Want to get better battery life for your Ubuntu laptop? Besides struggling with various settings or config files, try the power management tool TLP and Slimbook Battery.
TLP is a feature-rich command line utility for Linux, saving laptop battery power without the need to delve deeper into technical details.
TLP’s default settings are already optimized for battery life and implement Powertop’s recommendations out of the box. So you may just install and forget it.
1.) How to Install TLP in Ubuntu 20.04:
Simply open terminal either from application menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When terminal opens, run command:
sudo apt install tlp
Once installed, you’re done as it runs silently in background with a default configuration already optimized for battery life.
To fulfil your specific requirements, you can install the GTK user interface TLPUI via this PPA.
2.) Install Slimbook Battery:
Slimbook Battery is a graphical tool based on TLP, it offers an indicator menu that includes Energy Saving, Balanced, and Maximum Performance modes.
Advanced mode provides options to change CPU limit, graphics saving, screen brightess, disable animation, bluetooth, auto-suspend USB ports, etc.
To install Slimbook Battery from its official PPA, run following commands in terminal one by one in terminal:
HPLIP, HP print, scan, and fax drivers for Linux, released 3.20.6 today with new printers and Linux distributions support, though it still does not install on Ubuntu 20.04.
HPLIP 3.20.6 added following new printers support:
HP Color LaserJet Managed MFP E78223a, MFP E78223dv, MFP E78223dn.
HP Color LaserJet Mngd MFP E78223dn Plus, MFP E78223dn CN
HP Color LaserJet Managed MFP E78228dn, MFP E78228dn Plus, MFP E78228dn CN
HP Color LaserJet Managed Flow MFP E78330z Plus, Flow MFP E78330z CN
HP Color LaserJet Managed MFP E78330dn, E78330dn Plus, E78330dn CN, MFP E78330z
HP Color LaserJet Managed Flow MFP E78325z Plus, Flow MFP E78325dn CN, Flow MFP E78325z CN
HP Color LaserJet Managed MFP E78325dn, MFP E78325z
HP Color LaserJet Managed Flow MFP E78323z
HP Color LaserJet Mgd Flw MFPE78323Z Plus, Flw MFPE78323z CN
HP Color LaserJet Managed MFP E78323dn
HP Color LaserJet Mngd MFP E78323dn Plus, MFP E78323dn CN
The new release also added support for Fedora 32, Manjaro 20.0, RHEL 8.2.
How to Install HPLIP 3.20.6 in Ubuntu:
1. To install the software, download the package “hplip-3.20.6.run” from the link below:
2. Then open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to give executable permission:
chmod +x ~/Downloads/hplip-3.20.6.run
3. Finally run command to start installing the driver:
./Downloads/hplip-3.20.6.run
Follow the terminal output and answer some questions. If everything goes OK, plug or re-plug your HP devices and enjoy!
GScan2PDF, GUI to produce PDFs or DjVus from scanned documents, released version 2.8.0 a few days ago.
Changes in GScan2PDF 2.8.0 include:
Interpolate colours according to OCR confidence in HSV space.
Limit zoom to 100 to avoid errors
Update text position and rectangle when updating bounding box.
Add button to add to text layer
Add preference to disable device list cache
Add mini-wizard if device not found
Fix save as PS.
And translation updates.
How to Install gscan2pdf 2.8.0 in Ubuntu:
The official Gscan2PDF PPA has made the new release packages for all current Ubuntu releases, and their derivatives, including Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 18.x and 19.x
1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jeffreyratcliffe/ppa
Type user password (no asterisk feedback due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter.
2. For those who have a previous release installed, upgrade it through Software Updater:
Or run following command in terminal to install or upgrade the software:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install gscan2pdf
How to Remove:
To remove gscan2pdf, either use your system package manager or run command:
sudo apt-get remove --autoremove gscan2pdf
And the PPA can be removed via Software & Updates utility, under Other Software tab.
Battle for Wesnoth 1.14.13 was released today as the new maintenance release for the turn-based strategy game.
The new release fixed two major long-standing issues affecting all Wesnoth players, with effects varying from the innocuous to the game-breaking depending on the game content being played as well as the system configuration.
The latest Wesnoth package so far is only available as Flatpak. You can install it in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher by running following commands one by one.
1.) If you’re first time installing a Flatpak package in Ubuntu, setup your system by running commands in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):
GIMP image editor 2.10.20 was released a few days ago with some new features as well as important bug-fixes.
GIMP 2.10.20 release highlights according to the release note:
Tool-group menus can now expand on hover
Non-destructive cropping now available by cropping the canvas rather than actual pixels
Better PSD support: exporting of 16-bit files now available, reading/writing channels in the right order
On-canvas controls for the Vignette filter
New filters: Bloom, Focus Blur, Lens Blur, Variable Blur
Blending options now built into filter dialogs
Over 30 bugfixes
How to Install GIMP 2.10.20 in Ubuntu:
Ubuntu PPA:
It seems that the otto’s PPA is not being updated, while it’s still at v2.10.14.
Snap package:
The community maintained GIMP Snap package is still v2.10.18 at the moment. If you’ve installed it on your system, it will be auto-updated once the new package published.
Flatpak package:
GIMP 2.10.20 Flatpak package was made into flathub repository on June 7 once the source tarball was available. You can install it by running following commands one by one in terminal:
1.) Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install flatpak:
sudo apt install flatpak
2.) Add the flathub repository by running command:
Ubuntu Software in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS now is really Snap Store. For those who want to revert back the previous Gnome Software, this simply tutorial may help.
1.) Gnome Software is available in the universe repositories. You can install it easily by running command in terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal):
Once installed, you can launch Gnome Software, which is marked as ‘Software’, from ‘Show Applications’ menu.
2.) To make Gnome Software into Ubuntu Software.
Snap Store itself is a Snap application, you can remove it by running command in terminal:
snap remove snap-store
Run command to edit the .desktop file of Gnome Software:
This simple tutorial shows Ubuntu beginners how to enable searching and installing Flatpak applications from Software Center in Ubuntu 20.04.
Snap, Flatpak, and Appimage make more and more applications install or run easily in Ubuntu and other Linux Desktops. While Appimage is non-install package and Snap has been made into Ubuntu Software out-of-the-box, this quick tip shows how to make Flatpak packages available to search and install in Software.
1.) First open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When terminal opens, run command to install flatpak plugin:
sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter.
2.) Add the main flathub repository by running command:
3.) Finally restart your computer. In Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 19.10, you should be available to search for and install applications in Flatpak format.
For Ubuntu 20.04, since Ubuntu Software has switched from Gnome Software to Snap Store, you have to launch Gnome Software rather than Ubuntu Software to install applications.
Vivaldi web browser 3.1 was released today with full-page notes manager, configurable menus, and speed improvements.
The new release ships with a note-taking tool with a full-blown notes editor. It’s available both in left-sidebar and start page.
The note manager features:
Text formatting, Markdown support
WYSIWYG Editor
Find text, undo / redo, full-screen editing
automatically attach screenshots, web url.
sync notes across devices.
Vivaldi 3.1 also features configurable menus. Go to Settings → Appearance → Menu, there you can drag and drop to add, remove, rearrange menu items. Also the new release includes faster startup and better handling of tabs.
Download / Install Vivaldi in Ubuntu:
The official Ubuntu .DEB packages are available for download at the link below:
Grab the deb matches your OS type, then install it via either Ubuntu Software or Gdebi package manager. Or run command in terminal:
sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/vivaldi-stable_3.1*.deb
You may also add the official Vivaldi apt repository to your system, to be able to receive the browser package updates via Software Updater utility.
Open terminal by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for terminal from application menu. When it opens, run following commands one by one: