{"id":2835,"date":"2025-07-13T01:00:47","date_gmt":"2025-07-13T01:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/canonicals-ambitious-plan-a-fully-functional-ubuntu-desktop-on-risc-v-for-version-25-10\/"},"modified":"2025-07-13T01:00:47","modified_gmt":"2025-07-13T01:00:47","slug":"canonicals-ambitious-plan-a-fully-functional-ubuntu-desktop-on-risc-v-for-version-25-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/serverhost.com\/blog\/canonicals-ambitious-plan-a-fully-functional-ubuntu-desktop-on-risc-v-for-version-25-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Canonical’s Ambitious Plan: A Fully Functional Ubuntu Desktop on RISC-V for Version 25.10"},"content":{"rendered":"

Canonical is gearing up to introduce a fully functional desktop session for the RISC-V architecture with the upcoming Ubuntu 25.10 (Questing Quokka)<\/strong> release. This development comes on the heels of Canonical’s recent decision to limit support for various RISC-V hardware, raising the required RISC-V ISA profile family from RVA20 to RVA23. As a result, nearly 90% of existing RISC-V devices will be unable to run Ubuntu 25.10.<\/p>\n

The ratification of the RVA23 profile standard by RISC-V International in October 2024 will enhance compatibility across RISC-V implementations and add a hypervisor extension for virtualization. This change is expected to support advanced workloads in enterprise servers and cloud applications, alongside a new Vector extension aimed at accelerating math-intensive tasks such as AI and cryptography.<\/p>\n

With this upgrade, Canonical plans to ensure seamless operation of essential applications like Firefox<\/strong> and Thunderbird<\/strong> in the desktop environment, which remains Ubuntu’s default browser and email client. The new release will include a detection mechanism to identify if RISC-V hardware supports the RVA23 profile, limiting Ubuntu upgrades for incompatible systems to the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS<\/strong> version.<\/p>\n

In addition to RISC-V improvements, Ubuntu 25.10 will enhance the Wayland experience for NVIDIA<\/strong> GPU users, offer fully functional support for Variable Refresh Rate (VRR)<\/strong> on compatible monitors, and implement TPM-backed Full Disk Encryption. Other features include streamlined administrative tools and increased accessibility compliance.<\/p>\n

The beta version of Ubuntu 25.10 is slated for release on September 18, with a final launch expected on October 9, 2025. The update will be powered by the Linux kernel 6.17 and will utilize the new GNOME 49<\/strong> desktop environment, which will introduce additional applications and functionalities.<\/p>\n

For further details, you can check out relevant links here:<\/p>\n