The Ubuntu Appliance portfolio

We are delighted to share a new initiative – the Ubuntu Appliance portfolio. Together with NextCloud, Mosquitto, Plex, OpenHAB and AdGuard, we have created a new class of Ubuntu derivatives: specialised appliance images that do one thing beautifully. Ubuntu Appliances transform a Raspberry Pi or PC into a secure, self-updating solution, free of charge.

The Ubuntu Appliance mission is to enable secure, self-healing, single-purpose devices. Join our Discourse to tell us what you want to see next or turn your project into an appliance.

Make your house a smart home with openHAB

OpenHAB’s pluggable architecture supports more than 200 different technologies. OpenHAB lets you design individual user interfaces and enables full voice control of smart home devices. The openHAB Ubuntu Appliance is a ready-to-use image for the Raspberry Pi with preconfigured system settings and handy software modules like Samba, Grafana and Eclipse Mosquitto built-in.

“The core of openHAB is giving users control of their data. It runs on your hardware, without external cloud services, and keeps your data at home. With our appliance, users gain added control through the use of snaps and the confined nature of Ubuntu Core.”

Kai Kreuzer, Founder of openHAB

Build a home media server with Plex

Organise and stream your personal media—photos, music, movies, shows, and even DVR-ed TV—to any of your devices in a beautiful, simple interface. Manage your own media collection with the Plex Media Server Ubuntu Appliance, and access it from wherever you go. Add a Plex Pass for premium features and extra special apps.

“Plex Media Server is the best way to manage all your favourite shows, movies, and media. The Ubuntu Appliance makes it easy to get up and running and lets us keep your server secure and up-to-date with the latest updates, patches, and features using snaps”

Mike McCurdy, Plex Media Server Product Manager

Host your own cloud with NextCloud

Take control of your data with NextCloud, a completely integrated on-prem platform for online content collaboration and data storage. Host your private cloud at home or in the office with NextCloud. Share documents, manage your calendar and have video conferences without the risk of data leaks. NextCloud provides the benefits of online collaboration without compliance and security risks.

“NextCloud is a fast-moving project that manages private information, so security and upgrades are important. This NextCloud appliance offers controlled, easy upgrades with snap tracks, and automatic updates for security. By default your appliance only sees the most up-to-date and stable version, or you can choose to preview the next release. Running NextCloud on Ubuntu Core transforms inexpensive hardware into a solutions for individuals or businesses that need to protect their privacy and control their data.”

Frank Karlitschek, CEO of NextCloud GmbH

Talk across the internet of things with Mosquitto

Eclipse Mosquitto is a lightweight MQTT message broker and communication hub for your IoT solution. Mosquitto is part of the open source Eclipse Foundation, and development is sponsored by cedalo.com.

“Security is very important in the world of IoT. Snaps’ automatic updates mean that it is easy to keep installations up to date and secure. The confinement feature of snaps means that the overall system is protected even in the event of a vulnerability in a piece of software installed as a snap. Both of these reasons make snaps a great way to create a secure installation of Mosquitto”

Roger Light lead of the Eclipse Mosquitto MQTT project

Protect your network with AdGuard Home

AdGuard Home is the best way to get rid of intrusive ads, stop online tracking and protect your computer from malware. AdGuard Home blocks annoying banners, pop-ups and video ads to make surfing the web faster, safer and more comfortable. Your data is hidden from the multitude of trackers and activity analysers. Ubuntu Core and snaps make AdGuard even more secure. Strict app confinement and read-only packages keep problems contained and easily fixed.

“It is important for us to provide our users with a simple, user-friendly way of using AdGuard in their homes. The AdGuard Home Ubuntu Appliance provides users with a simple out-of-the-box install experience to get AdGuard working on a Raspberry Pi and easily shielding their network.”

Andrey Meshkov, CTO at AdGuard

Try before you Pi

Play with a virtual Ubuntu Appliance on any PC without affecting your existing system. One command runs an Ubuntu Appliance in a VM on Windows, Mac or Linux if you don’t have a Raspberry Pi or a spare PC. Follow the steps and you’ll be up and running in no time. Virtual Ubuntu Appliances work on Ubuntu, Windows and macOS.

Join the community

Ubuntu Appliances connect the dots between high-quality software projects and their users. Share your appliance ideas on Ubuntu Discourse, where we discuss and define next-generation appliances for the open source community.