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How to Install Blender 2.93 LTS via Another PPA in Ubuntu 20.04, 21.04

Last updated: June 8, 2021

The free and open-source 3D modeling software Blender 2.93 was announced as LTS (Long Term Support) release.

Blender 2.93 is the last major milestone of the 2.x series. And the next Blender 3.0 is under development now.

“Blender 2.93 brings 22 new nodes to the Geometry Nodes editor, mesh primitives support, adds the much anticipated Line Art modifier to automatically generate grease pencil lines around objects, a new and faster fill tool, and many Eevee renderer improvements.”

How to Install Blender 2.93 via PPA:

Blender is available officially via Snap package, which can be easily installed from Ubuntu Software.

For those prefer the classic .deb package format, Rob Savoury’s PPA maintains the latest packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

1.) Remove Thomas Schiex’s PPA

If you installed old Blender packages from Thomas Schiex’s PPA, it’s better to remove it first to prevent from going to dependency hell!

Firstly, open terminal from system app launcher.

Secondly, run command to remove the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:thomas-schiex/blender

You can try purge the PPA instead, but it won’t work in my case due to issue.

2.) Remove old Blender package:

Open terminal and run command to remove old Blender packages if any:

sudo apt remove blender blender-data libopenshadinglanguage1.10

It’s important to remove libopenshadinglanguage1.10 package, or the configuration will fail while installing Blender 2.93.

3.) Add Rob Savoury’s PPA

To add the new PPA, simply run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/blender

4.) And add the FFmpeg PPA for dependency libraries:

To do so, run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

5.) For Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 only.

For Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 16.04, you need to add even more PPAs for dependencies. To do so, run commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/gcc-defaults-9
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/display

6.) Finally install package updates & install Blender:

Firstly run command to refresh package cache and install available package updates:

sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade

Finally install Blender 2.93 via command:

sudo apt install blender

If everything’s done successfully. Open Blender from system app launcher and enjoy!

Remove Blender and Ubuntu PPAs:

If you don’t use these PPAs anymore and want to remove Blender, purge them by running following commands one by one:

1. Firstly open terminal and run command to install ppa-purge:

sudo apt install ppa-purge

2. Then purge the Ubuntu PPAs one by one:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/gcc-defaults-9
sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4
sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/display
sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/blender

Note purging Ubuntu PPA will either downgrade or remove packages installed from that PPA. Even other packages, GIMP in my case, will be removed.

You can alternatively remove these Ubuntu PPAs only, without uninstalling software packages, by going to ‘Software & Updates -> Other Software’ and removing relevant lines:

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How to Revert to the Old User Interface in Firefox 89

Last updated: June 7, 2021

Since version 89, the free and open-source Firefox web browser makes use of the new ‘Proton’ UI design.

For those who do not like the new Firefox appearance, the configuration options to re-enable the old style interface is still available in the 89 release.

Revert to old UI Design in Firefox 89:

Firstly, type about:config in the address bar and hit Enter. Click on the ‘Accept the Risk and Continue‘ button when it prompts.

Next type browser.proton in the search box. Then click on the double arrow icons to disable the values of:

  • browser.proton.contextmenus.enabled
  • browser.proton.doorhangers.enabled
  • browser.proton.enabled
  • browser.proton.modals.enabled

The Firefix UI will change immediately after the settings. And you can reset these settings to get back the new ‘Proton’ UI design.

In addition, the previous settings is going to be removed in next release according to this bug. So using a browser theme could be a good choice for long time solution.

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Install NVIDIA Driver & Switch Between Intel and NVIDIA in Ubuntu 22.04

Last updated: May 7, 2022

This simple tutorial shows how to install the NVIDIA proprietary driver in Ubuntu 22.04 and switch between dedicated and integrated GPU.

Since Ubuntu provides the proprietary driver packages via its restricted repositories, user may install NVIDIA driver as easy as a few clicks.

Install NVIDIA Driver

1.) Firstly, click on top-left corner ‘Activities‘, and then search for and open ‘Softwre & Updates’ utility.

When the tool opens, make sure the “Proprietary drives for devices (restricted)” is enabled.

Make sure ‘restricted’ repository enabled

2.) Next, navigate to ‘Additional Drivers‘ tab. There it should list all available graphics drivers.

If it shows nothing, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run command sudo apt update to refresh package cache. Then re-launch the ‘Software & Updates’ utility.

Choose one of the drivers from the list and click on ‘Apply Changes‘ to install it. There will be a little bar indicates the installing process. When done, restart your computer!

Switch between NVIDIA and Intel Graphics:

After restart, your machine will be on performance mode with the dedicated GPU. To switch GPU mode, search for and open ‘NVIDIA X Server Settings‘.

When the app opens, navigate to ‘PRIME Profiles‘. Then you’ll see three options available in the right:

  • NVIDIA (Performance Mode) – use dedicated NVIDIA GPU to render Ubuntu desktop.
  • NVIDIA On-Demand – use integrated graphics to render desktop, but possible to offload specific apps via dedicated GPU.
  • Intel (Power Saving Mode) – use integrated graphics to render Ubuntu desktop.

In my case, the “Intel (Power Saving Mode)” is somehow grayed out. As a workaround, choose Intel graphics card by running sudo prime-select intel in terminal.

Changing GPU mode however needs log out and back in to apply changes.

Run certain apps via NVIDIA GPU while rendering desktop via integrated graphics

By setting GPU mode to “NVIDIA On-Demand”, you may run certain apps via NVIDIA GPU, while others handled by the integrated GPU.

1.) For CUDA apps, you need to run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to install the nvidia-cuda-toolkit package.

sudo apt install nvidia-cuda-toolkit

Then there’ll be application-specific menu to tell it which device to use.

2.) For other apps, just use the following environment variables.

__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1
__GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia

You can do this by launching apps from command line. For example, launch SuperTuxkart (a kart racing game) via command:

__NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia supertuxkart

Or, edit the application’s .desktop file which is usually under “/user/share/applications” directory. And, change the line of ‘Exec’ to:

Exec=env __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia supertuxkart

Add System Menu option to Switch CPU

To make it easy to switch between your GPUs, there’s a Gnome Extension available to add options into system tray menu.

1.) To get the menu option, you need to first install the open-source EnvyControl tool. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and run the command below one by one:

  • Use git command to grab the source: 
    git clone https://github.com/geminis3/envycontrol.git
  • Navigate to the source folder, and install it for global use via pip package manager: 
    cd envycontrol && sudo pip3 install .

If the pip3 command does not exist, run sudo apt install python3-pip command to install it.

As the project page mentioned, users have to run the following 2 commands one by one to prevent Ubuntu’s own gpu-manager from interfering:

sudo prime-select on-demand
sudo systemctl disable gpu-manager.service

2.) Next, run command to make sure you have the agent packages installed for installing Gnome Extensions:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell gnome-shell-extension-prefs

3.) Finally, go to the extension page and turn on the slider icon to install it:

GPU Profile Selector Extension

NOTE 1: The pre-installed Firefox does not support this stuff so far! Use another browser, or install back Firefox as classic deb package.

NOTE 2: If you don’t see the on/off switch in that page, click the ‘click here to install browser extension‘ to install extension for your web browser and refresh the page.

The menu option should appear immediately after successfully installed the extension. If not, press Windows (Super) key on keyboard or click “Activities” on top panel, and then search for and open the “Gnome Extensions” app to manage your extension.

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OBS Studio 27.0 Released with Wayland Support. How to Install via Ubuntu PPA

Last updated: June 3, 2021

OBS Studio, the free and open-source software for video recording and live streaming, released version 27.0.0 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04 via PPA.

OBS Studio 27.0.0 features native Wayland support, includes new PipeWire capture source for Ubuntu 21.04+. Also, it adds undo/redo support either from ‘Edit’ menu or via Ctrl+Z /Ctrl+Shift+Z keyboard shortcuts.

Other changes in the release include:

  • Display Capture on laptops now allows for capturing displays on different GPUs
  • Added a missing files warning when loading scene collections
  • Added service integration and browser dock support to macOS and Linux
  • (Windows only) Added support for NVIDIA Noise Removal in the Noise Suppression filter
  • Added a Track Matte mode to stinger transitions
  • Added support for SRGB texture formats

How to Install OBS Studio 27.0 via PPA:

The official Ubuntu PPA has made the packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Ubuntu 21.04, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.


2. Then either upgrade OBS Studio from an existing version using Software Updater, or run command in terminal to install the software:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install obs-studio

Once installed, launch the software from your system application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To remove the software, either use Synaptic package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove obs-studio

To remove PPA repositories, launch Software & Updates and navigate to ‘Other Software’ tab, then remove the relevant line from the list.

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How to Change Screen Resolution of Grub Boot Menu in Ubuntu

Last updated: May 29, 2021

The font size of startup boot menu is too small or too large? It’s easy to fix by setting an appropriate screen resolution for the Grub boot-menu in Ubuntu.

1.) Tell which video modes your graphics card support.

Before starting to configure the Grub bootloader, you firstly need to know which video modes are supported.

a.) The hwinfo command has an option to display the information. It however show me nothing. You can try it by opening terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install hwinfo && hwinfo --framebuffer

b.) If howinfo does not work, use videoinfo instead which however runs in Grub command console.

Firstly restart your machine. When you’re at Grub boot-menu, press c to get into command console.

Next run command videoinfo to list supported video modes.

Take a picture of the output, or write down your desired resolution, e.g., 1024x768x32 and 1280x1024x32.

Finally run exit to get back boot menu.

2.) Set a custom screen resolution for Grub boot menu:

Now boot into Ubuntu, open terminal from system app launcher, and run command to edit the Grub configuration file:

sudo gedit /etc/default/grub

Next set a screen resolution by changing value of “GRUB_GFXMODE”. For instance, set 1024x768x32 (32 means 32-bit color) via:

GRUB_GFXMODE=1024x768x32,auto

Multiple resolutions can be specified, the default is auto.

Without running command, you can also set it via Grub Customizer under its ‘Appearance settings’ page.

3.) Update grub to apply change:

If changed the solution via Grub Customizer, simply click on “Save” button. Or, open terminal and run command to update grub:

sudo update-grub

That’s all. Enjoy!

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How to Mount VirtualBox Disk Image (VDI) to Access VM File-System in Ubuntu

Last updated: May 28, 2021

This tutorial shows how to mount the VirtualBox virtual disk image in Ubuntu, so you can access the Guest OS file system with read and write permission, if it does not boot.

After misconfigured my VirtualBox Guest OS, it does not longer work. I know how to correct the issue to make it boot again, but firstly accessing to the file system is required!

Since the VBox user manual does not work, here’s what I did in Ubuntu 20.04 host with VirtualBox 6.1.x:

1.) Firstly open terminal from system application launcher. When it opens, run command:

vboximg-mount --list

vboximg-mount is a utility to make VBox disk images available to the host. With --list, it list all Disk Images as well as the UUID.

In the case, I have all Guest OSes on single Disk Image (.vdi). And the uuid is: “3db5fd91-fd56-46af-a2d2-98cd62b05ea3”

2.) Next perform a FUSE mount of the virtual disk image:

  • First create a folder as mount point, vbox_sysdisk for instance: 
    mkdir vbox_sysdisk
  • Then mount it via command (remember to change the UUID to yours): 
    vboximg-mount -i 3db5fd91-fd56-46af-a2d2-98cd62b05ea3 -o allow_root vbox_sysdisk

NOTE: You may need to edit the “/etc/fuse.conf” to make the -o allow_root flag work. To do so, run command sudo gedit /etc/fuse.conf and enable (remove # at its beginning) “user_allow_other” line.

3.) As the previous picture shows, I have 5 disk partitions: vol0, vol1, …, vol4. Now mount either partition (vol4 for instance) to /mnt via command:

sudo mount vbox_sysdis/vol4 /mnt

Finally go to /mnt directory and there you are.

Unmount:

To un-mount the guest os file system, run command:

sudo umount /mnt

To un-mount the VBox disk image, run command:

umount ~/vbox_sysdisk

And you may finally remove that folder either from file manager or by running command in terminal:

rm -r ~/vbox_sysdisk
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How to Install Chromium Browser via PPA in Ubuntu 20.04, 20.10

Last updated: May 24, 2021

Since Ubuntu replaced Chromium in its universe repository with Snap package, users are looking for deb package or apt method to install the browser.

The Linux Mint team has been maintaining the chromium deb package for a while. You can install the package in Ubuntu and keep updated. It’s stable and trustworthy, however the installing process is not as easy as an Ubuntu PPA does.

Another Ubuntu PPA now contains the latest packages (90.0.4430.212 at the moment) for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.10. The PPA also contains most recent versions of other useful apps, e.g., avidemux, filezilla, youtube-dl, and more. And it’s also trusty.

Chromium package in the PPA is backported from Debian Unstable repository. So it’s marked as ‘Developer build’. If you don’t want to add Linux Mint repository, the PPA can be a good alternative.

1.) Add the Ubuntu PPA:

Firstly open terminal from system app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xtradeb/apps

2.) Install Chromium:

Same to Linux Mint, the package name has changed from chromium-browser to chromium. Simply run apt command in terminal to install it:

sudo apt install chromium

Add --install-suggests flag in the command if you want to enable minimal shell and WebDriver support.

Remove the PPA:

To remove the Ubuntu PPA, either open Software & Updates -> Other Software and remove the relevant line:

or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:xtradeb/apps
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How to Create Schedule Tasks in Ubuntu for Daily / Weekly / Monthly Job

Last updated: May 20, 2021

Want to run a command or a script daily, weekly, monthly, or on other given schedule? It’s easy to do this in Ubuntu via cron job.

Cron is a time-based job scheduler to run command or script periodically at fixed times, dates, or intervals. It’s typically used for system maintenance or administration, though it can be useful for general purpose, e.g., downloading file from internet at regular intervals.

1. Edit crontab files:

Users can set up a cron job easily by configuring crontab file by crontab command. It’s pre-installed in Ubuntu based systems. And each user has its own crontab config file.

b.) Schedule task for current user:

To run command or script by current user, simply open terminal from system app launcher and run command:

crontab -e

For the first time, it will prompt to select an editor to edit the config file. Choose one you prefer or press Enter to use the default nano text editor.

b.) If need root or sudo privilege:

For command or script need sudo or root user privilege, you may run following command instead:

sudo crontab -e

It will create (if not exit) or open the configuration file for root user.

c.) Specify a user to run the schedule task:

You can add -u <user_name> flag to specify the user, ji for instance.

sudo crontab -u ji -e

User can be root, so it will do the same to sudo crontab -e:

sudo crontab -u root -e

2. Set time interval, command or script to run periodically:

After running a command in step 1, it opens the configuration file in the terminal window (or command console).

Now scroll down and add a new line:

* * * * * <command or script>

The first 5 asterisks “*” specify the time and date, change them accordingly.

Examples:

a.) For example, to run a python3 script under my Documents folder at midnight (00:00) every Sunday, use:

0 0 * * 0 python3 /home/ji/Documents/script.py

Here:

  • the first 0 specifies the minute, use * for every minute.
  • the second 0 specifies the hour, use * for every hour.
  • the third flag * specifies the day of month, every day if week day not specified.
  • the forth flag * says every month.
  • the fifth flag (third 0) specifies the week day. From 0 to 6 mean Sunday to Saturday.

b.) Run echo "hello world!" command everyday at 16:30, add this line:

30 16 * * * echo "hello world!"

c.) You can use */n to run for every n-th interval of time. And use multiple specific time intervals with commas.

For instance, run the command every Friday at first, second, an third hour every 5th minute (01:00, 01:05, 01:10, …, 02:00, 02:05, 02:10, …, 03:55).

*/5 1,2,3 * * 5 echo "hello world!"

Finally, save the configuration file. If edited via nano, press Ctrl+X on keyboard, type y, and hit Enter to save it.

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How to Install 1Password in Ubuntu via Its Official Repository

Last updated: May 19, 2021

The 1Password password manager now adds officially Linux support. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04 via its apt repository.

1Password is a password manager developed by AgileBits Inc. It provides a place for users to store various passwords, software licenses, and other sensitive information in a virtual vault that is locked with a PBKDF2-guarded master password. By default, this encrypted vault is stored on the company’s servers for a monthly fee.

Download & install DEB package:

1Password for Linux was available for test last year. Now it’s finally goes stable. The .deb binary is available to download at the link below:

Download 1Password for Linux

Just grab the .deb for Ubuntu based systems, and double-click to install it.

Manually add 1password apt repository:

Installing the .deb package should add its apt repository automatically. If not, you can run following commands one by one to add it manually.

1.) Firstly open terminal from system app launcher:

2.) When terminal opens, run command to install curl tool:

sudo apt install curl

3.) Then run curl command to install the key for the apt repository:

curl -sS https://downloads.1password.com/linux/keys/1password.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --output /usr/share/keyrings/1password-archive-keyring.gpg

4.) And add the apt repository via command:

echo 'deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/1password-archive-keyring.gpg] https://downloads.1password.com/linux/debian/amd64 stable main' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/1password.list

5.) Add the debsig-verify policy to verify signatures for the deb package:

sudo mkdir -p /etc/debsig/policies/AC2D62742012EA22/
curl -sS https://downloads.1password.com/linux/debian/debsig/1password.pol | sudo tee /etc/debsig/policies/AC2D62742012EA22/1password.pol

sudo mkdir -p /usr/share/debsig/keyrings/AC2D62742012EA22
curl -sS https://downloads.1password.com/linux/keys/1password.asc | sudo gpg --dearmor --output /usr/share/debsig/keyrings/AC2D62742012EA22/debsig.gpg

6.) Finally refresh package cache and install 1password:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install 1password

Uninstall 1password:

To remove 1password password manager, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove 1password

To remove the apt repository, simply remove the config file via command:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/1password.list
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Get Started Tweaking Ubuntu 20.04 with ‘Ubuntu First Steps’

Last updated: September 20, 2024

After a clean Ubuntu installation, you have to tweak the desktop appearance more or less to meet your needs.

Besides struggling with different system configuration tools, e.g., System Settings, Gnome Tweaks and Dconf Editor, ‘Ubuntu First Steps‘ is a handy tool with mostly used options to tweak your Ubuntu Desktop.

Update 2024: The project has NOT been updated for a few years. I MAY or MAY NOT work anymore!

It’s a free and open-source tool written in Python with ability to tweak the dock launcher:

  • Dock position.
  • Enable minimize on click action.
  • Reduce dock length.
  • Enable dock on multi monitors.
  • Show apps at top, and more.

It also offers options to change desktop icon size, show or hide home and trash icons, change date & time display, show battery percentage, and enable HiDPI Fractional Scaling.

With it, you can easily enable or disable camera, microphone, and sound output, and stop Ubuntu remembering application usage, recent, temporary, and trash files.

There’s also “Repositories” tab with a list of Ubuntu PPAs. It is however not recommended to use the feature as some are either obsolete (e.g., GIMP PPA, Audacity PPA) or useless (e.g., Grub Customizer, it’s available in main repository).

In addition, some useful apps e.g., VLC, GIMP, Blender, and FileZilla, can be installed from “Applications” tab via singe click.

NOTE to apply changes, you have to click the upper-left corner gear button!

How to install ‘Ubuntu First Steps’:

The software developer built the package with only Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS support.

Open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run following commands one by one to add the PPA and install the tool:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
sudo apt install ubuntu-first-steps

Once installed, open it from system app launcher and enjoy!

How to Remove:

To remove the Ubuntu PPA, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software or open terminal and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:atareao/atareao

To remove the configuration tool, use command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove ubuntu-first-steps
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