Do you still use an older or unsupported Ubuntu on your computer? Don't want to upgrade for some reason? Then, you might want to update or install some new applications but you find it impossible. Good news for you! There are several solutions to fulfill these needs, which are, by making use of Flatpaks, AppImages and Snaps (let's call them FAIS for easier naming). Let's see how FAIS help us to run latest versions of LibreOffice, OnlyOffice, FreeCAD, Nextcloud Server some games and many more on Xenial Xerus (16.04 LTS) as the following. We deliberately chose Xenial so you can be sure that running them on newer Ubuntu will work.
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Preparations
AppImages require no preparations. However, if you want to make use of Flatpaks or Snaps, then you are required to do the following.
Preparing your computer for Flatpaks:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:flatpak/stable
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install flatpak
Preparing your computer for Snaps:
$ sudo apt-get install snapd
$ snap install hello-world
To make your life easier, install Alacarte Main Menu to manage your installed FAIS applications so you can distinguish between them.
(This is Alacarte, the menu editor that helps us to organize programs)
How To Play
To run an Ubuntu program in AppImage format, double-click the file, and if it doesn't work, first give it Executable permission then try again. If you missed how you collect apps on Windows, you'll find collecting AppImages are the closest thing to them.
(An example of AppImages collection with program logos visible after enabling appimaged daemon)
To run an Ubuntu program in Flatpak format, do the following command line, by changing 'a.b.C' with the program name
$ flatpak run a.b.C
To run an Ubuntu program in Snap format, do this command, by changing 'abc' with the program name:
$ snap run abc
If you want to know what applications are available other than those mentioned in this article, you can visit AppImageHub for AppImages,
then visit Snapcraft for Snaps,
and finally visit Flathub for Flatpaks. It's that easy.
LibreOffice
Can we have a latest LibreOffice on an unsupported Ubuntu version? We can! We did it with LibreOffice AppImages. Download the official package from LibreOffice AppImage Downloads (https://libreoffice.org/download) then run it on your system. We managed to run version 7.3 on Xenial in 2022. As an important note, LibreOffice is the best example of software that is fully available as FAIS.
OnlyOffice
Years ago we reviewed OnlyOffice, a GNU AGPL-licensed office software, today it became a very cool and strong alternative to LibreOffice for people who switch away from Microsoft Office. As an example, OnlyOffice Spreadsheet already features "Excel Table" while current LibreOffice Calc hasn't yet. We managed to run latest version of this awesome program using Snap on Xenial.
Kdenlive
Need to edit videos with a lot of features on unsupported Ubuntu? We're lucky that Kdenlive supports AppImage now. Download it at https://kdenlive.org. We managed to run it on Xenial too.
FreeCAD
Want to draw a house in 3D or precisely make machinery design on older Ubuntu? We can rely on FreeCAD for that purpose. Because it is a considerably big program, we managed to install the 2022 version using Snap.
$ snap install freecad-ppd
Inkscape
Want to draw artworks and make professional illustrations with Inkscape? Want to test out its newest version? Or update yours on an old Ubuntu machine? Good news, Inkscape is now available as AppImage. Simply downloaded the latest version from https://inkscape.org we managed to run 2022 version easily on Xenial too.
0 A.D.
Like to play? Among new games unavailable in many of the old Ubuntu systems are 0 A.D. (strategy) and OpenRA. We managed to run the former, as it's huge, via Snap on Xenial and it plays! In short, this is a libre game similar to the nonfree Age of Empires.
$ snap install 0ad
OpenRA
Nextcloud Server
Want to play with server technology on older Ubuntu Desktop? Of course you can! Nextcloud is a really nice example and we managed to install it easily on Xenial using Snap. With Nextcloud, you can have your own "Google Drive" at home. This is the last program on this list but there are sure still a lot of other programs now available to you and your Ubuntu boxes thanks to FAIS.
$ snap install nextcloud
GNOME Applications
Many of the mentioned desktop apps and games are also available as Flatpaks. However, if one is a GNOME fan, Flatpak is the best alternative way for him/her to get latest official GNOME Applications such as Gimp image editor and Fractal decentralized chat. We managed to install them on Xenial.
$ flatpak install org.gimp.GIMP
How To Uninstall Programs
Finally, if you can add programs, you should be able to remove them as well by the following commands.
To remove an AppImage program, simply delete the AppImage program file, or instead just delete the start menu entry if any.
To remove a Snap program, do the following by changing 'libreoffice' to program name as you wish:
$ snap list
$ snap remove libreoffice
Lastly, to remove a Flatpak program, do the following by changing 'org.libreoffice.LibreOffice' into program name as you wish:
$ flatpak list
$ flatpak remove org.libreoffice.LibreOffice
We hope this helps Ubuntu users worldwide!
This article is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.