Ubuntu 25.04 beta takes flight – but this Plucky Puffin is still molting
- Reference: 1743770108
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/04/04/ubuntu_2504_beta/
- Source link:
According to Canonical's [1]official schedule , the final release of [2]Plucky Puffin is due in two weeks as we write – April 17. The Plucky beta appeared a little after that of Fedora 42, which [3]we looked at in late March. Both projects sync their release cycles to the semi-annual release cycle of GNOME, which is their default desktop, but Ubuntu's schedule is stricter – Fedora's is more flexible, and a release is delayed if testing reveals problems.
[4]
Ubuntu 25.04 sports the latest kernel and GNOME, but it's no lightweight – click to enlarge
This is an interim release of Ubuntu. Long-term releases appear only in even-numbered years, meaning that 25.04 will only be supported for nine months. In our testing, interim releases are usually completely fine and show no significant problems. The main difference is that you'll have to upgrade much sooner. When upgrading, Fedora lets you skip a release to get current, but Ubuntu doesn't. So, if you choose Plucky, you will need to update to October's 25.10 release, and then next year to 26.04, which will be the next LTS.
Although it was [5]only released a few days beforehand, this version uses kernel 6.14, thanks to Canonical's policy of using fresher Linux kernels, [6]introduced last August. The default desktop edition uses GNOME 48, which we [7]looked at last month , so it will inherit the changes we reported then, such as tweaks to performance and hardware support, and the new digital-wellbeing settings. Evince is gone, replaced by GNOME's new Document Viewer, [8]codenamed Papers .
[9]
The new 'Papers', called Document Viewer in the launcher, can handle PDF comments – click to enlarge
As usual, Ubuntu has slightly tweaked GNOME with its own [10]Yaru theme , and the dock's app launcher button is the Ubuntu logo. As usual, a few pre-installed extensions refine the GNOME experience slightly. Three of these get their own page in the Settings app: Desktop icons, the dock, and the tiling assistant. Additionally, Ubuntu's AppIndicators allows status icons in the top panel.
[11]
The Plucky beta now has the latest Firefox 137 – here with vertical tabs turned on – click to enlarge
This release gets the latest LibreOffice 25.2 and the [12]new GIMP 3.0 . It includes a few apps packaged as Snaps: The latest [13]Firefox 137 with vertical tabs support, Thunderbird 128 ESR, and the new [14]Security Center . The latest version of NetworkManager offers improved IPv6 handling, and Nvidia users get [15]Dynamic Boost support. Under the hood, there's everyone's favorite system management daemon, [16]systemd 257 .
[17]Ubuntu 25.10 plans to swap GNU coreutils for Rust
[18]GNOME 48 beta is another nail in X11's coffin
[19]Ubuntu upgrade had our old Nvidia GPU begging for a downgrade
[20]Linux Mint 22.1 Xia arrives fashionably late
Although a few of the [21]official flavors use the Calamares installer, most stick with Canonical's own installer, based on [22]Subiquity . This has a few improvements this time around. Dual-boot support is better – the installer explains what's going on more clearly, and so long as you've freed up some disk space, it can dual-boot with a Windows installation that's using Microsoft's [23]BitLocker disk encryption. This matters because these days some PC vendors enable BitLocker by default.
If you're lucky enough to own a supported Arm64 computer, there's now a [24]unified Arm64 ISO that can install the OS on multiple models of hardware, including laptops with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor – or " [25]Copilot+ PCs " as the Microsoft marketing department labels them.
We tried the default GNOME edition, and also Xubuntu 25.04 with Xfce 4.20. At this stage, it's a big download. Ubuntu Desktop is over six gigabytes in size, and Xubuntu isn't much smaller at 4.59 GB. Under GNOME, we saw about 1.3 GB of RAM in use, and over 900 MB under Xfce. In its current state, this is not a lightweight OS, and both editions suffered non-fatal errors during installation. Right now, this beta feels rather less ready than the Fedora one. We have confidence that the problems will be smoothed out before release, and we have some hope that the installation image will get substantially smaller.
[26]
There is still some way to go yet for this Puffin to whir into flight, but the signs are encouraging – especially the new ability to dual-boot with an encrypted copy of Windows. That could be a big win with Windows 10's end-of-support date getting ever closer. ®
Get our [27]Tech Resources
[1] https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/plucky-puffin-release-schedule/36461
[2] https://fridge.ubuntu.com/2025/03/28/ubuntu-25-04-plucky-puffin-beta-released/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/24/fedora_42_beta/
[4] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/04/03/plucky_settings.jpg
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/25/linux_6_14_day_late/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2024/08/19/ubuntu_240401_will_be_late/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/24/gnome_48/
[8] https://apps.gnome.org/Papers/
[9] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/04/03/plucky_papers.jpg
[10] https://github.com/ubuntu/yaru
[11] https://regmedia.co.uk/2025/04/03/plucky_ffox.jpg
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/20/gimp_3_and_photogimp/
[13] https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/137.0/releasenotes/
[14] https://snapcraft.io/install/desktop-security-center/ubuntu
[15] https://download.nvidia.com/XFree86/Linux-x86_64/570.124.04/README/dynamicboost.html
[16] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/13/systemd_257_gnu_shepherd/
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2025/03/19/ubuntu_2510_rust/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/18/gnome_48_beta/
[19] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/29/nvidia_gpu_ubuntu_downgrade/
[20] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/20/linux_mint_221_xia/
[21] https://ubuntu.com/desktop/flavours
[22] https://canonical-subiquity.readthedocs-hosted.com/en/latest/
[23] https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/security/operating-system-security/data-protection/bitlocker/
[24] https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/ubuntu-desktop-on-arm64-history-benefits-and-what-s-next/57775
[25] https://www.theregister.com/2024/06/03/qualcomm_arm_pc_ambitions/
[26] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/oses&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z_ACIKjMdzGtwhpCEP4FIAAAA4Y&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[27] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Interesting
If you're happy with Debian then there is less reason.
Ubuntu is as it has always aimed to be the easy, friendly, beginners' Linux.
That got derailed a bit by the big GNOME 3 switch, which as I wrote a dozen years back, followed directly on Microsoft threatening to sue for infringing its ~235 patents on the design of Win95. Which most desktops _did_ copy.
RH released GNOME 3, which is a more phone-like desktop.
Ubuntu tried to get involved, was rebuffed, switched to Unity, then a few years later, took HackerNews' recommendation to dump the in-house desktop and go back to GNOME. Bad move IMHO.
SUSE signed a patent-sharing agreement and kept on with KDE, but having been forcibly merged with Ximian by Attachmate, switched to GNOME too.
But this big UI shift opened up an opportunity for Mint, Linux Lite, Zorin OS, etc. and they grabbed it and have taken the beginners-distro position now. Based on Ubuntu but with more Windows-like desktops.
I find Ubuntu less work than Debian, TBH. I have to do legwork and maintenance on Debian to have a current desktop, current browsers, etc. Why bother when something else is right there and does most of it for you?
But I am evaluating switching to MX Linux or Alpine Linux for my own use, TBH.
If you are happy with Debian, MX has little to offer you, but Alpine is -- well, a breath of cold fresh air.
Re: Interesting
I run KDE on OpenSUSE Tumbleweed, so your comment about SUSE & Gnome may only be applicable to Leap.
Re: Interesting
Snaps!
I understand the need for snaps, especially the software is provided by an independent software publisher, that needs independence from the host OS. When the software packages are published by the same people as the OS, then I see this as a problem that should be addressed.
As a long-time Ubuntu user and was key in deploying the OS at work, I evaluated 24.04 and found Ubuntu needing snaps. At home my desktop moved to Linux Mint and my virtual machines moved to Debian, a policy I would later consider for work.
Re: Interesting
Ubuntu was something I've always tended to have running on at least one PC somewhere, mostly because my workplace uses it for a fair few internal systems and it's handy to learn how it ticks.
Found it had a huge advantage over Debian when it came to support for slightly odd hardware like the 2011 Macbook I type this on - it ran 22.04 LTS until January this year and seemed like a nice mixture of a stable OS with enough up to date bits to do my work - although not as "move fast and break things" as something like Fedora or the various Arch Linux distros.
Snaps were never really problematic for me although I can see the arguments for and against them.
Big Images, Bumpy Rides, and Lunar Lake
I've always found Ubuntu's pre-release ride bumpier than Fedora's, at least after the latter branches off the new release from Rawhide.
I am curious why Ubuntu's ISO images are so large. Seems like everyone's are larger, and slower to boot, but Ubuntu's are significantly larger. Doesn't really have a practical impact, though, unless you only have a tiny USB stick.
The 6.14 kernel works better on Lunar Lake than the 6.11, at least on this XPS 9350. I would not use 6.11 on it.
On Lunar Lake, both Mate and XFCE, on any distro I've tried, show some graphic weirdness when the cursor is pushed to the top display edge and there's a top lanel: Small rectangular boxes with stacks of what looks like distorted text inside.
Re: Big Images, Bumpy Rides, and Lunar Lake
Oh... and dnfdragora isn't returning search results, for anything, on Gnome or any spin I've tried it on during the 42 prerelease cycle
Interesting
I must be the only Linux fancier who has never tried Ubuntu, Slackware in the early days, then Suse, finally Debian. Maybe I'll give it a whirl, though Debian's reliability takes some beating, the only time my server is rebooted is when we have a power cut. Thanks for the info.