To the right of this, along the top of the screen are other icons, focused on more settings-based functions including networking, language, sound, time and date and other essentials. Ubuntu uses what's called the Unity UI, with a dock situated on the left side comprising the basic app icons, including Firefox for browsing and LibreOffice for productivity. Mint looks more like Windows (albeit going back to Vista rather than the more refined Windows 10 or 11), while Ubuntu will be more familiar to macOS users. Although they're built, at their core exactly the same, the UI is probably the most significant variation between the two. Mint and Ubuntu vary significantly in terms of looks. Mint vs Ubuntu: Desktops interfaces and usability LTS stands for 'long-term support' - a guarantee that the version will receive security and other updates, free of charge, for a specified time frame, usually years in advance - much like Windows or macOS. More recently it adopted a traditional numeric format such as Ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS. For example, 15.04 was called Vivid Vervet.

Ubuntu used to codename its releases these code names formerly consisted of an adjective and the name of an animal also beginning with the same letter.

Ubuntu vs mac rails