How to Install and Test the Upcoming All-Snap Ubuntu Desktop
Canonical’s brand-new Snap-based build has been met with a variety of feedback. Many users are resistant to the idea, while others are drawn to the fault tolerance and reliability that the immutable build offers.
Regardless of which opinion resonates with you, there’s no doubt that the new Snap-only version of Ubuntu is intriguing—and the best part is, you can try it with a virtual machine.
Download the All-Snap Ubuntu Image
Officially, the new all-Snap Ubuntu version hasn’t been released as of June 2023—but thanks toJorge Castro(an ex-Canonical employee), the word has spread that a ZIP file containing an all-Snap Ubuntu image is available in the Ubuntu Core Desktop GitHub repository.
Download:Ubuntu Core Desktop
You can download this image by navigating to theActionstab of the Ubuntu Core Desktop repository and scrolling until you find a finished build-image workflow. Download the image ZIP file listed underArtifacts. Once the file has finished downloading, extract the ZIP and thenextract the resulting TAR.GZ.
Untarring the file in Linux is simple. Run the following command, adjusted to refer to the correct directory, to untar the Ubuntu image:
Test the All-Snap Ubuntu as a Virtual Machine
The best method of testing all-Snap Ubuntu involves creating a QEMU virtual machine. Copypc.imgto your home directory to make it easily accessible. Next,open the terminaland enter the following command to install QEMU:
Once QEMU has finished downloading, you’re finally ready to create the virtual machine. Enter the following commands to add the image to your computer as a launchable VM:
The virtual machine will boot and then restart. Unfortunately, the rebooting process is automatic and takes a while to complete—but once it’s done, you won’t have to worry about any more complex parts of the setup process.
What to Expect From All-Snap Ubuntu
You’ll be prompted to create a user profile after Ubuntu Core has finished rebooting. Follow through with all the prompts in thegnome-initial-setupwizard. You won’t be able to create an administrator profile, but the passwordless root will still allow you some power within the VM.
Ubuntu Core itself is simple but appealing. It is based onUbuntu 22.04 LTS (Jammy Jellyfish).Snaps are utilized as the primary package type, and the system itself is completely immutable.
The terminal is accompanied by a containerized alternative—Workshop—while snaps themselves are offered through the Flutter-based software store.
Keep Up With the Latest Ubuntu Releases
Between the latest innovations in conventional Ubuntu and the plans that Canonical has in store for immutable Ubuntu releases, it’s safe to say that the distro has a bright and interesting future ahead.
You can find out about new features to tinker with—not just including all-Snap Ubuntu—by regularly upgrading your system to the latest official release.
Unlike Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, 23.04 Lunar Lobster is an interim release. So is it worth upgrading your Ubuntu installation from an LTS version to 23.04?
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