Review – Ubuntu Budgie 25.04 by Adam Hunt Ubuntu Budgie 25.04 flew in on 17 April 2025, the same day as the other Ubuntu flavors. This is the second of three interim releases in this development cycle that will lead to Ubuntu Budgie 26.04 LTS, the next long term support version, expected out in April 2026. This is the distribution's 19th release and, as it is an interim release, is supported for just nine months, until January 2026. The previous release, Ubuntu Budgie 24.10, brought a lot of new things to start off this development cycle, but this release has fewer changes included. This probably indicates that most of the smaller changes planned for this cycle have been implemented, but there is one bigger project underway: the transition to a Wayland display server. Installation I downloaded the ISO file for Ubuntu Budgie 25.04 as a bit torrent from the official website using Transmission and then did a command line SHA256 sum check on it to make sure it was a good download. This last check only takes a minute to do and is a strongly recommended step to avoid later problems with a potentially corrupted file. The ISO file download size was 3.5 GB which is 100 MB bigger than the last release, Ubuntu Budgie 24.10. I dropped the ISO file onto a USB stick equipped with Ventoy 1.1.05 and booted it up for testing. Ubuntu Budgie is officially supported by Ventoy so it worked just fine. System requirements The recommended minimum system requirements for Ubuntu Budgie 25.04 have not changed since the last release: Processor speed: 2.4 GHz RAM: 4 GB Hard Disk space: 60 GB New As noted, the pace of changes has diminished with this release. This is actually a normal development pattern as, in an ideal world, the developers would include as many changes planned as possible in the first release of the cycle, fewer in the second, refine everything in the third and then put out an LTS version with everything all well-tested and working right. The larger developer goal this cycle has been to move Ubuntu Budgie from the legacy X11 display server to Wayland, which is a major undertaking. For instance, as part of this transition the last release introduced a new budgie-desktop dock to replace the formerly used Plank dock. Plank has been a longstanding feature of Ubuntu Budgie, but it is X11-only and replacing it was a necessary step towards Wayland compatibility. The intention is that the next release, Ubuntu Budgie 25.10, will introduce Budgie Desktop version 10.10 and it will be a Wayland-only release. For 25.04, the developers are providing a separate Wayland personal package archive (PPA) for user testing and feedback. I'll have a look at how this planned Wayland implementation rolls out in the next release, Ubuntu Budgie 25.10, due on 9 October, 2025. This 25.04 release uses the interim Budgie Desktop version 10.9.2-8 which is still X11 compatible, but addresses some bugs and window manager crashes. This release also has some applet and mini-app updated translations and improvements to the default Pocillo theme, including to the Snap-based version. There are also new Snap packages for the icon theme. As has been the case for the last few releases, the designers have been putting out a new wallpaper with each release marking the release’s code name. For this “Plucky Puffin” release, a puffin has been added to the standard spacey-looking Budgie wallpaper ("ubuntu_budgie_wallpaper1", which has been in use since Ubuntu Budgie 19.04) to create the new 25.04 default wallpaper. This release has 15 wallpapers provided, down from 17 in the last release. As with all the Ubuntu 25.04 flavors, the Linux kernel has been updated to version 6.14 and the initialization system is now systemd 257.4. Mainstream Ubuntu introduced systemd into the ecosystem from its parent distribution, Debian, ten years ago starting with Ubuntu 15.04. Since Ubuntu Budgie is based on Ubuntu, it has been using systemd since its first release, Ubuntu Budgie 16.04, with no issues noted. Settings New in this release is the inclusion of Bibata cursors as a user settings option. These can be selected in the Budgie Desktop Settings under cursors. Do Budgie users fuss over cursors? As is always the case with Ubuntu Budgie, the settings are still widely scattered over many places and are quite confusing for new users to find. I assume experienced Budgie users either are used to it by now or have a checklist. This is the one area where Ubuntu Budgie could really use some serious reorganization. Putting the settings all in one place would make life a lot easier. For the uninitiated here is where everything is: Budgie Desktop Settings is where you find the window themes, oddly under Style - Widgets. There are 14 window themes provided with the default still Pocillo-dark, a black, brooding color scheme. There are also some nice optional lighter themes provided, including Pocillo-light which is quite bright and cheerful. You can select styling preferences (light or dark); ten icon styles, with Pocillo as the default; nine cursor styles (including the six new Bibata cursors) and choose from four notification screen positions, one in each corner, with top right as default. Budgie Makeovers & Layouts is where you find complete one button wallpaper, window theme and icon packages, with ten combinations to choose from. This time around there are seven combinations actually installed, with the remaining three available as downloads. The last release had only three which might account for some of the ISO file size increase. There are also eight desktop layouts, each of which includes launchers and menus that mimic most common desktop set-ups. The choices are Ubuntu Budgie, Classic Ubuntu Budgie, Redmond, Eleven, Chrome, Traditional Budgie, The One and Cupertino. Budgie Extras is where the desktop applets are hidden away. In this release, there are 37 applets included, ten more than in the last one. These applets add features such as calendars, weather and other functionality to the desktop. Confusingly, if you were using Kubuntu these would be called "widgets". It seems that even within the Ubuntu universe we do not yet speak a common language. The Budgie Control Center is a modified version of GNOME Settings for configuring such items as WiFi, wallpaper, sound and power settings. As in the past, the Budgie main menu can be set to either show applications as tiles in alphanumerical order or as a list of icons by category. Unlike on the Cinnamon and Xfce desktops, the Budgie menu cannot be resized, but it does include“search” capabilities. Applications Some of the applications included with Ubuntu Budgie 25.04 are: Archive Manager (File Roller) 44.5 archiver Atril 1.26.2 PDF viewer* Budgie Screenshot Applet screenshot tool CUPS 2.4.12 printing system Deja Dup 45.2 back-up tool* Document Scanner (Simple Scan) 46.0 optical scanner* Drawing 1.0.2 image editor* Firefox 137.0.2 web browser** Goodvibes 0.8.1 internet radio GNOME Disks 46.1 disk manager* Gparted 1.6.0 partition editor* Gpodder 3.11.3 podcast player* gThumb 3.12.7 image viewer Guvcview 2.2.1 webcam application LibreOffice 25.2.2.2 office suite Lollypop 1.4.41 music player Magpie 0.9.3 window manager* Mate Calculator 1.26.0 calculator* Mate System Monitor 1.26.3 system resource monitor* Nemo 6.4.5 file manager* Parole 4.18.2 movie player Pipewire 1.2.7 audio controller Systemd 257.4 init system Text Editor (gedit) 48.1 text editor Transmission 4.0.6 bit torrent client* Ubuntu App Center 1.0.0 package management system** Xfce4 Terminal 1.1.4 terminal emulator * indicates same application version as used in Ubuntu Budgie 24.10 ** supplied as a snap, so version depends on the upstream package manager This release brings only one change to the default application list. The Thunderbird email client, previously supplied as Snap package, has been removed and has not been replaced with a new email application. Instead, on installation the user is given a choice of email clients to install, if needed, from a list of: Astroidmail, Claws, Evolution, Geary, Kontact and the Snap version of Thunderbird. I give credit to the Ubuntu Budgie developers for explaining their rationale in the release announcement: "with many users now using webmail we have decided the choice of email clients should rightly be put into our community hands". It is always great when developers explain their decisions. Ubuntu Budgie is actually a little bit late to this email client deletion party. Lubuntu and Ubuntu Unity stopped shipping default email clients a while back, starting with Lubuntu 22.04 LTS and Ubuntu Unity 24.04 LTS respectively. You could argue that because Ubuntu has shipped a minimal installation by default since Ubuntu 23.10 that it too has removed the email client, although the optional "full installation" still includes the Thunderbird Snap package. It will be interesting to see if the remaining Ubuntu flavors follow suit over time. In the last release, Ubuntu Budgie 24.10, the Tilix terminal emulator was swapped out for the Xfce4 Terminal, from the Xfce desktop and this remains the case in 25.04. Ubuntu Budgie 25.04 continues to use the Cinnamon desktop's Nemo file manager, which has now been updated to version 6.4.5. Nemo is a very functional file manager, with lots of user customization options, but in this implementation it has no integral bulk file renaming so installing a stand-alone bulk file renamer, like GPRename, is a good idea. Here is a tip: by default, in its Ubuntu Budgie implementation, the Nemo file manager does not display its menu bar making it impossible to customize. Hitting the "alt" key will show the menu bar which then can be selected to stay permanently displayed at View - Menubar. Ubuntu Budgie 25.04 includes the LibreOffice 25.2.2.2 office suite, complete except for LibreOffice Base, the database program. While probably the least-used part of LibreOffice, it can be installed if needed. Conclusions Ubuntu Budgie 25.04 is a solid release which adds a few new features. The biggest change in this development cycle is still in the future: the move from the X11 display server to Wayland, expected to appear in the next release, Ubuntu Budgie 25.10, due out on 9 October 2025. If all goes to plan, most users should not notice much difference except perhaps the elimination of the odd screen flicker. This should leave the subsequent LTS version, Ubuntu Budgie 26.04 LTS due out in April 2026, as a stable and fully tested Wayland release. Ubuntu Budgie continues to appeal to users looking for a distribution with a classic-style menu system and a desktop dock. Its only real minus is its widely scattered and confusing user settings. External links Official website: https://ubuntubudgie.org/ Biography: Adam Hunt started using Ubuntu in 2007. He lives in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada in a house with no Windows.