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If you are a user of Ubuntu 24.10 'Oracular Oriole', then take note, as the release has officially reached the end-of-life (EOL) status. This means that, going forward, there will no longer be any new updates or important security patches for it.

This aligns with how Canonical manages Ubuntu's interim releases, which are supported for only nine months. Ubuntu 24.10 was never intended for long-term use. Instead, it was aimed at users who wanted easy access to the latest features and refinements Ubuntu had to offer.

With its support window now closed, it's time to consider your next steps. 👇

Ubuntu 24.10 is EOL, Act Now!

Ubuntu 24.10 is not covered under the Ubuntu Pro program.

Running Ubuntu 24.10 after support ends means leaving your system vulnerable to security threats and broken software. This is particularly risky in enterprise setups where stability and security are essential.

Unless you plan to do a fresh install of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS or wait for the next interim release (25.10) in October 2025 or the next LTS (26.04) in April 2026, upgrading to Ubuntu 25.04 is the only way forward.

Check Ubuntu Version

The lsb release -a command and the About page are handy to check which Ubuntu version you have.

Before you do anything, you should confirm that you are running Ubuntu 24.10. To do that, either run the command below or head into the Settings app and click on "System" to check.

lsb_release -a

Upgrading to Ubuntu 25.04

Then, make sure you've backed up any important data, and open the Software & Updates app. Under the "Updates" tab, check that you are set to receive notifications for all new Ubuntu versions by selecting "For any new version" from the dropdown menu in the last item listed.

Software & Updates app on the left and the terminal on the right, running the apt update and upgrade commands.

Now, run the following command to update your system:

sudo apt update && sudo apt dist-upgrade

After that, run the Update Manager using the command below. Install any pending updates, and restart your computer if prompted to do so:

sudo update-manager

Now run the same command again. Here, you should see an "Upgrade…" button. Click it and follow the on-screen instructions to begin the upgrade process.

You will see a welcome page with a link to the release notes for Ubuntu 25.04 'Plucky Puffin'. When you click "Upgrade," the necessary files will start downloading.

The release notes for Ubuntu 25.04 and the new packages list in the upgrader.

After the downloads finish, a new page will appear showing the packages to be installed, removed, or upgraded. Click "Start Upgrade" to begin the upgrade process.

The upgrader may ask you to choose some preferences. Once you’ve made your selections, the upgrade will continue, and, when finished, it will prompt you to reboot your computer.

📋If the upgrader crashes for any reason, don’t worry. The terminal will keep running the upgrade in the background. Let it finish, then simply restart the update-manager.

Suggested Read 📖

16 Killer Tips To Speed Up Ubuntu LinuxSome practical tips to speed up Ubuntu Linux. The tips here are valid for most versions of Ubuntu and can also be applied to Linux Mint and other Ubuntu-based distributions.It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

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Having a secure way to communicate, especially in conflict zones, is more important than ever. When authorities or the occupying power feel threatened, they shut down networks, block apps, and surveil everything, going to great lengths to suppress dissent.

Against this bleak backdrop, Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter, has launched an open source project. It's a decentralized messaging app that works offline without needing the internet or cellular networks.

removedat: What to Expect?

Built with offline and physical proximity use in mind, removedat enables secure, peer-to-peer messaging by connecting nearby devices via Bluetooth LE Mesh Networking, allowing messages to hop between phones without involving conventional network connectivity.

removedat’s architecture depends on a decentralized mesh in which each device simultaneously acts as both a node (client) and relay (server), where each device broadcasts and receives encrypted message packets using Bluetooth LE, enabling multi-hop communication without central servers.

As for its features, removedat requires no accounts or phone numbers, supports IRC-style commands for easy navigation, enables group chats with channel management, and offers an emergency wipe option to instantly clear all data. It also includes performance optimizations like message compression and adaptive battery modes.

If you ask me, the features it provides can actually be useful for people who are in places where their government can’t be trusted and are facing constant surveillance, censorship, and sudden internet shutdowns that block normal communication channels, e.g., during protests, unlawful crackdowns, armed conflicts, or other emergencies.

Get removedat

The app is currently in the testing phase via TestFlight (the beta spots are currently full) and is only available for iOS and macOS right now. There’s no word on an Android version yet.

The source code is hosted on GitHub as an Unlicense project. You can also check out the detailed whitepaper for more information on the underlying bits.

Explore removedat

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LibreOffice is a powerful, open source office suite that offers word processing, spreadsheets, and more. It’s an excellent alternative to Microsoft’s user-data-hungry Office 365, which was recently dropped by the French city of Lyon.

According to a recent development, it turns out LibreOffice has finally begun work on a long-requested feature, something that many have been waiting on for years now.

What's Happening: Work is underway to add native Markdown import support to LibreOffice Writer. This development, led in collaboration with a Google Summer of Code (GSoC) developer, aims to enable opening and editing of Markdown files (.md) using the MD4C Markdown parser.

The initial proposal to develop Markdown import support for LibreOffice Writer came from Ujjawal Kumar Chouhan, a student at IIT (BHU), India.

What to Expect: So far, the development has made it through four key milestones. The first one involved adding a basic stub for Markdown export, laying the foundational code that prepares LibreOffice to handle .md files.

Next, the integration of the MD4C parser was completed. This C-based library provides a reliable and CommonMark-compliant way to parse Markdown content, enabling LibreOffice to understand the structure and syntax of Markdown documents accurately.

Following that, a dummy Markdown Filter was introduced. It lets Writer open .md files, but for now, it only creates empty documents without showing any content.

And, the latest milestone, brings actual functionality, allowing Writer to import and render basic Markdown elements such as paragraphs, headings, and lists.

While promising, these improvements and Markdown support as a whole are still under active development. The work is progressing steadily, and the feature is expected to be fully completed and included in the 26.2 release scheduled for next year.

Once live, this will add to LibreOffice’s existing support for file types, making it even more useful and flexible for users.

Via: Phoronix

Suggested Read 📖

15 LibreOffice Tips to Get More Out of itLibreOffice is an excellent office suite. These LibreOffice tips will enable you to use it more effectively.It's FOSSAbhishek Prakash

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The upcoming Blender 5.0 release is set to bring a notable improvement for Linux: experimental support for High Dynamic Range (HDR) rendering when using the Wayland display server with the Vulkan graphics backend.

This is a big step towards expanding Blender’s rendering capabilities on Linux, offering a more accurate visual preview for artists working in areas like animation, visual effects, and game development.

HDR Support on Blender: Why Does it Matter?

Source: Blender

If you're working in 3D art, animation, or visual effects, HDR can make a noticeable difference. It lets you use displays that support higher brightness, deeper contrast, and a wider range of colors, so what you see in your Blender viewport will be closer to what you’ll see on other HDR screens or in final renders.

This comes at a time when many Linux distributions are transitioning away from the older Xorg display server in favor of Wayland, which is being adopted as the new default display protocol. Wayland offers a more modern architecture designed to improve security, performance, and support for advanced graphical features.

Want to Try it Out?

🚧HDR support in Blender 5.0 is still experimental and under active development. It isn't stable, and is not recommended for production use at this time.

If you’d like to test the feature and explore its capabilities, follow these steps:

Download the Blender 5.0 alpha build Get the latest alpha version from the Blender Builds page.Ensure HDR is enabled on your system Use an HDR-capable monitorRun a Wayland session (e.g., GNOME or KDE Plasma)Enable HDR output in your system’s display settingsConfigure Blender for Vulkan and HDR Launch Blender and go to Preferences > System > Display GraphicsSelect Vulkan as the graphics backendGo to Preferences > Interface and enable Developer ExtrasNavigate to Preferences > Experimental and enable Vulkan HDR support Linux/Wayland.Restart Blender to apply changes

You can learn more about this addition in the original post by Jeroen Bakker from the Blender team.

Blender 5.0 Alpha

Via: Phoronix

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How often has your province closed emergency rooms, and which years have had more closures than others? Consult our summary tables and learn more about the methodology.

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This project aims to document every instance in which a hospital emergency department (ER) in Canada closed its doors – temporarily or permanently – since 2019. For each closure, The Globe and Mail captured the ER’s name, start and end times, and the reason for the disruption.

Explore the interactive map below to browse ER closures across Canada, as compiled by The Globe and Mail.

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