests
Incoming calls are no longer alerted to users via the Ubuntu Messaging Menu, instead they are displayed using IDO – 'Indicator Display Objects’. These look slick.
Yelp 3
It’s boring but now beautiful: Ubuntu’s built in help browser – Yelp – has had a long overdue speed upgrade. More information on that can be read here.
Application updates
- Firefox 4 has been updated to the GTK-theme-loving twelfth beta
- Ubiquity benefits from some new wording and layout
-
Ubuntu one control panel continues to refine and adjust its new look
Download
Head over to ubuntu.com/testing/natty/alpha3 to grab a copy of the latest development release yourself.
Related posts:
- A few new updates to Unity in Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha
- See what’s new in Ubuntu 11.04 Alpha 2
- Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal Alpha 1 released
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