Don’t like the green number badges on the left (or bottom) dock app icons? Ubuntu (since 23.10) now has hidden option to show/hide it.
Ubuntu since 23.10 has introduced some visible changes, such as enhanced tiling window support, remove ‘minimal installation’ and drop some pre-installed applications.
The Ubuntu Dock has been updated to the latest version 84 with more options to control the emblems visibility.
Don’t know if Ubuntu 22.04 will update its Ubuntu Dock extension with the new features, but Ubuntu users of 23.10 and 24.04 can now follow the steps below to toggle display the green number badges.
Option 1: Use Dconf Editor (Graphical Way)
Firstly, search for and install the “Dconf Editor” tool from Ubuntu Software.
Then, launch “Dconf Editor” and navigate to ‘org/gnome/shell/extensions/dash-to-dock’. Finally, scroll down, find out and turn off the “show-icons-notifications-counter” option.
And, the change applies immediately when you toggle off that option.
Option 2: Use “Extension Manager”
So far in the development release, ‘Ubuntu Dock’ provides a configuration dialog like other extensions.
First, search for and install “Extension Manager” (or Gnome Extensions) from Ubuntu Software.
Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+
Then, launch either “Extension Manager” or “Gnome Extensions” app. Click on ‘Settings’ or gear icon for the Ubuntu Dock extension to open the configuration dialog.
Finally, navigate to ‘Launchers’ tab, scroll down and turn off the “Show the number of unread nofitications” option.
Option 3: Run single command in terminal
For those who are familiar with Linux command, this thing can be done simply by running a single command in terminal.
First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-icons-notifications-counter false
Want to customize the startup, and shutdown animation screen with a single background image? Here’s how to do the trick in Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 23.04.
For request, this is a step by step guide shows how to create a basic plymouth theme with only a background image. And, it should work in all current Ubuntu releases, and even other Linux distributions.
Step 1: Create Plymouth Theme
As you may know, the startup, shutdown and restart animation screens are handled by Plymouth with themes.
Each Plymouth theme has its theme-name folder under /usr/share/plymouth/themes/ directory, which usually contains:
theme-name.plymouth
theme-name.script
Image files (.png).
NOTE: In all commands/config files below, replace ‘mybootscreen’ with your desired name. Lazy men can just copy & paste without changing anything.
1. To create a Plymouth theme, first press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window.
When terminal opens, run command to create a theme folder, named “mybootscreen“:
2. Then, run command to navigate to that folder as working directory:
cd /usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen
3. Now, create & edit the “theme-name.plymouth” file by running command:
sudo gedit mybootscreen.plymouth
replace gedit with gnome-text-editor for Ubuntu 24.04. Or, use nano that works in most Linux.
4. When file opens, paste following lines and save it!
[Plymouth Theme]
Name=mybootscreen
Description=a basic Plymouth theme with only background image
ModuleName=script
[script]
ImageDir=/usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen
ScriptFile=/usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen/mybootscreen.script
For nano text editor, press Ctrl+X, type Y and hit Enter to save file.
5. Next, create and edit the ‘theme-name.script’ file by running command:
sudo gedit mybootscreen.script
Also, replace gedit with gnome-text-editor or nano accordingly.
When file opens, paste the following lines and save it:
// Get Screen Width and Height
screen.w = Window.GetWidth();
screen.h = Window.GetHeight();
// Specify background image, and scale to fit screen width & height.
my_image = Image("myimage.png");
resized_my_image = my_image.Scale(screen.w, screen.h);
// Place the 'resized_my_image' on the screen.
my_sprite = Sprite(resized_my_image);
// Set the priority of 'my_sprite', number -10 in the case.
// If multiple images present, the one with higher 'Z' will
// be drawn on top.
my_sprite.SetZ(-10);
6. Copy or move your desired background image (PNG) to the ‘/usr/share/plymouth/themes/mybootscreen‘ directory.
To do so, you may right-click on the folder that contains your photo image, then select “Open in Terminal” to open that folder as working directory. Finally, run command to copy/move the file:
Here you HAVE to replace “your_image_file.png” accordingly.
Step 2: Change file permissions
This step is optional if you did the previous step in local machine. In case you moved the theme folder to reimplement in another machine, try changing the theme folder permission by running command:
GNU Emacs text editor released new major 30.1 release few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 20.04, and Linux Mint 21/22 through PPA.
Emacs 30.1 is a new major release that features Android port, improved touch-screen support, as well as following new features:
New trusted-content option, defines list of files and directories whose content that Emacs trusts.
New which-key package, implements the global minor mode which-key-mode.
Native JSON support without needing external libjansson library.
Update emacsclient.desktop to be default app for org-protocol.
New tool-bar-position parameter to set tool bar to bottom.
Default to ossaudio for sound on NetBSD and OpenBSD.
New package Compat, EditorConfig, and Window-Tool-Bar.
New library Track-Changes and PEG.
New major mode ‘elixir-ts-mode’, ‘heex-ts-mode’, ‘html-ts-mode’, ‘lua-ts-mode’, and ‘php-ts-mode’.
Support for styled underline face attributes.
Support for underline colors on TTY frames.
Support Unicode Standard v15.1.
Modeline elements can be right-aligned.
How to install Emacs (30.1 Updated) in Ubuntu:
GNU Emacs editor is easy to install in Ubuntu Linux with few different ways. Choose any one that you prefer!
Option 1: Snap package
For Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and higher, simply launch Ubuntu Software (or App Center for 24.04), then search and install GNU Emacs from Snap Store. Though, it’s a Snap package runs in sandbox environment.
The snap package so far provides version 29.4 for amd64, arm64, ppc64el, armhf, and s390x.
For choice, user can run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) instead to install from command line:
snap install emacs --classic
The snap package installs updates automatically. To check updates manually, use command:
snap refresh emacs
Option 2: Ubuntu PPA
For those prefer the classic .deb package format, Debian upstream has built the new release package. And, I backported it into this PPA with support for for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 24.10 and Ubuntu 24.04 on amd64, arm64 and armhf platforms.
NOTE: The PPA package is just no-change backport from Debian upstream without testing! It seems working good in my case, but may or may not work in your case!
First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/emacs
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
Then, either open Software Updater (Update Manager) to upgrade the package if an old version was installed.
Or, run the command below instead to install/update the Emacs package:
sudo apt install emacs emacs-common
Linux Mint user needs to run sudo apt update first to manually refresh package cache. And, there are few GUI for choice:
emacs-gtk – GTK GUI.
emacs-pgtk – GTK + Wayland GUI.
emacs-lucid – Lucid GUI.
emacs-nox – without GUI support.
Option 3: Flatpak package
Emacs is also available to install as Flatpak package, which also runs in sandbox environment and supports amd64 and arm64 platforms.
Linux Mint 21/22 (need to enable unverified Flatpaks) and Fedora Workstation (with 3rd party repository enabled) users can search for and install the package from either Software Manager or GNOME Software.
While Ubuntu users can run the 2 commands below one by one to get the package:
First, run command to enable Flatpak support:
sudo apt install flatpak
Then, run command to install Emacs Flatpak package:
Run Ubuntu on laptop or other machine with touchscreen? You can enable touch feedback with an extension.
It’s ‘Touch X‘, an extension that support GNOME from version 40 to 44. Meaning for Ubuntu 22.04, 23.04, Debian 12, RHEL 9, Fedora, Arch, Manjaro and other Linux with recent GNOME.
In these systems, it supports ripple feedback where the screen is touched. The feedback looks a bit like the locate mouse pointer function as the screenshot below shows you.
I don’t have a touchscreen device running Ubuntu. However, you can install and try the extension out by following steps one by one.
Install Touch X Extension
Firstly, open Ubuntu Software and use it to search and install the “Extension Manager” app.
Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+
Then, click on top-left ‘Activities’ to open overview screen. When it opens, search for and launch “Extension Manager”.
Finally, navigate to ‘Browse’ tab in Extension Manager, search and install “Touch X” extension.
Once installed, switch back to “Install” tab. Then, click on the gear icon for that extension to open configuration page.
There you can change the color and radius of the ripple feedback.
For other Linux with GNOME, go to the extension web page via link below:
MPV media player has reached version 0.39.0. Here’s how to install it for those sticking to the classic .deb package format.
MPV does not provide official packages for Ubuntu Linux. It’s however easy to install the latest version via different sources.
Linux Mint 21/22 can directly search for and install MPV Flatpak package from software manager. And, Ubuntu can install the Snap package from Ubuntu Software. Though, both of them run in sandbox.
For those sticking to the classic .deb package, I’ve upload MPV 0.39.0 into this unofficial PPA. It supports Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10, Ubuntu 20.04 on both x86_64 and arm64/armhf CPU architecture types.
Install MPV 0.39.0 via Ubuntu PPA
NOTE: Ubuntu 22.04 has FFmpeg 4.4.2, but mpv now requires at least v6.1. So, the PPA package for 22.04 now has FFmpeg (7.0) built in bundle. Please leave comment below if there’s any issue due to this change.
1. Add the PPA
Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, paste the command below and hit run:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/mpv
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Update package cache
Since Ubuntu 20.04, it automatically updates the package cache while adding PPA. Though, Linux Mint user needs to do it manually.
To do so, run command in terminal:
sudo apt update
3. Install MPV 0.39.0
Finally, install mpv media player v0.38.0 by running command:
sudo apt install mpv
To verify, run mpv --version command in terminal.
Known Issues
Drag and drop files into mpv app window does not work, due to Wayland. Though, you may right-click on media file to open with mpv.
For hardware video acceleration, first make sure your graphics driver support it, then edit ‘/etc/mpv/mpv.conf‘ file and add hwdec=auto. And, enable classic header bar via gpu-context=x11egl.
Uninstall:
You can choose to purge the PPA repository, which will also downgrade mpv to the stock version in system repository. To do so, open terminal and run command:
The Shotwell photo manager and viewer got a new point release few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.04 and 23.04.
The new Shotwell 0.32.2 added .hif file format support. It’s a HEIF variant usually taken by Sony Mirrorless Cameras.
Other changes are mostly bug-fixes, they include:
Fix using wrong data folder when starting profile through browser
Fix sendto in flatpak environment
Fix meta-data being written in a loop
Fix detecting false mtime changes
Fix broken aspect ratio of thumbnail when using external editors
Fix critical when exporting file with no exposure date
Fix minor leak in Flickr and Google authenticators
Enable C&P of paths in profile editor
Translation updates
How to Install Shotwell 0.32.2 in Ubuntu:
Option 1: Flatpak package (Official)
Shotwell provides official package for Linux through universal Flatpak package. Ubuntu user can install the package by running the 2 commands below one by one.
Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Run command to make sure flatpak daemon is installed:
sudo apt install flatpak
Then, run command to install Shotwell as Flatpak package:
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Next, launch Software Updater (Update Manager), then install the updates for the software package.
Or, run command in terminal to install/upgrade the Shotwell package:
sudo apt install shotwell heif-gdk-pixbuf
NOTE: Linux Mint user may need to run sudo apt update first to refresh package cache.
Finally, either right-click on your photo images to select open with the photo manager, or search for and launch shotwell from ‘Activities’ overview and enjoy!
Uninstall Shotwell 0.32.2
For any issue, it’s recommended to purge the Ubuntu PPA. Which, will remove PPA and downgrade shotwell to the pre-installed version.
To do so, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
Ubuntu 23.04 and Debian 12 excluded rabbitvcs-nautilus package in their repositories, since RabbitVCS 0.18 does not support the GTK4 version of Nautilus file manager.
Now, RabbitVCS 0.19 is released! Which, added back plugin support for the newer versions of Nautilus.
The new release has been submitted into Debian new packages queue. It should also be included in the next Ubuntu 23.10, which will be released in October.
For current Ubuntu 23.04 users who want to use the version control systems from file context menu, or Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 who want to update to RabbitVCS 0.19 with bug fixes and improvements, either build it from source code, or follow the steps below to get it from an unofficial PPA.
Install RabbitVCS 0.19 Nautilus Plugin via Ubuntu PPA
1. Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When terminal opens, run command to add the Ubuntu PPA.
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. The PPA package also include the Nemo plugin. If you’re doing the steps in Linux Mint, you need also run command to manually update the package cache:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install the RabbitVCS 0.19 with Nautilus integration by running command:
In the last command, you may replace rabbitvcs-nautilus with rabbitvcs-nemo for Linux Mint Cinnamon, rabbitvcs-caja for MATE, or rabbitvcs-thunar for XFCE desktop.
4. After installed the package, restart your file manager by running command in terminal:
nautilus -q
Or, caja -q, nemo -q depends on your desktop environment.
When done, re-open your file manager and right-click on file/folder to see the new context menu option.
NOTE: Don’t know why, the Nemo file manager do NOT show the RabbitVCS context menu in the first time you right-clicking a file/folder.
Uninstall:
You can purge the Ubuntu PPA, which also downgrade the RabbitVCS plugin to the stock version in system repository.
Want to configure the OSD (on-screen display) pop-up in Ubuntu and other Linux with GNOME? There’s an extension to do the job in GNOME 42 ~ 44.
When changing volume, screen brightness, device status (e.g., Bluetooth), etc via keyboard shortcuts in GNOME, there will be on-screen pop-ups indicate the status changes.
By default, these pop-ups occur in bottom center of screen and hide automatically in 1 seconds.
Linux Mint announced the new 21.2 point release this Sunday!
The new release introduced Cinnamon Desktop 5.8 with built-in gestures support for touchpad and touchscreen. With the touchegg service running in the background, System Settings now provides a ‘Gestures’ option, allowing to configure actions for 3-finger/4-finger swipe, 2-finger/3-finger/4-finger pinch, and activation thresholds.
Another big change is the “Themes” setting page. It now features “Style” option for changing theme, and each style has light, dark, and mixed, as well as accent colors to choose from.
This simple tutorial shows how to enable RDP remote desktop for extended screen in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 with default GNOME desktop.
Since Ubuntu 22.04, the default GNOME desktop has built-in RDP support. The function has feature to share screen in ‘extend’ mode.
In this mode, Ubuntu won’t mirror the primary display, but create virtual extended screens for remote access.
Each remote connection is limited to its own virtual screen. You can drag and drop any app windows to that screen, allowing remote users to see and/or manipulate, while keeping sensitive data un-accessible in primary screen.
Or, you can use remote client PC/laptop’s monitor wirelessly to setup multiple screens for the Ubuntu machine. Though, operating in the virtual external monitors will be a bit laggy.
