Ubuntu Budgie, not the most popular Ubuntu flavour out there, but boy, does it manage to capture the heart once you give it a try.
Launched in 2016, Ubuntu Budgie is one of the newest recognized flavors of Ubuntu that comes with its own custom, GNOME-based desktop environment and the well known Ubuntu codebase as its foundation.
Ubuntu Budgie has always been a beautiful to the eye, streamlined, bloat-free, and beginner-friendly OS, but now, with the launch of the latest 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish), it has taken all of the above to a whole new level of awesomeness.
It’s a LTS release, so you can expect this version of Budgie to deliver stability, performance and security for at least 3 years (until 2025).
What’s changed?
Well, since Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is itself a massive release, it’s no surprise that Ubuntu Budgie also comes forth with an impressive selection of improvements.
It boasts a new Chrome OS-like look, it uses the newly released Budgie 10.6 desktop environment, it comes with RISCV64 support, and a lot of theme upgrades. Oh, and some nice App Menu improvements as well.
Other noteworthy changes include some new hot corners “delay” and “pressure” options, as well as panel spacing improvements.
Ubuntu Budgie is for gamers? Really?
Gaming has always been one of the biggest drawbacks of most Linux distributions for so long.
Budgie has always stood out thanks to its desktop environment and its lightweight applets that allow users to extend its functionality as flawlessly as possible.
It’s both surprising and refreshing to see the team behind Bugdie wanting to cater to the needs of gamers. The “gaming” app is still in testing, but it will provide users with a quick way to add Steam, Lutris, and RetroArch to their systems (as well as Discord and OBS Studio).
The app also offers various ways to improve the gaming experience such as MangoHUD, CoreCTRL, Polychromatic and OpenRGb. If this rings right with you, know that you can make a difference and actively take part in the development of the Gaming app via the Ubuntu Budgie community project page.
https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.org/t/community-project-ubuntu-budgie-gaming/5225/1
Verdict
What was a lightweight, super-stylish, Ubuntu-based OS has now become even better with the release of 22.04 LTS. It has everything that made former versions of Budgie great, with a lot of extra spice added on top.
