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How to Hide Grub Boot Menu in Ubuntu 20.04, 21.10 (Updated)

Last updated: July 17, 2021

This simple tutorial shows how to hide / disable the Grub boot menu while booting Ubuntu.

You can do the job easily via Grub-Customizer (available in Ubuntu Software) under General Settings tab. However, you need to also disable “look for other operating systems” option.

Any time you want to show the Grub menu, press ESC while booting up will NO longer show dual-boot (multi-boot) systems other than Ubuntu.

NOT OK with Grub-Customizer settings? Re-enable “show menu” and “look for other operating systems” options, save changes, and do following steps one by one.

Hide boot menu by manually editing the config file:

In most Linux including Ubuntu, you can edit the /etc/default/grub file along with scripts under /etc/grub.d to control how the Grub boot menu works.

1.) Firstly, open terminal from system app launcher. Run command to edit the configuration file:

sudo -H gedit /etc/default/grub

For Ubuntu flavors / Linux Mint, replace gedit with your favorite text editor.

When the file opens, you need to set following lines:

  • GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden – Hide the boot menu. Though it still wait a few seconds you set by GRUB_TIMEOUT.
  • GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=countdown – Hide boot menu and show countdown. Even set GRUB_TIMEOUT=0. It counts 3,2,1.
  • GRUB_TIMEOUT = 0 – It will boot the default OS immediately. However, you may set it to 3 or 5 so you can press ESC (F4 or hold Shift) during the time to show the boot menu if need.
  • GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true – Disable “/etc/grub.d/30_os-prober” because it overwrite the value of GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE. However, it will no longer find other OSes other than Ubuntu.
  • GRUB_RECORDFAIL_TIMEOUT=0 – Set timeout if last boot failed. Without the key, it will show and stop at boot menu waiting user action.

2.) Step 1. will do the job after applying changes. However, it will no longer display other operating systems if any in your machine.

In case you want to boot other OS once in a while. Modify 30_os-prober file instead of disable it via “GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=true”.

To do so, run command:

sudo gedit /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober

And set quick_boot=”0″. So it will no longer overwrite “GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE” value you set in step 1, while also find other OSes on your machine.

3.) Finally apply changes via command:

sudo update-grub

How to restore:

Just undo what you did in step 1 and / or 2 and apply change by running command sudo update-grub.

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CoBang – Native GTK QR Code Scanner for Linux Desktop

Last updated: June 7, 2020

CoBang is a new QR code scanner for Linux, which is written with Python 3 and GTK+ and support Wayland session.

The name is “Cỏ bàng” (Lepironia articulata), in Vietnamese. Compare to QtQR, Qt QR code generator and decoder, CoBang features:

  • Work in both X and Wayland.
  • Scan from webcam (embedded webcam video).
  • Scan from image:
    • drag and drop support.
    • copy and paste image into app window
    • open remote image (http, ftp)
    • open via file browser.

It is however lacks the feature to generate QR code so far.

How to Install CoBang in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, the tool is available as Flatpak package in Flathub repository.

For Ubuntu 20.04 only, the developer has made the package into the PPA repository.

1.) Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) from ‘Show Applications’ menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ng-hong-quan/ppa

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

2.) Then install the QR code scanner via command:

sudo apt install cobang

Uninstall CoBang:

To remove the PPA, either open Software & Updates and remove repository line under Other Software tab, or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ng-hong-quan/ppa

And remove the scanner via command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove cobang
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How to Change Start Menu Icon in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS

Last updated: June 6, 2020

Want to change the ‘Show Applications’ dot grid icon in the dock panel of Ubuntu 20.04 Gnome Desktop?

The start menu dot grid icon relies on the view-app-grid-symbolic.svg icon. For default Yaru icon theme, it’s located in /usr/share/icons/Yaru/scalable/actions.

To replace the icon, open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, then do following steps one by one.

1.) Make a backup of the original icon file:

cd /usr/share/icons/Yaru/scalable/actions/ && sudo cp view-app-grid-symbolic.svg view-app-grid-symbolic.svg.bak

2.) Grab a SVG icon from web. In the case, I downloaded this ubuntu logo svg.

NOTE: it must be a .svg icon file.

3.) Copy (or move) your .svg to replace the start menu icon:

sudo cp /path/to/your/svg /usr/share/icons/Yaru/scalable/actions/view-app-grid-symbolic.svg

In my case the command is:

sudo cp ~/Downloads/ubuntu-icon.svg /usr/share/icons/Yaru/scalable/actions/view-app-grid-symbolic.svg

4.) Finally apply changes by pressing Alt+F2, type r in pup-up ‘Run a command’ box, and hit Enter to restart Gnome.

To restore changes, simply copy back the backup file you did in step 1 by running command:

cd /usr/share/icons/Yaru/scalable/actions/ && sudo cp view-app-grid-symbolic.svg.bak view-app-grid-symbolic.svg

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Blender 2.83 Released as First Long Term Support [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: June 9, 2021

Blender 2.79

Blender 2.83 was released a few days ago. It’s marked as the first LTS (Long Term Support) release with 2-year support with critical fixes.

Blender is the third and final update of the Blender 2.8 series, the new release features:

This release focuses on performance improvements – faster undo, higher performance for the Grease Pencil toolset, and adaptive sampling in the Cycles render engine – enabling artists to increase the complexity of their scenes. It also delivers brand-new sculpting tools such as the physics-enabled Cloth Brush and Face Sets. The Nvidia RTX AI-accelerated denoiser is now available in the viewport, greatly speeding up render previews. For a full list of updates, check the release notes at blender.org.

How to Install Blender 2.83 in Ubuntu:

The Blender Snap package (runs in sandbox) powered by Blender Foundation can be directly installed from Ubuntu Software.

For those prefer apt repository, Thomas Schiex’s PPA has made the packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and Ubuntu 20.04.

The PPA is abandoned, see this tutorial instead.

1.) Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from ‘show applications’ menu.

When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:thomas-schiex/blender

Type your password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompt and hit Enter to continue.

2.) Then run commands to install Blender 2.83 .deb package:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install blender

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA repository, launch Software & Updates utility and remove repository line under Other Software tab.

To remove Blender .deb package, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove blender
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Fix WiFi Not Working After VPN Disconnected in Ubuntu

Last updated: June 4, 2020

Sometimes after disconnected from a VPN network in Ubuntu 20.04, wireless does no longer work and even shows ‘No Adapter Found’ in the settings. If you have the same problem, this tutorial may help.

Without restarting your computer, you can try following steps to make the wireless work again.

1.) Restart Wifi network via system menu.

Try turn off wireless network from system tray menu, and turn it on again.

This works in the case when I disconnected from PPTP VPN server.

2.) Restart Wifi network via nmcli.

The previous step may not work sometimes. If so, try running commands in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to restart networking:

nmcli networking off 

nmcli networking on

And this works in the case when I disconnected from a ExpressVPN server.

3.) Restart Wireless interface via ifconfig

You may also run following 2 commands to restart the wireless network:

sudo ifconfig wlo1 down

sudo ifconfig wlo1 up

NOTE you need to replace wlo1 to your wifi network name (usually wlan0). Check it via ifconfig command.

4.) If none of the previous steps works, you may try to reload the wireless kernel module.

Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) from system application menu and run command to check your wireless driver:

sudo lshw -C network 2>&1 | grep wireless | grep driver

As the picture shows, it’s rtw_pci in my case.

Then run command to reload the kernel module:

sudo modprobe -r MODULE_NAME && sudo modprobe MODULE_NAME

In my case the command is (rtwpci did work though it should be rtw_pci):

sudo modprobe -r rtwpci && sudo modprobe rtwpci

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Audacious 4.0.4 Released with Further Qt5 UI Improvements

Last updated: June 3, 2020

Audacious music player

Audacious music player 4.0.4 was released 2 days ago with further improvements to the new Qt5 UI. Ubuntu PPA updated for all current Ubuntu releases.

Changes in the Qt interface include:

  • Add keyboard shortcuts for Open/Add Folder
  • Fix files being moved instead of copied when dragged to a file manager

For the Qt Winamp interface, some old features are added back:

  • Enable window snapping to screen edges
  • dragging files from file manager

There are also translation updates and more bug-fixes, see Audacious 4.0.4 release note.

How to Install Audacious 4.0.4 in Ubuntu:

The unofficial PPA contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and Ubuntu 20.04.

1. Open terminal by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

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

2. Then run commands one by one in terminal to install or upgrade the audio player:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install audacious audacious-plugins

Uninstall:

You can easily remove the PPA either by going to Software & Updates utility -> Other Software tab, or by running command:

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

To remove audacious, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove audacious audacious-plugins
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Firefox 77.0 Released with Pocket Recommendations for UK users

Last updated: June 2, 2020

Firefox 55

Mozilla Firefox web browser 77.0 was released today with some new features and various security fixes.

Firefox 77.0 features:

  • Pocket’s article recommendations in new tab. If you don’t see them, follow these steps.
  • WebRender available by default on Windows 10 laptop with Nvidia GPUs (all screen sizes).
  • manage web certificates on about:certificate page.

There are also a number of bug-fixes and other changes, see the release note for details.

Download / Install Firefox 77 in Ubuntu:

For those prefer upgrading the pre-installed Firefox package, v77 package will be available in a few days for all current Ubuntu releases. At that time, upgrade Firefox via Software Updater (Update Manager):

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How to Install Linux Kernel 5.7 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Last updated: July 16, 2020

Linux Kernel

Linus Torvalds announced the release of Kernel 5.7 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in 64-bit Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

New features in Linux 5.7 include:

  • Support Intel Tiger Lake “Gen12” graphics out-of-the-box.
  • AMD Ryzen 4000 “Renoir” mobile graphics support
  • New exFAT driver from Samsung
  • Support for Apple USB Fast Charge
  • Zstd compression support for F2FS file-system.

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.7 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 5.7 (64-bit only) are now available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 5.7

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

  1. linux-headers-5.7.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-5.7.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  3. linux-modules-5.7.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  4. linux-image-xxx-5.7.0-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/v5.7/amd64/linux-headers-5.7.0-050700_5.7.0-050700.202006082127_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.7/amd64/linux-headers-5.7.0-050700-generic_5.7.0-050700.202006082127_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.7/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.7.0-050700-generic_5.7.0-050700.202006082127_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.7/amd64/linux-modules-5.7.0-050700-generic_5.7.0-050700.202006082127_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.7:

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 5.7:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-unsigned-5.7.0-050700-generic
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NetSpeed – Display Download / Upload Speed in Ubuntu 20.04 | 22.04 Panel

Last updated: August 12, 2022

Need an indicator applet to display internet download and upload speed in the top panel of Ubuntu 20.04 Gnome Shell?

NetSpeed used to be an old Gnome applet, then an indicator for Unity desktop. Now it’s a Gnome Shell extension that displays real time internet speed for all network interfaces.

For Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, please scroll down and see the update method to install the net speed indicator.

Install NetSpeed in Ubuntu 20.04:

In your web browser, simply go to extensions.gnome.org/extension/104/netspeed/

If you don’t see the toggle icon, do:

  • Click the link text “click here to install browser extension” and follow the pop-ups to install the browser extension:

    shell browser extension

  • Then open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T and run command: 
    sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Finally refresh the extension page, toggle on and click ‘install’ in the confirm pop-up.

To manage the Gnome Shell extension, either use ‘Extensions‘ utility or Gnome Tweak Tool, both are available in Ubuntu Software.

How to Uninstall the applet:

To remove the extension, you may either re-open the web-page via the previous link and turn off the toggle icon.

Or, open terminal and run command to install “Gnome Extensions” app:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-prefs

After that, search for and launch the tool, which allows to manage all extensions installed on your system.

App to Manage your extensions

(UPDATE) Install Net Speed Indicator in Ubuntu 22.04:

Since Ubuntu 22.04 defaults to Firefox as Snap, which does not support installing Gnome extensions, there’s another way to install the indicator.

1. Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to install extension manager app:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager

2. Next, click the top-left ‘Activities’, then search for and open the app:

3. Finally, search for and install ‘net speed’ in the “Browser” tab of the pop-up tool and enjoy!

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How to Install My Weather Indicator in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: January 2, 2022

Looking for a desktop weather application for Ubuntu desktop? My Weather Indicator is one of the great choices.

My Weather Indicator is an application especially designed for Ubuntu. It’s written in Python 3 and works on Plasma, GNOME, MATE, Xfce, etc.

The software displays current weather and the weather forecast via system tray indicator applet and desktop widget. Supported weather services include: OpenWeatherMap, Yahoo, wunderground.com, and World Weather Online.

To install the weather application, open terminal from your system application menu and run following commands one by one.

1.) Add the developer’s PPA by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao

Type your login password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompt and hit Enter to continue.

2.) Refresh package cache and install the software:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install my-weather-indicator

3.) The first launching My Weather Indicator will bring up the settings dialog. There you can setup your location, widget theme, weather services, auto-start, refresh frequency, etc.

Note: after clicking OK button, it can take a few seconds to show the desktop widget.

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA, either open Software & Update > Other Software or run command:

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

To remove the weather application, run command:

sudo apt remove my-weather-indicator
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