Lubuntu 24.04 LTS to Ship with Optional Wayland Session, Improved Installer
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Lubuntu developer Simon Quigley breaks the news today, exclusively for 9to5Linux.com, that the upcoming Lubuntu 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) operating system will be shipping with an optional Wayland session for its LXQt desktop offering.
With six months away from the final release in late April 2024, Lubuntu 24.04 LTS already looks to be an exciting release for fans of the lightweight LXQt desktop environment. I said it before and I’ll say it again, 2024 is the year of the Wayland desktop, and Lubuntu 24.04 LTS will not disappoint its users.
While the Lubuntu team plans to support the Xorg session until 2026 to aid users with older GPUs, the upcoming Lubuntu 24.04 LTS release will offer users an optional Wayland session alongside the default Xorg one. However, the tables will be turned next year with the Lubuntu 24.10 release, which will be shipping with Wayland by default.
Apart from the optional Wayland session, Lubuntu 24.04 LTS promises an improved installation experience through the addition of a “Customize” page to the Calamares graphical installer, which will feature a new desktop icon, to give users the choice of three predefined installation options, namely Minimal Installation (without Snaps), Normal Installation, and Full Installation (the Normal Installation with additional apps – see below).
In addition, the new “Customize” page in the Calamares installer will let users install additional third-party software that they may need with their new Lubuntu installation. These include the popular Krita digital painting app, Mozilla Thunderbird email, calendar, and chat client, Element Matrix-based end-to-end encrypted messenger app, and Virtual Machine Manager for managing virtual machines through libvirt.
Another interesting feature in the upcoming Lubuntu 24.04 LTS (Nobal Numbat) release is a “First Boot” screen that will prompt users when booting the live ISO image. This screen will let you select a Wi-Fi network and set the default system language before you try or install Lubuntu.
“If you have an Internet connection, or if your language is one of the top five in the world, this will also download GNOME, KDE, and LibreOffice language packs. A non-native English speaker should never have to read English to use Lubuntu, that’s our goal. It doesn’t add much disk space either (less than 20 MB per language),” said Simon Quigley.
Below is a mockup that I created for the Lubuntu team, in case they decide to include it in the upcoming release. The current “First Boot” screen is still a work in progress, but you can get an early taste by downloading the latest Lubuntu 24.04 LTS daily build ISOs.
Lubuntu 24.04 LTS also promises a GTK-based graphical app for managing Bluetooth devices, an SDDM Configuration Editor tool for configuring the login screen, the Redshift tool pre-installed by default for dimming the screen at night, and several new LXQt themes by default including a new modern dark theme and a Windows Eleven-inspired theme.
On top of that, there will be improvements around the Power Management user experience, an updated battery icon, a refreshed Lubuntu Manual icon, and probably lots of minor UI tweaks to make your LXQt desktop experience more enjoyable.
