We are pleased to announce the release of Edubuntu 24.04 LTS, codenamed Noble Numbat.
This is the first long-term support in ten years, and we are excited to have it available to everyone. Our vision is to allow Edubuntu to reach people that otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford quality education software. Whether it’s to supplement what you already have or to replace completely your education needs, we hope you enjoy it as much as we did working on it.
This is a Long-Term Support release and as such, it is supported for 3 years (36 months), until April 2027.
Downloads
Images may be downloaded from Edubuntu 24.04 (Noble Numbat). This includes builds for amd64/Intel architecture as well as Raspberry Pi.
Where’s the website?
Our website is currently a placeholder website available at https://edubuntu.org courtesy of @aaronprisk, and we are still working with Canonical IS to establish a more permanent website where we can make these posts and more, including administration instructions and other documentation. We do apologize that it is taking so long.
Success Stories
If you have a story to share about how Edubuntu has enriched your learning environment and experience, we would love to hear it. Send your stories to edubuntu-users@lists.ubuntu.com with the subject line “Success Story”.
New Features
- Due to popular demand, we have released images for the Raspberry Pi 5! We recommend a minimum 64 GB SD card for installation.
- We have introduced a new metapackage, installable from Edubuntu Installer, for teaching tools.
- Likewise, together with Ubuntu Studio, we have developed a metapackage for Music Education, installable from Edubuntu Installer.
- Edubuntu now includes a Minimal Install option. This may save some time during install in which setup may be completed using Edubuntu Installer.
New apps included are:
- Gradebook: A way for students to keep track of their grades
- Included with the Teaching Tools metapackage:
- qxw: An advanced crossword construction tool
- Auto Multiple Choice: A multiple choice test/quiz/questionaire generator
- Included with the Music Education metapackage:
- fmit: A musical instrument tuner
- gnome-metronome: A metronome
- Minuet: A music education tool from KDE
- Solfege: Ear training tool
- Pianobooster: Piano teaching software, MIDI optional
Known Issues
- Upon first boot, the system will reboot. This is normal, and is the mechanism to set the logo for the login screen.
- KDE/Qt apps use a blue accent color as opposed to a red accent color or whatever accent color is set by the user in the System Settings. There is no known fix currently, however future releases may have other configurations which allow this. There are ongoing discussions that seem to have come to a halt.
- GNOME Notes has a search provider for the Activities Overview which will sometimes crash.
- The new Ubuntu welcome app branding does not match Edubuntu. We’re working on ways to resolve this.
- On the Raspberry Pi, the slideshow during initial user setup has graphical corruption .
- On the Raspberry Pi, the first login will have the Ubuntu logo as opposed to the Edubuntu logo.
- As Edubuntu shares a desktop with and is based on Ubuntu Desktop, any known issues can be found in the official Ubuntu Release Notes .
- Individual applications included with Edubuntu may have their own known issues. Please consult upstream release notes for those applications before filing bug reports.
Support Scope
- As stated above, Edubuntu 24.04 LTS will be supported for 3 years.
- Our support is limited to the educational and instructional packages we include as well as our own developed utilities (e.g. Edubuntu Installer, Edubuntu Menu) as well as any GNOME extensions we provide (gnome-shell-extensions-alphabetical-menu)
- The desktop environment is maintained by the Ubuntu Desktop team as Edubuntu is mostly an add-on to the Ubuntu Minimal seed.
- Most applications come from Debian and are maintained upstream.
- GNOME packages not maintained by the Ubuntu Desktop team are maintained by the Debian GNOME team. We work closely with members of the Debian GNOME team for advice and bugs on these packages.
- Bugs are filed against Ubuntu packages in Launchpad.
How To Contact or Participate
Mailing Lists
Edubuntu Users Mailing List (Support Discussion)
Edubuntu Developers Mailing List (Join The Team!)
We Have a Merchandise Shop!
Buy a t-shirt, coffee mug, hat, teddy bear, or anything available! Browse and find something you like! Commissions support ongoing development!
Special Thanks
Huge thanks for this release go to:
- Aaron Prisk (@aaronprisk): Temporary Website, Website Maintenance
- Steve Langasek (@vorlon) : Technical Guidance, Release Team
- Jeremy Bicha (@jbicha): GNOME Desktop Guidance
- Lukas Klingsbo: Ubuntu Desktop Provision (Installer)
- Dennis Loose (@dloose): Ubuntu Desktop Provision (Installer)
- Oliver Grawert (@ogra): Project Founder, encouragement
- Jonny Eickmeyer: Testing/Child’s Perspective/Advice
- Erich Eickmeyer (@eeickmeyer) : Technical Leader, Merch Store
- Amy Eickmeyer (@amypenguin) : Project Leader