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Archives For November 30, 1999

Create Bootable USB Installer for Linux via Ventoy [New Solution]

Last updated: September 14, 2021

I used to create bootable Ubuntu USB installer with UNetbootin, then with Ubuntu’s built-in USB creator. Now Ventoy is a good choice that I use often to try different operating systems.

Why Ventoy:

Different to other USB creators, you don’t need to format your USB stick again and again to write data from ISO images. With Ventoy, it just format your USB one time, create a small (34 MB in my case) EFI partition, and leave all other spaces free in another partition.

Without extracting, just drag and drop to move ISO images into USB drive, and it will boot them! Like normal USB drive, you can put your photos and other data along with ISO images. Ventoy will find what to boot and show them all in startup menu.

Ventoy features:

Ventoy is a free and open-source tool written mainly in C. It features:

  • Just copy ISO to USB and boot it! No extraction needed.
  • Mutil-boot support. As many ISO images as your USB stick can store.
  • Save all other data along with ISO images, just like a normal USB driver.
  • 700+ ISO files supported (Windows, Linux, WinPE, Unix, Vmware, Xen).
  • Windows auto installation supported
  • Also support Local Disk, SSD, NVMe, SD Card
  • and more.

How to Install Ventoy:

The software provides ISO image as well as installers for Windows and Linux. Download them from the link below:

Download Ventoy

a.) using Ventoy’s graphical app for Linux:

The software now provides graphical user interface for Linux since version 1.0.52. Both GTK and Qt are supported. And it runs in either modern 64-bit PC, old 32-bit machine, ARM64 OS like Phytium/Kunpeng, and mips64el Loongson 3A MIPS OS.

Simply download the “linux.tar.gz” tarball from the above button, extract, and right-click on the executable to “Run” it will bring up the UI:

Same to the Windows app and Web UI, plug your USB into computer and select it from the app window (click Refresh if you don’t find it). And use either “Install” or “Update” button to install /upgrade Ventoy to the USB drive.

From the “option” menu, it’s possible to enable Secure Boot support, select partition to MBR for compatibility or GPT for most modern PCs. You may also preserve some space at the end of the disk.

NOTE: Installing Ventoy will format the USB stick. All data will be lost. Make a backup before getting started!

After installation, copy and paste some system discs (iso images) into the USB stick. Then start or re-start your machine, and select boot the USB. It will bring you into menu of iso image entries, like the picture shows:

b.) Install Ventoy in Linux from command line:

Also download the “linux.tar.gz” tarball. Then extract, and right-click on blank area in generated folder to open the directory in terminal via ‘Open in Terminal’ menu option.

When terminal opens, copy and paste the command below into it and hit Enter to install Ventoy to USB:

sudo ./Ventoy2Disk.sh -i /dev/sdb

If your machine boot with UEFI mode, also add -s flag for secure boot support, so the command will be:

sudo ./Ventoy2Disk.sh -i -s /dev/sdb
Though the device name of your USB stick is mostly /dev/sdb, check the terminal output, or use gparted, mount command, etc to confirm.

If you want to use GTP partition table instead of MBR, add “-g” flag, so the command will be sudo ./Ventoy2Disk.sh -i -g /dev/sdb.

Type ‘y’ to confirm twice. If everything’s done successfully, it will prompt ‘Install Ventoy to /dev/sdb successfully finished.‘

c.) Install Ventoy in Windows or Linux via Web UI

The software also has a Web UI which has same appearance to the Windows app.

As the previous step did, download ‘linux.tar.gz‘, extract and go to source folder. Then right-click on blank area to select ‘Open in Terminal‘.

When terminal opens, run command to start the Web UI service:

sudo ./VentoyWeb.sh

Next in web browser go to “http://127.0.0.1:24680” will open the web installation page:

In the web UI, select your USB device and click ‘Install’. Also for UEFI mode enable ‘Secure Boot‘ under options.

When everything’s done, you’ll find the USB driver mounted with name “Ventoy”, put ISO images into it and boot it when required. As mentioned, you may treat it as normal USB disk by storing photos, documents, etc, along with disc images.

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Top 8 User Friendly Linux Distributions for Beginners

Last updated: April 1, 2024

Totally new to Linux, and want to give a try? Here are some of the Linux Distributions friendly to beginners.

Linux is a family of open-source operating systems based on Linux Kernel. As there are so many distributions available, I’ll list the top 8 that are easy to use for beginners.

NOTE: Ranking and opinions expressed here are solely my own! As an Ubuntu user for more than 15 years, I’m not new to Linux but may be new to those in the list. So this could be a Linux review via a beginner!

8. Solus

Solus, formerly known as Evolve OS, is an independently developed OS for 64-bit processor. The system provides 4 desktop editions: Budgie, GNOME, MATE (abandoned), XFCE, and KDE Plasma.

Its own Budgie Desktop provides the classic Windows look-like desktop appearance, along with settings utility to change themes, fonts, and manage panel items. And it also has a Gnome style ‘System Settings’ to configure many other settings.

Solus ships with a variety of software out of the box. Besides its own package repository, it also support Snap and Flatpak with more choices.

7. Pop!_OS

Pop!_OS is a free open-source Linux Distribution based on Ubuntu. It’s powered by American Linux computer manufacturer System76, for computers built by System76, but also free to download and install on other machines.

Pop!_OS features customized GNOME Desktop Environment named COSMIC. It comes with a few built-in themes for better desktop and window management. Without Snap, the system focuses on native Deb and Flatpak packages support out-of-the-box.

As well, it has out-of-the-box support for AMD and NVIDIA GPUs, provides default disk encryption, and the most recent release also have packages that allow for easy setup for TensorFlow machine learning and NVIDIA CUDA.

6. Zorin OS

Zorin OS is another Ubuntu based system designed especially for those new to Linux.

The system has 4 editions in the download page. While “Ultimate” need to play for downloading, the core, lite, and education editions are free.

It features a customized GNOME desktop, aims to be the alternative to Windows and macOS. Zorin OS is clean and polished. And it has an appearance dialog to change the desktop layout with single click.

Thanks to Wine and PlayOnLinux, many Windows applications can be easily installed on Zorin OS via simply a few clicks.

5. Deepin Linux

Deepin is a Debian based Linux distribution that focuses much of its attention on intuitive design.

Deepin is the most beautiful Linux system as far as I can see. It features Deepin Desktop Environments with its core applications.

Deepin Linux is developed by a company from China. It ships with its own WPS Office with full MS Office file support, as well as CodeWeavers’ CrossOver, the paid, commercialized version of Wine.

Installing Windows apps, e.g., WeChat, QQ, is quite easy in Deepin. It’s the best Linux OS for users from China.

4. Fedora

Fedora is a Linux distribution developed by the community-supported Fedora Project and owned by Red Hat, a subsidiary of IBM.

Same to Ubuntu, Fedora announces new releases every year in April and October. However, each release has only 9-month support. And Linus Torvalds, creator of Linux, uses Fedora as his main Linux Distro.

Due to the close relationship between Gnome and Fedora, Fedora Workstation (the desktop edition) is always the first to benefit from the latest Gnome Shell releases.

Fedora Workstation is bleeding edge. It’s always the first to get the new technologies, drivers and package updates. And the desktop appearance is easy to configure via System Settings, Gnome Tweaks, Dconf Editor, as well as Gnome Shell Extensions. However, installing proprietary drivers is not easy for beginners.

3. Manjaro

Manjaro is a Linux Distro based on Arch Linux. It focuses on user-friendliness and accessibility.

Different to other Linux, Arch Linux and Manjaro uses a “rolling release” system. Which means you don’t have to re-install or upgrade the whole system again and again.

It features three desktop editions with XFCE, KDE, and GNOME. The system looks modern and works out-of-the-box with a variety of pre-installed software.

The XFCE and KDE editions has the classic Windows like style layout. And Gnome defaults to top panel with left dock. It however has a settings dialog to the UI layout.

The package manager ‘pamac’ is great, it enables ability to get the latest software packages from either main repository, AUR (Arch User Repository), flathub, or snap store all in one. As well, it has built-in utilities to install the latest Kernels, and proprietary NVIDIA drivers.

2. Ubuntu:

Ubuntu is the top popular Linux Distribution ranked by Google Trends. Not only for the Desktop, but also popular as Linux Server and for clouding computing.

Like Fedora, Ubuntu announces new releases every 6 months. Versions released in April of even-year (e.g., 16.04, 18.04, 20.04) are LTS with 5-year support. All others has only 9-month support.

Ubuntu is based on Debian, and uses GNOME as the default Desktop Environment. The Desktop is not perfect out of the box, the Software Center sucks, media codec is not pre-installed, clicking app icon on dock does not minimize the opened window, and more and more.

However, there are tons of tutorials and answers on the web shows you how to tweak Ubuntu. And you can ask on https://askubuntu.com/.

Ubuntu contains a wide range of software packages. Though the packages in default repositories are always old, many software developers (e.g., LibreOffice, Inkscape) and third-party maintainers maintain PPAs (Personal Package Archive) with most recent packages for Ubuntu users. And Flatpak and Snap is also available for choice.

Ubuntu is not the best for those totally new to Linux, but it has the largest community base actively participates and provides support to its users.

1. Linux Mint

Linux Mint is the most friendly Linux system for beginners in my own opinion.

It is based on Ubuntu LTS, and feature three desktop editions: Cinnamon, MATE, and Xfce. Linux Mint includes a variety of pre-installed software and it’s ready to use out-of-the-box.

All the settings for desktop users are easy to access via all-in-one ‘System Settings‘ tool, including desktop appearances, account, privacy, display, power management, printers, driver, firewall, and more.

Along with Ubuntu package base, Linux Mint also has its own package repository. Apps are easy to install either via Synaptic or System package manager. Kernels are easy to install via its update manager. PPAs and apt repositories are easy to manage via its ‘Software Sources’ utility. Thanks to Ubuntu, the latest NVIDIA drivers are also easy to apply.

As a fast growing Linux Distribution, Linux Mint is a stable, safe, reliable, and extremely easy to use.

At Last

Since there are so many Linux Distributions, I can’t try all of them one by one. Feel free to leave comment if you found a better one.

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Get Terminal Integrated into File Manager in Ubuntu 20.04 / Ubuntu 21.04

Last updated: May 17, 2021

Want to embed a terminal in the Files, Nautilus file manager, in Ubuntu? Nautilus Terminal is the project to do the job.

Nautilus Terminal is an open-source project started in 2010. It’s now at version 4.x that supports up to Nautilus 40.

With it, you have an integrated terminal in each file window and tab. The terminal follows the navigation, without running cd command, the terminal automatically go to the directory when you navigate to a folder in file manager.

The terminal placement can be at top (default) or bottom. You can press F4 on keyboard to show or hide it. And it supports drag & drop of file on the terminal.

By right-click on terminal area, you can do copy & paste actions, and go to its Preferences.

The “Preferences” indeed opens Dconf Editor (you need to firstly install it in Ubuntu Software) and navigate to “/org/flozz/nautilus-terminal” settings page. There you can configure:

  • Background color.
  • Text color.
  • Font.
  • Focus by default.
  • Toggle shortcut.
  • Terminal placement.
  • Custom command.

How to Install Nautilus Terminal in Ubuntu 20.04 & Higher:

The project developer used to maintain an Ubuntu PPA, which is however no longer updated. Ubuntu 20.04 and higher users can now run following commands to install it from PyPi.

1.) Open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, firstly run command to install required libraries:

sudo apt install python3-nautilus python3-psutil python3-pip libglib2.0-bin dconf-editor

2.) Then install Nautilus Terminal via command:

sudo pip3 install nautilus-terminal

3.) And install it for system wide by running command:

sudo nautilus-terminal --install-system

4.) Finally restart Nautilus to apply changes. To do so, run command:

nautilus -q

NOTE: Ubuntu 18.04 users, can run the previous commands one by one by replacing python3 with python to get integrated terminal in Files.

How to Remove Nautilus Terminal:

To remove the integrated terminal, simply run pip command with uninstall flag in terminal:

sudo pip3 uninstall nautilus-terminal -y

And restart Nautilus via step 4.) to apply changes.

For Arch Linux, Fedora, and other details, go to Nautilus Terminal project page.

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Szyszka – New Fast Batch File Renamer For Linux, Windows, Mac

Last updated: May 13, 2021

Szyszka is a new batch file renaming tool written in Rust programming language with GTK+ 3 toolkit. And it works on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS.

The name, Szyszka, is Polish word which means Pinecone. The tool has a very simple user interface, simple click “Add Entries”, press and hold Shift, or Ctrl to select your desired files. Add folder is not supported in the first 1.0 release, it is however marked as planned feature.

You can then add multiple rules which can be freely combined:

  • Replace text
  • Trim text
  • Adding text
  • Adding numbers
  • Purge text
  • Change letters to big/small
  • Use custom rule

While adding rules, it shows example at bottom with before and after change which is extremely helpful for beginners.

How to Get Szyszka in Ubuntu:

The tool is available in Ubuntu Software as Snap package. Before installing it, you can try the .Appimage package which is available to download in the releases page:

Download Szyszka (Appimage)

Once you get it, right-click and go to file ‘Properties’ dialog. Then check “Allow executing file as program” in Permissions tab. Finally right-click and select ‘Run’ the Appimage.

As a new project, there may have bugs. Please report issue at the Github page.

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Make Some Noise in Ubuntu Linux with Blanket

Last updated: April 16, 2021

Want to make some ambient sounds? Try Blanket, an open-source tool with modern user interface.

Blanket is a GTK application allows to play some ambient sounds including:

  • Birdsong
  • Summer night
  • Rain, storm, wind.
  • Coffee shop, fireplace.
  • White noise, pink noise.
  • Train, boat, and city.

Each sound has a volume control, so that you can get mixed sounds.

And the app supports playing even more sounds by adding your own audio files.

How to Install Blanket in Ubuntu:

The software has an official Ubuntu PPA, which so far offers packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, and Ubuntu 21.04.

1.) Open terminal from your system app launcher. When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/blanket

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2.) After that, run apt command to install it:

sudo apt install blanket

Once installed, open it from system app launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall Blanket

To remove the PPA, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:apandada1/blanket

To remove the ambient noise player, run command:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove blanket
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Quiet Audio Fade – Get The Quietest Volume Level for Work

Last updated: April 13, 2021

Quiet Audio Fade (aka Quite AF) is a small applet slowly reduces the volume on your computer over time, letting you find the quietest level that works.

It’s f.lux for your ears!

The tool is written in Go programming language, and it works in Windows, Linux, and Mac OS.

It works as a system tray indicator with only a few menu options. The first option shows the current tool status (ACTIVE or PAUSED) along with the volume level in number.

When it’s in ACTIVE mode, it slowly decreases your system volume bit by bit with time interval set in “Speed” option. Higher intervals mean a longer, more subtle decrease.

Eventually you’ll notice the sound is a tad too low and you’ll increase the volume, which will disable Quiet AF and leave your volume at the perfect level – not too loud, not too quiet!

How to Get Quiet Audio Fade in Ubuntu:

Besides building from source tarball, the applet offers single executable file in its project page:

Quiet AF Releases

Grab the package for Ubuntu, and give executable permission in file’s Properties dialog.

You’re finally able to start it via command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

./Downloads/QuietAF_Ubuntu

If you prefer the applet, you can move the executable file to /usr/local/bin, manually create app shortcut, or add it as startup application.

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Myxer – A Modern GTK Volume Mixer for PulseAudio

Last updated: April 8, 2021

Myxer is a modern new volume mixer application for the PulseAudio sound server. It’s a lightweight and powerful replacement for your system Volume Mixer written in Rust with GTK toolkit.

Myxer can manage audio devices, streams, and even card profiles. And it offers option to show individual audio channels.

As a GTK tool, the software adapts to your selected app theme so that it fits seamlessly into your stock applications.

How to Get Myxer in Ubuntu:

The app so far offers only single executable file, along with the source tarball, which can be downloaded from the link below:

Download Myxer

Just grab the file, and add executable permission in file’s Properties dialog.

And finally run command to launch the tool (In the case, the file is saved in user’s Downloads folder).

./Downloads/Myxer

If you like Myxer, you can move the file to system bin folder, so that you can simply run Myxer command anywhere to launcher it.

sudo mv ~/Downloads/Myxer /usr/local/bin/

(Optional) To remove it,simply run command:

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/Myxer
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CPUFetch – Simple CLI Tool To Fetch CPU Information in Linux

Last updated: April 4, 2021

CPUFetch is a simple command line tool, a bit similar to Neofetch, but for fetching CPU architecture in Linux, Windows, macOS, and Android.

The tool outputs the manufacturer logo (e.g., Intel, AMD) along with basic CPU info, including:

  • CPU name.
  • Micro-architecture.
  • The semiconductor technology in nanometer (nm).
  • Max frequency.
  • Number of cores and threads.
  • Advanced Vector Extensions (AVX)
  • Fused-Multiply-Add (FMA)
  • L1, L2, L3 cache sizes.
  • Peak performance.

It supports custom colors and offers a few styles (themes). With it, you can easily take screenshot of the CPU information and share with your friends.

How to Install CPUFetch in Ubuntu:

CPUFetch so far do not offer an Ubuntu binary package. However, it’s easy to compile it in Linux.

1.) Firstly open terminal from system app launcher. When it opens, run command to clone the source:

git clone https://github.com/Dr-Noob/cpufetch

Install git via sudo apt install git command if you don’t have it.

2.) Then navigate to the source folder via cd command, and compile it via make:

cd cpufetch && make

3.) You are finally be able to run the tool via ./cpufetch command in this directory!

To be able to run via cpufetch command anywhere in terminal, copy the executable file to /usr/local/bin:

sudo mv ~/cpufetch/cpufetch /usr/local/bin/

Uninstall:

To remove the source folder, run command:

rm ~/cpufetch -rf

And remove the executable file via command:

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/cpufetch
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Czkawka – Find & Remove Duplicates, Empty, Broken Files in Linux

Last updated: March 22, 2021

Czkawka is a simple, fast and easy to use software to remove unnecessary files from your machine.

Czkawka is a free and open-source software written in memory safe Rust. It works on Linux, Mac, and Windows. Due to advanced algorithms and multi-threading, it is amazingly fast!

With it, you can scan your specified folder directories for:

  • Duplicates files based on file name, size, hash, first 1 MB of hash
  • Empty folders / empty files.
  • Big files.
  • Temporary files
  • Similar images.
  • Zeroed files
  • Invalid symbolic links
  • Broken files.

And it offers a few select buttons to select and remove your desired files from the output.

How to Get Czkawka in Ubuntu Linux:

The software offers official binary packages available to download at the github releases page:

Download Czkawka (Appimage)

For Linux users, grab the .appimage package. Make it executable from file properties dialog, and finally run it to launch the software.

UPDATE: Install Czkawka via Ubuntu PPA:

There’s now an unofficial PPA that contains the software packages for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.10 so far.

Open terminal and run following commands one by one to add the PPA and install Czkawka via apt:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xtradeb/apps

sudo apt install czkawka
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Macchina – Another Command Tool to Display Basic System Info in Linux

Last updated: March 6, 2021

Macchina is another command line tool to fetch basic system information in Linux, similar to Neofetch, but focus on performance and minimalism.

The software is written in Rust, and it displays basic system information, including hostname, manufacturer, kernel version, uptime, desktop environment, processor, memory / battery status, and more. Macchina is pretty fast, it runs 8.53 ± 0.72 times faster than neofetch!

Macchina is a new project in active development. By adding --theme or -t flag, you can specify one of the supported themes. They are so far: default, alt, and long.

And you can specify the key color (--color / -c), the separator color (--separator-color / -C), let it show palette (-p) and display memory usage and battery percentage as bars (-b).

It also has options to change left padding and spacing.

How to Install Macchina in Ubuntu:

The software so far is available to install via crates.io.

1. Firstly open terminal and run command to install cargo:

sudo apt install cargo

2. Then install the tool via command:

cargo install macchina

Once installed, you can run ~/.cargo/bin/macchina with your desired flags.

If you prefer to use command macchina instead, run command to edit user’s profile:

gedit ~/.profile

And add following lines to add “.cargo/bin” directory to your PATH:

# set PATH so it includes user's private bin if it exists
if [ -d "$HOME/.cargo/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"
fi

Log out and back in to apply the new PATH.

Uninstall Macchina:

To remove the software via cargo, run command:

cargo uninstall macchina

If you don’t use cargo, simply remove it via command:

sudo apt remove --purge cargo
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