Canonical has released the new operating system Ubuntu 21.10 (“Impish Indri”) with Gnome 40, and somewhat surprisingly, it is currently without the latest Linux 5.14 kernel. But the latest processors and graphics cards are also supported by 5.13 cores – even Apple’s M1 in primitive form.

Linux 5.13 and Gnome 40.5 as a base

The basis of the free operating system, which will be provided with support over the next nine months, is the Linux 5.13.0 kernel, which also provides the necessary hardware support for the 12th generation Core i (“Alder Lake”) series. Intel and professional graphics card AMD Instinct MI200 alias “Aldebaran” with 2 x 112 compute modules based on a multi-chip module (MCM) with a total of 14,336 shades, as well as the newly interpreted Gnome 40.5 desktop environment.

In addition to the latest CPUs and GPUs from AMD and Intel, Ubuntu also supports, for the first time, Apple’s ARM-based M1 processor, which is produced at 5nm, albeit only rudimentary at the moment. On the other hand, PC game enthusiasts benefit from the existing GUI Mesa 3D Available in the latest version 21.2.3 and with Wine, Proton and Vulkan they form a firm foundation for gaming on Linux.

• Linux 5.13.0
• GNOME 40.5
• Proton 6.3-7
• Mesa 21.2.3
• DXVK 1.9.2.0 Update
• Wine 6.0.1

Ubuntu 21.10 (“Impish Indri”) – Release Notes

In terms of application software, updated Ubuntu 21.10 (“Impish Indri”), which will receive the next LTS release with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS on April 21, 2022 with support until April 2027. In addition to the free Mozilla Firefox 93.0 browser, which is delivered as standard for the first time in a format snap, the distribution comes with the Thunderbird 91.1.2 mail client and the LibreOffice 7.2.1 office suite, among other things.

• LibreOffice 7.2.1
• Mozilla Firefox 93.0.0 Update
• Mozilla Thunderbird 91.1.2
• Inkscape 1.1.1
• GIMP 2.10.0 Update

Ubuntu 21.10 (“Impish Indri”) – Release Notes

In addition, many core elements and components of the free operating system, such as the Free Display Server protocol, have been renewed WaylandPlatform-independent audio middleware PulseAudioWhich is now Bluetooth enabled with LDAC and aptX Supported, in addition to the programming language PHP, now available in version 8.0.8.

Auch die Quelloffene GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), a free translator suite, version 11.2. The next big jump in the base will happen with Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, which will switch to the latest LTS kernel in April 2022, which will likely be Linux 5.15 or Linux 5.16.

New edition of all derivatives

The official derivatives, called “Ubuntu flavors”, have also been updated and already published by Canonical. Kubuntu 21.10 is now based on KDE Plasma 5.22.5, while Xubuntu 21.10 is based on Xfce 4.16. Also new releases are Ubuntu Kylin 21.10, Ubuntu MATE 21.10 with MATE Desktop 1.26, Lubuntu 21.10 with LXQT 0.17, Ubuntu Budgie 21.10 and Ubuntu Studio 21.10.

Aside from the sometimes fundamentally different desktop and work environment, Ubuntu and its seven official variants are based on the same foundation, have the same applications and use the same tools, which are only supplemented by tools very specific for the respective desktop.

Download on ComputerBase

Ubuntu and system images for all seven “Ubuntu Flavors” can be downloaded as usual just below this message from the download area of ​​ComputerBase.