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Archives For November 30, 1999

How to Share Virtual Extended Screen in Ubuntu 22.04 | 24.04

Last updated: May 4, 2024 — 4 Comments

This simple tutorial shows how to enable RDP remote desktop for extended screen in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 with default GNOME desktop.

Since Ubuntu 22.04, the default GNOME desktop has built-in RDP support. The function has feature to share screen in ‘extend’ mode.

In this mode, Ubuntu won’t mirror the primary display, but create virtual extended screens for remote access.

Each remote connection is limited to its own virtual screen. You can drag and drop any app windows to that screen, allowing remote users to see and/or manipulate, while keeping sensitive data un-accessible in primary screen.

Or, you can use remote client PC/laptop’s monitor wirelessly to setup multiple screens for the Ubuntu machine. Though, operating in the virtual external monitors will be a bit laggy.

In Howtos remote desktop

The App Can Record Desktop & Your Face At Same Time

Last updated: May 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

Still looking for an alternative screen recording application for GNOME Desktop? Try this one!

GNOME, the default desktop environment of Ubuntu and Fedora Workstation, lacks good screen recorder after switching to Wayland.

Kooha is a good choice that support recording voice and multiple monitors, which works in both Xorg and Wayland.

In this tutorial I’m going to introduce EasyScreenCast. It’s a free and open-source application for GNOME desktop only.

EasyScreenCast simplifies the use of the video recording function integrated in gnome shell, allows quickly to change the various settings of the desktop recording.

It starts as an indicator applet in the top-right system tray area, by clicking on it will show you the menu to:

Start / Stop recording.
Choose audio source.
Enable webcam recording at the same time.
Select recording area.
Set time delay.

As you can see in the screenshot above, it supports recording full-screen (all desktop), a selected app window.

To record a selected area, just click down and drag to create an rectangle area on screen after clicked ‘Start Recording’. It has option to show a border around the area while recording, though NOT enabled by default.

For multiple monitors, choose “Record a selected monitor” option. Click “start recording” and make some mouse clicks on your desired monitor screen to start.

By enabling webcam recording, it can also record your face and your desktop screen at the same time! Just choose your webcam from the indicator menu, then setup the quality, size, and position in “Options” dialog.

After recording, you video will have a small screen with yourself in bottom right corner. Just like the screenshot below shows.

Other things EasyScreenCast can do include:

Keyboard shortcut.
Run command before and/or after recording.
Configure the video quality.
Record to WebM, MP4, MKV, OGG, with presets or custom resolution.

How to Install EasyScreenCast in Ubuntu & Other Linux

EasyScreenCast is available to install as GNOME Shell extensions. So far, it support GNOME version from 38 to 46.

Meaning, you can install it in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, current Fedora 38+, RHEL/Rocky Linux/Alma Linux 9, and Debian 12, Arch, etc with GNOME.

1. First, it requires few gstreamer plugins packages for webcam and encoding support. Ubuntu user can simply press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run command to install it:

sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly gstreamer1.0-plugins-good

2. Then, install the extension either from web browser or using “Extension Manager” application.

For Ubuntu, first search for and install “Extension Manager” from Ubuntu Software or App Center.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu Software/App Center

Then, launch “Extension Manager” and use it to search and install “EasyScreenCast” extension.

For other Linux, just go to link below to visit the extension page.

EasyScreenCast Extension

Then use ON/OFF switch to install it. If you don’t see the ON/OFF switch, click the link in the page to install browser extension and refresh!

Uninstall EasyScreenCast

To uninstall the extension, either use ON/OFF switch in the extension web page. Or use “Gnome Extensions” or “Extension Manager”.

In Howtos video recording

GIMP 2.99.16 is out with Full GTK3 Port, Client-Side Decoration

Last updated: July 10, 2023 — 2 Comments

GIMP image editor announced a new development release for next major 3.0 this Sunday!

It’s GIMP 2.99.16, the last release in the 2.99.x series. The release has finished the GTK+3 port. It adds ability to assign several shortcuts for a single action. And, the action search dialog also shows results’ own menu positions.

The GEGL engine has implemented filters as separate modules called “operations”, allowing 3rd party developers added their own filters to menu. And, custom filters (whether or not added to menu) will appear in the action search dialog.

The release also added new ‘Merge menu and title bar‘ option in ‘Preferences -> Image Windows’. This enable Gnome’s Client Side Decoration style that save vertical space.

Other changes in GIMP 2.99.16 include:

New fill with “Middle Gray (CIELAB)” option in new layer creation dialog.
New Text tool option: ‘Show on-canvas editor’
Color Picker tool: added ‘Grayscale (%)’ display mode
Import compressed FITS files (GZIP, HCOMP, PLIO, RICE) in 8/16/32-bit and float/double precision.
Import/Export PSD files with Clipping paths.
Initial support for CMYK(A) export for JPEG-XL
Import and export support for PAM, QOI image formats
Import Amiga IFF/ILBM and DCX files.

How to Install GIMP 2.99.16

GIMP offers official Linux package through universal Flatpak that runs in sandbox.

For Ubuntu, first press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one to get it.

First, run command to install Flatpak daemon in case you don’t have it:
```
sudo apt install flatpak
```

Then, install the GIMP 2.99.16 as Flatpak by running command:

flatpak install --user https://flathub.org/beta-repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref

Once installed, either search for and launch it from ‘Activities’ overview.

Or run command flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP//beta to start it from terminal.

In addition for those who don’t like sandbox applications, keep an eye on this third-party Ubuntu PPA.

Uninstall GIMP 2.99.x

To remove the GIMP development package installed as Flatpak, open terminal and run command:

flatpak uninstall org.gimp.GIMP//beta

You may also run flatpak uninstall --unused to uninstall useless runtime libraries to free up disk space.

In Howtos gimp

Enable Full Light Mode (Panel, Dock, Overview) in Ubuntu 22.04 | 23.04

Last updated: July 8, 2023 — Leave a comment

For those who prefer light theme, there’s an extension now to make all the GNOME Shell components to be light!

Ubuntu so far has light and dark mode options available in the ‘Appearance’ settings page. It can switch the color scheme for system menu, notification, and app windows.

However, other components, such as panel and dock, are always dark!

GNOME developer team has been working on the full light mode support. Before it’s going official, user can try it out via an unofficial extension.

With the extensions, the following part of your desktop will also go light:

Top panel.
Ubuntu Dock (left panel)
OSD (volume down/up pop-up)

Light Shell

Install Light Shell Extension

1. The extension so far supports GNOME 42, 43 and 44. Ubuntu user can first search for and install “Extension Manager” from Ubuntu Software.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+

2. Then, click on top-left ‘Activities’ to open overview screen. Search for and launch “Extension Manager” tool.

3. When the tool opens, navigate to ‘Browse’ tab. Search for and install ‘Light Shell’ extension.

In case ‘Extension Manager’ does not work for you, go to the extension web page via the link below:

Light Shell extension

Then turn on the toggle to install it!

If you don’t see the ON/OFF toggle, install browser extension via link in that page and also press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Finally, refresh the web page.

Turn Off or Remove Light Shell

With the extension enabled, the dark mode (via Appearance settings option) will NOT go fully dark.

In the case, you can launch “Extension Manager“. Then either use the ON/OFF switch to disable the extension, or click expand and use “Remove” button to uninstall.

That’s all. Enjoy!

In Howtos Gnome

One Command to Convert All your Snap Apps into Flatpak in Ubuntu

Last updated: July 7, 2023 — Leave a comment

For those hate Snap but prefer Flatpak, there’s now a script to automatically remove all the snap apps installed on your system, and install them back as Flatpak in Debian and Ubuntu.

It’s Unsnap, a free and open-source script written by Alan Pope and some other contributors. The man was an employee of Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu), and one of the developers of Snap.

As you may know, Snap and Flatpak are universal Linux package format run in sandbox. They make possible to run newer apps (or app in multiple versions) in Linux without worrying about dependency issue. However, they take more disk spaces since run-time libraries also sandboxed, and so far have limitations to interact outside of sandbox.

Snap is powered by Canonical. The client and runtime are open-source while the backend is proprietary. Flatpak is completely open-source, and RedHat is behind the project. And, the open-source community seems to (IMO) prefer Flatpak is bit more.

Use Unsnap to Convert your Snap Apps to Flatpak

Unsnap does NOT rebuilt your Snap apps as Flatpak. It automate the process to remove Snap apps and install equivalent Flatpak apps back. Which, is useful for beginners and advanced users who want to save time for searching packages.

Supported Systems:

According to the script content, it so far supports: Debian, Ubuntu (and its official flavors), Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, Elementary OS, and Zorin OS.

Working Process

The script works in two mode: default and auto.

It by default detects your system status and snap apps, then generates following new scripts:

00-backup – script to run snap save to save current data of snap apps.
01-install-flatpak – script to install Flatpak daemon.
02-enable-flathub – script to add Flathub repository.
03-install-flatpaks – script to install equivalent Flatpak apps.
04-remove-snaps – script to Remove all the Snap apps.
99-remove-snapd – script to remove disable snap. Though it may be installed back via a system update.

It may skip 01/02 scripts if you already installed Flatpak daemon and added Flathub repository. And, the scripts are quite simply and easy to understand for those have basic Linux command and programming skills. Then, you can choose to manually run all or any of the scripts accordingly!

The auto mode will generate the scripts and run all of them automatically!

Limitations:

The scripts so far supports 219 applications. Advanced users can add more apps support by editing the ‘applist.csv’ config file.

It won’t remove unsupported and excluded Snap applications, though they will be gone after running 99-remove-snapd script either manually or automatically.

The script can save current data of all Snap applications. But there seems no way to import them in the equivalent Flatpak applications. And, there’s NO script to undo the changes!

Download Unsnap and Run the script

1. User can either download Unsnap from github page, or open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T in Ubuntu) and run command:

git clone https://github.com/popey/unsnap

Run sudo apt install git if git command not found.

2. After downloading the script, either

run cd unsnap to navigate to source folder and ./unsnap auto to do all the things AUTOMATICALLY in one command.
or run cd unsnap, then ./unsnap to generate the scripts for MANUAL use.

For manual mode, all the generated scripts are available in “log-202x-xxx” sub-folder.

Just run cd log-* command to navigate to that folder, then choose any script you want to run. For example, backup snap app data by ./00-backup.

As mentioned, there’s no script to undo the changes! You can safely remove the unsnap folder after all the jobs done!

In Howtos flatpak, snap

How to Install DVDStyler via PPA in Ubuntu 24.04 & 22.04

Last updated: October 20, 2024 — 11 Comments

This simple tutorial shows how to install the DVD authoring tool, DVDStyler 3.3 Beta4 (or 3.2.1 Stable for 22.04), in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 24.10.

DVDStyler is a free software for creating professional-looking DVDs. It provides many built-in buttons, templates, and file browser to make easy to burn DVDs.

I was maintaining a PPA with DVDStyler package for Ubuntu users, but stuck at v3.1.2, because of compile issue for the lastest v3.2. Now, it’s back and includes the latest DVDStyler 3.3 Beta for Ubuntu 24.10 and Ubuntu 24.04, and DVDStyler 3.2.1 for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04.

Features of DVDStyler 3.3 Beta so far include:

Ability to specify custom video file for buttons
Add object ‘Caption and rectangle’ (thanks to ecodrv)
Fix video frame selection dialog
Add setting “FFmpeg options” to specify transcoding options such as -hwaccel
Add menu template “wall” with text based title buttons

How to Install DVDStyler via Ubuntu PPA:

UPDATED : For Ubuntu 24.04, the PPA contains DVDStyler 3.3 Beta with latest commits until Apr 29. I can’t figure out how to built 3.2.1 stable with latest FFmpeg 6, please report bug to this page for issues.

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal windows. Then, run the commands below one by one to add the PPA and install DVDStyler.

1. To add the PPA in all current Ubuntu releases (amd64 and arm64/armhf), run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler

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

2. Linux Mint user need to manually refresh system package cache, though it’s done automatically in Ubuntu 20.04 and higher while adding PPA. To do so, run command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, run command to install the software package:

sudo apt install dvdstyler

Fix ‘can’t open user configuration file’ error

In recent version, it may output an error on close of DVDStyler app window:

Failed to create a temporary file name (error 2: No such file or directory)
can’t open user configuration file.

The solution is just create the .dvdstyler folder in user’s home directory! Or, open terminal and run command:

mkdir -p ~/.dvdstyler

Uninstall DVDStyler

To remove the DVD authoring tool, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove dvdstyler

And, remove the Ubuntu PPA either by deleting source line from ‘Software & Updates‘ tool under ‘Other Software’ tab. Or, by running command in terminal:

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

In Howtos DVD authoring tool

New PPA for Installing VLC (3.0.20 Updated) in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

Last updated: November 1, 2023 — 8 Comments

This simple tutorial is going to introduce the new Ubuntu PPA for installing VLC media player as native .deb package format.

VLC is easy to install in Ubuntu through either Snap (available in Ubuntu Software) or Flatpak.

If you don’t like applications run in sandbox, then a third-party PPA can be a good choice besides building from the source tarball.

Rob Savoury is maintaining a PPA with most recent VLC as native .deb package. However, the dependency PPA goes private recently. So, I created a new one for choice.

Install VLC 3.0.20 from PPA:

The package in this unofficial PPA is just a backport from Debian upstream. No change except for the build and run-time libraries depends on your Ubuntu edition.

It seems working good but without well testing. So, there’s always use it as your own risk!

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/vlc

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

2. For Linux Mint, also run command to refresh package cache, which is done automatically while adding PPA in Ubuntu 20.04 +.

sudo apt update

3. Finally, either update VLC package using ‘Software Updater’ or install/upgrade the package directly by running apt command in terminal:

sudo apt install vlc

Uninstall:

If you found any issue about the VLC package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

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

This command will install ppa-purge tool and use it to purge the PPA, which also downgrade VLC and its dependencies to the stock versions in system repository.

For choice, you may run command to just remove VLC media player:

sudo apt remove --autoremove vlc

Then remove the PPA either from ‘Software & Updates’ -> ‘Other Software’ tab, or by running command in terminal:

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

In Howtos VLC PPA

How to Install Linux Kernel 6.4 in Ubuntu 22.04 | 23.04

Last updated: June 30, 2023 — 2 Comments

Linux Kernel 6.4 was released a few days ago. Ubuntu users can now install it from Kernel Mainline PPA.

Linux Kernel 6.4 features initial Apple M2 processors support, Realtek rtl8710bu/rtl8188gu, rtl8822bs, rtl8822cs and rtl8821cs WiFi hardware support, Turtle Beach and Qanba gaming controller support, and many Kye/Genius drawing tablets, such as EasyPen M406 / M506 / M406W, EasyPen 340, MousePen 508WX / 508X, and PenSketch T609A.

There are also tablet mode switching support for Lenovo Yoga notebooks, hardware sensor support for 100+ more ASUS desktop motherboards, Apple M1/M2 keyboard backlight support, initial WiFi support for Apple M1 Pro and Apple M1 Max devices, and better MSI laptops support.

How to Install Kernel 6.4 in Ubuntu 22.04+/Linux Mint 21

NOTE: The Mainline Kernel PPA is back with Kernel 6.4 packages. However, they are not appropriate for production use. Only install it for testing purpose or for specific drivers.

The Mainline Kernel PPA has built the packages for Ubuntu and its based systems with modern 64-bit (amd64), arm64/armhf mobile, ppc64el and s390x CPU architecture types support.

1. User can select download the packages from the link page below:

Download Kernel 6.4 (.deb)

For modern 64-bit (x86_64) PC/laptop, select download the amd64 build packages:

linux-headers-6.4.0-060400-xxxxxx_all.deb
linux-headers-6.4.0-060400-generic_xxx_amd64.deb
linux-modules-6.4.0-060400-generic_xxx_amd64.deb
linux-image-unsigned-6.4.0-060400-generic_xxx_amd64.deb

2. After downloading them, right click on blank area in Downloads page and select “Open in Terminal”. Finally, install the kernel packages via command:

sudo apt install ./linux*.deb

For other CPU architecture types (run uname -m to tell), select download and install the package between arm64/armhf, ppc64el and s390x builds.

For Ubuntu server, you can download and install the kernel packages by following commands:

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v6.4/amd64/linux-headers-6.4.0-060400-generic_6.4.0-060400.202306271339_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v6.4/amd64/linux-headers-6.4.0-060400_6.4.0-060400.202306271339_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v6.4/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-6.4.0-060400-generic_6.4.0-060400.202306271339_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v6.4/amd64/linux-modules-6.4.0-060400-generic_6.4.0-060400.202306271339_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and verify by running uname -a command in terminal!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 6.4:

Restart your machine, and select boot with the previous kernel in boot menu under ‘Grub2 -> Advanced Option for Ubuntu’. Depends on your machine, you may have to press and hold ‘Shift’ or ‘Esc’ key while booting to show the Grub boot-menu.

Then run command to remove Linux Kernel 6.4:

sudo apt remove --autoremove linux-headers-6.4.0-060400 linux-modules-6.4.0-060400-generic

In Howtos kernel

Linux Kernel 6.4 Released with Better Apple M1/M2, Lenovo Yoga, MSI laptops support

Last updated: June 30, 2023 — Leave a comment

Linus Torvalds announced the release of Linux Kernel 6.4 few days ago on Sunday. He wrote:

Hmm. Final week of 6.4 is done, and we’ve mainly got some netfilter fixes, some mm reverts, and a few tracing updates.

There’s random small changes elsewhere: the usual architecture noise, a number of selftest updates, some filesystem fixes (btrfs, ksmb), etc.

…

The new kernel brings many new devices support. They include initial Apple M2 processors support, Realtek rtl8710bu/rtl8188gu, rtl8822bs, rtl8822cs and rtl8821cs WiFi hardware support, Turtle Beach and Qanba gaming controller support, and many Kye/Genius drawing tablets, such as EasyPen M406 / M506 / M406W, EasyPen 340, MousePen 508WX / 508X, and PenSketch T609A.

For Lenovo Yoga notebooks such as Yoga 7 14AIL7, Yoga C940, Ideapad Flex 14API, Yoga 9 14IAP7, Yoga 7 14ARB7, Kernel 6.4 now has tablet mode switching support. Also, it adds hardware sensor support for 100+ more ASUS desktop motherboards.

Other notable changes in Kernel 6.4 include:

Install Linear Address Masking (LAM) support.
AMD Guided Autonomous Mode support to improve performance and power efficiency for AMD Ryzen and AMD EPYC servers
AMD virtual NMI support for KVM virtualization
Hibernation and suspend to disk support for RISC-V processors.
Remove Intel Thunder Bay SoC support
AMD CDX support for FPGA devices to be dynamically discovered and controlled by CPU/APU.
Qualcomm QAIC accelerator driver
4K display support with the Rockchip DRM driver.
Concurrent I/O performance optimizations for Device Mapper.
Intel Lunar Lake HD audio support.
Initial WiFi support for Apple M1 Pro and Apple M1 Max devices.
Better MSI laptops support.
Apple M1/M2 keyboard backlight support

How to Get Linux Kernel 6.4

The source tarball for the new Kernel release is available to download at the official website:

Download Linux Kernel

For Ubuntu users, see Mainline Kernel PPA ~~seems broken and their’s no Kernel 6.4 build at the moment, perhaps due to this issue. So, building from source code could be the only way so far to get the latest Kernel in Ubuntu.~~

In Howtos kernel

This Extension Adds MacOS style Apple Menu in Ubuntu 22.04 | 23.04

Last updated: June 25, 2023 — Leave a comment

For users switching from macOS, there’s an extension can replace top-left ‘Activities’ with ‘Apple Menu’ in Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 23.04.

It’s ‘Maccy Menu’, which adds a menu in top-left with following options:

About This PC,
System Preferences (Settings),
App Store (Ubuntu Software / Gnome Software)
Recent Items (Recent Files)
Force Quit (xkill)
Sleep
Restart
Shut Down
Log out

The menu icon can be set between logos of Apple, Ubuntu, Debian, Linux, Arch, Fedora, and Kali. And, it provides option to either show or hide ‘Activities’.

Install the ‘Maccy Menu’ extension

Don’t know why, the extension does not show in my ‘Extension Manager’ app. However, it can be installed by using the ON/OFF toggle by visiting this page:

Maccy Menu

If you don’t see the ON/OFF toggle, install the browser extension if prompted and refresh the web page.

Also, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command to install the agent package:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Once installed the extension, launch either “Extension Manager” or “Gnome Extensions” (both available to install in Ubuntu Software). Then, open the settings page for that extension to change logo, and/or toggle display ‘Activities’.