We are launching today and to crown the day, behold Ubuntu 21.10 ‘Impish Indri’, a new intermediate version of “the distribution of the people” that … does not point ways, no sir. But let’s go in parts.
Ubuntu 21.10 is the run of Ubuntu 21.04 ‘Hiruste Hippo’ launched last April and like this one, whose cycle ends next January, will consist of only nine months of support, although the upgrade procedure to the next Ubuntu version will be ready quite a bit. before that time comes.
What’s new in Ubuntu 21.10
Among the general novelties of Ubuntu 21.10, extendable to the rest of the family, is the Linux kernel 5.13 and Mesa 21.2 as prominent components. In the case of Ubuntum, in addition, Wayland is kept by default even when using proprietary Nvidia drivers, as this version comes with that support ready.
Ubuntu 21.10 also stands out for finally dressing GNOME 40 and although GNOME 41 came out recently, it is not enough to ask the distro not to adopt it. Now that could have been prepared because time to spare, too. But it’s not a bad deal either. In fact, with GNOME comes almost all the new features at the desktop level.
Another change that is obvious in Ubuntu 21.10 includes the clear Yaru theme for GTK, since it is the default theme of the applications and Ubuntu had not left the dark behind for a long time; or the introduction by way of preview of the new system installer created with Flutter, although not by default– To test it, download specific installation images.
Of course, if there is a change that, at least, is going to produce a division of opinions, it is the one we already knew: Firefox as default Snap package, a sovereign decision of Canonical that, however, will in all probability generate justified alloys of hatred, and that is that the movement smells rancid from afar. For more information, the one that was bundled with Chromium.
But do not panic, because the bad does not come now: Ubuntu 21.10 offers Firefox as Snap by default, but it only affects Ubuntu itself -the official flavors are free of the low blow for the moment- and in the repositories there is the same version browser in Deb format, so switching from one to the other costs little. However, the subject smells bad, right?
Truth: as of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Firefox will disappear from the traditional Ubuntu repositories and will only be available in Snap format. Ergo, the same for the rest of the official Ubuntu editions, as well as for any derivative that is not for the work of compiling the browser for itself, as Linux Mint did with Chromium. But is it as bad to use Firefox as Snap?
In the specific case of Firefox, Canonical says that this way the updates will reach the browser as they are released in the upstream, which is a joke without any grace, because they could do the same if they wanted with the version of the ordinary repositories (the Mozilla Security PPA could be the salvation, we’ll see); It also says that it will be all more secure because of the isolation that Snap provides, although Firefox is supposed to have that too.
On the other hand, the Firefox in Snap of Ubuntu 21.10 is released with a serious error that causes it to explode in certain circumstances in the Wayland session, although they hope to correct it with the launch of Firefox 94 in November; and they do not comment on the delay that all Snap applications have in their first start, not to enter into debates that go beyond the merely technical.
More information in the Ubuntu 21.10 release notes.
Ubuntu 21.10 Official Editions
Apart from the main edition there is a selection of alternatives as or more interesting than Ubuntu itself, which share a background, which does not form, in the end, its great differentiator:
Kubuntu 21.10
Thus, in the case of Kubuntu, its great asset to attract the user is KDE Plasma 5.22.5 and KDE Gear 21.08.1, as well as the arrival of Latte Dock 0.10 in their repositories.
Xubuntu 21.10
Xubuntu is another of the classic flavors that supply everything on a desktop basis, and this is none other than Xfce 4.16, with a good number of updated components, yes.
Ubuntu MATE 21.10
Somewhat more up-to-date is Ubuntu MATE, whose new desktop environment version, MATE 1.26, was released a couple of months ago.
Ubuntu Budgie 21.10
One of lime, another of sand and Ubuntu Budgie is there, with Budgie Desktop 10.5.3 (a minor update with fixes, mainly) as the maximum exponent.
Lubuntu 21.10
And we finished the most orthodox review with Lubuntu, which also saw its desktop recently updated. Specifically, LXQt 0.17 is the version you saw on Impish Indri.
Ubuntu 21.10 download
Finally, there you have the Ubuntu 21.10 and family downloads.
