Ubuntu Unity For Linux

Are you longing for the good ol' days when Ubuntu used to run Unity? Missing Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus and 17.10 Artful Aardvark? If the answer is yes, then you probably already know about the existence of a special little project called Ubuntu Unity.

22.10 Kinetic Kudu is not the first version of Ubuntu Unity, but it marks an important moment in the life of this "little project," as it's the first stable release of Ubuntu Unity as an official flavor.

Ubuntu Unity is a Linux distro and a now official derivative of Ubuntu, which uses the Unity interface instead of Ubuntu's default GNOME Shell, and is the brainchild of a young developer by the name of  Rudra B. Saraswat. Before its initial release it had various working names such as Unubuntu and Ubuntu Unity Remix.

Well, if you're a Unity fan, then you already know what we're going to say in regard to why Ubuntu Unity is special. The short answer is Unity 7. With Ubuntu Unity 22.10, you can continue using your favorite features of Unity 7 which include the global search via HUD and the Global Menu (in the top bar), and left action buttons, just to name a few.

Ubuntu Unity also has a ported version of Yaru, which replaces the old Ambiance theme.

At its core, Ubuntu Unity 22.10 features most of the changes found in Ubuntu 22.10. These include a new Linux Kernel (5.19) and its associated core changes, the Unity 7 desktop, LibreOffice 7.4, Firefox 106, and Thunderbird 102 as default

It's important to note that a lot of work has gone into making this version of Ubuntu Unity as streamlined and as light on resources as possible. The ISOs are a lot smaller at under 3 GB, and the RAM usage also sees an improvement over 22.04 (around 650MBs when idling).

Ubuntu Unity 22.10 also introduces a new toggle from the panel that allows you to switch between dark and light modes, as well as change the accent colors for the GUI.

One of the bigger changes is that this version of Ubuntu Unity replaces all the libadwaita apps with their respective MATE alternatives. After this long list of positives, there is one small negative and that the fact that Ubuntu Unity 22.10 only supports X.Org (meaning no Wayland) which could, understandably, be a dealbreaker for some users.

Before we conclude, did you know that you can install Ubuntu Unity on an existing Ubuntu installation? You can do so by removing the gnome-shell and all its associated GNOME apps, and then installing the ubuntu-unity-desktop package (all packages are now in the Ubuntu universe and official archive repositories).

The main attraction of Ubuntu Unity in general, and 22.10 in particular are the two core GUI items namely: the global search via HUD and the global menu. Unity fans or users who want clean, unbloated desktops with more screen space will for sure love 22.10 and future versions of Ubuntu Unity.

An interesting fact UnityX, Unity 7's successor is under development for quite some time now which should provide Unity with even more "firepower." Ubuntu Unity 22.10 is without a doubt a great release, both because it's the first release as an official Ubuntu flavor, and because it gives a glimpse into the project's future - which looks quite bright.