Archives For November 30, 1999

KeePassXC, the popular free open-source password manager, released version 2.7.6 today!

This is a new maintenance release with bug-fixes and minor improvements. According to the release note, the release improve the drag’n’drop behavior. Just like drag’n’drop files in your OS, dragging entries in KeePassXC now shows the thumbnail that following mouse cursor until you drop it/them.

KeePassXC 2.7.6 also improved the Quick Unlock function. It’s now automatically activated when unlocking for Auto-Type or Browser access, and the Auto-Type button and shortcut key will be disabled when Auto-Type is turned off for the entry or group.

Other change in the release include:

  • Add challenge-response support for Nitrokey 3
  • Search by entry UUID
  • Warn duplicate URLs in Additional URLs list.
  • Fix warning message about allow screencapture
  • Fix system tray icon color.
  • Several UI and stability fixes.

How to Install KeePassXC 2.7.6 via PPA in Ubuntu/Linux Mint

For all current Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Linux Mint 20/21, and their based systems, KeePassXC 2.7.6 is available to install via its Official PPA repository.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phoerious/keepassxc

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

2. If you have an old version of KeePassXC installed as .deb package, simply launch “Software Updater” or Update Manager to update it to the latest.

Or, run the apt command below in terminal to install the password manager:

sudo apt install keepassxc

NOTE: Linux Mint has to run sudo apt update first to update cache.

After installation, search for and open the tool either from ‘Activities’ overview or system start menu depends on your desktop environment.

Uninstall KeePassXC

To uninstall the password manager installed as native .deb package, either use Ubuntu Software app or open terminal and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove keepassxc

And remove the PPA repository either via ‘Software & Updates‘ tool under ‘Other Software‘ tab,

or command below in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:phoerious/keepassxc

That’s all. Enjoy!

Ubuntu (since 23.10) introduced new enhanced tiling window support! Here’s how you can try it out in Ubuntu 22.04 & Ubuntu 20.04.

For those who don’t know what is window tiling, it’s a window management behavior that snap window to screen edge/corner to be half or quarter-tile. So, you can work with 2, 3, or 4 app windows side by side in your screen.

Ubuntu so far has basic tiling support, that can only snap window to left or right half-tile. An enhanced tiling is available soon via a new built-in extension called “Tiling Assistant”.

By either dragging or use keyboard shortcut, user can tile window to left, right, top and bottom half, which is called Edge Tiling. And, tile window to top-left, top-right, bottom-left, and bottom-right quarter of screen, called Corner Tiling.

And, after tiling a window, it has a tiling pop-up feature that automatically show you ‘Super + Tab’ app switcher style pop-up to choose which app to auto-tile to the remaining screen space. And, when clicking focus (raise) a tiled window, all windows in the tile group raise together.

Install Tiling Assistant in Ubuntu 22.04/20.04

Like ‘Ubuntu Dock’, the new extension is a fork of the community maintained ‘Tiling Assistant’ extension. Which, support GNOME desktop from version 3.36 to 44 at the moment.

Ubuntu 22.04 user can firstly search for and install “Extension Manager” from Ubuntu Software.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+

Then, launch the tool and use it to search & install “Tiling Assistant” extension under Browse tab.

For Ubuntu 20.04, first press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command to install the agent and Extensions app packages:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell gnome-shell-extension-prefs

Then, go to the link below and use ON/OFF switch to install ‘Tiling Assistant’:

If you don’t see the ON/OFF switch, install browser extension with link in the page and then refresh!

After installed the extension, launch either “Extension Manager” or “Gnome Extensions” app and open the settings for that extension to configure the new tiling behavior.

For those who want to install the simple Audio Recorder application in Ubuntu 23.10 and Ubuntu 24.04, here’s new Ubuntu PPA.

Audio Recorder is a free open-source GTK3 audio recording application for Linux. It has a stupid simple user interface, while can record any sound from your computer.

Audio Recorder simple UI

This app can record sound from your speaker, microphone, music player applications, and mixed source, such as recording speaker and microphone at the same time.

Sound can be recorded into OGG, FLAV, MP3, WAV, OPUS, M4A audio formats. And, it has a timer to start/stop recording automatically on given time and/or voice, silence.

This audio recorder is one of my most favorite Linux applications. But don’t know why, it’s excluded in Debian/Ubuntu repositories. And, the official Ubuntu PPA support so far until Ubuntu 22.04.

Some users reported it does NOT install in Ubuntu 23.04, so I made a new PPA contains this software packages, with support for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 on amd64 (X86_64), arm64/armhf (for Apple M1/M2, Raspberry Pi, etc) CPU architecture types.

And thankfully,  the new PPA package seems working good (with only minor testing). Since you may know, Ubuntu 23.04 switched to Pipewire sound server while 22.04 and earlier are using classic PulseAudio.

1. Add the new PPA

To add the PPA, simply press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audio-recorder

2. Update system package index

Since Ubuntu 20.04, it automatically updates system package index while adding PPA. Though, some Ubuntu based systems may NOT.

Just in case, you may run command manually to refresh your system package index:

sudo apt update

3. Install Audio Recorder

Finally, install the audio recorder package by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install audio-recorder

The Audio Recorder app updates rarely, so you can remove the PPA after installation (see the bottom screenshot).

Uninstall:

To remove the audio recorder, simply run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove audio-recorder

And remove the PPA, either by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audio-recorder

Or, use “Software & Updates” utility by removing the source line under ‘Other Software’ tab.

Can’t wait to try out the new Thunderbird 115, but hate Snap and Flatpak packages? Here’s how to install it from Ubuntu PPA!

Thunderbird 115 is a new major release series with refined look and feel. It now uses GNOME CSD style header bar instead of the old title-bar. Which has a more compact header bar, that looks better in Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux with GNOME.

As well, it provides menu options to change the header-bar height to meet your need.

Besides the headerbar, menu, tool-bar, etc, are also redesigned to look better in today’s Linux desktop. As well, it takes use the new logo announced few months ago. See more about Thunderbird 115.

How to Install Thunderbird 115 via PPA

Ubuntu is most likely to build the new Thunderbird 115 package into system repository! Check this page for Ubuntu’s official package status.

Before that, user can easily search for and install Thunderbird Snap package from Ubuntu Software. Or, install the Flatpak package in Flathub repository. However, both are running in sandbox and support 64-bit X86 CPU architecture type only.

If you hate sandboxed applications, and/or running Ubuntu on ARM devices (e.g., Apple M1/M2, Raspberry Pi) or IBM POWER platform, then, there are Ubuntu PPAs for choice.

1. Add Ubuntu PPA

The Mozilla Team PPA has already built the packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa

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

2. Install/Update Thunderbird

After adding the PPA, simply launch “Software Updater” and wait for checking for updates. Until done, install the updates to install Thunderbird 115.

Or, just run command in terminal to install/update the package:

sudo apt install thunderbird

Linux Mint user need to run sudo apt update first to refresh package cache.

After installation, search for and launch the email client from ‘Activities’ overview or start menu depends on your desktop environment.

Uninstall Thunderbird.

If you have problem with the new release package, or Ubuntu updated the package in its official repository, then you can purge the Ubuntu PPA to switch back the stock version of Thunderbird package.

To do so, just open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:mozillateam/ppa

If the command above failed, you may manually remove the PPA by running command:

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

Then, remove the Thunderbird package installed from that PPA:

sudo apt remove --autoremove thunderbird

Don’t like the green number badges on the left (or bottom) dock app icons? Ubuntu (since 23.10) now has hidden option to show/hide it.

Ubuntu since 23.10 has introduced some visible changes, such as enhanced tiling window support, remove ‘minimal installation’ and drop some pre-installed applications.

The Ubuntu Dock has been updated to the latest version 84 with more options to control the emblems visibility.

Don’t know if Ubuntu 22.04 will update its Ubuntu Dock extension with the new features, but Ubuntu users of 23.10 and 24.04 can now follow the steps below to toggle display the green number badges.

Option 1: Use Dconf Editor (Graphical Way)

Firstly, search for and install the “Dconf Editor” tool from Ubuntu Software.

Then, launch “Dconf Editor” and navigate to ‘org/gnome/shell/extensions/dash-to-dock’. Finally, scroll down, find out and turn off the “show-icons-notifications-counter” option.

And, the change applies immediately when you toggle off that option.

Option 2: Use “Extension Manager”

So far in the development release, ‘Ubuntu Dock’ provides a configuration dialog like other extensions.

First, search for and install “Extension Manager” (or Gnome Extensions) from Ubuntu Software.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+

Then, launch either “Extension Manager” or “Gnome Extensions” app. Click on ‘Settings’ or gear icon for the Ubuntu Dock extension to open the configuration dialog.

Finally, navigate to ‘Launchers’ tab, scroll down and turn off the “Show the number of unread nofitications” option.

Option 3: Run single command in terminal

For those who are familiar with Linux command, this thing can be done simply by running a single command in terminal.

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-icons-notifications-counter false

Want to customize the startup, and shutdown animation screen with a single background image? Here’s how to do the trick in Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 23.04.

I’ve written a tutorial about how to disable the Manufacturer Logo in boot animation.

For request, this is a step by step guide shows how to create a basic plymouth theme with only a background image. And, it should work in all current Ubuntu releases, and even other Linux distributions.

Step 1: Create Plymouth Theme

As you may know, the startup, shutdown and restart animation screens are handled by Plymouth with themes.

Each Plymouth theme has its theme-name folder under /usr/share/plymouth/themes/ directory, which usually contains:

  • theme-name.plymouth
  • theme-name.script
  • Image files (.png).

NOTE: In all commands/config files below, replace ‘mybootscreen’ with your desired name. Lazy men can just copy & paste without changing anything.

1. To create a Plymouth theme, first press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window.

When terminal opens, run command to create a theme folder, named “mybootscreen“:

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen

2. Then, run command to navigate to that folder as working directory:

cd /usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen

3. Now, create & edit the “theme-name.plymouth” file by running command:

sudo gedit mybootscreen.plymouth

replace gedit with gnome-text-editor for Ubuntu 24.04. Or, use nano that works in most Linux.

4. When file opens, paste following lines and save it!

[Plymouth Theme]
Name=mybootscreen
Description=a basic Plymouth theme with only background image
ModuleName=script

[script]
ImageDir=/usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen
ScriptFile=/usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen/mybootscreen.script

For nano text editor, press Ctrl+X, type Y and hit Enter to save file.

5. Next, create and edit the ‘theme-name.script’ file by running command:

sudo gedit mybootscreen.script

Also, replace gedit with gnome-text-editor or nano accordingly.

When file opens, paste the following lines and save it:

// Get Screen Width and Height
screen.w = Window.GetWidth();
screen.h = Window.GetHeight();

// Specify background image, and scale to fit screen width & height.
my_image = Image("myimage.png");
resized_my_image = my_image.Scale(screen.w, screen.h);

// Place the 'resized_my_image' on the screen.
my_sprite = Sprite(resized_my_image);

// Set the priority of 'my_sprite', number -10 in the case.
// If multiple images present, the one with higher 'Z' will
// be drawn on top.
my_sprite.SetZ(-10);

6. Copy or move your desired background image (PNG) to the ‘/usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen‘ directory.

To do so, you may right-click on the folder that contains your photo image, then select “Open in Terminal” to open that folder as working directory. Finally, run command to copy/move the file:

sudo cp your_image_file.png /usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen/myimage.png

Here you HAVE to replace “your_image_file.png” accordingly.

Step 2: Change file permissions

This step is optional if you did the previous step in local machine. In case you moved the theme folder to reimplement in another machine, try changing the theme folder permission by running command:

sudo chmod -R 755 /usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen

Step 3: Apply the Theme

This Step works only for Ubuntu based systems!

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to install the theme you just created as an alternative:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/share/plymouth/themes/default.plymouth default.plymouth /usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen/mybootscreen.plymouth 1

2. Then, run command below to show the theme selection screen:

sudo update-alternatives --config default.plymouth

Type the number (number 3 in screenshot) for your theme and hit Enter!

Finally, reboot your machine to see the change!

Last words

You have to do ‘Step 1’ carefully. A small mistake can cause blank boot screen, though your system still boot and work without issue!

GNU Emacs text editor released version 29.4 on Jun 22, 2024. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 23.10, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 20.04

The new Emacs 29.2 is an emergency bugfix release intended to fix the security vulnerability. Arbitrary shell commands are no longer run when turning on Org mode. This is for security reasons, to avoid running malicious commands.

You may check the NEWS page for more changes. For the Emacs 29.1 release, it features:

  • Supports “pure GTK” (PGTK) build
  • Uses XInput 2 on X for input events
  • Uses tree-sitter parsers for several programming modes
  • Includes LSP client called Eglot
  • Includes the use-package package
  • Can access SQLite databases using sqlite3 library
  • Can display WebP images using libwebp library
  • Faster editing of files with very long lines
  • Better support for drag-and-drop on X
  • Pixel-precise scrolling with touchpad support
  • Enhanced support for editing and displaying Emoji
  • Support for Unicode 15.0 and many new scripts
  • Many enhancements of help and completion commands
  • Numerous enhancements to Image Dired
  • Double-buffering on MS-Windows

How to install Emacs (29.4 Updated) in Ubuntu:

GNU Emacs editor is easy to install in Ubuntu Linux with few different ways. Choose any one that you prefer!

Option 1: Snap package

For Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04, simply launch Ubuntu Software (or App Center for 24.04), then search and install GNU Emacs from Snap Store. Though, it’s a Snap package runs in sandbox environment.

The snap package so far provides version 29.4 for amd64, arm64, ppc64el, riscv64 platforms, and old versions for armhf, i386, and s390x.

For choice, user can run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) instead to install from command line:

snap install emacs --classic

The snap package installs updates automatically. To check updates manually, use command:

snap refresh emacs

Option 2: Ubuntu PPA

For those prefer the classic .deb package format, Debian upstream has built the new release package. And, I backported it into this PPA with support for for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 23.10 and Ubuntu 24.04 on amd64, arm64 and armhf platforms.

NOTE: The PPA package is just no-change backport from 24.10 without testing! It may or may not work in your case!

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/emacs

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

Then, either open Software Updater (Update Manager) to upgrade the package if an old version was installed.

Or, run the command below instead to install/update the Emacs package:

sudo apt install emacs emacs-common

Linux Mint user needs to run sudo apt update first to manually refresh package cache.

Option 3: Flatpak package

Emacs is also available to install as Flatpak package, which also runs in sandbox environment and supports amd64 and arm64 platforms.

Linux Mint 21 and Fedora 38/39 (with 3rd party repository enabled) users can search for and install the package from either Software Manager or GNOME Software.

While Ubuntu users can run the 2 commands below one by one to get the package:

  • First, run command to enable Flatpak support:
    sudo apt install flatpak

  • Then, run command to install Emacs Flatpak package:
    flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gnu.emacs.flatpakref

If this is the first Flatpak package you installed on the system, then you may need a log out and back in to make app icon visible in system menu.

And, to update the Flatpak package, use command:

flatpak update org.gnu.emacs

Uninstall Emacs 29.4

For the snap package, also use Ubuntu Software to remove it. Or, run command in terminal:

sudo snap remove --purge emacs

For the package installed from Ubuntu PPA, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

  • purge the PPA as well as downgrade Emacs to stock version:
    sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/emacs
  • Or, simply remove Emacs by running command:
    sudo apt remove --autoremove emacs emacs-common

    As well, remove the PPA either from “Software & Updates -> Other Software” or by running command:

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

To uninstall the Emacs Flatpak package, run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.gnu.emacs

Also run flatpak uninstall --unused to clear useless run-time libraries.

Run Ubuntu on laptop or other machine with touchscreen? You can enable touch feedback with an extension.

It’s ‘Touch X‘, an extension that support GNOME from version 40 to 44. Meaning for Ubuntu 22.04, 23.04, Debian 12, RHEL 9, Fedora, Arch, Manjaro and other Linux with recent GNOME.

In these systems, it supports ripple feedback where the screen is touched. The feedback looks a bit like the locate mouse pointer function as the screenshot below shows you.

I don’t have a touchscreen device running Ubuntu. However, you can install and try the extension out by following steps one by one.

Install Touch X Extension

Firstly, open Ubuntu Software and use it to search and install the “Extension Manager” app.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+

Then, click on top-left ‘Activities’ to open overview screen. When it opens, search for and launch “Extension Manager”.

Finally, navigate to ‘Browse’ tab in Extension Manager, search and install “Touch X” extension.

Once installed, switch back to “Install” tab. Then, click on the gear icon for that extension to open configuration page.
There you can change the color and radius of the ripple feedback.

For other Linux with GNOME, go to the extension web page via link below:

Then turn on the toggle switch to install the extension. And, use GNOME Extensions (available in Gnome Software) app to configure it.

If you don’t see the ON/OFF switch, install browser extension via link in that page and refresh it.

MPV media player has reached version 0.38.0. Here’s how to install it for those sticking to the classic .deb package format.

MPV does not provide official packages for Ubuntu Linux. It’s however easy to install the latest version via different sources.

Linux Mint 21 can directly search for and install VLC Flatpak package from software manager. And, Ubuntu can install the Snap package from Ubuntu Software. Though, both of them run in sandbox.

For those sticking to the classic .deb package, I’ve upload MPV 0.38.0 into this unofficial PPA. It supports Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10, Ubuntu 20.04 on both x86_64 and arm64/armhf CPU architecture types.

Install MPV 0.38.0 via Ubuntu PPA

NOTE: The PPA also contains MPV 0.36.0 for Ubuntu 20.04.

1. Add the PPA

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, paste the command below and hit run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/mpv

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

2. Update package cache

Since Ubuntu 20.04, it automatically updates the package cache while adding PPA. Though, Linux Mint user needs to do it manually.

To do so, run command in terminal:

sudo apt update

3. Install MPV 0.38.0

Finally, install mpv media player v0.38.0 by running command:

sudo apt install mpv

To verify, run mpv --version command in terminal.

Known Issues

Drag and drop files into mpv app window does not work, due to Wayland. Though, you may right-click on media file to open with mpv.

For hardware video acceleration, first make sure your graphics driver support it, then edit ‘/etc/mpv/mpv.conf‘ file and add hwdec=auto. And, enable classic header bar via gpu-context=x11egl.

Uninstall:

You can choose to purge the PPA repository, which will also downgrade mpv to the stock version in system repository. To do so, open terminal and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/mpv

Or, remove PPA by running command:

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

To remove the mpv media player, use command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove mpv

Inkscape, the popular free open source vector graphics editor, announced the 1.3 stable release few days ago! Here’s how to install it in all current Ubuntu releases.

Inkscape 1.3 features include:

  • New shade builder tool (shortcut X), with ability to select multiple overlapping shapes and create new shapes.
  • New ‘Document Resources’ dialog from File menu.
  • New Font filter and collection editor.
  • New pattern editor to adjust pattern parameters
  • Ability to set opacity and blend mode in the Layers and Objects dialog
  • Redesigned Live Path Effects dialog
  • PDF import dialog overhauled.

See more about Inkscape 1.3 via its official release note.

How to Install Inkscape 1.3 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Linux Mint 21, there’s an official PPA contains the new release package.

1.) Add the Inkscape PPA

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, paste the command below and run to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:inkscape.dev/stable

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks for sudo authentication, and hit Enter to continue

2.) Install / Upgrade Inkscape

And finally install Inkscape 1.3 via command:

sudo apt install inkscape

Linux Mint needs to run sudo apt update manually, though it’s done automatically in Ubuntu.

After installation, enjoy the new software release by searching for and launching from the Activities overview screen.

How to Uninstall:

If you want to remove Inkscape 1.3 and restore the package to the stock version in your Ubuntu repository, run the command below to purge PPA and downgrade Inkscape:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:inkscape.dev/stable

If you just want to remove the image editor, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove inkscape

For the Ubuntu PPA, either remove the source line using “Software & Updates” utility under Other Software tab:

or run the command below in a terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:inkscape.dev/stable