Ubuntu Core 22 is a containerized Ubuntu 22.04 LTS variant optimized for embedded and IoT devices.
It should be a wonderful offering for developers looking to make use of Canonical’s latest operating system for edge devices.
To address the Ubuntu Core 22 release, Mark Shuttleworth, CEO of Canonical, said:
“Our goal at Canonical is to provide secure, reliable open-source everywhere – from the development environment to the cloud, down to the edge and to devices,”.
Ubuntu Core 22: What’s New?
With Ubuntu Core 22 release, you get improvements focused on security and reliability. Some of them include:
Real-time Compute
As the announcement mentions, Ubuntu 22.04 LTS provides a real-time kernel (which is available in beta), delivering high performance, ultra-low latency, and workload predictability fit for time-sensitive industrial, automotive, and robotics use cases.
Furthermore, if you have Ubuntu-certified hardware, you should be able to fully utilize advanced real-time features.
Snapcraft Framework
The entire Ubuntu image breaks down as packages (Snaps), making the kernel, OS, and the applications isolated in a sandbox.
This should let you easily install applications without needing to worry about dependencies from the dedicated IoT App Store. For enterprises, software management solutions through the App Store should enable a range of on-premise opportunities.
The framework also helps the system ensure the OTA updates work as expected, and do not break anything even if it fails for some reason.
Security
Out of the box, Ubuntu Core provides advanced security features that include secure boot, full-disk encryption, and more fit for mission-critical environments.
Note that you also get 10 years of security update commitment with this release.
Other Key Improvements
Easy migration from Ubuntu Core 20 and ensuring backward compatibility.
Performance improvements.
A new factory reset boot mode, to factory reset from run/recovery modes.
