Canonical has announced the general availability of Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark. The first thing you’ll notice is the the updated user interface. It’s largely the same as a traditional GNOME desktop, but features a dock which can be moved to the left, bottom, or right of the screen. It can be set up to seem more familiar to Windows users than the Unity desktop ever did.
Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical CEO and founder, said:
“Ubuntu 17.10 is a milestone in our mission to enable developers across the cloud and the Internet of Things. With the latest capabilities in Linux, it provides a preview of the next major LTS and a new generation of operations for AI, container-based applications and edge computing.”
The new desktop features the latest version of GNOME with some extensions bolted on top - for example, the new dock is one such extension. These extensions were built in collaboration with the GNOME Shell team in order to provide a familiar experience for existing users.
Another big change with this release is that it’s the first to ship with Wayland. The move could be the watershed moment for the Wayland display server. The X display stack will be relegated to an alternative option but won’t be the default.
If you want to give it a go, just head over to Ubuntu.com and downloading the distribution will be clear enough from there.
Source: Ubuntu