Ubuntu Studio 26.10 Release Notes

Flavors & Remixes Ubuntu Studio
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Ubuntu Studio 26.10 Stonking Stingray Release Notes

Ubuntu Studio shares some of the same desktop features as Kubuntu. Please see the Kubuntu release notes for additional information.

Getting Ubuntu Studio 26.10

Download a Disk Image

Bootable images for standard PCs/laptops

Instructions for burning the image to a USB flash drive can be found on the Burning ISO Howto. NOTE: This ISO image exceeds 4.0GB and will not write correctly to a DVD. We recommend using a USB flash drive of 8GB or greater as installation media.

Check SHA256SUM for the Downloaded ISO

It is recommended to check your image file so your installation goes smoothly. Compare your SHA256 checksum with the correct ones found alongside the images.

Upgrading to Ubuntu Studio 26.10

Upgrades are supported from Ubuntu Studio 25.10 and Ubuntu Studio 26.04 LTS.

Make Sure You Are Prompted for Normal Releases

Ubuntu Studio 26.10 is a standard (non-LTS) release. LTS installations are, by default, only offered new long-term support releases, so Ubuntu Studio 26.04 LTS users must opt in to be prompted for 26.10. Ubuntu Studio 25.10 users are normally prompted already, but should verify the setting below.

  1. Open Software Sources.

  2. Go to the Updates tab.

  3. Set Notify me of a new Ubuntu version to For any new version. (“For long-term support versions” will not offer 26.10.)

  4. Click OK or Apply, and enter your password if asked.

If you prefer to edit the configuration directly, open /etc/update-manager/release-upgrades and make sure it contains Prompt=normal. A value of Prompt=lts means no upgrade will be offered from 26.04 LTS.

If you still do not receive a notification, make sure plasma-distro-release-notifier is installed.

Performing the Upgrade

To upgrade automatically, click on the notification icon in your system tray.

To manually upgrade, press Alt+Space to invoke KRunner, and type the following:

do-release-upgrade -f DistUpgradeViewKDE

Alternatively, you can do this from the Konsole terminal:

do-release-upgrade

If you installed the 26.10 beta, you do not need to upgrade or reinstall: keep your system updated and it will automatically become the final release.

Changes for This Release

(compared to Ubuntu Studio 26.04 LTS Resolute Raccoon)

Highlights

  • Ubuntu Studio Installer now lets you choose individual packages from a metapackage’s Depends and Recommends lists.

  • Ubuntu Studio Audio Configuration now uses a single-window, tabbed control-panel layout, with clearer PipeWire quantum controls on the Audio tab.

  • PipeWire settings: the installer offers the PipeWire settings app appropriate to the detected desktop environment.

  • Live coding: Sonic Pi and SuperCollider are now available through Ubuntu Studio’s audio package selections. The inclusion of Sonic Pi was inspired by DJ_Dave, who makes music with code; while she currently uses Strudel, similar results can be obtained with Sonic Pi.

New Packages

Available through Ubuntu Studio’s audio package selections:

  • Sonic Pi 4.6.0 — A live-coding environment for creating music with code.

  • SuperCollider 3.14.1 — An environment for audio synthesis and algorithmic composition.

  • SuperCollider 3 plugins — The SC3 plugin suite, extending SuperCollider’s available unit generators.

  • JNoise 0.6.0 — A command-line white/pink noise generator, included for its utility.

Audio

  • PipeWire continues as the default audio server with improved integration

  • RaySession upgraded to 0.18.0 (from 0.17.4)

  • Patchance upgraded to 1.4.0 (from 1.3.2)

  • Ardour upgraded to 9.8.0

  • Audacity updated to 3.7.8

Graphics

  • Krita upgraded to 6.0.3

  • GIMP upgraded to 3.2.6

  • Scribus upgraded to 1.6.6

Video

  • FreeShow upgraded to 1.6.5 (snap)

  • Kdenlive updated to 26.08.1

  • OBS Studio updated to 32.2.2

  • DistroAV updated to 6.2.1 for NDI support in OBS Studio

  • QPrompt updated to 2.0.2

Current Version of Main Multimedia Packages

Package versions listed above were current at release time and may receive updates through normal package maintenance.

A Note About TLP (Tuned for Linux Power)

Many people prefer using tlp for power management on Linux-based laptops, usually after following guides online. However, installing tlp will result in a conflict with power-profiles-daemon, which is installed in Ubuntu Studio.

power-profiles-daemon is required by the KDE Plasma desktop environment and is the preferred choice for power management on Ubuntu Studio. Uninstalling it will result in uninstallation of ubuntustudio-desktop-core which may result in the auto-removal of the entire desktop environment.

For power management in Ubuntu Studio, please do not attempt to install tlp as we cannot support it. Instead, use the built-in Power Profiles, which are in the Power Management menu in the system tray.

For fine-tuning of CPU power usage, cpupower-gui is also installed by default.

Known Problems

  • The Time Zone tab in System Settings > Date & Time (and the Time Zones section of the Digital Clock widget settings) may appear blank because plasma-workspace is missing a dependency on the Qt6 Location QML module, which is not installed by default in Ubuntu Studio. Installing the missing module resolves it: sudo apt install qml6-module-qtlocation.

  • Ubuntu Studio uses the same KDE Plasma desktop environment as the official Kubuntu release, and thus, may be affected by some of the same issues. This is also true of the core packages of Ubuntu. You can see their release notes here (Kubuntu) and here (All of Ubuntu).

  • You will be prompted, upon first login of any new user, to reboot to apply proper audio configurations for audio production. This is intentional and is a workaround for the installer’s inability to configure the first user as part of the “audio” group or for new users to be added to the audio group automatically.

Support

Ubuntu Studio 26.10 (Stonking Stingray) will be supported for 9 months, until July 2027.

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Ubuntu Studio 26.10 Beta Released
Ubuntu Weekly Newsletter Issue 964