Powered by the latest Linux 6.11 kernel series, Ubuntu 24.10 features the latest and greatest GNOME 47 desktop environment for the Ubuntu Desktop flavor with additional patches for Mutter and GNOME Shell to enhance stability and performance. In addition, the Ubuntu Dock now visualizes Snap refreshes and includes better handling for PWAs installed via the Chromium Snap.
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Under the hood, Ubuntu 24.10 comes with an updated toolchain that includes GCC 14.2, GNU Binutils 2.43.1, GNU C Library 2.40, LLVM 19, Rust 1.80, Go 1.23, OpenSSL 3.3, systemd 256.5, Netplan 1.1, and .NET 8. The Ubuntu Desktop installer was also updated with support for local file paths for autoinstall import.
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Ubuntu 24.10 will be supported for only nine months, until July 2025. If you’re looking for long-term support, you should download and install Ubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat), which is supported until at least 2029.
That's why I moved back to Debian few weeks ago. I'm checking this thread and article precisely to see what I'm missing and... arguably not much. If it's "just" updates of some applications without any meaningful change, I don't really see the appeal anymore.
I greatly prefer Debian and run it on my home servers, but I want something more cutting edge than Debian for my work PCs but not quite as bleeding edge as Arch that I have to pay more attention to for my daily updates in case it breaks. I kind of end stuck at Ubuntu as I don't want something obscure and harder for me to fix due to a smaller user base to crib solutions to common problems from.
I just use it as a relatively up to date, tested and supported base as I run Sway instead of the packaged Gnome, I disable snaps and all the other Ubuntu pro type garbage, even my Firefox is via PPA. Could I roll my own or use something else? Sure, but would I have the same trust over its reliability on the PCs that I use to pay my bills?
I do know you can download Ubuntu's theming/color scheme on most Distros, including Debian. And if you like the logo, you can tell Fastfetch to show any logo/image, and branding is often a simple check on Plymouth/related configs.
Debian is what I use when I need Ubuntu-tier support.
Teams for Linux and Co pilot because it was not previously supported in Firefox and i have not checked the support nowadays. Firefox for everything else.