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Every two years in April comes a day that is a bit like Christmas for Ubuntu users. This is the day that the new long term support (LTS) version is released and, because most Ubuntu users stick to the LTS versions, this new version means lots of great new things arrive.
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS was released on 21 April, 2022 and, being an LTS version, is supported for five years until April 2027. This is the 36th Ubuntu release and the tenth with the Gnome 3 desktop.
The next LTS release will be out in another two years, in April 2024, and will be Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
There is much in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS that will make Ubuntu fans happy and ought to keep them that way for the next few years, at least.
In general, the three “standard” releases in-between the LTS versions, are where most of the development and changes happen, and that means that LTS versions are often not much different from the last standard release. This is generally true for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, but it does bring one or two new surprises - and good ones too.
Installation
I downloaded the ISO file for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS from the official website via bittorrent and carried out an SHA256 sum test on it from the command line to make sure I had a good download.
The first thing noted was that the download is half a gigabyte bigger than the last release, Ubuntu 21.10. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS weighs in at 3.4 GB versus 2.9 GB for the previous release, which is 17% bigger. The release notes give no clue as to why this is, though. It also means that, when the ISO is unpacked, it probably won’t fit on a 4 GB USB stick. It is probably just my nostalgic thinking but I can’t help remembering that the versions of Ubuntu from around 2007 actually fit on a 700 MB CD with room to spare.
For testing, I ran Ubuntu 22.04 LTS from a USB stick that was equipped with Ventoy 1.0.73. Ventoy makes booting to almost any Linux distribution really easy – just copy and paste the ISO file onto the Ventoy USB stick, and Ventoy makes it all work at boot up.
System requirements
The system requirements for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS haven’t changed since the last LTS release and are still: • 2 GHz dual-core processor • • 4 GiB RAM 25 GB of hard-drive, USB stick, memory card or external drive space • Screen capable of 1024×768 pixel screen resolution • Either a CD/DVD drive or a USB port for the installation media • Internet access useful but not essential
So basically any computer that once ran Windows 7 or later should be fine with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
New
As expected, this release brings a new Linux kernel and that means more support for new hardware. If you install Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on newer hardware, it will use the 5.17 version of the kernel and, if you have hardware that doesn’t support that, you will get the rolling 5.15 HWE version. That increases the number of computers that can use this release.
The default display server is now an implementation of Wayland, unless you have Nvidia graphics, in which case it will default to an X server instead. There are still ongoing attempts to get Wayland working right on Nvidia graphics cards, but it isn’t there yet.
The development tools provided have been upgraded too. GCC is now at version 11.2.0, binutils at 2.38, glibc 2.35, python version 3.10.4, Perl version 5.34.0, LLVM version 14, golang version 1.18.x, ruby at 3.0, and rustc 1.58. In addition to OpenJDK 11, OpenJDK 18 is also now provided although it is not used for the package builds.
The initialization system for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is systemd 249.11. Ubuntu moved to systemd with Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet in April 2015 and, despite initial concerns, it has been working well for the past 16 releases.
The desktop includes a mix of applications from Gnome 41 and 42. The developers explain that the older Gnome 41 applications are there to provide “a more time-tested experience for the LTS desktop by mostly avoiding libadwaita”.
As always, the Ubuntu version of the Gnome desktop is modified with a dock added. By default, the dock is on the left side of the screen, but can be moved to the bottom or the right side, although not the top where it would conflict with the top panel. It can be reduced in width by making the icons smaller in the settings menu, can be set to auto-hide, but cannot be just selected off entirely, so the launcher does use screen space that the stock Gnome desktop does not.
Gnome has some performance enhancements as well that should make it faster.
The Ubuntu implementation of Gnome continues to include window “maximize” and “minimize” buttons, as well as “close”, whereas the stock Gnome desktop windows have only “close”.
Settings
Because Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is code named “Jammy Jellyfish”, it comes with a default jellyfish-themed wallpaper. I will admit that the new artwork is actually quite well done and looks nice when you boot it up. This release provides 12 other wallpapers to choose from or you can use your own favorite wallpaper.
Ubuntu has never been known for offering a lot of user customization, but the last release, Ubuntu 21.10, actually cut the three choices of window color schemes from three down to two. At the time, this seemed like an odd move, especially because it was the default Yaru “standard” window theme that was dropped, leaving only Yaru light and dark. A feature just introduced in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS makes some sense of this move, however. This release has a new addition to the menus in Settings → Appearance. Here, the user can choose the Yaru light or dark theme, and then has a choice of ten accent colors. These control the highlight and other secondary colors seen, and actually do alter the impact of the two Yaru themes, depending on the color chosen. I have to give credit to the Ubuntu developers for this new feature in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as it is quite innovative and brings more user customization control. I think it will make at least some users feel more like it is “their” desktop and not just a generic-looking experience.
In Ubuntu 21.10, the trash can icon was moved from its place on the desktop to the dock. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS introduces a small change to this situation in that if the user adds any icons to the desktop, by default they will be automatically placed in the bottom-right corner of the screen. This default condition can also be changed in the settings under Settings → Appearance → Desktop Icons –if you would rather have them in the traditional top-left, or any other corner.
Applications
Some of the applications included with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS are: Archive Manager (File Roller) 3.42.0 archiver Cheese 41.1 webcam application CUPS 2.4.2 printing system Document Viewer (Evince) 42.1 PDF viewer Document Scanner (Simple Scan) 42.0 optical scanner Files (Nautilus) 42.0 file manager Firefox 99.0.1 web browser Gnome Calendar 41.2 desktop calendar Gnome Disks 42.0 disk manager Gnome Terminal 3.44.0 terminal emulator Gparted 1.3.1 partition editor Image Viewer (Eye of Gnome) 42.0 image viewer LibreOffice 7.3.2 office suite PulseAudio 15.99.1 audio controller Remmina 1.4.25 remote desktop client Rhythmbox 3.4.4 music player* Shotwell 0.30.14 photo manager Startup Disk Creator 0.3.13 (usb-creator-gtk) USB ISO writer Text Editor (gedit) 41.0 text editor Thunderbird 91.8.0 email client Transmission 3.00 bit torrent client* Ubuntu Software (Gnome Software) 41.5 package management system Videos (Totem) 42.0 movie player * indicates same application version as used in Ubuntu 21.10 supplied as a snap package, so the version on the release date depends on the upstream package manager
As can be seen, almost all the applications provided are new versions and most are from Gnome 41 and 42. The screenshot tool has been replaced with a simple and updated interface from Gnome 42.
Ubuntu 21.10 introduced the provision of the default Firefox web browser as a snap package, in place of the previous .deb package, although the .deb remained available in the 21.10 repositories. As was warned, the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS repositories now contain only the snap package. This was done at the request of Firefox’s developers at Mozilla to simplify their support for Linux, eliminating having to manage multiple package formats across the Linux universe. From that perspective, the move to snaps makes sense. Snaps contain all their dependencies, so they can be big files. For instance, the Firefox snap is 163.2 MB.
All of this does mean that, if you want to use Firefox, then you have to live with the snap version, unless you want to compile your own from the Mozilla website-provided tarball file or something equally esoteric.
So how does the snap version of Firefox work in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS? Some of the past complaints about snaps in general are that they are slow to open and don’t take up system color themes, often looking out of place on the desktop. In testing the Firefox snap on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, it opened in about three seconds, which is not too bad. It also adopts and matches both the Yaru light and dark themes, including the accent color selected. I am sure that the Ubuntu developers wanted to make this first “mandatory” snap as unimpeachable as possible, and it is hard to find fault with it. It fits the desktop and works right.
It is worth noting that the included Ubuntu Software store is just a snap store as it supplies only snap versions of applications. The Gnome desktop itself is also a snap, and 260.8 MB in size, which may partially explain the 500 MB larger download size for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. The future is here now, it seems.
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS has LibreOffice 7.32 and this version is complete, missing only the database application LibreOffice Base. It is not often used but can easily be installed if needed.
As in recent Ubuntu releases, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS includes the Cheese webcam application but omits a CD/DVD writer, video editor, and a general purpose image editor. The included Shotwell photo organizer can actually do some basic photo editing tasks including cropping, rotating, color adjustment, straightening, and enhancing, although it is not a true, general purpose image editor. There are many good choices in the repositories, though, including GIMP and mtPaint.
Conclusions
After 36 releases over 18 years, Ubuntu feels like a serious, carefully honed and highly polished desktop aimed at enterprise users, but suitable for home use as well.
Overall, the changes in this release cycle since the last LTS in 2020 have been small and incremental in nature and that is a good thing. Most Ubuntu users like how it looks and works and don’t see a need for big changes.
Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is a good, solid release that will probably keep Ubuntu fans and the large number of enterprise and business users happy for the next few years, at least.
External links
Official website: https://ubuntu.com/