News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
Want to see frames per second (FPS), as well as CPU, GPU, RAM usage in your game screen? Here’s how to do the job in Debian, Ubuntu, and Linux Mint based systems.
Most Linux distributions include a free open-source mangohud package in their system repositories. Which, allows to add a Vulkan and OpenGL overlay for monitoring FPS, temperatures, CPU/GPU load and more while gaming.
And, here’s how to install and configure mangohud for gaming in Debian/Ubuntu based systems.
This tutorial shows how to install and setup RetroArch to play classic video games, including Arcade, Atari, Commodore, Nintendo, Sony Playstation games, in Ubuntu PC or laptop.
RetroArch is a free open-source cross-platform front-end for emulators, game engines, media players, and other applications. It’s the reference frontend for the libretro API, that offers several uncommon technical features, such as multi-pass shader support, real-time rewinding, and video recording.
This tutorial shows how to install the latest dolphin emulator through either Flatpak or PPA repository in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 24.04.
It’s been 8 years since the latest major 5.0 release series. The Nintendo video game console emulator finally announced Dolphin 2407, which uses new date-based versioning scheme. 2407 means version released in July of 2024.
According to the announcement, it adopts a rolling release cycle, and will roll out new releases every few months. The development releases will have sub-numbers, for example, Dolphin 2407-144 means dev build with 144 commits after 2407. And, hotfix releases will have the addition of a suffix, so it can be Dolphin 2407a.
Ubuntu has a few offline games out-of-the-box. Now, the developer team is going to remove them from the installer in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
Since Ubuntu 23.10, Ubuntu Desktop no longer provides ‘Minimal installation‘ option in the installer. Instead, it’s “re-named” to “Default installation” with just the essentials, web browser and basic utilities. User can choose “Full installation” option for the office, media player, games, and other app packages that’s previously installed by default in old Ubuntu releases.
Just a few days ago, the desktop team proposed to remove the games from full installation, then made the decision with wider support.
Meaning that the game packages may be completely removed from the iso image, though they are still available to install in Ubuntu Software (App Center).
Play Final Fantasy XIV Online in Linux? There’s a custom launcher for the game for better experience!
It’s XIVLauncher, a free and open-source launcher that provides a customized WINE version for perfect compatibility with FFXIV.
Since the original launcher is slow and cannot save your password, XIVLauncher provides a faster experience, better Linux integration, as well as following QoL features:
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.
This simple tutorial shows how to install Chatterino, a Twitch Chat app with enhanced features, in Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04, 23.10 via PPA.
Chatterino is a free and open-source chat app for Twitch.tv. With it, you can connect as many channels as you like to, either in tabs or in single tab side-by-side.
The client supports features, such as Chat Replies by right-clicking a message and choose “Reply to message”.
Left clicking a user will open dialog for user info, message history, as well as buttons to block, ignore highlight, etc. And, right-click on user allows to @ mention him/her in message.
It supports emotes from BetterTTV, FrankerFaceZ, and 7TV, allows to drag’n’drop image or paste image from clipboard to upload to custom service, such as imgur.com, though not enabled by default.
Other features include:
The app provides Windows .exe, macOS .dmg, Ubuntu .deb and Linux .AppImage packages for downloading in its Github releases page.
For Ubuntu/Linux Mint users, the official PPA is a better choice to keep the app up-to-date. Which, so far supports Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04, & Ubuntu 23.10 on amd64 (Intel/AMD) and arm64/armhf (Apple M1/M2, Raspberry Pi) devices.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:chatterino/chatterino2
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then, run command to install the chat client:
sudo apt install chatterino
Linux Mint user needs to run sudo apt update first to refresh system package cache.
After installation, you can launch the app from start menu, app grid, or Gnome overview depends on your desktop environment. And, use “Software Updater” (Update Manager) to receive updates.
Then, you can join Twitch channel by their names (the part after www.twitch.tv/ in channel URL). And, see the wiki for more usage.
To uninstall the Twitch chat app, simply open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove chatterino
Also remove the Ubuntu PPA, either by running command in terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:chatterino/chatterino2
Or, use “Software & Updates” to remove source line under “Other Software” tab.
This simple tutorial is going to show beginners how to install the latest stable Battle for Wesnoth (so far 1.16.8) via PPA in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20/21.
The Battle for Wesnoth is an open source, turn-based strategy game features both single player and online multiplayer combat.
Ubuntu includes the game package in its system repository but always old. User can choose to install the official Flatpak package, by running 2 commands one by one in a terminal window.
sudo apt install flatpak
flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.wesnoth.Wesnoth.flatpakref
Though, it’s universal Linux package format that runs in sandbox.
For users who prefer the classic .deb package format, The Debian/Ubuntu Games Team maintains an Ubuntu PPA with the latest stable/devel release (1.16.x stable at the moment) of the game packages. Which, so far supports Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, and their derivatives.
1. First, either search for and open a terminal from start menu or press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal.
2. When terminal opens, paste the command below and hit Enter to add the PPA repository.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pkg-games/wesnoth-devel
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks for sudo authentication, and hit Enter to continue.
3. If a previous 1.16.x version of the game package was installed on your system, launch “Software Updater” (or Update Manager) to upgrade the game:
Or, run command in terminal to install/upgrade the game package:
sudo apt instatll wesnoth-1.16
NOTE: Linux Mint user may first run sudo apt update to refresh package index.
Once installed, search for and launch the game either from start menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your DE and enjoy!
To download the game to the stock version available in system repository, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:pkg-games/wesnoth-devel
This command will install ppa-purge tool and purge the PPA, which also downgrade installed packages.
To simply uninstall the game package, use command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove wesnoth-1.16
Also remove the PPA, either via “Software & Updates” under Other Software tab in Ubuntu, or use “Software Sources” tool in Linux Mint, or run command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:pkg-games/wesnoth-devel
That’s all. Enjoy!
UbRetroArch game emulator has reached 1.16.x release series. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04 via PPA.
The new 1.15.0 release feature steam support for macOS user, though macOS 10.13 or later is required. Also, it supports Apple’s native Gamepad protocol MFi, includes Vulkan video driver that is HDR capable for macOS users.
The new release also features Append Preset and Prepend Preset, allows to stack shader presets now on top of each other. Meaning user can mix various shader presets and then save it as a new preset.
Another big change is the alternative system to runahead – preemptive frames. Which, works by rerunning core logic to “rewrite history” before the current frame. Frames are only rerun when the controller state changes. Runahead is still available, and user can choose which one to use.
Other changes include:
For the changes in the new RetroArch 1.16.0, see the release note.
RetroArch download page offers the downloads for all supported platforms.
For Ubuntu, Linux Mint based systems, the official PPA is a good choice, which so far support for Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.
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:libretro/stable
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. For Linux Mint, user may need to manually refresh package cache by running command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, either run command in terminal to install the emulator:
sudo apt install retroarch libretro-*
Or if an old version was installed, use Software Updater to update to v1.19.x.
After installing the software, search for and launch it from start menu or ‘Activities’ overview.
Then, use “Online Updater” menu option to update core libraries, assets, profiles, database, etc. And, use ‘Content Downloader’ option to grab free contents for selected core.
To remove the software package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove retroarch libretro-*
Also remove the PPA repository, either by running the command below:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:libretro/stable
Or use “Software & Updates” utility by removing the source line under “Other Software” tab.
Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu, is building the popular Steam game platform as Snap package!
The Ubuntu developer team is going to improve gaming experience on this popular Linux distribution. The first step is to simplify the process of setting up gaming environment. As the number 1 game platform, Steam to be first one they focus on.
Meaning Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 22.10 can easily search for and install Steam as snap package from Ubuntu Software:
Steam in Ubuntu Software as Snap package
Or, user can press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run the single command to get it:
snap install steam --beta
The command also work in Ubuntu 18.04, though --beta flag is required at the moment, because the package so far is in earlier stage for testing purpose.
After installed the package, just search for and launch it from ‘Activities’ overview screen:
It automatically install updates and setup runtime, and finally launch the client app for you.
As some users do not like Snap package, there are a few other ways to install Steam app in Ubuntu.
By searching in Ubuntu Software, you’ll see a “Steam Installer” package. Which is an empty package that automatically download steam package from its server and set it up in Ubuntu.
Steam Installer in Ubuntu Software
The package however is a 32-bit package which will also install a list of 32-bit libraries as dependencies.
Steam website offers official .deb package available for Debian/Ubuntu based systems.
User can download and then double-click on the package in file manager to install it.
The game platform is also available as the universal Flatpak package that runs in sandbox.
Just for choice, you may first run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to install the Flatpak daemon:
sudo apt install flatpak
Then, install steam as flatpak package by running command:
flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/com.valvesoftware.Steam.flatpakref
Ubuntu starts working on its official Steam package as Snap. Meaning user can now directly search for and install the game platform from Ubuntu Software. Besides that, there are also an installer script in Ubuntu Software, official .deb package from steam website, and Flatpak package available for choices.
