Ubuntu Studio For Linux

Ubuntu Studio is a multimedia/content creation-geared official flavor of Ubuntu and has gathered quite the following since it was first released on the 10th of May 2007.

Ubuntu Studio has made a name for itself by providing users with a really impressive suite of open-source, digital creation apps, as well as thanks to its arguably low system requirements, which also made good at breathing new life in various older computers.

Version 20.04 is Ubuntu Studio's 27th release since its inception, and it's an LTS (long-term support) release. 20.04 LTS, also code-named "Focal Fossa," features a 3-year support period and will receive updates and security fixes until April 2023.

20.04 LTS is an exciting release, and even though it's not revolutionary by any means (when compared to 19.04). It brings forth a series of interesting (and long-awaited changes), and it doesn't lack controversy, especially considering the 20.04 LTS will be the final release using the Xfce Desktop Environment many have come to love.

Beginning with 20.10, Ubuntu Studio will feature KDE Plasma Desktop Environment by default. This will inevitably make the lives of some users a bit complicated.

In short, developers have announced that users should expect a neat evaluation of the included apps. One example is the fact that Ubuntu Studio currently features 3 video editors by default: Pitivi, OpenShot, and Kdenlive. It's possible that some of them (and many others) will be eventually dropped.

One of the biggest changes is the return of MyPaint with version 20.04 LTS. The library conflict with GIMP (from older versions of Ubuntu Studio) is no longer here, to the joy of many fans of the app.

AVLDrums is not available as an LV2 plugin and is included in the default installation of Ubuntu Studio.

Ubuntu Studio Controls received a series of impressive changes as well. The Audio setup tab is now split into three tabs, Firewire devices are no longer supported (unless they work with ALSA), and PulseAudio bridges can now receive custom names.

LibreOffice Impress is once again part of the Ubuntu Studio default apps, the GNOME Calculator has been replaced by MATE Calculator, FireRoller replaced with Engrampa, Evince replaced with Atril. Due to library incompatibility issues, 20.04 LTS says goodbye to DisplayCAL, Patchage, GMidiMonitor (mostly because Python 2 reached End-Of-Life status).

The list with all the multimedia packages that received updates this release is as follows; Blender (2.82), KDEnlive (19.12.3), Krita (4.2.9), Gimp (2.10.18), Ardour (5.12.0), Scribus (1.5.5), Darktable (3.0.1), Pitivi (0.999), Inkscape (0.92.4), Carla (2.1), USC (1.12.4), OBS Studio (25.0.3), and MyPaint (2.0.0).

Just like the developers said in the press release for Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, this version is mostly an evolution on top of 19.10 rather than revolutionary.

Nevertheless, Ubuntu Studio 20.04 LTS brings forth a series of nice changes (making the upgrade be worth it) and paves the way for future improvements and tweaks.