Ubuntu 23.10 Will Use Linux 6.5 Kernel
Planning to upgrade or install Ubuntu 23.10 when it’s released in the autumn? If so, you can look forward to an experience powered by the Linux 6.5 kernel. While the Linux 6.5 kernel is yet to be released yet, the stars (or rather the release calendars) have aligned to make its inclusion in the “Mantic Minotaur” a dead-cert. Current daily builds of Ubuntu 23.10 include the Linux 6.3 kernel. Linux 6.5 is due for release in mid to late August. Ubuntu 23.10’s kernel freeze takes effect on September 28. And the final stable release of Ubuntu 23.10 goes live on 
#News #Development #Kernel #Ubuntu23_10
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/ubuntu-23-10-linux-6-5-kernel
Ubuntu 23.10 Switches from DejaVu to Noto Fonts
Ubuntu devs plan on making a major typographic change in the upcoming release of Ubuntu 23.10 ‘Mantic Minotaur’. In an effort to improve the quality and reduce the number of fonts a standard Ubuntu install comes with, the plan is ship the Noto fonts package by default. This package includes sans-serif and serif fonts that cover a swathe of latin and non-latin scripts. In current versions of Ubuntu the DejaVu fonts package is pre-installed and pre-configured to handle non-latin scripts. With this change the Noto fonts will take over duties for cases where DejaVu would be used as the quality
#News #Fonts #ManticMinotaur #Ubuntu23_10
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/ubuntu-noto-fonts-change-mantic
GIMP Dev Release Completes GTK3 Port, Adds Headerbar Option
A new development version of GIMP recently released, and it’s a fairly notably one for a couple of reasons. Though not stable (i.e. expect bugs) this release gives us our best look yet at how what the stable GIMP 3.0 release will comprise of when it’s released later this year (a release candidate of GIMP 3.0 draws close, for those interested). First up, devs say GIMP’s GTK3 port is now “officially done”. If you’ve paid any attention to GIMP’s development efforts in the past few years you’ll know that porting the app to GTK3 has been a real fear. For
#News #AppUpdates #Gimp
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/gimp-dev-release-completes-gtk3-port-adds-headerbar-option
Linux Mint 21.2 is Out with Gesture Support, App Updates, + UI Tweaks
Pull that party popper ‘cos Linux Mint 21.2 ‘Victoria’ is now officially available to download. This release is the stable series successor to last year’s Linux Mint 21.1 release. It remains based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and runs atop Linux kernel 5.15. Most of you (I imagine) already know about Linux Mint 21.2’s new features as they’ve been covered here and on other Linux blogs pretty heavily over the past few months. But if you’re you’re somehow not aware then you’re in for a modest treat. Linux Mint 21.2 includes: Linux Mint 21.2 also includes Cinnamon 5.8, the latest version
#News #Distros #LinuxMint
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/linux-mint-21-2-released
Thunderbird 115 Released with Major UI Changes
A brand new version of the Thunderbird email client is out – and it’s looking fire! Many of the major UI changes teased last year make their debut here in Thunderbird 115, which has been dubbed “Supernova” and is available to download for Windows, macOS, and Linux from July 11 from a beautifully revamped Thunderbird homepage. And the changes are more than skin deep. The client’s codebase has undergone extensive rebuilding in order to lay a “solid groundwork for future releases that will make Thunderbird a significantly better email client”, to quote Ryan Sipes, Thunderbird’s Product and Business Development Manager.
#News #AppUpdates #Thunderbird
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/thunderbird-115-released
Canonical’s Loses Prominent LXD Engineer
Stéphane Graber has announced their resignation from Canonical after 12 years of working at the company, mostly on LXD. The decision follows news last week that Canonical has taken the LXD project in-house after years of it existing as a community endeavour under the Linux Containers (LXC) umbrella. Stéphane’s engineering expertise and enthusiasm for LXD (and containers in general) has arguably made them the “face” of LXD. In social media replies to their (somewhat unexpected) decision, many have commented on this and thanked them for their contributions and help over the years. Clearly this is a major loss for Canonical
#News #Canonical #Lxd
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/canonicals-loses-prominent-lxd-engineer
Ubuntu Plans to Ditch its ‘Minimal’ Install Option Because, Er… We’re Not Sure
The introduction of a “minimal install” mode in the Ubuntu installer has been one of the distros best-received features in years. When selected during initial install Ubuntu’s ‘minimal install’ provides users with a complete, fully-functioning Ubuntu system but, notably, with fewer pre-installed apps. The same ISO also delivers a ‘full installation’ mode stacked with a diverse set of software – the default, recommended option. So naturally, having added a feature a ton of people enjoy, Ubuntu is, er, removing it. They plan a new “unified default install” that, from the sounds of things, will offer a “choose your own apps”
#News #Minimal #Snaps #Ubuntu
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/ubuntu-new-unified-install-plans-sound-meh
Canonical Takes Full Control of LXD
Canonical has taken full control of the LXD project. A short statement posted on the Linux Containers website states: “The LXD project is no longer part of the LinuxContainers project but can now be found directly on Canonical’s websites.” Although Canonical created LXD and has been a key contributor to its development, the project has thus far lived under the auspices of the Linux Containers community. That’s changing as Canonical now feels the project will ‘be better served directly under Canonical’s own set of projects’. LXD (which stands for Linux Container Daemon) is an open-source container management tool building on
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/canonical-takes-full-control-of-lxd
Firefox 115 Released with Intel GPU Video Decoding on Linux
A brand new version of the Mozilla Firefox web browser is rolling out — and it’s a real doozy. Linux users with Intel GPUs will be pleased to hear Mozilla Firefox 115 supports hardware video decoding by default. Most devices with Intel graphics hardware benefit from this feature, which is powered by the open-source Video Acceleration API (VA-API). Those on devices lacking platform support for H264 video decoding will benefit from a fallback to Cisco’s OpenH264 plugin when playing compatible content in this release and up. Linux users can also middle click on the new tab button to open clipboard
#News #AppUpdates #Firefox
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/firefox-115-intel-gpu-video-decoding-on-linux
KDE neon Unstable Edition Now Includes KDE Plasma 6.0 (WIP)
If you’re eager to play around with the upcoming KDE Plasma 6 release the folks behind the KDE neon make it easy. Work on KDE Plasma 6 is well underway and the first stable release of it is expected to be released …Well, when it’s ready – but likely sometime later this year. But if you’re keen to muck in and try it out ahead of then you can download KDE neon unstable edition. This is an Ubuntu 22.04 LTS based “not a distro” distro whose latest ISOs include KDE Plasma 6.0 and its assorted libraries and frameworks. Now, I
#News #KdeNeon #KdePlasma #KdePlasma6
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/kde-neon-unstable-edition-now-includes-kde-plasma-6-0-wip
Ubuntu Pro Updates, Apt News Coming to Software Updater
If you thought you wouldn’t be bothered by Ubuntu’s (mildly annoying) apt “awareness” feature or Ubuntu Pro updates as you don’t use the command line, bad news. Ubuntu will start showing apt news and Ubuntu Pro updates in the Software Updater app on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS later and above in the coming months. To be fair, neither feature is meritless. Apt news is used to inform users of critical security incidents in the wild (though so far it’s only been used to promote Ubuntu Pro). Canonical says it can “help people understand the nature of recent updates and inform their
#News #Ubuntu18_04Lts #UbuntuPro
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/ubuntu-now-shows-apt-news-in-software-updater
Ubuntu 23.10’s New Software Store Demotes DEBs
A new ‘app store’ is expected to ship as part of Ubuntu 23.10 when it’s released in October — and it’ll debut with a notable change to DEB support. Don’t get too excited; the new store is one you’ve heard about before (if you read this site, at least). It’s the community-created Flutter software hub I wrote about last year, which Ubuntu devs later expressed interest in making official — and thus did. A couple of interesting — and potentially controversial — things planned for the first official incarnation of the tool were revealed recently so I figured I’d ferry
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/07/ubuntu-23-10-new-app-store-deb-support
Snapcraft Website Given a ‘More Modern Look’
Next time you stop by the Snapcraft website you’ll notice it has a fresh new look. Canonical unveiled the changes today saying it “embarked on a project to redesign snapcraft.io and give it a more modern look”. This ‘more modern look’ is now live on the web for everybody, including you, to go gawk at. If you follow @omgubuntu on Twitter you’ll may have seen a tweet earlier the week in which I expressed slight surprise™ at the new logo. What previously said “Snapcraft” now says “Canonical Snapcraft” – which in light of those “proprietary backend” claims levelled against the format perhaps
#News #Canonical #Snapcraft #Snaps
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/06/snapcraft-website-given-a-more-modern-look
Festival is an Open Source Music Player with a Unique UI
If you’re all about your local music and don’t want any sort of streaming service or cloud integration, pitch up a tent and check out Festival, a new cross-platform, open-source music player written in Rust. The ‘unique’ user-interface won’t suit everyone’s tastes. But in terms of functionality Festival does everything a music player needs to (with a few minor exceptions). Plus, it’s blazingly fast — even when processing substantial local music collections. Files, folders, tags, artwork all blink into view instantaneously. Memory usage during playback (on my system) was on par with Rhythmbox, so it’s not quite the lightweight dream
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/06/festival-is-an-open-source-music-player-with-a-unique-ui
Zorin OS Finally Fulfils Users’ Biggest Request
Zorin OS is a fantastic Ubuntu-based distro but one drawback to using it is that you can’t upgrade to new versions (or the paid Pro edition). Well, it’s a drawback no longer! Yes, Zorin OS has finally delivered on the distro’s most requested feature. The new Zorin OS Upgrader tool, as I’m sure you can guess from the name alone, makes it possible to directly upgrade to new major versions of Zorin OS (e.g., Zorin OS 15 to Zorin OS 16) as well as Zorin OS editions (e.g., Zorin OS Core to Zorin OS Pro). All upgrades happen in-place, no
#News #ZorinOs
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/06/zorin-os-upgrader-released
Death is Coming for Ubuntu 22.10 – Upgrade Soon!
A quick heads-up to anyone still using Ubuntu 22.10 — support for it ends on July 20, 2023. That’s less than a month way away at the time of writing. The good news is that you’re not out of options. You can upgrade to Ubuntu 23.04 in-place, without needing to reinstall. You may need to manually re-enable any PPAs or 3rd-party repositories you’re making use of, though. However, this will only be a short-term solution as support for Ubuntu 23.04 ends early next year. Hate the hassle of upgrading regularly? Interim Ubuntu releases expire every 9 months so, to avoid
#News #Eol #Ubuntu22_10
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/06/ubuntu-22-10-end-of-life
Linux Kernel 6.4 Released with Varied Set of Changes
After 2 months of solid development, Linux 6.4 kernel is now officially available to download. Announcing the release of the latest Linux kernel on (where else?) the official Linux Kernel Mailing List (LKML), Linux founder Linus Torvalds writes: “Most of the stuff in my mailbox the last week has been about upcoming things for 6.5 but that’s for tomorrow. For today we’re all busy build-testing the newest kernel release, and checking that it’s all good. Right?” I’d say “yes”, Linus but I’d be lying. So what’s new exactly? New Features in Linux 6.4 You’d expect a new Linux kernel release
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/06/linux-kernel-6-4-features
Want to Try Ubuntu’s All-Snap Desktop? Here’s How
This month Canonical confirmed its plan to launch an all-snap Ubuntu desktop image next April — but you don’t have to wait until then to try it. If you scoot along to the Ubuntu Core Desktop GitHub page, check out the actions tab, find a (completed) build job, then scroll down to the ‘artefacts’ you’ll see a ZIP. Download and extract, then extract (yes again) the archive inside. Et voila: an image you can boot. All of this is public knowledge thanks to ex-Canonical employee (and immutable distro champion) Jorge Castro. Ubuntu’s Ken VanDine popped around Jorge’s pad to show
#News
How to Reset Ubuntu Dock to Default Settings
Do you want to reset the Ubuntu Dock to its default settings, with the same app shortcuts placed on it as if you had just installed Ubuntu? If so, you can get back to a ‘fresh install feeling’ using a terminal command. There are numerous ways to customise the Ubuntu Dock, including adding, removing, and reordering app shortcuts; changing the size of icons; moving the Ubuntu Dock to a different position on the screen; hiding mounted drives… And, if you’ve ever read one of my guides on things to do after installing Ubuntu, you may have run a command enable
#HowTo #UbuntuDock
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/06/reset-ubuntu-dock-default-settings
Linux Mint 21.2 Beta is Available to Download
Grab that empty USB and get flashin’ cos the Linux Mint 21.2 beta is now officially available to download. The beta of Linux Mint 21.2 “Victoria” lands a couple of weeks ahead of the expected stable release, tentatively scheduled for mind July. Linux Mint 21.2 is still based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (as are all entries in the Linux Mint 21 series) but a sizeable set of enhancements, new features, and UI changes feature. At the heart of Linux Mint 21.2 is Cinnamon 5.8 — and it’s boasting a tranche of tactile improvements. As recently reported, Linux Mint now supports
#News #LinuxMint
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/06/download-linux-mint-21-2-beta
