Canonical released Ubuntu 23.04, aka Lunar Lobster, on April 20 to enhance the Ubuntu desktop for work and play with a new installer, Active Directory login, and gaming performance.
This latest release is important for enterprise users and consumers alike for several key reasons. For enterprises, it enhances large-scale deployment and customization, and for consumers, it provides a desktop option missing from Ubuntu’s collection – Cinnamon.
The new installation engine, Subiquity, supports the same autoinstall configuration workflows for both desktop and server. Ubuntu Desktop version 23.04 is the first and only Linux distribution to enable Basic User Authentication with Microsoft’s Azure Active Directory (Azure AD).
Mark Shuttleworth, Canonical’s CEO, said, “This milestone release of Ubuntu demonstrates our progress in raising the bar for the enterprise developer desktop, our best-in-class Linux integration with Active Directory Domain Services and now Azure Active Directory.” Thank you.” “Our extended investment in Ubuntu Gaming means your downtime is just as satisfying.”
Major enhancements under the hood
The development goal of this release was to make the Linux desktop accessible to all. According to Canonical, the Ubuntu 23.04 installer sports a refreshed user interface with a modern yet familiar first-time user experience and new enterprise management capabilities.
Lunar Lobster has a better workflow for cross-platform development. It offers the latest toolchains and runtimes for Python, Java, Go, C, C++, Rust and .NET, ensuring the most up-to-date experience for innovators and enthusiasts.
QEMU allows developers to emulate their applications on multiple architectures. This latest release includes new hardware support for a range of armhf, arm64, Risc-V, and s390x devices to ensure that the local development environment matches the target deployment architecture.
meets all needs
Business and personal users gain more control for apps and snap installation. For example, Desktop Snaps has a new refresh wake capability.
Updates while running Snaps are downloaded in the background and applied automatically when the app is closed. Users and administrators can now pause the automatic update of specific Snaps for as long as they want.
Ubuntu 23.04 includes GNOME 44 with more usability improvements. These include a focus on Bluetooth device management and new quick setting options for dark mode. The new installer is built using Flutter (a cross-platform UI framework), and leverages Subbiquity, Canonical’s CLI installer for Ubuntu Server, and Curtin.
Gamers also stand to win big in terms of their gaming experience. Steam Snap has now been promoted to the stable channel in this release.
Steam Snap bundles key dependencies to run both new and old titles without the need to enable and manage additional PPAs, including 32-bit libraries and state-of-the-art Mesa drivers.
upgrade highlights
Ubuntu’s new installer is built using Flutter, a cross-platform user interface framework. It leverages Subbiquity, Canonical’s Command Line Interface (CLI) installer for Ubuntu Server and Curtin.
The default desktop is GNOME 44, the latest stable release. It also comes with a host of new features and design updates. For example, the latest login and lock screens use a larger user avatar and wider password entry box.
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GNOME designers improved the look and functionality of the quick settings menu. Split buttons make it easy to see which features have sub-menus, and you can also open sub-menus using the keyboard.
New subtitles relay contextual information. These include seeing at a glance which Wi-Fi network is connected and which power mode is active.
A new version of the Nautilus Files app restores the ability to expand folders in list view for faster navigation. The Ubuntu Dock now displays a count badge for all unread notifications generated by an application in the Dock.
New Desktop Flavor Recipe
After several years of behind-the-scenes efforts, Ubuntu 23.04 now includes an additional desktop option. The inclusion of a newly updated Cinnamon environment could attract more users to the front ranks of Ubuntu.
Until now, enthusiastic Cinnamon desktop users had no choice but to rely on other options for their desktop fixes, even when they used cousins of the Ubuntu family such as the Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix distro.
Ubuntu Cinnamon Remix is a community-driven remix of Ubuntu Base combined with Ubuntu’s Linux Mint flagship Cinnamon desktop.
ubuntu cinnamon remix
Remix began in 2019 when then-11-year-old developer Joshua Pisach announced his dream of developing a stand-alone Cinnamon desktop version based on Ubuntu.
Cinnamon takes a more traditional approach compared to earlier Linux desktops like GNOME 2 and MATE, similar to Windows 7. Ubuntu Cinnamon comes with Cinnamon 5.6.7 and the rest of the desktop suite.
still separate entities
Both Canonical and Peisach recently announced the addition of the Cinnamon desktop to Ubuntu 23.04. In an April 23 blog, Peisach announced the release of version 23.04 “Lunar Lobster” of the Ubuntu Cinnamon distro.
That announcement confirmed that his remix distro wasn’t going away. Instead, it will continue to maintain a separate desktop option using Ubuntu Base Advances. There are two options for users favoring the Cinnamon desktop on top of the Ubuntu underpinnings.
In his blog, Pisach said that his goal was to make Ubuntu Cinnamon the best it could be in an eight-release series in 2023. They promised that the user experience would remain the same or better. New developments in Ubuntu Software, such as the new Flutter-based installer, will contribute to some of the innovations in upcoming releases.
Download and Install Ubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster
A modern user interface and advanced configuration options in Ubuntu 23.04 reflect its mission to make Linux accessible to all. View the installation process:
Ubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster brings notable updates and improvements to the Linux experience. With its new features, it’s an interesting release to explore for both experienced and new users.