Release Ubuntu 24.04 LTS named "Noble Numbat" is a long-term support release and will receive updates for 12 years, including 5 years of public updates and an additional 7 years of updates for users of the Ubuntu Pro service. Alongside Ubuntu, releases with other desktop environments (flavours), including Kubuntu, have also been announced. For most versions with other desktop environments, changes mainly involve updates to the DE versions and core components.
Key changes for Ubuntu 24.04 LTS with GNOME desktop and Ubuntu in general:
The default desktop has been updated to the release of GNOME 46. This release includes a global search feature (allowing simultaneous searches across several predefined locations, as well as the previously available capabilities for searching file contents and filtering files by type and date of last modification) and claims enhanced performance for the file manager and terminal emulators. Experimental support for the VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) mechanism has been added, improved output quality for fractional scaling, expanded capabilities for connecting to external services, an updated configurator, and improvements to the notification system.
A new rendering engine based on the Vulkan API has been implemented in GTK.
The Linux kernel has been updated to version 6.8, along with updates to key OS components, which can be viewed in the list below:
Key components: GCC 14-pre, LLVM 18, Python 3.12, OpenJDK 21, Rust 1.75, Go 1.22, .NET 8, PHP 8.3.3, Ruby 3.2.3, binutils 2.42, glibc 2.39.
Applications: Firefox 124, LibreOffice 24.2, Thunderbird 115, Ardour 8.4.0, OBS Studio 30.0.2, Audacity 3.4.2, Transmission 4.0, digiKam 8.2.0, Kdenlive 23.08.5, Krita 5.2.2, VLC 3.0.20. Subsystems: Mesa 24.0.3, systemd 255.4, BlueZ 5.72, Cairo 1.18, NetworkManager 1.46, Pipewire 1.0.4, Poppler 24.02, xdg-desktop-portal 1.18.
Server packages: Nginx 1.24, Apache httpd 2.4.58, Samba 4.19, Exim 4.97, Clamav 1.0.0, Chrony 4.5, containerd 1.7.12, LXD 5.21.0, Django 4.2.11, Docker 24.0.7, Dovecot 2.3.21, GlusterFS 11.1, HAProxy 2.8.5, Kea DHCP 2.4.1, libvirt 10.0.0, NetSNMP 5.9.4, OpenLDAP 2.6.7, open-vm-tools 12.3.5, PostgreSQL 16.2, Runc 1.1.12, QEMU 8.2.1, SpamAssassin 4.0.0, Squid 6.6, SSSD 2.9.4, Pacemaker 2.1.6, OpenStack 2024.1, Ceph 19.2.0, Openvswitch 3.3.0, Open Virtual Network 24.03.
Thunderbird now only comes as a snap application. The deb package for Thunderbird contains only a placeholder for installing the snap application.
Significant changes have been made to the installer, which is now evolving as part of the ubuntu-desktop-provision project and has been renamed to ubuntu-desktop-bootstrap. The installer is now divided into stages performed before installation (disk partitioning and package copying) and during the first system boot (initial system setup). The installer is written in Dart using the Flutter framework. The new installer has enhanced capabilities, such as support for updating the installer itself — if a new version is available at an early stage of installation, a prompt for updating the installer will be issued.
The Ubuntu Desktop installer defaults to a minimal installation mode. To install additional software like LibreOffice and Thunderbird, the advanced installation mode must be selected.
The Ubuntu App Center, written in Dart using the Flutter framework, has been improved, with a new 'Games' category added for applications.
Kubuntu 24.04 LTS is based on KDE Plasma 5.27.11, KDE Frameworks 5.115, and KDE Gear 23.08. The long-awaited KDE 6 will be included in the next release. Instead, this release includes an updated logo and color scheme.
New versions of Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Mint, and other derivative projects are also available.
Official news about the release of Kubuntu 24.04 LTS: https://kubuntu.org/news/kubuntu-24-04-lts-noble-numbat-released/
The Ubuntu 24.04 LTS image is available at the link https://ubuntu.com/download/desktop
Source: linux.org.ru
