[ubuntu-studio-devel] Ubuntu Studio 23.04 Released!

Thu Apr 20 17:05:06 UTC 2023

[image: image.png]

The Ubuntu Studio team is pleased to announce the release of Ubuntu Studio
23.04, code-named “Lunar Lobster”. This marks Ubuntu Studio’s 33rd release.
This release is a regular release and as such, it is supported for 9 months
(until January 2024).

Since it’s just out, you may experience some issues, so you might want to
wait a bit before upgrading. Please see the release notes
<https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-23-04-release-notes/> for a
complete list of changes and known issues.

You can download Ubuntu Studio 23.04 from our download page
<https://ubuntustudio.org/download>.
Upgrading

Instructions for upgrading are included in the release notes
<https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-23-04-release-notes/>.
New This Release
Plasma Desktop 5.27 LTS

This release includes the Long-Term Support release of KDE’s Plasma Desktop
5.27. This is a wonderful release and includes several stability and
performance culminations of Plasma Desktop 5.
PipeWire Audio by Default
[image: Pipewire logo.svg]

Beginning in this release we have switched to utilized PipeWire by default
with the JACK and PulseAudio plugins. This means that, without
configuration, all JACK and PulseAudio applications will simply work
without much configuration.

For advanced routing, Patchance is a new addition and is fully JACK
compatible and works with PipeWire to route audio applications between each
other and between outputs and inputs.

While PipeWire is convenient and recommended for most users, we do not
recommend it for professional or prosumer audio work at this time. Click
here for more information <https://ubuntustudio.org/switching-audio-setup/>.
Rewritten Ubuntu Studio Installer

Ubuntu Studio Installer has been completely rewritten from the ground-up
and works better on high-DPI displays. It utilizes the Zenity GTK interface
to give users a choice of package selection and is even capable of
uninstalling entire groups of packages.

Ubuntu Studio Installer can still be used to add or remove the Ubuntu
Studio Backports PPA as well as switch between the new PipeWire
configuration or the traditional PulseAudio/JACK configuration of past
releases (which also installs Studio Controls).
Wayland Available (but not default)

Wayland is available and installed by default to select upon login and test
but is still unsupported. We have done this at the request of KDE so that
it can gain more testing and bug reports. We have done our best to
configure it with the default theming and to make sure it picks up your
settings, but it is possible some things will be missed and not work quite
right. However, it has undergone extensive real-world testing and works
well on non-Nvidia systems.
Return of the Materia Theme

We have returned our theming back to being based on the Materia theme while
keeping the Papirus icons, but using the Dark theme that we introduced back
in Ubuntu Studio 22.04. This further differentiates our KDE Plasma Desktop
from the default Breeze theme used in Kubuntu.

We have gone even further with this and introduced a new Login Screen and
Lock Screen based on the Materia theme. This is to keep our theming
consistent and to give our system a more unique look.
Login Screen / Lock ScreenBackports PPA

There are a few items planned for the Backports PPA once the next release
cycle opens. We plan to keep the backports PPA up to date for the next six
months until the release of 23.10, at which point you will be encouraged to
upgrade.

Instructions for enabling the Ubuntu Studio Backports PPA

   - Automatic method:
      - Open Ubuntu Studio Installer
      - Click the checkbox next to "PPA-Ubuntu_Studio_Backports”
   - Manual method:
      - sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntustudio-ppa/backports
      - sudo apt upgrade

Please note, however,* this is the last regular release in which we will be
supporting the backports PPA.* In the future, we plan to utilize the
official Ubuntu Backports Repository and backporting newer package versions
there, except for Ardour Backports when new whole versions are released. *The
Ubuntu Backports Repository only supports LTS releases*.
Plasma Desktop Backports

Since we share the Desktop Environment with Kubuntu, simply adding the
Kubuntu Backports will help you with keeping the desktop environment and
its components up to date with the latest versions:

   - sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports
   - sudo apt upgrade

More Updates

There are many more updates not covered here but are mentioned in the Release
Notes <https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-23-04-release-notes/>. We
highly recommend reading those release notes so you know what has been
updated and know any known issues that you may encounter.
Get Involved!

A wonderful way to contribute is to get involved with the project directly!
We’re always looking for new volunteers to help with packaging,
documentation, tutorials, user support, and MORE! Check out all the ways
you can contribute! <https://ubuntustudio.org/contribute/>
Special Thanks

Huge special thanks for this release go to:

   - Len Ovens: Studio Controls, Ubuntu Studio Installer, Coding
   - Simon Quigley: Packaging, Ubuntu Core Developer
   - Eylul Dogruel: Artwork, Graphics Design
   - Ross Gammon: Upstream Debian Developer, Testing, Email Support
   - Sebastien Ramacher: Upstream Debian Developer
   - Dennis Braun: Debian Package Maintainer
   - Rik Mills: Kubuntu Council Member, help with Plasma desktop
   - Mauro Gaspari: Tutorials, Promotion, and Documentation, Testing
   - Aaron Rainbolt: Testing and bug reporting, IRC Support
   - Krytarik Raido: IRC Moderator, Mailing List Moderator
   - Erich Eickmeyer: Project Leader, Packaging, Direction, Treasurer

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does Ubuntu Studio contain snaps?
A: Yes. Mozilla’s distribution agreement with Canonical changed, and Ubuntu
was forced to no longer distribute Firefox in a native .deb package. We
have found that, after numerous improvements, Firefox now performs just as
well as the native .deb package did.

Additionally, FreeShow is an Electron-based application. Electron-based
applications cannot be packaged in the Ubuntu repositories in that they
cannot be packaged in a traditional Debian source package. While such apps
do have a build system to create a .deb binary package, it circumvents the
source package build system which is required when packaging for Ubuntu.
However, Electron apps also have a facility for creating snaps, which can
be uploaded to the snap store. Therefore, for FreeShow to be included in
Ubuntu Studio, it had to be packaged as a snap.

Q: Will you ever make an ISO image with {my favorite desktop environment}?
A: To do so would require creating an entirely new flavor of Ubuntu, which
would require going through the Official Ubuntu Flavor application process.
Since we’re completely volunteer-run, we don’t have the time or resources
to do this. Instead, we recommend you download the official flavor for the
desktop environment of your choice <https://ubuntu.com/download/flavours> and
use Ubuntu Studio Installer
<https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-installer> to get Ubuntu
Studio. *Please
note that this process does not convert that flavor to Ubuntu Studio but
adds its tools, features, and benefits to the existing flavor installation*.

Q: What if I don’t want all these packages installed on my machine?
A: Simply use the newly rewritten Ubuntu Studio Installer to remove the
features of Ubuntu Studio you don’t want or need by unchecking the boxes!
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