[ikk157]

Hello there everyone!



Now that Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is on the line (its release is scheduled for the 23rd of April 2020), I decided to try out the beta out of curiosity. And what better testing candidate to try this on than my raspberry pi 4B with 4GB of RAM!



This post serves as both a tutorial but also more of a "timeline" for everything I did. So I wasn't sure which category to put this in. Admins, feel free to move this wherever you find to be the best category for this post.



Enough with the "briefing" and let's get straight into the fun shall we!

To begin with

I headed off to (http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-server/...EADER.html) and downloaded the 64-bit ARM Ubuntu server 20.04 LTS image (yes, I said server... I'll get to that in a minute).

Next up

I decided to try out the raspberry pi foundation's new raspberry pi imager (usually, I'd just use balena etcher).

Now off to flashing the image to the microSD card

I went ahead and installed then launched the raspberry pi imager, where we'll have to choose the image and target microSD card





Click on "choose os"






Then "Use Custom" and a window will pop up where you have to choose the image we downloaded previously





Then click on "choose sd card"




And select your microSD card (which you obviously should've plugged into your computer by now)





Then click on "write" and let it do its thing





You will eventually get a pop-up saying that it's done

Next up

If you have the raspberry pi 4B 4GB RAM version (like I do), this step is for you. If yours is the 2GB or 1GB RAM model, then skip this step.



Due to a kernel bug, the current Ubuntu images for the raspberry pi only support 3GB of RAM max. If you decide to boot up now, you'll notice that your keyboard/mouse won't be working as this bug causes the usb ports to become useless. So w need to do one extra thing while our microSD card is still plugged into our computer.



You'll find a "system-boot" partition appearing as a plugged in usb drive. Open it and look for "usercfg.txt" and edit it (Notepad will do) and add the following line:

Terminal

total_mem=3072

Then save.

Now for the first boot up

Remove your microSD card from your card reader (hence your computer) and insert it into your raspberry pi and power it up.



Login with the default username "ubuntu" and password "ubuntu". It will then prompt you to choose a new password, do that.



If you're using ethernet, you should be connected to the internet without any extra input required from you. However, if you want to use wifi, you need to configure netplan for that. Not going to get into any details as there are tons of tutorials on that online.



Now run:

Terminal

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

Next up

Remember how i said earlier that we're downloading the Ubuntu server image and not the desktop one? Well that is because there's no deskop image as of right now. But don't worry!



If you're looking for Ubuntu server 20.04 LTS, stop here. However, if you want Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 LTS, you need to run one last command:

Terminal

sudo apt install ubuntu-desktop

This will take some time so grab yourself a snack, sit back, and enjoy seeing your life fall apart in front of your very own eyes! Just kidding! It will take some time though... I wasn't kidding on that part.



Once it's done, you should simply reboot (I know I said the previous command was the last one... but do you really even consider a reboot command as a part of this? like come on!)

Terminal

sudo reboot now

You will eventually load up into a login GUI, where you simply click on the "ubuntu" user and type in your newly set password... then hit enter.



And oh look! A wild Desktop appeared!





That's about it!



You might be wondering: "Wait a minute, doesn't ikk157 always say he cant edit his posts and make them look good on mobile? Something seems a bit suspicious here!"



And you're right, I still can't efficiently edit posts on mobile. However, this one wasn't written from a mobile device. For a matter of fact, I'm actually writing and editing this from Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 LTS that I just installed on my 4GB RAM raspberry pi 4B! (No, my posts won't start looking like this as nothing beats the convenience of using the forum on the go on mobile.)



Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed putting it together!

[deanhills]

A brilliant tutorial @ikk157. I've moved the thread to tutorials as I thought it stood out as one.

I'm curious. What does your Raspberry Device look like? Is it possible to post a printscreen of the device? I know it can be used for a very wide spectrum of applications, but just curious why you got a raspberry and what specific applications you are using it for. Definitely sounds like fun!

[LightDestory]

Nice tutorial, I didn't know that for Pi 4 you need these workaround. When I installed a Linux distro on a Pi 3 it wasn't so hard, everything worked out of the box.

Are you going to use the Pi 4 as a "desktop replacement" or a home-server?
I think that with 4GB of RAM if can be used easily as a NAS server or Torrent Station.

[xdude]

I really like how the Desktop looks. I used Ubuntu for fun for a while but that was long long time ago. Also did you built the raspberry pi your self or bought a pre-built one ? any either case how much did it cost you?

[ikk157]

A brilliant tutorial @ikk157.  I've moved the thread to tutorials as I thought it stood out as one.

I'm curious.  What does your Raspberry Device look like?  Is it possible to post a printscreen of the device?   I know it can be used for a very wide spectrum of applications, but just curious why you got a raspberry and what specific applications you are using it for.  Definitely sounds like fun!

Here’s how my two Raspberry Pis look like:


The one on the left is the previous model (the raspberry pi 3B+). And the one on the right is the latest, the raspberry pi 4B (mine is the maxed out 4GB RAM option... previous models didn’t have any “configurable” specs)

As for the printscreen that you requested, look at the last picture in the tutorial. That’s how it looks like with both currently running Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 LTS.

Raspberry Pis are indeed a lot of fun... the way that you have so much control of many aspects along with the gpio pins and all the different accessories available online, it makes it suitable for just about any home (or even industrial) project you can think of. It’s sort off like an arduino but at the same time insanely different (not getting into a details here, look up the differences if you want to)

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Nice tutorial, I didn't know that for Pi 4 you need these workaround. When I installed a Linux distro on a Pi 3 it wasn't so hard, everything worked out of the box.

Are you going to use the Pi 4 as a "desktop replacement" or a home-server?
I think that with 4GB of RAM if can be used easily as a NAS server or Torrent Station.

These workarounds are mainly for Ubuntu Desktop 20.04LTS on the pi. Along with that one specific configuration for the 4GB RAM model. 

Most OSs simply just need to be flashed onto the microSD card and you’re good to go.

Currently I use both my raspberry pis as a “test stuff on the go” platform. For a matter of fact, I actually test new stuff on my raspberry pis before risking using them on my VPS 9.

They are powerful enough for just about any home server project... however, I don’t really need any sort of home server at the moment... not even a NAS.

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I really like how the Desktop looks. I used Ubuntu for fun for a while but that was long long time ago. Also did you built the raspberry pi your self or bought a pre-built one ? any either case how much did it cost you?

I built it all myself.

For the raspberry pi 3B+:

It has a clear case that covers the whole thing (with a conveniently removable top panel... which i had removed in the top picture) and two heat sinks, one for the CPU and the other for the RAM chip. It’s got a 3A power supply along with a 64GB A2 Sandisk microSD card. The HDMI cable is the same as the one that came with my PS4, so i spent nothing extra on that.

I don’t remember the exact total cost, but it was around £55-ish (~$69) reason why I’m listing the price in British pounds is because I ordered both (each a year apart) while I was at the UK.

For the raspberry pi 4B 4GB RAM:

I have a more exposed case, it’s more of a frame than a case to be honest. Along with one giant heatsink that deals with the CPU and its nearby chips, along with a fan which is controlled by a python script (I have it set up to kick in at 45 degrees C CPU Temp, and shut off once the temp is brought back to 30 degrees C). The pi 3B+ didn’t need an active cooling solution, just passive (the heatsinks) because it didn’t get that hot with general use... however, i do use a USB fan with it when it’s under load (just to stay safe, not really necessary). But the pi 4B gets insanely hot. I couldn’t even hold the board the first time I used it (before I had installed any cooling solution). It also has a 64GB A2 Sandisk microSD card, and a 3A power supply (these things are power hungry!). With the hdmi, however, the pi 4B uses micro HDMI instead of the standard sized one, and it even has two of them! Allowing you to use two monitors at once in full 4K! So I had to buy a micro HDMI cable since I didn’t have one (bringing up the cost). The nice thing about the pi 4B compared to the 3B+ is it supports 4K... and not only that, but also 4K with two monitors!!! Combined with the gigabit ethernet that the pi 3B+ didn’t have and the RAM options along with the upgraded CPU, that thing is quite the improvement!

It cost me a whopping £100 (~$125) in total.

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@deanhills as you can see above, here’s where I’m taking full advantage of auto-merge

[ikk157]

Quick update:

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is officially out! (No longer in beta).

(I know I’m two days late since it was released on the 23rd of april, but I didn’t get the time to post this quick update).

Would love to see the community’s experience with this new version of Ubuntu!

[humanpuff69]

Quick update:

Ubuntu 20.04 LTS is officially out! (No longer in beta).

(I know I’m two days late since it was released on the 23rd of april, but I didn’t get the time to post this quick update).

Would love to see the community’s experience with this new version of Ubuntu!

it is official out but when that time came i try to do-release-upgrade from my ubuntu 18.04 installation . im really interested in the do not disturb feature because i get disturbed alot by discord notification . and when i try to do-release-upgrade it doesnt work . it says that i have a newest version which is totally not the case because 20.04 is released . turned out i had to add the -d parameter to do-release-upgrade and it work . it upgraded my system to 20.04 . for now im using 20.04 on my main desktop but my server still using the 18.04 release because im kinda busy and dont want to risk bricking the server in case of failure

[ikk157]

it is official out but when that time came i try to do-release-upgrade from my ubuntu 18.04 installation . im really interested in the do not disturb feature because i get disturbed alot by discord notification . and when i try to do-release-upgrade it doesnt work . it says that i have a newest version which is totally not the case because 20.04 is released . turned out i had to add the -d parameter to do-release-upgrade and it work . it upgraded my system to 20.04 . for now im using 20.04 on my main desktop but my server still using the 18.04 release because im kinda busy and dont want to risk bricking the server in case of failure

Do not, and i mean DO NOT, upgrade your server to Ubuntu 20.04. Many packages still don’t have versions compatible with it... some don’t even have repos for it. So you’re only setting yourself up for trouble by upgrading. This is what deanhills refers to as “elementary knowledge”. 

For the time being, stick to 18.04 on your server and just wait. The packages will eventually be updated for 20.04, or replaced by others.

[humanpuff69]

Do not, and i mean DO NOT, upgrade your server to Ubuntu 20.04. Many packages still don’t have versions compatible with it... some don’t even have repos for it. So you’re only setting yourself up for trouble by upgrading. This is what deanhills refers to as “elementary knowledge”. 

For the time being, stick to 18.04 on your server and just wait. The packages will eventually be updated for 20.04, or replaced by others.

thanks for the suggestion i really appreciate it . all my server still on 18.04 . i dont plan to upgrade either because my server doesnt need the 20.04 feature (in case of desktop . i need the do not disturb feature) and 18.04 is still well supported .

[ikk157]

@deanhills just saw your request in the upvote comment (thanks for the upvote by the way!) about making a new thread with Ubuntu 20.04 feedback.

It’s currently too soon for me to provide any valuable feedback, the final release of Ubuntu 20.04 LTS hasn’t been out for long, so I still don’t know how it will perform in the long run. I’m especially interested to see how well it will perform under stress on a VPS (most likely the hostlease VPS 3 since I can re-install the OS if anything goes wrong). But that’s not doable right now since many of the stuff I use on a VPS aren’t yet compatible with it.

All the feedback I can provide right now can be summed up simply into this: It works great, but I’m still waiting for packages to start supporting it.