The official Ubuntu flavour sporting the Budgie desktop environment released its shiny new version, 23.10, aptly named “Mantic Minotaur”, based on the latest Ubuntu 23.10.
On this page, we will recap the best features of this release.
Table of Contents
Ubuntu Budgie 23.10: New Features
Linux Kernel
At the heart of Ubuntu Budgie 23.10 lies Linux Kernel 6.5, which is the latest stable release as per the release schedule. This Kernel update brings a host of improvements, making your Linux experience smoother and more efficient. Some standout features of Kernel 6.5 include WiFi 7 support, MIDI 2.0 compatibility, and numerous other enhancements. For a comprehensive look at what Kernel 6.5 has to offer, check out our dedicated Kernel 6.5 guide.
Budgie Desktop 10.8
The star of this release is the all-new Budgie Desktop 10.8. This release series builds upon the foundations of the previous 10.7.1 version (came with Ubuntu Budgie 23.04) with various improvements and new features.
Key highlights include an improved Budgie Menu, offering a user-friendly alternative to your panel. In addition, the System Tray features StatusNotifier support, offering an alternative to the application indicator for your panel. This allows applications to communicate their tray icon information over DBus, leading to a consistent and visually appealing user experience.
The third-party Budgie Trash Applet has been integrated into the default applets, making accessing and managing your trash content easier.
Magpie updates
Ubuntu Budgie 23.10 is the first release to incorporate support for Magpie ABI, a critical step towards Wayland support. Magpie ABI, essentially a soft fork of GNOME’s Mutter window manager, ensures a smoother transition for users, addressing issues related to Wayland and X11 support. This version, Magpie v0.9.x, maintains stability, catering to multiple GNOME Stack releases until the full-fledged Magpie 1.0 Wayland compositor is ready.
This is a foundational work which will eventually lead to complete Wayland support in Budgie desktop in future releases.
Power management
Power management gets an upgrade with Budgie’s battery indicator in the Status applet. You’ll now have control over Performance/Power profile modes, including Balanced, Power Saver, and Performance, where supported.
Themes, Look and feel
Ubuntu Budgie’s internal theme receives some refinements, with a shift from the Solus blue accent colour to a vibrant light green. Darkened elements such as the Budgie Menu, panel, and Raven’s background enhance visibility and aesthetics.
Various small refinements and adjustments, such as hiding Kvantum and Murrine themes in Budgie Desktop Settings, improving power-dialog behavior, and better plugin search, contribute to a smoother overall experience.
Ubuntu Budgie packages several popular GTK themes which you can install with just a single click. They all come with pre-packaged fonts, wallpapers and other customization components. The following GTK themes get their latest version in Ubuntu Budgie 23.10. You can access the theme from the Menu > Budgie Makeovers.. via the welcome app.
- WhiteSur GTK and icon theme
- Orchis GTK theme
- Tela icon theme
- Fluent GTK and icon theme
- Mojave GTK and McMojave circle icon theme
Applets
Several Budgie applets and mini-apps receive updates and enhancements, including the VisualSpace applet, WeatherShow, Applications Menu, and the introduction of a native trash applet.
The VisualSpace applet in Budgie Desktop Settings now allows users to reverse the icon scroll direction for switching between workspaces. The Brightness applet will no longer reset the night-light setting or colour when the brightness popover is displayed.
In addition, QuickNote now includes a copy button and a paste button, providing a convenient graphical user interface method for copying and pasting text.
Applications and core packages
Alongside the above Budgie-specific updates, a few additional applications and inner packages are upgraded to their stable version as per Ubuntu 23.10.
- Python 3.11.5
- PHP 8.2
- GCC 13.2
- GlibC 2.38
- Ruby 3.2
- Golang 1.2
- LibreOffice 7.6
- Thunderbird 115 Supernova
Firefox 117 is included by default, which is obviously a snap package. Furthermore, a few themes are packaged as Snap in Ubuntu Budgie.
To manage software, GNOME Software 45 is pre-loaded and lists out DEB and packages from the Snapcraft store.
Summary
Ubuntu Budgie 23.10, “Mantic Minotaur” promises an updated Budgie desktop experience with a balanced distribution of style and performance. It is a great release and a sought-after one if you want the latest Budgie desktop. However, if you are running Ubuntu Budgie 23.04, you can skip this release and wait for the 24.04 LTS release with much better updates.
You can download the official ISO from this page.
Via Budgie blog
