Officially maintained by Canonical with complete ARM64 (AArch64) support including kernel, drivers and software repositories.
Supports mainstream ARM platforms: Raspberry Pi, NVIDIA Jetson, AWS Graviton (cloud servers), etc.
Uses the same Debian package management (APT) and Snap Store with rich software ecosystem (e.g. Docker, Python, Kubernetes).
Desktop version provides GNOME GUI, server version optimized for performance and stability.
Low-power design: Suitable for edge devices (e.g. IoT gateways).
Cloud-native support: Pre-installed with cloud-init, MicroK8s (lightweight Kubernetes), compatible with AWS/Azure ARM instances.
LTS versions released every 2 years (e.g. Ubuntu 22.04 LTS) with 5-year security updates, ideal for enterprise deployment.
Supports cross-compilation (via gcc-aarch64-linux-gnu).
Provides ARM-specific toolchains and debugging tools (e.g. ARM DS-5, GDB).
Raspberry Pi: Official Ubuntu Server/Desktop images for education and prototyping.
NVIDIA Jetson: Supports AI edge computing (e.g. TensorRT on Jetson Nano).
AWS Graviton/Ampere Altra: ARM cloud servers for high-density web services and databases (e.g. ARM-optimized MySQL).
Private Cloud: Building ARM clusters via OpenStack or MicroK8s.
Industrial Controllers: Ubuntu Core (lightweight immutable OS) for factory automation.
5G Edge Nodes: Integrated DPDK for accelerated network processing.
Developer Workstations: ARM laptops (e.g. Surface Pro X) running Ubuntu Desktop.
Educational Devices: Low-cost ARM devices (e.g. Chromebooks) for programming education.
AI Inference: Ubuntu ARM + PyTorch/TensorFlow Lite deployment on edge devices.
Big Data Processing: ARM servers running Spark/Hadoop (e.g. Huawei Kunpeng platform).
| Feature | Ubuntu ARM | Debian ARM | Arch Linux ARM |
|---|---|---|---|
| Official Support | Canonical-maintained | Community-maintained | Community-maintained |
| Software Ecosystem | Richest (Snap/APT) | Moderate (APT) | Rolling release (AUR) |
| Use Cases | General/Cloud/Embedded | Lightweight embedded | Geek customization |
| LTS Support | 5-year updates | 2-3 years | No fixed LTS |
Installing Ubuntu Server on Raspberry Pi
# Download image wget https://cdimage.ubuntu.com/releases/22.04/release/ubuntu-22.04.1-preinstalled-server-arm64+raspi.img.xz # Write to SD card (Linux example) xzcat ubuntu-22.04.1-preinstalled-server-arm64+raspi.img.xz | sudo dd of=/dev/sdX bs=4M # Login after boot (default user/password: ubuntu/ubuntu) ssh ubuntu@raspberrypi.local
Installing Docker (ARM version)
sudo apt update sudo apt install docker.io sudo docker run --rm arm64v8/ubuntu uname -m # Output: aarch64
Ubuntu ARM is the most mature general-purpose Linux distribution in the ARM ecosystem, with advantages including:
Out-of-the-box readiness: Officially adapted to mainstream hardware without manual porting.
Full-scenario coverage: From embedded to cloud, supporting development and production environments.
Enterprise-grade support: LTS versions suitable for commercial projects.
Ideal for:
Developers: Quickly set up ARM development environments.
Enterprises: Deploy cost-effective, energy-efficient ARM servers.
Embedded engineers: Build secure IoT devices with Ubuntu Core.
For lighter systems, consider Debian ARM; for extreme customization, choose Arch Linux ARM.
