Is New Ubuntu 18.10 Worth Installing?

The new Ubuntu release “Cosmic Cuttlefish” has hit the OS market after 6 months of development. I’ve been using it since it came out and now here is what I have to say about it. In this article, I’ll talk about the new things it brings in and also if it’s the release worth upgrading to. So let’s go.

Before I start the review, let me first mention the Ubuntu 18.10 comes with 9 months of support. So anyone who doesn’t like to change the primary system every 9 months, should install this version on a secondary system or dual boot it with the primary operating system.

Download Ubuntu 18.10 “Cosmic Cuttlefish”

What’s New In Ubuntu 18.10 “Cosmic Cuttlefish”?

If you’re using Ubuntu then you already know that Ubuntu prefers stability over features. So it may be that they have not implemented lots of new visual features in the system but it is more stable and faster than ever. In Ubuntu 18.10, the performance is a way better than its predecessors. Some visual changes are also there which are –

New Yaru Theme and Icons

The first visual change that anyone will notice is the new system theme, Yaru. The new theme gives your desktop a sleek design. Yaru icons feel more premium. You can also switch to its dark version using Gnome tweaks tool. sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool

But is it worth upgrading to 18.10 because of the new theme? Of course not. You can easily install this theme on the old Ubuntu version.

GNOME Desktop 3.30

Ubuntu 18.10 ships with the latest GNOME desktop 3.30 which brings performance improvements and new features. In my other articles, I have mentioned my disagreement with Canonical replacing Unity with Gnome. But, today I give up on all those disagreements. Earlier I had performance issues with GNOME but now I find Ubuntu 18.10 the best when it comes to performance. Thanks to GNOME 3.30 which was released in September bringing new visual features and performance improvements in the core.

So all the new GNOME stuff is in Ubuntu 18.10. Now the performance is the reason worth upgrading to Ubuntu 18.10. I’ll definitely love to know your opinion on the performance point. So share your opinion in the comment section below.

GNOME Disks now supports VeraCrypt

VeraCrypt is a free and open source data encryption tool forked from TrueCrypt. In 18.10, GNOME disks supports VeraCrypt which means you can perform actions on encrypted partitions right from GNOME disks. See the screenshot below.

Screenshot from – https://gitlab.gnome.org

Fingerprint Scanner Support

Fingerprint libraries promoted to main to allow unlocking with fingerprints. So put your laptop’s fingerprint scanner on work in 18.10.

Better support for Snap apps

Snaps are containerized software packages that are simple to create and install. ​The Cosmic release comes with better snap applications support. You’ll now see a green verified publisher badge while browsing the Ubuntu software.

Linux Kernel 4.18

Ubuntu 18.10 is based on Linux kernel 4.18 which has support for MD Radeon RX Vega M graphics processor, complete support for the Raspberry Pi 3B and the 3B+. Linux Kernel 4.18 also has significant power-saving improvements, improved support for USB 3.2 and Type-C.​

Updated applications

All the applications have been updated to their latest versions, Firefox quantum 63.0, LibreOffice 6.1.2.1, Thunderbird 60.2.1 and so on.

No 32-bit support for most Ubuntu flavors

If you have an old 32-bit processor computer, then most of the Ubuntu flavors won’t be available for them. Ubuntu GNOME had already dropped support for 32-bit versions, but other flavors have also announced that they’d drop 32-bit support.

Should you upgrade to Ubuntu 18.10?

So after discussing the major improvements and new features in Ubuntu 18.10, here comes the conclusion. As I mentioned in the first paragraph this release will only get support for 9 months. So those who prefer support over performance improvements, should not upgrade to 18.10 on their primary systems. Though to enjoy all the improvements they can dual boot it alongside other OS. Initially, I installed Ubuntu 18.10 to test the new features but now it’s going nowhere from my computer until the end of life. I really like the performance. In my life, all the short term releases I have tested had issues while testing except this one. The installer was faster and prompted no error during the installation.

This release brings more hopes for the next version 19.04. I expect the next release will have Android integration support out of the box. There was some news about Comic to have this functionality packed with the distro but no. Even the GSConnect version does not support GNOME 3.30 hence throws errors on startup.