News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
This simple tutorial shows how to install Zoom video communication client in Ubuntu 24.04 desktop.
Zoom is a popular app for video/audio conferencing meetings and live chat. It works on Linux, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and ChromeOS.
For Ubuntu users, Zoom can be installed either via native .deb package and universal Flatpak package. Choose either one that you prefer.
For VLC users who prefer installing the player via the classic .deb package, here’s an Ubuntu PPA contains the most recent (3.0.21 updated) for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and Ubuntu 24.04.
VLC media player is available in Ubuntu system repository, but always old. For the most recent version, VideoLAN provides Snap package, which however runs in sandbox environment.
Krita announced the new major 5.2.0 release few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 via PPA.
Krita 5.2.0 introduced some exciting new features, such as synchronized audio playback, FFmpeg bundle, new text layout engine, new Wide Gamut Color Selector, new actions, CMYK for JEPG-XL, and various tool updates. See the official release note for details.
Krita provides official Linux package through AppImage, which is available to download at the link below:
Once you got the package, just right-click on it and go file ‘Properties’, then enable “Allow executing file as program” under Permissions tab. Finally, right-click and select “Run” to launch the painter.
Krita is also available as Snap and Flatpak packages, though they are both NOT updated to v5.2.0 at the moment of writing.
For users hate running apps in sandbox, I’ve uploaded the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04 (arm64 also supported), Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.
NOTE 1: This is an unofficial package built against Debian upstream rules. It seems working good, but without well testing!
NOTE 2: For Ubuntu 22.04, the PPA also contains a few updated version of dependency libraries, that MIGHT cause conflict to other packages in your system!
1. First, 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:ubuntuhandbook1/krita
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then, either launch Software Updater and upgrade the graphics editor from an old version:
or run the command below in terminal to install/upgrade it:
sudo apt install krita
NOTE: Linux Mint may have to run sudo apt update first.
To remove the PPA as well as downgrade the Krita package to stock version, run command:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/krita
Or, open Software & Updates and remove the repository source line under “Other Software” tab (Linux Mint users go to Software Sources -> PPA).
And, remove Krita graphics editor via command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove krita krita-data
That’s all. Enjoy!
The new tiling assistant extension in Ubuntu 23.10 and Ubuntu 24.04 has indicator support! Here’s how to enable it and fix the missing icon.
Ubuntu introduced a new system extension called “Tiling Assistant” since 23.10. With it, user can easily tile window to half or quarter of screen either via mouse dragging or keyboard shortcut.
The extension also has an indicator applet on panel, allows user to select a layout to start tiling with ‘Super + Tab’ look like menu for all opened windows. See the short video:
The feature is useful, however lack of indicator icon on panel, possibly due to bug or building issue. This tutorial is going to show you how to enable the indicator as well as add back the icon, so it will look like the screenshot below:
To enable the indicator, user can either run single command in terminal or use ‘Dconf Editor’ configuration tool.
Option 1: Press ‘Ctrl + Alt + T’ key combination on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run the single command below to do the job:
gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.tiling-assistant show-layout-panel-indicator true
Option 2: Or, first search for and install “Dconf Editor” from App Center.
Then, launch “Dconf Editor” and navigate to org/gnome/shell/extensions/tiling-assistant. Finally, scroll down, find out and turn on ‘show-layout-panel-indicator’.
As mentioned, the indicator is missing icon on panel. To fix it, you may install the community version of “Tiling Assistant” from EGO (extensions.gnome.org), then copy the icon files to use for system built-in extension.
1. First, open App Center, then search for and install “Extension Manager“.
Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu Software/App Center
2. Then, launch “Extension Manager” and use it to search and install “Tiling Assistant” community edition under Browse tab.
3. You do NOT need to turn on the new installed ‘Tiling Assistant’ extension. Here, we just need the icon file from it.
Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, when terminal opens, run commands:
cd ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/tiling-assistant@leleat-on-github/
media‘ sub-folder to system extension directory. To do so, run command:
sudo cp -R media /usr/share/gnome-shell/extensions/tiling-assistant@ubuntu.com/
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter.
Finally, use “Extension Manager” to turn off and turn back on ‘Ubuntu Tiling Assistant’ to apply change. And, remove the user installed ‘Tiling Assistant’ extension. Or, simply log out and back in.
This simple tutorial shows what’s new in gThumb 3.12.4, and how to install it in all current Ubuntu releases.
gThumb image viewer and organizer has rolled out version 3.12.3 and 3.12.4 recently, while Ubuntu still has v3.12.2 in system repositories.
The new releases introduced some new features as well as various bug-fixes. According to the NEWS file, gThumb now supports transparency for Tiff and TGA files, has a new internal video thumbnailer (/usr/libexec/gthumb/video-thumbnailer), though as a beginner I didn’t figure out how to use it.
For better user experience, the image viewer now has zoom gesture support; Zoom slider can zoom in/out in range of 5% and 1000%; Crop tool has new 1.91:1 predefined ratio; And, there are other changes include:
Zoom 1000%
The PPA so far provides packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.
Firstly open terminal either from start menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, paste the command below into terminal and hit run:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks for sudo authentication, then hit Enter to continue.
Adding PPA will automatically refresh the package cache in Ubuntu 20.04 and higher. However old versions and some Ubuntu based systems does not. To do it manually, simply run command in terminal:
sudo apt update
Finally, either run the apt install command in a terminal window to install the image viewer:
sudo apt install gthumb
Or use the Software Updater (Update Manager) utility to receive package updates. Un-check other packages from the PPA if you don’t want them.
You can restore to the stock version of the image viewer and organizer by purging the PPA repository. To do so, simply run command:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
To remove the gThumb package, simply run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove gthumb gthumb-data
You may also keep the gThumb package but remove the Ubuntu PPA, since it contains many other software packages that you don’t prefer. To do so, either run command in terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
Or remove the repository line under ‘Other Software’ tab via Software & Updates utility.
Ubuntu has a “Folder Color” package in system repository, allows to change the color and add emblem for individual folder. However, it’s only available for Ubuntu LTS, and uses the old default ‘Humanity’ icon theme, which looks very outdated.
To fix the issue, a free open-source yaru-colors-folder-color project was created to work along with system default ‘Folder Color‘, so to have folder icon in different colors while keep using default Yaru theme.
The project is discontinued, due to switch to the new “Folder Color” project, which works out-of-the-box with Yaru colors integration. And, not only for Ubuntu LTS, but also supports all current short-term releases, such as Ubuntu 24.04.
With it, user can right-click on any folder, to get the menu to change folder color to ‘Blue’, ‘Brown’, ‘Green’, ‘Grey’, ‘Pink’, ‘Purple’, ‘Red’, and ‘Yellow’. As well as adding emblem such as ‘Important’, ‘In Progress’, ‘Favorite’, ‘Finished’, and ‘New’.
After changing color or adding emblem, the folder will also have a ‘Default‘ option in that menu, to restore to default.
Hugin, the free open-source panorama photo stitching and HDR merging software, rolled out the Beta release of 2023 version few weeks ago.
This Beta so far does not have any release note for changes. But only the changelog according to the changes.txt file in source tarball:
NOTE 1: This is so far a Beta release for testing purpose!
For those who want to try out the new features, I’ve uploaded the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 on both X86_64 and Arm64/hf CPUs.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/hugin-unstable
Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.
2. Ubuntu 18.04, and some Ubuntu based systems may need to manually refresh package cache after adding PPA, though it’s done automatically sine Ubuntu 20.04.
To do so, just run command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install the Beta release of Hugin by running command:
sudo apt install hugin
To downgrade the stock version of Hugin in your system repository, simply open terminal and run command to purge the PPA:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/hugin-unstable
Or, remove the software package by running command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove hugin
And, remove the Ubuntu PPA either by running command in terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/hugin-unstable
Or use “Software & Updates” by remove the source line under “Other Software” tab.
This simple tutorial shows how to make Qt-based applications automatically change their theme to be light or dark, according to system color style in Ubuntu 22.04.
Ubuntu has global option to change system color scheme to light or dark since 22.04. However, Qt apps (e.g., VirtualBox, qBittorrent, keepassxc) always stick to their own color style, except for the title-bar.
To make Qt applications fit into GNOME environment as well as possible, Fedora Linux is working on some projects to do the job.
So far, QGnomePlatform theme is a good choice, though the upstream has been switching to QAdwaitaDecorations.
With it, your Qt applications will:
The QGnomePlatform Theme package is available in system repositories since Ubuntu 23.04. Sadly, it’s built for Qt5 applications only!
For Ubuntu 22.04, I’ve made it into this unofficial PPA for amd64, arm64/hf architectures support.
To install it, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run the 2 commands below one by one:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/qgnomeplatform
sudo apt install qgnomeplatform-qt5
NOTE: Ubuntu 23.04 and Ubuntu 23.10 users can directly run the last apt install command without adding PPA.
After installation, the new theme package should be automatically taken use for your Qt (qt5) apps. Some Qt apps use their own theme options, you have to open their ‘Preferences’ or ‘Settings’ dialog to switch to default or system theme.
If NOT, open ‘Files’ and press Ctrl+H to view hidden files. Then, click editing the ‘.profile‘ file and adding the new line below in the end:
export QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME='gnome'
Finally, log out and back in to apply change.
You can remove the Ubuntu PPA after installation, since it will no longer receive updates. To do so, open terminal and run command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/qgnomeplatform
To remove the theme package, run:
sudo apt remove --autoremove qgnomeplatform-qt5
Also remember to restore the .profile file in your user home.
Your apps do NOT have window border and shadow in Ubuntu 24.04? Here are the quick workarounds for the applications based on Qt UI toolkit.
In Linux Desktop, applications are built with different UI toolkit. While, GNOME, Cinnamon, and XFCE use GTK3/4, KDE and LxQt use Qt for their applications.
Ubuntu by default uses GNOME as default desktop environment, but user may also use Qt applications, such as qbittorrent, ksnip screenshot tool, kdenlive video editor, and more.
Since Ubuntu 23.10, the Qt applications are looking weird. They have very thin border without shadow, that look kinda borderless. This is an upstream issue that also happen in Debian 12 bookworm.
Qt apps in Ubuntu 23.10
If you have similar issue, then this tutorial is going to show you how to fix (workaround) it by 2 ways:
NOTE: You can do both ‘Option 1’ and ‘Option 2’ in Ubuntu. They seem not conflicting with each other.
If most of your Qt apps are running against X11, then this option is a good choice.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open up a terminal window. When it opens, run command to install the required libraries:
sudo apt install libxcb-cursor0 libxcb-composite0
Then, you can try to launch a Qt app, qBittorrent from example, from command line with xcb plugin to see if it works:
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb && qBittorrent
2. If it works, then open “Files“, press Ctrl+H to show hidden files/folders.
Then find out the .profile file, right-click on it and select “Open With Text Editor”.
3. When the file opens, scroll down and add the new line below in the end:
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb
After saving the file, log out and back in. Then, try launching your Qt applications to see the result.
Tips: without log out and back in, you may press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. Then run command export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb to set the environment for this terminal window. Finally, launch Qt app from this terminal.
Fedora Linux has QGnomePlatform project to allow Qt applications to fit into the GNOME environment as well as possible, though it’s no longer maintained due to switch to QAdwaitaDecorations.
The theme works great, and even let your Qt apps automatically switch between light and dark mode according to desktop color style.
Ubuntu 23.04 and Ubuntu 23.10 include the package in system repository, sadly for Qt5 apps only!
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to install the theme package:
sudo apt install qgnomeplatform-qt5
Ubuntu 24.10 user can also install the qgnomeplatform-qt6 package for Qt6 apps support!
2. Next, also open “Files”, press Ctrl+H to view hidden files. Then, edit the ‘.profile‘ file and add new line in the end:
export QT_QPA_PLATFORMTHEME='gnome'
Finally, log out and back in to apply change.
After doing both ‘Option 1’ and ‘Option 2’, all my Qt applications have native window borders, though the Qt6-based qBittorrent is still not fitting well in GNOME.
Qt apps in Ubuntu 23.10 after this tutorial
After doing ‘Option 1’, your Qt applications will run against X11.
If you do need to run app against Wayland, then either launch the app from terminal. For example, launch kdenlive using wayland:
env QT_QPA_PLATFORM=wayland kdenlive
Tips: some apps may be running silently in the background. You need to close it first before running the similar command above.
Or, edit the app shortcut file (usually under /usr/share/appliations), and set the environment by changing the value of ‘Exec’.
For example, edit the app shortcut for Kdenlive, to make it run against wayland:
sudo gnome-text-editor /usr/share/applications/org.kde.kdenlive.desktop
This simple tutorial shows how to fix broken pip installer after installing Python 3.12 from Deadsnakes PPA in Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 20.04.
Due to removal of long deprecated pkgutil.ImpImporter class, pip command may not work for Python 3.12 in your Linux with old setuptools. It either just does not work or outputs following error, when installing anything via pip install:
ERROR: Exception:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/cli/base_command.py", line 165, in exc_logging_wrapper
status = run_func(*args)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py", line 205, in wrapper
return func(self, options, args)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/commands/install.py", line 285, in run
session = self.get_default_session(options)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py", line 75, in get_default_session
self._session = self.enter_context(self._build_session(options))
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/cli/req_command.py", line 89, in _build_session
session = PipSession(
^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/network/session.py", line 282, in __init__
self.headers["User-Agent"] = user_agent()
^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/network/session.py", line 157, in user_agent
setuptools_dist = get_default_environment().get_distribution("setuptools")
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/metadata/__init__.py", line 24, in get_default_environment
from .pkg_resources import Environment
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_internal/metadata/pkg_resources.py", line 9, in
from pip._vendor import pkg_resources
File "/usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/pip/_vendor/pkg_resources/__init__.py", line 2164, in
register_finder(pkgutil.ImpImporter, find_on_path)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
AttributeError: module 'pkgutil' has no attribute 'ImpImporter'. Did you mean: 'zipimporter'?
To fix the issue, you just have to manually install pip for Python 3.12. And, here’s how to do the job in 2 ways.
Python has a built-in module ensurepip, to provide support for bootstrapping the pip installer into an existing Python installation.
First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command:
python3.12 -m ensurepip --upgrade
After that, you should be able to use the pip installer for Python 3.12 by either pip3.12 or python3.12 -m pip command.
In case the previous method does not work for you, Pypa.io provides a script that can do the same job.
First, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to download the script via wget command:
wget https://bootstrap.pypa.io/get-pip.py
Then, just run the script to download & install pip:
python3.12 get-pip.py
After installation, you may run python3.12 -m pip command to use the pip installer. To bind it to pip3.12, just run alias pip3.12="python3.12 -m pip".
That’s all. Enjoy!
