Unity is back again with their next version, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail. Named after the Ringtail Lemur, Raring Ringtail has a lot of new features, a revamped interface and lots of other novelties, which you will enjoy using. There aren’t many fans for Ubuntu; however, this version will get more fans because of the new features introduced. The descriptions are interesting, the previews have been refreshed and the Dashboard has been improved. Let’s look at what has become of the previous version due to the changes.

The Dash
The Dash lets you to search both online and offline. Especially, the Dash displays different groups of data sources under which all the search sources you use are found, so that you can easily locate the source you want to use and perform search and get access to the information you are looking for. Moreover, you can easily use the search feature because the search bar displays a clear description of what tasks it can perform. The items are also properly proportioned and positioned in the Dash, letting you access items easily. Moreover, there are many items displayed on the top of the Dash.

Preview

• Of all the changes done to it, the changes to the Preview are more exciting to see.
• To preview an item, you just have to right click on it. The preview will be encapsulated in a dark window in the display, letting you see what the item looks like more clearly.
• Circling the previewed items will circle the ghost icons of those items, too. Thus, we can easily perform our tasks without exiting the preview mode.
• We could also see a fancy inversed animation which goes from the bottom to the top while closing the preview

Other Changes

• When you hold down the Super key, you will be able to see bigger and clearer shortcuts.
• The Spread feature works well with all the themes in this version and you can use it on the window outlines and titlebars, too.
• The Dash has overlay scroll bars so that you scroll easily to the item you want to get access to.
• There is also a new lens icon to make your tasks easier.
• Some processes which run on the background have been designed in such a way that they close automatically when idle and you will be able to revive them back when you need so that not much of the memory is used.
• As only GNOME Shell needs the GNOME Online Accounts, it will not be installed by default. If you need it, you can always install it easily.
• The idle memory usage has been reduced to 400M from 600M for the desktop version. Though it is not so great a change, it is a step taken at the right time.
• Dragging an item to a different location doesn’t change its size or appearance so that you can clearly see what is happening. In the previous version, the size of the item was reduced and so it resulted in poor quality images making it difficult for us to see what we are dragging. It was the case especially with PNG files.

Besides the various visual refinements done to the interface, there are also many changes done under the hood to ensure better performance. You are going to love the interface as the look and feel of it has changed drastically due to the tweaks done to it. There might be items left unattended to on your wish list for Ubuntu, however, they will be addressed soon, too. As always, this is also a momentous change that we’ve been expecting.

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Tags | Linux, Operating System, Raring Ringtail, Reviews, Ubuntu, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail