A list of new features of the beautiful Ubuntu Kylin 22.04 LTS with additional information.
Ubuntu Kylin is the official Chinese version of Ubuntu Linux. It targets Chinese users, but you can install it because it has almost all popular local language support across countries. Canonical and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China agreed in 2013 to officially build Ubuntu for the Chinese market for national usage. Hence, it has continued since then.
The main attraction of Ubuntu Kylin is the stunning UKUI desktop environment (Ubuntu Kylin User Interface). The UKUI desktop environment is a beautiful desktop, uses few system resources and resembles Windows 7 and Windows 10 user interfaces for easy adoption. The UKUI is written using Qt and based on GTK for a few components.
Ubuntu Kylin 22.04 LTS – What’s New
That said, the Ubuntu Kylin 22.04 LTS brings the revamped UKUI 3.1, which brings several stunning UI changes since its 3.0 release. Firstly, the icon sets changed to look more modern and flat for the entire operating system. The icon colours are vibrant and easily distinguishable for similar colour usage. For example, the folder colours are yellow-orange, identical to other OSes.
Secondly, the bottom panel is revamped in UKUI 3.x+ with clean texts, icon spacing and three new size options – small, medium and large. The panel options allow you to move it to the top, left, and right without any extensions or tweaks.
Third, the workspace view is improved with well-organized workspace thumbnails and application window previews. It’s worth mentioning that the workspace view in Ubuntu Kylin is similar to the Pop OS workspace view. You can easily drag the running applications and put them to any workspaces while remaining in workspace view.
In addition to that, the UKUI design revamps since the 3.0 version includes an expanded application menu view which is a toggle option at the right-top of the main menu. When activated, it gives you a full-screen application view similar to GNOME. Interestingly, this is one unique way of intuitively combining the traditional app menu with the modern application menu.
Moreover, the Peony file manager of Ubuntu Kylin brings several improvements and aligns itself with the UKUI design revamp in this release. The Peony file manager 3.2.2 brings new folder icons, bug fixes, and an underlying performance boost.
One of the interesting change is the cursor theme settings which provides you with a preview of cursors before you apply. I think no other Linux distribution provides the cursor preview today in their settings. The Settings window also gives you a built-in dark and light theme with well-categorised sections to tweak your desktop.
Summary and Download
Together with the above changes, Ubuntu Kylin 22.04 LTS brings the default applications based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, which we list below.
- Based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and Linux Kernel 5.15
- UKUI Desktop Environment 3.1 (Kylin Linux Desktop V10 – SP1)
- Based on GTK Version 3.0 (for MATE applications)
- Based on Qt 5.15 (for UKUI)
- Firefox 99 (Snap version)
- LibreOffice 7.3.2.2
- MATE Terminal 1.26
- Peony File Manager 3.2.2
- Pluma Text Editor 1.26 (MATE Application)
- Python 3.10
- Rythmbox 3.4.4
Finally, the Ubuntu Kylin 22.04 LTS is available to download from the link below. You may want to try it out in your system.
If you are planning to install, remember to choose the language, locale and keyboard properly during installation. They default to Chinese.
- ubuntukylin-22.04-desktop-amd64.iso (ISO file 3.9 GB)
- Torrent and other info: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/jammy/release/
