Kubuntu For Linux

Kubuntu has always been, and still is, one of the most popular Ubuntu official flavors thanks to its neat KDE Plasma desktop environment that seems to strike a fair balance between usability, user-friendliness, and flexibility.

The last release, Kubuntu 23.04 Lunar Lobster, brings a series of improvements, security updates, and some very interesting updates. Kubuntu 23.04 is based on the latest Ubuntu 23.04 release and is set to receive updates and support for nine months, until January 2024.

One of the most important aspects of this release is the fact that Kubuntu 23.04 now features the latest KDE Plasma 5.27. The changes might seem minor when compared to the earlier version (namely Kubuntu 22.10), but the fact that Kubuntu now uses the latest version of KDE Plasma is great (22.10 featured KDE Plasma 5.25).

At the core of Kubuntu 23.04 is the powerful Linux Kernel 6.2 (the latest mainline Kernel available at the moment). Other noteworthy changes include the upgrades to the KDE Apps (22.12), Python (3.11), Qt (5.15.8), KDE Frameworks (5.104), and KDE Gear (22.12).

Kubuntu 23.04 also ships with Firefox 111, Thunderbird 102.9, and LibreOffice 7.5.

The Krunner launcher also received some much-needed updates and now searches for the key in any part of the file name, and sorts the results a lot clearer now (if no matches are available, Krunner prompts a web search).

The Orca screenreader app can now read notifications (including the name of the app, and the notification description), the User settings page, fingerprint register, and authentication selection menus has also been revamped (and now look more modern), and drag and drop is now possible directly in the Gwenview image viewer. Not the most impressive changes, but definitely something that improves accessibility.

The Discover app has been updated to version 23.04, and besides a few aesthetic changes (the home section, for instance), the way it handles Flatpaks and permissions have also been improved.

Since we're on the subject, it's worth noting that Kubuntu follows Ubuntu footsteps in the case of Flatpaks. In short, Kubuntu doesn't have Flatpak by default now, but it's not the end of the road since you can easy enable Flatpak manually with a couple of commands ("sudo apt install flatpak plasma-discover-backend-flatpak," and "flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo").

Xorg remains the Kubuntu's display server of choice once more, but Wayland session is also available for testing (even though it's not fully supported).

Kubuntu 23.04 supports high-res scrolling in Wayland (thanks to the libinput 1.9 version), which is good news for both Chrome and Firefox users. Another interesting change is the inclusion of the idle notification protocol. In a Wayland session, when the computer is idle there's a lot more power saving going on. In Wayland, there's also support for fractional scaling, which is good for users who use multi-monitor setups.

To conclude, Kubuntu 23.04 is a very interesting release, and it's made even better by the fact that it ships with the latest version KDE Plasma. The other small changes, combined with the Wayland support (still in testing), should make it a very interesting experience for those who want to experience the latest technologies that Kubuntu has to offer.