News | UbuntuHandbook

Archives For News

Free open-source software updates and Linux news

LUbuntu 22.04 users can now upgrade to LXQt 1.4.0 through PPA

Last updated: November 16, 2023 — Leave a comment

For LUbuntu 22.04 users, the latest LXQt desktop 1.4.0 is available to upgrade now through the official PPA.

LXQt, the lightweight Qt desktop environment, announced the release of 1.4.0 more than a week ago. Changes in the new desktop release include:

lxqt-menu-data is released to replace lxmenu-data anywhere needed.
In file manager, user can add the command for the default terminal
Restore last window also restores state of split view
Remember password and anonymity settings of the mount dialog
QTerminal supports audible bell as an option
Image viewer has a minimal support for color spaces now.

How to Upgrade to LXQt 1.4.0 in LUbuntu 22.04

LUbuntu Team has made the new release package into this official Ubuntu PPA for current 22.04 LTS.

1. Add PPA

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lubuntu-dev/backports

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

2. Update LXQt Desktop:

While adding the PPA, it should automatically refresh system package cache. So, your can then run the command below to update LXQt to v1.4.0:

sudo apt full-upgrade

NOTE: apt full-upgrade is required rather than apt upgrade, or some core libraries will be kept back.

For non-LUbuntu but Ubuntu 22.04 based systems, user can use the command below to install LXQt 1.4.0:

sudo apt install lubuntu-desktop

In case you want to restore your system later, it’s better to written down what packages it’s going to install via terminal output.

When done, restart your computer and launch “About LXQt” dialog to verify.

Uninstall LXQt 1.4.0 in LUbuntu 22.04

To restore your LUbuntu desktop, run the command below in terminal to install ppa-purge and use the tool to purge the PPA repository:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:lubuntu-dev/backports

It will downgrade all the installed packages from the PPA to the stock versions in system repository. When done, restart your system.

In Howtos, News LUbuntu

OBS Studio 30.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu via PPA

Last updated: November 13, 2023 — Leave a comment

OBS Studio, the popular live streaming software, announced new 30.0 release yesterday. Here are the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04/23.10, and Linux Mint 21.

OBS-Studio 30.0 is a big release with many new features. They include WHIP/WebRTC output, support for Intel QSV H264, HEVC, AV1 on Linux, “Safe Mode” that runs without scripting, and websockets, 10-bit capture and HDR playback support for Decklink devices.

Other changes include:

Redesigned the status bar
Full-Height docks option in the “Docks” menu
Add shader cache to improve startup time on Windows
Add application audio capture on macOS
Rework the virtual camera on macOS
Add YouTube Live Control Room Panel when streaming to YouTube
Option to hide OBS windows from macOS Screen Capture’s “Display Capture”
Arrange filters via drag & drop
Ability to set FFmpeg Options for VAAPI

And, there are tons of other changes and bug-fixes, see the release page for details.

How to Install OBS Studio 30.0 in Ubuntu

The release page (see the link above) provides Windows .exe, Mac OS .dmg, and Ubuntu .deb packages for downloading under ‘Assets’ section.

For Ubuntu and Linux Mint, there’s also an official PPA available to make it easy to keep the software up-to-date.

The PPA supports the new release for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and their based systems. While, Ubuntu 20.04 does not longer supported due to FFmpeg version mis-match.

1. Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. 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 asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then, either use Software Updater to update the software package (if an old version was installed).

Or, use apt command to install/upgrade the software package:

sudo apt install obs-studio

NOTE: Linux Mint may need to run sudo apt update first to update package cache.

Once installed, search for and launch OBS Studio from ‘Activities’ overview or start menu depends on your desktop environment and enjoy!

NOTE: OBS Studio in Ubuntu 22.04 and higher with Wayland, looks kinda borderless, due to Qt theming issue. If you prefer the classic header-bar and window border, see this tutorial to enable xcb plugin

Uninstall OBS Studio

To downgrade the software to the stock version that your system repository provides, run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:obsproject/obs-studio

Or, either open Software & Updates and remove the PPA source line under ‘Other Software’ tab:

or run command in terminal to remove the PPA repository:

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

Also, remove the OBS Studio if you want by running command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove obs-studio

In Howtos, News OBS Studio

Hugin 2023.0.0 Released! PPA Updated for Ubuntu 23.10, 22.04 & 20.04

Last updated: November 12, 2023 — 3 Comments

Hugin, the free open-source panorama photo stitching and HDR merging software, finally released the new stable 2023 release!

Changes in the new release include:

PTBatcherGUI can now also queue user defined assistant and user defined output sequences.
PTBatcherGUI: Added option to generate panorama sequences from an existing pto template.
Assistant: Added option to select different output options like projection, FOV or canvas size depending on different variables (e.g. image count, field of view, lens type).
Allow building with epoxy instead of GLEW for OpenGL pointer management.
Several improvements to crop tool (outside crop, aspect ratio, …).

How to install Hugin 2023.0.0 in Ubuntu:

For the source tarball as well as Windows msi packages, go the sourceforge download page.

For all current Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and their based systems, I’ve made the unofficial package into this PPA repository, not only for x86_64 but also 32-bit/64-bit ARM support!

I also sync the packages into the apps PPA, use either one as you prefer.

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:ubuntuhandbook1/hugin

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

2. Update system package cache for Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint, though it’s done automatically while adding PPA in Ubuntu 20.04+:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, either run the command below in terminal to install the panorama photo stitcher:

sudo apt install hugin

Or, upgrade the software (if an old version was installed) via Software Updater (Update Manager) app:

Uninstall hugin:

To remove the software package, simply run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove hugin hugin-data

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

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

Or remove the source line from ‘Software & Updates‘ utility under Other Software tab.

In Howtos, News Hugin

Tilix Terminal Emulator 1.9.6 is out, how to Install via PPA

Last updated: November 14, 2023 — 4 Comments

Tilix terminal emulator released version 1.9.6 few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.

Tilix is a tiling terminal emulator, which uses the VTE GTK+ 3 widget for various features, such as split horizontally or vertically, transparent background, background images, quake mode support, custom hyperlinks, experimental trigger and badge support.

The development of Tilix is moving slowly now due to lack of maintainers. The new 1.9.6 is released more than 20 months after the last stable. And, it only includes minor new features and bug-fixes:

Add close button to search box.
Replace variables in custom link commands
Follow system color-scheme for default theme-variant
Add compatibility with Nautilus 43
Avoid shell injection in open-tilix plugin
Fix GLib critical warnings on startup
Update to GtkD 3.10.0

Tilix search box has close button.

How to Install Tilix 1.9.6 in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10

The new release provides prebuild package for Linux, which is available to download at the link below:

Download Tilix

It’s ‘tilix-1.9.6_x86_64-linux-gnu.tar.gz‘ for 64-bit modern PC and laptop. Just download the package, extract, and run the executable to launch the terminal emulator.

Ubuntu PPA

The official tarball does NOT include run-time libraries. You have to manually figure out “error while loading shared libraries …” errors.

To make the life easy, I’ve upload the new packages into this unofficial PPA, build against the rules from Debian Unstable. So far, it supports Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, Ubuntu 23.10, on both x86_64 and AArch64(arm64).

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:ubuntuhandbook1/tilix

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

2. Linux Mint 21 users need to refresh system package cache manually, by either running the command below or using “Refresh” button in Update Manager:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, either run command to install the terminal emulator:

sudo apt install tilix

Or, update it through Software Updater (Update Manager) utility.

NOTE: Upgrading from v1.9.5 may cause following error pop-up at launch, ~~but I don’t know how to correct the issue.~~

Thanks to @oswald_c, you may fix the issue by enabling ‘Run command as a login shell’ to enable it‘ option under default profile of “Preferences” dialog. See the screenshot below:

Uninstall Tilix

To downgrade Tilix to stock version in your system repository, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to purge the PPA:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/tilix

To uninstall Tilix, use this command instead:

sudo apt remove --autoremove tilix tilix-common

And, remove the Ubuntu PPA, either by running command in terminal:

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

or use “Software & Updates” to remove the source line under “Other Software” tab.

In Howtos, News terminal emulator

How to Install The Old GIMP 2.10.38 in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04

Last updated: April 13, 2025 — 13 Comments

GIMP image editor now is at version 3.0.x, and I’ve made a PPA for those who prefer the native .deb package format.

If somehow you need to install the old GIMP 2.10.38 in Ubuntu, then this tutorial may help!

First of all, GIMP 2.10.38 includes Windows Ink drivers support for better tablets support on Windows. It also backports some small features from GTK3 to GTK2, with some improvements for Windows users. They include:

Use native Windows API for converting keystrokes to characters,
Fix keyboard input when using IMEs,
Fix mouse events in presence of transparent windows on the desktop,
Win32 IME Fixes, and more.

Besides the improvements for Windows users, the release also includes various bug-fixes, including that GIMP crashes every time on exit in my case in Ubuntu 24.04. See release note for more about GIMP 2.10.38.

(Old content for GIMP 2.10.36) The new release also has some new features. They include Adobe Swatch Exchange (ASE) and Adobe Color Book (ACB) palettes support.

Gradient Tool now has an “FG to Transparent (Hardedge)” option, to generate a gradient from the foreground color to transparency, with hard-edge transitions between the 2 colors. Which, as well includes a “Repeat” option to alternate repetitive colored shapes.

Other changes in GIMP 2.10.36 include:

Load GIF images with PixelAspectRatio header metadata correctly.
Improve formatting behavior when selecting and changing text on canvas.
Add “Table of Contents” option under Help > User Manual submenu.
Workaround broken graphic tablet with recent linuxwacom driver on Linux.

How to Install GIMP 2.10.38 in Ubuntu

GIMP provides official Linux package through Flatpak. For choices, they are Snap package and Ubuntu PPAs (.deb) maintained by contributors.

Option 1: Flatpak (official)

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

To install GIMP Flatpak package, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run the 2 commands below one by one:

Install the Flatpak daemon package:
```
sudo apt install flatpak
```

Install GIMP Flatpak package:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref

If you already installed an old version of the Flatpak package, try to update it by running command:

flatpak update org.gimp.GIMP

UPDATE: The Flatpak now updated to GIMP 3.0.x! If you do need GIMP 2.10.38, try the command below to downgrade the Flatpack:

sudo flatpak update org.gimp.GIMP --commit=83b335255cc239e223ada842f99107d1d6ce51b511a8ae2a278005c2e2809242

As time goes on, the old commit will be removed! At that time, this command will no longer work.

Option 2: Snap package

Like Flatpak, Snap is also an universal Linux package format runs in sandbox environment. It’s easy to install by simply search & click installing in App Center (or Ubuntu Software for 22.04 & earlier).

NOTE: The Snap package now is updated to GIMP 3.0.x!!!

Option 3: Ubuntu PPA

For those who prefer native .deb package format, this unofficial PPA contains GIMP 2.10.38 for Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 23.10, with amd64, arm64 and armhf support.

1. First, open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp

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

2. Linux Mint users need to manually refresh system package cache, though, it’s done automatically in Ubuntu while adding PPA. To do so, run command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, run command to install GIMP 2.10.38:

sudo apt install gimp gegl libgexiv2-2

NOTE: If you’ve GIMP 3.0.x installed, first remove it via the command under “Uninstall GIMP” section, then use the command below instead to install GIMP 2.10.x from this PPA:

sudo apt install -t "o=LP-PPA-ubuntuhandbook1-gimp" gimp libbabl-0.1-0 gegl libgexiv2-2

apt GIMP via specified source

Uninstall GIMP

If you installed GIMP via the official Flatpak package, run command below in terminal to uninstall it:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.gimp.GIMP

Also run flatpak uninstall --unused to remove useless runtimes.

For the Snap package, simply use Ubuntu Software or App Center to uninstall it.

For the PPA package, either run command to purge PPA and downgrade to the stock version:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp

Or, remove the image editor directly by running command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove gimp gimp-data libgegl-0.4-0* libgimp2.0 libbabl-0.1-0

Then, remove the PPA either via command:

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

or ‘Software & Updates’ tool under Other Software tab by removing the source line.

In Howtos, News image editor

Audacity 3.4.1 Released with BSD & ARM Builds & Other Fixes

Last updated: November 17, 2023 — Leave a comment

Audacity audio editor announced the first point release for the Audacity 3.4.0 feature release today!

The release can now built again in ARM devices and BSD. And, it has various stability and other fixes that 3.4.0 users are urged to upgrade to the new release.

They include:

Fix 24-bit recording.
Fix a crash with .aup importing.
Fix crossfading of clips and tracks.
Exporting multiple files honors sample rate settings again.
Fix crashes related to external program exports.
Ctrl+J is now a standard shortcut for joining clips.
Stereo tracks no longer randomly split into mono.
When exporting a file, the file extension is now always added
Fix a crash when exporting Opus with older CPUs that don’t support AVX.

How to Install Audacity 3.4.1 in Ubuntu:

Option 1: AppImage (official)
It provides official macOS .dmg, Windows .exe, and Linux .AppImage packages available to download at the link below:

Download Audacity

For Linux, click expand the “Assets” section and choose download the .AppImage package.

Then, right-click on the .AppImage file and go to its ‘Properties’ dialog. Add executable permission by enable ‘allow executing file as program‘. Finally, right-click on it and select “Run” to launch Audacity.

Forgive me for the old image.

Option 2: Ubuntu PPA

For choice, I’ve uploaded the new release package into unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 with amd64, arm64, and armhf support.

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/audacity

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

2. For Linux Mint users, you may manually update system package cache by running command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, install Audacity 3.4.1 either by running the command below in terminal:

sudo apt install audacity audacity-data

Or, launch ‘Software Updater’ to update from an existing version:

Option 3: Flatpak

Audacity is also available to install as universal Flatpak package, that run in sandbox.

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, Ubuntu users can install Audacity as Flatpak by running the 2 commands below one by one:

sudo apt install flatpak

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.audacityteam.Audacity.flatpakref

Uninstall:

To uninstall Audacity 3.4.1 PPA package, you have 2 choices:

Purge the Ubuntu PPA, which also downgrade the installed packages to the stock versions in your system:
```
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity
```

Or, remove Audacity package by running command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove audacity audacity-data

Then, remove the Ubuntu PPA via command:

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

To uninstall the Flatpak package, use command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.audacityteam.Audacity

Also run flatpak uninstall --unused to remove useless runtimes.

In News audacity

BleachBit released New Stable 4.6.0! How to Install in Ubuntu

Last updated: November 6, 2023 — Leave a comment

Bleachbit, the popular system cleaner app, announced new major 4.6.0 release this Sunday!

It’s been almost 2 years since the last stable v4.4.2. While, version 4.5.x is there for beta testing purpose.

Compare to the latest stable release, the new Bleachbit 4.6.0 features:

Microsoft Edge on Linux support.
Firefox, Thunderbird, and Google Chrome installed as Flatpak support.
Firefox installed as Snap (default in 22.04+) support.
“shred with bleachbit” context menu for KDE (not enabled by default).
Clean recent documents list on KDE 5

Shred with Bleachbit context menu for KDE

The release also has various other changes and bug-fixes. When cleaning Firefox, it does no longer show “no such table” error. And, it fixed admin mode launching issue when working on Linux with Wayland session. Other changes include:

Clean recently-closed tabs on Firefox
Clean autofill data in Chromium-based browsers
Fix detection of invalid .desktop files
Remove Windows-specific files from Linux packages
And more. See release note for details.

BleachBit 4.6 can clean Firefox Snap in Ubuntu

How to Install Bleachbit in Ubuntu

The software provides official .rpm packages for CentOS, Fedora, and openSUSE, as well as .deb packages for Debian, Ubuntu and Linux Mint.

They are available to download at the link below:

Download Bleachbit for Linux

Tips: for Linux Mint 21, click download the package for Ubuntu 22.04 Jammy Jellyfish. In case you don’t even know which Linux Distribution version is running, open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command cat /etc/os-release to tell.

Once you got the .deb package, either click open with “Software Install”, or open with “Gdebi package installer” if you have it installed.

Install Bleachbit .deb via Software Install

Or, right-click on blank area in your Downloads folder, and select “Open in Terminal”. Finally, run the command below to install it:

sudo apt install ./bleachbit_4.6.0*.deb

Once installed, search for and launch the tool from either start/applications menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your desktop environment.

Uninstall Bleachbit

To remove Bleachbit 4.6.0 in Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, and their based systems, simply open terminal and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove bleachbit

In News system cleaner

Audacity 3.4.0 Released! Ubuntu PPA Updated for 22.04 & Higher

Last updated: November 3, 2023 — Leave a comment

Audacity audio editor and recording tool announced the new major 3.4.0 release after almost 2 weeks of beta testing.

The new release features Beats and measures grid, allows to easily align audio clips to the musical tempo and rhythm. It shows you the subdivisions of each measure depending on zoom level, and you can snap clips to the nearest beat.

It also features new time stretching algorithm, allows to change the duration of your audio clips without affecting their pitch non-destructively. Just hold “Alt” (macOS: Option) while hovering over the top third of a clip edge to stretch it.

The 3.4.0 also features a new export dialog with easier access to options such as sample rate and custom mapping (for 5.1 or 7.1 audio). Additionally, the “Browse” button uses the native file browser now!

New Export dialog

Other changes include:

always uses Joint Stereo mode for MP3.
Simplified pasting logic, and stereo tracks.
uses Conan 2.
Built-in Opus support.
And stability fixes.
See change-log for more details

How to Install Audacity 3.4.0:

Option 1: AppImage (official)
It provides official macOS .dmg, Windows .exe, and Linux .AppImage packages available to download at the link below:

Download Audacity

For Linux, click expand the “Assets” section and choose download the .AppImage package.

Option 2: Ubuntu PPA

For choice, I’ve uploaded the new release package into unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.

NOTE: Due to bug, arm64 and armhf packages are excluded in the PPA until the bug-fix due in next point release.

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/audacity

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

2. For Linux Mint users, you may manually update system package cache by running command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, install Audacity 3.4.0 either by running the command below in terminal:

sudo apt install audacity audacity-data

Or, launch ‘Software Updater’ to update from an existing version:

Option 3: AppImage

Audacity is also available to install as universal Flatpak package, that run in sandbox.

However, it’s not updated to v3.4.0 at the moment of writing, see this page for details.

Uninstall:

To uninstall Audacity 3.4.0, you have 2 choices:

Purge the Ubuntu PPA, which also downgrade the installed packages to the stock versions in your system:
```
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity
```

Or, remove Audacity package by running command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove audacity audacity-data

Then, remove the Ubuntu PPA via command:

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

In News Audio

NVIDIA 545.29.02 is out! Support Night Light for GNOME/KDE Wayland

Last updated: November 1, 2023 — 1 Comment

NVIDIA announced 545.29.02 graphics driver for Linux yesterday, as a new release series for its New Feature Branch Version.

For Ubuntu 22.04 + and Fedora Workstation with default GNOME on Wayland, as well as KDE on Wayland, the new driver adds support for the CTM, DEGAMMA_LUT, and GAMMA_LUT DRM-KMS CRTC properties, which, finally make the ‘Night Light’ and ‘Night Color’ feature work for NVIDIA users.

Night Light finally works on Wayland with NVIDIA driver

For desktop GPUs, the release adds initial experimental support for runtime D3 (RTD3) power saving mode. When all the PCI functions are idle, and all required conditions are satisfied, your GPU will go to the lowest power state resulting into maximum power savings.

The new driver also added experimental support for framebuffer consoles. On kernels with implement features, nvidia-drm will install a framebuffer console when loaded with both modeset=1 and fbdev=1 kernel parameters. Though, when an nvidia-drm framebuffer console is enabled, unloading nvidia-drm will cause the screen to turn off.

Other changes in NVIDIA 545.29.02 include:

Experimental HDMI 10 bits per component support
Support for virtual reality displays
CERTIFIED-quality support for GeForce and Workstation GPUs to open kernelmodules.
Support for PRIME render offload to Vulkan Wayland WSI
Support for HDR signaling
Add support to NVIDIA VDPAU driver for running in Xwayland
Support EGL_ANDROID_native_fence_sync EGL extension.
Support VK_EXTERNAL_SEMAPHORE_HANDLE_TYPE_SYNC_FD_BIT
Support VK_EXTERNAL_FENCE_HANDLE_TYPE_SYNC_FD_BIT

For more about the new driver, see the official release note.

How to Install NVIDIA 545 Driver

Ubuntu will build the new driver series and publish through official system repositories. So, just wait! It will be available in “Additional Drivers” utility when it’s ready.

For those who can’t wait, the “Graphics Drivers” team PPA has made the driver package for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and higher.

Simply, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

Finally, launch the ‘Additional Drivers’ utility for installing the new driver.

In News nvidia

Linux 6.6 Released as the Latest Kernel Series

Last updated: November 1, 2023 — Leave a comment

Linux Torvalds announced the release of Kernel 6.6 this Monday.

It’s the latest mainline kernel so far, that features EEVDF scheduler, and per-policy CPUFreq performance boost control.

For Intel, the new kernel added Intel Shadow Stack support to prevent ROP attacks; Initial PECI support for 4th Gen Xeon Scalable “Sapphire Rapids” platforms; And, initial support for the Intel Lunar Lake VPU4.

For old laptops with Intel 4th/5th CPU, the kernel enabled Panel Self Refresh (PSR) support for power-savings.

For AMD, the kernel has Dynamic Boost Control support, Zen 5 temperature and EDAC support for AMD 1Ah processors, and FreeSync Panel Replay support with better power saving for upcoming AMD Ryzen laptops.

The cpupower utility has been updated. Now it supports for adjusting new AMD P-State driver features, include changing the AMD P-State mode, and turbo-boost mode.

For Linux system installed on EXT4 file partition, Kernel 6.6 will have 34% improvement with many concurrent writes and Apache Kafka 10% performance boost.

Linux 6.6 has many new hardware support, they include:

GameSir T4 Kaleid Controller.
SteelSeries Arctis 1 Xbox headset
New Ethernet hardware supported, including the Broadcom ASP 2.0 72165 controller, MediaTek MT7988 SoC, TI AM654 SoC, TI IEP, Atheros QCA8081 PHY. Marvell 88Q2110 PHY, and the NXP TJA1120 PHY.
MediaTek MT7981 wireless chipset
Bluetooth support for Intel Gale Peak, Qualcomm WCN3988 and WCN7850, NXP AW693 and IW624, and the MediaTek MT2925.

Other changes include:

Better protect against the illicit behavior of NVIDIA’s proprietary kernel driver.
New driver for Azoteq IQS7210A/7211A/E touch controller
Force feedback (rumble) support for the Google Stadia controller.
New sysctl interface for disabling IO_uring system-wide
Supports AP mode on the RTL8192FU, RTL8710BU (RTL8188GU), RTL8192EU, and RTL8723BU.
USB MIDI 2.0 gadget function driver
Toggle charge mode, middle fan control for ASUS WMI supported devices.
dGPU and CPU tunables for ROG laptops

How to Install Linux Kernel 6.6

The Ubuntu Mainline Kernel PPA somehow stuck at v6.6 RC5. So, there’s no proper way to get the Linux Kernel 6.6 at the moment of writing besides building from the source code.

Though, you can keep an eye on the third-party trustworthy Zabbly repository, which should update for the 6.6 Kernel in next few days.

In News kernel