News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
This quick tutorial shows you how to enable passwordless login in Ubuntu, so you can just click user name on the login screen to log it in without typing password or using any other authentication method.
This tutorial is tested and works in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 24.04. Not only for the default GNOME Desktop, but also for XUbuntu (XFCE), Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Cinnamon, Ubuntu Unity, LUbuntu (LXQt), KUbuntu and Ubuntu Studio (KDE).
KDE Okular document viewer now can be easily installed in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and higher via the snap package.
Okular is a universal document viewer developed by KDE. It supports PDF, PS, Tiff, CHM, DjVu, Images, DVI, XPS, ODT, Fiction Book, Comic Book, Plucker, EPub, Fax. It features annotations support, sidebar with contents, thumbnails, reviews and bookmarks.
Okular snap is a containerized software package offered by KDE. It bundles all required libraries and auto-updates itself.
For Ubuntu 18.04, and higher, simply open Ubuntu Software, search for and install the Okular snap package:
For Ubuntu 16.04, first open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and install snapd daemon:
sudo apt-get install snapd
Then install Okular snap packages via commands:
sudo snap install okular
Once installed, launch it from software menu and enjoy!
This quick tutorial shows how to change the time and date clock format in Ubuntu 18.04’s default Gnome desktop panel.
Since Ubuntu switched to Gnome 3 desktop, you can no longer use dconf editor to customize clock format. Instead, a Gnome Shell extension can do the job.
1. Open Ubuntu Software, search for and install Clock Override extension.
2. Once installed, either launch the settings from install page, or use Gnome Tweaks -> Extensions.
3. When the settigns page opens, type in the box to change the time format.
Here are some codes:
For a full list of code, run man date in terminal:
Kodi media center, formerly known as XBMC, released the new stable 18.0 “Leia” a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Mint 18.x, 19.x, and higher.
Kodi 18.0 is a big release with almost 10,000 commits, 3000 pull-requests. The key features include:
The Kodi stable PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and their derivatives.
1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or from application menu. When it opens, paste below command and hit run:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
Type user password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. Remove old Kodi package as it may prevent the new installation:
sudo apt remove --autoremove kodi kodi-data kodi-bin
3. Finally check updates and install Kodi 18.0:
sudo apt update sudo apt install kodi
For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, you can skip the apt update command.
To remove the Kodi PPA repository, simply open Software & Updates -> Other Software.
To remove Kodi, run command in step 2.
HPLIP 3.19.1, HP developed Linux drivers for HP inkjet and laser based printers, was released one day ago with new devices and Linux Distros support.
According to the release note, HPLIP 3.19.1 adds following new devices support:
Also 64-bit of Fedora 29, Open Suse 15, Manjaro 18.0, and RHEL 7.2 are now supported.
1. To install the software, download the package “hplip-3.19.1.run” from the link below:
2. Then make the downloaded file executable from its Properties dialog:
3. Finally open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or search for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to start installing it:
./Downloads/hplip-3.19.1.run
Type your user password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.
4. Then follow the terminal prompts, answer some questions to build and install HPLIP on your system. When everything is done, plug/re-plug your printers and enjoy!
Gscan2pdf, GTK tool to produce PDF / DjVu from scanned document, released version 2.3.0 a few hours ago.
While v2.1.3 does not really fixed the issue that time is always set to 0 UTC. Gscan2pdf 2.3.0 fixed it by optionally also include time information in metadata of PDF or DjVU.
The 2.3.0 release also include following changes:
The official Ubuntu PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and their derivatives.
1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jeffreyratcliffe/ppa
Type user password (no asterisks 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:
For the first time, you can either install it via Synaptic Package Manager or by running following commands in terminal:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get 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.
Gnome Twitch 0.4.2, GTK+3 Twitch app for Linux desktop, now is finally available as Snap package in the stable channel.
UPDATE: GNOME Twitch seems NOT in active development! It may or may NOT work in current Ubuntu releases.
While Ubuntu offers an old version of Gnome Twitch .deb package in its official repositories, and there’s no stable PPA repository provides the latest updates, Daniel Llewellyn finally made the snap package for Gnome Twitch 0.4.2 into stable channel.
For Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Mint 19.x and higher, simply open Ubuntu Software, search for and install Gnome Twitch:
For Ubuntu 16.04 and Linux Mint 18.x, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and first install snapd via command:
sudo apt install snapd
Then install the snap package via command:
sudo snap install gnome-twitch
Depends on your system edition, remove the software either via Ubuntu Software or by running command in terminal:
sudo snap remove gnome-twitch
For those prefer .deb package to the containerized flatpak package, the latest Gnome MPV 0.16 now is available to install via PPA in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Linux Mint 19.x, and higher.
Gnome MPV 0.16 was released a few days ago with some changes on preferences dialog and app menu, improvements to MPRIS DBus connection, playlist, etc.
Xu Zhen, one of the software contributors, maintains a PPA repository with the latest packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and the next Ubuntu 19.04.
1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or from software launcher. When it opens, paste below command and hit run to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xuzhen666/gnome-mpv
Type user password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. If a previous version was installed, upgrade the media player via Software Updater:
or simply run command in terminal to install MPV 0.16:
sudo apt install gnome-mpv
For Linux Mint, you may first run sudo apt update to refresh system package cache.
To remove the PPA, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software, or run command in terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:xuzhen666/gnome-mpv
To remove Gnome MPV, simply run command in terminal:
sudo apt remove --autoremove gnome-mpv
Opera web browser released new stable 58 a day ago. The new release features warning dialog before closing window with multiple tabs, and Yandex Zen integration for Russian users.
Changes in Opera 58 include:
The Opera team offers snap package (containerised software package), which is always up-to-date (auto-updates itself). You can simply install it in Ubuntu Software:
Also traditional Opera binary package for Ubuntu is available for download at the link below:
To receive future updates through Software Updater, add the official Opera apt repository via following steps:
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
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
