News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
Fedora workstation displays Fedora logo on the desktop for the default wallpaper, now there’s an extension that can do the similar job in Ubuntu Desktop, Arch, and Manjaro Linux with GNOME 42 ~ 46.
It’s “Desktop Logo”, which allows to add any user selected image into desktop as background logo, resize and place it in top-left, top-center, top-right, center, bottom-left, bottom-center, or bottom-right of screen.
MPV media player released version 0.37.0 yesterday! Here are the new features and Ubuntu PPA for installing the .deb package in Ubuntu, Linux Mint.
MPV 0.37.0 has big improvements for Apple users. It added Vulkan support in vo_gpu and vo_gnu_next. And, it now supports VideoToolbox hardware decoding, a low-level framework that provides direct access to hardware encoders and decoders.
The release also added support for delivery system ISDB-T for dvb streaming, support SPDIF passthrough for OSS audio, and can play up to 64 channels.
For libmpv library, the release added new mpv_time_ns() to allow more precise time based on nanoseconds.
For command line, MPV 0.37.0 added new options, they include:
--hdr-peak-percentile and --libplacebo-opts for vo_gpu_next.--term-remaining-playtime for player.--x11-wid-title for x11.--subs-match-os-language to replace ‘auto’ option for player.--video-crop for vo.--window-corners, --window-affinity, --title-bar, --backdrop-type for win32.--sub-stretch-durations for sub.See the official manual about the new command options. And, see the github release page for more changes about MPV 0.37.0.
The new release will be available in Ubuntu Software (App Center) in next few days as Snap package.
For those who prefer the classic .deb package format, here’s the PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.
1. Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, paste the command below and hit run:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/mpv
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Linux Mint 21 user needs to run command in terminal to manually refresh the package cache:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install mpv media player v0.37.0 by running command:
sudo apt install mpv
To verify, run mpv --version command in terminal.
Tips: for hardware video acceleration, first make sure your graphics driver support it, then edit ‘/etc/mpv/mpv.conf‘ file and add hwdec=auto. For the missing header-bar, use gpu-context=x11egl.
You can choose to purge the PPA repository, which will also downgrade mpv to the stock version in system repository. To do so, open terminal and run command:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/mpv
Or, remove PPA by running command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/mpv
To remove the mpv media player, use command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove mpv
Mozilla announced Firefox 120.0 a day ago as the latest stable release of the popular web browser.
The new release continue adding new security improvements. In the right-click menu of web links, there’s now “Copy Link Without Site Tracking” to ensure that copied links no longer contain tracking information.
The ‘Privacy & Security’ setting page now has an option “Tell websites not to sell or share my data“.
For Germany users, Cookie Banner Blocker and URL Tracking Protection by default in private windows to auto-refuse cookies, and remove non-essential URL query parameters.
For Ubuntu, both Firefox and Chromium (in system repository) are Snap packages run in sandbox. Since 120.0 release, user can now import data from Chromium to Firefox, when both web browsers are installed as Snap packages.
Other changes in Firefox 120.0 include:
The official release note as well as download link is available in the Mozilla website via the link:
For Ubuntu users with the pre-installed Firefox package, it has been already updated to the new 120.0 release. Just check it via menu “Help -> About Firefox”.
For those who prefer the classic .deb package format, the Mozilla Team PPA has made the package for all current Ubuntu releases, however, Ubuntu 22.04 users need to manually set PPA priority.
For Ubuntu 23.10, Fedora 39, Arch and other Linux with GNOME Desktop 45, there’s now new system tray applet to monitor system resource utilization.
There are quite a few tools for monitoring system resource utilization. While, Gnome-Stats-Plus is a new one that adds real-time graphs in right-corner of top-panel, allowing users to keep a close eye on their system’s performance.
By moving mouse cursor over the indicator icon, it will show you a bigger graph with real-time and historical CPU load, memory usage, network speed, and swap area usage.
And, clicking on the icon will launch system monitor application.
The indicator is available as a Gnome shell extension, which so far supports only GNOME 45.
1. Install gtop library
First, open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard) and run command to install the gtop system monitoring library:
sudo apt install gir1.2-gtop-2.0 libgtop2-dev
For Fedora run sudo dnf install libgtop2, and Arch can install it via sudo pacman -S libgtop command.
2. Install the Gnome Extension
Ubuntu 23.10 can first launch App Center, and use it to search & install “Extension Manager” app.
Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu Software/App Center
Then, launch “Extension Manager” and use it to search & install “SystemStatsPlus” extension under Browse tab.
For Fedora 39 and Arch Linux, simply open the extension web page via the link below:
Then, use the ON/OFF switch to install it. Install browser extension via the link in the page, if you don’t see the toggle switch, and refresh.
3. Restart Gnome Shell
The indicator applet should appear in top-panel immediately after installation. If NOT, try restarting Gnome Shell.
For the default Wayland session, just log out and back in to restart the shell.
In the classic Xorg session, user can press Alt+F2, type r in pop-up ‘Run a command’ box, and hit Enter.
To uninstall the extension, either use “Extension Manager” or “Gnome Extensions” app (both available in Gnome Software).
Or, turn off the toggle switch in the extension web page via the link button above.
UPDATE May 2024: .NET 8 is finally made into Ubuntu 22.04 main repository!! Just open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run 2 commands one by one to install:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install dotnet8
Microsoft announced .NET 8 a few days ago. Here’s a step by step guide shows how to install it in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS (Also works in Ubuntu 20.04).
.NET 8 is a new LTS release with 3 years support. It features new code generator “Dynamic Profile-Guided Optimization” (PGO), AVX-512 instruction set, out-of-the-box AI features, first preview of .NET Aspire, native AoT, and various other changes. See the release note for details.
And, here are 2 ways to install the .NET 8 in current Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. They are Microsoft’s official repository and Ubuntu PPA.
Ubuntu has included the new release package into system repository for Ubuntu 23.10 and next Ubuntu 24.04.
Don’t know if it will be backported to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS repository, but here you can install it through Microsoft’s official apt repository. And, the repository also supports Ubuntu 20.04!
1. install the key
To add the Microsoft repository, you have to first download & install the key file.
To do so, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run single command:
sudo wget -O - https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/keyrings/microsoft.gpg
This command will download the key, dearmor it (so it’s unreadable code, see the screenshot), and save to ‘/etc/apt/keyrings’ directory.
2. Add the Microsoft repository
Next, in terminal window, run command to create & edit the sources file:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft.sources
Depends on your desktop environment, replace gedit with mousepad for XFCE, pluma for MATE, or nano that works in most cases.
When the file opens, add following lines and save it.
Types: deb URIs: https://packages.microsoft.com/ubuntu/22.04/prod/ Suites: jammy Components: main Architectures: amd64 Signed-By: /etc/apt/keyrings/microsoft.gpg
For Ubuntu 20.04, replace 22.04 with 20.04, and jammy with focal.
3. Install .NET 8
Finally, update system package cache by running command:
sudo apt update
And, install .NET 8 SDK, runtime:
sudo apt install dotnet-sdk-8.0
I’m not .NET developer, but you can try dotnet --version after installation to verify.
For choice, .NET 8 is also available to install through an Ubuntu PPA. It so far supports Ubuntu 22.04 on amd64 (Intel/AMD) and arm64 (e.g., Raspberry Pi) devices.
This is a third-party PPA, but maintained by the same people who maintain the .NET8 package in Ubuntu’s system repository for 23.10 & 24.04.
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:dotnet/dotnet8
2. Linux Mint 21 users need to manually refresh the package cache after adding PPA, by running command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, just run command to install .net8:
sudo apt install dotnet8
The command will install the host, sdk, runtime, as well as other packages automatically as dependencies.
To remove .NET 8, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove aspnetcore-runtime-8.0 dotnet-sdk-8.0 dotnet-runtime-8.0 dotnet8
And, remove the Microsoft repository by running the 2 commands below to delete sources and key files:
sudo rm /etc/apt/keyrings/microsoft.gpg
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/microsoft.sources
Finally, run sudo apt update to refresh cache.
If you installed the package from Ubuntu PPA, also run the apt remove command above to uninstall. Then, use the command below to remove the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:dotnet/dotnet8
For HandBrake users who prefer the classic .deb package, there’s now new PPA for all current, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and their based systems, such as Linux Mint 20/21, Pop! OS, Zorin OS 17.
HandBrake announced the new major 1.7.0 release a few days ago. The release features new AMD VCN AV1 encoder, NVIDIA NVENC AV1 encoder, SVT-AV1 multi-pass ABR mode, Apple VideoToolbox hardware presets, improved QSV support, drag and drop support for video scanning, and various other changes. See the github releases page for details.
HandBrake 1.7.0 Dark Mode
HandBrake provides official Linux package through .flatpak package (see link above). It’s can be installed in most Linux, however, run in sandbox.
For those prefer Ubuntu PPA, I’ve uploaded the new release package into this unofficial PPA with all current Ubuntu releases, on amd64 (Intel/AMD) and arm64 (Apple Silicon, Raspberry Pi) CPUs support.
Thanks to the official guide, the new package in PPA is built with the latest run-time libraries (e.g., FFmpeg 7.0, libdvdnav & libdvdread, SVT-AV1 1.7.0) into single bundle. Meaning, it can be installed on old Ubuntu releases (22.04), without worrying about dependencies mis-match. Though, the .deb package size increased to be around 10 MiB.
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/handbrake
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Linux Mint users need to manually update the system package cache, after adding PPA, by running command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install the new HandBrake package via command:
sudo apt install handbrake
For choice, you may also run sudo apt install handbrake-cli to install the command line tool
When installation done, search for and launch the video transcoder from either start/application menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your desktop environment.
To uninstall the Ubuntu PPA, either open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/handbrake
or, just remove the source line using ‘Software & Updates’ tool under “Other Software” tab.
To remove the HandBrake video transcoder, use command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove handbrake handbrake-cli
That’s all. Enjoy!
Shotwell photo viewer and organizer released new 0.32.3 version a day ago with minor updates.
The release came with some bug-fixes and minor changes, they include:
As well, there’s new/updated translations included in this release. They include: id.po, courtesy of Andika Triwidada; eu.po, courtesy of Asier Sarasua Garmendia; hu.po, courtesy of Balázs Úr; sl.po, courtesy of Martin Srebotnjak.
Shotwell is available to install in Ubuntu via a few different ways.
Snap package
Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu) maintains Shotwell as Snap package, which runs in sandbox. However, it’s stuck at 0.32.1 at the moment of writing.
The snap package is available to install in Ubuntu Software (or App Center for 23.10).
Flatpak package
Shotwell is also available to install as Flatpak package, another universal Linux package format runs in sandbox. It’s marked as maintained by the Shotwell developers, but NOT verified.
The Flatpak is at version of 0.32.2 at the moment of writing (check HERE). Ubuntu user can press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and run 2 commands one by one to install it:
sudo apt install flatpak
flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gnome.Shotwell.flatpakref
Ubuntu PPA
For those who prefer the classic native .deb package format, I’ve upload the package into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04, 23.04, and 23.10.
1. First, search for and open terminal from your system application menu, or press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/shotwell
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Next, launch Software Updater (Update Manager), then install the updates for the software package.
Or, run command in terminal to install/upgrade the Shotwell package:
sudo apt install shotwell
NOTE: Linux Mint user may need to run sudo apt update first to refresh package cache.
Finally, either right-click on your photo images to select open with the photo manager, or search for and launch shotwell from ‘Activities’ overview and enjoy!
For any issue, it’s recommended to purge the Ubuntu PPA. Which, will remove PPA and downgrade shotwell to the pre-installed version.
To do so, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/shotwell
For the Snap package, just remove it from Ubuntu Software or App Center. While, Flatpak package can be removed by running the command below in a terminal window:
flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.gnome.Shotwell
For users of Audacity 3.4.x, the popular audio editor and recorder app just announced the second update for this release series.
It’s Audacity 3.4.2 that includes following bug-fixes:
Audacity is available to install Ubuntu Linux through a few different ways. They include AppImage, Ubuntu PPA, and Flatpak. Just choose either one that you prefer.
Option 1: AppImage (official)
It provides official macOS .dmg, Windows .exe, and Linux .AppImage packages available to download at the link below:
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 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 3.4.2 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
To uninstall Audacity 3.4.2 PPA package, you have 2 choices:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity
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.
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.
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.
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.
Since Ubuntu 23.10 with default GNOME 45 desktop, there’s no longer app menu indicator in top-panel next to workspace indicator (previously ‘Activities’).
It’s an indicator menu for current running app window in focus, which has few basic options such as “New Window” and “Quit”.
GNOME has proposed to replace the app menu with a new way for indicating window focus. GNOME 45 takes the first step by removing it from top-panel.
For those who prefer the top panel app menu, it’s easy to get it back by using an extension. And, here’s how to do the trick step by step.
NOTE: This tutorial should work in Ubuntu 23.10, Ubuntu 24.04, Fedora 39, Manjaro, Arch, and other Linux with GNOME 45/46.
For Ubuntu 23.10 and Ubuntu 24.04, firstly launch App Center, then search for and install “Extension Manager” app.
Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu Software/App Center
Next, launch “Extension Manager”, and use it to search & install the “App menu is back” extension, under Browse tab.
After installing the extension, the app menu should be back in top-panel, next to the ‘pill and dot’ workspace indicator once you selected any app window.
For Fedora 39 and other Linux, just launch web browser and go to the extension page in EGO via the link below:
Then, use the ON/OFF switch in the page to install the extension. In case you don’t see the toggle switch, install web browser extension via the link it prompted and refresh the page.
That’s it. Enjoy!
