Ubuntu Studio/26.10

Ubuntu Studio 26.10 Stonking Stingray Release Notes

Ubuntu Studio shares some of the same desktop features as Kubuntu. Please see the Kubuntu release notes for additional information.

Getting Ubuntu Studio 26.04 LTS

Download a Disk Image

Bootable images for standard PCs/laptops

Instructions for burning the image to a USB flash drive can be found on the Burning ISO Howto. NOTE: This ISO image exceeds 4.0GB and will not write correctly to a DVD. We recommend using a USB flash drive of 8GB or greater as installation media.

Check SHA256SUM for the Downloaded ISO

It is recommended to check your image file so your installation goes smoothly. Compare your SHA256 checksum with the correct ones found alongside the images.

Upgrading to Ubuntu Studio 26.10

When the upgrade becomes available, Ubuntu Studio 25.10 users should receive a notification. Ubuntu Studio 26.04 LTS users may need to select notifications for any new Ubuntu version in Software Sources. If you do not receive a notification, make sure plasma-distro-release-notifier is installed.

To upgrade automatically, click on the notification icon in your system tray.

To manually upgrade, press Alt+Space to invoke KRunner, and type the following:

do-release-upgrade -f DistUpgradeViewKDE

Alternatively, you can do this from the Konsole terminal:

do-release-upgrade

If you wish to upgrade early, simply add a -d after do-release-upgrade. Note that this is not supported and could break your system.

Changes for This Release

(compared to Ubuntu Studio 26.04 LTS Resolute Raccoon)

Highlights

• Ubuntu Studio Installer now lets you choose individual packages from a metapackage’s Depends and Recommends lists.
• Ubuntu Studio Audio Configuration now uses a single-window, tabbed control-panel layout, with clearer PipeWire quantum controls.

New Packages

• Sonic Pi — A live-coding environment for creating music with code.
• SuperCollider — An environment for audio synthesis and algorithmic composition.
• JNoise — A command-line white/pink noise generator.

Audio

• PipeWire continues as the default audio server with improved integration
• RaySession upgraded to 0.17.4 (from 0.14.x), with numerous bugfixes
• Patchance upgraded to 1.3.2, including the new 1.3.0 feature release and subsequent bugfixes
• Geonkick upgraded to 3.7.0
• BChoppr upgraded to 1.12.8
• Loopino 0.5.0 added as a new audio plugin
• harpwise upgraded to 6.34.4

Graphics

• Blender upgraded to 5.0.1

Video

• FreeSHow upgraded to 1.6.5 (snap)
• Kdenlive updated to 26.08.1.
• OBS Studio updated to 32.2.2.
• QPrompt updated to 2.0.2.

Current Version of Main Multimedia Packages

• Blender 5.0.1
• Kdenlive 26.08.1
• Krita 6.0.3
• GIMP 3.2.6
• Ardour 9.8.0
• Scribus 1.6.6
• Darktable 5.4.1
• Inkscape 1.4.3
• Carla 2.5.10
• OBS Studio 32.2.2
• MyPaint 2.0.1
• Audacity 3.7.8

Package versions listed above were current at release time and may receive updates through normal package maintenance.

A Note About TLP (Tuned for Linux Power)

Many people prefer using tlp for power management on Linux-based laptops, usually after following guides online. However, installing tlp will result in a conflict with power-profiles-daemon, which is installed in Ubuntu Studio.

power-profiles-daemon is required by the KDE Plasma desktop environment and is the preferred choice for power management on Ubuntu Studio. Uninstalling it will result in uninstallation of ubuntustudio-desktop-core which may result in the auto-removal of the entire desktop environment.

For power management in Ubuntu Studio, please do not attempt to install tlp as we cannot support it. Instead, use the built-in Power Profiles, which are in the Power Management menu in the system tray.

For fine-tuning of CPU power usage, cpupower-gui is also installed by default.

Known Problems

• An issue has been identified in which tooltips in the dark theme will appear with a light background, rendering the light text illegible.
• Ubuntu Studio uses the same KDE Plasma desktop environment as the official Kubuntu release, and thus, may be affected by some of the same issues. This is also true of the core packages of Ubuntu. You can see their release notes here (Kubuntu) and here (All of Ubuntu).
• You will be prompted, upon first login of any new user, to reboot to apply proper audio configurations for audio production. This is intentional and is a workaround for the installer’s inability to configure the first user as part of the “audio” group or for new users to be added to the audio group automatically.

Support

Ubuntu Studio 26.10 (Stonking Stingray) will be supported for 9 months, until July 2027.

Source: Ubuntu Studio 26.10 Release Notes — Ubuntu Discourse, posted by eeickmeyer (Erich Eickmeyer), 1 October 2026.