Ubuntu, one of the most famous Linux distributions, marks its successful twenty years in history by launching Ubuntu 24.10, ‘Oracle Oriole’. The provisional release is considered a smooth upgrade, offering more fine-grained control of permissions. This is the second update of 2024, following Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Noble Numbat.
After a short six-month gap from the update Ubuntu 24.04 ‘Noble Numbat’, Ubuntu launches its 2nd update of the year, Ubuntu 24.10, Oracle Oriole’. The new version seems promising, offering new features and controls than the seemingly exhausting Noble Numbat. The new release marks the successful 20 years of their existence.
The Oracle Oriole uses a tilted version of the Canonical’s Genome version 47 with minute modulations. The ARM 64 devices can use GNOME Initial Setup, offering a smooth setting up of the operating system after the initial installation is the major modification.
In the new version, the GNOME customization shows its own section in the Settings. The dock shows the progress bar like the snap-packed apps are updated. In addition to a new security center, the app center handles traditional Debian packages and snaps in the latest update. Other changes include new file manager features and bookmark navigation.
The new default file manager includes an info button that appears when a non-indexed folder is searched, displaying the reason for the delay in results.
The new release marks the 20th year since the first launch of Ubuntu 4.10 ‘Warty Warthog’ on October 20, 2004. When the system boots up, a 20-year Ubuntu logo is displayed at the bottom of the screen. It gives the option to the user to change the wallpaper to the Ubuntu 4.10 version along with a Warty brown accent color, for those who wish to go down the memory line. In addition, Ubuntu 24.10 uses the same starting sound as that of 4.10.
Posing many similarities to the previous versions, the standing out factors of the new version are the stability of the operating system and the performance it portrays.
The integration of GNOME 47 and Kernel 6.11 makes it one of the best-performing versions of Canonical’s so far updates. Apps get opened instantly, updates get quickly, and reboots happen more smoothly. The use of APT 30 increases the layout offering better readability.
The growth of Ubuntu since 2004 has been remarkable. Every newer version was easier to use than the earlier versions, which paved the way for an immense increase in Linux’s market share with the operating system showing a growth of 4.5% for the very first time in 2024, even though it is much lesser than the share of Windows and macOS.
The earlier versions had all the updates automatically. Ubuntu Cinnamon 24.10 uses a similar version 6.04 desktop as the previous release excluding some underlying Cinnamon components that have updated to newer versions from 6.2. Due to the existing issue with Meta 1.28, Ubuntu MATE 24.10 has also not been updated after MATE 1.26.2.
This release switched Ubuntu Unity 24.10 to the Calameres installer, which didn’t have an update since Unity 7.7. The new launch has updated Kubuntu and Lubuntu which was stuck with older Noble Numbat releases.
If you are looking for a Linux distribution with a full-blown desktop environment and a smoother performance similar to that of Windows Maker and Fluxbox, you can blindly download Ubuntu 24.10. The new version has been available for download since October 13, 2024.
What Ubuntu 24.10 has in store?
All the 24.10 editions use the latest Kernell 6.11, released last month (September). The 24.10 release of the Ubuntu server includes,
- Kdump tools for automatic crash dumps.
- Valkey for high-performance key/value storage.
- Toolchain updates including Rust packages and TCK certified OpenJDK 21 and 17.
However, the 24.10 version is missing the new Core Desktop variant which was already planned for a debut in 2024.
