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The Kubuntu development team has continued its refinements with Kubuntu 21.04, introduced on 22 April, 2021. This is the middle release of this development cycle leading to Kubuntu 22.04 LTS, which is due out in April 2022. Kubuntu 21.04 marks the 33rd Kubuntu release and the 12th one with the KDE project’s Plasma 5 desktop which is based on the Qt toolkit, so this is a very mature software project. As a “standard” release, Kubuntu 21.04 is supported for just nine months, until January, 2022. One more standard release, Kubuntu 21.10, is expected on 14 October 2021, prior to the long term support (LTS) release in the spring of 2022.
Booting It Up
I downloaded the Kubuntu 21.04 ISO file via bittorrent and did a SHA256 sum check on it to verify integrity. Then I used UNetbootin to write it to a USB drive for testing.
Booting to the USB stick in 21.04 no longer results in an overt file system check. Instead it is run silently in the background during the boot process, according to Rik Mills, a Kubuntu and Ubuntu developer. I presumed my USB write was good, as I did not see any notifications to the contrary.
New
This version of Kubuntu uses the Plasma 5.21 desktop, which is based on the Qt 5.15.2 toolkit. This new version of Plasma 5 introduced some small refinements and seems to run more smoothly, with better menu functionality.
The kernel used is Linux 5.11 and that provides support for a new generation of hardware.
Kubuntu 21.04 has a new default wallpaper. This one is called Milky Way by Rucker, and it is very dark in color. It looks like it is intended to compliment the dark themes that seem to be popular among desktop users these days. This release has a total of 29 wallpapers provided, including many from recent Kubuntu releases, so there are lots to choose from if this one is not to your taste.
Even though Ubuntu 21.04 is now using Wayland by default, Kubuntu and the other flavors have not followed suit yet, allowing the Ubuntu developers the opportunity to iron out the bugs first. Kubuntu 21.04 does offer an optional Wayland session that can be selected on boot-up. The Kubuntu 21.04 release notes say, “the Wayland session is provided for testing and evaluation only, and is not supported”, so you have been warned.
There is only one application change in this release, other than just bumping the application version numbers to KDE Applications 20.12. The new Plasma System Monitor is added, while leaving the previous KsysGuard system monitor in place as well. I tried them both out and they seem surprisingly similar, so I suspect that KsysGuard will disappear from the default installation by the time the LTS release arrives.
In general, the overall changes are small and cautious in Kubuntu 21.04, just tweaks really.
Applications
Some of the applications included with Kubuntu 21.04 are: • Ark 20.12.3 archive manager • Discover 2.1.2 software store* • Dolphin 20.12.3 file manager • Elisa 20.12.3 music player • Firefox 87.0 web browser • Gwenview 20.12.3 image viewer • Kate 20.12.3 text editor • Kcalc 20.12.3 calculator • KDE Partition Manager 20.12.3 partition editor • Konsole 20.12.3 terminal emulator • Kmahjongg 20.12.3 game • Kmines 20.12.3 game • Konversation 20.12.3 IRC client • Kpatience 20.12.3 game • Ksudoku 20.12.3 game • KsysGuard 5.21.4 system monitor • Ktorrent 20.12.3 bit torrent client • LibreOffice 7.2.2 office suite, less only LibreOffice Base database • Muon 5.8.0 package manager* • Okular 20.12.3 PDF viewer • Plasma System Monitor 5.21.4 system monitor • PulseAudio 14.2 audio controller • Skanlite 2.2.0 scanning utility* • Spectacle 20.12.3 screenshot tool • Startup Disk Creator 0.3.9 (usb-creator-kde) USB ISO writer • Thunderbird 78.8.1 email client • VLC 3.0.12 media player
* indicates same application version as used in Kubuntu 20.10.
As can be seen from the lack of asterisks, most of the applications included are updated versions from KDE Applications 20.12, with very few hold-overs from Kubuntu 20.10.
Firefox continues as the default web browser. It is a really good browser but continues in Kubuntu 21.04 as the sole GTK toolkit application in a Qt operating system. At one time, there was hope that Falkon, the Qt-based browser that was brought into the KDE project four years ago in 2017, would mature into a viable Firefox replacement but, with no releases in over two years, it is looking like abandonware.
Like previous recent releases, Kubuntu 21.04 does not include a webcam application, image editor, video editor, or CD/DVD burning application. There are choices for all of those that can easily be installed from the repositories, if needed.
The included Kate 20.12.3 text editor is worth mentioning, as it has many syntax highlighting color scheme options and now has spell-checking right out-of-the-box, which is always useful.
The LibreOffice 7.1.2 office suite is included as well and is complete, less only the LibreOffice Base database application. Base is one of the least-used LibreOffice components but can be installed if desired.
Settings
Kubuntu has always been known for its high degree of customization available. In fact, that is probably one of the main reasons that it has such a dedicated following among its user base – it can be made to look and work almost any way that you like.
In a lot of ways, the Kubuntu philosophy is the diametric opposite of that of Ubuntu which offers only a very minimal selection of user configuration options.
Kubuntu has so many settings and options that running through them and setting your desktop up can be a bit daunting. For example, in Kubuntu 21.04, there are: • Four global themes: Breeze, Breeze Dark, Breeze Twilight, and Kubuntu • Six Plasma styles: Air, Breeze, Breeze Dark, Breeze Light, Kubuntu, and Oxygen • Two window decoration themes: Breeze and Plastik • Six colour schemes: Breeze, Breeze Dark, Breeze High Contrast, Breeze Light, Oxygen, and Oxygen Cold • Eight icon sets: Adwaita, Breeze, Breeze Dark, Humanity, Humanity-Dark, LoginIcons, Ubuntu-Mono-Dark, and Ubuntu-MonoLight • Eight cursor styles: Breeze, Breeze Light, KDE Classic,Oxygen Black, Oxygen Blue, Oxygen White, Oxygen Yellow, and Oxygen Zion
And these are just the installed options. Many of the settings pages offer one-button downloading of large numbers of more choices, too.
Kubuntu 21.04 has 68 widgets installed that can be placed on the desktop, which is two more than in the last release. Widgets are small programs that add desktop functionality. Some examples that I tested included an analog clock, a simple menu, and an application launcher. The latter is a full-screen main menu, much like the one found on Ubuntu. Since the Kubuntu 21.04 main menu now works better than in the past, these alternative menus may not prove as necessary as they once were.
Overall, I can see why Kubuntu users would want to avoid doing a “fresh installation” and prefer to just upgrade. With all the settings available, it would be a challenge to duplicate your past installation, even with good notes, plus the options change from release to release, also.
Conclusions
Kubuntu 21.04 is another solid release. Like most Ubuntu-based distributions, the majority of Kubuntu users stick to the LTS releases and avoid the standard releases in between, due to the short, nine-month support periods, unless there is a really compelling reason to upgrade. Kubuntu 21.04’s desktop upgrades, especially the improved menus, might just convince some users that it is worth the switch.
With two releases now out in this development cycle, it seems clear that we can expect only small and incremental changes on the way to Kubuntu 22.04 LTS, which is a good thing for the users, really. Most Kubuntu users don’t seem to want large scale changes. There is one more standard release to go, but I am expecting only refinements to ensure that the LTS that follows is as smooth as possible.