So, the Questing Quokka (Ubuntu 25.10) has been hopping around on my drive for a few weeks now. Since the dust has settled on the October release, I figured it was time to talk about whether this short-term release is worth your time or if you should stick to the comfy confines of the 24.04 LTS.

Spoiler: It’s surprisingly aggressive with new tech. Here’s the breakdown.

My Lab Configuration

For this test, I used the following: Physical MSI NUC Mini PC 32 Cores 32GB RAM and 250GB NVME Router Dedicated 1GBps Network Switch

Logical Proxmox

Workloads/Services Ubuntu 25.10 Server Virtual Machine

What’s New?

Canonical didn’t just slap a new wallpaper on this one and call it a day. They’ve actually swapped out some serious engine parts.

  • GNOME 49: We finally get the latest and greatest GNOME. It feels snappier, the accessibility features are front-and-center, and we have new HDR brightness controls that actually work.
  • Kernel 6.17: Newer hardware support is always welcome. If you have a bleeding-edge laptop, this kernel is your friend.
  • Rust Everywhere: This is the big nerd news. sudo has been replaced by sudo-rs (a Rust implementation), and we’re seeing Rust-based coreutils. It’s a massive move toward memory safety.
  • New Default Apps: Goodbye GNOME Terminal, hello Ptyxis. Goodbye Eye of GNOME, hello Loupe. The default app stack just got a massive facelift.
  • Wayland Only (Sort of): The default session is now Wayland-only. X.org is officially gathering dust in the corner.

The Good Stuff (The Advantages)

1. It Feels Modern

Using Loupe as the image viewer and Ptyxis as the terminal makes the system feel cohesive and fluid. Ptyxis, in particular, is great if you work with containers (Distrobox/Toolbox) because it integrates visually with them.

2. Performance & Security

The shift to Rust for core utilities like sudo is a long-term win for security. You probably won’t “feel” this difference in day-to-day clicking, but knowing your system is harder to exploit at a root level is a nice peace of mind. Plus, Dracut has replaced initramfs-tools, which seems to have shaved a few seconds off my boot time.

3. TPM Encryption

The installer now handles TPM-backed full-disk encryption much smoother. Not having to type a decryption password every single time you boot (because the TPM chip unlocks it for you) is a quality-of-life upgrade I didn’t know I needed.

The Not-So-Good Stuff (The Drawbacks)

1. The Wayland Growing Pains

If you are an NVIDIA user or rely on specific screen recording tools/remote desktop apps that haven’t fully embraced Wayland, you might hit some friction. While you can still use X11 apps via XWayland, the “Wayland-by-default” hard stance might break some legacy workflows.

2. Ptyxis vs. Muscle Memory

Ptyxis is great, but “Docker” support isn’t fully baked into its native integration features out-of-the-box (it prefers Podman/Distrobox). You can still run Docker commands, obviously, but the fancy UI integration isn’t quite there yet for everyone.

3. Short Lifespan

It’s a non-LTS release. You only get support until July 2026. If you hate upgrading your OS every 9 months, this isn’t for you.

The Verdict

Ubuntu 25.10 “Questing Quokka” is an enthusiast’s release. It feels like Canonical is using this version to test-drive the future of Linux (Rust coreutils, Dracut, Wayland-only).

  • Install it if: You are a developer, a Linux hobbyist who wants the latest GNOME features, or you just want to see what a memory-safe sudo looks like.
  • Skip it if: You run a production server or a workstation that needs to be boring and predictable. Stick to 24.04 LTS (Noble Numbat) for that.

Rating

4.5/5 - Quokka!

References

  • Questing Quokka Release Notes: https://discourse.ubuntu.com/t/questing-quokka-release-notes/59220
  • Questing Quokka Documentation: https://help.ubuntu.com/stable/ubuntu-help/index.html