Today, August 25, is the 30th anniversary of Linux!
It was 30 years ago that Linus Torvalds announced the operating system, just a hobby!
Hello everybody out there using minix-
I’m doing a (free) operating system (just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu) for 386(486) AT clones. This has been brewing since april, and is starting to get ready. I’d like any feedback on things people like/dislike in minix; as my OS resembles it somewhat (same physical layout of the file-sytem due to practical reasons)among other things.
I’ve currently ported bash (1.08) an gcc (1.40), and things seem to work. This implies that i’ll get something practical within a few months, and I’d like to know what features most people want. Any suggestions are welcome, but I won’t promise I’ll implement them :-)
Linux is a family of open-source operating systems based on the Linux kernel. The Kernel now has more than 31 million lines of code. And there are almost one thousand Linux distributions exist.
100% of the world’s top 500 supercomputers run on Linux. It’s trusted by NASA and JPL to run a helicopter on Mars.
And Linux is getting better and better on desktop with the power of GNOME, KDE, X11, Wayland, Ubuntu, Fedora, and the open-source communities!
Join us in celebrating 30 years of Linux
The Linux Foundation has some great images for the 30th anniversary. Get one and help celebrate Linux’s birthday on either social media or your mobile device.
For those don’t like Electron apps, ‘Psst’ is a new GTK client for the Spotify music service.
Since the official Spotify app for Linux is a web app running via Chromium engine, native Linux apps may be preferred. And ‘Psst’ is a free open-source app written in Rust programming language with GTK framework for user interface. Besides Linux, it also works on Windows and macOS.
The software is in very early development stage. It lacks features and defaults to GTK and pure X11, with Wayland backend in the works. So far, it features:
Dark / Light mode.
Vorbis track playback
Browsing saved albums and tracks
Save / unsave albums and tracks
Browsing followed playlists
Search for artist, albums, and tracks
Audio volume control
Audio loudness normalization
Media keys control
Open Spotify links
Genre playlists and “For You” content
Like ‘Spot’, another GTK client for Spotify, it only works with premium accounts!! Though there’s a hack to make it work with free accounts.
How to Install Psst in Ubuntu:
The app so far provides pre-build binary packages, available to download at the link below:
For Ubuntu based systems, grab the ‘psst-deb.zip‘, extract and install the .deb package, either by double-clicking or using Gdebi package installer (install Gdebi from Ubuntu Software).
NOTE: The app so far even don’t have a logo icon. When launching from the start menu (‘Show Applications’), it will show a gear icon instead.
The GNOME image viewer and organizer app, gThumb 3.11.4 was released! PPA updated with Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and upcoming Ubuntu 21.10 support.
Thanks to libheif library, the new release introduced HEIF file format support, so it can now handle photos imported from your iOS devices. Also AVIF, an image file format specification for storing images or image sequences compressed with AV1 in the HEIF file format is supported, and you can save file as AVIF.
There’s a performance improvement for browsing directory with thousands of images, so users will get a smoother experience. The file list now starts more thumbnailers in parallel, status bar has a button to show the progress dialog. And the color picker tool shows colors in two more formats: rgb in % and hsl.
Other changes include:
Allow to set shortcuts to activate filters.
Added a template editor to edit text values with special codes: script commands, rename templates, print header and footer, etc.
Allow to mount unmounted volumes.
Allow to keep browsing while executing long-running external tools.
Show the properties in a single column to save horizontal space.
Bug-fixes and translation updates.
How to Install gThumb 3.11.4 in Ubuntu:
The software lacks a repository for Ubuntu packages. Besides building from the source tarball, I’ve made the packages into the unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10, Linux Mint 20 and derivatives.
1.) Add the PPA
To add the PPA, open terminal either from the ‘show applications’ menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When terminal opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
2.) Install / Upgrade gThumb
You can then either upgrade the image viewer from an old version via Update Manager (Software Updater), or run command in terminal:
sudo apt install gthumb
NOTE for Linux Mint, you have to run sudo apt update to refresh package cache first.
Uninstall gThumb & the Ubuntu PPA
To remove gThumb image viewer, run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove gthumb gthumb-data
To remove the Ubuntu PPA, either run the apt-add-repository command with --remove flag, or use Software & Updates -> Other Software.
For those looking for a lightweight Linux Desktop Environment, MATE is a good choice besides XFCE and LXDE.
MATE is a free open-source fork of the classic Gnome 2 desktop. It also forked a list of core applications, e.g., Caja file manager from Nautilus, Pluma text editor from Gedit, MATE Terminal from Gnome Terminal.
Though it’s Gnome 2 continuation, MATE fully supports the GTK 3 application framework. And by releasing version 1.26, it introduced initial Wayland support.
MATE desktop is NOT specifically designed for older computers, but it’s really lightweight and works fast in low-cost computers, including Raspberry Pi.
What’s New in MATE 1.26
The new 1.26 release features Wayland support for its core applications, including Atril document viewer, System Monitor, Pluma text editor, MATE Terminal, MATE Panel and other components of the Desktop.
The text editor, Pluma, got a new mini map allows that gives you instant overview over the content. New grid background pattern can be toggled in Preferences. And you can press Ctrl+Y to show or hide the line numbers.
MATE Pluma Text Editor Grid pattern
The release also introduced a new indicator applet to toggle ‘Do Not Disturb‘ mode. The applet defaults to green and turns to white once you enable the function. As well, it offers options to change the theme, position of notification bubbles, and control which monitor to display.
The Caja file manager now supports adding current location into left pane as “Bookmark”. And you can format an external device via the context (right-click) menu. By right-clicking on the desktop, there’s an option to lock the desktop icons position.
The Atril document viewer is greatly improved, so it works faster and use even less memory. And the Engrampa archive now supports EPUB and ARC, as well as encrypted RAR archives.
Other changes include:
Display settings now has option for scaling.
Hyperlinks support for notifications.
Option to disable mouse scrolling in Window List applet.
Add history support for the Calculator.
Option to reduce keyboard backlight when on battery.
And much more other changes, see release note for details.
How to Get MATE 1.26 in Linux:
For apt-based systems, Ubuntu MATE is a good choice to try out the MATE desktop. The Ubuntu flavor will update to mate 1.26 soon.
For Arch Linux and Manjaro based system with MATE, a single command will update the desktop environment to the latest:
sudo pacman -Syu
And for Fedora 34 users, the MATE 1.26 is now in the build system, tagged with f34-updates-candidate. I don’t know how the Fedora repository works, it may/might be published in next few days.
For users switching from macOS, there’s a GNOME Extension to replace the top-left corner ‘Activities‘ with system logo menu.
So the top-left corner will display your selected logo icon instead of the ‘Activities’ button. When you click on it, a drop-down menu opens with options to quick access:
About system page.
System Settings.
Software Center.
Activities.
Force Quit App – it runs xkill so mouse pointer turns to a fork icon. Click any app window will kill it! Or right-click to cancel.
Terminal.
Gnome Extensions App.
This will make one more click to access the ‘Activities’ overview screen. You can however press Win/Super key instead, or enable “Activities Overview Hot Corner” (hit top-left corner via cursor) in Gnome Tweaks under ‘Top Bar’ settings.
Install the Logo Menu Extension:
The extension works on all recent Gnome releases shipped in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10, Debian 11, Fedora 34, CentOS 8, Arch Linux, and more.
For Ubuntu, firstly open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install the browser integration package for installing Gnome Shell extensions via your web browser. As well, install the Gnome Extensions App to manage them.
The LibreOffice office suite 7.2 was released with many new features and improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and Ubuntu 21.10.
LibreOffice is the default office suite available in Ubuntu as well as many other Linux Distributions out-of-the-box. It’s made up of a Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math, and database management tools, and supports the file formats of MicroSoft Office.
What’s new in Libreoffice 7.2
LibreOffice 7.2 was released as the latest major release with new command popup HUD (“Heads-up display”). By going to “Help -> Search Commands” or pressing Shift+Esc on keyboard, it brings up the command box allows to search for and execute actions.
The release introduced a Dark color scheme, so the app window can be set to fully dark for working at night. Also, it added new scrollable style picker in Notebookbar, fontwork panel in sidebar. And the templates dialog got a list view, the global toolbar lock can now switched off via “View -> Toolbars”.
For Libreoffice Writer, Impress & Draw, all background fills can now be set to either cover the page inside the margins or the entire page.
Just grab the “Fresh” version from the link button above. Then add executable permission, and right-click to run it:
Method 2: LibreOffice Snap:
Snap is the easiest way to install the office suite in Ubuntu. It’s official and updates automatically! Just search for ‘LibreOffice’ in Ubuntu Software and install the one from ‘snapcraft.io’:
NOTE: since the pre-installed one is native DEB package. You’ll have duplicated LibreOffice icons in ‘Activities’ overview search result after installed the Snap package.
Method 3: Install LibreOffice via Ubuntu PPA (RECOMMEND)
The official PPA is always preferred and recommended. It will upgrade the pre-installed LibreOffice packages to the latest and integrate well into Ubuntu desktop.
I put it as the last method because the PPA is not updated for the release at the moment. The maintainer has been building and testing the packages. And, now it’s ready for all current Ubuntu releases.
1. Add LibreOffice PPA
First open terminal from your system start menu (click top-left corner ‘Activities’, search for and open terminal). When it opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
So far, the PPA supports for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and Linux Mint 20.
Next, you can upgrade the office suite using Software Updater (Update Manager) utility.
KDE’s Kdenlive Video editor 21.08 was released. The official PPA added Ubuntu 21.10 “Impish Indri” support.
Kdenlive, stands for KDE Non-Linear Video Editor, is a free and open-source video editor for KDE though it also works on other desktop environment. And version 21.08 was finally released a few days later than other KDE Gear 21.08 apps.
The new release based on MLT 7 framework which has removed the Automask effect, along with many other legacy and buggy modules. The region module is also removed and replaced with new Effect Masking feature. As well, the old and unmaintained tools like the DVD Wizard and the Preview Compositing mode has been removed.
Kdenlive 21.08 got an improved performance, so users will have a smoother experience when importing hundreds of files and gigabytes and panning through the timeline.
Other features in the release include:
The new Time Remap feature allows to keyframe the speed of a clip.
Apply effects to only affect specific regions of a clip using masks.
Easily moves Guides along with clips using the Spacer Tool via the new Guides Locked option.
Ability to assign shortcuts to raise dock widgets.
Ability to assign shortcuts to 3 keyframe functions: Add/Remove Keyframe, Go to next keyframe and Go to previous keyframe.
Additional options to the same track transitions: Duration, Reverse and Alignment.
The command bar (toggle via Ctrl+Alt+i) to easily search for any action in Kdenlive, such as changing themes, adding effects, opening files and more.
New Copy value at cursor position to clipboard option
New mapping modes and options when importing tracked data
Option to go to start if playback started on timeline end
How to Install Kdenlive 21.08 in Ubuntu via PPA:
The Kdenlive official PPA has been updated with the latest packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and their derivatives, e.g, Linux Mint 20, Elementary OS 6, and Zorin OS 16.
1.) Add Ubuntu PPA:
Open ‘terminal’ from your system application menu, then run command to add the PPA:
Type your password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.
2. ) Install or Upgrade Kdenlive:
If an old version of kdenlive was installed, you can upgrade it via Update Manager:
Or simply run command in terminal to install the video editor:
sudo apt install kdenlive
NOTE for Linux Mint or may be other Ubuntu based systems, you need to update the package cache manually by running sudo apt update command before installing the software.
Uninstall:
To purge the PPA as well as downgrade Kdenlive package, run command in terminal:
Zorin OS 16 was officially released! Features Ubuntu 20.04 LTS package base, Kernel 5.11, and modified Gnome Desktop 3.36.
Zorin OS is an open-source Linux distribution for personal computers. It provides an user friendly desktop appearance based on Gnome. With built-in utility, it allows to single click changing UI layout to original Gnome, classic or modern Windows style.
A lightweight version is also available for old computers based on XFCE desktop environment. And it features “Zorin Connect”, GSConnect / KDE Connect similar implementation to link your Android phone and computer together.
What’s New in Zorin OS 16:
The new release introduced a revamped and refined desktop appearance, along with new wallpaper changes automatically according time of day.
The lock screen now displays a blurred version of desktop wallpaper, just like what it does in Ubuntu 20.04 LT. Follow GNOME 40, Zorin OS now has multi-touch gestures out-of-the-box for laptop users. The finger gestures are however a little different, and I prefer the way in Gnome and Elementary OS 6.
Touch-pad gestures:
4 fingers up/down to switch workspaces.
Pinch with 3 fingers to trigger activities overview.
SMPlayer media player released version 21.8.0 with official dmg package for macOS, and more binary packages for Linux users.
SMPlayer is a free open-source video player for Windows and Linux. By releasing v21.8.0, it finally adds macOS support officially. It uses MPV and/or MPlayer multimedia engine, so it can play virtually all video and audio formats.
The player remembers the settings of all files you play, so when you open an unfinished movie it will be resumed at the same point you left it, as well as the same settings. It also has built-in YouTube browser, allows to search for and click to play YouTube video directly in the media player.
I always keep SMPlayer in my system as an alternative media player, because it has some useful features that I need. They include:
ability to fetch subtitles from internet.
cast to smart phone and chromecast.
rotate video and change aspect ratio while playback.
What’s New in SMPlayer 21.8.0
Besides the macOS package, Linux Appimage, Flatpak, and Snap support, the release also include following changes:
Better automatic resizing of the main window, trying to prevent black borders.
Add option to rotate the video by 180 degrees.
Add some predefined speeds (0.25x, 0.5x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x).
Prevent a one second delay when using play prev/next.
The installation of YouTube support is now optional on Windows.
Disable power saving on Linux Wayland during playback.
And some bug-fixes.
How to Get SMPlayer:
The media player now is available at Github. All the binary packages as well as source tarball are available to download at the link below:
For Linux, since Appimage is a non-install executable, Flatpak and Snap are universal package formats need separate daemons to run in sandbox, native .deb / .rpm package may still be preferred.
To install and keep SMPlayer native packages up-to-date, you can either use the official OBS repository for Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, openSUSE.
Or use the official Ubuntu PPA for all current Ubuntu releases, Linux Mint, and derivatives.
1. Add Ubuntu PPA.
Open terminal either from start menu (click top-left ‘Activities’, search for and open terminal), or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer
Type user password, no asterisk feedback, and hit Enter to continue. So for, it supports Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 21.04.
2. Install / Upgrade SMPlayer:
After adding the PPA, you can either install it via command:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install smplayer smtube
or upgrade the player via Software Updater (Update Manager) if an old release was installed.
Uninstall SMPlayer in Ubuntu:
To remove the PPA, either open “Software & Updates”, go to “Other Software” line and remove the relevant repository line, or run command:
This tutorial shows how to enable hardware video acceleration (VA-API) for Firefox, so it uses the video card to decode/encode video to save power.
Hardware video acceleration is a computer technology to make the graphics card to encode and decode video, thus offloading the CPU to save power. And compared to CPU, GPU are normally more efficient at the job.
UPDATE 2024: VA-API SHOULD BE ENABLED BY DEFAULT (if available) IN RECENT FIREFOX RELESES! SO, JUST GO TO BOTTOM TO VERIFY.
There are a few ways to achieve this on Ubuntu Linux, including:
Video Acceleration API (VA-API) – an open source API developed by Intel.
Video Decode and Presentation API for Unix (VDPAU) – open source API developed by NVIDIA.
NVENC/NVDEC – NVIDIA’s proprietary API.
The VA-API supports Intel, AMD, and NVIDIA (via open-source Nouveau drivers) GPUs. And it is widely supported by software, such as MPV uses va-api hardware acceleration for video playback by default if available.
The VDPAU API supports both AMD and NVIDIA, but has no support in Firefox or Chromium. And while NVENC/NVDEC is used for NVIDIA GPU only, we usually use VA-API for hardware video acceleration.
Firefox pop-up video encoding/decoding via Intel GPU
Verify VA-API:
NOTE: VA-API does not work on NVIDIA via proprietary drivers as mentioned above. If you installed NVIDIA proprietary driver via ‘Additional Drivers’ utility, this will only work when you choose ‘Intel (Power Saving)’ mode in NVIDIA Prime settings.
The VA-API may work out-of-the-box in Ubuntu. You can firstly open terminal from start menu (click ‘Activities’ and search terminal).
Next install vainfo package via command:
sudo apt install vainfo
And run it to check VA-API info:
vainfo
It outputs the driver as well as supported profile. VAEntrypointVLD means decoding support for this format, VAEntrypointEncSlice means encoding support.
If the command outputs an error, you can try to install drivers via command:
For NVIDIA nouveau and AMD, run command:
sudo apt install mesa-va-drivers
For Gen 8+ Intel hardware, install via command:
sudo apt install intel-media-va-driver
And for old Intel hardware, install i965-va-driver instead via apt install command.
By setting the environment variable, you can choose which driver to use. For example, set “export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=i965” to use i965 driver. The value can also set to “nouveau” for NVIDIA, or “radeonsi” for AMDGPU.
Enable VA-API in Firefox:
Firefox added VA-API support since version 80, though it’s not enabled by default. You can enabled it manually by doing following steps one by one.
Firstly, open Firefox and go to about:config in url bar. Click on “Accept the Risk and Continue”. Then search for following keys, enable or disable them one by one:
media.ffmpeg.vaapi.enabled set to true
media.ffvpx.enabled set to false.
media.rdd-vpx.enabled set to false.
media.navigator.mediadatadecoder_vpx_enabled set to true.
If you experience page crashes, try setting security.sandbox.content.level to 0.
Secondly, set environment variable (for current user only). Open terminal and run command to edit profile file:
gedit ~/.profile
When file opens, add following lines to the end:
(Optional) Specify va-api driver as mentioned above (replace iHD accordingly):
export LIBVA_DRIVER_NAME=iHD
You can SKIP this if vainfo outputs without error!
Diable RDD sandbox:
export MOZ_DISABLE_RDD_SANDBOX=1
For Xorg session, default in Ubuntu 18.04/Ubuntu 20.04:
export MOZ_X11_EGL=1
For Wayland session, default in Ubuntu 21.04 & higher:
export MOZ_ENABLE_WAYLAND=1
Finally, log out and back in. Open Firefox and play a video and see result!
Check if Hardware Video Acceleration working:
During video playback, you can use top command to see CPU usage before and after enable VA-API. For Intel GPU, there’s intel_gpu_top command that monitor it continuously.
Open terminal and run command to install the tool first:
sudo apt install intel-gpu-tools
Next, run command:
sudo intel_gpu_top
Start playing video in Firefox and you’ll see the video bar is busy (above 0%) if VA-API starts working.
For AMD GPU, there’s another command line tool “radeontop” available to monitor GPU activity.
NOTE for YouTube videos, the video codec may sometimes not supported by your hardware. To workaround, try h264ify or enhanced-h264ify extension to make YouTube stream H.264 videos instead of VP8/VP9.
