Ubuntu Xenial Point Release 3, or 16.04.3, has been released at 03 August 2017. Here's some review, download links, and how to upgrade from 16.04 or 14.04. Enjoy!
Subscribe to UbuntuBuzz Telegram Channel to get article updates directly.
1. What's Point Release?
The 'Point Release' on Ubuntu can be considered as 'Service Pack' on Windows. For example, Ubuntu 16.04.3 is a point release, technically similar to Windows XP SP3. A point release is a newer release containing new security updates and hardware supports. If you compare the ISO images, between 16.04 and 16.04.3, both will have same list of software except packages in the point release image are newer. Read more here https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases.
2. Download
Currently 16.04.3 ISO images can be downloaded at http://releases.ubuntu.com/16.04.3/. Please be aware that this URL might be changed later when 16.04.4 released.
If you wonder, read about using Zsync to cut download cost.
3. Upgrade
To upgrade from 16.04 Xenial or 14.04 Trusty to 16.04.3, run your Software & Updates from menu and set "Notify me: for any new version"; then run Software Updater from menu and press "Install Now". This will upgrade your system to 16.04.3 (download size mentioned at Software Updater).
First, make 'Software & Updates' get notified:
Second, use 'Software Updater' to actually upgrade:
4. Features
- Hardware enablement stacks, more support for newer hardware. Read here.
- Kernel 4.10.
- Many security updates since 16.04.2. Read here and here.
- Newer application versions for default-installed software such as Firefox, Shotwell, The Linux Kernel, GNOME Libraries, and so on. Read here.
- Support continuation until 2021.
5. Memory Usage
Once freshly installed, 16.04.3 uses around 1GB of RAM. It's nothing different than before the stable 16.04 released.
The most memory-consuming processes are compiz (±50MB), three of evolution families (each ±30MB), Xorg (±25MB), and gnome-software (±20MB). These values are taken immediately after 16.04.3 freshly installed at my first login. As you can see, 16.04.3 is still using X11 and not Wayland.
6. Default Applications
At a fresh installation, the default applications of 16.04.3 are:
- Firefox 54
- LibreOffice 5.1.6
- Thunderbird 52.2
- Ubuntu Software 3.20.5
- System Settings 14.04.3
- Nautilus 3.14.3
- Unity 7.4.0
- GNOME Terminal 3.18.3
