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How to Dim Multiple or Individual Monitor in Ubuntu 22.04

Last updated: November 5, 2023 — Leave a comment

Have multiple monitors connected to your Ubuntu 22.04 machine? There’s now an indicator to dim all or individual monitor screen brightness with sliders.

You can dim external monitor brightness with either physical buttons or ddcutil utility. However, an indicator applet in system tray can be more effective, and here’s one for Ubuntu 22.04 with default GNOME 42.

It’s a Gnome Shell extension, that adds a light bulb to top-right corner in panel. By clicking on it, will show you the slider to dim all the connected monitors, as well as individual sliders to dim certain screens.

And, by moving the slider to far right will make the screen totally dark, just like being turned off.

Besides dimming monitor screens, it can also change the colors with RGB sliders, which also can apply to either all or individual monitors.

As my laptop’s external HDMI port is broken, I can’t try out the multi-monitor support. But, the dimming and RGB color (need to at least move dim slider a bit to right) functions are working very well in my case in Ubuntu 22.04 Desktop PC.

My test without multi-monitors

How to Install the Dimming Control Indicator

First, launch Ubuntu Software, then search for and install “Extension Manager” app.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+

Then, click on top-left ‘Activities’ button to open overview screen, search for and launch ‘Extension Manager’.

When the tool opens, navigate to ‘Browse‘ tab, and finally search and install “VividShade: Multi-Monitor RGB Dimming Control” extension.

The indicator applet will appear on panel immediately after installation.

Uninstall:

To uninstall this extension, also launch “Extension Manager“. Click expand it under first tab, finally click on red “Remove” button.

In Gnome Shell, Howtos
 

Display Live Earth as Desktop Wallpaper in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04

Last updated: May 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

This simple tutorial shows how to display live earth as desktop wallpaper in Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04.

Ubuntu has Wallch wallpaper changer in system repository, which has option to show live earth as wallpaper. However, the app is no longer updated and the feature is broken for all current Ubuntu releases.

If you’re interested in viewing high-resolution 3d real-time image of the earth in your desktop, then there’s another free open-source tool can do the job.

It’s liewa (Live Earth Wallpapers), that supports all known geostationary satellites for the high resolution sentinel images, Nasa Solar Dynamics Observatory images and NASA astronomy picture of the day (Apod)!

By default, it uses GEOS-16 satellite for the earth image, that display a small earth in center of your screen. Though, the app has setting options to add or edit satellites.

Add, configure satellites

So, you can have more than one real-time images of the earth from different satellites displayed on your screen at the same time, in different size, with either natural color or geocolor.

How to Install Live Earth Wallpapers (Liewa)

The tool provides .deb package for downloading in its Github releases page:

Download Liewa

After downloaded the .deb package, right-click on ‘Downloads’ folder and select “Open in Terminal”. Finally, run command to install it in pop-up terminal window:

sudo apt install ./liewa.deb

Finally, launch it from either start/applications menu or the overview screen depends on your desktop environment.

When the app window opens, configure canvas size, satellites, etc in first tab, then click on “Create New Scheduler” in Scheduler tab should start the live earth wallpaper.

Though, it takes quite a few seconds to apply, waiting for automatically start the service. If you can’t wait, try to open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to manually start the service:

systemctl status --user liewa

Uninstall:

You can stop the live earth wallpaper by clicking on “Delete Scheduler” button in app window, then set another wallpaper via ‘Background’ settings.

To remove the software, simply open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove liewa
In Howtos
 

How to Perform Stress Test on Your CPU in Ubuntu / Debian

Last updated: June 10, 2024 — 3 Comments

This simple tutorial shows how to do stress test on your CPU in Ubuntu or Debian Linux, either Desktop or Server.

Got a new CPU /CPU cooler, or changed your computer environment? You can perform a stress test to find out if it’s working good! And, here’s how to do the trick in Debian, Ubuntu, and their based systems.

Step 1: Install stress/stress-ng & s-tui

In all current Ubuntu (20.04, 22.04, 24.04) and Debian releases, there are few command line and TUI tools to do the job.

First, open terminal either from start/application menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard.


When it opens, run command:

sudo apt install --install-suggests s-tui

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo authentication and hit Enter.

The command will install s-tui, with TUI interface to start, stop, configure stress test, and monitor your CPU status in terminal.

With --install-suggests option, it also installs the stress or stress-ng package as the backend for the testing.

Step 2: Perform Stress Test

After installing the tool, simply run the command below in terminal to start s-tui:

s-tui

Then, you’ll see something look like the screenshot below shows you.

In left, it shows some options, as well as summaries of core temperatures, and frequencies. In right, it shows information about the temperature, utilization rate,etc in graphs.

To start stress test, just left click on ( )Stress in the top-left corner of terminal, or use arrow key to highlight it and hit Enter. To stop it, just click to switch back ( )Monitor.

By clicking Stress Options in left, it will show you option to set a timeout to automatically stop stress testing in given seconds. You can also change Sqrt() worker count and Sync() worker count to specify how many cores to run for stress test.

Tips 1 : For GNOME, Ubuntu’s default desktop environment, open “Power” settings and change CPU power mode to ‘Performance’ before performing stress test, or your CPU may not run in full speed.

Tips 2: While stress testing, you may also monitor the temperature of other devices (e.g., SSD) in your machine. To do so, you may install ‘hardinfo’ by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install hardinfo

Then open it and navigate to ‘sensors’ tab in left.

That’s all. Enjoy!

In Howtos
 

[Tips] Quickly Access Source of installed Extensions in Ubuntu

Last updated: October 27, 2023 — Leave a comment

This is a quick tutorial shows you how to quickly access the source of all your installed GNOME extensions in Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation, Debian and other Linux with GNOME.

Gnome extensions are usually installed to “.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/” directory. While, system built-in extensions are available in “/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/“.

For developing or debugging purpose, you can open that folder every time to access the sources. However, GNOME has a built-in debugger and inspector tool that can also do the trick quickly.

Quick access source of extensions via Looking Glass

1. First, press Alt+F2 on keyboard to launch the ‘Run a command’ dialog box. Then, input lg and hit Enter.

2. The Gnome debugger and inspector tool, aka Looking Glass, will drop-down from the top.
There, just switch to “Extensions” tab, then, you’ll see all the installed extensions, either enabled or disabled.

And, each extension has 3 links:

  • View Source – open the source folder of extension in a new Nautilus window.
  • Web Page – open the extension web page in default web browser.
  • Show/Hide Errors

Looking Glass Indicator

To make life easier, there’s also an extension to add a panel indicator in top-right. So, you can access it easily by a single mouse click. Which, also has a drop-down menu:

  • Restart Shell (Xorg only).
  • Reload Theme.
  • Open Extensions Folder.
  • Open Themes folder.

To install the indicator, first search for and install “Extension Manager” from either Ubuntu Software or App Center.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+

Then, launch and use “Extension Manager” to search and install “Looking Glass Button” under Browse tab.

The extension so far supports all current GNOME versions. For Fedora, Debian, etc without ‘Extension Manager’, just go to extension web page via the link below:

Looking Glass Button

Then use ON/OFF switch to install it. If you don’t see the toggle switch, click the link in the page to install browser extension then refresh.

In Howtos
 

How to Upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10 [Step by Step Guide]

Last updated: October 23, 2023 — 4 Comments

This is a step by step beginner’s guide shows Ubuntu Desktop users how to upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10 from either Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 23.04.

Ubuntu 23.10, code-name, Mantic Minotaur, was released a week ago. It features Kernel 6.5, GNOME 45, new App Center, and has official support until July, 2024.

Before getting started:

Before start upgrading your OS, you have to do some preparations to avoid failure and speed up upgrading process.

  • First, backup, backup, backup! The upgrade process MAY FAIL, due to internet corrupt, hardware issue, and/or package conflict. If the upgrade process failed, your system MAY refuse to boot. So, it’s important to make backup, though, you can mount the disk in another OS to export user data.
  • Remove useless applications. It will try to upgrade all installed packages to the higher versions in 23.10 system repository. So removing useless packages, such as non-default desktop environments, results less downloading to speed up upgrading process. Though, it’s totally OK to skip this step.
  • Restore important libraries. If you’ve installed 3rd party versions of multimedia (e.g., FFmpeg) libraries, it’s highly recommended to uninstall/restore to avoid package conflict.
  • Disable third-party repositories. Third party repositories may contain packages that cause conflict to the packages in 23.10 system repository. It’s highly to disable them by launching “Software & Updates” and removing/un-ticking source lines under “Other Software” tab.

    Remove 3rd party PPAs

  • Disable third-party extensions. Third-party extensions may not work on higher GNOME versions. It’s better to disable them using either ‘GNOME Extensions‘ or ‘Extension Manager’ app (both available in Ubuntu Software.).

    Remove 3rd Party Extensions

  • Restore open-source drivers. If any proprietary driver in use. It’s better to restore the original open-source drivers using “Additional Drivers” utility.

Check Distribution Update

If you’ve done the preparations, now launch “Software Updater“, then install all the available updates:

Then, restart your computer if it prompted to finish updates.

Finally, press Ctrl + Alt + T on keyboard to open terminal, and run command:

update-manager -c -d

This command will launch “Software Updater” again, while checking Distribution updates. Use update-manager -c instead, if the command above does not work.

For Ubuntu 22.04, first launch “Software & Updates” and navigate to “Updates” tab. Then, set “Notify me of a new Ubuntu version: For any new version“. Finally, run update-manager -c to first upgrade to 23.04, and then to 23.10 with same method.

Start upgrading process

If everything’s done properly, you should see the pop-up says: “The Software on this computer is up to date. However, Ubuntu 23.10 is now available (you have 23.04)“. For Ubuntu 22.04, follow the steps to upgrade to 23.04 first, then do it again to upgrade to 23.10.

Just click on “Upgrade” button will open the ‘Release Note’ dialog. Where, you can click “Upgrade” again to start the process.

After that, the “Distribution Upgrade” dialog opens to prepare the upgrade, and setup software sources for Ubuntu 23.10.

When done, it asks again to confirm upgrade.

Once you click “Start Upgrade”, it starts downloading all them required packages and install them.

When done installing all the updates, you have to do one more click to confirm “Remove obsolete packages”.

If everything’s done successfully, it will prompt to “Restart the system to complete the upgrade”.

After reboot, either open ‘Settings’ and go to ‘About’ page, or run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to verify:

cat /etc/os-release
In Howtos
 

Geany 2.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, 23.10

Last updated: October 20, 2023 — 5 Comments

Geany, the small and fast IDE, released version 2.0 hours ago! Here are the new features as well as how to install guide for Ubuntu users.

Changes in Geany 2.0 according to the official release note:

  • Split “session data” into session.conf, preferences are written to and read from geany.conf.
  • Re-add ability to scroll over document tabs.
  • Use new tree view as default for the document list in the sidebar.
  • Dark-theme friendly colors for compiler messages
  • Confirm dialog on search & replace for the whole session.
  • Filter entry for symbol tree.
  • Simplify project creation from existing directories with sources.
  • Add option to show symbols in symbol tree without category groups.
  • Add option to only show line endings if they differ from file default.
  • Make tab label length and window title length configurable.
  • Make Go to Symbol commands show signature list.
  • Scintilla 5.3.7 and Lexilla 5.2.7
  • Add “Change history” feature (disabled by default)
  • Sync many parsers from the Universal Ctags project
  • Improved support for the ctags file format
  • Update Kotlin, Nim, PHP, Python filetype config
  • Apply Markdown header style to the complete header
  • Add AutoIt, GDScript filetype
  • Remove Ferite filetype
  • Enable local variables and improve autocompletion for C/C++ and some other languages
  • Use “Prof-Gnome” GTK theme and GTK dialogs on Windows.

How to Install Geany 2.0 in Ubuntu:

Geany does not provide official packages for Linux. Besides building from source code, user can choose to use the universal Flatpak package or an unofficial Ubuntu PPA.

Option 1: Flatpak package

The Flatpak package is an universal package format can be installed in most Linux, however it runs in sandbox.

To install Geany as Flatpak package, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run the 2 commands one by one:

  • First, install Flatpak daemon in case you don’t have it: 
    sudo apt install flatpak
  • Then, install Geany Flatpak package: 
    flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.geany.Geany.flatpakref

After installation, search for and launch Geany from either overview screen or start/application menu depends on your desktop environment.

NOTE: For first time installing Flatpak app, needs a log out and back in to make app icon visible.

Option 2: Ubuntu PPA

For those who hate running app in sandbox, I’ve uploaded the package into this unofficial PPA. So far, it supports for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 on x86_64, arm64/armhf CPU architecture types.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/geany

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Linux Mint users may need to manually refresh system package cache after adding PPA, though it’s done automatically in Ubuntu 20.04 and higher.

To do so, run command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, install Geany 2.0 as well as plugins by running command:

sudo apt install geany geany-plugins

After successfully installed the packages, search for and launch the IDE from overview or application menu and enjoy!

Uninstall Geany 2.0

For Geany IDE installed as Flatpak package, just run the command below to remove it:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.geany.Geany

Also, run flatpak uninstall --unused to clear useless run-time libraries.

For the IDE installed from Ubuntu PPA, remove it by running command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo apt remove --autoremove geany geany-plugins-common

Also, remove the PPA either by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/geany

Or, use “Software & Updates” by removing the source line under ‘Other Software’ tab.

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How to Install Plasma Desktop 5.27 in (K)Ubuntu 22.04

Last updated: May 7, 2024 — Leave a comment

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.

Continue Reading…

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How to Install Local .deb file in Ubuntu 24.04

Last updated: September 1, 2024 — 3 Comments

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:

sudo apt install --install-suggests gnome-software

Skip --install-suggests if you don’t want to enable Flatpak support.

After that, you can right-click on local .deb file, and select “Software Install” from Open With dialog to launch GNOME Software to install it.

Uninstall:

If you don’t use Gdebi or Gnome Software anymore, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to uninstall:

Uninstall Gdebi:

sudo apt remove --autoremove gdebi

Or, uninstall Gnome Software via command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove gnome-software
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How to install Zoom in Ubuntu 24.04

Last updated: April 28, 2024 — 3 Comments

This simple tutorial shows how to install Zoom video communication client in Ubuntu 24.04 desktop.

Zoom is a popular app for video/audio conferencing meetings and live chat. It works on Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and ChromeOS.

For Ubuntu users, Zoom can be installed either via native .deb package and universal Flatpak package. Choose either one that you prefer.

Continue Reading…

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PPA Updated with VLC 3.0.22 for Ubuntu 24.04, 22.04

Last updated: November 29, 2025 — 20 Comments

For VLC users who prefer installing the player via the classic .deb package, here’s an Ubuntu PPA contains the most recent (3.0.22 updated) for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 25.04/25.10, 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.


Continue Reading…

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