After the new themes introduced yesterday, Canonical decided to update the boot splash screen (USplash) theme with a very nice one. As you can see in the image below, the logo is the same as it was in Ubuntu 8.10, but it's smaller and the loading bar was replaced with a thinner and nicer one (see the video below for more details). Softpedia is once again the first website to offer you a preview of the new artwork, which will probably be present in the final release of Ubuntu 9.04.
How it looks? Well, we've tested it on a 17" and 19" LCD, and it looks more professional than the previous one, and the new loading bar has a gradient effect. Kubuntu's USplash was also updated with the new theme! No word from Xubuntu, yet.
Later edit: Check out the new wallpapers in Ubuntu 9.04 right here!
Ubuntu 9.04 Daily Build 03182009 with the new USsplash theme
Kubuntu 9.04 Daily Build 03182009 with the new USsplash theme
For your viewing pleasure, we've also recorded a video of the new boot splash screen in action. Enjoy!
Ubuntu 9.04 with ext3 in VirtualBox, on an AMD Sempron 2800+ machine with 1 GB RAM
Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope) will be the last release of the Ubuntu operating system that will use the old USplash software. Starting with Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala), Canonical will replace it with Red Hat's Plymouth.
Among other new features in Ubuntu 9.04 is the famous GNOME 2.26 desktop environment, which brings lots and lots of improvements in many areas, such as Evolution, GNOME Control Center, GNOME Media, GNOME Power Manager, etc. Ubuntu 9.04's kernel will be based on the latest version of Linux kernel 2.6.28, which will offer support for many new devices (wireless, webcams, etc). Moreover, applications such as OpenOffice.org 3.0.1, The GIMP 2.6.6, Mozilla Firefox 3.0.7, Mozilla Thunderbird 2.0.0.21, Transmission 1.51 or Pidgin 2.5.5 will also be present in the final version of Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope), due for release on April 23rd.
Don't forget to visit our website next Friday for the Ubuntu 9.04 Beta Screenshot Tour, where we will unveil more of Jaunty's new features!
funny the boot movie is 27 seconds long...
while here i thought the max boot time should be 20 seconds...
a well :P
Comment #10.1 by: Marius Nestor on 22 Mar 2009, 21:38 GMT
It says right under the video..... "Ubuntu 9.04 with ext3 in VirtualBox (read: virtual machine), on an AMD Sempron 2800+ machine with 1 GB RAM"!
If on a virtual machine and with ext3 boots in 27 seconds.... imagine how fast it boots on a real machine... like a Intel Core 2 Duo, and with ext4 as the filesystem!
Wow! I'm impressed. This is the graphical awesomeness that Shuttleworth promised in order to surpass OS X, I'm sure of that. The year of Linux is coming!
Don't mean to be a party crasher, but that bootsplash looks just like an "Ubuntufication" of the openSUSE bootsplash that's been used since 11.0 (or earlier, I don't remember exactly). Same sized thin little bar, with a nice gradient as it goes along. Only difference is in the colors.
Which is a bit ironic, seeing that I had always hoped openSUSE would go for a slightly thicker and glassier look... like Ubuntu used to have
