14 DAY TRIAL // Ubuntu Kylin, a new addition to the Ubuntu family that aims to provide a more suitable distribution for the Chinese users, is now at version 14.04 LTS Beta 2 (Trusty Tahr).
Ubuntu Kylin 14.04 LTS Beta 2 has joined the other releases, along with Ubuntu, Kubuntu, and Ubuntu GNOME. Also, just like Ubuntu GNOME, this is the first LTS version for this flavor and the developers are making sure that they ship a bug-free version.
Canonical has said that Kylin has registered an immense success in China and it's very likely that even the Chinese authorities might be inclined to use it someday. This is one of the reasons why the LTS release needs to be spot on.
“The objective of the Ubuntu Kylin project is to create a variant of Ubuntu that is more suitable for Chinese users. We are committed to provide you with a delicate, thoughtful and fully customized Chinese user experience out-of-the-box. For instance, by providing a desktop user interface localized in Chinese and installing common software that Chinese users commonly use by default. Ubuntu Kylin has been a formal member of the Ubuntu family, since UbuntuKylin 13.04. Now, we are working on 14.04,” reads the official announcement.
The Chinese developers have done a great job so far and they've implemented a long list of features. For example, Customized Chinese Themes have been added and they are specifically designed for Chinese users, a system management and configuration tool called Youker Assistant has been added, a powerful panel for Fcitx called Fcitx Qimpanel has been added, and a Linux cloud storage client jointly developed by Ubuntu Kylin Team and the Kingsoft Cloud Corp called Kingsoft Kuaipan has been implemented.
Also, the developers have said that the Ubuntu Kylin 14.04 ISO requires users to have a CPU with Physical Address Extensions, or PAE (PAE is provided by Intel Pentium Pro and above CPUs).
Like all the other distributions in the 14.04 series, Ubuntu Kylin will benefit from three years of support.
More details about this new distribution can be found in the official announcement. Download Ubuntu Kylin 14.04 LTS Beta 2 (Trusty Tahr) right now from Softpedia.
Remember that this is a development version and it should NOT be installed on production machines. It is intended for testing purposes only.
Ubuntu Kylin 14.04 LTS is expected to arrive on April 17, along with all the other flavors from the greater Ubuntu family.