When is the next long-term support of ubuntu MATE? And what will it be?
I've read it is something related to a Hippo, but didn't get many details.
The next version will be 21.04 Hirsute Hippo but it WILL NOT be an LTS release.
The next LTS release will be 22.04 and it will not have a code name assigned until after the 21.10 release.
That sucks. Will this be in 2022 and 2023?
Version numbers are YY.MM
The next releases go as follows:
2021:
April: 21.04
October: 21.10
2022
April: 22.04 (LTS)
October: 22.10
2023
April: 23.04
October: 23.10
Unless there are some changes to the Ubuntu release cadence and model (which there are no signs of currently that I'm aware of), you can expect an LTS release in April on even numbered years (2018, 2020, 2022, etc), and every other release is an interim, with a shorter lifespan.
That's interesting. Too bad it's another two years till another LTS release. I'd like to upgrade, but only when it's LTS releases.
Yeah, it does take a while, but they are maintained for very long stretches of time, so it isn't viable to make more LTS releases and maintain them all at the same time. Currently I think there are three actively maintained LTS releases (not counting enterprise support), and then there's the current interim release being maintained, too (20.10). So it stacks up pretty fast.
If you're interested in newer hardware support in LTS releases, they do receive something called HWE (hardware enablement), that will bring newer kernel versions to existing LTS releases, rather than just security updates. So 20.04 refreshes in the future should see better hardware support as it ages, than it would without it.
Well Ubuntu Mate updates every three years, or you can stay on with just Ubuntu security updates for five years.
If LTS updated more often, it would not be LTS. (LONG TERM) That would be Short or Intermediate Term.
Personally I wish Mate supported for five years. Distribution Upgrades or clean installs are a lot of work.
They are a lot of work to install/upgrade. A month ago, I wanted to try 20.04 so I flashed the ISO image to the SD card. And guess what? It didn't boot. It showed the Ubuntu MATE logo and the five dots for hours and never got anywhere. Just endless errors.
So, I flashed MATE 18.04 (Bionic) and upgraded to focal. It works, but I don't know why flashing 20.04 on a microSD card is such a pain to boot.
Below is a list of items that I've had to repair on every computer I've put 20.04 on that I, and I'm sure many others, would like to see fixed for future releases:
WiFi - Every computer that I've installed Mate on has had to be plugged into an Ethernet line and I've fumbled around until I've found a way to get the Wi-Fi to work. My brother in law's computer just won't work. I've done everything I know how to do to get it to work, and it should, but there seems to be massive difficulty here.
Bluetooth - Holy crap! I'm so sick of trying to figure out a way to get Bluetooth to work. This is a major failure and hasn't worked on more than half of the laptops that I've rebuilt. I've read posts with no solutions and have yet to see any with a solution. I think everyone has given up if 'sudo service bluetooth start' didn't work, which it doesn't ever work.
Screen Resolution - I had to create a file to get the screen resolution to work on a few computers that I've worked on. This seems trivial, but it should already be there.
Ubuntu on Wayland - A user should not be shocked as I was to have all of their work and effort putting their computer together and then it seems to be gone. I have no idea when this started but understand it will eventually go that way completely. Either $h!t or get off the pot. Do it or don't. When a user's screen suddenly goes death blue and everything looks terrible, but there are some functions, it is a freaky thing. This happened to me where I logged in and somehow was on the UOW screen. It sucked and I think it sucks because I like things closer to the way they are.