UbuntuHandbook

How to Install/Remove Flatpak (.flatpakref) in Ubuntu 24.04

Last updated: January 14, 2025 — Leave a comment

This is a step by step beginner’s guide shows how to install (or uninstall) Flatpak App Package, including local .flatpakref file, in Ubuntu 24.04.

Flatpak is an universal package format that can be installed in most Linux with a sandbox environment. It’s a free open-source project developed by Flatpak Team, which has closer relationship to GNOME and Red Hat.

As a competitor, Ubuntu has its own universal Snap package runs in sandbox. Flatpak is NOT supported out-of-the-box in Ubuntu, but easy to enable!

In Howtos flatpak

How to Install & Use TeamViewer Free in Ubuntu 24.04

Last updated: March 28, 2024 — Leave a comment

This is a step by step beginner’s guide shows how to install and use TeamViewer in Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop.

TeamViewer is a popular German remote desktop access and remote control software that works in Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS/iPadOS.

It’s a proprietary software that provides paid versions, as well as free license for personal use. For Linux, TeamViewer provides support for x86/x64, and arm64/armhf devices support. It’s a good choice for users who don’t know how to setup remote desktop sharing.

Remote Control Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop via TeamViewer

In Howtos TeamViewer

Fedora Linux 40 Beta is Released

Last updated: March 27, 2024 — Leave a comment

Fedora Linux announced the Beta release of the next version 40 one day ago on Tuesday!

Fedora is a popular free open-source Linux Distribution owned by Red Hat, which acts as an upstream release for CentOS Stream and RHEL. It features Iot, Cloud, Server, CoreOS, and Workstation defaults to GNOME (and other Desktops as spins).

Like Ubuntu, Fedora has 2 releases every year, but each has only about 13 months support! The next is Fedora 40, which now is in Beta stage!

Fedora 40 Workstation Beta

In News fedora

Blender 4.1 Released! New Nodes, Faster Performance and Python 3.11

Last updated: March 27, 2024 — Leave a comment

Blender, the popular free open-source 3D creation software, announced new 4.1 major release this Tuesday.

Blender 4.1 introduced new geometry nodes, including Index Switch, Musgrave, Split to Instance, Sort Elements, Rotate Rotation, Active Camera. It replaces mesh “Auto Smooth” option with a modifier node group asset, adds support for Blackbody shader node, new Manage panel in Geometry Nodes modifier.
Continue Reading…

In News 3D Graphics, blender

Free Planetarium App Stellarium 24.1 Adds Low Graphics Mode

Last updated: March 27, 2024 — Leave a comment

Stellarium, the free planetarium app, release version 24.1 a day ago.

Stellarium is a free open-source desktop app for Linux, Windows, and MacOS. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope.

The software released version 24.1 this Tuesday that features low-graphics mode support, which can be useful for users running into low FPS, freezing, or lagging issues. User can enable this feature either by passing --low-graphics or -L option when starting it from command line, or by adding the option in the corresponding .desktop file for Linux.
Continue Reading…

In News free planetarium software, Stellarium

GNU Emacs 29.3 Released with Emergency Bug Fixes [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: March 26, 2024 — Leave a comment

GNU Emacs editor released new 29.3 as an emergency bug-fix release this Sunday.

The new release intended to fix several security vulnerabilities described below:

Arbitrary Lisp code is no longer evaluated as part of turning on Org mode. This is for security reasons, to avoid evaluating malicious Lisp code.
New buffer-local variable ‘untrusted-content’. When this is non-nil, Lisp programs should treat buffer contents with extra caution.
Gnus now treats inline MIME contents as untrusted. To get back previous insecure behavior, ‘untrusted-content’ should be reset to nil in the buffer.
LaTeX preview is now by default disabled for email attachments. To get back previous insecure behavior, set the variable org--latex-preview-when-risky to a non-nil value.
Org mode now considers contents of remote files to be untrusted. Remote files are recognized by calling file-remote-p.

In News Emacs

Dash to Panel Updates with GNOME 46 Support

Last updated: March 26, 2024 — Leave a comment

Dash-to-panel, the popular GNOME Shell Extension, got a update few days ago with the latest GNOME 46 support.

For those who don’t know about dash-to-panel, it’s a free open-source extension for GNOME, which replaces the default panel and dock with a single bottom bar. Along with ArcMenu, user can easily customize the desktop to Windows 10 or Windows 11 style layout.

Ubuntu 24.04 with Dash to panel and ArcMenu

In News Gnome

2 Apps to Play Ambient Noise in Ubuntu 24.04 & 22.04

Last updated: March 26, 2024 — Leave a comment

Want to play some soothing sounds in your Linux Desktop? Here are 2 applications can do the job in current Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04.

To improve focus and increase your productivity, or easy to fall asleep, there are a few applications can help by playing natural sounds in Linux.

1. Relaxator

In Howtos Ambient Noise

How to Fix Python Pip Install Error in Ubuntu 24.04

Last updated: March 26, 2024 — 1 Comment

When using pip command to install a Python package in Ubuntu 24.04 will output “error: externally-managed-environment“. Here are a few workarounds to ‘fix’ the issue.

As the terminal output shows you, it’s the change due to PEP 668. Since Ubuntu 23.04, it recommends Python-specific package management tools (e.g., pip) to install packages using a virtual environment, to avoid conflicts to packages installed by OS package managers. Though, user can still force pip to install into interpreter’s global context just like before.

In Howtos python

Kooha Screen Recorder 2.3.0 Has Better Area Recording Support

Last updated: March 25, 2024 — Leave a comment

Kooha, the small free open-source screen recording app, release new 2.3.0 version a few days ago.

Kooha is one of the first apps support Wayland, the default display server in recent Ubuntu and Fedora workstation releases. Since GNOME’s built-in screenshot/screencast tool does not support recording audio, it is a good alternative to record full screen or rectangular area with microphone and desktop audio support. And, it can record your desktop screen into WebM, MP4, GIF, and Matroska formats.

In last 2.2.x release series, Kooha added new area selection UI for better Wayland support. In the new 2.3.0 release, the area selection window now is resizable, so you can have a bigger view when selecting recording area. And, previous selected area is now remembered to make it easy to redo recording last area.