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by: Abhishek Prakash Sat, 29 Nov 2025 10:55:28 GMT The development for Ubuntu 26.04 codenamed 'Resolute Raccoon' has already begun. It is a long-term support (LTS) release and a particularly important one as we venture more into the Wayland-only era of Linux. Let's have a look at the release schedule of Ubuntu 26.04 and its planned features. 📋Since the development is in progress and the final version comes in April'26, I'll be updating this article from time to time when there are new developments.Ubuntu 26.04 Release ScheduleUbuntu 26.04 LTS is going to be released on 23rd April, 2026. Here's the release sechedule with important milestones. Date Event February 19 Feature Freeze March 12 User Interface Freeze March 19 Kernel Feature Freeze March 26 Beta Release April 9 Kernel Freeze April 16 Release Candidate April 23 Final Release Please note that release schedule may change as the development progresses. Although, the final release date should stay the same. 💡Fun fact: A new version of Ubuntu is always released on a Thursday. For the October releases (version number ending with XX.10), it is the second Thursday of the month. For the April release (version number ending with XX.04), it is the fourth Thursday of the month. Two extra weeks are there to compensate for the Christmas holidays.New features coming to Ubuntu 26.04 Resolute RaccoonSince it is very early stages of development, I will include some predictions as well, which means some of the listed features may change in the final release. GNOME 50For sure, Ubuntu 26.04 LTS will be rocking the latest GNOME at the time of its release. And that latest GNOME will be version 50. What does GNOME 50 offer? Well, that too is under development and the picture will be a lot more clear as we enter 2026. I will say be prepared to see some of your classic GNOME apps replaced by modern versions. We have seen this trend in the past where GNOME changed the default text editor, document viewer, terminal etc. New default video playerTotem has been the default video player in Ubuntu for as long as I remember. Not that I can remember like an elephant, but I am not Leonard Shelby from Memento either. Showtime feels sleek and modern and fits quite well with the new GNOME design principles that is libadwaita. Interface is minimalist, but you still get some controls. You can click the gear symbol at bottom right or right click anywhere in the player for that. Showtime is only referred to as Video Player and the icon is similar to Totem (referred as Videos) in the screenshot below. Showtime is Video Player, Totem is Videos. MPV is well...MPVNew default system monitorGNOME 50 will also have a new default system monitor, Resources. This is surprising because Resources is not a GNOME Core app, although it's a GNOME Circle app which means a community made tool that meets the GNOME standards. Although the current system monitor is not that bad in my opinion. Current default system monitorx86-64-v3 and amd64v3 version for all packagesUbuntu 26.04 will have amd64v3/x86-64-v3 variants for all the packages, and they will be well tested, too. Some packages are already available in this format in the recently released Ubuntu 25.10, the LTS release will have all the packages in this variant. What is x86-64-v3? Well, you know what x86-64 and amd64 are, right? Yes, it is the 64-bit for Intel CPU and amd64 is the 64-bit AMD processor. And they have been in existence for nearly two decades now. But not all 64 bit processors are created equal. The newer generation of CPUs supports more instruction sets than their predecessors. And that's why they are labeled as v2/v3/v4 architecture variants. Basically, if you have a newer CPU, you can switch to the v3 variants of the packages and you should have some performance improvements. Don't worry. The v3 variant won't be default. Nothing to bother about if you are rocking an older machine. Introducing architecture variants: amd64v3 now available in Ubuntu 25.10Ubuntu prides itself on being among the most compatible Linux distributions. Compatibility is often a conscious trade-off against bleeding-edge performance. In Ubuntu 25.10, we have added support for packages that target specific silicon variants, meaning you can have your cake and eat it too! Back in 2023 I wrote an article talking about the history of the amd64/x86-64 architecture and described the “levels” x86-64-v2, -v3, and -v4 (often referred to as amd64v3, amd64v4, etc.). Since then, we’…Ubuntu Community HubmwhudsonDownload Ubuntu 26.04 (if you want to test it)🚧This is a development release and not suitable for running on your main machine. Only download and install it if you want to help with testing. Use it in a virtual machine or on a spare system that has no data on it. You have been warned.The first monthly snapshop of Ubuntu 26.04 development release is now available for thos who want to test it. And if you do test it, timely report the bugs otherwise what's the point of testing? Download Ubuntu 26.04 SnapshotWhat do you want to see in Ubuntu 26.04 LTS?This is a long term support. Expectations are high. What are yours? What features do you want to see in this upcoming version? Please share your views in the comment section.

by: Roland Taylor Sat, 29 Nov 2025 08:31:26 GMT The GNOME app ecosystem is on fire these days. Whatever your needs, there's probably an app for that. Or two. Or three (no kidding)! Two of the sleekest apps for monitoring your system (aptly called, "system monitors", of course) are Mission Center, and Resources. Both use libadwaita to provide slick visuals, responsive GUIs, and familiar functionality for the GNOME desktop environment. But, which one is right for you? I'll attempt to help you answer that question in this article. Quick Intro of Both Awesome System MonitorsNow that you understand the premise of what we're about, let's get acquainted with both apps. You'll see where they're quite similar in some ways, yet distinct enough to each stand alone. Mission CenterMission Center 1.1.0 in GNOME 48Mission Center is a detail-oriented system monitor app for the GNOME desktop environment, written primarily in Rust, using GTK4 and libadwaita. Geared towards high efficiency and smooth displays, Mission Center has hardware accelerated graphs for complex CPU, memory, and GPU breakdowns. ResourcesResources 1.9.1 in GNOME 48Resources is a relatively minimalist system monitor for the GNOME desktop environment. As a GNOME Circle app, it conforms strictly to the GNOME HIG and its patterns, with an emphasis on simplicity and reduced user effort. Resources is written in Rust and uses GTK4 and libadwaita for its GUI. Usage: The First GlanceFirst impressions matter, and with any system monitor, what you see first tells you what's going on before you even click on anything else. So how do these two stack up? Let's see. Mission Center: Hardware First, Stats & Figures UpfrontMission Center drops you right into the hardware actionOn first launch, Mission Center surfaces your hardware resources right away: CPU, GPUs, memory, drives, and network, with detailed readouts right before your eyes. Combining clean, accessible visuals with thorough device info, Mission Center makes you feel you've hooked up your computer to an advanced scanner — where nothing is hidden from view. If you like to jump right into the stats and details, Mission Center is just for you. Resources: Apps & Hardware Side-by-sideResources puts your apps and hardware resources side by sideResources displays a combined overview of your apps and hardware resources at first glance. You can get a quick view of which apps are using the most resources, side by side with what hardware resources are most in use. You also get a graph for the system's battery (if present) in the sidebar (not shown here). It doesn't give you detailed hardware stats and readouts until you "ask" (by clicking on any individual component), but you can still see which resources are under strain at a glance and compare this with which apps are using the most resources. CPU Performance & Memory UsageA system monitor is no good if it hogs system resources for itself. They need to be lean and quick to help us wrangle with other applications that aren't. So where do our two contenders fall? 💡Note: Plasma System Monitor was used for resource measurements. Different apps, including both Mission Center and Resources, measure resource usage differently.Mission Center: Stealthy on the CPU, kind to memoryMission Center uses around 160 MiB (168 MB), during casual usageMission Center barely sips the CPU, being negligible enough that it does not show up in your active processes (if you choose this filter) in GNOME System Monitor, even while displaying live details for a selected application. This is likely due to the fact that Mission Center uses GPU acceleration for graphs, thereby reducing strain on the CPU. It's also relatively light on memory usage, hitting roughly 168MB of usage even while showing detailed process info. Resources: Light on CPU, easier on memory useResources hits roughly 130 MiB (136 MB) in typical usageKeeping well within its balanced, lightweight approach, Resources sips the CPU while also keeping memory usage low, at around 136MB. While its use of hardware acceleration could not be confirmed, it's worth noting that Resources keeps graphs visible and active, even when displaying process details. Still, it manages to keep resource usage to a minimum. Differences: NegligibleAs this is one of the few areas where the comparison veers beyond subjectivity, it's important to note that the difference here is not that significant. Both apps are light on resources, especially in the critical area of CPU usage. The difference in memory usage between the two isn't particularly significant, though for users with limited RAM to spare, Mission Center's slightly higher memory usage could be a consideration to keep in mind. Process Management & ControlMission Center (left, background) and Resources (Right, foreground) showing their app viewsPerhaps the most critical aspect of any system monitor, is not just how well they can show you information, but how much they actually let you do with the information you're given. That's where process management and control come in, so let's look at how these two compare. What both have in commonAs you might expect, each app gives you the typical "Halt/Stop", "Continue", "End", and "Kill" signal controls as standard fare for Linux process management. Both allow you to view details for an individual app or process. Of course, you also get the common, critical stats, like CPU, Memory, and GPU usage. However, there are distinct, notable differences that can help you decide which one you'd prefer. 💡Note: Processes in Linux are not the same as "Apps". Apps can consist of multiple processes working in tandem.Mission Center: More details up frontViewing the details for Google Chrome in Mission CenterBoth apps and processes are displayed in the same tree view in Mission Center, just separated with a divider. It tries to put more info before you by default, including the Process ID (PID), though only for processes, Shared Memory, and Drive I/O. You can also combine parent and child process data, and show which CPU core any app is running on. Despite a detailed view, there's no control over process priority in Mission CenterWhile you get more signals for controlling your processes, like 'Interrupt' (INT), 'Hangup' (HUP), and 'Terminate' (TERM), you don't get the option to display or adjust the 'niceness' of any process, which, for those not in the know, tells the system what priority a process should have. Standout feature: Service managementMission Center lets you start, stop, and restart services with Systemd from a familiar GUIOne thing that sets Mission Center apart from other system monitors is its ability to display and control processes through Systemd. With Systemd being pretty much the standard across most distros, this is a feature that many power users will want in their toolkit, especially those who would prefer to avoid the CLI for such tasks as restarting services like Pipewire. Resources: Crouching data, hidden customizationResources showing app details for Nextcloud DesktopInterestingly, while Resources might appear to be the more conservative choice, it actually gives more options for what data you can display. As an example, Resources allows you to view GPU video encoder/decoder usage on a per-app basis. Another handy feature is the option to change a process' niceness value, though you must first enable this in the preferences. In Resources, apps and processes are displayed in separate views, which have some notable differences. For instance, there is no "User" column in the 'Apps' view, and you cannot change the priority of an app. Standout feature: Changing processor affinityChanging Processor Affinity in Resources is quick and simpleResources features a hidden gem in its process view, which is the ability to change process affinity on a per-process basis. This is especially handy for power users who want to make use of modern multi-core systems, where efficiency and performance cores often dwell in the same CPU. With a clever combination of niceness values (priority) and CPU affinity, advanced users can use Resources to pull maximum performance or power savings without having to jump into the terminal. Installation & AvailabilityMission Center: A package for everyoneMission Center is included by default with Aurora, Bazzite, Bluefin and DeLinuxCo. It's also available through an official Flatpak hosted on Flathub. The project provides AppImage downloads for both AMD64 and ARM64 architectures, and a Snap package in the Snap Store. Ubuntu users can install Mission Center with Snap by running: # Install Mission Center: sudo snap install mission-centerIf even these are not enough, you can also get Mission Center in many distributions directly from their repositories (though mileage may vary on the version that's actually available in such instances). The project provides a full list of repositories (with version numbers) in their Readme file. Resources: A conservative, but universal approachBeing part of the GNOME Circle, Resources is assuredly packaged as a Flatpak and available via Flathub. These are official packages and provide the experience most likely to offer the best stability and newest available features. Unofficial packages are also available for Arch and Fedora. Arch users can install it with: pacman -S resourcesWhereas Fedora users can install it using dnf and Copr: dnf copr enable atim/resources dnf install resourcesFinal thoughts: Which one's for you?That's a question only you can answer, but hopefully you now have enough information to help you make an informed decision. With the diversity of apps arising in this season of mass Linux development and adoption, it's only a matter of time before you find (or create) your favourite. If you're looking for deep hardware monitoring up front and don't need heavy customization, Mission Center is more likely to be a good fit for you. However, if you're looking for a quick bird's eye-view of apps and hardware at a glance, with the option to dig deeper where needed, Resources is probably more your speed. Of course, you can install and try both apps if you'd like, that's part of the fun and freedom of Linux. Feel free to let us know what you think in the comments.

by: Abhishek Prakash Fri, 28 Nov 2025 18:54:18 +0530 Happy Thanksgiving. To celebrate the occassion, I am announcing a new course on that teaches you Infrastructure as Code with Terraform. This course is contributed by Akhilesh who is also the creator behind the Living DevOps platform. The Terraform course is free for all LHB members. Learn Infrastructure as Code with TerraformLearn Terraform from scratch with a Linux-first approach. Master Infrastructure as Code concepts, modules, state, best practices, and real-world workflows.Linux HandbookAkhilesh MishraThat's not it. We also have a Kubernetes course for beginners now. It is a blend of essential concept explanation with handy examples. This one is for Pro members only. Mastering Kubernetes as a BeginnerStop struggling with Kubernetes. Learn it properly with a structured and practical course crafted specially for beginners.Linux HandbookMead NajiWith these two, our catalog now has 16 courses. And we are not stopping here. We are working on more courses and series and videos. Stay tuned and enjoy the membership benefits 💙 By the way, we are also running a limited time Black Friday deal. You get $10 off on both yearly and lifetime membership (for $89 instead of $139) for the next 7 days. This is probably the last time you'll see such low prices as we plan a price increase in 2026 to survive the inflation. Get Lifetime Pro Membership       This post is for subscribers only Subscribe now Already have an account? Sign in

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