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Released on 20 October, 2022, Lubuntu 22.10 marked the start of a new development cycle. Like all cycles, this one will consist of three interim releases – leading to the next long-term support version, Lubuntu 24.04 LTS, due in April, 2024.

The first interim release in a new cycle is always interesting, as it tends to indicate what can be expected through the cycle and how much new will end up in the final LTS. If the release of Lubuntu 22.10 is any indication of what can be expected, the answer is “not much.”

Lubuntu 22.10 is the ninth Lubuntu version with the LXQt desktop, and the 26th release overall for Lubuntu. The very first release, Lubuntu 10.04, came out on 2 May, 2010,12 years ago.

Installation

I downloaded Lubuntu 22.10 from the official source via BitTorrent. This release is 2.7 GB in size compared to 2.5 GB for the last release. In comparison, the mainstream Ubuntu 22.10 is 3.8 GB to download.

Once I had the ISO file downloaded, I did a SHA256 sum check to confirm that the file was good, and then dropped it onto my USB stick equipped with Ventoy 1.0.81 for testing.

New

There is actually not a lot that is new in this release. It uses the LXQt 1.1.0 desktop, which is based on the Qt 5.15.6 toolkit. The new Linux kernel is 5.19.

Visually, Lubuntu looks the same as other recent releases. The default theme is still Lubuntu Arc with ePapirus icons. There is the usual wide assortment of window themes, icon sets, plus panel and menu color schemes to choose from, to customize your Lubuntu installation pretty much any way you like.

Perhaps the most notable change in this release is that new versions of both the file manager, PCManFM-Qt, and the image viewer, LXimage-Qt, now support the WebP image format. This format for photos and drawings is becoming more common and, while web browsers like Firefox have supported it for a while, the rest of the operating system is now catching up. In general, WebP is a replacement for JPG, GIF and PNG for web photos, with smaller file sizes as well as support for transparency and animation.

This release does have new artwork in the form of several new wallpapers. At one time in the distant past, Lubuntu was noted for its beautiful, blue, wavy, abstract wallpapers, but those days are long gone. The new default “Kinetic Kudu” wallpaper was created by Lubuntu Team member Aaron Rainbolt. Fortunately, there are some alternative wallpapers provided, or you can use your own. 

Applications

Some of the applications included with Lubuntu 22.10 are:
2048-qt 0.1.6 simple lightweight game*
Bluedevil 5.25.5 bluetooth connector
Discover Software Center 5.25.5 package management system
FeatherPad 1.3.0 text editor
Firefox 105.0.3 web browser**
ImageMagick 6.9.11.60 image editor*
Kcalc 22.08.1 calculator
KDE partition manager 22.08.1 partition manager
LibreOffice 7.4.2 office suite, Qt interface version
Lubuntu Update Notifier 0.4 software update notifier*
LXimage-Qt 1.1.0 image viewer and screenshot tool
LXQt Archiver 0.6.0 archive manager
Muon 5.8.0 package manager*
Noblenote 1.2.0 note taker*
PCManFM-Qt 1.1.0 file manager
PulseAudio 16.1 audio controller
Qlipper 5.1.2 clipboard manager*
qPDFview 0.4.18 PDF viewer*
QTerminal 1.1.0 terminal emulator
Qtransmission 3.00 BitTorrent client, Qt interface version*
Quassel 0.14.0 IRC client*
ScreenGrab 2.2.0 screenshot tool*
Skanlite 22.04.3 scanning utility
Startup Disk Creator 0.3.15 (usb-creator-kde) USB boot disk maker*
VLC 3.0.17.4 media player
Wget 1.21.3 command line webpage downloader
XScreenSaver 6.02 screensaver and screen locker*

* Indicates the same version used in Lubuntu 22.04 LTS.
** supplied as a snap, so version depends on the upstream package manager and will update automatically.

Other than updated versions, there have been no changes to the mix of applications provided in Lubuntu 22.10.

Like the earlier LXQt releases, Lubuntu 22.10 does not come with a webcam application, email client, CD/DVD burning, photo editing or video editing software, although these can be easily added from the repositories, if desired.

It does seem from the release announcement that there was some consideration of moving away from Firefox as the default browser. There have been user complaints of slow start-up times, but the development team has decided to stick with the Firefox snap package. In my own testing, the first start of Firefox can take a few extra seconds, but after that it opens quite quickly.

This Lubuntu release continues to use PulseAudio as its audio controller, while Ubuntu 22.10 has moved to PipeWire. It will be interesting to see over time if Lubuntu sticks with PulseAudio or not.

Conclusions

If Lubuntu 22.10 is any indication of how the rest of the development cycle will go, then it looks like we can expect only a few minor tweaks between now and the LTS release in April, 2024. Overall, that is not a bad thing as the LXQt desktop is working really well these days and most users don’t seem to see a need for big changes.

External links

Official website: 
https://lubuntu.me/