Ubuntu Budgie 20.04LTS Release Notes for18.04 UpgradersDavid

Ubuntu Budgie 20.04 Desktop

VERSIONUbuntu Budgie v20.04 (Focal Fossa) Release: April 23rd, 2020

Ubuntu Budgie 20.04 is a LTS (Long Term Support) release that will be supported for 3 years untilApril 2023. Long Term Releases provide assured stability over a longer term than a standard 9month release. Critical and stability fixes will be released for all the supported Ubuntu Budgiecomponents; these will be undertaken by ourselves, Canonical and the wider Ubuntu community.

This is the 18.04 upgraders release note. This takes the 19.10/19.04 and 18.10 release notes andhighlights the key parts that 18.04 upgraders need to be aware of.

If you are upgrading from 19.10 we have a release note more applicable to you!

In these release notes the areas covered are:

New features and enhancementsIssues ResolvedUpgrading from 18.04 Ubuntu BudgieKnown Issues when upgradingWhere to download Ubuntu Budgie

UB Desktop 20.04

NEW FEATURES AND ENHANCEMENTS20.04 STUFF TO LOOK OUT FOR

Stylish menu applet as the defaultbudgie based network manager applet as the defaultWindow Shuffler - animations, faster, keyboard friendly tiling CTRL+ALT+keypad numbers;The currently focussed window can be now tiled to each corner, side to side ormaximized/unmaximized all from the keyboard. Give it a try (enable via Menu - Shufflercontrol).Desktop Layouts - choose your default desktop layout with one click4K resolution friendly budgie desktop and budgie applet supportGNOME Firmware and Drawing are new default applicationsUbuntu Budgie Team Wallpapers for 20.04 - there was a community contest to choose itsfavourite wallpapers - and the community certainly contributed amazing desktop images. Ihope you like them. We will next run a community contest for the 22.04 LTSAll our backport packages have now been rebuilt for 20.04 - look out for nemo-share andnemo-dropbox and also skippy-xd is available through backports.Firefox is the default browser.Catfish file and text search is now a default installThe community has requested Files (Nautilus) to be switched to Files (Nemo) - so welcomeback split screen and other goodies. Tip - press Alt or right-click the toolbar to show the Menufor preferences etc.budgie-nemo integration - right click options for changing the background, launch budgie-desktop-settings and catfish file & text search. Nemo folder-color is unfortunately not availablein the repositories, so it has been dropped.QogirBudgie from the fiendishly clever themer vinceliuice - so three of the best themes arenow default in budgie-desktop-settings (Arc, Pocillo and QogirBudgie)As the community has requested, Plank dock has now been switched to the bottom of the

screen, is transparent and has the bounce animations by default

BUDGIE DESKTOP:Ubuntu Budgie 20.04 LTS ships with budgie-desktop v10.5.1. This is a massive upgrade for 18.04users and the updates are too extensive to list. So here are the areas you should go/look anddiscover!

Raven - Sound controlsNew Raven section in Budgie Desktop Settings.Ability to enable window focus change to being on mouse enter / leave via the “Windows”section of Budgie Desktop Settings, as opposed to click-to-focus.The “Fonts” section of Budgie Desktop Settings introduces hint, Text Scaling and anti-aliasingoptionsRaven Notification grouping and the ability to turn off notifications. Look out for setting theNotification position as well.You can now middle click on the Bluetooth applet to toggle Bluetooth airplane mode. You cannow middle click on the Sound applet to mute and unmute global audio.Icon Task List has received a lot of love; Grouping, launching instances via middle lick,favourites.Under the Desktop section of Budgie Desktop Settings, you'll find a new option called“Number of virtual desktops”, where you can go from just having one workspace up to eight!

Ubuntu Budgie Experience

The following areas have been added or changed to enhance our budgie-desktop implementation:

System Tray applet now dropped as a default - it is buggy and the network manager applet isnow/intended as a defaultAt the same time - added the ability to not run network-manager applet - this ensures thebuggy system tray icon no longer appearsCTRL+ALT+left/right swaps workspaces without a workspace indicator in the middle of thescreen. This has been done to speed up switching workspaces & most importantly removes thepossibility of crashes due to conflicts with the workspace animationsEvent alerts sounds are disabled by default now - if you want alert sounds choose the alertnoise you want and sound level in Settings - SoundHiDPI (4K) support for Budgie applets (both in built-in and third-party) and their popupfunctionalityFix for keyboard shortcuts mysteriously going missingFix for multimonitors to stop windows overlapping the top-bar when maximisedSwitch from qt5-style-plugins to qt5ct for QT app styling - apps such as vlc. You should see aQT5 Config app now in the menu to help you configure styling of QT apps. Also to note - someQT5 apps such as VLC also have styling options built in as well.Moka based icons revised to capture GNOME 3.32/3.34 and 3.36 changesSupport large global menu in budgie-desktop panelBetter lock screen styling - buttons are now flat and match the lock screen dialogPixel Saver & Pocillo: Close button is now styled to match CSD windowsStylish menu applet as the defaultbudgie based network manager applet as the defaultWindow Shuffler - animations, faster, keyboard friendly tiling CTRL+ALT+keypad numbers;The currently focussed window can be now tiled to each corner, side to side or

maximized/unmaximized all from the keyboard. Give it a try (enable via Menu - Shufflercontrol).4K resolution friendly budgie desktop and budgie applet supportGNOME Firmware and Drawing are new default applicationsAll our backport packages have now been rebuilt for 20.04 - look out for nemo-share andnemo-dropbox and also skippy-xd is available through backports.We have dropped TLP from the default install. The power savings in the latest kernels aresignificant for newer computers. TLP is still available to be installed if the kernel powersavings do not impact you due to using an older CPU.The caffeine appindicator has been dropped - this has been replaced with the native caffeinebudgie-applet that comes with budgie-desktop v10.5We've added a new game 2048 as part of the default install - a great way to while away a fewhoursCatfish file and text search is now a default installThe community has requested Files (Nautilus) to be switched to Files (Nemo) - so welcomeback split screen and other goodies. Tip - press Alt or right-click the toolbar to show the Menufor preferences etc.budgie-nemo integration - right click options for changing the background, launch budgie-desktop-settings and catfish file & text search. Nemo folder-color is unfortunately not availablein the repositories, so it has been dropped.QogirBudgie from the fiendishly clever themer vinceliuice - so three of the best themes arenow default in budgie-desktop-settings (Arc, Pocillo and QogirBudgie)Advanced Network Configuration, LibreOffice Math, Software Sources and Additional Driversare now available from the menuAs the community has requested, Plank dock has now been switched to the bottom of thescreen, is transparent and has the bounce animations by defaultUB logo is proudly displayed in the About screen and is the default menu iconability to increase the spacer applet sizing without impacting the overall size of the panel.ability to launch applications from the menu requiring elevated privileges

Note also GNOME Upstream have now removed the split of Application Menus from the Windowmenu. So for Budgie this means there is no separate “Application” icon in the decoration to show theappmenu. Appmenus are now combined in the Window menu.

Desktop LayoutsFor 20.04 LTS we now support a one click method to set up your desktop with a look and feel thatyou are most comfortable with.

Layouts

Accessed through the Menu - Themes & Layouts, the following layouts can be used:

Traditional BudgieClassic Ubuntu BudgieUbuntu BudgieCupertinoThe Oneredmond

Choosing a layout replaces your current setup with a predefined panel and applet layout. Combinethat with the theme makeover option, you now have a extremely fast method to configure UbuntuBudgie the way you want to.

BUDGIE APPLETS & BUDGIE MINI-APPS

WeatherShow

Weather forecast every three hours and over five days. This Desktop based weather applet isinstalled by default and can be added to your panel.

Weathershow Applet

Budgie Applications Menu

We are pleased to ship by default our take on a simple but elegant menu for our desktop. Heavilybased upon the good work of the ElementaryOS crew, this menu displays your installed applicationsvia a Grid View as well as the traditional category view budgie users know and love.

Appscreen

We have enhanced the menu to optionally show the budgie powerstrip - so for those users who dontwant to use the default power applet in the panel. The menu has many extra features - e.g. rightclick action options for those applications live steam that offer them.

Appmenu3

… a couple of hidden extras - type 2+2 - its a built in calculator or type ubuntubudgie.org into thesearch.

Again optionally - if you install zeitgeist the menu will start to learn what you frequently search for -and the search results be more tailored to your frequent requests - i.e. find things first time.

Network Manager Applet

Budgie Desktop has shipped with a legacy network manager icon in the panel. It has neverintegrated very well - and together with the buggy system tray weird icon effects were visible onlogon.

Nm1

Enter the native Network Manager budgie applet. This integrates fully with our budgie desktop. Wehave tidied up and built upon the good work of the Daniel Pinto (original creator) and theElementaryOS team from which the budgie-applet was derived from.

Budgie Window Shuffler

Focal's Window Shuffler is a completely rewritten and re- designed version of Budgie's tiling add-on.Apart from the drastically improved responsiveness, features now include:

Setting margins and padding of the window grid

Shuff1Shortcuts for snapping windows to the nearest tileShortcuts for resizing windows in all directionsScroll over the GUI grid to set its shadeTargeted position preview when using the GUI grid

Shuff2Animated window movement when using shortcuts to move windowsSwapping windows in case a window is moved to an existing window's positionShortcuts for Quarter / half tiling

The new Shuffler Control window

Shuff3

Wallstreet

One request that continually was made was to have the ability to rotate through a folder full ofphotos and display on your desktop. We know there are many heavy-weight tools out there - butwhat our community wanted is a simple - very lightweight solution built into the desktop.

Wallstreet

Enter - WallStreet - a new lightweight wallpaper rotator every x minutes. Just enable it through themenu - wallstreet control

Visual-Space

New applet budgie-visualspace-applet - a stylish compact workspace switcher as a default on thepanel.

Visualspace

So this desktop focused productivity tool is used if you have lots of windows spread over yourdesktop and/or between workspaces - you can quickly focus that window without having to alt-tabthrough everything.

Dropby

Dropby applet makes a reappearance as a default panel applet

Dropby

When any USB device is connected then you have easy access to it - with the ability to copy itscontents, open to see what is on it and to eject the device safely directly from a popup and panelapplet.

Other notable applets and mini apps

Kangaroo - Quick and easy browsing, across (possibly) many folder layers, without having to-do a single mouse click.

App launcher - Display your favorite applications in a menu and on the panel.Trash applet (vala based) - Show, hide and restore trash items.Recently Used (vala based) - Show recently used items in a menu.Quick Notes & Hot Corners: These existing applets have been rewritten from Python based toVala based. This has been done to greatly enhance the speed of the applets and make themmemory efficient; in addition they have picked up a few enhancements so browse around inthe applet setting to discover whats newNew Pomodoro like applet Take-A-Break

QUICKCHAR MINI APP - Quickly find and choose the equivalent locale character for anascii character. Press Super+Alt+C to call the window. Type a character, and all itsderivates will appear. Click one (or tab to the targeted character and press Return) andthe character will be pasted into the document. Press again to toggle visibility, or Escapeto hideFUZZYCLOCK APPLET - Shows the time in a Fuzzy Way. Supports 24-hour formatSupports Dates Supports Horizontal Panels

FuzzyThis is a new applet contributed by community member Adam Dyess - Thanks Adam!

WORKSPACE STOPWATCH APPLET - Workspace Timer Applet is an applet to keep track ofusage per workspace, e.g. to find out how much minutes/hours were actually spent on a job.Workspaces can be freely named, custom names and all data are rmembered, also afterlogout/restart, until the RESET button is pressed. The log file is updated on workspaceswitch/clicking the icon for popup or else every 30 seconds. Time during suspend isautomatically retracted from a workspace time.

BUDGIE-BRIGHTNESS-CONTROLLER APPLET - Brightness Controller is a Budgie Desktopapplet allowing you to control the desktop/laptop brightness via your hardware brightnesscontroller or via Xorg as a fallback.

Brightnesscontroller

BUDGIE STATUS-NOTIFIER - display status notifications

Showtime - Adds automatic multi-monitor support for Showtime

Display Window Mover applet correctly on primary monitor when multiple monitors areavailable

Rework Dropby to display in an independent window rather than a popup - this resolves panelfreeze issues.

Weathershow applet - Display temperature correctly on vertical panels

Tweaked budgie-pixel-saver-applet to correctly handle displaying Titles/Titles &Buttons/Buttons

All these productivity applets and mini-apps are now available from Budgie Welcome - select Menu -Budgie Applets

WINDOW PREVIEWS

Window previews (Alt Tab replacement) has been rewritten in vala - faster with per workspace/allworkspaces and shift backwards controls. Additionally, Alt Above-Tab shows windows of thecurrently active application only.

Previews

Remember, budgie-applets showcases many more indie developer applets

In total Ubuntu Budgie users have direct install access to 35 budgie applets and budgie mini-appsthrough budgie-welcome

If you want to showcase your applet in UB contact us and let us know about your project. Dailybuilds for budgie-extras is available - so to get the latest (warts and all) ppa:ubuntubudgie-dev/budgie-extras-daily

Budgie Welcome

Budgie Themes & Layouts

We have shipped for a few releases now the ability via one-click to completely update the look ofyour desktop - cursors, icons, themes etc. From 20.04, this makeover ability can now be individuallyapplied i.e. just the theme, or icon etc. giving you an easy way to mix and match between differentmakeovers.

Makeover

Latest version of vimix theme available through Menu - Budgie Themes & Layouts is shipped in20.04 together with QogirBudgie (available by default on the installation)

Default Applications

Drawing

Drawing

We are pleased to ship by default the stylish new Drawing application. This application is a basicimage editor, similar to Microsoft Paint, but aiming at the GNOME based desktops such as GNOMEShell and Budgie Desktop. PNG, JPEG and BMP format files are supported.

GNOME Firmware

Ubuntu Budgie now ships with GNOME Firmware - it is really a power user tool to resolve those

specific vendor device issues that can be resolved by firmware. We don't expect you to generally usethis to update stuff - only update if you are having issues that cannot be resolved by updating thelinux kernel. Also to note - not all manufacturers release firmware that can be installed via linux -you may still have to resort to MS Windows based upgrades.

Celluloid

Celluloid

Celluloid has now replaced gnome-mpv

Samba

Samba has been removed as a default install

Android Phone integration

Ubuntu Budgie now provides seamless desktop-to/from-android phone transfer capabilities - we nowship with go-mtpfs by default. Simply plug-in your android phone and it will appear automatically innemo allowing you to copy files/photos etc between your phone and the desktop.

ACCESSIBILITY

We have taken a closer look at making our distro more easy to use for those of us who need just alittle extra help. This is where we need your help. What tricks & techniques are you aware of thathelps improve the accessibility of the desktop?

We have incorporated a super useful screen magnifier - just enable via the Settings - Accessibilityoptions

Bind both Super + Alt + = and Super + Alt + + as zoom-in keys

Also we have included the on-screen keyboard (onboard) ### NVIDIA

Our distro now includes the NVIDIA proprietary driver sets on its ISO. This allows NVIDIA users toinstall & configure drivers out of the box without needing an internet connection. Just click the wifiinstaller option to install the correct NVIDIA driver for your computer - obviously assuming that yourhardware needs it.

Likewise, we have added support for Optimus graphics switching direct from the budgie panel. Ifyou have Optimus graphics look for the intel/nvidia icon to switch between your intel & nvidia GPUs.

Nvidia Menu

KEY FEATURES AVAILABLE TO UB FROM UBUNTULinux kernel v5.4GNOME 3.36 applicationsLatest version of LibreOffice 6.4Latest ZFS support with automatic APT rollback support

A shed-load of fixes throughout the Ubuntu stack - congrats on all Canonical, Ubuntu devs,Debian devs and all devs in the free software community for all of their hard-work whicheveryone should be pleased about �What does all that mean - most cutting edge yet stable software that brings great benefits forbrand new hardware compatibility - including support for the very latest games.

UB MAINTAINED PACKAGESApart from the above (!) UB maintains many Debian packages. New versions available in 20.04include:

Slick GreeterLogin Window PreferencesDesktopFolder

ISSUES RESOLVED:GNOME Software Updates tab has been hidden - it doesn't really work and the recommendedupdate process is via Menu - Software & UpdatesFixed budgie-desktop bug to allow custom layouts that include left & right panels.Papercut - uninstalling default applets now no longer uninstalls the Ubuntu Budgie desktopenvironment.Budgie Desktop now includes a patch developed by myself hopefully to reduce the number ofcrash reports you see on first logon.

KNOWN ISSUES:When installed on default VirtualBox settings or QEMU, on first logon the session will crashwhen budgie-welcome is first open. The session also crashes when other applications such asSettings is open. https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/xorg-server/+bug/1745345For virtualbox ensure the VMSVGA graphics driver is used in the virtual machine settingsFor QEMU use the VMVGA graphics driver.Alternatively for both uninstall the gstreamer1.0-vaapi packageIf you find that after the upgrade clicking the menu button crashes the panel, thenCTRL+ALT+T to open a terminal then run:nohup budgie-panel --reset --replace &Launching terminal based apps from the menu does not work. Workaround is to fool GLib toassume that a supported terminal (tilix isnt supported) is installed sudo ln -s/usr/bin/tilix /usr/bin/nxterm.https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/budgie-desktop/+bug/1873428Please read the Ubuntu Release notes which covers issues common to all Ubuntu Flavors.

UPGRADINGHOW TO UPGRADE FROM 18.10/19.04/19.10 TO 20.04IMPORTANT: remember to double-check you have the following vital package before you upgrade:

sudo apt install ubuntu-budgie-desktop

After the release of 20.04, you will be offered to upgrade when you run Software & Updates.Alternatively, from a command line run:

update-manager

IMPORTANT We do not recommend running do-release-upgrade from a Tilix terminal since thiswill hang during the upgrade. If you want to use do-release-upgrade switch to a TTY and login beforerunning the command.

Some of the packages that were installed as part of the Ubuntu Budgie backports PPA(ppa:ubuntubudgie/backports) will be uninstalled as part of the upgrade. Use budgie-welcome toreinstall anything that is removed.

HOW TO UPGRADE FROM 18.04.418.04 LTS users using the 64bit edition will be offered the upgrade to 20.04 in July/August 2020when the first point release (20.04.1) is made available. The first few months (April to July) are usedto iron out those particularly troublesome issues not found at the initial release. So be patient andyou will be rewarded with an upgrade window notification when to move to 20.04.

The Caffeine application indicator will be removed as part of the upgrade process. You can replacethis with the native budgie caffeine applet in budgie-desktop-settings - panel - add applets

To get the 20.04 panel layout use the Menu - Budgie themes & Layouts application.

18.04 LTS users using the 32bit edition cannot upgrade to 20.04 - 32bit support was dropped after18.04.

Please refer to the community wiki for more help: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UpgradesAlso,Ask Ubuntu has an excellent guide to help you upgrade:http://askubuntu.com/questions/110477/how-do-i-upgrade-to-a-newer-version-of-ubuntu

DOWNLOADFinal release is available here: https://ubuntubudgie.org/downloads/Beta release is available here:http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-budgie/releases/focal/beta/

GETTING SUPPORTThanks to the generosity of discourse.org, our support site is the crucial site for all things UbuntuBudgie.

One to bookmark https://discourse.ubuntubudgie.orgMore information can be found here.

INFRASTRUCTUREWe just wanted to thank our infrastructure sponsors who help us keep the lights on.

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STATUS.IO

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David (project lead)