Last month we shared our roadmap for Ubuntu Desktop’s 24.10 cycle. One month in, things are progressing rapidly, bringing some new fixes into Ubuntu 24.04 LTS ahead of (and in time for) the .1 release alongside our work on the Oracular Oriole. Let’s run through the latest news.
Expanding permissions for the Steam snap
It was exciting to see the Steam snap break out of the ‘Other’ category in this month’s Steam Hardware Survey, represented by its base snap, Ubuntu Core 22.
Whilst this further splits the representation of Ubuntu in these charts (for example steam deb installs on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, Ubuntu 23.10 and Ubuntu 20.04 LTS are included in the ‘Other’ category, making it difficult to identify Ubuntu’s total user-share) it does help us understand the relative adoption of the snap.
To support Steam snap users we will soon update the snap with a broader range of permissions that should resolve a number of outstanding reports. This will enable Steam to have access to the things it expects whilst still maintaining the dependency management and updated userspace driver benefits that the snap provides.
Gaming performance in general has significantly improved on Ubuntu with this release, in part due to the low-latency specific optimisations made to the kernel. Check out Linux Gamer @luisalvarado’s video documenting their experiences and let us know if you’ve seen a similar upgrade on this thread!
If you have ideas on other gaming tweaks we can provide at the OS level to improve your experience let us know, either here or in our dedicated matrix room.
Noble updates
GNOME 46.2 SRU in progress
GNOME 46.2 is currently top of our list for bringing into Noble. Due to the scale of changes brought in to enable explicit sync support it’s going to take a bit longer than normal and will require a full SRU review. Testing is currently underway.
Ubuntu Desktop installer update
The first desktop installer update has also been promoted to stable. Ubuntu 24.04 LTS now allows us to offer these updates directly to the user as part of the installation flow and brings some Subiquity fixes alongside two quality of life improvements:
- The TPM backed FDE option now restores the error messages provided in Ubuntu 23.10 to make it easier for users to understand why they cannot select that option. This is part of a longer term workstream to provide more nuanced error messages to those testing this experimental feature. The Noble release notes have also been updated with some additional troubleshooting guidance for common configuration issues that can be tweaked to unlock support.
- The automated install option now supports local file paths. This enables those users who wish to include an autoinstall file behind an authentication challenge to use Firefox in the live session, download the file and then provide a local path to it during installation. If you’d like to get started with creating personal autoinstall files, check out my blog for a short tutorial.
Landing an OEM Config experience in Subiquity
The previous desktop installer, Ubiquity, provided an OEM config mode that allowed user configuration as part of a first boot experience for installed machines. Ahead of the first certifications of preinstalled Ubuntu 24.04 LTS laptops we are finalising a new approach that combines Subiquity with GNOME Initial Setup to provide an equivalent experience. This will require a patch to GNOME initial setup in Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS and supporting documentation will be made available for those that wish to take advantage of this setup.
App Center improvements
The new App Center is also receiving some rapid iteration.
- Running snaps no longer block users from using the ‘update all’ option in the management interface.
- App Center updates will soon be presented as an alert message rather than an action, telling users that the update will be applied automatically once the application is closed.
- Support for externally downloaded deb installations will also be added. This update will include additional messaging for users to consider the trustworthiness of the source of these applications before installing.
- The App Center’s gaming tab will soon be updated to sort applications by average rating by default. If this looks good we will roll this out to additional app categories over time.
Contribute to Ubuntu docs via the Open Documentation Academy
“The Open Documentation Academy combines Canonical’s documentation team with documentation newcomers, experts, and those in-between, to help us all improve documentation practice and become better writers. Fill blanks in your resume and paint your GitHub activity tracker golden.”
The documentation team at Canonical have started an exciting new initiative to make it easier than ever to get started contributing to Ubuntu documentation as well as other participating projects such as LXD, Multipass, Netplan and OpenPrinting. Areas of the documentation that could benefit from additional TLC are posted as issues for anyone to contribute to updating.
Our first desktop-related issues include Ubuntu on WSL and the upstream OpenPrinting project, but keep an eye out for many more to come. It’s a great way to get involved, no matter your skill level!
Closing Out
That’s all from me for this month, I hope you enjoyed following the progress of the team and seeing these improvements first hand as they land. Next month we’ll have even more topics to cover, but in the meantime I look forward to hearing your thoughts and feedback!
Oliver
