News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
When launching some apps (e.g., GParted, Synaptic, or Grub Customizer), install/uninstall packages with App Center or Software Updater, it always pops-up a dialog asking for admin password to authenticate.
This is great for security! But for lazy men those who don’t want to type user password again and again after logged in (or unlocked screen), it may be OK to disable the authentication window when using their computers at home or other safe places.
Password Authentication Pop-up in Ubuntu
This tutorial shows how to enable floating top panel in Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 40, Arch, Manjaro and other Linux with GNOME 46/47 Desktop.
Unlike traditional system panel which is usually stick to screen edge, floating bar (or panel) looks kinda like a desktop widget. It floats on the desktop, and usually has a small distance from the top or bottom edge.
Some systems, such as Windows 11, Zorin OS, Deepin Linux, include options to enable floating taskbar. The KDE Plasma 6 desktop even use it as default, which also automatically switches to solid panel style, when a window approaches or is maximized.
This tutorial shows how to enable One Time PassWord in Ubuntu 24.04 for either local or remote SSH login.
One Time PassWord, OTPW in short, is a PAM module which is useful for allowing a user to login public or shared computer/server using a single-use password, that works only for one time.
By generating a list OTPW passwords, and configuring your system to allow OTPW logins, it will ask random one of the OTPW passwords on every login. And, that password will never work again once logged in successfully with it.
This is a simple tutorial shows how to disable password authentication, and use SSH key instead for remote login to remote Ubuntu Server or Desktop.
SSH (Secure Shell) is a popular and secure way to login remote servers and/or transfer data between local and remote machines. When you try to SSH to a remote server, it usually asks for user password for authentication.
However, passwords are not the most secure. They are generally either not complex or long enough to protect from attacks, or hard to remember and type again and again on every connection.
To be more secure and also save your time, the secure key authentication is a good choice. And, here’s how to set it up step by step.
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This is a step by step tutorial shows how to manually remap (or disable) keyboard keys in Ubuntu without using any third-party apps.
There are a few free open-source applications that can re-map your mouse, keyboard, and other input devices keys in Linux. As far as know, they include input remmaper and AntiMicroX.
For GNOME, the default desktop for Ubuntu and Fedora Workstation, there’s popular GNOME Tweak tool (available in AppCenter/GNOME Software) with options to remap Ctrl, Alt, and Caps Lock keys.
GNOME Tweaks
This tutorial shows how to disable “Ubuntu Pro” security updates in both apt command output and Software Updater dialog in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
Ubuntu Pro is a comprehensive subscription for Extended Security Maintenance (esm in short), which also enables another 5-year support for Ubuntu LTS releases. And, it’s free for personal and small-scale commercial use on up to 5 machines.
In all current Ubuntu LTS releases, the apt upgrade command and “Software Updater” display the Ubuntu Pro updates, which is quite annoying. Rather than enable Ubuntu Pro, here’s how to get rid of the ads step by step.
Ubuntu Pro updates in Software Updater and terminal
Ubuntu announced the first point release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS few days ago with lots of bug-fixes and performance improvements. It’s time to upgrade to the new LTS, for users who were worrying about the stability issues.
Ubuntu 24.04 is the current Long Term Support (LTS) release with 5 years of standard support until 2029, another 5 years Ubuntu Pro support until 2034, as well as legacy support until 2036. It features Linux Kernel 6.8, GNOME Desktop 46, and various other changes, see the official release note for details.
The new LTS had various upgrade issues, and stability / performance issues, for apps and hardware including Nautilus file manager, the new tiling assistant, NVIDIA on Wayland, Pipewire sound server, hybrid GPU machines, Remmina RDP client, online accounts, cursor themes, and more! They are all fixed in the release of Ubuntu 24.04.1.
Ubuntu 24.04 Desktop
This is a step by step tutorial shows how to enable zram Kernel module and use as Swap device for better system performance in Ubuntu 24.04 PC/laptop with limited RAM.
As you may know, Ubuntu usually includes a swap space. It works like MS Windows’ “virtual memory”, that uses the hard disk for additional memory when there is not enough physical RAM for all tasks request.
Swap on disk however is slow, which will slow down the overall system performance. So, Linux introduced “zram” and “zswap” kernel modules to improve performance for computers with small amount of RAM.
This tutorial shows how to enable zswap kernel module to increase usable RAM in your Ubuntu computer or laptop.
As you know, Ubuntu Linux usually includes a swap space (either disk partition or swap file) on the disk. It can be used for hibernation, and as extended memory space. When the system needs more memory resources and the RAM is going full, then the inactive pages in memory are moved to the swap space.
Swap space can be helpful for computers with limited RAM. But, it’s slow! Too much swap in use will slow down the overall system performance.
As workarounds, Linux includes 2 kernel modules: zram and zswap. Instead of moving inactive pages from memory to disk (swap space), they do similar things by compressing the data into dynamically allocated RAM space.
As the data is compressed, it takes less physical memory space which makes your RAM even more usable. While, keeping the system running smoothly because reading from compressed data in RAM is usually faster than reading from swap on disk.
