19.04 reached feature freeze last week - which means significant changes have now been completed and Ubuntu + flavours are now concentrating on bug-fixing & polish.
So this is your chance to get involved - help identify issues - even help fix those issues!
Below is a detailed list of areas that have been touched in 19.04 - it is an expanded list from 18.10 so that testers from an 18.04 knowledge base are aware. Everything needs regression testing. Below is an abbreviated version of the 19.04 release notes (TBD)
As always- this is not final stuff - so things can and will go wrong. Be prepared to reinstall if things go up in smoke - you never know. So dont install on your main laptop/desktop if you aren’t prepared for this.
Note; some stuff is labelled TBD - work is still being done in this area - once complete the TBD notice will be striked-out
19.04 Daily Downloads are here. Also need to test upgrades from 18.10 to 19.04
18.10 stuff carried through to 19.04
- Firefox is the default browser. So out goes a chromium-browser icon on both the icon-task-list and plank dock - in comes Firefox
- … and for good measure we have added ubuntu budgie welcome as a default program icon to make discovery instant.
- We have dropped TLP from the default install. The powersavings in the kernel from kernel 4.18 and later are significant 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 caffeine budgie-applet that comes with budgie-desktop v10.5
- We’ve added a new game 2048 as part of the default install - great way to while-away a few hours
19.04 stuff to look out for
- New default wallpaper
- Fonts have changed from “Ubuntu” to “Noto Sans” except for the terminal font since Ubuntu is much easier to read!
- Ubuntu Budgie Team Wallpapers for 19.04 - the UB team has decided for this release to choose their favorite wallpapers - quite an eclectic bunch. Hope you like them. We will next run a community contest for the 20.04 LTS
- Budgie Welcome - Translation team has been very busy - many more languages now available
- Budgie Welcome - Browser Ballot available from getting started now is Snap capable - we offer GNOME Web and Midori as options for web-browsers as well as the Snap versions of Firefox and Chromium-Browser. Chrome, Vivaldi and the repo versions of Firefox and Chromium-Browser are still available.
- Catfish file and text search is now a default install
- The community has requested Files (Nautilus) to be switched to Files (Nemo).
- Nemo can be launched from Plank as well as icon-task-list applet
- v3.8.6 is the version of Nemo in the repositories. v4.0.6 is available in our backports PPA
- nemo-dropbox is available in our backports PPA
- budgie-nemo integration - right click options for changing background, launch budgie-desktop-settings and catfish file & text search
- Nemo folder-color is unfortunately not available in the repositories so it has been dropped.
- Latest version of moka-icon-theme is available - Pocillo uses Moka icons
-
TBDbug-fix to sweep up default install icons that are not Moka based - so applications have renamed their icon names so Moka needs to keep up - New pomodoro like applet Take-A-Break
- ShowTime applet has been completely revamped and rewritten - includes the ability to drag around the screen enabled via budgie-desktop-settings
-
TBDbudgie-desktop is built upon mutter 3.32 - so big underlying changes need care regression testing - Introducing a default theme QogirBudgie - so three of the best themes are now a default in budgie-desktop-settings
-
TBDLots of new and updated budgie-applets available in budgie-welcome. budgie-cpu-freq-applet, budgie-sys-monitor-applet are new to 19.04, kangaroo, app-launcher, trash applet, recently used, advanced brightness controller, browser-profile-launcher are from 18.10 - 19.04 minimal installs - gnome-online-accounts work out of the box
- Keyboard friendly window shuffler. CTRL+ALT+keypad numbers
- New version of the login screen slick-greeter
-
TBDrevamped budgie-themes to be 19.04 friendly - Previously hidden, Advanced Network Configuration, LibreOffice Math, Software Sources and Additional Drivers are now available from the menu
- Daily builds for budgie-extras is now available - so to get the latest (warts and all) ppa:ubuntubudgie-dev/budgie-extras-daily
- Daily builds for DesktopFolder is now available - so to get the latest (warts and all) ppa:ubuntubudgie-dev/desktop-icons
- 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
- UB logo is proudly displayed in the About screen
- Pocillo-gtk-theme has been revamped - key visual has been the Green suggestion buttons are now a darkish blue.
-
TBDworkspace switching stopped working in 18.10 - previously manual dconf fix is now in 19.04 - Budgie-Welcome - we have now removed our little used budgie-remix reddit and G+ page icons
- Budgie ShowTime has been revamped - includes the ability to drag around the screen enabled via budgie-desktop-settings
- Rhythmbox alternative toolbar - consoldated appmenu - fix for crashes when used with non-english locales
Budgie Desktop is now (TBD) officially at v10.5 so look out for:
- Raven Sound Output widget enables you to do global as well as per-app volume control and output device changing
- Raven Sound Input widget enables you to do microphone control and input device changing.
- Ability to mute / unmute applications and an option to allow raising volume above 100%. Tweaks are available to better work across more GTK themes
- Raven section in Budgie Desktop Settings. Under this section, you’re able to show and hide individual widgets as well as enable the ability to raise your volume above 100% in Raven.
- 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 a new Text Scaling option
- Ability to dismiss individual notifications
- Notification grouping on an application basis
- Large Notifications are now truncated to prevent huge notification windows being displayed
- Caffeine powered - new applet that prevents screen dimming and lock screen triggering. This is now the default on the panel
- You can now middle click on the Bluetooth applet to toggle Bluetooth airplane mode.
- You can now middle click on the Sound applet to mute and unmute global audio.
- Workspace Applet revamped.
- Icon Task List Grouping - displayed icons can optionally group the windows of the same application
- Substantial new and updated translations for the desktop
- Ability to set the Notification position (previously was always top right)
- Launch new instance of an application via middle button on icon-task-list
- Scrollup on icon button to focus
- Sundry menu category has been eliminated
- Center all new windows is now an option in budgie-desktop-settings
- Power and printer notifications are no longer added to Raven notifications
- Sound widgets in Raven are removed if there are no devices
- Fix pinning issues with icon-tasklist-applet
- Firefox tabs that have audio now shown as “Firefox” rather than “AudioIPCServer” in Raven
- Slick Greeter now shows user wallpapers by default - can be changed via Menu Login Window
- DIsable night-light when apps are using full-screen
- Display week numbers in Raven Calendar
- Default to not show the Power strip at the bottom of Raven
- When desktop icons is switched off - extra option available to switch Displays
From 19.04 Ubuntu itself
-
TBDLinux kernel v5 - GNOME 3.32 applications - all apps need regression testing
- Latest version of Libreoffice 6.2
- Live Patch is available directly from the menu
- … TBD
Known issues
Text editor launched from Clock widget / Cannot set GNOME Calendar as the default calendar via Settings - Default applications: https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/gnome-calendar/issues/337- Desktop Icons/ Nemo Folders on upgrade to 19.04 from 18.10.
- Desktop icons will not carry over its position from 18.10 - remember this is very different software. So you will need to rearrange your desktop again.
- Folder icon sizes are different. You will need to use the zoom capability to see what works for you.
- The default version of Nemo is 3.8.6. The spacing between icons is much larger than we have been used to with Nautilus. V4 that is available in backports somewhat resolves this issue.
- on upgrade from 18.10 you will have both nautilus and nemo installed. You can safely remove nautilus via
sudo apt purge nautilus