News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
Free open-source software updates and Linux news
Ubuntu 24.10, code-name Oracular Oriole, is coming in next month. Now, the default as well as optional wallpapers are out!
As before, the default wallpaper for Ubuntu 24.10 is made up of mascot (a songbird this time) in center and gradient background. The file is always named “warty-final-ubuntu.png”, and features 4K (3840×2160) resolution.
NOTE: The images in this post are optimized for fast loading. Scroll down for the download link!
Ubuntu 24.10 Wallpaper (scroll down for download link)
Mozilla announced the new Firefox web browser 130.0 release this Tuesday!
The new Firefox release introduced “Firefox Labs” page in Settings, allowing to try out experimental features which are in development and evolving, which could impact how the web browser works.
So far, it includes AI chatbot allowing to chat with ChatGPT, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, HuggingChat, and Le Chat Mistral. Though few of them need login first.
Ubuntu 24.04.1, the first point release of the current Ubuntu LTS, was announced last night on Aug 29.
The release includes updated CD images. The livecd-rootfs build system re-enables ability to build HyperV desktop images, and allows to build iso installer images that would install Ubuntu Core Desktop to target device.
The new release also fixed various upgrade issues. It now prevents upgrading from desktop systems installed with TPM-backed FDE. It fixed that the upgrade breaks iptables-persistent and netfilter-persistent usage, and removed the XFS /boot upgrade check. It as well fixed many other upgrade issues, including hang due to search for obsolete software, and long time delay when installing gnome-remote-desktop 46.
JetBrains announced the new 2024.2 release of its PyCharm IDE just a few days after the release of IntelliJ IDEA.
The new release introduces significant improvements to the AI Assistant. It enhances cloud-based code completion with faster and more accurate suggestions, and features better UX including syntax highlighting for suggested code, and option to accept suggestions incrementally.
The AI now uses the latest GTP-4o model, supports chat references and semantic search. It features AI integration in the Terminal tool window, and AI-assisted VCS conflict resolution.
JetBrains announced the new 2024.2 release of its IntelliJ IDEA integrated development environment (IDE).
The release uses new clean and modern UI as default, while classic one is available as plugin. For Linux, it auto-places window controls to left or right depends on your desktop settings. And, it switched to JetBrains Runtime 21 with enhanced security, performance, as well as Wayland rendering support.
Scrcpy, the free open-source Android screen mirroring app, released version 2.6 (then 2.6.1 with quick fix) a few days ago.
Scrcpy is an app works on Linux, Windows, and macOS, allowing users to remote access and control their Android screen from PC/laptop, either wirelessly through TCP/IP in same network or wired with USB cable.
It uses Android Debug Bridge (adb) to communicate with Android device. Nothing needs to be installed on Android side, but it needs to enable developer mode for USB debugging option which is required by adb.
Darktable, the popular raw image processing software, released new 4.8.1 version few days ago.
This is the first minor release for the current 4.8 release series, which contains only bug-fixes. The release fixed the issue that export without high quality sampling but with up-scaling activated, crash when using the -d imageio option, and image jump if collection is empty.
There are as well fixes for importing/exporting issues, including large image exports due to a bug in finalscale module, JPEG2000 loading issue due to unspecified color space, and empty lighttable when importing from command-line. For more, see the official release note.
Linux Mint, the popular Linux Distribution for desktop PC and laptops, finally rolls out the new 22 major release images.
Linux Mint 22, code-name “Wilma”, is based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. It features Kernel 6.8, Cinnamon Desktop 6.2, and supports until 2029.
The stable release .iso images were rolled out few days ago on July 21 through the Linux Mint Community page. Most download mirrors have include the new .iso images in their websites.
If everything’s going well, the official website should update the download link and announce the release very soon.
Wallpaper Contest for the upcoming Ubuntu 24.10, Oracular Oriole, is open, accept artwork for the 20th anniversary!
Like the last wallpaper contest, the artwork submissions are separated into 4 categories. Each category will have 2 winners, and finally 8 mixed images will be included in the Ubuntu 24.10 disc image as optional wallpapers.
With Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu is reaching the 20th anniversary. So, this time the contest includes a category that’s specially for the two decade anniversary of Ubuntu. While 3 others are Mascot Theme, Digital / Abstract, and Photography.
image by romactu1 from 24.10 wallpaper contest
Blender, the popular free open-source 3D animation software, announced new 4.2 release few days ago this Tuesday!
Blender 4.2 is a Long Term Support (LTS) release with 2 years support for critical fixes. It introduced new EEVEE render engine, which is completely rewritten from scratch.
The new engine features screen space global illumination, real displacement, better Subsurface Scattering, much more stable Dithered volumetrics result while navigating the scene, motion blur in 3D viewport, as well as:
