14 DAY TRIAL // Canonical announced today the official availability of the Ubuntu Core 18 operating system for the IoT (Internet of Things) ecosystem and embedded devices, based on the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) series.
Ubuntu Core is a slimmed down version of the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system designed to be installed on all sort of embedded devices. It is engineered by Canonical to reduce security maintenance costs and software development risk due to the use of the company's revolutionary Snap universal package format.
With Ubuntu Core 18, Canonical makes another step towards its dream to build a highly secure IoT ecosystem, allowing customers to create secure and stable IoT solutions. Ubuntu Core 18 is based on the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) operating system series, which means that it borrows all of its new features and improvements.
"Ubuntu Core enables a new class of app-centric things, which can inherit apps from the broader Ubuntu and Snapcraft ecosystems or build unique and exclusive applications that are specific to a brand or model. Manufacturers can have complete control over all aspects of updates to their devices, including scheduling," says Canonical.
Ubuntu Core 18 ships with fewer packages installed by default to minimize the attack surface and reduce the frequency and size of security updates while providing more storage for apps and data. It is supported on a wide range of IoT devices from Dell, Intel, Qualcomm, Samsung, NXP, and Rigado.
Ubuntu Core 18 to be supported for the next 10 years
A few months ago, during the OpenStack Summit Berlin 2018 conference, Canonical's CEO Mark Shuttleworth said that the company's key focus for Ubuntu deployments is Telcos, and that they will support the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (Bionic Beaver) operating system series with security updates for 10 years, until April 2028.
Once again, Canonical confirmed their commitment to supporting Ubuntu 18.04 LTS for the next 10 years by announcing today that Ubuntu Core 18 will receive 10 years low-cost security maintenance in an attempt to support long-term industrial and mission-critical deployments of its Linux-based operating system.
Ubuntu Core 18 is available for download today from Canonical's website as binary images for the Raspberry Pi 2 and Raspberry Pi 3 single-board computers, Snapdragon-powered devices like DragonBoard 410c, as well as the Intel NUC. Ubuntu Core 18 can also be installed on your workstation in KVM.