News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
Want an AI chatbot in Ubuntu Desktop? There’s now an extension can do the job by adding Gemini AI into GNOME Panel.
Gemini, formerly known as Bard, is an AI chatbot developed by Google. It’s initially released last year in 2023, and available in 239 countries for 46 languages. The AI chatbot is a proprietary software, but available in both free and paid versions.
If you want to try out the Gemini AI, then this is a step by step guide shows you how to do the trick in Ubuntu Desktop.
This is a step by step guide shows how to install Blender app in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 24.10 Desktop.
Blender is a popular free open-source 3D graphics software works in Linux, Windows, and MacOS.
Ubuntu includes the software package in system repository, but always old as you know. The upside is that it supports all platforms, including x86_64 (AMD/Intel), arm64 (e.g., Raspberry Pi), ppc64el (IBM Power platform), RISC-V 64, and s390x (IBM zSystems and LinuxONE).
For Ubuntu user on x86_64 (AMD/Intel) computers, the latest version can be installed through following packages:
This is a step by step beginner’s guide shows how to install (or uninstall) Flatpak App Package, including local .flatpakref file, in Ubuntu 24.04.
Flatpak is an universal package format that can be installed in most Linux with a sandbox environment. It’s a free open-source project developed by Flatpak Team, which has closer relationship to GNOME and Red Hat.
As a competitor, Ubuntu has its own universal Snap package runs in sandbox. Flatpak is NOT supported out-of-the-box in Ubuntu, but easy to enable!
This is a step by step beginner’s guide shows how to install and use TeamViewer in Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop.
TeamViewer is a popular German remote desktop access and remote control software that works in Linux, Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS/iPadOS.
It’s a proprietary software that provides paid versions, as well as free license for personal use. For Linux, TeamViewer provides support for x86/x64, and arm64/armhf devices support. It’s a good choice for users who don’t know how to setup remote desktop sharing.
Remote Control Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop via TeamViewer
Want to play some soothing sounds in your Linux Desktop? Here are 2 applications can do the job in current Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04.
To improve focus and increase your productivity, or easy to fall asleep, there are a few applications can help by playing natural sounds in Linux.
When using pip command to install a Python package in Ubuntu 24.04 will output “error: externally-managed-environment“. Here are a few workarounds to ‘fix’ the issue.
As the terminal output shows you, it’s the change due to PEP 668. Since Ubuntu 23.04, it recommends Python-specific package management tools (e.g., pip) to install packages using a virtual environment, to avoid conflicts to packages installed by OS package managers. Though, user can still force pip to install into interpreter’s global context just like before.
After installed Enlightenment desktop in Ubuntu 24.04, the classic Xorg session is missing from the login screen. And, here’s a quick fix for it.
Enlightenment released version 0.26.0 last year with experimental Wayland session support. Which is however missing the Xorg session in the login screen due to bug.
Ubuntu now finds the desktop sessions from both /usr/share/wayland-sessions/ and /usr/share/xsessions/ directories. And, the former one has higher priority!
Enlightenment 0.26.0 installs its session entries in both directories with same name. In the case, only the one for Wayland is in active, while another for Xorg is ignored and hidden from login screen.
Ubuntu 24.04 missing Enlightenment on Xorg
For Thunderbird users, there will be a thunderbird.tmp sub-folder in Downloads in Ubuntu 24.04. Here are the workarounds to get rid of it!
As you may know, the Thunderbird package in Ubuntu 24.04 is a Snap package that runs in sandbox! Due to this switch, the “thunderbird.tmp” sub-folder will be created on every launch (even after you deleted it) of the email client, in user’s Downloads folder.
According to this discussion page:
“This is a tmp dir to store files you choose to open directly from Thunderbird. The snap can’t use the usual (insecure) /tmp location so had to choose something widely available so other apps can open the files if chosen.“
For Thunderbird users who don’t like Snap package, here’s step by step guide shows how to replace the pre-installed snap version of the mail client with classic Deb package in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
Like Firefox, the Thunderbird Email Client in Ubuntu 24.04 has been replaced as Snap package that runs in sandbox! If you don’t like the change, then here are 2 other choices:
This tutorial shows how to install and setup Veyon for classroom management in Ubuntu 22.04/20.04 and Debian 12, though it should also works in Windows 10 & 11.
Veyon is a free and open-source software for monitoring and controlling computers across multiple platforms. It supports monitoring all computers in one or multiple classrooms, view or control computers, and broadcast the teacher’s (or student’s) screen in real-time.
Besides the basic monitor, control, screen sharing features, the program also can do:
