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What's the best way to install Ubuntu on a Raspberry Pi 3? I'm finding a few inconsistent links and guides.

I first found this page, and I installed the ubuntu-16.04-preinstalled-server-armhf+raspi3.img.xz image, but I found it to be too unstable to use. On every reboot, it had a 50% chance of encountering a kernel panic. I verified this is a problem in the image, and not my hardware, by re-flashing the same SD card with Raspbian, and successfully booting with that. Unfortunately, the image isn't officially supported, and the lone developer working on it seems to have abandoned any further work and bug fixes.

I also found this page, which implicitly says it supports the Raspberry Pi 3, but the only linked image is to "raspi2". Will this work on the Pi 3?

That page also links here which lists three different ARM images:

  • ubuntu-16.04.1-server-arm64.iso
  • ubuntu-16.04-preinstalled-server-armhf+raspi2.img.xz
  • ubuntu-16.04.1-preinstalled-server-armhf+raspi2.img.xz

I also found this site which offers a Pi 3 image for Ubuntu 16.

Clearly, the last two are just different versions of the same base image, but will the first work on the Pi 3?

Edit: I've confirmed that the images ubuntu-16.04-preinstalled-server-armhf+raspi2.img.xz and ubuntu-16.04.1-preinstalled-server-armhf+raspi2.img.xz do not work with the Pi 3. However, I've confirmed that the image ubuntu-minimal-16.04-server-armhf-raspberry-pi.img.xz works perfectly with the Pi 3.

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Try Ubuntu Mate: ubuntu-mate.org/raspberry-pi For convenience, here's a direct link: ubuntu-mate.org/raspberry-pi/… it works, I'll add as an answer. – Android Dev Sep 26 '16 at 0:15
    
I've seen the Mate images, but I'd like to stick to the official distro for LTS updates and compatibility with others packages like ROS that target Ubuntu. – Cerin Sep 26 '16 at 0:29
    
cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-snappy/16.04/current/… - this looks like the official one, althouth seems in "beta" currently: lists.snapcraft.io/archives/snapcraft/2016-September/… – Mateo Sep 26 '16 at 1:04
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I'd recommend against the Core 16 Snappy image, unless you are a developer, and want to play with snaps. It's not intended for users, as there aren't any snaps to use for now. The problem with ubuntu-minimal-16.04-server-armhf-raspberry-pi.img.xz is no kernel updates. The kernel is apparently stuck at 4.1.xxxx, while the official RP kernel is now at 4.4xxx. – mikewhatever Jan 6 '17 at 12:16
    
You could use the Developer option for adding "Classic" to the Snappy Core. See developer.ubuntu.com/core/get-started/raspberry-pi-2-3 & developer.ubuntu.com/core/get-started/developer-setup – Burly Ares Feb 24 '17 at 5:43
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Only Light weight Linux/Ubuntu distro will work for the Raspberry Pi. Ubuntu it self is too heavy and will cause you Pi to lag real bad. Ubuntu Mate is a Officle flavor of Ubuntu. That means when Ubuntu gets updates Ubuntu Mate gets updates. Ubuntu Mate is the only Ubuntu that works best for the Raspberry Pi. F.Y.I, If you plan to use Ubuntu Mate, please use a class 10 or better SD card, otherwise you might get horrible lag. Hope this helps!

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