The beta release of the Ubuntu 20.04 "Focal Fossa" distribution marks the complete freeze of the package base and has moved to final testing and bug fixes. The release, classified as a Long Term Support (LTS) release, will receive updates for a period of 5 years and is scheduled for April 23. Ready test images have been created for , , , , Ubuntu
Budgie, , and UbuntuKylin (China edition).
Key :
- The desktop has been updated to the release . The default Yaru theme has been revamped, and in addition to the previously available dark and light modes, a new fully light option will be introduced. A new design for the system menu and application menu has been proposed. New directory icons optimized for display on both light and dark backgrounds have been added.
A new interface for changing theme variants has been implemented.
- Performance optimization for GNOME Shell and the window manager has been conducted. CPU load has been reduced and delays during animation rendering while manipulating windows, moving the mouse, and opening overview mode have been cut down.
- Support for 10-bit color depth has been added.
- Fractional scaling support has been implemented for X11, which was previously available only when using Wayland. This feature allows for optimal sizing of elements on high pixel density (HiDPI) screens, where interface elements can be scaled not just at 2x, but at 1.5x.
- A new splash screen displayed during boot has been added.
- previously the kernel 4.12 was offered). A kernel-preempt option with Real-Time patches is provided for real-time systems. . As in the autumn release, the LZ4 algorithm is used for compressing the kernel and the initial initramfs boot image, which has allowed for reduced boot time due to faster data unpacking.
- System components and development tools have been updated: Glibc 2.31, BlueZ 5.53, OpenJDK 11, rustc 1.41, GCC 9.3, Python 3.8.2, ruby 2.7.0, Ruby on Rails 5.2.3, php 7.4, perl 5.30, go 1.13.
- User and graphical applications have been updated:
Mesa 20.0, PulseAudio 14.0-pre, Firefox 74.0, Thunderbird 68.6.0, LibreOffice 6.4 - Server and virtualization applications have been updated:
QEMU 4.2, libvirt 6.0, Bind 9.16, HAProxy 2.0, OpenSSH 8.2 (with support for FIDO/U2F two-factor authentication tokens). TLSv1.3 support has been enabled in Apache httpd. Added support for WireGuard VPN. - The chrony precise time synchronization daemon has been updated to version 3.5 and additionally isolated from the system through a system call filter connection.
- Development of the experimental ability to install on a root partition with ZFS has continued. The ZFSonLinux implementation has been updated to the release with support for encryption, hot-swappable devices, the 'zpool trim' command, speed improvements for the 'scrub' and 'resilver' commands. The zsys daemon is being developed for managing ZFS, allowing multiple parallel systems with ZFS on a single computer, automating snapshot creation, and managing the distribution of system and user session data. Different snapshots can contain various system states, enabling switching between them. For example, in case of issues after an update, it will be possible to revert to an old stable state by selecting a previous snapshot. Snapshots can also be used for transparent automatic backups of user data.
- Compared to the previous LTS release, Snap Store has replaced Ubuntu Software as the default tool for searching and installing common and snap packages.
- Builds of packages for the i386 architecture have been discontinued. To continue supporting legacy applications that remain in 32-bit form or require 32-bit libraries, a separate set of offered.
- In KDE Plasma 5.18 desktop, KDE Applications 19.12.3 suite, and Qt 5.12.5 framework have been proposed. By default, the Elisa 19.12.3 music player is used, replacing Cantata. Updated to latte-dock 0.9.10, KDE Connect 1.4.0, Krita 4.2.9, Kdevelop 5.5.0. Support for KDE4 and Qt4 applications has been discontinued.
An experimental session based on Wayland has been proposed (after installing the plasma-workspace-wayland package, an optional 'Plasma (Wayland)' option appears on the login screen). - : The MATE desktop has been updated to version An interface has been added for updating firmware using fwupd. Compiz and Compton have been removed from the distribution. Window thumbnails are displayed in the panel, task switcher (Alt-Tab), and desktop switcher. A new applet for notifications has been proposed. The Evolution mail client is used instead of Thunderbird. An applet for switching between different GPUs in systems with hybrid graphics (NVIDIA Optimus) is offered during the installation of proprietary NVIDIA drivers, which can be selected in the installer.
- : The application menu applet is enabled by default. and a custom applet for managing network settings.
An interface for quick switching between desktop layouts (Budgie, Classic Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Budgie, Cupertino, The One
and Redmond) has been added.
GNOME Firmware and GNOME Drawing applications have been included in the main set.
Integration with GNOME 3.36 has been improved. The Budgie desktop has been updated to version 10.5.1. Font smoothing and hinting settings have been added. The applet with the system tray is disabled by default (due to operational issues). The applets have been adapted for HiDPI screens. - : In Ubuntu Studio, the settings for Jack Master, additional devices, and layers to PulseAudio are separated. Updated RaySession 0.8.3, Audacity 2.3.3, Hydrogen 1.0.0-beta2, Carla 2.1-RC2,
Blender 2.82, KDEnlive 19.12.3, Krita 4.2.9, GIMP 2.10.18,
Ardour 5.12.0, Scribus 1.5.5, Darktable 2.6.3, Pitivi 0.999, Inkscape 0.92.4, OBS Studio 25.0.3, MyPaint 2.0.0, Rawtherapee 5.8. - In The introduction of a dark theme has been noted. In only minor changes and updates are noticeable.
Source: opennet.ru
