Ubuntu Studio remains the quickest one-shot way to get at Linux and free software for music, sound, video, media, and 3D. And they deserve some extra love now, especially since Apple Silicon has slightly deflated desktop Linux attention. Here’s a look at the long-term support version that just hit beta, due later this month.
Ubuntu Studio has its own release cadence, so yes, 24.04 – the April 2024 release – is an LTS (long-term support) release. 24.04.1 will then come in August 2024, with full stable support.
We can dive into various Linux distros for media work another day, but the simplest way to say this is that Ubuntu Studio is the easiest answer to the following use cases:
– Working with OBS and tools like teleprompter (with a nice Qt-based tool) is really easy – also making this a good candidate for a second streaming machine
– Audio drivers play nicely, with PipeWire, JACK, and ALSA support all neatly integrated – including with a no-brainer configuration tool at install (see image)
– You can work with snaps as well as native Debian packages
– You get an attractive, friendly environment with KDE that will not interfere with high-performance audio work / comes pre-configured (though it’s Linux, so you can switch to something else with minimal issue – and with the normal level of Ubuntu polish and eye candy)
– It’s easy to find support – and to lazy-Google answers, because it’s Google.
