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Official derivative of Ubuntu for educational institutions
Linux distribution
Edubuntu is developed in collaboration with teachers and technologists in several countries. Edubuntu is built on top of the Ubuntu base, incorporates the LTSPthin client architecture and several education-specific applications, and is aimed at users aged 6 to 18. It was designed for easy installation and ongoing system maintenance.
Features
Included with Edubuntu is the Linux Terminal Server Project and many applications relevant to education including GCompris, KDE Education Suite, Sabayon Profile Manager, Pessulus Lockdown Editor, Edubuntu Menueditor, LibreOffice, Gnome Nanny and iTALC. Edubuntu CDs were previously available free of charge through their Shipit service; since version 8.10 (2008) it is only available as a download in a DVD format.
In 23.04, Edubuntu's default GUI is GNOME. From 12.04 to 14.04, Edubuntu's default GUI was Unity; however GNOME, which had previously been the default, was also available. Since release 7.10, KDE is also available as Edubuntu KDE. In 2010, Edubuntu and the Qimo 4 Kids project were working on providing Qimo within Edubuntu, but this was not done as it would not have fit on a CD.
Project goals
The primary goal of Edubuntu was to enable an educator with limited technical knowledge and skills to set up a computer lab or an online learning environment in an hour or less and then effectively administer that environment.
The principal design goals of Edubuntu were centralized management of configuration, users and processes, together with facilities for working collaboratively in a classroom setting. Equally important was the gathering together of the best available free software and digital materials for education. According to a statement of goals on the official Edubuntu website: "Our aim is to put together a system that contains all the best free software available in education and make it easy to install and maintain."
It also aimed to allow low-income environments to maximize utilisation of their available (older) equipment.
Versions
Edubuntu 7.04 package
The first Edubuntu release coincided with the release of Ubuntu 5.10, which was codenamed Breezy Badger on 2005-10-13. With the 8.04 Hardy Heron release of Edubuntu it was given the name of Ubuntu Education Edition and was changed to be an add-on to a standard Ubuntu installation instead of being an installable Live CD. From version 9.10 onwards, Edubuntu changed to be available as a full system DVD instead of an Add-on CD. Edubuntu is also installable via a selection of "edubuntu" packages for all distributions using the official Ubuntu repositories (Ubuntu and Kubuntu mainly).
Since 14.04, Edubuntu became LTS-only; Edubuntu announced that they would skip the 16.04 LTS update and that they planned on staying with 14.04 due to lack of contributors. It would then be discontinued for a number of years, but as of April 2023, the distro has returned as an official flavor.
Release
Codename
Release date
End-of-life date
5.10
Breezy Badger
13 October 2005
13 April 2007
6.06 LTS
Dapper Drake
1 June 2006
14 July 2009
6.10
Edgy Eft
26 October 2006
25 April 2008
7.04
Feisty Fawn
19 April 2007
19 October 2008
7.10
Gutsy Gibbon
18 October 2007
18 April 2009
8.04 LTS
Hardy Heron
24 April 2008
12 May 2011
8.10
Intrepid Ibex
30 October 2008
30 April 2010
9.04
Jaunty Jackalope
23 April 2009
23 October 2010
9.10
Karmic Koala
29 October 2009
29 April 2011
10.04 LTS
Lucid Lynx
29 April 2010
9 May 2013
10.10
Maverick Meerkat
10 October 2010
10 April 2012
11.04
Natty Narwhal
28 April 2011
28 October 2012
11.10
Oneiric Ocelot
13 October 2011
9 May 2013
12.04 LTS
Precise Pangolin
26 April 2012
28 April 2017
12.10
Quantal Quetzal
18 October 2012
16 May 2014
13.04
Raring Ringtail
25 April 2013
27 January 2014
13.10
Saucy Salamander
17 October 2013
17 July 2014
14.04 LTS
Trusty Tahr
17 April 2014
30 April 2019
23.04
Lunar Lobster
20 April 2023
25 January 2024
23.10
Mantic Minotaur
12 October 2023
July 2024
24.04 LTS
Noble Numbat
25 April 2024
May 2029
24.10
Oracular Oriole
10 October 2024
July 2025
Legend: Old version, not maintained Older version, still maintained Current stable version Future version
Edubuntu 24.04 Desktop
