Published Apr 3, 2023, 1:08 PM EDT
David is a freelance writer with a background in print journalism, and a love of Free and Open Source Software. He has been using Linux since the early 2000s, and is a regular contributor to Linux Format magazine in the UK. He runs a range of sites and services from a Raspberry Pi perched precariously atop his living room couch, and never passes up a chance to take a stray edX course to better his understanding of technology, humanity, and other, related matters.
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Ubuntu 18.04, Bionic Beaver, is one of the most popular distros in use today, but support is due to cease in May 2023, meaning you won't receive updates or security patches—leaving your machine vulnerable to attacks from the internet, and gradual obsolescence.
Here's how you can keep Ubuntu 18.04 running safely for a while longer.
Why Is Canonical Ending Support for Bionic Beaver?
Ubuntu 18.04, otherwise known as Bionic Beaver is a Long Term Service (LTS) release, which means that support, in the form of security and other software updates, will typically be available for five years after release.
As Bionic Beaver was initially released in April 2018, its timer has run down, and it will no longer be officially supported from May 2023.
Five years may not seem like a long time, but since 18.04 first appeared, there will have been five major distro releases, including two LTS options, plus multiple minor and incremental versions.
Each of these new releases provides additional functionality, new drivers, and new software, and each requires a huge number of individuals to develop and maintain.
Upgrading to a new version of Ubuntu is easy, and if you install a new instance of Bionic Beaver in 2023, you will immediately be given the option to upgrade to a newer version.
As users have multiple upgrade opportunities, it isn't really worth Canonical's time or effort to provide updates to Bionic Beaver.
What Is Ubuntu Pro?
Ubuntu Pro is a subscription service from Canonical, originally announced for data centers, which extends support for any Ubuntu distro for an additional five years. Pricing was initially set at $25 annually for workstations and $500 per server.
In October 2022, Canonical announced that Ubuntu Pro would be available without cost for personal and commercial users for up to five machines.
By joining Ubuntu Pro, you will be able to continue using Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver on your personal Ubuntu machines until 2028. You will receive timely security patches and 23,000 packages in the Ubuntu Universe repository.
Use Ubuntu Pro to Extend Support for Bionic Beaver
To receive the extended support benefits of Ubuntu Pro, and keep Bionic Beaver alive for a little longer you need to register an Ubuntu One account.
Visit login.ubuntu.com, and click "I don’t have an Ubuntu One account".
Fill in your email address and name, then create a password and click Create account.
Canonical will send a verification email to the address you gave. Click on the link, then complete the Captcha, and answer "Yes, I'm sure" if you want to confirm and validate your email address.
Now navigate to ubuntu.com/pro, and click Register for personal use. On the next page, you'll see that you have a free personal token for up to five machines.
The token itself is a long string of characters in the lower right-hand portion of the page. Copy it to your clipboard.
You need to attach your Ubuntu Pro token to your machine. Open a terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or by selecting "Terminal" from your system menu.
Type in:
sudo pro attach your_token...where your_token is the token string.
Hit Enter to activate Ubuntu Pro.
If you prefer to use the GUI to enable Ubuntu Pro on Bionic Beaver, open the system menu and select Software and Updates. Open the Ubuntu Pro tab, then press the Enable Ubuntu Pro button.
Choose "add token manually", then paste your token into the text box, and click Confirm.
You will need to enter your system account password, and click Authenticate.
After a minute or two, you will see a message saying that Ubuntu Pro support is enabled.
You will also see three toggle switches. These allow you to enable or disable extended support for the Ubuntu Main repository, the Ubuntu Universe repository, and Kernel Livepatch. Unless you have a pressing reason to change this, you should leave all of these turned on.
Ubuntu Bionic Beaver Lives On!
Congratulations! You now have extended support for Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver until 2028. Support will end eventually, and if you've chosen not to upgrade to a more recent version because your PC hardware is underwhelming, there are other options available.
Whatever the specs of your machine, it's almost guaranteed that there's a Linux version that will run on it. You'll get better performance from a distro specifically designed to run on PCs with limited resources.