Ubuntu 21.04 final beta was officially released. Features images for the Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Cloud products, and also the Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu flavors.
Ubuntu 21.04 code name “Hirsute Hippo”. As a non-LTS release, it has only 9-month support.
The new Ubuntu edition comes with Linux Kernel 5.11 and GNOME 3.38.x, along with some GNOME 40 core applications, e.g, GNOME Calculator, Gnome Clocks, Gnome Disk Utility.
And it by default logins to Wayland session. If your applications are not so far updated with Wayland support, you can easily switch back to X11 session by clicking the gear button when you’re at the login screen.
Another change is that the time & date menu, system tray menu, notifications, and other top-panel drop-down menus are now in Dark Mode. For those prefer either the standard or light mode, you have to install the User Themes Gnome Shell Extension to change the default theme to light. For details, see this tutorial.
Other changes include:
- Use nftables as default backend for the firewall.
- Add support for smartcard authentication
- Desktop icons now handled by Desktop Icons NG extension with drag’n’drop support.
- Pipewire support is now enabled.
- Updated toolchain, applications, and more.
For more details, read the full release note.
And you can download the ISO image from:
