Xubuntu 23.04: What’s New?

Rohan Timalsina

April 17, 2023 - TuxCare expert team

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Xubuntu 23.04, based on Ubuntu 23.04 (Lunar Lobser), is scheduled to release on April 20, 2023. Built on the Linux kernel 6.2, Xubuntu 23.04 will bring enhanced hardware support and updated applications.

Xubuntu: New Features

Xfce 4.18 updates

One of the major upgrades in Xubuntu 23.04 is the Xfce desktop environment because Xubuntu 23.04 now features the recent Xfce 4.18 version. With numerous improvements, Xfce 4.18 is a significant upgrade as it brings updates to GTK4, initial Wayland implementation, and a rework of core native programs.

The primary top panel receives new settings and tweaks, while the overall look remains the same as the previous versions. Similarly, the default panel applets undergo some changes, except for the desktop icons, right-click menu, and items.

Thunar file manager updates

Settings in the Thunar file manager have also been improved, as it now includes a new tab that helps users to customize keyboard shortcuts. Additionally, users can select new keyboard combinations and modify existing combinations from the tab.

A new search icon replaces the reload button in the toolbar. On clicking the icon, it opens up the search at the address bar that performs a recursive search with the entered keyword. While the reload button is now available on View Menu.

Another new addition is the “Recent” option in the left navigation bar. Also, the metadata gets a more organized display, and users can now choose their options in a new context menu.

The primary menu of Thunar has received several updates, featuring a new bookmark menu that enables users to add a shortcut of the current folder to the sidebar. Furthermore, the Edit menu now comes with UNDO and REDO options, and the Go menu includes Recent and Search for the file options.

Thunar introduces a Split view through the View menu allowing users to drag and drop items in the view panels. Moreover, Thunar now uses background colors for the folders, which can help you arrange folders for faster workflows.

Flathub and Snap

As Canonical has already announced to stop Flatpak support on all official Ubuntu flavors, you will not be getting Flathub preinstalled on Xubuntu 23.04.

Mini ISO

Xubuntu 23.04 also provides a minimal ISO image that includes only essential Xfce desktop components and no additional pre-loaded software. You can build your desktop setup for your workflow using this ISO.

The work is in progress to reduce the size of the minimal ISO image, which is 1.9 GB right now.

To sum up, Xubuntu 23.04 is a major upgrade featuring new updates: Xfce, Thunar file manager, and Linux kernel 6.2. As of now, you can try out the Xubuntu 23.04 beta version by downloading it from Canonical’s official website.

The sources for this article include a story from DebugPoint.

Summary