Ubuntu’s Cosmic Cuttlefish brings performance improvements and more

Canonical has just recently announced that Ubuntu 18.10, code named ‘Cosmic Cuttlefish’, is ready for downloading at the Ubuntu release site. Some of the features of this new release include:

• the latest version of kubernetes with improved security and scalability
• access to 4,100 snaps
• better support for gaming graphics and hardware including support for the extremely fast Qualcomm Snapdragon 845
• fingerprint unlocking for compatible systems (e.g., Ubuntu phones)

The new theme

The Yaru Community theme — the theme for Ubuntu 10.18 — is included with Ubuntu 18.10 along with a new desktop wallpaper that displays an artistic rendition of a cuttlefish (a marine animal related to squid, octopuses, and nautiluses).

The cuttlefish wallpaper

Canonical

“Ubuntu is now the world’s reference platform for AI engineering and analytics” Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical has pointed out. “We accelerate developer productivity and help enterprises operate at speed and at scale, across multiple clouds and diverse edge appliances.”

The Yaru theme at work

Canonical

Ready for multi-cloud computing

Ubuntu Server 18.10 images are available for all major public clouds. This includes smaller footprint images for containers with faster boot time. It ships with:

• OpenStack Rocky for AI and NFV hardware acceleration
• Ceph Mimic for reduced storage overhead
• Kubernetes 1.12 with its improved security and stability
• Options for better battery life for laptops by switching HDD controllers, USB controllers and other devices to a low power state when they are not in use
• A smaller footprint with faster installations and boots
• The ability to install and start snaps more rapidly

Gnome 3.30

Ubuntu 10.18 comes with Gnome 3.30 and its easier-to-control screen sharing and remote desktop sessions, auto-updating of Flatpak packages, and new panel for updating Thunderbolt devices (already in 18.04). Hardware panels are now only displayed when particular hardware exists on the system. In addition, Gnome disks can now decrypt and mount storage volumes that are encrypted by VeraCrypt.

Limited support timeframe

Ubuntu 18.10 will be supported for 9 months ending in July 2019. If you require longer term support, you should probably stick with (or upgrade to) Bionic Beaver (Ubuntu 18.04 LTS) which will be supported through April 2023.