Category Archives: release

20 Apr

Lubuntu 23.04 Released!

After months of clawing our way through development, testing, and bug fixing, the Lubuntu team is thrilled to shell-ebrate another successful release cycle! We’ve finally pinched a working copy of the Lubuntu operating system, and it’s our biggest catch yet: Lubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster, the 24th release of Lubuntu and the tenth to feature LXQt as its default desktop environment. So let’s all shell-ebrate with some Lunar Lobster puns!

Support lifespan

With 23.04 being an interim release, it will follow the standard non-LTS support period of nine months; this means that 23.04 will be supported until January 2024. Our development focus going forward will be on 23.10 and future releases, so only critical bugfixes and security updates will be provided. If you choose to use 23.04, we STRONGLY recommend upgrading to 23.10 once it is released, before 23.04 hits end of life. If this is not suitable for you, but you still enjoy new features on a regular basis, we would recommend staying on 22.04 LTS with Lubuntu’s Backports enabled.

You can download 23.04 here. If you would like to upgrade your existing 22.10 installation, please visit our manual page describing the process. Common Ubuntu instructions can be found here.

Known Issues and Notable Changes

LXQt

A bug in LXQt results in duplicate menu entries for the Calamares installer, showing the following:

While either of these options work, we recommend using the desktop icon.

While LXQt 1.3.0 has already been released at this time, it was released after Lubuntu 23.04’s Feature Freeze. As a result, Lubuntu 23.04 ships with LXQt 1.2.0 with 1.2.1 point releases updates for a few components. We intend to ship LXQt 1.3.0 or later with Lubuntu 23.10. LXQt 1.3.0 will also be backported to Lubuntu 22.04 LTS if possible.

System Installer

In Lubuntu 22.10, we chose to ship an (at the time) very recent alpha testing version of the Calamares installer, Calamares 3.3 Alpha 2. This worked quite well, and over the past several months Calamares 3.3 has been battle-tested by our developers, our testing team, and our users of Lubuntu 22.10, with no high-impact bugs discovered in Calamares itself. We have therefore chosen to continue shipping Calamares 3.3 Alpha 2 in Lubuntu 23.04.

During testing, we did note that if you attempt to create an encrypted installation without a passphrase, Lubuntu will be installed unencrypted. This is unlikely to be a problem for most users as disk encryption requires a passphrase for it to be effective. More information can be found here.

User password requirements

During testing, we discovered that it was possible to instruct Calamares to create the initial user account with a blank password. This was not the result of a bug in Calamares, but was rather due to incorrect configuration in Lubuntu. Due to the security implications of this, and because of a bug in XScreenSaver that could result in the user being locked out if the password is blank, we have chosen to require that some password be provided during the installation process, even if that password is only one character long. More details can be found in the official bug report.

If you fully understand what you are doing and do not want a password, there are several ways of disabling most or all password-based authentication in Lubuntu. These methods are documented on our Discourse forum here. We highly recommend that most users do not remove or otherwise disable their system’s password for security reasons.

PipeWire

Lubuntu previously used the PulseAudio audio system to provide rich audio functionality to our users. However, recently Ubuntu and its flavors have been gradually shifting to using the PipeWire audio server in place of PulseAudio. PipeWire offers several advantages over PulseAudio, including improved Bluetooth support, and more powerful management features for complex audio-related workloads. In order to offer these improved features to our users, Lubuntu has replaced the PulseAudio audio system with PipeWire in Lubuntu 23.04.

Screensaver

Since Lubuntu 20.04, the default screensaver has been “Flurry”. Due to reports of screensaver glitches on certain hardware, we have switched the default screensaver in Lubuntu to GL Matrix. This screensaver features a 3D “digital rain” effect that we have found to be aesthetically pleasing. If you have changed the screensaver yourself, you will probably not notice this change. If you find the new screensaver unappealing, you can change it back to the original “Flurry” screensaver (or to any of the other pre-installed screensavers) using the Screensaver application.

Picom

Lubuntu 22.10 and earlier run with no X compositor by default. (An X compositor is an application that can help provide various graphical effects and possibly smooth out screen tearing.) For those who benefited from X compositing, the Compton compositor was provided. We began also providing the Picom compositor (which is based on Compton but is more well-maintained) in Lubuntu 21.04. Starting with Lubuntu 23.04, we have switched entirely to Picom, and have enabled X compositing by default. This will allow effects like panel transparency to work out of the box rather than requiring that the compositor be manually enabled.

If you discover that X compositing is causing problems for you, or if you are experiencing significantly more screen tearing than in previous versions of Lubuntu, you can turn X compositing off by going to the Application Menu -> Preferences -> LXQt Settings -> Session Settings. You can then find and uncheck the “Picom (X compositor)” entry under “LXQt Modules”, and then click “Close”. X compositing should be disabled the next time you log in.

Artwork

We have refreshed the wallpaper, the default background for the login screen, the installer welcome image, and the installer slideshow for Lubuntu 23.04. This updated artwork was provided by one of our Lubuntu Members, Aaron Rainbolt.

Default wallpaper
Default login screen background

Common Release Notes

Please also check the Ubuntu Release Notes for more common issues and bugs affecting all Ubuntu flavors.

What is Lubuntu?

Lubuntu is an official Ubuntu flavor which uses the Lightweight Qt Desktop Environment (LXQt). The project’s goal is to provide a lightweight yet functional Linux distribution based on a rock-solid Ubuntu base. Lubuntu provides a simple but modern and powerful graphical user interface, and comes with a wide variety of applications so you can browse, email, chat, play, and be productive. You can find the following major applications and toolkits installed by default in this release:

You can find a variety of other applications installed which aim to enhance your experience while staying out of the way of your normal workflow. New features and bugfixes in core Ubuntu components can be found here.

Lubuntu Manual

The Lubuntu Team has been hard at work in polishing the Lubuntu Manual to make it easy for new and experienced users alike to use their system more productively. The manual can be found at manual.lubuntu.me. We want to thank Lyn Perrine for all the hard work she has put into the Lubuntu Manual. Thank you!

Versions of the Lubuntu Manual:

While the documentation for previous releases will be kept in the Git repository, they will not be published anywhere.

Need help quickly? The Lubuntu Manual can be accessed via the “Lubuntu Manul” desktop icon.

Lubuntu Project

How can I help?

We can always use more help! No matter your skill level or your technical experience, there’s something you can help with that can make a huge difference in Lubuntu. Join us on our chat (which is bridged three ways to Matrix, Telegram, and IRC) and talk to us there. Whether you know another language, have some spare time to help us test Lubuntu, are good at writing documentation, or just want to stay “in the know,” that is the place to be. More information about contributing can be found here. If you want to contribute to Lubuntu but do not feel you have the time or skills, consider buying a t-shirt or donating to Lubuntu. Another great method to get involved is bug reporting. If you notice an issue, please file a bug using the instructions on the Lubuntu Wiki. Don’t want to file a bug? Let us know what the problem is (in detail, enough that we can reproduce it) and we can assist you in filing one or do it ourselves.

Contributors

We would like to thank the following contributors for dedicating their time to Lubuntu this cycle. Thank you!

We would also like to thank the following past members for their dedication to the project. Without you, Lubuntu would not be what it is today. Thank you!

Global Team

The Lubuntu Global Team has been created to foster communities in non-English languages and locales. An up-to-date list of our communities can be found on our Links page, but the existing groups include: Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Chinese, German, Japanese, Arabic, and French. If you would like to start a language group, join our development channel and talk with the Global Team. At minimum, you should have a few interested drivers of the community, and at least one administrator that speaks English. We now have multiple languages available in the support section of our Discourse forum.

30 Mar

Lubuntu 23.04 Beta Released!

Thanks to all the hard work from our contributors, Lubuntu 23.04 Beta has been released. With the codename Lunar Lobster, Lubuntu 23.04 will be the 24th release of Lubuntu, the tenth release of Lubuntu with LXQt as the default desktop environment.

Support lifespan

With 23.04 being an interim release, it will follow the standard non-LTS support period of nine months, which means 23.04 will be supported until January 2024. Please note that 23.04 is still in Beta, and is not officially supported until its scheduled release on April 20, 2023.

You can download 23.04 Beta here. If you would like to upgrade your existing 22.04 LTS or 22.10 installation, please visit our manual page describing the process. Common Ubuntu instructions can be found here.

Known Issues and Notable Changes

LXQt

LXQt 1.2 is now shipped by default. More information on its initial and point releases can be found here: 1.2.0 | 1.2.1

System Installer and Potential Instability

Lubuntu uses the Calamares system installer in place of the Ubiquity installer that most other flavors use. While we are ensuring 22.04 LTS’ Calamares follows the upstream LTS cycle, we decided to get ahead of the curve by shipping Calamares 3.3 Alpha 2 in 23.04.

Here are the factors that went into this decision:

Additionally, you may notice that the main Ubuntu Desktop does not ship with Ubiquity this cycle. Instead, it ships with a new snap-based Ubuntu Desktop Installer. While flavors are free to switch to the new installer, Lubuntu is still evaluating this decision (preliminary performance, usability, and design assessments continue to show Calamares as the clear leader between the two choices).

Firefox, and the move to snap

An ongoing concern within the Ubuntu and Lubuntu communities has been the increased startup times for the Firefox web browser due to using the Snap package format instead of the traditional Debian-based package format used for the rest of the system. After careful consideration, taking into account the fast-paced technical improvements in modern web technology, the work required to keep Lubuntu users secure after the release, and Canonical’s commitment to Firefox as the default web browser for Ubuntu, we made the decision to keep this as-is.

That being said, the existing issues to watch out for include:

  • Snaps ship with confinement enabled by default, in order to properly isolate the application from the rest of the system. While this eases the update process, if you need to pass through a device to Firefox (such as a smartcard), some manual work will be required.

We recommend consulting the Snapcraft Forums with any issues related to Snaps in general. More information on the Firefox snap specifically can be found here.

Common Release Notes

Please also check the Ubuntu Release Notes for more common issues and bugs affecting all Ubuntu flavors.

What is Lubuntu?

Lubuntu is an official Ubuntu flavor which uses the Lightweight Qt Desktop Environment (LXQt). The project’s goal is to provide a lightweight yet functional Linux distribution based on a rock-solid Ubuntu base. Lubuntu provides a simple but modern and powerful graphical user interface, and comes with a wide variety of applications so you can browse, email, chat, play, and be productive. You can find the following major applications and toolkits installed by default in this release:

You can find a variety of other applications installed which aim to enhance your experience while staying out of the way of your normal workflow. New features and bugfixes in core Ubuntu components can be found here.

Lubuntu Manual

The Lubuntu Team has been hard at work in polishing the Lubuntu Manual to make it easy for new and experienced users alike to use their system more productively. The manual can be found at manual.lubuntu.me. We want to thank Lyn Perrine for all the hard work she has put into the Lubuntu Manual. Thank you!

Versions of the Lubuntu Manual:

While the documentation for previous releases will be kept in the Git repository, they will not be published anywhere.

Want an easy way to access the manual? Don’t worry, it’s now an (opt-out) desktop icon.

Lubuntu Project

How can I help?

We can always use more help! No matter your skill level or your technical experience, there’s something you can help with that can make a huge difference in Lubuntu. Join us on our chat (which is bridged three ways to Matrix, Telegram, and IRC) and talk to us there. Whether you know another language, have some spare time to help us test Lubuntu, are good at writing documentation, or just want to stay “in the know,” that is the place to be. More information about contributing can be found here. If you want to contribute to Lubuntu but do not feel you have the time or skills, consider buying a t-shirt or donating to Lubuntu. Another great method to get involved is bug reporting. If you notice an issue, please file a bug using the instructions on the Lubuntu Wiki. Don’t want to file a bug? Let us know what the problem is (in detail, enough that we can reproduce it) and we can assist you in filing one or do it ourselves.

Contributors

We would like to thank the following contributors for dedicating their time to Lubuntu this cycle. Thank you!

In addition, we would also like to recognize some very active contributors on our Discourse forum.

We also wanted to give a special mention to Julien Lavergne, our Project Lead Emeritus and Founder. Without you, the Lubuntu project would not exist today. Thank you.

Global Team

The Lubuntu Global Team has been created to foster communities in non-English languages and locales. An up-to-date list of our communities can be found on our Links page, but the existing groups include: Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Chinese, German, Japanese, Arabic, and French. If you would like to start a language group, join our development channel and talk with the Global Team. At minimum, you should have a few interested drivers of the community, and at least one administrator that speaks English. We now have multiple languages available in the support section of our Discourse forum.

23 Feb

Lubuntu 22.04.2 LTS is Released!

Thanks to all the hard work from our contributors, Lubuntu 22.04.2 LTS has been released. With the codename Jammy Jellyfish, Lubuntu 22.04 is the 22nd release of Lubuntu, the eighth release of Lubuntu with LXQt as the default desktop environment.

Support lifespan

Lubuntu 22.04 LTS will be supported for 3 years until April 2025. Our main focus will be on this and future releases.

Lubuntu 20.04 LTS will be supported until April 2023, and we are limiting changes to critical fixes and underlying system changes shipped with all other Ubuntu flavors. Lubuntu 22.10 is likewise limited to critical fixes and underlying system changes being supported until July 2023.

What’s The Difference Between Lubuntu 22.04 LTS And This Release?

Lubuntu 22.04.2 is a set of images produced for convenience so that a fresh install of the latest Lubuntu LTS does not require as many updates after install (as Lubuntu continues to release Stable Release Updates and security fixes to make your experience as smooth as possible and to fix any bugs, if you want to help us out with this, see below, we always need more help). If you do system updates regularly, you are already running Lubuntu 22.04.2 LTS, and if you install Lubuntu on a system using a Lubuntu 22.04 LTS image and do system updates, that system will also then be running Lubuntu 22.04.2 LTS.

This Lubuntu 22.04.2 media also contains the updated HWE 5.19 kernel stack (from Lubuntu 22.10) where prior 22.04 media contained only the 5.15 GA kernel stack.

What is Lubuntu?

Lubuntu is an official Ubuntu flavor which uses the Lightweight Qt Desktop Environment (LXQt). The project’s goal is to provide a lightweight yet functional Linux distribution based on a rock-solid Ubuntu base. Lubuntu provides a simple but modern and powerful graphical user interface, and comes with a wide variety of applications so you can browse, email, chat, play, and be productive.

You can find the following major applications and toolkits installed by default in this release:

  • LXQt 0.17.0 – more information here.
  • Qt 5.15.3
  • Mozilla Firefox will be shipped as a Snap package with version 110 and will receive updates throughout the support cycle of the release.
  • The LibreOffice 7.3.2 suite.
  • VLC 3.0.16, for viewing media and listening to music.
  • Featherpad 1.0.1, for notes and code editing.
  • Discover Software Center 5.24.6, for an easy, graphical way to install and update software.

You can find a variety of other applications installed which aim to enhance your experience while staying out of the way of your normal workflow.

Please note: The change of firefox to snap package, results in the browser being slower to start. It does not impact execution or subsequent runs during that session. The reason for this is the setting up of the confined environment in which snaps run, and decompress the squashfs, with privacy and security benefits. This is noticeable on first run especially with live media having improved significantly when compared to prior Lubuntu 22.04 LTS media.

If you’d like to use LXQt 1.2 on your existing, or new Lubuntu 22.04.2 LTS install, then please see how to upgrade it with the use of the Lubuntu Backports PPA link here.

Read More →

28 Nov

Lubuntu 22.04 Backports PPA Released With LXQt 1.2

The Lubuntu Team is happy to announce that the Lubuntu Backports PPA with LXQt 1.2 is now available for general use. You can find details on enabling it below.

What is the Lubuntu Backports PPA?

Our Backports PPA is modeled after Kubuntu’s. It exists to provide the latest LXQt desktop stack on top of a stable Ubuntu base. (The concept could also be considered similar to KDE Neon.)

As time goes on, our development focus will continue to be on new releases, and we plan on landing and testing changes there prior to pushing them to Backports. That being said, this is a perfect middle ground between stability and new features that users of all experience levels will be able to enjoy.

Is this a separate edition of Lubuntu?

Nope, this is still the same Lubuntu you know and love, you’re just getting new features available on the regular releases earlier than everyone else on the LTS release. You’re jumping on an in-between track.

Okay, so how do I enable it?

The Backports PPA is available here. You can add the PPA using the following command:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lubuntu-dev/backports

Please note that upgrades from 22.04 to 22.10 are NOT supported once Backports is enabled. This is an issue we are actively working on.

Please let us know (Matrix preferred) if anything is off. One thing to note, IF YOU ENABLED THE BACKPORTS STAGING PPA AS PART OF THE CALL FOR TESTING, PLEASE DISABLE IT.

You, yes you, can help

If you have some time, please consider joining us. If you would like to help us continue the development of the project long-term, you can donate to the Lubuntu project here.

18 Nov

Lubuntu 22.04 Backports PPA – LXQt 1.2 Call For Testing

The Lubuntu Team is happy to announce that an update to LXQt 1.2 through the Lubuntu Backports PPA is now available as a beta.

What is the Lubuntu Backports PPA?

Our Backports PPA is modeled after Kubuntu's. It exists to provide the latest LXQt desktop stack on top of a stable Ubuntu base. (The concept could also be considered similar to KDE Neon.) As time goes on, our development focus will continue to be on new releases, and we plan on landing and testing changes there prior to pushing them to Backports. That being said, this is a perfect middle ground between stability and new features that users of all experience levels will be able to enjoy.

Is this a separate edition of Lubuntu, and why is it in beta if it was already released upstream?

Nope, this is still the same Lubuntu you know and love, you're just getting new features available on the regular releases earlier than everyone else on the LTS release. You're jumping on an in-between track. The development release has a different audience than LTS users, so they may notice changes that LTS release users may not, and vice versa.

Okay, so how do I install it?

Please don't enable Backports Staging unless you plan on giving us testing feedback in some capacity.

The Backports Staging PPA is available here. You can add the PPA using the following command: $ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lubuntu-dev/backports-staging

Please test it and give us feedback (Matrix preferred). One thing to note, DO NOT KEEP THIS PPA ENABLED AFTER UPGRADING TO THE PACKAGES IT CONTAINS. We plan on migrating LXQt 1.2 to the main Backports PPA officially on Friday, November 25th, 2022 assuming no showstopper issues present themselves.

You, yes you, can help

If you have some time, please consider joining us. If you would like to help us continue the development of the project long-term, you can donate to the Lubuntu project here.

(Please support our friends at 9to5linux.com and at TuxDigital.)

20 Oct

Lubuntu 22.10 Released!

Thanks to all the hard work from our contributors, Lubuntu 22.10 has been released. With the codename Kinetic Kudu, Lubuntu 22.10 is the 23rd release of Lubuntu, the ninth release of Lubuntu with LXQt as the default desktop environment.

Support lifespan

With 22.10 being an interim release, it will follow the standard non-LTS support period of nine months, which means 22.10 will be supported until July 2023. Our development focus going forward will be on 23.04 and future releases, so only critical bugfixes and security updates will be provided. We STRONGLY recommend upgrading to 23.04 once it is released, before 22.10 hits end of life. If this is not suitable for you, but you still enjoy new features on a regular basis, we would recommend staying on 22.04 LTS with Lubuntu’s Backports enabled.

You can download 22.10 here. If you would like to upgrade your existing 22.04 LTS installation, please visit our manual page describing the process. Common Ubuntu instructions can be found here.

Known Issues and Notable Changes

LXQt

A bug in LXQt results in duplicate menu entries for the Calamares installer, showing the following:

While either of these options work, we recommend using the desktop icon.

System Installer and Potential Instability

Lubuntu uses the Calamares system installer in place of the Ubiquity installer that most other flavors use. While we are ensuring 22.04 LTS’ Calamares follows the upstream LTS cycle, we decided to get ahead of the curve by shipping Calamares 3.3 Alpha 2 in 22.10.

Here are the factors that went into this decision:

Firefox, and the move to snap

An ongoing concern within the Ubuntu and Lubuntu communities has been the increased startup times for the Firefox web browser due to using the Snap package format instead of the traditional Debian-based package format used for the rest of the system. After careful consideration, taking into account the fast-paced technical improvements in modern web technology, the work required to keep Lubuntu users secure after the release, and Canonical’s commitment to Firefox as the default web browser for Ubuntu, we made the decision to keep this as-is.

That being said, the existing issues to watch out for include:

  • On a fresh boot of a Lubuntu system, the snap needs to decompress into memory the first time you run it. This will result in the browser launching noticeably slower.
  • Snaps ship with confinement enabled by default, in order to properly isolate the application from the rest of the system. While this eases the update process, if you need to pass through a device to Firefox (such as a smartcard), some manual work will be required.

We recommend consulting the Snapcraft Forums with any issues related to Snaps in general. More information on the Firefox snap specifically can be found here.

Artwork

The default wallpaper for 22.10 is from one of our Lubuntu Members, Aaron Rainbolt:

Our greeter background also received an update this time and is from another Lubuntu member, sudodus:

Both artists entered our artwork contest and were selected for this release. We appreciate the exceptional art submissions from the community.

Ubuntu Pro Advertisement

It has come to our attention that Ubuntu Pro integration in apt is a bit too aggressive. We understand (and agree with some of) the concerns; at this current point in time, apt does not silence that message when using -qq either. We also understand that, with Canonical being the corporate sponsor of Ubuntu, they are entitled to put product advertisement in Ubuntu. The most reasonable compromise in our opinion is to allow the user to turn it off if they so desire, and Canonical (as noted in the bug report) is working on a better long-term solution for this.

We appreciate your patience while a reasonable solution is being worked out. If this message is preventing you from being productive, a temporary workaround is available here.

DKMS issues and workaround

Dynamic Kernel Module Support (DKMS) is a core package which handles the (low-level) loading of kernel modules once installed. An example of this would be installing Broadcom drivers, for specific network adapters. The DKMS version shipped by default in 22.10 has a bug causing third-party kernel modules to not be properly built or signed on Secure Boot systems, breaking support for hardware that requires those drivers if Secure Boot is enabled. If you are planning on installing Lubuntu offline, note that you will need to manually download and update to the fixed version.

The easiest way to work around this issue on Lubuntu Kinetic is to simply run sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade before attempting to install third-party drivers on your system. If that’s not an option, and if you have familiarity with the command line, you can find a workaround in this bug report. Thank you to Aaron Rainbolt, one of our project members, for assisting with this.

We agree this bug is far from ideal. Had this issue been addressed a day or two sooner, 22.10 users would likely not come across this in the first place. That being said, the Ubuntu Release Team and Ubuntu Stable Release Updates Team made the informed decision to accept this immediately following 22.10’s finalization. If they did make the decision to accept it earlier, that would require last-minute re-verification of all ISOs, delaying 22.10’s release until tomorrow or later.

Common Release Notes

Please also check the Ubuntu Release Notes for more common issues and bugs affecting all Ubuntu flavors.

What is Lubuntu?

Lubuntu is an official Ubuntu flavor which uses the Lightweight Qt Desktop Environment (LXQt). The project’s goal is to provide a lightweight yet functional Linux distribution based on a rock-solid Ubuntu base. Lubuntu provides a simple but modern and powerful graphical user interface, and comes with a wide variety of applications so you can browse, email, chat, play, and be productive. You can find the following major applications and toolkits installed by default in this release:

You can find a variety of other applications installed which aim to enhance your experience while staying out of the way of your normal workflow. New features and bugfixes in core Ubuntu components can be found here.

Lubuntu Manual

The Lubuntu Team has been hard at work in polishing the Lubuntu Manual to make it easy for new and experienced users alike to use their system more productively. The manual can be found at manual.lubuntu.me. We want to thank Lyn Perrine for all the hard work she has put into the Lubuntu Manual. Thank you!

Versions of the Lubuntu Manual:

While the documentation for previous releases will be kept in the Git repository, they will not be published anywhere.

Want an easy way to access the manual? Don’t worry, it’s now an (opt-out) desktop icon.

Lubuntu Project

How can I help?

We can always use more help! No matter your skill level or your technical experience, there’s something you can help with that can make a huge difference in Lubuntu. Join us on our chat (which is bridged three ways to Matrix, Telegram, and IRC) and talk to us there. Whether you know another language, have some spare time to help us test Lubuntu, are good at writing documentation, or just want to stay “in the know,” that is the place to be. More information about contributing can be found here. If you want to contribute to Lubuntu but do not feel you have the time or skills, consider buying a t-shirt or donating to Lubuntu. Another great method to get involved is bug reporting. If you notice an issue, please file a bug using the instructions on the Lubuntu Wiki. Don’t want to file a bug? Let us know what the problem is (in detail, enough that we can reproduce it) and we can assist you in filing one or do it ourselves.

Contributors

We would like to thank the following contributors for dedicating their time to Lubuntu this cycle. Thank you!

In addition, we would also like to recognize some very active contributors on our Discourse forum.

We also wanted to give a special mention to Julien Lavergne, our Project Lead Emeritus and Founder. Without you, the Lubuntu project would not exist today. Thank you.

Global Team

The Lubuntu Global Team has been created to foster communities in non-English languages and locales. An up-to-date list of our communities can be found on our Links page, but the existing groups include: Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Italian, Chinese, German, Japanese, Arabic, and French. If you would like to start a language group, join our development channel and talk with the Global Team. At minimum, you should have a few interested drivers of the community, and at least one administrator that speaks English. We now have multiple languages available in the support section of our Discourse forum.

01 Sep

Lubuntu 20.04.5 LTS Released!

Thanks to all the hard work from our contributors, we are pleased to announce that Lubuntu 20.04.5 LTS has been released!

What is Lubuntu?

Lubuntu is an official Ubuntu flavor which uses the Lightweight Qt Desktop Environment (LXQt). The project’s goal is to provide a lightweight yet functional Linux distribution based on a rock-solid Ubuntu base. Lubuntu provides a simple but modern and powerful graphical user interface, and comes with a wide variety of applications so you can browse, email, chat, play, and be productive.

Support lifespan

Lubuntu 20.04 LTS will be supported until April 2023.

Where can I download it?

You can download Lubuntu 20.04.5 LTS on our downloads page.

This announcement on our official website (Lubuntu.me, NOT Lubuntu dot net, which is not run by Lubuntu contributors) replaces the traditional release notes we have provided in the past on the wiki. We have left out some notes that are common to all flavors, so we recommend that you read the Ubuntu release notes.

What’s The Difference Between Lubuntu 20.04 LTS And This Release?

Lubuntu 20.04.5 is an image produced for convenience so that a fresh install of Lubuntu LTS does not require as many updates after install (as Lubuntu continues to release Stable Release Updates and security fixes to make your experience as smooth as possible and to fix any bugs, if you want to help us out with this, see below, we always need more help). If you do system updates regularly, you are already running Lubuntu 20.04.5 LTS, and if you install Lubuntu on a system using a Lubuntu 20.04 LTS image and do system updates, that system will also then be running Lubuntu 20.04.5 LTS. A brief list of the bugs fixed between 20.04 and 20.04.5 can be found here

Read More →

11 Aug

Lubuntu 22.04.1 LTS is Released!

Thanks to all the hard work from our contributors, Lubuntu 22.04.1 LTS has been released. With the codename Jammy Jellyfish, Lubuntu 22.04 is the 22nd release of Lubuntu, the eighth release of Lubuntu with LXQt as the default desktop environment.

Support lifespan

Lubuntu 22.04 LTS will be supported for 3 years until April 2025. Our main focus will be on this and future releases.

Lubuntu 20.04 LTS will be supported until April 2023, and we are limiting changes to critical fixes and underlying system changes shipped with all other Ubuntu flavors.

Where can I download it?

You can download Lubuntu 22.04.1 LTS on our downloads page.

What’s The Difference Between Lubuntu 22.04 LTS And This Release?

Lubuntu 22.04.1 is a set of images produced for convenience so that a fresh install of the latest Lubuntu LTS does not require as many updates after install (as Lubuntu continues to release Stable Release Updates and security fixes to make your experience as smooth as possible and to fix any bugs, if you want to help us out with this, see below, we always need more help). If you do system updates regularly, you are already running Lubuntu 22.04.1 LTS, and if you install Lubuntu on a system using a Lubuntu 22.04 LTS image and do system updates, that system will also then be running Lubuntu 22.04.1 LTS.

Installer

Lubuntu uses the Calamares system installer in place of the Ubiquity installer that most other flavors use. 22.04 ships with Calamares 3.2.60. For a full/erase disk install, we have added the option of a swapfile by default. The swapfile size is initially set to 512 MB. The option for no swap is still available as a dropdown selection.

For a full description of the new features and fixes, see the upstream announcements for 3.2.60. You’ll note this is a later calamares than prior Lubuntu 22.04 LTS media provided.

Please note: The change of firefox to snap package, results in the browser being slower to start. It does not impact execution or subsequent runs during that session. The reason for this is the setting up of the confined environment in which snaps run, and decompress the squashfs, with privacy and security benefits. This is very noticeable on first run especially with live media having improved significantly when compared to prior Lubuntu 22.04 LTS media.

Lubuntu Backports

If you’d like to use LXQt 1.1 on your existing, or new Lubuntu 22.04.1 LTS install, then please see how to upgrade it with the use of the Lubuntu Backports PPA link here.

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19 Jul

Lubuntu 22.04 Backports PPA Released With LXQt 1.1

The Lubuntu Team is happy to announce that the Lubuntu Backports PPA is now available for general use. You can find details on enabling it below.

What is the Lubuntu Backports PPA?

Our Backports PPA is modeled after Kubuntu’s. It exists to provide the latest LXQt desktop stack on top of a stable Ubuntu base. (The concept could also be considered similar to KDE Neon.)

As time goes on, our development focus will continue to be on new releases, and we plan on landing and testing changes there prior to pushing them to Backports. That being said, this is a perfect middle ground between stability and new features that users of all experience levels will be able to enjoy.

Is this a separate edition of Lubuntu?

Nope, this is still the same Lubuntu you know and love, you’re just getting new features available on the regular releases earlier than everyone else on the LTS release. You’re jumping on an in-between track.

Okay, so how do I enable it?

The Backports PPA is available here. You can add the PPA using the following command:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lubuntu-dev/backports

Please let us know (Matrix preferred) if anything is off. One thing to note, IF YOU ENABLED THE BACKPORTS STAGING PPA AS PART OF THE CALL FOR TESTING, PLEASE DISABLE IT NOW.

(If demand is popular, we may also release an ISO alongside 22.04.1 with the Backports PPA enabled. Please let us know in the comments or on social media if you want that.)

You, yes you, can help

If you have some time, please consider joining us. If you would like to help us continue the development of the project long-term, you can donate to the Lubuntu project here.

12 Jul

Lubuntu 22.04 Backports PPA – LXQt 1.1 Call For Testing

The Lubuntu Team is happy to announce that the Lubuntu Backports PPA is now available as a beta. Please see details below to help us test it.

What is the Lubuntu Backports PPA?

Our Backports PPA is modeled after Kubuntu’s. It exists to provide the latest LXQt desktop stack on top of a stable Ubuntu base. (The concept could also be considered similar to KDE Neon.)

As time goes on, our development focus will continue to be on new releases, and we plan on landing and testing changes there prior to pushing them to Backports. That being said, this is a perfect middle ground between stability and new features that users of all experience levels will be able to enjoy.

Is this a separate edition of Lubuntu?

Nope, this is still the same Lubuntu you know and love, you’re just getting new features available on the regular releases earlier than everyone else on the LTS release. You’re jumping on an in-between track.

Why is it still in beta if you already tested it in the development release?

The development release has a different audience than LTS users. LTS users may notice changes that development release users may not, and vice versa. Also, this is our first run of backports. Future updates should be smoother.

Okay, so how do I help?

The Backports Staging PPA is available here. You can add the PPA using the following command:

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lubuntu-dev/backports-staging

Please test it and give us feedback (Matrix preferred). One thing to note, YOU SHOULD NOT KEEP THIS PPA ENABLED, ENABLE THE OFFICIAL BACKPORTS PPA WHEN IT COMES OUT AND INSTALL PACKAGES FROM HERE SELECTIVELY.

We plan on releasing this repository officially on Tuesday, July 19th, 2022 assuming no showstopper issues present themselves.

(If demand is popular, we may also release an ISO alongside 22.04.1 with the Backports PPA enabled. Please let us know in the comments or on social media if you want that.)

You, yes you, can help

If you have some time, please consider joining us. If you would like to help us continue the development of the project long-term, you can donate to the Lubuntu project here.

(Please support our friends at 9to5linux.com and at TuxDigital.)