How to Install VBA-M to Play GBA/GBC Games in Ubuntu

Last updated: January 17, 2024 — Leave a comment

Got GameBoy, GameBoy Advance, or GameBoy Color ROMs? It’s easy to play them in your Linux PC through VBA-M emulator.

There are quite a few game emulators for Linux. You can use PPSSPP to run PSP games, and RetroArch for multiple consoles support. For Nintendo Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, VBA-M is a good choice.

VBA-M, stands for VisualBoyAdvance-M, is the continued development of the now inactive VisualBoy Advance project, with many improvements from various forks.

It’s a free open-source emulator app that included in system repositories for many Linux, including Fedora, Arch, Manjaro, and so forth.

Continue Reading…

In Howtos
 permalink

MenuLibre – Advanced tool to Edit App Shortcuts in Start Menu

Last updated: October 12, 2024 — Leave a comment

Need a tool to edit your apps in the start menu, main menu, or Gnome overview search results? Try MenuLibre!

In most Linux, all app icons you see in start menu, dock launcher, and the desktop, are handled by .desktop config files. By editing the file, you can change the app icon, name, hide the app, add right-click menu option, and choose which file types to be associated with.

I’m written about how to configure .desktop file using a single command.

For graphical ways, there are quite a few apps to do the job, and here are 3 of them:

  • Arronax – well known, but seems not being updated. Though, it’s still working.
  • AppEditor – Elementary OS style tool to edit desktop menu entries. However, lacks pre-build packages.
  • MenuLibre – the one I’m going to introduce in this tutorial.

MenuLibre is an advanced tool written in Python and GTK3 toolkit. With it, user can get started by either searching or browsing in left to select app to edit, or click “+” in top left to create new menu entry for your app.


Continue Reading…

In App Review, Howtos
 permalink

How to Disable Recent Files in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04

Last updated: January 16, 2024 — 1 Comment

This simple tutorial shows how to disable (or auto-delete) “recent” files tab in left side-bar of file manager in Ubuntu 24.04 & 22.04.

GNOME Files, aka Nautilus file manager, has a “Recent” tab in left side-bar, which include all the recent opened photos, videos, and documents.

It’s useful for user or applications to quickly re-open recent edited files. However, when working at a public place, it can be better to disable this feature since it may contain sensitive data.


Continue Reading…

In Howtos ,
 permalink

How to Install Ruby in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

Last updated: December 25, 2024 — 1 Comment

This is a step by step beginners guide shows how to install Ruby and setup local programming environment in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

Ruby is an interpreted, high-level programming language designed with an emphasis on programming productivity and simplicity. It was first released 29 years ago in 1995, by Yukihiro Matsumoto in Japan.

Ruby is available to install in Ubuntu in a few different ways, they include:

  • Snap package.
  • Deb package in system repository.
  • Third-party manager with multiple version support.
  • Build from source.

And, here’s how to install them in Ubuntu step by step.
Continue Reading…

In Howtos
 permalink

GNOME 46 Alpha is out! Better Remote Desktop & Flatpak Support

Last updated: January 14, 2024 — Leave a comment

GNOME announced the first alpha of the next 46 release few days ago on last Friday.

Let’s see what’s new in the desktop for next Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.

First of all, every Gnome release has a new default wallpaper. This time, it’s a blue background embrace the rounded triangle. And, in this release GNOME backgrounds now favors JPEG-XL as a format. I don’t have any photo images in .jxl format. But it seems that Gnome now supports for setting the file format as background wallpaper.

Gnome 46

GNOME Remote Desktop now supports headless remote login via GDM, through for RDP only. And, a systemd service is introduced for single user headless setups. As well, Gnome-Control-Center and classic session are allowing to run in headless mode.

Continue Reading…

In News
 permalink

GNOME Has New System Load (CPU, RAM, etc) Indicator on Top Bar

Last updated: September 2, 2024 — Leave a comment

Don’t remember how many tools, I’ve written about, for monitoring CPU, RAM, Network, and other system resources usage in Ubuntu. But, there’s a brand-new for GNOME, the default desktop environment.

It’s Astra Monitor, a free open-source tool provides highly customizable interface on Gnome top-panel, to monitor CPU, GPU, RAM memory, disk storage, network usage, as well as hardware temperature, voltage, and fan speed.

It supports displaying the data in real-time bar, history graph, percentage number, with user selected order, in left, center, or right corner of panel.

Aster Monitor on GNOME Panel

Besides having quick glance at system resource usage, user can also click on the indicator icon to pop-up a rich drop-down menu with detailed information. By moving cursor over the menu can also display even more about the hardware, resource load, processes, and so forth.
Continue Reading…

In App Review ,
 permalink

Linux Mint 21.3 Released! Cinnamon 6.0 & Initial Wayland Support

Last updated: January 13, 2024 — Leave a comment

Linux Mint announced new 21.3 release, code-name “Virginia”, this Friday.

It’s the 3rd update for the Mint 21 release series, which is based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and uses Kernel 5.15 LTS.

The new Linux Mint 21.3 features Cinnamon Desktop 6.0, with experimental Wayland support. Which, has been default in Ubuntu (since 22.04), Fedora Workstation, and other Linux with recent Gnome. However, there are still many applications do NOT work on wayland.

Mint Wayland session

The new desktop also features a new “Actions” page in System Settings. Like Applets, Extensions, and Desklets, it allows to add context menu (right-click menu) options to file browser & desktop, by downloading add-ons from the official cinnamon spices.
Continue Reading…

In News
 permalink

Disable Turbo Boost / Set Constant CPU Speed in Ubuntu 22.04/24.04

Last updated: January 13, 2024 — Leave a comment

This tutorial shows how to turn off CPU turbo boost, and/or set constant maximum (or minimum) CPU speed in Ubuntu 22.04 and/or Ubuntu 24.04.

Disable turbo boost will limit your CPU speed to prevent running over the base frequency. It’s useful to save power and prevent your computer from overheating. For choice, user can also set constant CPU speed for either minimum power consumption or maximum performance.

Most machine today has option in the BIOS page to enable/disable and even change CPU frequency, however, it’s not flexible.

For Linux, the Kernel has a tool called cpupower can do the job from command line, and user can turn on/off turbo boost through sysfs. Gnome Desktop even has a GRAPHICAL extension (scroll-down to see step 4) to make things easier.

Continue Reading…

In Howtos
 permalink

Install Nicotine+ for Soulseek P2P Network in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04

Last updated: May 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

This simple tutorial shows how to install Nicotine plus, the graphical client for the Soulseek peer-to-peer network, in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 24.04.

Soulseek is an ad-free, spyware free, and plain free file sharing network, make it easy for you to find people with similar interests, and make new discoveries!

And, Nicotine is a lightweight, pleasant, free and open source (FOSS) alternative to the official Soulseek client, while also providing a comprehensive set of features.

The app used to be available in Ubuntu system repository, but removed due to lack of development. It’s later revived and finally added back to Ubuntu 24.04 repository.

For current Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and even Ubuntu 18.04, user can install it from the official PPA.

Nicotine in Ubuntu 22.04

Continue Reading…

In Howtos , ,
 permalink

Kodi 20.3 Released as Last Update for the “Nexus” series

Last updated: January 11, 2024 — Leave a comment

Kodi, formerly XBMC media center, released version 20.3 this Wednesday!

According to the announcements, this is the last release of the 20.x “Nexus” series. While Kodi 21 “Omega” now is in Beta 2 stage.

The release mainly includes bug-fixes and some backports. They include an assortment of fixes for Estuary, including home categories’ focus position, alignment of counter labels and Shift view for collections.

For gaming, the release fixed controllers not assigned to game ports correctly on Android, blue/pink washed out colours on Windows with 10-bit displays, and possible crash in Port dialogue box.

For Linux, it includes fixes for VP9 Profile 2 playback failure, and a leak of EGLFences in the DRM Prime renderer.
Continue Reading…

In News ,
 permalink