This quick tutorial shows you how to reset Gnome Shell to its original status in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
Note following steps will reset most settings to its original status in the default Gnome 3 desktop, but no guarantee of ALL Gnome appearances.
1. As you may already know, there’s a graphical tool Gnome Tweaks that allows to tweak advanced Gnome 3 settings. And it can be installed in Ubuntu Software:
2. Gnome Tweaks offers an option “Reset to Defaults“. It resets desktop theme, icons, fonts, show desktop icons, and some application window settings.
3. Some changes (e.g., Gnome extensions, favorites applications on left launcher, and some dconf database changes) won’t revert back via the Gnome Tweaks option.
If need, you can run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to reset all the settings:
For those who want to change the look and feel of the left panel “Ubuntu Dock” in Ubuntu 18.04, Dash to Dock is a Gnome extension that replaces left panel with Mac OS style Dock application launcher.
Dash to Dock is a popular Gnome extension that Ubuntu Dock (the default left panel) is forked from. With it, you can get Ubuntu 18.04 desktop looks like:
1. First time to install a Gnome extension? Then you need to install an add-on for your web browser:
This quick tutorial is going to show you how to enable hibernate option in the top-right corner power menu in Ubuntu 18.04. So you’ll get a similar menu as the picture shows:
Test if hibernate works
First of first, you have to make sure hibernate works in command line.
1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app launcher. When it opens, run command:
sudo systemctl hibernate
Please SAVE all of your work before hitting enter, in case something goes wrong and your open applications and documents cannot be recovered.
2. After you computer turns off, switch it back on. Did your open applications re-open?
UPDATE: Hibernate does not work out-of-the-box since Ubuntu 20.04, at least in my case, you have to enable it by adding Kernel parameter in boot menu. See this tutorial for Ubuntu 20.04 & higher.
Enable Hibernate in Menus
If hibernate works in command line, continue enable it in the menus via following steps.
1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to create a configuration file:
When the file opens, paste following content and save it.
[Re-enable hibernate by default in upower]
Identity=unix-user:*
Action=org.freedesktop.upower.hibernate
ResultActive=yes
[Re-enable hibernate by default in logind]
Identity=unix-user:*
Action=org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate;org.freedesktop.login1.handle-hibernate-key;org.freedesktop.login1;org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate-multiple-sessions;org.freedesktop.login1.hibernate-ignore-inhibit
ResultActive=yes
2. Restart your computer and click the link to install the gnome extension: Hibernate Status Button.
The Gnome login screen normally shows a list of available users to log in as. For those who want to disable showing the user list, and manually type a username to login with, below I will show you how.
Open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, when it opens, run following commands one by one:
1. Run command to get access to root:
sudo -i
Type in your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.
2. In the terminal, run command to allow gdm to make connections to the X server:
xhost +SI:localuser:gdm
3. Then switch to user gdm, which is required to run gsettings to configure gdm settings.
su gdm -l -s /bin/bash
Update May 2020: For Ubuntu 20.04, you may need to run one more command:
export DISPLAY=:0
4. Finally hide user list from login screen using Gsettings:
gsettings set org.gnome.login-screen disable-user-list true
After that, restart your computer and enjoy!
How to Restore
To restore the change, open terminal and re-do previous steps, except running the last command with:
gsettings set org.gnome.login-screen disable-user-list false
The trash can icon is moved from left launcher to desktop icon since Ubuntu switched back to Gnome Desktop.
For those using files context menu or keyboard shortcut to delete file folders, and getting access to trash can via Files (nautilus file browser), the desktop icon is kinda useless and you may want to remove it.
You can easily remove (hide) the trash can desktop icon by doing following steps:
1. Open Ubuntu Software, search for and install Gnome Tweaks, a Gnome 3 desktop configuration tool.
2. Once installed, launch Gnome Tweaks and navigate to Desktop pane. There you can see the toggles to show or hide some desktop icons.
Touchpad Indicator is system tray applet to configure laptop touchpad settings and actions in Ubuntu desktop.
With Touchpad Indicator, you can easily:
Disable / Enable touchpad with indicator menu or keyboard shortcut.
Disable touchpad when mouse is plugged.
Disable touchpad while typing.
Also do basic settings for natural scrolling, tapping, touchpad speed, etc.
How to Install Touchpad Indicator in Ubuntu:
The software is available in the developer’s PPA for all current Ubuntu releases.
Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “terminal” from application launcher. When it opens, do followings steps to install the indicator:
1. Run command to add the PPA.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao
Type in your password (no visual feedback while typing due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter.
2. Then check updates and install the software by running following commands one by one:
The final beta of Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver LTS (Long Term Support) was released a few hours ago.
Ubuntu 18.04 Beta 2 features iso images for Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Cloud products. Also Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu images are available.
The beta includes updated versions of most of core set of packages, including a current 4.15 kernel, and much more. And the final release of Ubuntu 18.04 will be available on April 26.
The first beta of Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver LTS (Long Term Support) was released last night.
Ubuntu 18.04 Beta 1 features images for Kubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, and Xubuntu.
NOTE the pre-releases of Ubuntu 18.04 are not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.
It’s been a long time last time I wrote about how to enable “Open as root” or “Open as Administrator” in Nautilus’ context menu.
A Nautilus extension called Nautilus Admin has been created for a period of time. It’s a simply Python script that adds some administrative actions to the right-click menu:
Open as Administrator: opens a folder in a new Nautilus window running with administrator (root) privileges.
Edit as Administrator: opens a file in a Gedit window running with administrator (root) privileges.
To install the Nautilus extension:
The extension is available for all current Ubuntu releases: Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and Ubuntu 18.04.
1. Simply open “Terminal” either via Ctrl+Alt+T or from app launcher. Then run command:
sudo apt-get install nautilus-admin
Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.
2. Then restart Nautilus via command:
nautilus -q
That’s it. Open nautilus file browser again and enjoy with new context menu options!