Ubuntu Desktop documentation

Ubuntu Desktop is the most popular open-source operating system powering millions of PCs and laptops around the world.

What can it do? Ubuntu Desktop supports all your daily computing needs. It offers applications for web browsing, messaging, gaming and content creation, including Firefox, Chrome, Discord, Steam and OBS Studio. It’s a primary platform for all major IDEs, game development tools and AI/ML software.

How is it different? Compared to other mainstream operating systems, Ubuntu Desktop prioritizes your privacy and security. It’s free to download, use, modify and share. Compared to other Linux-based systems, Ubuntu Desktop aims to make open-source software easy and pleasant to use. Thanks to regular releases and commercial support, Ubuntu Desktop is a reliable and predictable platform.

Is it for me? Ubuntu Desktop is used by millions of users at home, for development and in enterprise. Anyone with a laptop or a PC is welcome to use Ubuntu Desktop. If you aren’t sure, you can try Ubuntu Desktop without making any permanent changes on your computer: run it from a USB stick.

Caution

The Ubuntu Desktop guide is under construction. The current state is a preview. URLs might change at any time and some content is unfinished.

In this documentation

How this documentation is organized

This documentation uses the Diátaxis documentation structure.

  • Tutorials take you step-by-step through installing Ubuntu Desktop and exploring the user interface.

  • How-to guides assume you have basic familiarity with Ubuntu Desktop. They cover various common tasks and specialized use cases.

  • Reference provides cheat sheets, specifications and details on the Ubuntu Desktop architecture.

  • Explanation includes topic overviews, background and context and detailed discussion.

Project and community

Ubuntu Desktop is an open source project that warmly welcomes community projects, contributions, suggestions, fixes and constructive feedback.

Get involved

Releases

Governance and policies

Credits

Large parts of this guide are based on documentation written by open-source communities. We wish to thank them for their work: