Another six months have passed, and the time has come again for a new version of the Ubuntu Linux operating system, and this time it is version 21.04 (code-named Hirsute Hippo) that was released a few days ago, which is a short-supported version that will continue to receive feature and security updates until January of next year.
Despite the big disappointment that this version did not come with the latest version of the wonderful GNOME 40 desktop interface, Ubuntu 21.04 brought with it some new features in addition to newer versions of many of the system's default applications, the first of which is that some basic GNOME applications may It has already been upgraded to version 40 of the interface, such as Calculator, Disks (Gnome disk utility), Seahorse (password manager), Evince (document viewer), Fonts, System Monitor, and Gnome Image Viewer, while many other applications such as Nautilus (file manager), Terminal, Gedit (text editor), Calendar, File Roller (archives manager) and Cheese (camera application) have been retained in version 3.38 of GNOME desktop interface.
A set of apps that come pre-installed by default with the operating system have also been updated to the latest stable version available prior launch such as Mozilla Firefox version 87, Thunderbird version78.8.1, Transmission BitTorrent client version 3.0.0, and LibreOffice 7.1.2-rc2.
The new Ubuntu release also comes with an updated Linux kernel (version 5.11) which comes with some performance improvements to the Btrfs and Ext4 filesystems and adds support for several new hardware components such as Intel Rocketlake and AMD Dimgrey Cavefish graphic cards, and Linux Firmware 1.197, Network Manager 1.30, Python 3.9.4, GCC 10.3.0, and LLVM 12.
Ubuntu 21.04 includes a redesigned dark variant for the default Yaru theme with accessibility improvements in navigation and new file icons, it adds support for smart card authentication, offers Wayland session by default, drag and drop support on the desktop, improved Active Directory integration.
Pipewire support is now enabled in Ubuntu Hirsute Hippo as well, which restores working screen recording and allows for better audio handling for sandboxed applications, the power profile mode can now be changed from settings, and the installer includes now support for setting recovery key, which can be used to decrypt the disk in case forgotten password.
As with every new release, Ubuntu 21.04 comes with a set of known issues that may affect some users, such as that upgrading some systems from Ubuntu 20.10 to 21.04 may end up in an unbootable state if they use EFI version 1.10, audio does not work on systems with Intel Soundwire, the wrong audio output device is selected at every boot on the Raspberry Pi, and on systems with the Broadcom wireless chicest, Wi-Fi will not be available on the installed system if you enable wireless connectivity and the driver in a live session using "Additional Drivers" before installing Ubuntu (as a workaround, do not enable the wireless driver before installing).
