[Tips] Quickly Access Source of installed Extensions in Ubuntu

Last updated: October 27, 2023 — Leave a comment

This is a quick tutorial shows you how to quickly access the source of all your installed GNOME extensions in Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation, Debian and other Linux with GNOME.

Gnome extensions are usually installed to “.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/” directory. While, system built-in extensions are available in “/usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/“.

For developing or debugging purpose, you can open that folder every time to access the sources. However, GNOME has a built-in debugger and inspector tool that can also do the trick quickly.

Quick access source of extensions via Looking Glass

1. First, press Alt+F2 on keyboard to launch the ‘Run a command’ dialog box. Then, input lg and hit Enter.

2. The Gnome debugger and inspector tool, aka Looking Glass, will drop-down from the top.
There, just switch to “Extensions” tab, then, you’ll see all the installed extensions, either enabled or disabled.

And, each extension has 3 links:

  • View Source – open the source folder of extension in a new Nautilus window.
  • Web Page – open the extension web page in default web browser.
  • Show/Hide Errors

Looking Glass Indicator

To make life easier, there’s also an extension to add a panel indicator in top-right. So, you can access it easily by a single mouse click. Which, also has a drop-down menu:

  • Restart Shell (Xorg only).
  • Reload Theme.
  • Open Extensions Folder.
  • Open Themes folder.

To install the indicator, first search for and install “Extension Manager” from either Ubuntu Software or App Center.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+

Then, launch and use “Extension Manager” to search and install “Looking Glass Button” under Browse tab.

The extension so far supports all current GNOME versions. For Fedora, Debian, etc without ‘Extension Manager’, just go to extension web page via the link below:

Looking Glass Button

Then use ON/OFF switch to install it. If you don’t see the toggle switch, click the link in the page to install browser extension then refresh.

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Audacity 3.4.0 Beta is out! Musical View, Time stretching & New Exporter

Last updated: November 3, 2023 — 1 Comment

Audacity audio editor released the Beta version of the next 3.4.0. Here’s how to try it out in Ubuntu.

According to the project release page, the new release now features several music related features, such as switching between hh:mm:ss time and Beats & Measures, and time-stretching clips to align them to a song’s tempo.

The release also features Time stretching. 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.

How to Install Audacity 3.4.0 Beta:

Option 1: AppImage
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.

Option 2: Ubuntu PPA

For choice, I’ve uploaded the new release package into unofficial PPA for x86_64 (amd64) bit Ubuntu 22.04, 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 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-unstable

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 Beta via command:

sudo apt install audacity audacity-data

Uninstall:

To uninstall Audacity 3.4.0 Beta, you have 2 choices:

  • Purge the Ubuntu PPA, which also downgrade the installed packages to stock versions: 
    sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity-unstable
  • 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-unstable
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Firefox 119 Released with Improved PDF Editing Support

Last updated: October 25, 2023 — Leave a comment

Firefox web browser announced the release of 119.0 this Tuesday.

The new release improved PDF editing, by allowing to add images and alt text, in addition to text and drawings.

“Firefox View” icon has been replaced with a folder icon instead of the previous Firefox logo. And, it allows to see all open tabs from all windows, and all tabs from other synced devices.

The release also has some security improvements. They include Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) to extend TLS encryption to cover more of the handshake and better protect sensitive fields, supports the partitioning of Blob URLs for Total Cookie Protection, and restrict website fonts visibility to system fonts and language pack fonts in Enhanced Tracking Protection strict mode.

Other changes in Firefox 119 include:

  • Ability to import some extensions from Chrome.
  • Recently closed tabs now persist between sessions that don’t have automatic session restore enabled.
  • Updated Storage Access API web standard.
  • Santali (sat) language support.
  • Unexpected jumps in scroll position on Facebook.
  • Various security fixes, and development changes.

How to Get Firefox 119

The official release note as well as the download link is available at the link below:

Firefox 119 Release Note

For Ubuntu, the pre-installed Firefox Snap package has already been updated to v119. If you don’t have it, try running snap refresh firefox in terminal.

For the .deb package, Mozilla Team PPA is available though you have to manually block the Snap package.

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qBittorrent 4.6.0 Released with I2P Support & UI Editing (Ubuntu PPA)

Last updated: October 14, 2024 — Leave a comment

qBittorrent, the popular Qt-based BitTorrent client, released version 4.6.0 this Sunday!

The new release introduced experimental support for I2P, a peer to peer fully encrypted private network layer, allowing to transfer data in a more secure way.

The ‘Preferences’ dialog now have “Customize UI Theme” button in the behavior tab. It allows to set custom colors and icons, by double-clicking action, for both light and dark mode when using the default theme.

qBittorrent 4.6.0 also features many other changes, including option to add new torrents to queue top, filter torrent list by save path, option to stop seeding when torrent has been inactive, as well as:

  • ‘socket send/receive buffer size’ options
  • ‘max torrent file size’ setting
  • ‘bdecode limits’ settings
  • Options to adjust behavior of merging trackers to existing torrent.
  • Expand the scope of “Proxy hostname lookup” option
  • Shortcut for “Ban peer permanently” function
  • Option to auto hide zero status filters
  • Allow to disable confirmation of Pause/Resume All
  • Add alternative shortcut CTRL+E for CTRL+F
  • Show filtered port numbers in logs
  • Add button to copy library versions to clipboard

How to Install qBittorrent in Ubuntu Linux

Option 1: AppImage
The software provides official Linux package through .AppImage package, available to download the link below:

Download qBittorrent

It’s a non-install package, that can be run directly to launch the torrent client. Just right-click on .AppImage file and go to ‘Properties’, then enable “Allow executing as program” option under Permissions tab. Finally, click run it to launch the app.

For choices, you can also install qBittorrent 4.6.0 through Flatpak and Ubuntu PPA.

Option 2: Flatpak

Like AppImage, Flatpak is another package format runs in sandbox. All current Ubuntu releases can easily install qBittorrent as Flatpak, by running 2 commands below one by one.

  • First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to ensure Flatpak support: 
    sudo apt install flatpak
  • Then, install the torrent client as Flatpak by running command: 
    flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent.flatpakref

Option 3: Ubuntu PPA

UPDATE: Due to requirement of Qt > 6.5.0, the PPA will NOT update for Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04 and earlier.

For those who prefer the native .deb package format, qBittorrent has an official Ubuntu PPA. Though, it’s NOT updated at the moment of writing (check the previous link).

To add the PPA, and install the app package, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. And, run commands below one by one:

  • Add the PPA: 
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable

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

  • Then, manually refresh system package cache (required for Linux Mint 21): 
    sudo apt update
  • Finally, install the torrent app via command: 
    sudo apt install qbittorrent

Uninstall qBittorrent

Depends on how you installed the software package, uninstall it by running either command below in terminal.

  • To remove the Flatpak package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command: 
    flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent

    Also run flatpak uninstall --delete-unused to remove useless run-time libraries.

  • To remove the PPA package, use command: 
    sudo apt remove --autoremove qbittorrent

    Also remove the Ubuntu PPA, either by removing source line through “Software & Updates” utility under Other Software tab. Or, by running the command below in terminal:

    sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable
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How to Upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10 [Step by Step Guide]

Last updated: October 23, 2023 — 4 Comments

This is a step by step beginner’s guide shows Ubuntu Desktop users how to upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10 from either Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 23.04.

Ubuntu 23.10, code-name, Mantic Minotaur, was released a week ago. It features Kernel 6.5, GNOME 45, new App Center, and has official support until July, 2024.

Before getting started:

Before start upgrading your OS, you have to do some preparations to avoid failure and speed up upgrading process.

  • First, backup, backup, backup! The upgrade process MAY FAIL, due to internet corrupt, hardware issue, and/or package conflict. If the upgrade process failed, your system MAY refuse to boot. So, it’s important to make backup, though, you can mount the disk in another OS to export user data.
  • Remove useless applications. It will try to upgrade all installed packages to the higher versions in 23.10 system repository. So removing useless packages, such as non-default desktop environments, results less downloading to speed up upgrading process. Though, it’s totally OK to skip this step.
  • Restore important libraries. If you’ve installed 3rd party versions of multimedia (e.g., FFmpeg) libraries, it’s highly recommended to uninstall/restore to avoid package conflict.
  • Disable third-party repositories. Third party repositories may contain packages that cause conflict to the packages in 23.10 system repository. It’s highly to disable them by launching “Software & Updates” and removing/un-ticking source lines under “Other Software” tab.

    Remove 3rd party PPAs

  • Disable third-party extensions. Third-party extensions may not work on higher GNOME versions. It’s better to disable them using either ‘GNOME Extensions‘ or ‘Extension Manager’ app (both available in Ubuntu Software.).

    Remove 3rd Party Extensions

  • Restore open-source drivers. If any proprietary driver in use. It’s better to restore the original open-source drivers using “Additional Drivers” utility.

Check Distribution Update

If you’ve done the preparations, now launch “Software Updater“, then install all the available updates:

Then, restart your computer if it prompted to finish updates.

Finally, press Ctrl + Alt + T on keyboard to open terminal, and run command:

update-manager -c -d

This command will launch “Software Updater” again, while checking Distribution updates. Use update-manager -c instead, if the command above does not work.

For Ubuntu 22.04, first launch “Software & Updates” and navigate to “Updates” tab. Then, set “Notify me of a new Ubuntu version: For any new version“. Finally, run update-manager -c to first upgrade to 23.04, and then to 23.10 with same method.

Start upgrading process

If everything’s done properly, you should see the pop-up says: “The Software on this computer is up to date. However, Ubuntu 23.10 is now available (you have 23.04)“. For Ubuntu 22.04, follow the steps to upgrade to 23.04 first, then do it again to upgrade to 23.10.

Just click on “Upgrade” button will open the ‘Release Note’ dialog. Where, you can click “Upgrade” again to start the process.

After that, the “Distribution Upgrade” dialog opens to prepare the upgrade, and setup software sources for Ubuntu 23.10.

When done, it asks again to confirm upgrade.

Once you click “Start Upgrade”, it starts downloading all them required packages and install them.

When done installing all the updates, you have to do one more click to confirm “Remove obsolete packages”.

If everything’s done successfully, it will prompt to “Restart the system to complete the upgrade”.

After reboot, either open ‘Settings’ and go to ‘About’ page, or run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to verify:

cat /etc/os-release
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OnlyOffice Desktop Editor 7.5 released with PDF Editor & Screen Reader

Last updated: October 21, 2023 — Leave a comment

OnlyOffice announced the new 7.5.0 release for its desktop editors office suite few days ago.

Like online version, the desktop app can now open PDF files and do basic editing operations, such as text annotating, form filling, commenting and drawing. While, collaborative editing is planned for the next release.

Another new feature in this release is automatic hyphenation support. It automatically detects syllable boundaries and inserts hyphens for words at the end of the text line.

Other features in OnlyOffice 7.5.0 include:

  • Beta screen reader support.
  • Interface scaling up to 500%.
  • Add ‘Open Recent’ option in each editor page.
  • Create new office files from local templates
  • Smart paragraph selection for Document editor.
  • Page breaks, SORTBY formula, support adding images to headers and footers for spreadsheets
  • Morph transition, SmartArts adding via sidebar placeholder for presentation editor

How to Install OnlyOffice Desktop Editors 7.5:

The office suite is available to install in Ubuntu Linux in 3 different package formats: Snap, Deb, and Flatpak. Choose either one that you prefer.

1. Snap

Snap is an universal package format that runs in sandbox. Ubuntu 20.04 and higher users can simply search for and install OnlyOffice as Snap from Ubuntu Software or App Center.

The snap automatically receive updates, though the package at the moment of writing is still at version 7.4.1.

ONLYOFFICE Snap in Ubuntu Software

2. Deb

Deb is the native package format for Debian/Ubuntu and their based Linux systems. OnlyOffice provides the .deb package along with RPM, EXE, MSI, and DMG packages for downloading at the github releases page:

Download ONLYOFFICE

Just select download the “onlyoffice-desktopeditors_amd64.deb” package, then click in file manager to open with “Software Install” and install it.

Or, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, and run the command below to install the package you just downloaded (say it’s stored in your ‘Downloads’ folder):

sudo apt install ~/Downloads/onlyoffice-desktopeditors_amd64.deb

3. Flatpak

Linux Mint 21 user may prefer the Flatpak package a bit more, since it’s available to install directly from the Software Manager.

It’s another universal package format runs in sandbox. Ubuntu user can install ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors as Flatpak by following the steps below one by one:

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to install the Flatpak daemon:

sudo apt install flatpak

Then, install the office suite via:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors.flatpakref

The Flatpak package is also in v7.4.1 at the moment of writing, use the command flatpak update org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors to update the package once new version published.

Uninstall ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editor

Depends on which package you installed, choose to run either command below in a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) window to remove the office suite.

For the Snap package, remove it either via Ubuntu Software or by running the command below:

snap remove --purge onlyoffice-desktopeditors

For the native deb package, run command to remove it:

sudo apt remove onlyoffice-desktopeditors --autoremove

And to remove the package installed as Flatpak, run command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors

Also clear useless runtime libraries via flatpak uninstall --unused command.

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Geany 2.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, 23.10

Last updated: October 20, 2023 — 5 Comments

Geany, the small and fast IDE, released version 2.0 hours ago! Here are the new features as well as how to install guide for Ubuntu users.

Changes in Geany 2.0 according to the official release note:

  • Split “session data” into session.conf, preferences are written to and read from geany.conf.
  • Re-add ability to scroll over document tabs.
  • Use new tree view as default for the document list in the sidebar.
  • Dark-theme friendly colors for compiler messages
  • Confirm dialog on search & replace for the whole session.
  • Filter entry for symbol tree.
  • Simplify project creation from existing directories with sources.
  • Add option to show symbols in symbol tree without category groups.
  • Add option to only show line endings if they differ from file default.
  • Make tab label length and window title length configurable.
  • Make Go to Symbol commands show signature list.
  • Scintilla 5.3.7 and Lexilla 5.2.7
  • Add “Change history” feature (disabled by default)
  • Sync many parsers from the Universal Ctags project
  • Improved support for the ctags file format
  • Update Kotlin, Nim, PHP, Python filetype config
  • Apply Markdown header style to the complete header
  • Add AutoIt, GDScript filetype
  • Remove Ferite filetype
  • Enable local variables and improve autocompletion for C/C++ and some other languages
  • Use “Prof-Gnome” GTK theme and GTK dialogs on Windows.

How to Install Geany 2.0 in Ubuntu:

Geany does not provide official packages for Linux. Besides building from source code, user can choose to use the universal Flatpak package or an unofficial Ubuntu PPA.

Option 1: Flatpak package

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

To install Geany as Flatpak package, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run the 2 commands one by one:

  • First, install Flatpak daemon in case you don’t have it: 
    sudo apt install flatpak
  • Then, install Geany Flatpak package: 
    flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.geany.Geany.flatpakref

After installation, search for and launch Geany from either overview screen or start/application menu depends on your desktop environment.

NOTE: For first time installing Flatpak app, needs a log out and back in to make app icon visible.

Option 2: Ubuntu PPA

For those who hate running app in sandbox, I’ve uploaded the package into this unofficial PPA. So far, it supports for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 on x86_64, arm64/armhf CPU architecture types.

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/geany

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

2. Linux Mint users may need to manually refresh system package cache after adding PPA, though it’s done automatically in Ubuntu 20.04 and higher.

To do so, run command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, install Geany 2.0 as well as plugins by running command:

sudo apt install geany geany-plugins

After successfully installed the packages, search for and launch the IDE from overview or application menu and enjoy!

Uninstall Geany 2.0

For Geany IDE installed as Flatpak package, just run the command below to remove it:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.geany.Geany

Also, run flatpak uninstall --unused to clear useless run-time libraries.

For the IDE installed from Ubuntu PPA, remove it by running command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo apt remove --autoremove geany geany-plugins-common

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

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

Or, use “Software & Updates” by removing the source line under ‘Other Software’ tab.

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How to Install Plasma Desktop 5.27 in (K)Ubuntu 22.04

Last updated: May 7, 2024 — Leave a comment

For KDE users on Ubuntu 22.04, meaning KUbuntu 22.04, Ubuntu Studio 22.04, etc, the latest Plasma Desktop 5.27 (5.27.11) now is available to upgrade through PPA.

KDE Plasma Desktop 5.27 was originally released in February. After more than 8 months of work, it has received 9 bug-fix updates and finally made into PPA for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

Plasma 5.27 features new window tiling system, that can be enabled “System Settings > Workspace Behavior > Desktop Effects“. It allows to Shift + dragging to tile windows, and Super (Windows logo) + T to edit tiling mode.

The release also features new Welcome dialog, allowing to learn about new features and how to tweak settings, etc, swipe gestures for volume and playback control in Media Player widget, power usage monitor detection for NVIDIA GPUs, new command activate “Do Not Disturb” mode.

Continue Reading…

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How to Install Local .deb file in Ubuntu 24.04

Last updated: September 1, 2024 — 3 Comments

Since Ubuntu 23.10, there’s no longer “Software Install” option for opening/installing .deb files in your Downloads folder. This is probably due to switch to the new ‘App Center’, that some features are not fully implemented.

When you double-clicking a .deb file from Downloads folder, it will pop-up a dialog saying “Could Not Display ‘file_name.deb’ There’s no app installed for ‘Debian package’ files“. And, neither option will work for installing the package.

UPDATE: App Center in Ubuntu 24.04 finally added back the feature to install local .deb! Just double-click on the package in file manager to launch and install.

So, if you’re trying to install an application using local .deb format package, here are 3 workarounds for you.

Option 1: use Gdebi package installer

Gdebi is a simple tool to view and install local .deb file. It’s a popular application that’s using as default in Linux Mint.

1. First, press Super (Windows logo) key to open overview screen. Search for and launch “App Center”.

2. When ‘App Center’ opens, use it to search and install Gdebi. You may need to select “Filter by Debian packages” to make it visible.

3. Once you installed the tool, right-click on your local .deb file, and click on “Open With…” option.

In next pop-up dialog, find out and select “Gdebi Package Installer” and turn on “Always use for this file type“, finally click Open.

4. After that, you can double-click any .deb file to open with the Gdebi package installer. When the tool opens, you may view the package info and  click “Install Package” to install it into your system.

Option 2: Use apt command

For those who are familiar with Linux command, your local .deb file is easy to install via a single command.

It’s:

sudo apt install /path/to/file.deb

Definitely, you need to replace ‘/path/to/file.deb‘ to yours.

Instead of typing manually, simply open terminal (via either Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut or ‘Open in Terminal’ context menu), then drag and drop .deb file into terminal after typing sudo apt install plus a blank space.

Finally, hit Enter to run the command, type user password (no asterisk feedback) to authentication, and answer y if it asks to confirm.

When installation done, it will output something like ‘N: Download is performed unsandboxed as root as file ‘/path/to/file.deb’ couldn’t be accessed by user ‘_apt’. – pkgAcquire::Run (13: Permission denied)’. Just skip the non-fatal warning. Your app should be properly installed when you see the terminal output message.

Option 3: Use GNOME Software

If you want to restore the new App Center to classic Ubuntu Software, then GNOME Software can be a better choice.

GNOME Software supports Deb, Flatpak, and Snap packages. However, it will be always run in background that takes about 200 MB memory in my case.

If you don’t care about the memory consumption, then press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, and run command to install GNOME Software:

sudo apt install --install-suggests gnome-software

Skip --install-suggests if you don’t want to enable Flatpak support.

After that, you can right-click on local .deb file, and select “Software Install” from Open With dialog to launch GNOME Software to install it.

Uninstall:

If you don’t use Gdebi or Gnome Software anymore, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to uninstall:

Uninstall Gdebi:

sudo apt remove --autoremove gdebi

Or, uninstall Gnome Software via command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove gnome-software
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Ubuntu 23.10 Desktop iso Image finally available to download

Last updated: October 17, 2023 — 3 Comments

The Desktop .iso image of Ubuntu 23.10 is finally available to download after a few days of delay!

Ubuntu 23.10, code-name Mantic Minotaur, was released on October 12. However, due to a malicious translation incident, the .iso image for the desktop edition was removed.

Now, the issue has been fixed. And, today could be the official release date, according to this announcement.

Ubuntu 23.10 is powered by Linux 6.5 and uses GNOME 45 as the default desktop environment. Core features include new app center, new firmware updater, TPM-backed full disk encryption, Raspberry Pi 5 support, new “Tiling Assistant” extension, and more. See my feature overview page for more.

Ubuntu 23.10 Desktop

Download Ubuntu 23.10

To download Ubuntu 23.10, you may either go to the official Ubuntu download page:

Download Ubuntu

Or, use this Ubuntu 23.10 only download link.

For faster downloading speed, you can also choose an official download mirror that near to you.

For Ubuntu 23.04 users, the upgrade channel should be available soon. Just try launching “Software Updater” and install all available updates, then, re-launch with update-manager -c to tell to check if a new distribution release is available.

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