Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distributions. Canonical releases a new version of Ubuntu after every six months except its LTS version which is released after a period of two years. As a part of its short-term release cycle, a new version i.e. Ubuntu 21.04 “Hirsute Hippo” has been released. This version of Ubuntu will be supported for 9 months. This release applies to all its flavors including Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Xubuntu, etc.
It doesn’t seem a major release but It brings a lot of new features to it. Now let us see what are the major changes from its previous version and new feature.
Features of Ubuntu 21.04 “Hirsute Hippo”
Some of its new features are given below –
- It includes updated Linux kernel 5.11
- Now kernel offers better anonymous memory management to reduce swapping
- Updated tools and software for example GCC is updated to 10.3.0 release, Binutils to 2.36.1, and Glibc to 2.33, and so on.
- Includes the latest version of GNOME which has various improvements over the previous version
- Ubuntu desktop added the support for smartcard authentication
- Improved support for Raspberry Pi platform
- You can share wifi hotspot with a QR code
- The Active Directory integration has been improved. User authentication with GPO enabled works out of the box after installation.
- An event can be added to the GNOME calendar app
- The new and upgraded applications are available with Ubuntu 21.04 image
Upgrade to Ubuntu 21.04 “Hirsute Hippo” from Ubuntu 20.10
If you are using Ubuntu 20.10 “Groovy Gorilla” then you can easily upgrade it to Ubuntu 21.04 “Hirsute Hippo” by using the following commands –
NOTE: Create a backup before upgrading your system to a newer version
First, update the package index by using –
sudo apt update
Upgrade all pending packages –
sudo apt upgrade
Upgrade to new distribution release –
sudo do-release-upgrade
Once updated reboot your system to apply updates. Now your system should be upgraded to a new distro release.
Upgrade to Ubuntu 21.04 “Hirsute Hippo” from Ubuntu 20.04 LTS
If you are using Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and want to update to the latest release i.e. Ubuntu 21.04 “Hirsute Hippo” then first you have to update your distro to Ubuntu 20.10 and then again you can use the distribution upgrade command to upgrade to Ubuntu 21.04.
Run update and upgrade command on Ubuntu 20.04 LTS –
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
If it asks for confirmation press y and then enter.
Next use the distribution release upgrade command to upgrade Ubuntu 20.04 to Ubuntu 20.10 –
sudo do-release-upgrade
This will download the required packages and upgrade the distribution. Reboot your system to make the changes effective.
Now you have a system that runs Ubuntu 20.10 now you can follow the steps given in the previous section of this article.
Conclusion
I hope you are now able to use your upgraded Ubuntu system. For any query write us in the comments below.