Erich and Amy have had the pleasure of announcing the launch of dubuntu 24.04. This is the first LTS version since they came back to life about a year ago, coinciding with the release of 23.04/XNUMX Lunar Lobster. The Ubuntu education edition shares a base with the main version, and many of the new features are exactly the same. However, as with Ubuntu Studio, the main attraction of Edubuntu is the metapackages.
Like every numbat with an official flavor, this Edubuntu 24.04 will be supported for a longer time, but not for the 5 years that Ubuntu 24.04 supports. It will be supported until 2027, during which time it will receive software updates, both packages such as the Firefox snap and maintenance and security patches. What you have below is the list with the most notable new features that have arrived with Edubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat.
Most notable new features of Edubuntu 24.04
- Supported for 3 years, until 2027.
- Linux 6.8.
- GNOME 46. An important part of the new features in Edubuntu 24.04 are related to your desktop, and GNOME 46 includes new features such as:
- Improvements to Nautilus, such as a new global search or clearer task completion information messages.
- A new WebDAV account type has been added to online accounts.
- New option dedicated to remote login.
- The Settings app has received a complete update, with options reorganized to make them easier to navigate.
- Improvements in accessibility.
- As part of Canonical's customization, the app drawer has the Ubuntu logo and not the 9 GNOME boxes.
- The accent color has changed from the previous red to a purple one. The logo has been kept in red as a background.
- Improvements in the installer. Now, among other things, a section with accessibility settings is available and includes a new minimal installation option.
- Image for Raspberry Pi 5. An SD of at least 64GB is recommended. Nothing has been mentioned about previous versions of the board, so not guaranteed the support.
- New metapackage, installable from the Edubuntu installer, for teaching tools.
- New metapackage for music education, also available in Ubuntu Studio.
- New applications included:
- Gradebook: a way to track grades for students.
- Included in the teaching tools metapackage:
- qzw - An advanced crossword puzzle construction tool.
- Auto Multiple Choice: a multiple response test generator.
- Included in the Music Education Meta Pack:
- fmit: a tuner.
- gnome-metronome: A metronome.
- Solfege: an ear training tool.
- Pianobooster: Piano teaching tool with MIDI option.
Updated packages
Edubuntu 24.04 includes the latest software versions such as Firefox (125) and LibreOffice (24.2..2). If anyone is wondering if you use the snap version of Thunderbird, this is a must. Canonical no longer offers a DEB version in its official repositories. But to use it, he does not use it, since the default mail client from Edubutu is Geary. For new installations, and since there is no alternative, Thunderbird will be installed as a snap.
Among the rest of the new features shared with Ubuntu, Edubuntu 24.04 includes energy efficiency improvements, improvements for video games, Mesa 24.0, Netplan 1.0, does not include the usual games, but a couple different ones, and the Camera application replaces Cheese.
Edubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat LTS can be downloaded now from your official website and Ubuntu cdimage. They will soon activate updates from the same operating system, but for scratch installations you can use the provided images, including the new one for Raspberry Pi 5.
Given that the base is the same as Ubuntu, it is likely to work on older versions of the Raspberry board, at least on the Raspberry Pi 4/400, options supported by the main edition. Erich and Amy do not publish it like this because they have focused on the Raspberry Pi 5.
Without a doubt, Edubuntu 24.04 is the best for the education sector in environments where you do not want to depend on Microsoft. It includes all kinds of tools, the best base and this time with extended support.