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:
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’.
How to Install Darktable 4.6.0 (Updated) in Ubuntu:
There are 4 sources to get the Darktable package in Ubuntu: Flatpak, Snap, OBS, and Ubuntu PPA.
Option 1: Snap
The easiest way to get the latest Darktable 4.6.0 in Ubuntu is using the Snap.
Ubuntu 20.04 and higher with both amd64 and arm64 CPU architecture types, can simply search for and install the package from Ubuntu Software. Though, it’s a containerized software package run in sandbox.
Option 2: Flatpak
The latest Darktable is also available to install as Flatpak, another software package run in sandbox.
Ubuntu user can install the package, by running the 2 commands below one by one:
NOTE: the OBS is not yet updated at the moment of writing.
Option 4: Ubuntu PPA
For those who prefer the classic Ubuntu PPA, I’ve upload the new release package into this PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10 and Ubuntu 23.04.
NOTE: Sorry for being lazy. There’s no updated package for Ubuntu 20.04 in this PPA. The new release needs gcc-12 for building the package, which is not available in 20.04.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add PPA:
ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors, the free and open-source offline use office suite, released new 7.4 version a few days ago.
The new releases feature a “Plugin Manager“, allows to easily install external functions support, such as ChatGPT, YouTube, OCR, and more. User can of course submit its own plugin to the market place for other user use.
ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors 7.4 also added a “Draw” tab with a few drawing tools. So far, the tools include ‘Pen‘, ‘Highlighter‘, and ‘Eraser‘. The ‘Print’ page is improved with more options, such as page range, number of copies, and printing on both sides.
Other changes in the release include:
Ability to copy style between graphic objects
Support for Radar charts
Support opening new formats: MHTML, SXC, ET, ETT, SXI, DPS, DPT, SXW, STW, WPS, WPT
Ability to merge documents
Export document, spreadsheet to PNG/JPG.
New spreadsheet functions: SEQUENCE, XMATCH, EXPAND, FILTER, ARRAYTOTEXT, SORT
There are as well many other changes, improvements, and bug-fixes, see the Changelog page for details.
How to Install OnlyOffice Desktop Editor 7.4
For Ubuntu user, the office suite is available to install as official Snap package. Just open Ubuntu Software, then search for and install ‘onlyoffice-desktopeditors’.
NOTE: The snap is at v7.3.3 at the moment of writing. You can just install the package and wait it’s automatically been updated to v7.4.
ONLYOFFICE Snap in Ubuntu Software
For other packages, such as Flatpak, AppImage, and Windows EXE, macOS DMG, go to this download page.
This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest Cinnamon Desktop 5.8 in Ubuntu 22.04 or Ubuntu 23.04 via PPA.
The source of Cinnamon 5.8 was out a few days ago! It will be officially announced later in this month along with Linux Mint 21.2.
Cinnamon 5.8 features built-in touchpad / touchscreen gestures support! There will be new “Gestures” option in System Settings utility. Where, provides options to configure actions for 3-finger/4-finger swipe, 2-finger/3-finger/4-finger pinch, and activation thresholds.
The new release also added new theme option (prefer light, prefer dark, left app decide) to switch between light and dark mode.
How to Install Cinnamon 5.8 via Ubuntu PPA
Cinnamon 5.8 will be default in Linux Mint 21.2 coming later in this month. Ubuntu user can try my PPA repository instead.
NOTE 1: This is an unofficial PPA! NOTE 2: The packages seem working good in my case in Ubuntu 22.04, but WITHOUT well testing! It MAY or MAY NOT WORK due to various reasons! NOTE 3: light/dark switching feature does not work in my case. Not sure if something is missing! NOTE 4: Do NOT install this PPA in production machine! NOTE 5: New gestures feature seems using touchegg as background service. If the feature does not work, try installing touchegg from its official PPA.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. While adding PPA, it should automatically refresh package cache. When done, run command to upgrade to Cinnamon 5.8 in Ubuntu Cinnamon:
sudo apt upgrade
For non-Cinnamon desktop environment, run this command instead to install it:
sudo apt install cinnamon-desktop-environment
It’s better to write down what packages it’s going to install, in case you want to completely remove Cinnamon desktop later!
After installation, restart your computer and go to “System Settings -> System Info” to check the desktop version. You need to of course switch to ‘Cinnamon’ session from login screen.
Uninstall:
To restore the original Cinnamon desktop environment, open terminal and run command:
The previous command will restore Cinnamon to stock version in Ubuntu repository. To completely remove the desktop environment, use sudo apt remove package1 package2 package3 ... by replacing the package names to what you installed in previous step.
Running Ubuntu on Desktop PC or laptop with external monitor? You can add a slider in top-right system menu to control the screen brightness.
Unlike laptop’s built-in screen, most Linux today does not provide brightness control for external monitors.
Fortunately, there’s a ddcutil utility can do the job via ddc/ci protocol, which is supported in most external monitors. And, there’s an extension to add the slider control to system status menu.
brightness slider for external monitor
The extension supports all current Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 24.04, as well as other Linux with recent Gnome desktop, such as Fedora Workstation, Debian, RHEL.
NOTE: DDC/CI is usually enabled by default. Just in case, use your monitor’s physical button to make sure the option is enabled!
1. First of all, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to install the ddcutil utility in Ubuntu:
sudo apt install ddcutil
2. Next, add your current user to ‘i2c’ group to grant permissions:
sudo gpasswd --add $USER i2c
3. Install “Extension Manager” tool from Ubuntu Software (or App Center) for installing and managing extensions.
Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu Software/App Center
For Ubuntu 20.04, run command to install “Gnome Extensions” app instead, as well as agent package for browser integration.
4. Ubuntu 22.04 + can now launch “Extension Manager” and use the tool to search and install “Brightness control using ddcutil” extension.
For Ubuntu 20.04, go to this page in web browser, install browser extension if prompted (refresh after installation), and finally turn on the ON/OFF switch to install that extension.
5. The extension by default add an indicator applet in panel with brightness slider. To configure it, open ‘Installed’ tab in “Extension Manager” (or ‘Gnome Extensions’ app for Ubuntu 20.04).
Then, click on either gear button or ‘Settings’ button for that extension. Finally, set button location to “System Menu” and turn on “Hide System Indicator” for better integration.
I got a HP printer that is working good with my Ubuntu laptop. But, in new Ubuntu desktop PC, it does nothing when trying to print anything.
The printer is automatically detected and added in the settings page, and shown in the Document Viewer’s Print dialog. But, it does nothing when clicking ‘Print’ button. If you ran into similar issue, then this tutorial could help.
1. First, open “Settings” and navigate to “Printers” in the left. Then, click on “Additional Printer Settings …” button.
2. In the pop-up dialog, right-click on the printer device, and click “Properties”.
3. Next, click on “Change” button after ‘Device URI’ and make sure the correct device is selected in pop-up dialog.
4. Also, click on “Change” button for the ‘Make and Module’. It should automatically search for and select the best driver for your device. If not, try ‘Search a printer driver to download’ option. Finally, click ‘Forward’ button and follow the wizard until done.
5. If your printer’s still not working after running previous steps. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, then run command to install the HPLIP driver:
Audacity audio editor released version 3.3.3 a day ago.
The new release fixed the Filter Curve EQ and Graphic EQ scaling when resizing the dialog. Previously, resizing it only cause large blank area while leaving EQ unchanged.
The release also fixed audio.com upload flow. It added track title field which is required for upload, and audio.com link is opened immediately upon upload. However, anonymous uploads that was disabled in the last release is still NOT allowed.
How to Install Audacity 3.3.3 in Ubuntu Linux
Option 1: AppImage
Audacity offers official AppImage package available to download at the link below:
It’s a non-install package that runs in most Linux. Just right-click on it in file manager, go ‘Properties’ and add “Allow executing file as program” permission, finally, click Run it to open the audio editor.
Tip: Ubuntu 22.04 and higher, need to enable AppImage support first by running command below in terminal:
sudo apt install libfuse2
Option 2: Flatpak
Audacity is also available to install as Flatpak package. Ubuntu user can press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and run the 2 commands below one by one to get it.
Flatpak takes so much disk space (2 GB+ in my case) for this single application, so here’s an unofficial PPA contains native .deb package for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, and Ubuntu 23.04. Support for Ubuntu 20.04 is still NOT available due to compile bug.
NOTE: the PPA follows the build rule from the Audacity package in Debian/Ubuntu repository, which disabled networking! Meaning there’s NO audio.com sharing!! If you do need this feature, please leave comment for request.
1. First, open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching from start menu ‘Activities’ overview depends on your DE.
2. When terminal opens, paste the command below and hit run to add the PPA.
Once you downloaded the file, right-click on blank area in ‘Downloads’ folder and select “Open in Terminal”.
When terminal opens, run the commands below one by one:
Add executable permission for the file:
chmod u+x hplip-3.23.5.run
Run the file, follow the on-screen prompt and answer some questions:
./hplip-3.23.5.run
Until the command done without errors, you can plug or re-plug your HP printer for the new driver to work.
NOTE: The .run installer so far does not support Ubuntu 23.04! But, after running the previous commands, it generated the source folder in user ‘Downloads’ folder. Right-click on that folder and select ‘Open in Terminal’, then 23.04 user can run the commands below one by one to build from source:
The KeePass password manager now is at version 2.55. Here are the new features and PPA repository for all current Ubuntu releases.
KeePass 2.54 now uses the enforced configuration file for the triggers, global URL overrides, password generator profiles and a few more settings. See more about enforced configuration.
As well, there’s now new ‘Enforced Options’ dialog for storing certain options in the enforced configuration file. User can open it by going to menu 'Tools' -> 'Advanced Tools' -> 'Enforce Options'.
The ‘Print’ and ‘Export’ command in most report dialogs now requires the ‘Print’ application policy and ‘Export’ application policy flag, and the master key must be entered.
Hide passwords and other sensitive data by default in report dialogs.
Support hiding the value via asterisk in single line edit dialogs
Like on Windows, commands that require elevation now have a shield icon in Linux/macOS.
add ‘Move Selected Unused Text to Dialog Control’ command.
Redesign export confirm dialog.
Disable the clipboard workarounds by default in Linux, macOS, etc.
Various other improvements.
How to Install KeePass 2.55 (updated) in Ubuntu via PPA
Besides building from source code, I’ve uploaded the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10, Ubuntu 23.04 and their derivatives.
NOTE: Thanks to @AnonTester, there should be no longer “invalid data format” pop-up in every app launch. Because, I’ve made small script to sync the version number between KeePass.exe and KeePass.exe.config files during the building process.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run the command below to add the PPA:
The free and open-source DJ mixing software, Mixxx, announced the beta version of the next major 2.4 release series a few days ago!
The new Mixxx 2.4 added support for saving loops as hotcues, and native Apple Silicon support for better performance on M1, M2, etc., devices.
The release also features explicit sync leader support, new controller mapping scripting engine (ES2016 support), new “all-shaders” scrolling waveforms for much better UI performance, new Quick Effect selector and effect chain buttons.
Other changes include:
background color for quick cover art preview
cover art fetcher to the Musicbrainz dialog
support exporting crates, playlists and the library to Engine Prime and Denon standalone controllers
Add support for m4v files
Add experimental QML user interface
Noise active effect, pitch shift effect, distortion effect.
Drop Ubuntu 18.04 support, add NixOS support.
And numerous other changes including search improvement, optimized database, history cleanup, and more and more. See this page for details.
How to Install Mixxx 2.4 Beta in Ubuntu:
Mixxx has an official Beta PPA contains the package for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04 and Ubuntu 23.10.
NOTE: At the moment of writing, the 2.4 Beta package in PPA is borken due to missing dependency. So, check the link above! And do the commands below when the PPA successfully updated.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mixxx/mixxxbetas
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then, update system package cache for Linux Mint, etc:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install Mixxx 2.4 beta package by running command:
sudo apt install mixxx
Before the maintainer fixed the PPA package, user can compile Mixxx 2.4 Beta from the source tarball.
