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Remove ‘Show Applications’ Icon From the Dock in Ubuntu 20.04/22.04

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Paper GTK3 and Icon themes

This is a beginner’s guide shows how to remove the ‘Show Applications’ app menu icon from the dock in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04

Why to remove the icon:

The default ‘Show Applications’ app launcher is always a bit slow when I clicking on the 9 dots icon on left dock to show the app menu, even after disabled animation and changed privacy settings.

And I only use it to search for and open applications, which can be done alternatively via the top-left Activities button.

In brief, it’s slow and I use Activities button to search for and open applications.

How to Remove it:

If you’re familiar with Linux command, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-show-apps-button false

That’s it.

You can alternatively open Dconf Editor (install via Ubuntu Software if you don’t have it) and navigate to “org/gnome/shell/extensions/dash-to-dock”.

Then turn off the toggle for the key ‘show-show-apps-button’.

(Optional) To restore the change, either use Dconf Editor or run command:

gsettings reset org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-show-apps-button
In Howtos
 

Blender 2.91 Released with Better Cloth Sculpting, Improved Animation Tools

Last updated: November 26, 2020

Blender 2.91 was released on Wednesday as the fourth major release in 2020. It features the user experience improvements, powerful new booleans, better cloth sculpting with support for collisions, volume objects modifiers, improved animation tools and more.

Changes in Blender 2.91 include:

  • Introduce collision support for the sculpt cloth brush and filter.
  • New Sculpt Trim tool.
  • Curve and text objects now support for custom bevel profiles
  • New modifier for volume objects allows to dynamically convert them into a mesh, ideal for stylized fluids.
  • Convert any mesh into a volume and combine it with the new Volume Displace modifier.
  • Convert images into Grease Pencil objects with just one click!
  • New Holdout option in materials allows to paint holes in strokes and filled areas.
  • Property search, Fuzzy search support.
  • Colors, drag & drop supports in outliner.
  • Animation curves can now become much snappier.
  • Once click to convert proxy objects into overrides.
  • And much more other changes, see the release note.

How to Install Blender 2.91 in Ubuntu:

Blender offers official Ubuntu binary via Snap package, which can be installed directly from Ubuntu Software.

Blender also available as universal Flatpak package, which can be installed from flathub.org repository.

For those prefer installing .deb package via apt, there’s a well trusted Ubuntu PPA available though it’s not updated to v2.91 at the moment of writing.

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qBittorrent 4.3.1 Released, How to Install in Ubuntu via PPA

Last updated: November 25, 2020

The first update for qBittorrent 4.3 series was released today with some new features, bug-fixes, and web UI changes.

Changes in qBittorrent 4.3.1 include:

  • Allow progress bar styling from custom themes.
  • Allow adding torrents using “Paste” key sequence.
  • Add Latgalian translation.
  • Avoid settings being reset via WebAPI.
  • WEBUI: Fix the issue that IPv6 address can’t be banned.
  • Update dutch.nsi for Windows.
  • Update .desktop shortcut file translations for Linux.
  • And various bug-fixes.

How to Install qBittorrent via PPA:

The official qBittorrent PPA has built the new release packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and derivatives.

1. To add the PPA, open terminal by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for “Terminal” from application menu. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable

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

2. If an old version was installed on your system, upgrade it via Software Updater,

or run following commands to install /upgrade qBittorrent in terminal:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install qbittorrent

Uninstall:

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

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable

To remove the bittorrent client, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove qbittorrent
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Enable File Browser in Default Gedit Text Editor in Ubuntu 20.04/22.04

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Editing files regularly with the default text editor in Ubuntu? Without looking your documents through Files (Nautilus file browser), gedit offers a built-in file browser mode to make life easy.

And this is the beginner’s guide shows you how to enable this built-in file browser mode in Gedit text editor.

1. First open the text editor either from system applications menu or by click opening a document file.

2. When the editor opens, go to menu (the icon after Save button) -> View, and enable Side Panel. You can alternatively press F9 on keyboard to toggle ‘Side Panel’ on / off.

3. After enabled ‘Side Panel’, click on the ‘Documents’ button in window’s header and select ‘File Browser’.

4. That’s it. You now have a file tree in the left panel of the text editor window, allows to easy access user files / folders, bookmarks, and full file system.

In Howtos
 

Kdenlive Video Editor 20.08.3 Released, How to Install via PPA

Last updated: December 12, 2020

The third and last minor release for Kdenlive video editor 20.08 was released today with many fixes and improvements.

Changes in Kdenlive 20.08.3 include:

  • Fix on monitor displayed fps with high fps values.
  • Ensure timeline ruler is correctly updated on profile switch.
  • When switching project profile and there is only 1 clip in timeline, update the timeline clip duration accordingly to profile change.
  • Project archiving: check after each file if archiving works, add option to use zip instead of tar.gz.
  • Fix opening project files with missing version number.
  • Fix duplicated audio from previous commit.
  • Fix playlist clips have no audio regression.
  • Fix keyframeable effect params left enabled when selecting a clip, leading to possible crash.
  • Don’t allow removing the only keyframe in an effect.
  • Fix crash inserting zone over grouped clips in same track.
  • Check ffmpeg setting points to a file, not just isn’t empty.
  • Qtcrop effect: make radius animated.
  • Render widget: avoid misuse of parallel processing.
  • Fix resizing clip loses focus if mouse cursor did not get outside of clip boundaries.
  • Fix rounding error sometimes hiding last keyframe in effectstack.

How to Install Kdenlive 20.08.3 in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10:

The kdenlive team ppa has built the latest packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 20.

1.) Open ‘terminal’ from your system application menu, and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable

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

2. ) If an old version of kdenlive was installed, upgrade it via Update Manager:

Or simply run command in terminal to install the video editor:

sudo apt install kdenlive

NOTE for non-KDE users, Kdenlive will be installed along with a large list of KDE libraries.

Uninstall:

To purge the PPA as well as downgrade Kdenlive package, run command in terminal:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable

To remove the PPA only, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable

And to remove Kdenlive, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove kdenlive kdenlive-data
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[Quick Tip] How to Install Syncthing-GTK in Ubuntu 20.10

Last updated: November 22, 2020

Syncthing-gtk, GTK3-based GUI and indicator for Syncthing, was removed from Ubuntu 20.10 Groovy’s main repository due to old Python library dependencies.

For those sticking to this program, the Python 3 port now works in progress. It has been made into main repository for the next Ubuntu 21.04 Hirsute Hippo. And you can download & install the package in Ubuntu 20.10.

1. First download the .deb package from the link below:

As Ubuntu 21.04 still in active development, the package is being updated (might be). Check the package building page if the previous button does not work.

2. Once you get the package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and install it by running command:

sudo apt install ./Download/syncthing-gtk_0.9.4.4+ds+git20200927+d09a2ef-3_all.deb

Tip: if you type the command manually, hit tab key after typing syncthing-gtk will auto-complete the file name in terminal window.

Once installed, launch the software from your system application menu and enjoy!

(Optional) And if you want to remove the package, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove syncthing-gtk
In Howtos
 

Gmusicbrowser 1.1.16 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: November 20, 2020

Gmusicbrowser, an open-source jukebox for large music collections, released version 1.1.16 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 20.

Gmusicbrowser 1.1.16 is the first release in over 5 years. And now it’s working on GTK3 port.

Changes in version 1.1.16 include:

  • Fix not working with perl >=5.24
  • Add support for .opus files
  • Add option to simplify tree in folder pane
  • Add option to ignore articles when sorting
  • Add has_picture and has_lyrics optional fields
  • Add artist_has_picture and album_has_picture virtual fields
  • PictureBrowser: add embedded picture mode (+ all files mode)
  • PictureBrowser: add “Reset view position when file changes” option
  • Add option to some fields to show a “find songs with same …” menu item
  • Add support for mp2 extension and change mp3 filetype
  • Update AppStream metadata
  • Update picture sources for picture finder plugin
  • Add musixmatch.com for lyrics plugin
  • Various bug-fixes and translation updates

How to Install gmusicbrowser 1.1.16 in Ubuntu:

The software offers official .deb binary package available to download at the link below:

Just grab the package and click install either via Gdebi package installer or “Software Install” context menu.

Install gmusicbrower via its official apt repository.

The software has an official apt repository for Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint based systems. You can add the repository then install the software and receive future package updates via Software Updater utility.

1. Add gmusicbrowser apt repository:

Run command in terminal to add its official repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://gmusicbrowser.org/deb ./" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/gmusicbrowser.list'

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

Then download & install the key via command:

wget http://gmusicbrowser.org/squentin.key.asc -O - | sudo apt-key add -

2. Refresh package cache & install the software:

Run command in terminal to update your system package cache:

sudo apt update

And finally install it via command:

sudo apt install gmusicbrowser

Uninstall gmusicbrowser:

To remove the music collections manager, simply open terminal and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove gmusicbrowser

To remove its apt repository, open Software & Updates -> Other Software tab and remove the repository line.

In Howtos, News
 

Opera Adds Built-in Player for Spotify, Apple Music & YouTube Music

Last updated: November 19, 2020

A new update for Opera web browser 72 was released a day ago, which introduced a built-in music player for Spotify, Apple Music, and YouTube Music.

In the browser’s sidebar beneath the messengers section, a “Player” icon is there allows you to login and enable music playback with Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music.

The playback can be controlled via the standard playback buttons on your keyboard or by hovering over the Player icon in the sidebar, where a mini playback control menu will appear.

And the Player pauses whenever you start streaming a video or an audio file in a tab, and automatically resumes music playback once it’s over.

How to install the latest Opera 72 in Ubuntu:

The official Ubuntu binary package is available for downloading at the link below:

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 apt repository, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab, then remove the relevant line.

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

sudo apt remove --autoremove opera-stable
In News
 

Firefox 83 Released with JavaScript Engine Updates, Https-Only Mode

Last updated: November 18, 2020

Mozilla Firefox 83.0 was released a day ago with significant updates to its JavaScript Engine, SpiderMonkey. It improved page load performance by up to 15%, page responsiveness by up to 12%, and reduced memory usage by up to 8%.

Firefox 83.0 release highlights:

  • Https-only mode.
  • Pinch zooming support for Windows touchscreen devices and touchpads on Mac devices.
  • Picture-in-Picture supports keyboard shortcuts for fast forwarding and rewinding videos
  • Improved user interface for screen sharing.
  • Improved search functionality.
  • Support AcroForm, allows to fill in, print, and save supported PDF forms.
  • Pocket recommendations for users in India with English version.
  • Various accessibility and security fixes

How to Install Firefox 83 in Ubuntu:

The new release package has been made into security & updates repositories for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10.

Simply open Software Updater utility and install the package update after checking for updates:

In News
 

Change Qt5 Apps Theme to Make Them Look Native in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Found that Qt5 based applications (e.g., VLC, qBittorrent, Virtualbox, Audacious, etc.) look ugly on Ubuntu Desktop? That’s because they don’t inherit the global GTK theme.

You can apply a custom theme to Qt5 applications to make them look native on Ubuntu Gnome desktop. And Kvantum, an SVG-based theme engine, can do the job.

First let’s see the change before and after applying the changes:

And here’s step by step guide shows how to to this in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10.

1. First open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:papirus/papirus

This step is optional for Ubuntu 20.04 and higher, as the packages are already made into main repositories.

2. Install the qt5-style-kvantum package by running command:

sudo apt install qt5-style-kvantum

3. Add rule to user’s profile, so the theme engine will handle Qt apps for single user.

echo "export QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE=kvantum" >> ~/.profile

For global, you can edit /etc/environment file and add the line export QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE=kvantum as new line in the end.

4. Log out and log back in. Then launch Kvantum Manager from system app menu.
Navigate to “Change/Delete Theme”, then select and apply KvYaru theme.

Now Qt5 apps should look native if you’re running with default Yaru GTK theme.

Uninstall and restore the changes:

To uninstall the PPA, open terminal and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:papirus/papirus

To remove the theme engine, run command:

sudo apt install qt5-style-kvantum qt5-style-kvantum-themes

And remember to edit ~/.profile to remove the last line.

gedit ~/.profile

In Howtos