What’s New in the Ubuntu 26.10 Flavours?
Ubuntu 26.10’s official community flavours are out, bringing refreshed desktops, updated applications and fixes alongside the main release. They share its foundations, including the Linux 7.3 kernel, Mesa 26.2 graphics drivers and support for installing Snap packages from the Snap Store.
Xubuntu 26.10
Xubuntu includes Xfce 4.20, with stability fixes and early Wayland support. The Ristretto image viewer can shuffle images, print more reliably and open images from web links. Xfce Terminal uses less CPU and can disable URL highlighting, while Screenshooter can capture regions and full screens under Wayland. Catfish searches now start in the active folder, and the release includes GIMP 3.2.6.
Ubuntu Kylin 26.10
This release focuses mainly on bug fixes and package updates. Its UKUI desktop remains at the same version as Ubuntu Kylin 26.04, while a new AI-generated wallpaper gives Ubuntu’s stingray mascot a glass-like look with iridescent pastel colours.
Lubuntu 26.10
Lubuntu comes with LXQt 2.4.0, an update focused largely on fixes and code cleanup. Small improvements include a horizontal sound-applet layout and notifications that disappear promptly. X11 remains the default session, but users can choose the included Miriway-based Wayland session at the login screen.
Ubuntu Unity 26.10
Ubuntu Unity continues with Unity 7.7, alongside bug fixes and cleanup to replace unmaintained packages. While the team works toward a planned move to Lomiri, the release includes Lomiri Calculator, Files and Terminal apps.
Kubuntu 26.10
Kubuntu 26.10 ships with KDE Plasma 6.7. Multi-monitor users can assign virtual desktops to individual displays and switch between them using new keyboard shortcuts. Other improvements address theme and dark-mode switching, add a glide effect to desktop notifications, show timezone offsets in the Digital Clock widget and provide an option for type-ahead desktop search.
A Plasma X11 session is not included by default, but can still be installed manually. This is expected to be the last Kubuntu release where that is possible, as Plasma 6.8 has removed the plasma-session-x11 package.
Ubuntu MATE 26.10
Ubuntu MATE returns with its first release under new maintainers, after skipping the 26.04 LTS release. Some MATE packages are not at their latest upstream versions, but the included versions are described as stable and include fixes.
The release adopts Ubuntu’s switch to Dracut and replaces ifupdown with netplan. It also has some known issues, including problems with RedShift and missing icons, but marks a welcome return for the flavour.
Ubuntu Studio 26.10
Ubuntu Studio adds more audio tools for musicians, including the Sonic Pi live-coding environment and SuperCollider for algorithmic composition. The command-line white-noise generator jnoise is also included.
Updates span applications such as OBS Studio, GIMP, Ardour, Krita and Kdenlive. The installer now lets users select individual packages from software collections, and the audio configuration wizard has a streamlined interface.
Other flavours
Edubuntu 26.10 lets administrators select individual packages from age-group software collections during installation and updates its Paperboy news reader.
Ubuntu Budgie 26.10 adds an internet-radio widget and automatic day-and-night wallpapers. Ubuntu Cinnamon 26.10 updates to Cinnamon 6.6.9.