Kubuntu is one of the most popular official Ubuntu flavors. It always stood out thanks to its unique, polished GUI and nifty apps and features.
Its newest LTS version, the 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish brings more of everything such as a new Plasma desktop environment and multiple good features, and updated apps.
The LTS is set to receive official updates and security fixes for three years.
Talking about the new Plasma
This version of Kubuntu features the KDE Plasma 5.24.x series, the current LTS version of the Plasma desktop.
It brings with it some really nice features such as an all-new overview effect and new animations. It may not be the latest Plasma version, but it’s the latest stable one, meaning it’s sure the bring a series of accessibility and peromance improvements over 5.18 (the Plasma version found in Focal Fossa).
The new overview can be launched using the Meta+W key combiniation. The layout is a bit different, but not by a whole lot. You have the virtual desktop thumbnails at the top, and the virtual desktops (and open new windows) in the middle. There’s also a serach option inbetween, so you can find your apps faster.
Other noteworthy improvements include the custom accent color option, and a newly redesigned Breeze Classic theme.
Other noteworthy changes
KDE Gear (formerly Applications) has now reached version 21.12, Firefox is now a snap (just like in Ubuntu), and is shipped with version 99 by default.
Kubuntu 22.04 LTS now ships with Qt 5.15.3, VLC Media Player is upgraded to 3.0.16, kio-fuse is now installed by default (since 21.10), and DigiKam is now included in the app repository.
A Plasma Wayland session is also available for testing. A Wayland session can be started by selecting it at the login screen.
Verdict
Kubuntu 22.04 LTS is a massive leap forward when compared to 20.04 LTS (Focal Fossa). It boasts updates to all the included apps, a new version of Plasma (better than ever), and some nice visual and performance optiomizations and improvements.
The fist version of 22.04 LTS still has some issues, the most annoying of which is that Electron apps all crash upon launch, but we’re sure that these are things that will be solved in future relases.
