UbuntuHandbook

Fix Slow Shutdown “A stop job is running for xxx” Issue in Ubuntu

Last updated: October 23, 2024

The shutdown process in Ubuntu computer sometimes may be really slow. It gets stuck at purple screen with Ubuntu logo and the dots for quite a few seconds.

Press F2 (or Esc) on keyboard when shutting down Ubuntu. It prompts that ‘A stop job is running for Snappy Daemon (or some other jobs)’ with a timer (1min 30s) at the end.

It is obviously an issue stopping the snappy daemon. I DON’T know how to fix the problem unless removing all snap applications and the daemon.

A workaround to this problem is to reduce this timeout, from 90s down to for example 10s.

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to edit the /etc/systemd/system.conf file.

sudo gedit /etc/systemd/system.conf

For Ubuntu 24.04, replace gedit with gnome-text-editor, or use mousepad for XFCE, pluma for MATE, nano command line that works for all desktops.

When the file opens, change the line #DefaultTimeoutStopSec=90s to DefaultTimeoutStopSec=10s and save it. For nano, press Ctrl+S to save, then Ctrl+X to exit.

2. Then either reboot or run command to reload the systemd daemon.

systemctl daemon-reload

Done.

In Howtos slow shutdown snap, slow shutdown Ubuntu 19.10

qBittorrent 4.2 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu

Last updated: December 5, 2019

qBittorrent bittorrent client released new stable version 4.2.0 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, and Ubuntu 19.10.

qBittorrent 4.2.0 is a new stable series that contains following new features:

Support for Libtorrent 1.2.x series
Use PBKDF2 for the GUI lock. You will need to set your password again.
Allow setting larger checking memory usage in GUI
Add “Socket backlog size” option
Add “File pool size” option
Allow styling with QSS stylesheets
Add “Tracker entries” dialog
Add “Remove torrent and its files” option to share ratio limiting.
Reallow to pause checking torrents
Reallow to force recheck torrents that aren’t fully started
Add “Preview file” double-click action.

There are also various bug-fixes, a lot of WEB UI changes, and other changes. See the release note for details.

How to Install qBittorrent 4.2.0 in Ubuntu:

The official qBittorrent PPA has built the new release packages for all current Ubuntu releases (though the 16.04 build is broken).

1. To add the PPA, open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by 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. Then either upgrade qBittorrent from a previous release via Software Updater,

or run following commands to install /upgrade it from 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

In Howtos, News qbittorrent

Mozilla Firefox 71.0 Released with Native MP3 Decoding

Last updated: December 4, 2019

Mozilla Firefox released the latest stable 71.0 a day ago. Here’s what’s new and how to install it in Ubuntu.

Firefox 71.0 release highlights:

Lockwise (integrated password manager) improvements.
More information about blocked trackers
Picture-in-Picture video support for Windows. Pop video into a separate small window and always on top.
Native MP3 decoding for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
Various security fixes and more.

Download / Install Firefox in Ubuntu:

You’ll be able to upgrade the pre-installed Firefox to the latest 71.0 release in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, and Ubuntu 19.10, through the Software Updater in 2 or 3 days (check the building page).

Or install the Firefox 71 Snap package (runs in sandbox) simply from Ubuntu Software. It can be installed alongside pre-installed Firefox.

Also the official non-install Linux package (run the executable from the tarball) as well as Firefox 71.0 release note are available at the link below:

In Howtos, News firefox native mp3

How to Install Cinnamon Desktop 4.2 in Ubuntu 18.04, 19.04

Last updated: December 3, 2019

Without installing Linux Mint 19.x, you can try out Cinnamon Desktop 4.2 in Ubuntu 19.04 or Ubuntu 18.04 via the PPA repository.

Cinnamon 4.2 features less RAM usage, Muffin optimizations, switch VSYNC on or off without restart, faster application menu, samba improvements, and many other improvements.

Install Cinnamon 4.2 via PPA in Ubuntu:

NOTE the PPA contains UNOFFICIAL (though probably the next best thing after official) builds of Cinnamon releases for Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 19.04 so far.

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:embrosyn/cinnamon

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

2. Then install Cinnamon desktop via command:

sudo apt install cinnamon

Once installed, log out and login with Cinnamon session.

Uninstall:

To remove Cinnamon desktop, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove cinnamon cinnamon-desktop-data

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

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:embrosyn/cinnamon

In Howtos cinnamon 4.2 PPA

Googler 4.0 Released, Google Search from Command Line

Last updated: December 1, 2019

Googler, power tool to Google (Web & News) and Google Site Search from the command-line, released version 4.0 a few days ago.

It shows the title, URL and abstract for each result, which can be opened in a browser from the terminal. You can also integrate it with a text-based browser.

With Googler, you can also print content of results to terminal or listen to new directly, search error on StackOverflow in terminal, stream YouTube videos on desktop.

For other features and the latest changes, see Googler on github.

How to Install Googler in Ubuntu:

The latest Googler can be easily installed in Ubuntu Software. It’s snap package runs in sandbox and maintained by the community.

For those prefer Ubuntu .deb package, download the software developer maintained package from the link below:

In App Review Google from terminal, Googler

Cawbird – Native Linux Twitter Client for Gnome 3 (‘Corebird’ fork)

Last updated: November 28, 2019

Cawbird is a modern lightweight Twitter client for GNOME 3. It features inline image and video preview, creation of lists and favorites, filtering of tweets and full text search.

“Cawbird is a fork of Corebird, which became unsupported after Twitter disabled the streaming API. Cawbird works with the new APIs and includes a few fixes and modifications that have historically been patched in to IBBoard’s custom Corebird build on his personal Open Build Service account.”

Cawbird has the following limitations due to changes in the Twitter API (imposed by Twitter, not the fault of the client):

Cawbird will update every two minutes
Cawbird does not get notified of the following, which will be refreshed on restart:
- Unfavourite
- Follow/Unfollow
- Block/Unblock
- Mute/Unmute
- DM deletion
- Some list changes

How to Install Cawbird in Ubuntu:

The easiest way is simply search for and install cawbird from Ubuntu Software.

This is a Snap package runs in sandbox. And it’s maintained by the community.

For those prefer native .deb package, go to the developer maintained repository at the link below:

Select Ubuntu, then click ‘Grab binary packages directly‘ and download the .deb package for your system.

Finally install the .deb via Gdebi package installer (available in Ubuntu Software) and enjoy!

In App Review, Howtos corebird alternative, twitter client

Set 2 Different Screen Brightness for Ubuntu 18.04 Laptop on Battery / AC

Last updated: November 27, 2019

This simple tutorial is going to show how to set two different screen brightness levels for AC adapter or on battery.

So Ubuntu 18.04 (or Ubuntu 19.10) laptop with the default Gnome 3 desktop will automatically dim screen when the charger is unplugged.

1.) Open Ubuntu Software, search for and install ‘dim on battery power’ (without quote).

2.) Then launch the extension settings either in Ubuntu Software or via Gnome Tweaks > Extensions (install Gnome Tweaks via Ubuntu Software).

When it opens, change the values of screen brightness on battery or AC power.

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos dim screen unplugged

[Quick Tip] Speed Up Installing (Downloading) Snap App in Ubuntu

Last updated: April 24, 2024

This simple tutorial shows how to speed up the downloading process of snap application package by associating IP address with the snapcraft server in Ubuntu.

Snap is a containerized package format, that makes many great applications (e.g., Spotify, Skype, the latest Blender, and more) easy to install in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.

However snap is LARGE in file size. Due to slow international network speed, downloading a snap in 20MB even take more than half an hour in my case.

1.) Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When terminal opens, run command:

dig fastly.cdn.snapcraft.io

In the terminal output, copy the IP address under ‘ANSWER SECTION’:

2.) Then run commands to edit the hosts file:

sudo gedit /etc/hosts

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

When the files opens in gedit text editor, paste following line:

151.101.42.217 fastly.cdn.snapcraft.io

Replace the IP address with which you got in step 1, and finally save the file.

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos speed up snap downloading

Linux Kernel 5.4 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: November 25, 2019

Linux 5.4 Kernel was released today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

Linus Torvalds announced the 5.4 Kernel on lkml.org:

“Not a lot happened this last week, which is just how I like it. And as expected, most of the pull requests I got were for the 5.5 merge window, which I’ll obviously start working through tomorrow.”

Linux 5.4 Kernel brings a lot of new hardware support，including AMD Arcturus GPU, Navi 12 and Navi 14 GPUs, AMD Dali and Renoir APU support，Intel Tiger Lake “Gen 12” graphics，Qualcomm Snapdragon 855 SoC, Intel Ice Lake Thunderbolt support. The new release also features Logitech Linux LOCKDOWN LSM, Lightspeed receiver support, Microsoft exFAT support, and a plethora of other new features and improvements.

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.4 in Ubuntu:

The mainline kernel packages for Linux 5.4 are available for download at the link below:

Depends on your OS type, download and install the packages in turns:

linux-headers-5.4.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
linux-headers-5.4.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
linux-modules-5.4.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
linux-image-xxx-5.4.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio), amd64 for 64bit system, i386 for 32bit system, or armhf, arm64, etc for other OS types.

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

For 64-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.4/linux-headers-5.4.0-050400_5.4.0-050400.201911242031_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.4/linux-headers-5.4.0-050400-generic_5.4.0-050400.201911242031_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.4/linux-image-unsigned-5.4.0-050400-generic_5.4.0-050400.201911242031_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.4/linux-modules-5.4.0-050400-generic_5.4.0-050400.201911242031_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

No 32-bit packages so far as build for 32-bit failed.

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.4:

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 5.4:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-unsigned-5.4.0-050400-generic

In Howtos, News kernel, Linux Kernel

Glimpse Image Editor (GIMP Fork) 0.1 Available to Install in Ubuntu

Last updated: November 24, 2019

Glimpse, a downstream fork of the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP in short), released version 0.1 a few days ago. It can be installed in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher via either Snap or Flatpak.

Due to the problematic word “gimp”, Glimpse forked the well known image editor so there are no potential barriers to using the software in businesses and educational institutions.

“If English is not your first language, then you may not have realised that the word “gimp” is problematic. In some countries it is considered a slur against disabled people and a playground insult directed at unpopular children. It can also be linked to certain “after dark” activities performed by consenting adults.

…”