Canonical makes Ubuntu builds with Unity 8 and Mir public

Canonical Friday released early builds of Ubuntu 14.10 that come standard with its Unity 8 interface and its experimental Mir display server. The release is primarily intended for developers and testers.

Canonical is making the iso images of the AMD and Intel builds available immediately. This allows developers and testers to get started with the Unity 8 interface, which currently only has the tablet interface. The system also runs on the Mir display server, Canonical’s replacement for X.org Server, which the company has been working on for some time.

Unity 8 and Mir are unlikely to make their appearance in the final release of Ubuntu 14.10, as Canonical founder Mark Shuttleworth said in March that Mir is not expected to be the operating system’s default display server until 16.04. Canonical announced Mir in 2013 and planned to activate the display server in Ubuntu 13.10, but this plan was delayed due to technical issues.

Ubuntu version 14.10, codenamed Utopic Unicorn, should be available at the end of October. The version will be the successor to Trusty Tahr, the 14.04 LTS release with five years of active support released by Canonical early this year. The default version of 14.10 will most likely run on Unity 7, the X.org display server, and the Compiz window manager.