We fired up the beta build to see whether it was worth upgrading to Canonicals newest long-term support release.
A Look at Ubuntu 24.04
Another April, another Ubuntu.
Theres the April build, and theres the October build.
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All that and a new mascot, and the obligatory set of new wallpapers.
This targeted distributions based on Debian and Red Hat, not just Ubuntu.
Apart from the aesthetics, there are some changes to existing screens and some new screens.
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you could still opt to install everything Ubuntu traditionally provides, but you better consciously make that choice.
New features include improved hardware compatibility and optimized power management for laptops.
We used a nightly development build to do our testing.
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This is based on academic research from the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The new scheduler reduces latency in certain scenarios.
The intel_idle CPU Idle Time Management Driver is part of the CPU idle time management subsystem.
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Support has been extended to the Grand Ridge and Sierra Forest processors.
Not to be outdone, AMD CPUs receive a collection of performance enhancements.
The ability to have nested virtual machines has been added for the IBM POWER processor ppc64el.
Dave McKay/How-To Geek
If they differ, an attack might have been detected.
Files
The Files file internet tool now searches globally, which is the new default.
To search in the local directory and subdirectories, nudge the new icon in the toolbar.
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Theres a new search function in Preferences, too.
The file copying information now appears in the bottom left corner.
Clicking it expands the information being shown.
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Privacy has been renamed to Privacy & Security.
WebDAV and Microsoft Personal account support have been added to Online Accounts.
Perhaps Canonical is waiting for the patch before revealing the option?
Dave McKay/How-To Geek
You have to enable desktop sharing for Remote Desktop to work.
You must use an RDP client on the computer youre connecting from.
App Center
Ubuntus Snap-centric software app has been renamed to App Center.
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If you prefer usingDEBfiles youll need to use the command line.
App Centerreallywants you to use Snaps.
Thunderbird is now a Snap, although there is a DEB available.
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But under the hood, it installs the Snap version.
dpkg now defaults to use -mbranch-protection=standard, designed to mitigate code reuse attacks on ARM64.
Software Versions
These are the software versions of some common packages.
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Is Ubuntu 24.04 Worth the Upgrade?
In short, yes.
Ubuntu 24.04 is definitely worth the upgrade.
Dave McKay/How-To Geek
If you hopped onto Ubuntu 23.10 last October, the increased security alone makes it worth the upgrade.
The benefits of GNOME 46 and the other kernel improvements just make it all the more compelling.
Dave McKay/How-To Geek
Dave McKay/How-To Geek
