UbuntuHandbook | News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux

How to Completely Disable Suspend/Hibernate in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04

Last updated: October 8, 2024 — Leave a comment

This tutorial shows how to completely disable suspend and/or hibernate function, so your Linux computer will never go to sleep.

Linux can automatically go to sleep when system is idle or laptop lid is closed, though user can configure to disable that behavior via either graphical options or logind.conf configuration file.

But, if you never want to sleep your computer, e.g., for server, then you can completely disable this function. So even the suspend option in power-off menu or the corresponding Linux command won’t work!

image from pixabay.com

In Howtos hibernate, suspend, systemd

Auto-run Custom Actions When Waking up Your Ubuntu from Sleep

Last updated: October 8, 2024 — Leave a comment

This tutorial shows how to automatically run custom command, script, or other actions after resuming your Linux PC/laptop from suspend or hibernate.

As you may know, there are quite a few ways to run something automatically at Ubuntu startup. You can use “Startup Applications” utility to run apps or custom commands at login, use crontab to schedule startup jobs, udev rules to auto-configure devices on detection, and systemd-tmpfiles service to auto create, delete, and write configuration files.

But what if your computer does not function properly, or some personal settings do not persist after waking up from sleep?

Without waiting for upstream fixes, you can workaround by creating custom systemd services, to auto-restart the function, or re-configure the settings, and trigger it automatically when waking up from sleep.

In Howtos hibernate, suspend

FFmpeg 7.1 Added VVC decoder, Vulkan H.264/HEVC Encoder [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: October 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

The popular FFmpeg media library released new version 7.1 a few days ago. Here are the new features and Ubuntu PPA for Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04 users.

The new release of FFmpeg library added official VVC decoder support. Versatile Video Coding (VVC in short), also known as H.266, has about 50% better compression rate for the same quality compared to HEVC (aka H.265). It supports resolutions ranging from very low up to 4K, 16K, and 360° videos, as well as YCbCr 4:4:4, 4:2:2 and 4:2:0 with 8–10 bits per component, HDR, variable and fractional frame rates from 0 to 120 Hz, and more.

FFmpeg added experimental VVC decoding support since the last 7.0 version. Now, the decoder goes official and it’s compatible with DVB test content. The release also supports for decoding VVC with Intel Quick Sync Video acceleration. As well, it supports encoding VVC using libvvenc library.

In News ffmpeg, multimedia

Configure Audio Input/Output via WirePlumber in Ubuntu 24.04

Last updated: October 1, 2024 — 1 Comment

As you know, Ubuntu uses PipeWire as replacement of PulseAudio for its default sound server since Ubuntu 23.04. And, it now uses WirePlumber to manage pipewire session and policy.

With WirePlumber, you may configure more about your sound output and input. You can use Linux command to switch default audio input/output device, change volume level, and mute/un-mute sound and microphone.

As well, you may change the audio bit depth, sample rate, resample quality, and other properties for certain sound device.

In Howtos Audio, pipewire

MPV 0.39.0 Added Multi-touch, NVIDIA & Intel VSR Scaling Support

Last updated: September 29, 2024 — 1 Comment

MPV, the popular free open-source Linux media player, released version 0.39.0 last week. Here are the new features and Ubuntu PPA for Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04 users.

The new MPV 0.39.0 introduced Video Super Resolution scaling support with Intel and NVIDIA RTX GPUs. It’s a technology that can use your GPU to upscale low resolution video to higher resolutions. For AMD GPUs, the feature will be integrated into the FFmpeg library.

According to the official release note, the feature is implemented through the d3d11va filter, meaning that it’s Windows only. To enable it, either use vf set d3d11vpp=scale=nvidia:scale-target in your mpv.conf file or see the official documentation for the command line options.

MPV media player

In News media player, mpv

How to Disable the Touchpad in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04

Last updated: September 28, 2024 — Leave a comment

This tutorial shows how to disable the touchpad in Ubuntu with GNOME, XFCE, MATE, and any other desktop environments.

Most desktops today have an option to “disable touch while typing”. But if you always have your computer with a mouse connected and rarely use the touchpad, then it can be a good choice to disable the touchpad to avoid mis-operation.

And, here’s how to do the job in Ubuntu either by using desktop setting options, or globally by using Linux command or config file.

In Howtos touchpad

How to Install Sweet Home 3D 7.5 in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04

Last updated: September 26, 2024 — Leave a comment

This is a step by step guide shows how to install Sweet Home 3D, the free interior design software, in Ubuntu and other Linux.

Sweet Home 3D is a popular free open-source software to create & edit your home plan and furniture layout in 2D and 3D. It’s available in Ubuntu system repositories, but old!

To install the latest version of the software, you can choose:

either download official Linux tarball, and manually create app shortcut icon.
or install the Flatpak package, which runs in sandbox environment.

In Howtos sweet home 3d

Check SATA/NVMe SSD Disk Health & Other Info in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04

Last updated: September 24, 2024 — Leave a comment

This tutorial shows you how to check the health status, amount of read/written data, temperature, media error, and other useful info of your SSD in Ubuntu.

For Windows, there’s a popular CrystalDiskInfo utility for reading and monitoring HDD/SSD disk status. For those who’re looking for free open-source alternatives for Linux, here are 3 options:

Option 1: smartctl command line utility.
Option 2: GSmartControl – Graphical app based on smartctl + GTK3.
Option 3: QDiskinfo – Qt app with CrystalDiskInfo style user interface.

In Howtos CrystalDiskInfo, SSD

Ubuntu 24.10 Beta is Out! See What’s New in the Release

Last updated: September 21, 2024 — Leave a comment

The Beta release of Ubuntu 24.10, code-name Oracular Oriole, is out last night on Sep 20.

This is a short-term release with 9 months support. It so far features Linux Kernel 6.11 and GNOME 47 desktop.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary, the new release includes a “Warty Brown” accent color and new optional wallpapers in the “Appearances” settings page. There’s also an anniversary logo that you can see in the login screen.

And, the release now by default plays the original startup sound at login. While, there’s a toggle option in “Sound” settings page to turn it off.

The sound comes from the warty-startup.oga file under “/usr/share/sounds/Yaru/stereo” directory. Without logging out and back in, you may run command below in terminal to play it out:

/usr/bin/canberra-gtk-play --id="warty-startup"

Anniversary logo in login screen

In News Ubuntu 24.10

Disable Password Authentication Popups in Ubuntu 24.04

Last updated: September 21, 2024 — 3 Comments

When launching some apps (e.g., GParted, Synaptic, or Grub Customizer), install/uninstall packages with App Center or Software Updater, it always pops-up a dialog asking for admin password to authenticate.

This is great for security! But for ~~lazy men~~ those who don’t want to type user password again and again after logged in (or unlocked screen), it may be OK to disable the authentication window when using their computers at home or other safe places.

Password Authentication Pop-up in Ubuntu

In Howtos password, security

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