Ubuntu 26.04 LTS beta sports GNOME 50 and the Linux kernel 7.0

About two decades ago, I was receiving my first set of Ubuntu discs via mail. On that occasion, I had to struggle to explain to the customs officials that some company abroad was sending out free CDs to anyone who would submit a name and a shipping address. Since then, everything moved further, rendering physical releases obsolete. Thankfully, Ubuntu is still around and has gone a long way since its early days. The latest beta build of the upcoming 26.04 LTS "Resolute Raccoon" release is available for download and brings us one step closer to the stable release, which is planned to land on April 23.

Since the Linux kernel 7.0 still has to be released, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS beta uses the latest release candidate build. On top of it, there's GNOME 50 as well as plenty of other updates and new apps. These are only a few of the many highlights:

• New system monitoring utility, namely Resources.
• A new default wallpaper alongside a fully opaque dock and a set of colorful new folder icons.
• AMD ROCm and NVIDIA CUDA packages and tools for AI workloads are available from the Ubuntu archives.
• While older versions remain available, OpenJDK 25 is the new default.
• Mesa 26.0.2.
• Various tweaks in Settings, as well as a new Ubuntu Telemetry controls panel.
• A new telemetry slide in the installer, alongside minor design and text changes.
• The time server got updated to Chrony 4.8.

However, there's also one issue early adopters should be aware of. While this is definitely something that won't happen in the stable release, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS beta comes without the Software & Updates utility preinstalled.

Ubuntu 26.04 LTS beta can be grabbed from the Ubuntu release server, as usual. In addition to the 64-bit edition for Intel/AMD machines, this release is also available in the shape of a generic ARM image and a preinstalled one for Raspberry Pi, while the various flavors that offer different desktops and preinstalled apps, such as Lubuntu, Xubuntu, and Kubuntu, might get the beta in a few days or not at all. The server install image and the WSL image should also be mentioned.