The beta release of the Ubuntu 21.10 “Impish Indri” distribution was presented, after the formation of which the package database was completely frozen, and the developers moved on to final testing and bug fixes. The release is scheduled for October 14. Ready-made test images were created for Ubuntu, Ubuntu Server, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu Mate, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Studio, Xubuntu and UbuntuKylin (Chinese edition).
Major changes:
- The transition to the use of GTK4 and the GNOME 40 desktop has been made, in which the interface has been significantly modernized. Virtual desktops in the Activities Overview mode have been moved to landscape orientation and are displayed as a continuous scrolling chain from left to right. Each desktop shown in overview mode provides a visual representation of the available windows that are dynamically panned and zoomed as the user interacts. A seamless transition between the list of programs and virtual desktops is provided. Improved organization of work in the presence of multiple monitors. GNOME Shell provides the use of the GPU for rendering shaders.
- By default, a completely light version of the Yaru theme used in Ubuntu is offered. A fully dark option (dark headers, dark background and dark controls) is also available as an option. Support for the old combination theme (dark headers, light background and light controls) has been discontinued due to GTK4's lack of ability to define different background and text colors for the header and main window, which does not guarantee that all GTK applications will work correctly when using the combination theme. .
- Provided the ability to use a desktop session based on the Wayland protocol in environments with proprietary NVIDIA drivers.
- PulseAudio has significantly expanded Bluetooth support: added A2DP codecs LDAC and AptX, built-in support for the HFP (Hands-Free Profile) profile, which improves sound quality.
- Changed to using the zstd algorithm for compressing deb packages, which will almost double the speed of installing packages, 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 has not been used for package compression.
- A new installer for Ubuntu Desktop is proposed, implemented as an add-on to the low-level curtin installer already used by the default Subiquity installer in Ubuntu Server. The new installer for Ubuntu Desktop is written in Dart and uses the Flutter framework to build the user interface. The design of the new installer is designed with the modern style of the Ubuntu desktop in mind and is designed to provide a consistent installation experience for the entire Ubuntu product line. Three modes are offered: "Repair Installation" to reinstall all packages available in the system without changing the settings, "Try Ubuntu" to get acquainted with the distribution in Live mode, and "Install Ubuntu" to install the distribution on disk.
- By default, the nftables packet filter is enabled. To preserve backward compatibility, the iptables-nft package is available, which provides utilities with the same command line syntax as in iptables, but translates the resulting rules into nf_tables bytecode.
- Linux kernel 5.13 release involved. Updated software versions include 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, accompanied by Mozilla employees (the ability to install the deb-package has been preserved, but is now an option).
- Xubuntu continues to ship the Xfce 4.16 desktop. Integrated Pipewire media server used in conjunction with PulseAudio. The GNOME Disk Analyzer and Disk Utility applications are included to monitor disk status and simplify disk partition management. Rhythmbox is used to play music with an alternative toolbar. The messaging application Pidgin has been removed from the base distribution.
- Ubuntu Budgie features the new Budgie 10.5.3 desktop release and a redesigned dark theme. A new edition of the assembly for Raspberry Pi 4 has been proposed. The capabilities of Shuffler, an interface for quick navigation through open windows and grouping windows on a grid, have been expanded, in which an applet has appeared for automatically moving and rearranging windows in accordance with the selected layout of elements on the screen, and the ability to bind application launch has been implemented to a specific virtual desktop or location on the screen. Added a new applet to display CPU temperature.
- In Ubuntu MATE, the MATE desktop has been updated to version 1.26.
- Kubuntu: KDE Plasma 5.22 desktop and KDE Gear 21.08 are available. Updated versions of Latte-dock 0.10 and Krita 4.4.8 graphics editor. Available, but not enabled by default, is a Wayland-based session (select "Plasma (Wayland)" on the login screen to activate).
- Beta releases of two unofficial editions of Ubuntu 21.10 are available for testing - Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix 21.10 with Cinnamon desktop and Ubuntu Unity 21.10 with Unity7 desktop.
Source: opennet.ru