Ubuntu 22.04 LTS with GNOME 42 and Wayland by default

Canonical released the final version of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Long Term Support) with GNOME 42, Wayland as the default for all systems, and Firefox available only instantly, on April 21, 2022.

Canonical will support Ubuntu 22.04 LTS for five years, thanks to it being an LTS release. Canonical provides ISO images for the new version of Ubuntu and all its variants. If you are reading this on April 21st, you may notice that the main website has not yet been updated with information about the new version or downloads. if you jump to this page you get download options.

Upgrade to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

Systems running Ubuntu 21.10 can be upgraded to the new version in the coming days. Updates are currently not enabled due to a “bug with snapd and update-notifier” according to the release notes.

Once unlocked, Ubuntu 21.10 desktop devices can be upgraded to the new version of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as follows:

1. Open “Software & Updates” in system settings.
2. Switch to the Updates tab.
3. Make sure the “Notify me of a new Ubuntu release” preference is set to “For any new releases.”
4. Use the keyboard shortcut Alt-F2 and type update-manager -c in the window that opens; this should launch the Update Manager and should tell you that the new version is available.
5. Select Update and follow the instructions displayed to update your device to the new version of Ubuntu.

Changes in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

As far as major changes are concerned, the new version of Ubuntu comes with Linux kernel 5.15, which is not the newest at the time of writing, but upgrade options such as hardware enable kernels will be provided.

de The new version comes with recent versions of popular applications, including Firefox 99, Thunderbird 91, and LibreOffice 7.3. Several subsystems have also been upgraded.

Wayland is the default display server in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, even for devices with Nvidia video cards. Previously, devices with Nvidia cards resorted to using Xorg due to incompatibilities between the Nvidia and Wayland drivers.

The GNOME 42 desktop environment update introduces support for new features and enhancements. There’s a new desktop-wide dark mode, improved screenshot functionality, and Remote Desktop Protocol support for remote desktop sharing, to name a few. GNOME 42 comes with performance improvements across the board, support for hardware with privacy screen support, and updated apps. GNOME continues to use GTK 3.

Canonical continues to invest in the controversial SNAP feature. In this version, Firefox is provided as SNAP only. Canonical highlights the advantages of that, including being directly maintained by Mozilla, providing faster access to new Firefox versions, sandboxing support, and that users can easily switch between release channels.

Snap has a couple of downsides, including that some workflows may not work anymore. KeePass password manager users may notice that they can no longer use the KeePass Firefox add-on.

Now you: Are you waiting for the new version of Ubuntu?

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