Ubuntu 19.04 Disco Dingo was finally released. This quick tip is going to show to how to remove the trash can icon and user home folder from the default Gnome desktop.
1. First open Ubuntu Software, search for and install the Gnome Tweaks configuration tool.
2. Launch Gnome Tweaks. It used to have “Desktop Icons” tab in the left pane.
In Ubuntu 19.04, the Desktop icons settings has been merged into Extensions.
Select Extensions in left pane.
Click the gear button to configure Desktop icons.
In popup dialog, turn off the toggles to disable desktop icons.
As we still need flash player to view some websites, here’s how to install Pepper Flash or Adobe Flash in Ubuntu 19.04 for Firefox or Opera web browser.
Install Pepper Flash in Ubuntu:
Google maintained Pepper Flash is available in Google Chrome browser by default.
For Firefox or Opera users, you can install the plugin without installing Google Chrome in Ubuntu via following steps.
1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app laucher.
2. When terminal opens, run command to install the Pepper Flash:
sudo apt install pepperflashplugin-nonfree
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
3. Then install the plugin adapter to make it work in Firefox or Opera:
The default media player of Xfce and XUbuntu, Parole 1.0.2, was released recently with many bug-fixes and translation updates.
According to the changelog, Parole 1.0.2 fixed following bugs:
Improved support for missing Gstreamer plugin installers
Fixed compiler error -Wcast-function-type with GCC 8
Fixed disabling vendor-enabled plugins
Fixed crash when disabling plugins
Fixed play button sensitivity items are added to playlist.
Fixed Appstream validation by removing em tags
Fixed plugin active state when reopening the Plugins dialog
Resolved g_type_class_add_private warnings
How to Install Parole 1.0.2 in Ubuntu 18.04:
Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application launcher. When it opens, run following commands to install the media player from PPA repository.
1. Paste below command and hit run to add PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:unit193/xfce
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then either upgrade Parole via Software Updater:
or install the package via command:
sudo apt install parole
Linux Mint 19 needs to refresh package cache first via sudo apt update command.
3. As the PPA contains many other Xfce packages and libraries, you may remove the PPA afterwards by going to Software & Updates -> Other Software.
Uninstall Parole
To remove the media player, open terminal and run command:
This quick tutorial is going to show you how to install the classic style Gnome application menu in Ubuntu 18.04, and higher.
There’s a Gnome Shell extension called Gno-Menu. It is a traditional styled full featured Gnome-Shell apps-menu, that aims to offer all the essentials in a simple uncluttered intuitive interface.
Simply open Ubuntu Software, search for and install Gno-Menu.
Then you’ll see the new application menu in top-left corner. Click to expand the app menu, and click the gear button (see the top pic.) can bring up the settings dialog.
Gnu Emacs text editor 26.2 was released yesterday with a wide variety of new features. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 19.04, and derivatives.
New features in Gnu Emacs 26.2 include:
Emacs modules can now be built outside of the Emacs tree source.
Compliant with the latest 11.0 of the Unicode Standard.
In Dired, the ‘Z’ command on a directory name compresses all of its files.
New toggle ‘ibuffer-do-toggle-lock’, bound to ‘L’.
The value for ‘imenu-auto-rescan-maxout’ increased to 600000.
1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for “Terminal” from start menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA repository:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kelleyk/emacs
Type user password (no asterisk feedback due to security reason) when prompts and hit Enter.
2. Then install Emacs26 either via Synaptic package manager, or by running following commands one by one in terminal:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install emacs26
For text-only interface, replace emacs26 with emacs26-nox in the last command. And Ubuntu 18.04 and higher can skip apt update command.
Once installed, open emacs from your system application launcher and enjoy!
How to Remove:
To remove Emacs26, open terminal and run commands:
sudo apt remove --autoremove emacs26 emacs26-nox
The PPA can be removed by going to Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.
For those sticking to the open-source RadeonSI / RADV / Intel / Nouveau drivers, the latest Mesa 19.0.2 graphics libraries is now available to install in Ubuntu 18.04 via PPA.
Mesa 19.0 was released a months ago with many features including Intel’s Vulkan driver transform feedback, soft FP64/INT64, RadeonSI FreeSync/Adaptive-Sync, AMD Zen thread optimizations, and more. Then Mesa 19.0.2 was released ago a few days with a handful of fixes.
Canonical’s Timo Aaltonen has made Mesa 19.0.2 package into “Ubuntu-X” team PPA for Ubuntu 18.04.
To get better open-source graphics driver performance, you may install Mesa 19.0.2 via following steps:
1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or from software launcher. When it opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. After adding the PPA, do system update via command:
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
apt-get update is not required any more in Ubuntu 18.04 since adding PPA automatically refreshes system package cache.
3. Finally check your driver version via command:
glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"
Uninstall:
To restore changes and downgrade to the default drives shipped in Ubuntu 18.04, run command:
For Ubuntu users with Razer peripherals, here’s how to install the Linux driver and configure Razer peripherals in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and higher.
OpenRazer is an open source driver and user-space daemon that allows you to manage your Razer peripherals on GNU/Linux. See the list of supported devices.
With Polychromatic GUI front-end, you can configure your Razer peripherals with a graphical tool and system tray applet.
1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app launcher. When it opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openrazer/stable
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. Also add Polychromatic PPA by running command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:polychromatic/stable
3. Finally refresh your system package cache and install the drivers and GUI tool via commands:
DeaDBeeF music player 1.8.0 was released a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 19.04, and derivatives.
It’s been almost 3 years since the last 0.7.2 release. DeaDBeeF is considered mature enough and stops using version 0. DeaDBeeF 1.8.0 features:
add Opus support
add ReplayGain Scanner
add proper tracks+cue support
add/improve MP4 tag reading and writing
load embedded album art from MP4 files
add File Copy and File Move converter presets
add GBS, SGC support to Game_Music_Emu
improve detecting GTK theme colors for custom widgets
add Copy & Paste in playlist
add localization support for plugin UI
add Drag’n’drop support from deadbeef to other applications
add --volume command line option
and a large list of other improvements and bug-fixes (See the previous link).
How to Install DeaDBeeF 1.8.0 in Ubuntu:
Besides using the official portable package, the new release is available to install in all current Ubuntu releases via PPA repository.
1. Open terminal either from app launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:spvkgn/deadbeef
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then refresh system package cache and install deadbeef via following 2 commands:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install deadbeef
If you wouldl like to install GTK2 interface, replace deadbeef with deadbeef-gtk2 in the code.
Uninstall:
To remove the music player, open terminal and run command:
sudo apt remove --auto-remove deadbeef
And remove the PPA via Software & Updates -> Other Software.
