The official Ubuntu 17.04 flavors are available for download. Here's a quick look at what's new in the latest 17.04 beta release of Ubuntu Budgie, Xubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, and Kubuntu.
This article doesn't cover Lubuntu, Ubuntu Kylin and Ubuntu Studio, flavors that also had a 17.04 beta 1 release, but which don't seem to have any interesting changes, at least according to their release notes. Other flavors, such as Ubuntu MATE, as well as Ubuntu (with Unity) did not take part in the 17.04 beta 1 release.
Ubuntu 17.04 will be released on April 13, 2017, and it will be supported for only 9 months, until January 2018. If you want to use an Ubuntu version that's supported for longer, use a LTS release (16.04 LTS)!
Ubuntu 17.04 will be released on April 13, 2017, and it will be supported for only 9 months, until January 2018. If you want to use an Ubuntu version that's supported for longer, use a LTS release (16.04 LTS)!
All the Ubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1 flavors include Xorg server 1.18.4, Mesa 13.0.4 (17.0.0 is available in the proposed repositories) and the 4.10.0-8.10 Ubuntu Linux kernel, based on the upstream 4.10-rc8 Linux kernel.
Ubuntu Budgie 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1
Ubuntu Budgie is a newcomer among the official Ubuntu flavors. It uses Budgie Desktop by default, and it consists on a libmutter-based window manager and a customizable panel which includes an applet, notification and customization center, called Raven.
Ubuntu Budgie integrates tightly with the GNOME desktop, making use of its System Settings as well as the GNOME application stack, such as GNOME Files (Nautilus), Documents (Gedit), and so on.
Ubuntu Budgie 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1 includes the latest Budgie Desktop 10.2.9 along with:
- GNOME 3.22 for the most part, with various 3.24 beta bits;
- Budgie Welcome application comes with a browser ballot screen;
- AppIndicator is supported by default;
- Terminix is the default terminal emulator;
- compared to the unofficial Budgie Remix, Ubuntu Budgie 17.04 beta 1 includes quite a few extra GNOME applications by default. Among the applications included are: Files, Software, Books, Documents, Eye of GNOME (Image Viewer), System Monitor, Maps, Weather, Calendar, Contacts and Disks.
Here are a few more Ubuntu Budgie 17.04 screenshots:
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| A browser ballot is included with Budgie Welcome |
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| Terminix is available by default in Ubuntu Budgie 17.04 beta 1 |
Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1
Ubuntu GNOME is an Ubuntu flavor that tries to provide a pure GNOME experience. It uses GNOME Shell as the default shell, and ships with most GNOME applications by default.
Ubuntu GNOME 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1 includes:
- GNOME Shell 3.24 beta (3.23.90), which includes a Night Light, a new feature that can be used to automatically reduce the blue light emitted by your computer screen at sunset or whenever you choose;
- GNOME 3.24 beta bits, mixed with GNOME 3.22. Among the GNOME 3.24 beta packages included are: GNOME Control Center / Settings Daemon, Photos, Videos (Totem), Maps, Music, and Disks.
- there are a couple of applications that have not been updated from version 3.20: Files (Nautilus) and Terminal;
- the Software app has been updated to version 3.22 and now supports Flatpak;
- Flatpack 0.8 is installed by default (snapd is also available);
- Chrome GNOME Shell, a package that provides support for installing GNOME Shell extensions from Google Chrome, Chromium and other Chromium-based web browsers (Opera, Vivaldi) is installed by default;
- the tracker search indexing engine is now sandboxed;
- some applications are no longer installed by default: Brasero, Evolution, Seahorse and Xdiagnose. They continue to be available in the repositories though;
- for new installs, a swap file will be used by default instead of a swap partition;
- the default DNS resolve is now systemd-resolved.
Here is the new Night Light option available in GNOME Shell 3.24 beta:
Xubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1
Xubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1 includes:
- Parole 0.9.0 which comes with a new mini mode and some other changes
- Thunar 1.6.11, which comes with quite a few bug fixes, including for crashes when cuting/pasting multiple files, renaming files, and more.
- Whisker Menu 2.1.0 now supports editing launchers from the context menu, supports desktop actions amd there's an option to hide category names;
- Xfce4 Task Manager now includes the ability to click on wondow to select process
- various other application updates.
Kubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1
Kubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1 includes KDE Applications 16.12.1 (see what's new in 16.12.0 , since .1 is a bugfix release) and Plasma 5.9.2 (see what's new in Plasma 5.9.0), which ships with quite a few changes:
- interactive previews for the desktop notifications;
- it's now possible to switch between windows in Task Manager using the Meta + number shotcuts;
- the Task Manager now supports pinning different applications in each activity;
- application playing audio are now marked in the Task Manager similar to how this is done in most web browser; also, you can easily mute an application from the Task Manager context menu;
- the Quick Launch applet now supports jump actions;
- improved look and feel, including a more compact and beautiful design for the Breeze scrollbars;
- global menus have returned;
- new configuration module for network connections.
Here are a few more Kubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1 screenshots:
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| Global menu button |
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| Global menu widget |
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| New network configuration module |
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| The Quick Launch applet now supports jump list actions |
Download links and release notes for the other Ubuntu flavors:
- Lubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1: download | release notes
- Ubuntu Studio 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1: download | release notes
- Ubuntu Kylin 17.04 Zesty Zapus beta 1: download | release notes
