Two years after last Ubuntu 12.04 LTS (Long term support) release codenamed Precise Pangolin, this April we got a new version named Trusty Tahr, later in 25th of July there was an update to version 14.04.1. So let's first do a compare to old 12.04 and see what's new.

12.04.5



14.04.1



At first look they look similar. Some of icons have been redesigned, new wallpaper, but something is missing. Yes, they decided to close Ubuntu One. It was matter of time, so you will have to choose another service, Dropbox is one example. It also does integrate with Nautilus. There is also Amazon service like in previous release, but you can kick it out of launcher if you want.

Boot

I went to Ubuntu webpage and downloaded latest release. They still offer you to donate before download. On bottom there is option to skip this step. Maybe next time. On Windows you can use Win32 Disk Imager from Sourceforge to write downloaded ISO image to USB drive, or if you're on another Linux distribution you can do it with Unetbootin or command line tool dd. Ok, image is written, let's boot. Because my laptop comes with SecureBoot and Fast Boot, I wondered if these have to be turned off to allow Ubuntu to boot. The answer is: nope. Nice to see, so this way you are redirected straight to boot menu.



Remember that you have to create GPT partition on you USB drive if you want to install and boot Windows in UEFI way.

Installation

Double click on Install Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and you will be greeted with Ubuntu installer, same one we saw in previous releases.



Next step is very optional. You might want to install latest updates and codecs such as Flash and MP3 playback.



Partitioning, setting up users, keyboard and clock is pretty easy.







And we're finished here. Let's boot into our new system.

Ubuntu 14.04.1 user experience

It runs pretty good. Almost everything is recognized. Almost. For things that are not working here's some: brightness changing works only with manual setting in terminal. Function keys are invoking OSD in right upper corner, sliders are moving with glitches, but nope, brightness stays the same. Also it is invoking your OCD while you try to set brightness manually. Well, I can't blame Ubuntu for that. It is radeon opensource's driver fault. And Xorg server. Next thing is bluetooth. It also is not recognized. But anyway I don't use it since there are alternative ways to get things done. Updates are done well, no bugs or crashes. Great. On idle CPU is quiet and RAM usage is also low. Cool'n'quiet.


Conclusion

Ubuntu 14.04.1 LTS has developed into a stable and mature distribution. It's only a matter if you like Unity flavor. Everything else is working as expected from stable release. Minor problems with drivers are expected, not everything will work out of box, but in my case those are things you can fix it or live with. All in all, not bad. Let it be 8/10. Greetings.