Tag Archives: 23.10

25 Jan

Lubuntu 23.04 Reaches End-of-Life – Upgrade to 23.10 Now

Lubuntu 23.04 has reached end-of-life as of today, January 25, 2024. It will no longer receive software updates (including security fixes) or technical support. All users are urged to upgrade to Lubuntu 23.10 as soon as possible to stay secure. You can upgrade to Lubuntu 23.10 without reinstalling Lubuntu from scratch by following the official upgrade procedure. Alternatively, you can download Lubuntu 23.10 or Lubuntu 22.04 and do a clean installation if you prefer.

Nine months ago, on April 20th, 2023, Lubuntu 23.04 was released. It shipped a number of new features including an enabled-by-default X compositor (Picom), PipeWire, a new default screensaver, and the latest (at the time) version of LXQt. While the innovation and stability Lubuntu 23.04 provided served us well, it is now time to move on. We are now focusing our support efforts on Lubuntu 23.10 and later, as well as on Lubuntu 22.04 LTS. Lubuntu 23.04 will no longer receive bug or security fixes from the Lubuntu team. Additionally, as the underlying Ubuntu 23.04 packages Lubuntu uses have reached end-of-life, Lubuntu 23.04 will no longer receive updates for any core applications, utilities, or OS components.

Lubuntu features two different types of releases – Long Term Support (LTS) releases and interim releases. Interim releases are supported for only nine months after release, and are primarily for users who are willing or able to upgrade or reinstall frequently in order to get the best that Lubuntu has to offer. Lubuntu 23.04 was an interim release, and is being dropped from Lubuntu support accordingly.

Note that users of Lubuntu 22.04 LTS do not have to take any action at this time. LTS releases are supported for three years from the date of release. We will continue to support Lubuntu 22.04 LTS until April 2025.

If you are still running Lubuntu 23.04, we strongly recommend that you upgrade to Lubuntu 23.10 as soon as possible. You can read about what’s new in Lubuntu 23.10 here. Alternatively, if you are unable to use Lubuntu 23.10, or if you would like to use our LTS releases and avoid frequent upgrades, you can install Lubuntu 22.04 from scratch and enjoy another year of updates and support before having to upgrade again.

Thank you to everyone who uses Lubuntu! If you have problems reinstalling or upgrading, feel free to ask for help via our official support channels. We’re happy to help users having upgrade problems even after Lubuntu 23.04’s end-of-life date. You can find a list of places to reach us by visiting our Links page. We can also be reached via IRC at #lubuntu on Libera.Chat.

22 Sep

Lubuntu 23.10 Released!

Thanks to all the hard work from our contributors, Lubuntu 23.10 has been released. With the codename Mantic Minotaur, Lubuntu 23.10 is the 25th release of Lubuntu, the 11th release of Lubuntu with LXQt as the default desktop environment.

Support lifespan

With Lubuntu 23.10 being an interim release, it will follow the standard non-LTS support period of nine months; this means that Lubuntu 23.10 will be supported until July 2024. Our development focus going forward will be on Lubuntu 24.04 LTS and future releases, so only critical bugfixes and security updates will be provided.

If you choose to use Lubuntu 23.10, we STRONGLY recommend upgrading to 24.04 LTS soon after it is released, but before Lubuntu 23.10 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 Lubuntu 22.04 LTS with Lubuntu’s Backports enabled.

We are in the process of landing updates to Lubuntu Update Notifier for all currently-supported stable releases to add a graphical path to version upgrades.

Installation

You can download Lubuntu 23.10 here. If you would like to upgrade your existing 23.04 installation, please visit our manual page describing the process. Common Ubuntu instructions can be found here.

Known Issues and Notable Changes

System Installer

We are once again utilizing Calamares 3.3 Alpha 2 in Lubuntu 23.10, as it has proven to be highly reliable since its initial use in Lubuntu 22.10.

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.

Artwork

We have a new wallpaper (which is also used as at the login screen), created one of our Lubuntu Members; Walter Lapchynski, with a bit of assistance from Ubuntu Studio’s Erich Eickmeyer. Thanks to both Walter and Erich.

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 Manual” 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.