The well trusted “deadsnakes” team PPA has made the packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives, e.g., Linux Mint 20, Elementary OS 6 and Zorin OS 16.
1.) Firstly, open terminal by either searching from overview screen or pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
2.) Then refresh system cache and install the language via command:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3.10
Use Python 3.10 as default Python3:
It’s possible to make Python3 in Ubuntu to be Python3.10 via following commands. However, it causes issues, such as Gnome Terminal refuses to launch. Do it at your own risk!
Check current Python3 version:
python3 --version
Use update-alternatives to create symbolic links to python3 (replace python3.8 in Ubuntu 16.04 with ):
Mozilla Firefox 93.0 was officially released today. The release features AVIF image support and further security improvements.
The AV1 image format (AVIF) is an image file format for storing images or image sequences compressed with AV1 in the HEIF file format. It offers significant file size reduction compare to JPEG, PNG and WebP. Google Chrome added it support since version 85. By releasing v93.0, Firefox now has AVIF image support.
Some PDF files have interactive fields to fill in data. Since Firefox 83, the built-in PDF viewer supports filling fields such as text, check boxes, and radio buttons. In the new release, it adds more forms (XFA-based forms, used by multiple governments and banks) support.
Firefox PDF viewer filling forms
To protect against potentially malicious or unsafe downloads, Firefox now blocks insecure HTTP downloads on a secure HTTPs web page, and blocks downloads in sandboxed iframes, unless the iframe is explicitly annotated with the allow-downloads attribute. Though, an option is available to select download anyway.
Other changes in Firefox 93 include:
Automatically unload tabs on Windows, when system is running out of memory.
Prompt to finish installation for macOS users first time running Firefox from a mounted .dmg file.
Improved SmartBlock and new Referrer Tracking Protections.
Fixed working with Orca screen reader.
And various security fixes.
How to Get Firefox 93.0:
Ubuntu will build and publish the latest Firefox packages through the security & updates (main) repository in next few days (check the launchpad build page). The best choice is just wait and upgrade Firefox using “Software Updater” once available.
For the release note, as well as download link for the portable tarball that contains non-install executable file to launch Firefox, go to:
The graphical auto shutdown app KShutdown released version 5.90 with feature to reboot from Linux into another OS automatically.
KShutdown is a free open-source app that provides a simple Qt based user interface. It allows users to automatically shutdown, restart, hibernate, sleep, log-out, or run a command on certain time, after a period of time, on user inactivity or other event.
The app is getting more and more powerful. The latest 5.90, beta for next 6.0 release, introduced experimental multi-booting support. User can now automatically reboot from Linux into another OS, such as Windows, from Grub menu entries.
KShutdown reboot into another OS
The new feature needs administrator user privilege to get access ‘/boot/grub/grubenv’. The app however does not apply it properly so far, and user need to start it manually via sudo kshutdown from command line.
And it does not read the Grub menu automatically, though it can be set manually in ‘Tools -> Configure KShutdown -> Restart’. Use the app ‘Grub Customizer’ to get the menu entries.
Manually write Grub Menu entries (from grub-customizer)
While typing in my Ubuntu laptop, I was often making mistakes by tapping on touch-pad accidentally. The text cursor (aka caret) jumped to another place, and/or app window lost focus. It made me crazy since the built-in ‘disable touchpad while typing‘ option does not function in my HP laptop.
Option 1: system built-in option
GNOME has the option to disable touchpad while typing, which is enabled out-of-the-box in current Ubuntu releases. Users may access the settings either via ‘/org/gnome/desktop/peripherals/touchpad/‘ in Dconf Editor or using Gnome Tweaks tool.
Both configuration tool available to install in Ubuntu Software.
Disable touchpad while typing via Gnome Tweaks Tool
For Synaptics touchpad running on Xorg, like me, this option may not work. And, here are the few other choices I’m going to show you in this tutorial.
Option 2: Disable touchpad while typing via Touchpad-Indicator
A ten years old app, Touchpad-Indicator, has ability to toggle this function for all Ubuntu users.
It’s a free and open-source project developed and maintained by atareao team from Spain. It has option to disable touchpad while typing and set milliseconds to wait after the last key press before enabling touchpad.
It also allows to disable touchpad while mouse is plugged, toggle scrolling options and remap one-, two- and three-finger tap actions.
How to Install Touchpad Indicator in Ubuntu:
The software developer maintains an official PPA contains the software packages for all current Ubuntu releases (Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04, 21.04, 21.10) and old releases such as Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 16.04.
1.) Firstly, open terminal from start menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
2.) Next, refresh package cache and install the app:
Option 3: Single command to disable touchpad while typing (for synaptics)
Touchpad indicator is great, however it’s a little bit heavy for the single function only. Without installing any third-party app, a single command can also do the trick!
The synaptics touchpad driver for Xorg server offers a command line tool “syndaemon” that monitors keyboard activity and disables the touchpad when the keyboard is being used.
Users can simply open terminal and run the command below to test it out:
syndaemon -i 0.8 -K -t -d
The command will run the service silently in background. And the parameters are:
-i 0.8 tells to wait 0.8 second after last key press before re-enabling the touchpad.
-K makes it ignore Modifier+Key combos, such as Ctrl, Alt, and/or Shift + key combinations.
-t tells to disable tapping / scrolling only. Mouse movement is still possible while typing.
-d runs the command as daemon, in background.
Syndaemon works until reboot. If you like this method, you may make it running automatically at start up via following steps:
1.) Firstly, search for and open ‘Startup Applications’ utility from overview screen.
2.) When it opens, click ‘Add’ button and type:
Name: Disable TouchPad while typing
Command: syndaemon -i 0.8 -K -t -d
Comment: optional
And finally click on ‘Add’ button will make it auto-start at login.
NOTE: It has downside in my case in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. When trying to stop syndaemon either via “System Monitor” or using sudo kill -i Process-ID command, it causes touchpad tap to click not working until reboot!
Option 4: For Ubuntu with Xorg session (Libinput driver)
The function works out-of-the-box in my Ubuntu 22.04 with the default Wayland session. User may use Gnome Tweaks to toggle the option, see screenshots in Option 1.
If you’ve switch back to “Ubuntu on Xorg” session, then this method may help for those using libinput driver.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command to edit the config file:
If you’re trying this in Ubuntu 22.10, replace gedit with gnome-text-editor or nano.
2. When the file opens in text editor, find out the section that contains “Identifier “libinput touchpad catchall”“. Add rule Option “DisableWhileTyping” “True”, so it will look like:
After almost two years of development, the HexChat IRC client finally released new 2.6.0 version with a number of new IRCv3 features and strikethrough formatting support.
HexChat is a free open source Internet Relay Chat client that forked from XChat. It offers both command line and customizable graphical interface, allows to securely join multiple networks and talk to users privately.
The app supports features such as DCC, SASL, proxies, spellcheck, alerts, logging, custom themes, Python/Perl scripts, and even transfer files.
Add support for IRCv3 SETNAME, invite-notify, account-tag, standard replies, and UTF8ONLY
Add support for strikethrough formatting
Update network list (including Libra.Chat as the default)
Update to OpenSSL 1.1.1 on Windows
Fix text clipping issues by respecting font line height
Fix URLs not being escaped when opened
Fix misc IRC message parsing issues
Remove libnotify and libproxy dependencies on Linux.
Print ChanServ notices in the front tab by default
Add CBC mode support for fishlim plugin.
Rewrite plugin in python with CFFI This lowers memory usage and fixed conflicts with many C Python modules including pygobject.
How to install HexChat 2.16.0 in Ubuntu:
The Windows exe as well as source tarball are available to download at its official website.
For Ubuntu and other Linux, the client so far only available via universal Flatpak package which runs in sandbox. And below is how to install HexChat 2.16.0 flatpak in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10 and their based systems.
1.) Firstly, open terminal by either searching from activities overview screen or press Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard.
2.) Next install the Flatpak daemon if you don’t have it, by running command in terminal:
sudo apt install flatpak
NOTE for Ubuntu 18.04, you have to add THIS PPA to be able to install the package.
3.) Add the flathub repository that hosts the flatpak packages by running command:
4.) Finally install the HexChat IRC client via command:
flatpak install flathub io.github.Hexchat
NOTE the Flatpak package co-exists with native deb and snap, so you may have more than one app icons in overview search box. If so, you may run the command below in terminal to launch HexChat Flatpak:
flatpak run io.github.Hexchat
How to Remove HexChat:
To remove the HexChat flatpak package, open terminal and run command:
For those doing copy & paste actions frequently in Ubuntu Linux, GPaste remembers the clipboard history and allows to find them easily via few click.
The clipboard is the place to store the text, image, file path and all the stuff that you last copied (or cut). The content in clipboard will be overwritten once you do another copy & paste action. So, when you trying to find out what you’ve copied earlier, a clipboard manager will be helpful.
Install and Use GPaste:
GPaste is a free open-source clipboard manager that keep a trace of what you’re copying and pasting. It offers an indicator applet in system tray, allows you to search from history, single click to copy to clipboard, so to paste to anywhere as you want. And, a global switch is present to toggle tracking clipboard changes.
By clicking on the home icon in the drop-down menu, it brings up the main app window. There you may do all the functions, including create, edit, and/or delete content from the clipboard history. And, the hamburger icon on header bar allows to change the app settings and keyboard shortcuts.
Install GPaste in Ubuntu Linux:
For Ubuntu with default GNOME desktop, open terminal either by searching from overview screen or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard.
When terminal opens, run command to install the gpaste and extension packages in Ubuntu 18.04 & Ubuntu 20.04:
sudo apt install gnome-shell-extensions-gpaste
NOTE for Ubuntu 21.04 and Ubuntu 21.10, the package name has changed (removed ‘s’ in ‘extensions’). So command will be:
sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-gpaste
Other Linux, such as Fedora may install the clipboard manager via sudo dnf install gnome-shell-extension-gpaste command.
Restart Gnome Shell:
The indicator applet is provided by Gnome Extension, users have to restart GNOME Shell to allow working. To do so, press Alt+F2 key combination on keyboard, type r in pop-up ‘Run a Command’ dialog, and hit Enter.
For Wayland session, you need to log out and back in to restart Gnome Shell.
Enable GPaste Indicator:
Search for and open gpaste from the overview screen will launch the main app window. For the indicator applet, enable it via Gnome Extensions app.
Firstly, open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard) and install Gnome Extensions app if you don’t have it:
sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-prefs
Next, launch ‘Gnome Extensions’ app, scroll down and turn on the slider icon to enable GPaste indicator:
And click on the gear button to change it settings as you like.
Free open-source live streaming app, OBS Studio 27.1.1, was released. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Linux Mint 20, and derivatives.
OBS Studio 27.1.1 is a hot-fix release for version 27.1, which was released yesterday. It introduced YouTube integration, so users can connect YouTube account without using a stream key. And, it features a new “Manage Broadcast” button to create and manage YouTube streams, a chat dock for public and unlisted broadcasts, set settings on per stream base, and bandwidth testing support in the Auto-Configuration wizard.
Other features include a 18-scene multiview option, a “Mask Only” option to the stinger track matte, an option to draw safe areas in the preview, and a feature to browser sources to allow limited control over OBS.
OBS Studio 27.1 also features user interface tweaks and performance improvements, such as optimize media source to reduce CPU usage, re-enable drag & drop for scenes & sources on Linux, and more. See the release note for more details.
How to Install OBS Studio 27.1 in Ubuntu:
Universal Snap and Flatpak packages:
The Open Broadcaster Software is available as SNAP package, which can be installed via Ubuntu Software. If you have already installed the package, it will be updated to the new 27.1 automatically once the maintainer published it!
Also, the recording and live streaming app can be installed via universal Flatpak package via this page.
OBS Studio PPA:
The software has an official Ubuntu PPA for those prefer the classic deb package format. It so far supports for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and their based systems, e.g., Linux Mint 20, Elementary OS 6, and Zorin OS 16.
1.) To add the PPA, search for and open terminal from activities overview or press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When terminal opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio
2.) Update the system package cache. For Ubuntu 18.04 and some Ubuntu based distros, users have to manually refresh the system package cache by running command in terminal:
sudo apt update
3.) Finally copy and paste the command below into terminal, and run to install the broadcaster app:
sudo apt install obs-studio
Or, upgrade the app via “Software Updater” (Update Manager) if an old version was already installed on your system.
How to Remove OBS Studio:
To remove the package, also run apt command in terminal with ‘remove’ flag:
sudo apt remove --autoremove obs-studio
And remove the Ubuntu PPA either using Software & Updates utility by removing the relevant line from ‘Other Software’ tab.
The free open-source vector drawing app Inkscape 1.1 got its first maintenance update. Users are recommended to upgrade!
Thanks to the upstream GTK+3 fix, pressure sensitivity works again on Windows ink devices in Inkscape 1.1.1. And, the release includes many other general fixes, such as Stroke to Path works on text again; Saving no longer leaks memory; improve startup time on Windows; Canvas no longer blurred when moving window from HiDPI to a regular display; Click to select objects; Caps lock no longer stops some shortcut keys from working on Windows.
By clicking on a resizing separator (aka three-dots) of a docked dialog will now toggle dock visibility. The the “Font features” tab now load faster so it don’t freeze. And the transparency is now respected when applying the Fast Crop filter.
All templates generated from the ‘Welcome’ dialog now use a document scale of 1
Fix save as optimized SVG in Inkscape Appimage.
Fix opening EPS files in Inkscape Snap app.
Snap app now remembers user preferences even user home is not accessible.
Settings for font size and precision for the Measure tool work again
Measurements no longer reset on right click or tool switch.
Various crash fixes, and translation updates.
How to Install Inkscape 1.1.1 in Ubuntu:
Inkscape is available to install via universal Snap and Flatpak packages, as well as classic deb via an official Ubuntu PPA. Just choose the one that you prefer.
Snap App:
Inkscape offers official Snap package, which runs in sandbox. Ubuntu users can install it easily from Ubuntu Software:
Snap Flatpak:
The graphics editor also available as the universal Flatpak package. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, then run following commands one by one to install the package:
Install the Flatpak daemon in Ubuntu 20.04 and higher (ubuntu 18.04 need this PPA):
sudo apt install flatpak
Add the flathub repository which hosts most flatpak packages:
Finally run command to install the Inkscape Flatpak package:
flatpak install flathub org.inkscape.Inkscape
Inkscape PPA:
For those sticking to the classic deb package, the official Ubuntu PPA offers the most recent packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and Ubuntu 21.10.
1.) Search for and open terminal from the activities overview screen. When it opens, paste the command below into terminal and run to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:inkscape.dev/stable
2.) Next either upgrade the vector graphics editor using Software Updater (Update Manager):
Or, run apt command instead in terminal to install/upgrade the package:
sudo apt install inkscape
Uninstall Inkscape:
To remove the Inkscape Snap package, either use Ubuntu Software or run command in terminal:
snap remove --purge inkscape
To remove the Flatpak package, use command:
flatpak uninstall org.inkscape.Inkscape
And remove the editor installed from PPA using apt command:
GPU-Viewer is graphical tool to show the detailed information about OpenGL, Vulkan, and/or OpenCL graphics libraries.
Without struggling with glxinfo, vulkaninfo and clinfo command line tools, the GTK+3 tool provides a graphical front-end that shows all the important details.
There is no hard OpenGL Programming involved, until glxinfo, vulkaninfo and clinfo works the GPU-viewer will also work.
GPU-Viewer makes it easy to check the Vulkan or OpenGL version, and detailed GPU information.
How to Install GPU Viewer in Ubuntu Linux:
The software has an official Ubuntu PPA contains the packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and Ubuntu 21.10.
1. Add the PPA
Open terminal by either searching from activities overview screen or pressing Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard. When terminal opens, paste the command below and hit Enter:
By releasing version 0.1, the GTK+3 file search tool FSearch finally goes stable after 5 years of development.
FSearch is a free and open-source file search utility, inspired by Everything Search Engine. It’s super fast that you get instant result as you type. The app supports wildcard and RegEx, so users can use * and a series of characters to define filters.
It by default uses traditional UI with menu bar. However, it provides option to enable client-side decorations so to look modern in GNOME desktop (Ubuntu, Fedora, etc). And “dark mode” is supported for those working at night.
Users may specify which directories to be indexed, and certain files/folders to be excluded. And double-clicking a search result will open with the default app. By right-clicking on a result, it allows to open with selected app, open folder, copy / cut, move to trash, and view the file properties.
How to Install FSearch in Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04, 21.10
The app has an official Ubuntu PPA contains the packages for all current Ubuntu releases, including the old Ubuntu 16.04 and upcoming Ubuntu 21.10.
1. Add FSearch PPA
Firstly, either search for and open terminal from the Activities overview screen or press Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard. When terminal opens, paste the command below and hit run to add the PPA:
sudo command need authentication, type user password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Update system package cache:
For old Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 16.04, users need to manually refresh the package cache by running command in terminal. For Ubuntu 20.04 and higher, this is done automatically while adding PPA.
sudo apt update
3. Install FSearch
Finally install the file search utility via command:
sudo apt install fsearch
Once installed, launch it by searching from the overview screen and enjoy!
Uninstall FSearch:
To remove the tool, also open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove fsearch
And remove PPA either via “Software & Updates -> Other Software” or by running command in terminal:
In addition, FSearch provides official AUR for Arch Linux and Copr repository for Fedora. As well, there are unofficial packages for NixOS and openSUSE. See them in the project page.