Our weekly distro hopper took a look at the just released Ubuntu 26.04 ‘Resolute Raccoon,’ and finds that this latest from Canonical moves forward cautiously but resolutely.
The FOSS Force Distro of the Week — Ubuntu 26.04 ‘Resolute Raccoon’
Today Canonical let loose Ubuntu 26.04 ‘Resolute Raccoon.’ Forget the decimal, this is a major LTS release, something that only happens every two years in Canonical-land. Starting later today, you’ll see the lineup of official baby *buntus coming out with their own takes on this, but right now we’re going to concentrate on the distro that made Shuttleworth famous…
Several changes of note have been made to the latest Ubuntu offering, specifically the inclusion of the Gnome 50 desktop environment, the newest 7.0 Linux kernel, a new media player called Showtime, and a new system monitor called Resources. Also, the Gnome Terminal is gone, replaced by Ptyxis (don’t ask how it’s pronounced), which is designed to work natively with Wayland and fits cleanly into the GNOME 50 design language.
The Resources app deserves special mention. It’s a relatively new application from GNOME, built with GTK4/libadwaita and designed with a modern interface. While not yet included among GNOME’s core default apps, it overlaps significantly with the functionality of GNOME System Monitor and GNOME Power Statistics, allowing users to monitor CPU, memory, GPU, network, storage, and power usage.
Ubuntu 26.04 LTS is designated as a long-term support release. This means it will continue to receive security updates and critical bug fixes for five years, meaning it will be supported until April 2031.
Downloading and Installing Ubuntu
The system requirements for Ubuntu 26.04 have been upped a bit from past versions, thanks in part to the Gnome 50 desktop environment. It requires a 2 GHz dual-core processor or better, a minimum of — wait for it — 6 GB RAM, and 25 GB or more of free storage for a comfortable experience.
“Although it’s possible to install Ubuntu Desktop on systems with lower specifications, we recommend using an Ubuntu flavor instead in that case,” say the documentation notes on Ubuntu’s website. “For example, you can install Xubuntu or Lubuntu on systems with 2 GB RAM or more.”
Once I finished downloading the ISO, it went onto a USB drive, which I plugged into my hardware.
The boot into the live USB was relatively quick, and I was ushered right to the new Ubuntu Desktop Installer, which is a departure from Ubiquity. Nevertheless, the installation is simple: Choose a language, accessibility options, keyboard type, and connect to WiFi. I was then offered the option to update the installer (choosing to do this would bring me back to the beginning once it finished, so for purposes of a one-shot install, I had the option to skip this step).
From here I could “try” or install Ubuntu, with the try option meaning staying on the live USB. I chose to install, and from there it was all the steps that are normal for distro installation. To hit the high parts, I went for an interactive installation, chose Extended Selections over Default, opted to accept third party software for graphics and WiFi hardware, erase the disk instead of dual boot, and went without disk encryption. After that it was create my user account and password, hit Install, and wait for the first boot into Resolute Raccoon.
Kicking the Tires
The reboot brought me to the new Gnome 50 desktop environment, with a set of icons listed vertically down the left side, and a horizontal panel along the top, with the time and date in the center and a group of icons on the right. After the customary first update, a welcome window accompanied the initial boot of Resolute Raccoon, offering users some further tweaking options before starting on their new Ubuntu journey.
Word of warning: The terminal now displays asterisks when you type your password when running a sudo command, where before it used to be nothing. At first, this was a little disconcerting, but I got used to it fairly quickly.
Perhaps the most consequential change is that Gnome now runs exclusively on Wayland. X11 login is no longer a Gnome option, although X11 is still available under the hood via Xwayland for legacy apps. However, other desktop environments (KDE, Xfce, MATE, i3) in Ubuntu flavors continue supporting X.org sessions, even though that’s also rapidly changing.
Other changes include folder icons, which have been redesigned with shorter, squatter shapes and rounder edges. Accent colors now apply to the entire folder rather than a subtle tint. The Calculator and LibreOffice icons have been updated to match the Yaru design language as well.
As far as software is concerned, Ubuntu 26.04 installs a wide range of apps by default, starting with the Thunderbird email client (thank God!) and LibreOffice. It also ships with a new video player — goodbye Totem and hello Showtime — and for music there’s Rhythmbox. The old Eye of Gnome (EOG) image viewer is replaced by Loupe, which is written in Rust and powered by the Glycin library, making it faster and better aligned with the modern Gnome stack.
I added a couple of programs, thanks to the Snap-based App Center: VLC media player and the GNU Image Manipulation Program – yep, that’s GIMP.
Resolute Raccoon does not disappoint as a daily driver. Surfing the internet with Firefox while sending and receiving email with Thunderbird were both effortless and flawless. Listening to music on either Rhythmbox that was included in the install or VLC media player was remarkable. With LibreOffice, writing the article was a breeze.
Monitoring RAM with the Resources app, Resolute Raccoon did not breach 4 GB of use under the most strident tasks thrown at the hardware. The distro did not hiccup once while I used it. Multitasking went flawlessly and using web apps such as Google Docs and Google Drive was simple and straightforward.
Final Thoughts
Poring over the new changes in Ubuntu 26.04 “Resolute Raccoon” on the Ubuntu page leads to this conclusion:
“Resolute Raccoon” is not really about superficial change. It is about finishing major platform transitions, like full Wayland adoption, Gnome 50 installation, newer compiler/runtime defaults, stronger enterprise hooks, and easier AI/GPU onboarding. If you want modern capabilities without jumping into bleeding-edge chaos, this distro offers a balance that feels unusually even-handed.
Canonical has thrown a lot of its resources behind Rust — starting with sudo-rs, and some of the programs involved in the installation — and it remains to be seen whether that is a good call… but so far, so good.
For years, Ubuntu has earned its place as one of the go-to distros for new users, and this release does not disappoint. New users will find Resolute Raccoon a breath of fresh air, with a distinct usability right out of the box. The more adventurous might want to explore Ubuntu alternatives like Xubuntu or Lubuntu if running X11 natively is a consideration. Intermediate and advanced users should also welcome this version of the distro, if they are an Ubuntu user already.
To download Resolute Raccoon, go to Ubuntu’s download page.
Do you have a distro you think would make a great feature for FOSS Force’s Distro of the Week? Don’t be shy—let us know! Offer your suggestions in the comments below (or use the “contact us” link under our masthead) and we’ll make an effort to make it so… No suggestion is too mainstream or too niche—let us know what you’d like to see!
Things I like about Ubuntu 26.04 'Resolute Raccoon… |
Things I don’t like about Ubuntu 26.04 'Resolute Raccoon… |
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Time for some Bonnie Raitt…
Sad that inefficiency is all the rage… and that AI is forced to take all the carbon footprint electric consumption guff. IT is generally blindingly inefficient, even in the Linux DE world.