System76 released the Pop OS 22.04 LTS on April 25, 2022. We unwrap the new features and updates in this post.
System76’s POP OS is based on Ubuntu releases, and the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS release is just released. Following the release schedule, the Pop OS 22.04 is now available for download and upgrade. You can now do some hands-on and find out the new features.
Table of Contents
POP OS 22.04 LTS – New Features
The major highlight of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS is the customized version of GNOME 42. Because the vanilla GNOME 42 brings the libadwaita/GT4 conversion of entire GNOME Core and native applications. But Ubuntu 22.04 LTS plans to include some of them with its unique flavours, such as Accent Color.
Obviously, you might be wondering how GNOME 42 looks inside Pop OS 22.04. The Cosmic desktop in POP OS 22.04 features GNOME 42 at its core. But it is heavily stripped-down to align with Cosmic desktop principles.
The GNOME Shell version is 42 with a mixture of application versions. For instance, the look and feel remained almost the same as earlier releases of Pop OS, such as buttons, colour pallets, rounded corners, menus, etc. In the same way, this LTS version has Gedit 41.0 – that means the new GNOME Text editor is not included, nor is the new GNOME Terminal.
Files 42 in this release look almost the same as earlier versions. However, the Files get its latest version, 42, with all of its core features, not the looks. For example, the stock Files 42 has new folder icons, compact spacing of widgets and unique menus. But then, Files 42 in Cosmic desktop retained its folder icons and colours.
In addition, the newly designed Dark, Light theme support with auto wallpaper change is not picked up. Because Pop OS already had the Light/Dark theme support for quite some time since the inception of the Cosmic Desktop.
Another critical application GNOME Settings (gnome-control-center) version, remained at 41.1, which means the massive uplift of the Settings app with GNOME 42, is not available with additional features. Clearly, it is understandable from the Pop OS team’s decision because the gnome-control-center version 42 is a complex converted application to libadwaita and GTK4 with many features. Some of those features are built-in in the Pop OS via different means (such as the Light/Dark theme switcher).
Summary of the changes
Therefore a summary of the apps and their versions are as follows
- Linux Kernel 5.16
- Based on Ubuntu 22.04
- GNOME Shell 42
- GNOME Settings 41.4
- Firefox 98
- GNOME Terminal 3.43.9
- GEdit 41.4
Apart from this, there are no other significant changes in the Pop OS installer. Although Ubuntu 22.04 LTS uses Linux Kernel 5.15, Pop OS 22.04 LTS have the Linux Kernel 5.16 (frequently upgraded).
How to download Pop OS 22.04?
Pop OS 22.04 LTS is now available to download from the official website, which you can find below. Remember, there are three download options – standard download, ISO for NVIDIA and Raspberry Pi. So, choose the one you want.
After downloading, you can install it on a physical system or try it on a virtual machine.
Upgrade
You should note that upgrading to this version from the last Pop OS 20.04 LTS is impossible. Hence you need to first upgrade to Pop OS 21.10 and then follow this guide to upgrade to this release – How to Upgrade to Pop OS 22.04 LTS from 21.10 [Step by Step]
Via announcement
Cheers.
