While Ubuntu 21.04 is the latest version of the distro, and third version to receive a codename with the letter “H”, with the earlier version, Ubuntu 5.04 which was released in 2005 codenamed “Hoary Hedgehog”, and followed by Ubuntu 8.04 LTS “Hardy Heron” in 2008. And the codename for Ubuntu 21.04 was revealed as “Hirsute Hippo“ which is a rather humongous name.
The Beta version of Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo arrived on April 1, 2021, and the final freeze milestone is expected on April 15, with the final stable version to be made available on April 22, 2021.
What's new in Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo Beta?
Unlike previous Ubuntu releases that came with tons of core and visual changes, Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo Beta is rather straightforward, with the absence of GNOME 40 as a disappointment to many users, albeit it does come with GNOME 40 apps.
Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo Beta features Wayland as the default session, whch is a replacement for X.org’s windowing system, with such advantages as support for emerging HDR technology and significantly easier to maintain. Also, Ubuntu 21.04 comes with the ability to change the power profile mode with Pipewire support.
Additionally, it brings a new set of preloaded wallpapers and there are other flavors like Xubuntu, Lubuntu, Kubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, and Xubuntu versions.
How to Update to Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo Beta
If you wish to update from older Ubuntu versions to Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo Beta, check the Updates section and in the Notify me of a new Ubuntu version dropdown, select the For any new version option and close the app.
But note that Ubuntu is distributed on three types of images, with the Desktop image allowing you to try Ubuntu without changing your PC at all, and at your option to install it permanently later. However, you will need at least 1024MiB of RAM to install Ubuntu from this image.
And the second type, which is the server install image allows you to install Ubuntu permanently on a computer for use as a server, but it does not install a graphical user interface.
Therefore, the 64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop image should be prefered if you have a computer based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2). And the 64-bit PC (AMD64) server install image is prefered if you have a computer based on the AMD64 or EM64T architecture (e.g., Athlon64, Opteron, EM64T Xeon, Core 2).
If you need help in burning these images to disk, you can refer to the Image Burning Guide.
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