Edubuntu is a version of Ubuntu Linux designed for schools, students, and folks generally interested in education. Formerly known as Ubuntu Education Edition, the operating system is based on Ubuntu, but includes a suite of apps aimed at teachers and students.

The first version of the operating system was released in 2005, and the last major release came in 2014, when the developers decided to only offer new versions alongside Ubuntu’s LTS (Long Term Support) releases every two years instead of the more frequent releases which come out every six months.

Now it looks like the Edubuntu team has decided to slow the pace even further: Ubuntu 16.04 is coming in April, but Edubuntu will stay on version 14.04 indefinitely.

edubuntu

The developers plan to continue supporting Edubuntu 14.04 through April, 2019, which is when the “long term support” promise would normally end anyway.

But unless new contributors step up to take over development of the open source operating system, it doesn’t look like we’ll see any major new features in this education-oriented version of Ubuntu.

Of course, there’s nothing stopping users from installing educational software in Ubuntu or other Linux-based operating systems on their own. Or you could try a different education-oriented operating system. The Edubuntu website even has a list of alternate Linux distributions including Debian-Edu,m Fedora Education Spinand OpenSUSE-Edu.

via Phoronix

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16 replies on “Edubuntu Linux will skip the Ubuntu 16.04 LTS release”

    1. Slim to none. It looks like the Edubuntu email listserv is pretty much done, and when the decision to skip Ubuntu 16.04 was made the plan was to basically wind down if no new developers came on board by the time Ubuntu 17.10 was released.

      I sent an email to one of the former leaders of the project, but I’m pretty sure Edubuntu is pretty much dead at this point.

      The good news is that you can probably still access most of the software used for Edubuntu in other Ubuntu flavors.

  1. Excuse my ignorance on this, I’m a Linux novice. What, if any, are the differences between Edubuntu and generic Ubuntu besides the extra apps? Could I install 16.04 and just install all the apps included with the Edubuntu package without losing anything?

    This will be for my 9 yr old nephew who’s never owned a computer until now, and I love the idea of the new Snappy installer packages which could make his life easier.

    1. I would just give him regular Ubuntu. You can install any app you want.

      Snappy packages take a lot of disk space, and they aren’t easier to use at all. They are only easier for the people making the apps. Stick to the regular packages.

      1. Too late. After ripping my hair out for months trying to learn Linux and get it working on his computer, we eventually switched to Windows 10 so he could play the new titles natively and use the OS by himself.

        1. Let me guess, driver installation issues?

          Yeah, that’s a pain. It’s the reason I still have a Windows partition ?

          1. This is ironic. Almost 20 years ago I started to use Linux in part because everything just worked, even on old hardware, no drivers needed, vs. with Windows drivers were a large chore. Now Linux video drivers are a great pain and sound is a lost-cause nightmare in a nightmare. Performance wise everything is a pig with incredible inefficiency, and architecturally chasing the Microsoft mess instead of UNIX. They could have taken over the world if they quit bickering and driving away companies who wanted to put out an honest product – but they insist that nobody can make money (What do they expect people to eat?), making a free sub-standard version to undermine every legitimate product, only to abandon it when they have succeeded in putting them out of business. Microsoft won due to Open-source childishness and lack of vision and cohesiveness. Enough of a rant.

  2. I have Edubuntu running in a couple of rural labs and the loss of a
    new release is very sad. I know the two main maintainers personally,
    there are literally only two guys, and work very hard but can’t maintain
    it themselves.

    The LTSP base makes it really nice
    to deploy in low cost environment and the maintenance is almost zero.
    In the 6 years I have been running it, I have never had to go out to
    site because of software issues, only hardware. This was only because
    the terminals were caked in red dust and CPU fans stopped spinning –
    swapped out for new passive terminal and back up and running again. Such
    a hardy system and I will miss it when it is gone.

  3. It’s sad to see one of the official Ubuntu family slip. What could be more manageable might be something similar to Ubuntu Mate’s Software Boutique. A group of best in class applications that could turn any Ubuntu distro into educational focused OS. Much could be said of Ubuntu Studio or any other specialised flavor.

  4. Do any students even use this distro? I would think that schools would prefer chrome OS as a Linux distro than Ubuntu based distros now.

    1. Yes, we love Chromebooks in the schools I work in. But Edubuntu gives you a good LTSP base, and the wide variety of “real apps” that you don’t have with Chromebooks.

    2. Agree with Steve. We have EdUbuntu in the computer lab and use chromes on the classrooms because of the application base. Once chrome opens up and gets a better base of applications and broader support, they say we will move to chromes only.

    3. The rural classrooms we have it running in seem to love it. The LTSP base also makes it very easy to manage and deploy.

    4. Chrome OS is great for web surfing. But most edu apps need Linux or Windows.

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