Xubuntu 17.10 "Artful Aardvark" Released

Table of Contents

This has been a comparatively quiet development cycle for Xubuntu. With increased development on Xfce as we prepare for Xfce 4.14, fewer Xubuntu-specific changes took place this cycle. Thankfully, Xubuntu 17.10 still has plenty of goodies to get excited about.

Appearance Updates: Greybird‘s client-side decorations (CSD) have been refreshed and now consume much less space. elementary-xfce, our preferred icon theme, has been updated and includes a new device, mime type, and panel icons. We also have a fancy new wallpaper.
Application Updates: This is the first release of Xubuntu to feature GNOME Font Viewer, a handy tool for font management. LibreOffice, Firefox, and Thunderbird have been updated to their latest versions (5.4, 56, and 52.4, respectively). On the Xfce side, Dictionary, Genmon Plugin, Mount Plugin, Exo, and Tumbler have been updated to take advantage of the latest GTK+ version and continue the march toward Xfce 4.14.
Technical Updates: GTK+ 3.26, Python 3.6, and Linux 4.13 are all included. Thanks to the Ubuntu Desktop team, hardware accelerated video, improved bluetooth audio, and driverless printing round out a solid development cycle.

Screenshots

The Xubuntu 17.10 login screen shows off the wallpaper and visually impressive Greybird theme.

After logging in, the Xubuntu desktop greets you with a cool, clean workspace.

LibreOffice 5.4 makes editing office documents fast and easy.

Xubuntu's documentation is available offline to make getting support fast and easy.

Catfish is included to help find your long-lost files.

Xubuntu 17.10 features the latest MenuLibre, an easy-to-use editor for the applications menu.

Download

Download Xubuntu 17.10 from Xubuntu.org. It’s available in both 32-bit and 64-bit varieties.

What’s Next?

After the release festivities calm down, work will begin on Xubuntu 18.04, our next LTS release. These are always our most active cycles as we polish the work that we’ve been doing for the past 18 months and prepare for a 3-year support window. A few things we already have planned…

Replacing the Sound Indicator with the Xfce PulseAudio Plugin, a very capable replacement with more features landing soon.
Replacing the Xfce Indicator Plugin with the Xfce StatusNotifier Plugin, a fully compatible and better-maintained plugin with a few new tricks.
Another wallpaper contest to showcase the community’s artful taste.
And plenty more as we begin the blueprint process!