The Ubuntu Studio team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu Studio 23.10, codenamed “Mantic Minotaur”.

While this beta is reasonably free of any showstopper installer bugs, you may find some bugs within. This image is, however, mostly representative of what you will find when Ubuntu Studio 23.10 is released on October 12, 2023.

Special Notes

The Ubuntu Studio 23.10 disk image (ISO) exceeds 4 GB and cannot be downloaded to some file systems such as FAT32, and may not be readable when burned to a DVD. For this reason, we recommend downloading to a compatible file system. When creating a boot medium, we recommend creating a bootable USB stick with the ISO image, or burning to a Dual-Layer DVD.

Images can be obtained from this link: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/23.10/beta/

Full updated information, including Upgrade Instructions, are available in the Release Notes.

New Features This Release

• PipeWire‘s JACK support is now drastically improved and includes a real-time bridge between the JACK and ALSA components of PipeWire, and continues to improve with every release. Version 0.3.79
• Ubuntu Studio Installer now includes an Ubuntu Studio Audio Configuration utility for fine-tuning the PipeWire setup or changing the configuration altogether. Version 1.9
• QPrompt is now, while not included in the Ubuntu Studio .iso image, available in the repositories. QPrompt is free teleprompter software for video recording and television studios. Version 1.1.6

Major Package Upgrades

• Ardour version 7.5.0
• Qtractor version 0.9.35
• OBS Studio version 29.1.3
• Audacity version 3.3.3
• digiKam version 8.1.0
• Kdenlive version 23.08.1
• Krita version 5.1.5

There are many other improvements, too numerous to list here. We encourage you to look around the freely-downloadable ISO image.

Known Issues

• Ubuntu Studio’s classic PulseAudio-JACK configuration cannot be used on Ubuntu Desktop (GNOME) due to a known issue with the ubuntu-desktop metapackage. (LP: #2033440)

Official Ubuntu Studio release notes can be found at https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-23-10-release-notes/

Further known issues, mostly pertaining to the desktop environment, can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ManticMinotaur/ReleaseNotes/Kubuntu

Additionally, the main Ubuntu release notes contain more generic issues: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/mantic-minotaur-release-notes/35534

How You Can Help

Please test using the test cases on https://iso.qa.ubuntu.com. All you need is a Launchpad account to get started.

Additionally, we need financial contributions. Our project lead, Erich Eickmeyer, is working long hours on this project and trying to generate a part-time income. See this post as to the reasons why and go here to see how you can contribute financially (options are also in the sidebar).

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 in Launchpad, which is required when packaging for Ubuntu. However, Electron apps also have a facility for creating snaps, which can be uploaded and included. Therefore, for Freeshow to be included in Ubuntu Studio, it had to be packaged as a snap.

Q: If I install this Beta release, will I have to reinstall when the final release comes out?
A: No. If you keep it updated, your installation will automatically become the final release. However, if Audacity returns to the Ubuntu repositories before final release, then you might end-up with a double-installation of Audacity. Removal instructions of one or the other will be made available in a future post.

Q: Will you make an ISO 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 and use Ubuntu Studio Installer to get Ubuntu Studio.

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

The Ubuntu Studio team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu Studio 23.10, codenamed “Lunar Lobster”.

While this beta is reasonably free of any showstopper installer bugs, you may find some bugs within. This image is, however, mostly representative of what you will find when Ubuntu Studio 23.04 is released on April 20, 2023.

Special notes:

The Ubuntu Studio 22.10 disk image (ISO) exceeds 4 GB and cannot be downloaded to some file systems such as FAT32, and may not be readable when burned to a DVD. For this reason, we recommend downloading to a compatible file system. When creating a boot medium, we recommend creating a bootable USB stick with the ISO image, or burning to a Dual-Layer DVD.

Images can be obtained from this link: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/23.04/beta/

Full updated information, including Upgrade Instructions, are available in the Release Notes.

New Features This Release

• PipeWire is now enabled with JACK support by default. More on that here.
• Ubuntu Studio Installer has been completely rewritten from the ground-up and can be used to remove components you don’t want. Version 1.4
• Patchance, a simple patchbay for JACK (works with Pipewire with JACK). version 1.0.0
• We have changed back to the Materia theme first used in Ubuntu Studio 19.04, this time using the dark theme by default.
• Entirely new Login Screen and Lock Screen Theme based on the Materia theme. This is to differentiate from the Breeze theme traditionally used in KDE Plasma and used mostly in Kubuntu, as to set our default setup apart and to not simply be “Kubuntu with a bunch of extra packages.”

Major Package Upgrades

• Darktable version 4.2.1
• Gimp version 2.10.34
• Ardour version 7.3.0
• OBS Studio version 29.0.2
• Audacity version 3.2.4
• digiKam version 8.0.0-beta1
• Kdenlive version 22.12.3
• Krita version 5.1.5

There are many other improvements, too numerous to list here. We encourage you to look around the freely-downloadable ISO image.

Known Issues

• digiKam is a beta release of 8.0.0. As such, it may have undocumented bugs. We hope these bugs get ironed out by the time 8.0.0 stable comes out, and the digiKam developers have set a goal for April 2023 for a release. When the 8.0.0 stable release of digiKam becomes available, we hope to provide these to you as a Stable Release Update. If you would like a stable version of digiKam now, a snap of 7.8.0 is available.

Official Ubuntu Studio release notes can be found at https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-23-04-release-notes/

Further known issues, mostly pertaining to the desktop environment, can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LunarLobster/ReleaseNotes/Kubuntu (when available)

Additionally, the main Ubuntu release notes contain more generic issues: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/kinetic-kudu-release-notes/27976

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does KDE Plasma use more resources than your former desktop environment (Xfce)?
A: In our testing, the increase in resource usage is negligible, and our optimizations were never tied to the desktop environment.

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 in Launchpad, which is required when packaging for Ubuntu. However, Electron apps also have a facility for creating snaps, which can be uploaded included. Therefore, for Freeshow to be included in Ubuntu Studio, it had to be packaged as a snap.

Q: If I install this Beta release, will I have to reinstall when the final release comes out?
A: No. If you keep it updated, your installation will automatically become the final release. However, if Audacity returns to the Ubuntu repositories before final release, then you might end-up with a double-installation of Audacity. Removal instructions of one or the other will be made available in a future post.

Q: Will you make an ISO 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 and use Ubuntu Studio Installer to get Ubuntu Studio.

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

Please Test!

The Ubuntu Studio team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu Studio 22.10, codenamed “Kinetic Kudu”.

While this beta is reasonably free of any showstopper installer bugs, you may find some bugs within. This image is, however, mostly representative of what you will find when Ubuntu Studio 22.10 is released on October 20, 2022.

Special notes:

The Ubuntu Studio 22.10 disk image (ISO) exceeds 4 GB and cannot be downloaded to some file systems such as FAT32, and may not be readable when burned to a DVD. For this reason, we recommend downloading to a compatible file system. When creating a boot medium, we recommend creating a bootable USB stick with the ISO image, or burning to a Dual-Layer DVD.

Images can be obtained from this link: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/22.10/beta/

Full updated information, including Upgrade Instructions, are available in the Release Notes.

Regarding Pipewire

One of our goals this release was to create some kind of switch between our traditional PulseAudio/JACK setup and Pipewire, but this did not come to fruition as we had quite a few other bugs to squash as a result of the transition to ffmpeg 5. Additionally, we had a lot of clean-up after the transition to Python 3.10 in 22.04 LTS among other bugs. Sadly, that’s where our attention went and Pipewire support had to be deprioritized for this release.

New Features This Release

• Ubuntu Studio Installer now includes Ubuntu Studio Feature Uninstaller to remove features of Ubuntu Studio that you don’t need. This is a long-requested feature that will be detailed in the official release announcement when Ubuntu Studio 22.10 releases on October 20th.
• Q Light Controller Plus version 4.12.5
• Freeshow version 0.5.6
• openLP version 2.9.5

Major Package Upgrades

• Darktable version 4.0.0
• OBS Studio version 28.0.1
• Audacity version 3.1.3
• digiKam version 8.0.0 development snapshot (pre-release, see notes below)
• Kdenlive version 22.08.1
• Krita version 5.1.1

There are many other improvements, too numerous to list here. We encourage you to take a look around the freely-downloadable ISO image.

Known Issues

• digiKam is a development snapshot of 8.0.0. As such, it likely has undocumented bugs. We hope these bugs get ironed out by the time 8.0.0 beta comes out, but we are not sure when that will be as the digiKam developers have not released a timeline or release date. When the 8.0.0 beta or stable release of digiKam becomes available, we hope to provide these to you as Stable Release Updates. This came from the transition to ffmpeg 5 as prior versions of digiKam do not support ffmpeg 5. If you would like a stable version of digiKam now, a snap of 7.8.0 is available.

Official Ubuntu Studio release notes can be found at https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-22-10-release-notes/

Further known issues, mostly pertaining to the desktop environment, can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/KineticKudu/ReleaseNotes/Kubuntu

Additionally, the main Ubuntu release notes contain more generic issues: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/kinetic-kudu-release-notes/27976

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does KDE Plasma use more resources than your former desktop environment (Xfce)?
A: In our testing, the increase in resource usage is negligible, and our optimizations were never tied to the desktop environment.

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, Audacity 2.4.2, due to incompatibilities with ffmpeg 5, had to be removed from the official Ubuntu repositories this cycle. For that reason, we worked hard with the snap packager to include it in Ubuntu Studio 22.10. Therefore, Audacity 3.1.3 is included as a snap. Watch this bug to track Audacity’s reintroduction into the Ubuntu repositories. Right now, it is on-pace to happen before the release of Ubuntu 22.10. When this happens, we fully intend to drop the snap and re-include the .deb package in Ubuntu Studio. Watch Ubuntu Studio News for updates.

Finally, 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 in Launchpad, which is required when packaging for Ubuntu. However, Electron apps also have a facility for creating snaps, which can be uploaded included. Therefore, for Freeshow to be included in Ubuntu Studio, it had to be packaged as a snap.

Q: If I install this Beta release, will I have to reinstall when the final release comes out?
A: No. If you keep it updated, your installation will automatically become the final release. However, if Audacity returns to the Ubuntu repositories before final release, then you might end-up with a double-installation of Audacity. Removal instructions of one or the other will be made available in a future post.

Q: Will you make an ISO 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 and use Ubuntu Studio Installer to get Ubuntu Studio.

Q: What if I don’t want all of these packages installed on my machine?
A: Simply use the Ubuntu Studio Feature Uninstaller to remove the features of Ubuntu Studio you don’t want or need!

Please Test!

The Ubuntu Studio team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu Studio 22.04 LTS, codenamed “Jammy Jellyfish”.

While this beta is reasonably free of any showstopper DVD build or installer bugs, you may find some bugs within. This image is, however, reasonably representative of what you will find when Ubuntu Studio 22.04 LTS is released on April 21, 2022.

Ubuntu Studio 22.04 LTS will be Ubuntu Studio’s first Long-Term Support(LTS) release with the KDE Plasma Desktop Environment.

Special notes:

• Due to the change in desktop environment, directly upgrading to Ubuntu Studio 22.04 LTS from 20.04 LTS is not supported and will not be supported.  However, upgrades from Ubuntu Studio 21.10 will be supported. See the Release Notes for more information. Anecdotally, some people have had success upgrading from 20.04 LTS to a later version, so your mileage may vary.
• The Ubuntu Studio 22.04 LTS disk image (ISO) exceeds 4.0 GB and cannot be downloaded to some file systems such as FAT32, and may not be readable when burned to a DVD. For this reason, we recommend creating a bootable USB stick with the ISO image.

Images can be obtained from this link: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/22.04/beta/

Full updated information is available in the Release Notes.

New Features

Ubuntu Studio 22.04 LTS includes the new KDE Plasma 5.24 LTS desktop environment. This is a beautiful and functional upgrade to previous versions, and we believe you will like it.

Studio Controls is upgraded to 2.3.0 and includes numerous bug fixes.

OBS Studio is upgraded to version 27.2.3 and works with Wayland sessions. While Wayland is not currently the default, it is available as unsupported and experimental.

There are many other improvements, too numerous to list here. We encourage you to take a look around the freely-downloadable ISO image.

Known Issues

• At this time, the installer (Calamares) will crash when attempting an installation on a manually-partitioned btrfs file system. (LP: #1966774)
• MyPaint crashes upon launching (LP: #1967163), may be resolved after an update.
• There are a few cosmetic issues that should be resolved before final release.

Official Ubuntu Studio release notes can be found at https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-22-04-lts-release-notes/

Further known issues, mostly pertaining to the desktop environment, can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/JammyJellyfish/ReleaseNotes/Kubuntu

Additionally, the main Ubuntu release notes contain more generic issues: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/jammy-jellyfish-release-notes/24668

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Does KDE Plasma use more resources than your former desktop environment (Xfce)?
A: In our testing, the increase in resource usage is negligible, and our optimizations were never tied to the desktop environment.

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 initial launch, Firefox performs just as well as the native .deb package did.

Q: If I install this Beta release, will I have to reinstall when the final release comes out?
A: No. If you keep it updated, your installation will automatically become the final release.

Q: Will you make an ISO 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 and use Ubuntu Studio Installer to get Ubuntu Studio.

Please Test!

This release we are participating in Ubuntu Testing Week, which begins as soon as this beta is released. During this testing cycle we will work with the amazing folks at the Ubuntu Hideout Discord (https://discord.gg/ubuntu). They have created a #testing-cycles channel in Discord and had a very good response with users coming forward and helping with testing. They have expressed a desire to have the Ubuntu Hideout Discord community make an even greater impact during this release.

Whether or not you choose to participate on Discord is up to you. If you do find something that is a legitimate bug, please open a terminal and type “ubuntu-bug (package name)” to file the bug report since this collects valuable information we need when debugging. If you get a popup while something is running saying that something has crashed, don’t hesitate to click on the “send bug report” button.

The Ubuntu Studio team is pleased to announce the beta release of Ubuntu Studio 21.10, codenamed “Impish Indri”.

While this beta is reasonably free of any showstopper DVD build or installer bugs, you may find some bugs within. This image is, however, reasonably representative of what you will find when Ubuntu Studio 21.10 is released on October 21, 2021.

Please note: Due to the change in desktop environment, directly upgrading to Ubuntu Studio 21.10 from 20.04 LTS is not supported and will not be supported.  However, upgrades from Ubuntu Studio 21.04 will be supported. See the Release Notes for more information.

Images can be obtained from this link: https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/21.10/beta/

Full updated information is available in the Release Notes.

New Features

Ubuntu Studio 21.10 includes the new KDE Plasma 5.22 desktop environment. This is a beautiful and functional upgrade to previous versions, and we believe you will like it.

Studio Controls is upgraded to 2.2.3 and includes a frontend to qnetjack which allows Jack sources to/from the local network.

OBS Studio is upgraded to version 27 and works with Wayland sessions. While Wayland is not currently the default, it is available as unsupported and experimental.

We now use the Icon-Only Task Manager by default. You can change this by right-clicking on the taskbar/top panel and select “Show Alternatives…”.

There are many other improvements, too numerous to list here. We encourage you to take a look around the freely-downloadable ISO image.

Known Issues

Official Ubuntu Studio release notes can be found at https://ubuntustudio.org/ubuntu-studio-21-10-release-notes/

Further known issues, mostly pertaining to the desktop environment, can be found at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ImpishIndri/ReleaseNotes/Kubuntu

Additionally, the main Ubuntu release notes contain more generic issues: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/impish-indri-release-notes/21951

Note of clarification: This release does not use the snapped Firefox browser. That will be changing for 22.04 LTS as required by Mozilla.

Please Test!

If you have some time, we’d love for you to join us in testing. Testing begins…. NOW!