Beta version of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS with GNOME 46 and Linux 6.8 kernel available for download

Canonical has released the beta version of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, codenamed "Noble Numbat", for download. According to Canonical, the beta test period will run from 11th to 17th April, with the final release of the Linux distribution scheduled for 25th April 2024. The beta of Ubuntu 24.04 was originally scheduled to start a week earlier, but the XZ backdoor made it necessary to rebuild all packages in the repositories at short notice.

The main new features in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS are the latest version 46 of the desktop environment GNOME, which Canonical has slightly modified as usual, and the Linux kernel 6.8. In addition, the Mesa graphics stack has been updated to version 24.0.3 and the Netplan network configurator debuts in version 1.0. Canonical has improved the new Flutter-based installer introduced with Ubuntu 23.10, adding an accessibility page and extended support for hard disk encryption.

Ubuntu 24.04 replaces the Debian package for the Thunderbird email client with a Snap package, as is already the case for the Firefox web browser. Canonical is sticking to its plan and trying to promote its own Snap package format; support for flatpak still has to be added manually on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. The Cheese webcam application will be replaced by Snapshot in the new Ubuntu release, and the GNOME games package will no longer be installed by default.

The ISO images of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) are now available for download from Canonical. Ubuntu flavors such as Kubuntu, Xubuntu, Ubuntu Cinnamon and others also have their own installation images available for download. As always, beta versions should not be used on production systems.