Overview

Ubuntu is a Debian-based Linux distribution developed by British company Canonical Ltd. It is released on a six-month cycle with long-term support (LTS) versions every two years, and is one of the most widely used Linux distributions across desktop, server, cloud, and IoT environments. Ubuntu is known for its extensive documentation, broad hardware support, and large community ecosystem.

Key Features

• APT + Snap Package Management: Dual package system with traditional APT (dpkg) and Canonical’s Snap universal packaging format
• LTS Releases: Enterprise-grade stability with 5 years (or up to 12 with Ubuntu Pro) of security updates per LTS release
• Cloud-Native: Dominant OS on public clouds (AWS, Azure, GCP) with optimized cloud images and first-class OpenStack support
• Multiple Flavors: Official derivatives include Kubuntu (KDE), Xubuntu (Xfce), Lubuntu (LXQt), Ubuntu Server, and Ubuntu Core

Platforms

x86-64, ARM64, RISC-V, ppc64le, s390x

Licence

Free software + some proprietary device drivers, excluding trademarks

Website

ubuntu.com