The beta release of the Ubuntu 21.10 "Impish Indri" distribution has been announced, after which the package base has been completely frozen, and developers have moved on to final testing and bug fixes. The release is scheduled for October 14. Ready test images have been created for Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Mate, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Studio, Xubuntu, and UbuntuKylin (the edition for China).
Key Changes:
- The transition to using GTK4 and the GNOME 40 desktop has been implemented, which includes significant updates to the interface. Virtual desktops in Activities Overview mode have been transitioned to a horizontal orientation and are displayed as a continuously scrollable chain from left to right. Each desktop shown in overview mode visually represents the open windows, with dynamic panning and scaling applied during user interactions. A seamless transition between the application list and virtual desktops is ensured. The organization of work with multiple monitors has been improved. GNOME Shell now utilizes the GPU for rendering shaders.
- The default theme for Ubuntu is the fully light version of Yaru. A fully dark option is also available (dark headers, dark background, and dark controls). Support for the old combined theme (dark headers, light background, and light controls) has been discontinued due to the lack of GTK4 support for defining different colors for the header and main window background and text, which does not guarantee the correct operation of all GTK applications when using a combined theme.
- The option to use a Wayland-based desktop session in environments with proprietary NVIDIA drivers is now available.
- PulseAudio has significantly expanded support for Bluetooth: A2DP codecs LDAC and AptX have been added, and support for the HFP (Hands-Free Profile) has been integrated, improving sound quality.
- The transition to using the zstd algorithm for compressing deb packages has been completed, which will nearly double package installation speed at the cost of a slight increase in their size (~6%). Support for using zstd has been present in apt and dpkg since Ubuntu 18.04, but it was not used for package compression.
- A new Ubuntu Desktop installer has been proposed, implemented as an extension of the low-level installer curtin, which is already used in the Subiquity installer, the default in Ubuntu Server. The new installer for Ubuntu Desktop is written in Dart and utilizes the Flutter framework for building the user interface. The design of the new installer is created in line with the modern style of the Ubuntu desktop and aims to provide a unified installation process for the entire Ubuntu product line. Three modes are proposed: 'Repair Installation' for reinstalling all existing packages without changing settings, 'Try Ubuntu' for experiencing the distribution in Live mode, and 'Install Ubuntu' for installing the distribution onto the disk.
- By default, the nftables packet filter is in use. To maintain backward compatibility, the iptables-nft package is available, providing utilities with the same command line syntax as iptables, but translates the received rules into nf_tables bytecode.
- The Linux kernel version 5.13 has been activated. Software versions have been updated, including PulseAudio 15.0, BlueZ 5.60, NetworkManager 1.32.10, LibreOffice 7.2.1, Firefox 92, and Thunderbird 91.1.1.
- The Firefox browser has been switched by default to be delivered as a snap package, with participation from Mozilla employees (the option to install the deb package remains but is now optional).
- Xubuntu continues the delivery of the Xfce 4.16 desktop environment. Multimedia integration has been improved. server Pipewire, which is used in conjunction with PulseAudio. The package includes GNOME Disk Analyzer and Disk Utility applications for monitoring disk status and simplifying disk partition management. Rhythmbox, with an alternative toolbar, is used for music playback. The messaging application Pidgin has been removed from the base distribution.
- In Ubuntu Budgie, the new release of the Budgie 10.5.3 desktop has been implemented along with a redesigned dark theme. A new Raspberry Pi 4 build edition has been proposed. The Shuffler feature has been expanded, providing an interface for quick navigation through open windows and grouping them in a grid, which now includes an applet for automatically moving and regrouping windows according to the selected layout on the screen. It has also implemented the ability to bind application launches to specific virtual desktops or locations on the screen. A new applet for showing CPU temperature has been added.
- In Ubuntu MATE, the MATE desktop has been updated to version 1.26.
- Kubuntu: KDE Plasma 5.22 desktop and KDE Gear 21.08 application suite have been introduced. The versions of the Latte-dock panel 0.10 and image editor Krita 4.4.8 have been updated. A Wayland-based session is available but not enabled by default (to activate it, select 'Plasma (Wayland)' on the login screen).
- Beta releases of two unofficial editions of Ubuntu 21.10 are available for testing — Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix 21.10 with the Cinnamon desktop and Ubuntu Unity 21.10 with the Unity7 desktop.
Source: opennet.ru
