For KDE users on Ubuntu 22.04, meaning KUbuntu 22.04, Ubuntu Studio 22.04, etc, the latest Plasma Desktop 5.27 (5.27.11) now is available to upgrade through PPA.
KDE Plasma Desktop 5.27 was originally released in February. After more than 8 months of work, it has received 9 bug-fix updates and finally made into PPA for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.
Plasma 5.27 features new window tiling system, that can be enabled “System Settings > Workspace Behavior > Desktop Effects“. It allows to Shift + dragging to tile windows, and Super (Windows logo) + T to edit tiling mode.
The release also features new Welcome dialog, allowing to learn about new features and how to tweak settings, etc, swipe gestures for volume and playback control in Media Player widget, power usage monitor detection for NVIDIA GPUs, new command activate “Do Not Disturb” mode.
Since Ubuntu 23.10, there’s no longer “Software Install” option for opening/installing .deb files in your Downloads folder. This is probably due to switch to the new ‘App Center’, that some features are not fully implemented.
When you double-clicking a .deb file from Downloads folder, it will pop-up a dialog saying “Could Not Display ‘file_name.deb’ There’s no app installed for ‘Debian package’ files“. And, neither option will work for installing the package.
UPDATE: App Center in Ubuntu 24.04 finally added back the feature to install local .deb! Just double-click on the package in file manager to launch and install.
So, if you’re trying to install an application using local .deb format package, here are 3 workarounds for you.
Option 1: use Gdebi package installer
Gdebi is a simple tool to view and install local .deb file. It’s a popular application that’s using as default in Linux Mint.
1. First, press Super (Windows logo) key to open overview screen. Search for and launch “App Center”.
2. When ‘App Center’ opens, use it to search and install Gdebi. You may need to select “Filter by Debian packages” to make it visible.
3. Once you installed the tool, right-click on your local .deb file, and click on “Open With…” option.
In next pop-up dialog, find out and select “Gdebi Package Installer” and turn on “Always use for this file type“, finally click Open.
4. After that, you can double-click any .deb file to open with the Gdebi package installer. When the tool opens, you may view the package info and click “Install Package” to install it into your system.
Option 2: Use apt command
For those who are familiar with Linux command, your local .deb file is easy to install via a single command.
It’s:
sudo apt install /path/to/file.deb
Definitely, you need to replace ‘/path/to/file.deb‘ to yours.
Instead of typing manually, simply open terminal (via either Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut or ‘Open in Terminal’ context menu), then drag and drop .deb file into terminal after typing sudo apt install plus a blank space.
Finally, hit Enter to run the command, type user password (no asterisk feedback) to authentication, and answer y if it asks to confirm.
When installation done, it will output something like ‘N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file ‘/path/to/file.deb’ couldn’t be accessed by user ‘_apt’. – pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)’. Just skip the non-fatal warning. Your app should be properly installed when you see the terminal output message.
Option 3: Use GNOME Software
If you want to restore the new App Center to classic Ubuntu Software, then GNOME Software can be a better choice.
GNOME Software supports Deb, Flatpak, and Snap packages. However, it will be always run in background that takes about 200 MB memory in my case.
If you don’t care about the memory consumption, then press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, and run command to install GNOME Software:
For VLC users who prefer installing the player via the classic .deb package, here’s an Ubuntu PPA contains the most recent (3.0.21 updated) for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and Ubuntu 24.04.
VLC media player is available in Ubuntu system repository, but always old. For the most recent version, VideoLAN provides Snap package, which however runs in sandbox environment.
Krita announced the new major 5.2.0 release few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 via PPA.
Krita 5.2.0 introduced some exciting new features, such as synchronized audio playback, FFmpeg bundle, new text layout engine, new Wide Gamut Color Selector, new actions, CMYK for JEPG-XL, and various tool updates. See the official release note for details.
Krita provides official Linux package through AppImage, which is available to download at the link below:
Once you got the package, just right-click on it and go file ‘Properties’, then enable “Allow executing file as program” under Permissions tab. Finally, right-click and select “Run” to launch the painter.
Krita is also available as Snap and Flatpak packages, though they are both NOT updated to v5.2.0 at the moment of writing.
How to Install Krita 5.2.3 via PPA
For users hate running apps in sandbox, I’ve uploaded the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04 (arm64 also supported), Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.
NOTE 1: This is an unofficial package built against Debian upstream rules. It seems working good, but without well testing! NOTE 2: For Ubuntu 22.04, the PPA also contains a few updated version of dependency libraries, that MIGHT cause conflict to other packages in your system!
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/krita
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then, either launch Software Updater and upgrade the graphics editor from an old version:
or run the command below in terminal to install/upgrade it:
sudo apt install krita
NOTE: Linux Mint may have to run sudo apt update first.
Uninstall:
To remove the PPA as well as downgrade the Krita package to stock version, run command:
The new tiling assistant extension in Ubuntu 23.10 and Ubuntu 24.04 has indicator support! Here’s how to enable it and fix the missing icon.
Ubuntu introduced a new system extension called “Tiling Assistant” since 23.10. With it, user can easily tile window to half or quarter of screen either via mouse dragging or keyboard shortcut.
The extension also has an indicator applet on panel, allows user to select a layout to start tiling with ‘Super + Tab’ look like menu for all opened windows. See the short video:
The feature is useful, however lack of indicator icon on panel, possibly due to bug or building issue. This tutorial is going to show you how to enable the indicator as well as add back the icon, so it will look like the screenshot below:
Step 1: Enable the Indicator Applet
To enable the indicator, user can either run single command in terminal or use ‘Dconf Editor’ configuration tool.
Option 1: Press ‘Ctrl + Alt + T’ key combination on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run the single command below to do the job:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.tiling-assistant show-layout-panel-indicator true
Option 2: Or, first search for and install “Dconf Editor” from App Center.
Then, launch “Dconf Editor” and navigate to org/gnome/shell/extensions/tiling-assistant. Finally, scroll down, find out and turn on ‘show-layout-panel-indicator’.
Step 2: Fix missing icon issue
As mentioned, the indicator is missing icon on panel. To fix it, you may install the community version of “Tiling Assistant” from EGO (extensions.gnome.org), then copy the icon files to use for system built-in extension.
1. First, open App Center, then search for and install “Extension Manager“.
Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu Software/App Center
2. Then, launch “Extension Manager” and use it to search and install “Tiling Assistant” community edition under Browse tab.
3. You do NOT need to turn on the new installed ‘Tiling Assistant’ extension. Here, we just need the icon file from it.
Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, when terminal opens, run commands:
navigate to the user installed extension directory:
cd ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/tiling-assistant@leleat-on-github/
after that, just copy the ‘media‘ sub-folder to system extension directory. To do so, run command:
sudo cp -R media /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/tiling-assistant@ubuntu.com/
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter.
Finally, use “Extension Manager” to turn off and turn back on ‘Ubuntu Tiling Assistant’ to apply change. And, remove the user installed ‘Tiling Assistant’ extension. Or, simply log out and back in.
This simple tutorial shows what’s new in gThumb 3.12.4, and how to install it in all current Ubuntu releases.
gThumb image viewer and organizer has rolled out version 3.12.3 and 3.12.4 recently, while Ubuntu still has v3.12.2 in system repositories.
The new releases introduced some new features as well as various bug-fixes. According to the NEWS file, gThumb now supports transparency for Tiff and TGA files, has a new internal video thumbnailer (/usr/libexec/gthumb/video-thumbnailer), though as a beginner I didn’t figure out how to use it.
For better user experience, the image viewer now has zoom gesture support; Zoom slider can zoom in/out in range of 5% and 1000%; Crop tool has new 1.91:1 predefined ratio; And, there are other changes include:
Open the image from clipboard with Ctrl+Shift+V.
Sort folders by modification time.
Ability to copy the current frame to the clipboard with Ctrl+Shift+C.
Drag’n’Drop allow to copy pressing Shift.
Image tools allow to use Return to apply the changes.
Ability to specify the current time
Make keypad keys equivalent to the non-keypad counterpart.
Reduce memory usage by keeping in memory only the visible thumbnails.
Zoom 1000%
How to Install gThumb 3.12.4 in Ubuntu:
1. Add the Ubuntu PPA.
The PPA so far provides packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.
Firstly open terminal either from start menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, paste the command below into terminal and hit run:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks for sudo authentication, then hit Enter to continue.
2. Update system package cache.
Adding PPA will automatically refresh the package cache in Ubuntu 20.04 and higher. However old versions and some Ubuntu based systems does not. To do it manually, simply run command in terminal:
sudo apt update
3. Install / Upgrade gThumb.
Finally, either run the apt install command in a terminal window to install the image viewer:
sudo apt install gthumb
Or use the Software Updater (Update Manager) utility to receive package updates. Un-check other packages from the PPA if you don’t want them.
Uninstall / Restore gThumb:
You can restore to the stock version of the image viewer and organizer by purging the PPA repository. To do so, simply run command:
You may also keep the gThumb package but remove the Ubuntu PPA, since it contains many other software packages that you don’t prefer. To do so, either run command in terminal:
Ubuntu has a “Folder Color” package in system repository, allows to change the color and add emblem for individual folder. However, it’s only available for Ubuntu LTS, and uses the old default ‘Humanity’ icon theme, which looks very outdated.
To fix the issue, a free open-source yaru-colors-folder-color project was created to work along with system default ‘Folder Color‘, so to have folder icon in different colors while keep using default Yaru theme.
The project is discontinued, due to switch to the new “Folder Color” project, which works out-of-the-box with Yaru colors integration. And, not only for Ubuntu LTS, but also supports all current short-term releases, such as Ubuntu 24.04.
With it, user can right-click on any folder, to get the menu to change folder color to ‘Blue’, ‘Brown’, ‘Green’, ‘Grey’, ‘Pink’, ‘Purple’, ‘Red’, and ‘Yellow’. As well as adding emblem such as ‘Important’, ‘In Progress’, ‘Favorite’, ‘Finished’, and ‘New’.
After changing color or adding emblem, the folder will also have a ‘Default‘ option in that menu, to restore to default.
Hugin, the free open-source panorama photo stitching and HDR merging software, rolled out the Beta release of 2023 version few weeks ago.
This Beta so far does not have any release note for changes. But only the changelog according to the changes.txt file in source tarball:
PTBatcherGUI can now also queue user defined assistant and user defined output sequences.
PTBatcherGUI: Added option to generate panorama sequences from an existing pto template.
Assistant: Added option to select different output options like projection, FOV or canvas size depending on different variables (e.g. image count, field of view, lens type).
Allow building with epoxy instead of GLEW for OpenGL pointer management.
Several improvements to crop tool (outside crop, aspect ratio, …).
Install Hugin 2023 Beta in Ubuntu:
NOTE 1: This is so far a Beta release for testing purpose!
For those who want to try out the new features, I’ve uploaded the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 on both X86_64 and Arm64/hf CPUs.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.
2. Ubuntu 18.04, and some Ubuntu based systems may need to manually refresh package cache after adding PPA, though it’s done automatically sine Ubuntu 20.04.
To do so, just run command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install the Beta release of Hugin by running command:
sudo apt install hugin
Uninstall:
To downgrade the stock version of Hugin in your system repository, simply open terminal and run command to purge the PPA:
This simple tutorial shows how to make Qt-based applications automatically change their theme to be light or dark, according to system color style in Ubuntu 22.04.
Ubuntu has global option to change system color scheme to light or dark since 22.04. However, Qt apps (e.g., VirtualBox, qBittorrent, keepassxc) always stick to their own color style, except for the title-bar.
To make Qt applications fit into GNOME environment as well as possible, Fedora Linux is working on some projects to do the job.
NOTE: Ubuntu 23.04 and Ubuntu 23.10 users can directly run the last apt install command without adding PPA.
After installation, the new theme package should be automatically taken use for your Qt (qt5) apps. Some Qt apps use their own theme options, you have to open their ‘Preferences’ or ‘Settings’ dialog to switch to default or system theme.
If NOT, open ‘Files’ and press Ctrl+H to view hidden files. Then, click editing the ‘.profile‘ file and adding the new line below in the end:
export QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME='gnome'
Finally, log out and back in to apply change.
Uninstall:
You can remove the Ubuntu PPA after installation, since it will no longer receive updates. To do so, open terminal and run command:
