The “Ubuntu 11.04 Desktop: Applications and Administration” covers the Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal) release, focusing on applications and administrative tools. The emphasis here is on what users will face when using Ubuntu, covering topics like installation, applications, software management, the Ubuntu desktops (Unity, GNOME, and KDE), shell commands, network connections, and system administration tasks. Ubuntu 11.04 introduces several new features, as well as numerous smaller modifications. It is a short-term support release. The Ubuntu desktop with the new Unity interface is examined in detail, along with the Ubuntu Classic desktop, which uses GNOME 2.3. Unity uses a Launcher and a Dash (dashboard) to manage access to applications and devices. The Kubuntu desktop, which uses KDE, provides a very different interface using plasma containers to support the panel, menu, desktop, configuration tools, and plasmoid applets. Changes include and the new Unity interface with launcher and dash, refinements to the Ubuntu Software Center, Ubuntu One setup and configuration, the Banshee music and media player, LibreOffice (replacement for OpenOffice), Firefox 4 with syncing, and the new time and date application. Ubuntu 11.04 provides improvements to the Software Center, Ubuntu One setup and configuration, and the installation procedure. Banshee is the new default music player. Advanced components are also examined such as the GRUB 2 boot loader, Computer Janitor for removing unused software, PulseAudio sound configuration, and Disk Utility (Udisks) for storage device configuration and information (SMART).

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