Ubuntu For Linux

Long-time Ubuntu fans, the wait is over: Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (codenamed Jammy Jellyfish) is finally here. Better yet, it's here to stay for no less than 5 years, until April 2027 (until the maintenance period ends, however, additional security support is available with Canonical's ESM - Extended Security Maintenance).

If you're coming from Focal Fossa, then this release is bound to deliver a slew of awesome, much-awaited changes and improvements. If, however, you've joined the "journey" with the interim releases (Hirsute Hippo and Impish Indri), there's still a chance you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Even though 22.04 LTS retains much of the look and feel of Ubuntu 11.04 (Natty Narwhal), the minor changes and tweaks have a massive effect. One of the biggest changes is the introduction of GNOME 42.

Jammy Jellyfish makes quite a big jump (from GNOME 40 to 42) for the shell and most of its libraries. This, in turn, comes with a plethora of nifty improvements, a more stylish, streamlined, and customizable GUI, snappy horizontal workspace transitions, as well as improved support for multi-monitor setups (more on that, and more, a bit later).

Canonical really did a good job by improving the performance of their latest LTS. 22.04 LTS ships with an improved version of GNOME that boasts triple buffering, as well as improved support for Intel and Raspberry Pi graphics drivers.

AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards have not been forgotten, and Wayland is not the default display server for most systems (X11 remains the default one for NVIDIA GPUs).

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is a really big step for enterprise users as well. It features additional enhancements and can now integrate with a wide range of enterprise management solutions. The Active Directory integration is also improved in 22.04 in regards to ADsys, a full Group Policy support client, as well as privilege escalation and remote script execution.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is also available on Windows Subsystem for Linux. You can download it from the Microsoft Store, and enjoy the full Ubuntu environment directly from Windows.

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS brings more of everything: more customization options, more performance, more power efficiency, and more ways to integrate with various enterprise tools.

It also brings a "brighter" default look. The new Yaru GTK theme boasts the best of both worlds with dark header bars and light controls, the window "close" button is no longer a bright red dot when hovered over, and many of Ubuntu's default apps now have rounded bottom corners giving the OS a softer, more modern-looking feel.

The whole GNOME UI is now a lot more compact with the calendar area, panel applets, pop-overs, and menus that have thinner margins. The desktop experience is now a lot better thanks to the addition of drag and drop (thank god), meaning you can now drag and drop files and folders out of the file manager and onto the desktop, and vice versa.

Other noteworthy desktop changes include the new horizontal workspaces, some nice App Launcher changes (also horizontal), and quality of life improvements (you can now freely rearrange app shortcuts, for example). Ubuntu 22.04 now provides you with 10 different accent colors that affect the GTK theme, the GNOME Shell theme, and even some default icons.

Last but not least, let's talk about the dock changes. Yes, the trashcan item now sits in the dock and not on the desktop (with the addition of a new divider that separates running app icons from pinned app ones). However, the biggest change is definitely in the System Settings -> Appearance section. You can now turn off panel mode (you can now get a proper "macOS-eq" dock).

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS also ships with improved touchpad gestures and some nifty multi-tasking options (notebook users rejoice). Other features include password-protected zip archives, muted microphone alerts, improved notifications for calendar events, some new power management options, and a brand new screenshot tool (much better than past ones, but still not exactly feature-packed).

It's time for the "elephant in the room," the controversial "Firefox is now a Snap app."

The good news is that Firefox retains its past performance, but the biggest downside is that the Firefox will now take a bit until it starts after a cold boot (up to 10 seconds, but we're sure this will get better with future releases).

Ubuntu 22.04 LTS Jammy Jellyfish is a really big step forward for everyone. It's better looking, faster, sleeker-looking, more customizable, and has a lot more to offer to everyone (from basic day-to-day users to advanced users who rely on enterprise management solution integration to get the job done).