page_title: Ubuntu version history
section_title: Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark)
hierarchical_section_title: Ubuntu version history / Release history / Ubuntu 17.10 (Artful Aardvark)
caption_attribution_description: Català: Captura de pantalla d'Ubuntu 17.10 en Català
context_page_description: Ubuntu releases are made semiannually by Canonical Ltd, the developers of the Ubuntu operating system, using the year and month of the release as a version number. The first Ubuntu release, for example, was Ubuntu 4.10 and was released on 20 October 2004. Consequently, version numbers for future versions are provisional; if the release is delayed until a different month to that planned, the version number will change accordingly.
  Canonical schedules Ubuntu releases to occur approximately one month after GNOME releases, which in turn come about one month after releases of X.Org, resulting in each Ubuntu release including a newer version of GNOME and X.
  Every fourth release, occurring in the second quarter of even-numbered years, has been designated as a long-term support release. The desktop version of LTS releases for 10.04 and earlier were supported for three years, with server version support for five years. LTS releases 12.04 and newer are freely supported for five years. Through the ESM paid option, support can be extended even longer, up to a total of ten years for 18.04. The support period for non-LTS releases is 9 months. Prior to 13.04, it had been 18 months.
context_section_description: The name of this release, Artful Aardvark, was announced via Launchpad on 21 April 2017, instead of on Shuttleworth's blog as had been the case in the past. It was released on 19 October 2017.
  This was the first release of Ubuntu to use the GNOME Shell interface, and replaced X11 with the Wayland display server. In May 2017, Ken VanDine, a Canonical Software Engineer on the Ubuntu desktop team tasked with the switch to GNOME, confirmed that the intention is to ship the most current version of GNOME, with very few changes from a stock installation.
  This release also dropped support for 32-bit desktop images but a 32-bit system can still be installed from the minimal ISO.
  Writer J.A. Watson of ZDNet said, "I have not been much of an Ubuntu fan for a long time now, but this release includes a lot of significant changes, many of which might address some of my most serious objections about Ubuntu. So I think I should take a closer look at it than I normally do." He noted on printer configuration, "I got a notice that our wireless printer had been successfully configured. I hadn't even thought about trying to set up a printer yet, so that was a very nice surprise – and a good thing to point out to those who are still going around spouting 5+ years out of date information about how difficult it is to use printers with Linux."
  Reviewer Scott Gilbertson of Ars Technica wrote, "Ubuntu 17.10 is a huge departure for Ubuntu, but one that sees the distro seemingly getting its footing back. The transition to GNOME, while not without its pitfalls for some users, is surprisingly smooth. Unity did have some features you won't find in GNOME, but Canonical has done a good job of making things familiar, if not identical. More important than individual features in 17.10, this release sees Ubuntu starting over to some degree. The long development process of Unity 8 was threatening to turn it into Godot, but now Ubuntu is free of Unity 8. Its users no longer have to wait for anything."
  The first point release, 17.10.1, was released on 12 January 2018. It fixed a problem that prevented the firmware of some Lenovo computers from booting.
caption: Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark
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