There are quite a few weather applications for Linux desktop. GNOME, the default desktop environment for Ubuntu, Fedora, and some other Linux, also has a core weather application.
With the core weather app, user can either open the app window to get current weather condition, hourly and daily forecast, or open the clock menu to see the weather forecast for next hours.
Gnome Weather and Clock menu integration
To make life easier, there’s also an extension which add current weather condition and temperature in center of top panel. So, user can get a glimpse of it and date time by looking up.
Step 1: Install & Setup Gnome Weather
First, you need to install “Gnome Weather”, the core GNOME app. It’s available to install in Ubuntu through either App Center (for 24.04) or Ubuntu Software (for 22.04 and earlier).
NOTE: App Center in Ubuntu 24.04 by default shows Snap package! For better integration, it’s better use “Filter by: Debian package” for classic Deb package.
For choice, user can open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the command below instead to install it:
sudo apt install gnome-weather
Then, launch the app. Set your location, and choose your favorite temperature unit. After that, you can click the clock on top-bar and see the weather info in drop-down menu.
Step 2: Install the Weather O’Clock extension
To also display the weather on top-bar besides clock, then you may install the Weather O’Clock extension mentioned above. It works on GNOME from version 42 to 46, meaning Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04 supported.
For Ubuntu and Arch, first search for and install ‘Extension Manager’ from Ubuntu Software (or App Center).
Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu Software/App Center
Then, search for and launch the tool from ‘Activities’ overview screen.
Finally, search for and install the Weather O’Clock extension under Browse tab. For Ubuntu 22.04, you may switch filter in case it does not show your the correct search result.
And other Linux can get the extension at this web page.
Have multiple monitors connected into your Ubuntu machine? Here’s the quick tip shows you how to configure which one to display the login screen.
It’s quite easy to set primary display in Ubuntu with default GNOME desktop. However, the login screen is always sticking to the built-in display in my laptop. In case you use the external monitor for the most time, you may also set it as primary display for the GDM login screen by following this tutorial.
NOTE: This tutorial is tested only in Ubuntu with default GNOME desktop! Though, it may also work in other Linux with GNOME (e.g., Fedora, Debian and Arch) or Linux with GDM display manager.
Step 1: Set Primary Display in Gnome Control Center
First of all, open Settings (aka Gnome Control Center) from the top-right corner system tray menu.
Then, navigate to Displays in the left, and choose the monitor in the right you want to use it as primary.
This step is required to generate a XML config file under user’s ‘.config‘ folder. Though, you may switch to another display as primary at anytime as you want.
Step 2: Apply Primary Display for GDM Login Screen
As mentioned above, the previous step generates a XML config file automatically. By copying the file into GDM’s config folder will make it also work for the login screen.
To do so, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run command:
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter. For other Linux, you may have to replace gdm3 in command with gdm.
Now, save your work and log out to see the magic!
(Optional) Disable the built-in display on startup
Another annoying thing when using multiple monitor in Ubuntu Linux is that the Grub boot menu screen is always displaying in built-in monitor. I can’t figure out how to make it work in external screen as it seems to be responsible to BIOS.
However, you can disable the built-in display on startup and use the external screen only by adding a Kernel parameter.
NOTE: After this step, Grub boot-menu still shows in built-in display, though it goes always blank after that, even after disconnected the external monitor.
1. First, boot up and log into your Ubuntu desktop. Open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut on keyboard.
2. Disconnect the external monitor, and run command to get the device ID of built-in display:
for p in /sys/class/drm/*/status; do con=${p%/status}; \
echo -n "${con#*/card?-}: "; cat $p; done
Some said the last command does not work. If so, you may run command below instead. Usually, the first one is the ID of built-in display.
cat ~/.config/monitors.xml |grep connector
Or, just log out and choose login via ‘Ubuntu on Xorg’ via bottom right gear button. And, run xrandr -q to see the display device name.
3. Re-connect your external monitor, and run command to edit the configuration file for Grub:
sudo gedit /etc/default/grub
Replace gedit with gnome-text-editor for Ubuntu 24.04 or use nano that works in most Linux. When file opens, add video=eDP-1:d as value of ‘GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT’. So the line will look like:
HPLIP, the open-source HP printer and scanner driver for Linux, released version 3.22.10 today with new Linux distributions support.
The installer script for the new release is now working on Manjaro 21.3, Suse 15.4, RHEL 9, Linux Mint 21.0, Mx Linux 21.2.
The release does not include any new HP printer and scanner support. Meaning you can just skip this release if the last HPLIP 3.22.6 was installed on your system. And for Ubuntu 22.10, the 3.22.6 release is available to install in system repository.
Download & Install HPLIP 3.22.10
The installer script for the new release is available to download at the link below:
Just grab the ‘hplip-3.22.10.run’ installer. Then, you may start installing it via the steps below:
Right-click blank area in the folder that you saved the ‘.run’ installer (usually ‘Downloads’ folder). Then, select ‘Open in Terminal‘.
When terminal opens, run command to add executable permission for the HPLIP package:
chmod u+x hplip-3.22.10.run
Finally, run it to start installing the driver:
./hplip-3.22.10.run
During installing process, it automatically detects your system, asks you to type user password, select install mode.
When done installing driver, it will ask to plug or re-plug your printer/scanner and start a graphical wizard for easily setting up your device. And, you can print a test page in last step to see if your device works.
As well, HPLIP has an indicator in system tray allowing to easily manage events and configure device settings.
The free open-source kart racing game, SuperTuxKart, released the new stable 1.4 version. Here’s the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu Linux.
SuperTuxKart 1.4 fixed a dependency bug for MacOS user, meaning it’s now running again for macOS ranging from 10.9 to 10.14 (Mavericks to Mojave).
The release also introduced experimental support for Vulkan renderer, for low CPU usage and better multi-platform support. User may try it out by either typing “/vulkan” in networking lobby and restart the game, or starting the game with --render-driver=vulkan argument.
A new character Godette, the mascot of the Godot Engine, is introduced in the release. And, the Konqi now has a newer and maturer look.
New Godette character
Other changes include:
Lap trial mode
ARMv7 build for Windows
LOD optimization
Implement HiDPI support in SDL2 properly.
Make sky particle always fall vertically.
Updated Battle Island and Cave X.
New textures in Shifting Sands.
Add track searching to network track screen
Allow using real addon karts
Add left side ghost replay difficulties
How to Install SuperTuxKart 1.4 in Ubuntu
The game is available in Ubuntu Linux via Snap, Deb, and Flatpak package, though they all are not updated at the moment of writing.
Portable Tarball
In case you can’t wait to try it out, download the portable tarball from releases page.
Select download the ‘SuperTuxKart-1.4-linux-x86_64.tar.xz’ for modern 64-bit PC/laptop, and arm64 (or armv7) package for mobile device. Then, just extract and run the executable file to start the game.
Snap package
Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 22.10 user can directly search for and install the game from Ubuntu Software app. Though it’s a Snap package runs in sandbox and still in v1.3 at the moment of writing, it updates automatically once the maintainer publish the new package.
SuperTuxKart in Ubuntu Software
Ubuntu PPA
For those prefer the native .deb package format. The game has an official PPA with all current Ubuntu releases support.
1. First, open terminal either from start menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stk/dev
Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then update and install the game:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install supertuxkart
After that, you can always get the latest game packages by receiving updates via Software Updater (Update Manager).
Uninstall SuperTuxKart
For snap package, simply remove it using Ubuntu Software.
For the PPA package, open terminal and run command:
For Ubuntu 24.04 and other Linux with GNOME 43 ~ 46, it’s now easy to add Media Control, Notifications, or Volume Mixer to the top-right corner system status menu (aka Quick Settings), or remove useless buttons.
It’s ‘Quick Settings Tweaker‘, an extension for the new GNOME desktop. With it, your system menu can be configured to look like:
NVIDIA 520, the latest feature release of NVIDIA driver for Linux, is available to install in all current Ubuntu LTS releases.
So far, it’s NVIDIA 520.56.06 released few weeks ago with following new features:
Implement over-the-air (OTA )updates in the Proton and Wine NVIDIA NGX build, though needs to set “PROTON_ENABLE_NGX_UPDATER” to 1 to enable it.
Following extensions no longer depend on nvidia-uvm.ko at runtime:
VK_KHR_acceleration_structure
VK_KHR_deferred_host_operations
VK_KHR_ray_query
VK_KHR_ray_tracing_pipeline
VK_NV_cuda_kernel_launch
VK_NV_ray_tracing
VK_NV_ray_tracing_motion_blur
VK_NVX_binary_import
VK_NVX_image_view_handle
Fixed blank screens and hangs when starting an X server on RTX 30 series GPUs boot with HDMI.
Fixed a bug where Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered would sometimes crash with Xid 13 errors on Turing and later
How to Install NVIDIA 520 in Ubuntu
NOTE: Though it’s tested and works good in my case, it might still breaks your system (usually boot into blank screen) due to various reasons (e.g., upstream bug or corrupt installation)! So don’t do it in production machine!
The driver package is available now for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 22.04. For Ubuntu 22.10 user, it’s so far in pre-released repository, though should be published soon in next few days.
1. First, it’s HIGHLY recommended to update system by launching ‘Software Updater‘ and install all available updates! And, restart your system if it asks.
2. Second, search for and open ‘Additional Drivers‘ from Activities overview screen.
3. When it opens, choose “nvidia-driver-520” from the list, and click ‘Apply Changes’ button to install the driver.
In case you don’t see the 520 driver in the list, navigate to the first ‘Ubuntu Software’ tab, and make sure the 4 repositories (main, universe, restricted, multiverse) are enabled. Finally, close and Reload, and re-open the utility.
After installation, the ‘Additional Drivers‘ utility should prompt to restart your computer to apply change.
Verify
After restarting computer, open ‘Settings‘ and navigate to ‘About‘ page to verify if your NVIDIA graphics card is in use.
And, search for and open ‘NVIDIA Settings‘ utility to for driver version, GPU switching, and other settings.
Due to bug, you can’t switch to Intel (Power Saving Mode) with the tool, you can however install an extension to do the job via system status menu option.
Install ‘Prime indicator’ for switching GPU
For Ubuntu 22.04, search for and install ‘Extension Manager‘ from Ubuntu Software app. Then, use the tool to search and install ‘Prime Inidcator’.
For Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 18.04, first open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install the agent package:
sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell
Then visit the extension web page and use the ON/OFF switch to install it:
In case you don’t see the ON/OFF switch, follow the link in that page to install browser extension and refresh.
After installing the extension, go to top-right system status menu to switch between Intel, NVIDIA, and hybrid mode.
IMPORTANT: The Extension will automatically log out once your select another GPU mode and confirm with password!!! Save your works before doing change.
The popular Python programming language released version 3.11 today. Here’s the new features and how to install guide for all current Ubuntu releases.
Python 3.11 claimed to be 10-60% faster than the previous 3.10, and features:
Exception Groups and except* to raise and handle multiple unrelated exceptions simultaneously.
Add add_note() method to BaseException to enrich exceptions.
Add the tomllib module to the standard library for parsing TOML
Point to exact expression that caused error when printing tracebacks.
New -P command line option and PYTHONSAFEPATH environment variable
Add TypeVarTuple, enabling parameterisation with an arbitrary number of types
Required[] and NotRequired[] to mark whether individual TypedDict items must be present.
Add Self to annotate methods that return an instance of their class
LiteralString to accept arbitrary literal string types, such as Literal["foo"] or Literal["bar"].
dataclass_transform to decorate a class, metaclass, or a function that is itself a decorator.
Removed Py_UNICODE encoder APIs
Macros converted to static inline functions
Many legacy standard library modules deprecated and to be removed in Python 3.13
How to Install Python 3.11 in Ubuntu
For Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and their derivatives, such as Linux Mint, there’s a popular Deadsnakes PPA maintains the packages for Python 3.11 as well as other Python versions.
NOTE: The PPA does not support Ubuntu 22.10. You may follow the bottom link to build it from source tarball.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue
2. Then refresh package cache via command below, though it’s done automatically in Ubuntu 20.04+:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install python 3.11 via command:
sudo apt install python3.11
Or replace python3.11 with python3.11-full for IDE, pip package manager, etc.
Verify:
To verify, run python3.11 --version, python3.11 -m pip --version in terminal.
Set Python 3.11 as default
NOTE: change default Python3 in Ubuntu may cause issues for some default apps, such as GNOME Terminal
You may set the new Python package as default by using update-alternatives command line tool.
1. First, run command to create symbolic links for system default python (change python3.10 depends your Ubuntu edition)
The popular KeePassXC password manager got its 3rd update for the 2.7 release series with new features and various bug-fixes.
The new release now has a graphical way to export XML via menu ‘Database -> Export -> XML file‘, via the same logic as the corresponding CLI export option.
When searching in KeePassXC 2.7.3, a little save icon will appear in the right end of the search-box, allowing to save searches and access easily from the bottom-left panel.
The release also enhanced tabs support, improved the entry preview panel, and added CLI changes including:
db-edit command to change/remove key file or password.
Add option to display all attributes with show command
Ctrl+Tab shortcut to cycle databases in unlock dialog
Allow built without X11.
Config variable to specify default database name.
Fix dark mode detection in Linux.
How to Install KeePassXC 2.7.3 in Ubuntu Linux
Ubuntu user can directly search for and install the latest version of KeePassXC from Ubuntu Software app, though it’s Snap package run in sandbox.
KeePassXC Snap package in Ubuntu Software
For those prefer the native .deb package format, it has an official PPA contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 22.10.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phoerious/keepassxc
Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.
2. If you have an old version of KeePassXC installed as .deb package, simply launch “Software Updater” or Update Manager to update it to the latest.
Or, run the apt command below in terminal to install the password manager:
sudo apt install keepassxc
NOTE: Linux Mint has to run sudo apt update first to update cache.
After installation, search for and open the tool either from ‘Activities’ overview or system start menu depends on your desktop environment.
Uninstall KeePassXC
To uninstall the password manager installed as native .deb package, either use Ubuntu Software app or open terminal and run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove keepassxc
And remove the PPA repository either via ‘Software & Updates‘ tool under ‘Other Software‘ tab, or command below in terminal:
Ubuntu shows your computer manufacturer logo in the startup animation screen since 20.04 LTS. User can however disable it and/or replace it with system logo. And, this simple tutorial will show you how.
Most Linux’s boot animation screen is handled by Plymouth with specific theme. By editing the theme configuration file can do the trick to disable the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) logo, and changing the background image to use system logo instead.
Boot animation screen after this tutorial
Step 1: Disable manufacturer logo
Ubuntu uses “/usr/share/plymouth/themes/bgrt/bgrt.plymouth” as default Plymouth theme, it has an option in configuration file to disable the vendor logo.
Method 1: Switch to spinner theme
The default bgrt theme is just a wrapper to the spinner theme with different font, and OEM logo settings.
You can simply to switch to the spinner theme, so it will no longer display manufacturer logo while most other things look same.
For more other Linux, such as Fedora Workstation, this can be done by running a single command in terminal:
sudo plymouth-set-default-theme spinner
But for Ubuntu, you have to do following steps one by one:
1. Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to install spinner theme as an alternative:
In terminal screen, type the number for the spinner theme and hit Enter.
Method 2: Edit the config file for bgrt theme
Without switching theme, you may also edit the configuration file for the default ‘bgrt’ theme, and disable the OEM logo.
Tip: For XUbuntu, KUbuntu, and other Debian/Ubuntu based system, use this command sudo update-alternatives --display default.plymouth to find out the default theme.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to edit the file:
For Ubuntu 24.04 and higher, replace gedit in command with gnome-text-editor, or use nano text editor for other desktop environment.
2. When the file opens, find out and set value of ‘UseFirmwareBackground’ to false under boot-up, reboot, and shutdown sections.
After saving the change (for nano, press Ctrl+X, type y and hit Enter), the boot animation screen will look like:
Step 2: Set Ubuntu System Logo (optional)
As you see in the screenshot above, there will be a large area of blank screen in top-half, after disabling OEM logo.
For choice, you can place Ubuntu logo in screen center, so your boot/shutdown animation screen will look like the top image shows you. To do the job, you just need to put a ‘background-tile.png‘ image file in the spinner theme folder.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to install imagemagick:
sudo apt install imagemagick
2. The theme folder includes a “bgrt-fallback.png” file, which is Ubuntu logo with transparent background.
Run the commands below, will use imagemagick tool to generate the “background-tile.png” file with 1920×1080 size. And, put the Ubuntu logo in center with transparent background.
cd /usr/share/plymouth/themes/spinner
sudo convert bgrt-fallback.png -gravity center -background none -extent 1920x1080 background-tile.png
In command, replace 1920×1080 with your screen resolution! You can find it in “Displays” setting page.
If this command is done correctly, your boot animation should display Ubuntu logo in screen center. Though, you can of course put any image into ‘/usr/share/plymouth/themes/spinner‘ directory, name to ‘background-tile.png’ to display as background.
Step 3: Verify
Without restart your computer, you can preview boot animation screen by running single command in terminal:
Ubuntu 22.10 Kinetic Kudu is out! Time to install the new system and do same configurations before ready for use. And, here are a list of things I can tell for you.
1. Update cache & install Media Codec
On a new Ubuntu system, user may need to refresh package index before being able to install software packages. And, this can be done easily by:
Launch ‘Software Updater’, and wait for automatically ‘checking for updates’ done.
Or, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and run command:
sudo apt update
type user password when it asks while no asterisk feedback.
Ubuntu does not include multimedia codec to play video and/or music with default applications out-of-the-box. It’s however quite easy to install them
Either open ‘Ubuntu Software’, search for and install ‘Ubuntu restricted extra’
Or, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras
While installing the MS fonts, it will prompt to accept licence, just press Tab to highlight OK and hit Enter.
For KUbuntu user, replace ubuntu-restricted-extras with kubuntu-restricted-extras in command.
2. Enable Flatpak & AppImage support
Ubuntu officially supports Snap and Deb package formats. But, we can avoid the popular Flatpak and AppImage software packages today in Linux.
AppImage requires libfuse2 which is NOT pre-installed since Ubuntu 22.04, due to switch to fuse3. The package is however still available in system repository.
Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to enable AppImage support:
sudo apt install libfuse2
Ubuntu also does not support Flatpak out-of-the-box, but it can be enabled by running a single command:
Enable Flatpak in Ubuntu:
sudo apt install flatpak
After that, you may go to flathub.org to find out and install your favorite apps as Flatpak.
3. Hide USB/Mounted Disk from left Panel, Enalbe Minimize on click
The left (or bottom) panel shows the connected USB stick, mounted disk volume out-of-the-box. User can however hide them using the new ‘Ubuntu Dock’ settings.
First, go to top-right corner system tray menu, and click on ‘gear’ button to open settings.
When ‘Settings’ opens, navigate to the new ‘Ubuntu Dock‘ tab. Then, click on “Configure dock behavior” in button right
Finally, you may use the ON/OFF switch to show/hide the mounted drivers as well as trash can icon.
To enable the behavior that click the app icon on left (or bottom) dock panel to focus or minimize app window, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock click-action 'minimize'
Ubuntu 22.10 introduced a new feature that when clicking app icon on dock, it goes to overview screen for easy switching this app if multiple windows opened. So, use the command below instead can be a better choice:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock click-action 'focus-minimize-or-appspread'
After that, clicking app icon on dock panel will either open/focus window, minimize or goes overview for switching window.
4. Enable ‘New Documents’ context menu
GNOME is now working to make it easy to create new documents in ‘Files’ (aka Nautilus file manager). Until then, user need to manually create an empty document in ‘Templates’ folder to enable this context menu option.
First, click top-left ‘Activities’ to open overview screen. Then search for and open ‘Text Editor’.
In text editor window, go to ‘≡’ menu and select ‘save as’ option (You don’t have to insert anything, just save as empty document).
Finally, save the empty file as ‘Empty Document‘ into your ‘Templates‘ folder.
After that, right-click on blank area either in desktop or file manager window to see the ‘New Document’ option.
5. Install useful configuration tool
There are some useful configuration tools that you may need. Either install them via “Ubuntu Software” app or run the apt commands below in terminal.
Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install Gnome Tweaks:
sudo apt install gnome-tweaks
GNOME Tweaks
Run command to install ‘Extension Manager’ for install & managing extensions:
sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager
Extension Manager
Install some cool Gnome Shell Extensions, (e.g. ‘Just Perfect’, ‘Blur my shell’), via extension manager app under ‘Browse’ tab.
Just Perfection with even more configuration options
6. Set light/dark photo images as wallpaper that switch automatically
GNOME 40 introduced adaptive wallpaper that changes automatically depends on system color scheme. It’s not available in Ubuntu 22.04 due to custom ‘Settings’ dialog. For Ubuntu 22.10, you can set your photo images with light and dark versions to wallpaper via following steps.
First, open ‘Files‘ (nautilus file manager), then press Ctrl+H to show hidden files/folders.
Then, navigate to .local/share and create a new sub-folder called ‘gnome-background-properties‘
Finally, create a .xml file under that folder with whatever name, and insert following content (change path-to-file accordingly).
<?xml version="1.0"?><!DOCTYPE wallpapers SYSTEM "gnome-wp-list.dtd"><wallpapers><wallpaperdeleted="false"><name>TYPE_NAME_HERE</name><filename>/PATH/TO/PICTURE_LIGHT</filename><filename-dark>/PATH/TO/PICTURE_DARK</filename-dark><options>zoom</options><shade_type>solid</shade_type><pcolor>#3465a4</pcolor><scolor>#000000</scolor></wallpaper></wallpapers>
After that, open ‘Settings’ and navigate to ‘Appearance’ for the new adaptive wallpaper:
7. Get ‘Login Manager Settings’ to configure login screen
GDM Settings is a login screen managing tool for GNOME display manager. The application now is stable for daily use though it’s young project.
First, go to project page below and select download the AppImage
To prevent Ubuntu from automatically updating Firefox to Snap again, you also need to set a higher PPA priority. See this tutorial for details.
9. Switch back to Xorg session
If you have some old applications that are still NOT running properly in the default Wayland session. Simply log out, click username and use the bottom right ‘gear’ button menu to switch back Xorg session, and finally login.
