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Vivaldi Web Browser 3.2 Released with Improved Pop-out Video

Last updated: August 5, 2020

Vivaldi web browser 3.2 was released today. The new release added a mute button to the pop-out video (picture-in-picture) mode.

Vivaldi 3.2 release highlights:

  • Add mute button to Picture-in-picture window
  • Option to change Close Tab button position
  • Support Alt+F4 to close Task manager
  • Various improvements to Notes Manager
  • Overall improvements and security fixes.

Download / Install Vivaldi in Ubuntu:

The official Ubuntu .DEB packages are available for download at the link below:

Download Vivaldi (DEB)

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_3.2*.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:

1. Download and install the repository keyring:

wget -qO- https://repo.vivaldi.com/archive/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

Typer user password when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. Add Vivaldi repository via command:

sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://repo.vivaldi.com/archive/deb/ stable main'

3. Finally check updates and install the web browser via command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install vivaldi-stable

Or upgrade from an old version via Software Updater utility.

(Optional): To remove Vivaldi apt repository from you system, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

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How to Install Linux Kernel 5.8 in Ubuntu

Last updated: August 4, 2020

Linux Kernel

Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux kernel 5.8 two days ago on Sunday. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu and / or Linux Mint.

New features in Linux Kernel 5.8 include:

  • Qualcomm Adreno 405 / 640 / 650 open-source support.
  • AMDGPU TMZ support.
  • Intel Tiger Lake SAGV support.
  • New Arm SoC and platform support.
  • AMD Energy Driver.
  • Initial support for booting POWER10 processors.
  • Intel Tiger Lake Thunderbolt support for Intel’s Gateway SoCs.
  • And many other new features and improvements.

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.8 in Ubuntu:

The mainline kernels do not include any Ubuntu-provided drivers or patches. They are not supported and are not appropriate for production use

The mainline kernel packages for Linux 5.8 (64-bit) are now available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 5.8

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio):

  1. linux-headers-5.8.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-5.8.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  3. linux-modules-5.8.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  4. linux-image-xxx-5.8.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb

Alternatively you can download and install the kernel binaries via terminal commands ( open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T):

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.8/amd64/linux-headers-5.8.0-050800_5.8.0-050800.202008022230_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.8/amd64/linux-headers-5.8.0-050800-generic_5.8.0-050800.202008022230_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.8/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.8.0-050800-generic_5.8.0-050800.202008022230_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.8/amd64/linux-modules-5.8.0-050800-generic_5.8.0-050800.202008022230_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.8:

Restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in boot menu ‘Grub2 -> Advanced Option for Ubuntu’. Then run command to remove Linux Kernel 5.8:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-unsigned-5.8.0-050800-generic
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How to Install Faenza Icon Theme in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: August 3, 2020

This simple tutorial shows how to install and apply Faenza Icons in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Faenza is a set of icons for Gnome provides monochromatic icons for panels, toolbars and buttons and colorful squared icons for devices, applications, folder, files and Gnome menu items. Four themes are included to fit with light or dark themes/panels.

faenza icons 1.3.1 ubuntu 14.10

1.) Install Faenza icons

To install the icon theme, simply open terminal from your system application launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo apt install faenza-icon-theme

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompt and hit Enter.

2.) Apply the icon theme in Ubuntu 20.04:

The icon theme offers Faenza, Faenza-Ambiance, Faenza-Radiance, Faenza-dark, darker, darkest. You can choose one of them in Gnome shell via Gnome Tweaks.

Install Gnome Tweaks either via sudo apt install gnome-tweaks command or from Software utility (if you don’t have it).

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How to Install Mac OS Catalina Theme in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: August 3, 2020

gnome shell

This simple tutorial shows how to install Mac OS Catalina style Gnome Shell theme and icons in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS.

Following steps include how to install the GTK theme, icon theme, tweak panel appearance, and install useful extensions. When everything’s done, your Gnome desktop will look like:

1. First install Gnome Tweaks and required theme engines.

Open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard), paste following command (Ctrl+Shift+V) and run to install some required libraries:

sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-murrine gtk2-engines-pixbuf gnome-tweaks libcanberra-gtk3-module libcanberra-gtk-module libglib2.0-dev gir1.2-gtkclutter-1.0

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter.

2. Download / Install Mac OS Catalina Theme:

The light, dark, transparent theme packages are available at gnome-look.org page (under files tab).

Select download one or all of the packages as you want. You may also download “Extra” tarball for wallpaper and fonts.

Then install them via:

  1. Go to Downloads folder and extract all the three tarball.
  2. Open new Files (Nautilus file browser) window.
  3. Press Ctrl+H to display hidden file folders.
  4. Then navigate to .themes folder (create the folder if not exist!).
  5. Finally move the theme package folders from Downloads to .themes.

2. Download / Install Mac OS Icon Theme:

There are a few OS X icon themes available, click here (files tab) to get one of them.

Then install the icons via:

  1. Go to Downloads folder and extract the tarball.
  2. Open new Files (Nautilus file browser) window.
  3. Press Ctrl+H to display hidden file folders.
  4. Then navigate to .icons folder (create the folder if not exist!).
  5. Finally move the icon package folders from Downloads to .icons.

3. Install user theme Gnome Shell extension.

You can skip this step if you have already installed the User Theme extension, and don’t want the Blur effect.

1.) First time installing a gnome shell extension? Do open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, then run command:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Go to extensions.gnome.org, and click the link to install the browser integration.

2.) Click here to install user theme extension to load shell themes from user directory.

3.) (Optional) Click here to install extension to apply a Blur effect.

4. Apply the Mac OS Catalina Theme and Icon:

Launch Gnome Tweaks and navigate to Appearance, there you can choose themes for Applications, Icons, Gnome Shell.

5. Adjust the left dock panel.

Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following commands one by one:

  • To move left dock panel to bottom, run command: 
    gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock dock-position BOTTOM
  • To shorten the dock panel, run: 
    gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock extend-height false
  • Move app launcher icon to left: 
    gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-apps-at-top true
  • Set dock panel background transparency (range from 0 to 1): 
    gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock background-opacity 0.3
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Enable Top Panel Auto-Hide in Ubuntu 20.04 [Ubuntu 22.04 Update]

Last updated: April 23, 2022

Gnome’s top bar can auto-hide itself like the left dock panel does via a Gnome Shell extension.

In Ubuntu 18.04, you can enable the feature by installing the gnome shell extension easily from Ubuntu Software.

In Ubuntu 20.04, it’s still easy to install the hide top bar extension, though the Software utility does not longer handle the extension packages.

For Ubuntu 22.04 user, please scroll down and see the update section.

1.) Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then run the apt command to install the extension:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-autohidetopbar

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompt and hit Enter.

2.) Once installed, restart Gnome Shell by pressing Alt+F2 and type r in the pop-up “Run a Command” box and hit Enter.

3.) Finally open either Extensions or Gnome Tweaks (both available to install in Software), and enable “Hide Top Bar” extension.

That’s it. Enjoy!

Update for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS

The extension works for Ubuntu 22.04 with GNOME 42, though it’s not available in system repository anymore.

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to install required packages first:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell gnome-shell-extension-prefs

Next, go to the link page below, install browser extension if prompt and turn on the slider icon to install the extension:

Install Auto-Hide Topbar

NOTE: The pre-installed Firefox (Snap) does not support installing Gnome Extensions! Use another browser or install Firefox as classic Deb.

It will work immediately after you installed it. To manage its behavior, search for and open “Extensions” app and click the related “Settings” button.

App to Manage your extensions

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How to Install Conky Manager 2 in Ubuntu 20.04 | Ubuntu 22.04

Last updated: July 30, 2022

This simple tutorial shows how to install Conky Manager 2, the graphical front-end for Conky system monitor, in Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

Conky is a light-weight system monitor for Linux Xorg, that displays CPU, GPU, and disk usage, network speed, weather, date and time and other information on desktop as widget.

And Conky Manager is a graphical tool that manages Conky config files. It provides options to start/stop, browse and edit Conky themes installed on the system.

The software was originally developed by by teejee2008 (Tony George), but not been updated for quite a few years. And Conky Manager 2 takes the job to make it work on recent Linux systems with updated Conky versions support.

Install Conky Manager 2 Ubuntu via PPA:

For those still using conky widget to monitor CPU/RAM, network usage, and weather information, I’ve create an unofficial PPA contains the most recent packages for Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 20.04, with both 64-bit and arm64/armhf OS types support.

1.) First, open terminal by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or searching from ‘Activities’ overview screen. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/conkymanager2

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2.) Then install Conky Manager2 and conky as dependency library via command:

sudo apt install conky-manager2

NOTE: Linux Mint needs to manually update cache via sudo apt update command first.

Start and use Conky Manager 2:

Once installed, search for and launch Conky Manager app from the activities overview screen (or from start menu depends on your DE).

The app comes with some default themes, though may not well configured for your desktop. Tick or un-tick any item in the list will start or stop conky with that theme, though you may also use the tool bar buttons.

And, you can use the “spanner” icon to config theme options, including screen location, size, background transparency. Advanced users may also click on the ‘pencil‘ icon to edit it via configuration file.

There are also tons of Conky themes on the web. You can download one, and install it easily by clicking the second folder icon (with a little emblem).

Uninstall Conky, Conky Manager:

For any reason, you can easily remove the Ubuntu PPA by running the command below in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/conkymanager2

If you want to remove Conky as well as Conky manager run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove conky conky-manager2
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Magnus – A Simple Screen Magnifier for Ubuntu

Last updated: July 31, 2020

Looking for a desktop magnifier? Besides enabling the built-in screen magnifier, there are a few third-party applications can do the job.

Magnus is a very simple desktop magnifier written in Python 3. It shows the area around the mouse pointer in a separate window magnified two, three, four, or five times. Useful for users who need magnification, whether to help with eyesight or for accurate graphical design or detail work.

How to Install Magnus in Ubuntu:

Magnus is available as Snap package, it can be directly installed from Ubuntu Software.

For Ubuntu 20.04 and higher, the software is also available in the main apt repository. Simple open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install it:

sudo apt install magnus

For Ubuntu 18.04, you need to add the PPA repository by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:flexiondotorg/magnus && sudo apt update

Then run the previous apt install command to install it.

Once installed, launch magnus from system application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall Magnus:

To remove the software PPA if added, run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:flexiondotorg/magnus

To remove Magnus, simply run command:

sudo apt remove magnus
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Quick Tip: Display Battery Percentage in Ubuntu 20.04 Top Panel

Last updated: July 30, 2020

gnome shell

This quick tip shows how to display the battery percentage in the top panel system tray area in Ubuntu 20.04 with the default Gnome desktop.

Single command to show battery percentage:

For those familiar with Linux commands, this can be done via a single command.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, copy the command (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+Shift+V) into terminal and hit run:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface show-battery-percentage true

Using graphical tool: Gnome Tweaks

Search for and install Gnome Tweaks from Ubuntu Software.

or install Gnome Tweaks by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install gnome-tweaks

Once installed, launch the tool and navigate to Top Bar in the left pane, and finally toggle on “Battery Percentage”.

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Kodi Media Center 18.8 Released [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: July 29, 2020

Kodi Media Center 18.8 was released today with various fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 20.04.

Kodi 18.8 is likely to be the final release in the 18.x “Leia” series. Release highlights include:

  • Fixes a severe security issue in gnutls (Linux)
  • Other significant library/compatibility updates
  • Gets client/server on MariaDB 10.5.4 working for Android
  • Fixes video database access for Ubuntu 20.4 (search and other filtering failed)
  • Fixes subtitle handling from archives
  • Fixes CDDB access
  • Makes minor improvements to logging and memory reporting/display
  • Fixes EDLs where skip points are at the very start of a file
  • Contains code improvements to fix specific events, e.g. race conditions in the EPG or “pause” on end of streams on Android
  • Enables alpha blending for the video player (Windows)
  • Better handles specific exceptions (Android, mostly)

How to Install Kodi 18.8 in Ubuntu:

Kodi Team PPA has made the new release packages for all current Ubuntu releases and derivatives.

1. Open terminal either from application menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

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

2. Then either upgrading Kodi from an existing version via Software Updater:

upgrade Kodi

or refresh system package cache and install Kodi 18.8 via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install kodi

Uninstall:

To remove the Kodi PPA repository, simply open Software & Updates -> Other Software.

To remove Kodi, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove kodi kodi-data kodi-bin

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Opera 70 Released with Improved Search in Tabs

Last updated: July 29, 2020

opera web browser

Opera web browser 70 was released a day ago improvements to existing features and tools.

Opera 70 release highlights include:

  • The history and bookmark panels now has wider search field.
  • Search in Tabs feature now include recently-closed tabs section.
  • Search in Tabs now searches both title and content of open pages.
  • More Workspace icons

How to Install Opera 70 in Ubuntu:

Snap Package:

The Opera team offers official snap package (runs in sandbox), available to install directly from Ubuntu Software:

Deb package:

Also the native Ubuntu .deb package is available for downloading at the link below:

Download Opera for Linux

Grab the .deb package, and double-click to install it.

You may also add the official apt repository via following steps to receive future software updates.

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the opera repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera.list'

2. Get the key:

wget -O - http://deb.opera.com/archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

Finally either install Opera via following command or upgrade the browser via Software Updater:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install opera-stable

Uninstall:

For the Opera snap package, simply remove it from Ubuntu Software.

For the Opera apt repository, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

To remove traditional opera package, either use your system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove opera-stable
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