Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 was released on 14 October, 2021. This “standard” release is supported for nine months, until July 2022, and is the last of three standard releases that will lead to the next long term support (LTS) version. Ubuntu Budgie 22.04 LTS is due out on 21 April, 2022.
Background on Budgie
Since this is my first look at an Ubuntu Budgie release, I thought it would be good to give some history about where it came from.
The Budgie desktop started as a new project for Evolve OS, a Linux-based distribution which had its first release on December 7, 2013. Evolve was renamed Solus in 2015 and continues as an independent Linux distribution today, with a choice of four desktop environments available, including Budgie.
Today, the Budgie desktop is available on a number of Linux distributions including Debian. Development is headed up by the Solus development team, with developers from Arch Linux, Manjaro, openSUSE Tumbleweed, and Ubuntu Budgie all contributing.
The Budgie desktop is basically a new user interface using a menu and a dock, all on a stack of Gnome GTK-based applications. Solus describes it as a “feature-rich, luxurious desktop using the most modern technologies.”
Ubuntu Budgie
Combining the Budgie desktop with the Ubuntu backend was a project started by developer David Mohammed, who assembled a team to work on the project.
The first Ubuntu-based release was called Budgie-Remix 16.04 LTS and was made available in April, 2016. On 8 November, 2016, after just two releases, the project was accepted as an official Ubuntu flavor and renamed Ubuntu Budgie.
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 is the 11th release, and the ninth since it became an official flavor of Ubuntu.
Booting It Up
I downloaded the ISO file from the Ubuntu Budgie website via BitTorrent, and completed a SHA256 check on it to make sure that the downloaded file was good. I used UNetbootin to write it to a USB stick, as it conveniently leaves the stick in FAT32 format. For testing, I ran it from the USB stick.
System requirements
The minimum system requirements for Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 are: Pentium 1.6 GHz dual core processor 2 GB RAM 16 GB of hard-drive space
The recommended system requirements for Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 are: Pentium i3 processor 4 GB RAM 80 GB of hard-drive space
I tested it on new hardware with a quad-core 4.7 GHz processor and 32 GB of RAM, so it ran very quickly and smoothly.
New
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 includes Budgie desktop 10.5.3, and this includes a large number of refinements and improvements over the previous release. This version even introduces an optional setup that mimics the Windows 11 desktop, to make transitioning to Budgie easier for Windows users.
This release includes support for Gnome 40 and improved Raspberry Pi 4 hardware. Like all the Ubuntu 21.10 flavors, it uses Linux kernel 5.13.
Firefox as a Snap
One of the controversies in all the Ubuntu 21.10 family of releases has been Canonical’s move to make the Firefox web browser a snap package. For now, the snap format for Firefox is available in addition to the traditional .deb package, but there is a plan to remove the .deb from the repositories for the next release, 22.04 LTS, across the board.
This move was actually requested by Mozilla, the organization that develops Firefox, to make their support for Linux simpler and less labor intensive. They will be able to move to maintaining the snap alone, instead of multiple packages for different Linux distributions. Moving to a snap package will also make Canonical’s job easier, plus users will get Firefox releases faster and with seamless updates as well.
The downside of snaps is that, because they include all needed dependencies, the downloads are bigger, they can be slow to open and don’t always get system-wide window themes right.
The different Ubuntu flavors are approaching the Firefox snap issue differently, with mainstream Ubuntu 21.10 incorporating it as default this time around, while Kubuntu, Lubuntu, and Xubuntu are sticking with the .deb for 21.10.
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 has also retained the .deb version, while adding in the release notes, “we do encourage all 21.10 users to start using the snap version now, and feedback your findings back to Canonical so that 22.04 will be as problem-free as possible.” This seems like a sensible approach, given the short timeline involved.
It is probably worth noting that the snap and .deb versions of any application can coexist on any operating system, and even be both open and in use at the same time, making them easy to test and compare.
David Mohammed notes that snaps work well with the standard Budgie Pocillo and QogirBudgie themes, as they are available as snaps too.
Settings
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 does offer some reasonable user customization, but the settings are spread over a number of different places. Some, like wallpaper choices, are in the standard Ubuntu Settings menu, while others are in Budgie Desktop Settings or Budge Extras. Once you locate where the settings are hidden, it is not too hard to set up your desktop.
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 includes a choice of six extra themes that can be installed separately from the default Pocillo theme. These are mostly contained in third-party PPAs, which is an unusual way of packaging themes. Each one comes with not only the window theme but its own wallpaper and icon set. Most of the themes are quite dark, as is the default theme. It is actually hard to get a light-themed desktop within the options given, something other reviewers have noted as well in the past.
There are also 36 desktop applets, small programs which add functionality similar to Kubuntu’s “widgets”. Choices include calendars, clocks and a clipboard applet.
The default wallpaper for 21.10 gives the desktop a sort of “space” theme, and looks quite modern. There are 14 wallpapers choices provided, or you can use your own.
Applications
Ubuntu Budgie applications can be launched from the main menu or the dock. The menu is configurable to show large icons or a list. It can be easily opened via mouse or touchpad from the Budgie icon in the top-left corner. It can also be accessed by hitting the “super” key and then typing in the name of the application you want, keeping hands on the keyboard, which is efficient.
The dock is centered at the bottom of the screen and is small and quite unobtrusive. When applications are maximized, it auto-hides. The dock shows which applications are open via small dots, one for each instance in use, Mac-style.
Some of the applications included with Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 are: Archive Manager (File Roller) 3.40.0 archiver Catfish 4.16.2 file search Celluloid 0.20 movie player* Cheese 3.38.0 webcam application* CUPS 2.3.3 printing system* Document Viewer (Evince) 40.4 PDF viewer Document Scanner (Simple Scan) 40.5 optical scanner Drawing 0.8.3 image editor Firefox 93.0 web browser Gnome Calendar 41.0 desktop calendar Gnome Disks 41.0 disk manager Gnome Software 40.4 package management system Gnome System Monitor system resource monitor Gparted 1.2.0 partition editor gThumb 3.11.2 image viewer* LibreOffice 7.2.1 office suite Nemo 4.8.6 file manager PulseAudio 15.0 audio controller Rhythmbox 3.4.4 music player* Text Editor (gedit) 40.1 text editor Thunderbird 91.1.2 email client Transmission 3.00 bittorrent client*
* indicates same application version as used in Ubuntu Budgie 21.04.
The application collection includes a mix of software mostly from Gnome. Notably not from Gnome is the Catfish file search which is from the Xfce desktop found on Xubuntu.
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 uses the Nemo file manager instead of the standard Gnome file manager, Nautilus. Nemo is a better choice as it restores several needed features that Nautilus deleted a few years ago – including the “up one level” arrow button.
I am not entirely sure what the user case for including Catfish is, as Nemo has a builtin file search that works very well.
Ubuntu Budgie includes the Cheese webcam application but omits a default CD/DVD burning application.
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 also includes LibreOffice 7.2.1, which is lacking only the LibreOffice Base database program.
PulseAudio 15 brings support for both Bluetooth LDAC and AptX codecs, and adds HFP Bluetooth profiles which provide improved audio quality, particularly for Bluetooth audio.
The default gedit 40.1 text editor has syntax highlighting, with a choice of seven different highlight color schemes, five of which are dark themes. As always, gedit includes spell-checking by default (at Shift+F7). It requires no setup, and is ready to use for writing text documents, coding or creating web pages, right out-of-the-box.
Conclusions
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 is a solid release with no serious issues. It has some incremental changes over the 21.04 release, and points to a spring of 2022 LTS release that will probably be very similar to 21.10, with just the switch of Firefox from .deb to a snap package expected.
Budgie users and developers seem to have an affinity for dark themes as most of the available color schemes are quite dark. It is actually hard to set up a light desktop.
Because it is basically a Gnome distribution with a different interface, Ubuntu Budgie will appeal to Gnome fans, just as Ubuntu and Ubuntu Unity do. The interface has also been designed to appeal to both Windows and Mac users, and to create an easy transition for people using those operating systems.