Want More Wallpapers in Ubuntu? Install GNOME Backgrounds
Wallpapers – you know I love ’em. Ubuntu 23.04 comes with a small selection of (largely lobster themed) wallpapers out of the box. The choice is neither vast nor varied so you may find yourself looking for some additional ones to liven up your desktop. Well, one fast and easy way to quickly add more high-quality wallpapers to Ubuntu is to install the gnome-backgrounds package. This is available in the Ubuntu repos, though you’ll need to install it using the command line as Ubuntu Software doesn’t show a result for it). This package contains the “official” GNOME wallpaper which you’ll 
#HowTo #EyeCandy #Gnome #Wallpapers
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/05/install-gnome-backgrounds-on-ubuntu
Development Opens on Ubuntu 23.10 ‘Mantic Minotaur’
We’re ago — development has opened on Ubuntu 23.10 “Mantic Minotaur”. “We’re pleased to announce that kinetic is now open for development. auto-sync has been enabled and will run soon”, Ubuntu’s Graham Inggs’ writes in a post on Ubuntu’s main development mailing list. “As usual, we expect a large influx of builds and autopkgtests in this initial period, which will cause delays. Please help with fixing any breakage that occurs,” they add. Excited? Haha, don’t be — not yet! At this stage in development there isn’t anything “new” to mention, much less screenshot for your ocular enjoyment. If you’re big
#News #Development #ManticMinotaur #Ubuntu23_10
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/05/ubuntu-23-04-development-opens
Spotify’s ‘Controversial’ New Design Arrives on Linux
Spotify for Linux user? You’ll notice that the desktop app looks a bit different the next time you open it. The music streaming service, which recently passed 515 million monthly active users, rolled out a redesign of its desktop app on Windows and macOS last week. That revamp is now hitting the official Spotify for Linux client too (it appears to be a server-side change rather than a specific client update). Don’t panic unnecessarily because, as redesigns go, this one isn’t that bad — though (naturally) not everyone is a fan… The “big ticket” item is the revamped sidebar, which
#News #Spotify
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/05/spotify-desktop-app-redesign-2023
Bavarder is a ChatGPT App for Linux Desktops
Fancy talking to ChatGPT from your Linux desktop without needing a web browser? Well, using Bavarder (if I’ve spelt it right) you can. This new app is written in Python and GTK4/libadwaita and its premise is simple: ask ChatGPT something, receive a reply, then quickly copy the answer (or your question) to the clipboard to paste elsewhere. As the user interface is delightfully straightforward you won’t need an AI (or a half-rate blogger) to understand it. You type your query in the top box, hit the blue send button, then wait for a reply in the bottom. You can edit
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/05/bavarder-chatgpt-linux-app
Linux Mint 21.2 Makes Tooltips & Notifications More Colourful
Linux Mint 21.2 is be the next major update to this popular Ubuntu-based Linux distribution and, when it arrives, it’ll be sporting some In his latest monthly update, Linux Mint’s lead developer details work done to improve the look of tooltips, making them more consistent between apps and within the Cinnamon desktop. Right now, in Linux Mint 21.1 and earlier, the appearance of tooltips will differ depending on the app toolkit. Keen to harmonise the aesthetic, Linux Mint 21.2 colours tooltips based on the system’s chosen accent colour. Since Mint’s default accent colour is blue tooltips will default, in the
#News #Cinnamon #LinuxMint
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/05/linux-mint-21-2-tooltip-notification-tweaks
Add an Audio Panel to Quick Settings in GNOME 44
Ubuntu 23.04 ships with GNOME 44 and if, like some, you’d prefer to access MPRIS controls from there, there’s an extension on hand to help. Quick Settings Audio Panel is a new GNOME extension designed for GNOME 44. Its task is simple: create a dedicated audio section in the Quick Settings menu and move audio-related controls there. The master volume slider (and microphone slider, though doesn’t stay permanently visible) are moved into a separate section that at the bottom of the Quick Settings ajar from the rest. The MPRIS control applet also moves from the Notification/Calendar shade and into this
#News #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/05/quick-settings-audio-panel-gnome-extension
Ubuntu 18.04 Standard Support Ends This Month
Ubuntu 18.04 ‘Bionic Beaver’ was a bountiful release that brought a bunch of brilliant improvements to the fore — but alas, the end is nigh. Well, kind of. Ubuntu 18.04 hits end-of-life on May 31, 2023 — but, importantly, it only affects standard support. Ubuntu Pro Subscribers get Extended Support Maintenance (ESM) on Ubuntu 18.04 for a further 5 years, pushing the Beaver’s true EOL date out to 2028. Not sure which support you get? Then you almost certainly have standard support. Ubuntu Pro is not automatic but something you have to specifically sign-up for it (it’s free for personal
#News #BionicBeaver #Eol #Ubuntu18_04Lts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/05/ubuntu-18-04-end-of-support
‘App Hider’ is a GNOME Extension That, Err, Lets You Hide Apps
Sometimes I come across an app, a script, or an extension that does something pretty minor that most people — even myself, sometimes — won’t have need for. And… I kinda want to write about it. Typically, I don’t because the sort of comments those posts get puts me off. Some folks assume that if I blog about something I’m somehow trying to suggest it’s “the best” for a given task. That is rarely the case; I simply like to showcase choice, make people aware of alternatives, surface different ways of doing things, and so on. But today I thought:
#News #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/hide-application-gnome-shell-extension
Ubuntu 23.10 Codename Revealed as “Mantic Minotaur”
The Ubuntu 23.10 codename has been revealed — and it’s a marvellous moniker. As per Launchpad, home of Ubuntu development, Ubuntu 23.10 is codenamed “Mantic Minotaur”. This Machiavellian mandate may manifest as a milestone worthy of …Nope, I’m running out of words beginning with M — but what does it mean? Well, ‘Mantic‘ is an adjective relating to divination or prophecy. A ‘Minotaur‘ is, as I’m sure most of you know, a mythical creature from Greek legend shaped half like a man and half like a bull. Together they mean… Well, nothing. Ubuntu codenames no longer carry the kind of
#News #Codename #Ubuntu23_10
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/ubuntu-23-10-codename-revealed
3 Ways to Fix Pip Install Error on Ubuntu 23.04
If you’ve made the upgrade to Ubuntu 23.04 and try to run ‘pip install’ you’ll notice it now throws an error – but it’s not a bug. The reason why the pip install command doesn’t work in Ubuntu 23.04 is an intentional shift in policy (also taken in Ubuntu’s upstream, Debian) to avoid conflicts between the Python package manager and Ubuntu’s underlying APT. Basically, you can’t run pip install outside a virtual environment in Ubuntu 23.04. If you try to, you get a “externally managed environment” error similar to this: The good news is that there are a number of
#News #Pipx #Python #Ubuntu23_04
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/pip-install-error-externally-managed-environment-fix
How to Enable AppImage Support in Ubuntu 23.04
If you’re an avid user of AppImages wondering why they don’t appear to work in Ubuntu 23.04, I’ve got you covered. But maybe you don’t know there was an issue? On earlier versions of Ubuntu you download an .appimage, mark it executable (i.e. give it permission to run through the file manager’s Properties dialog), then double-click on it to open it. The app appears, you use it, everyone’s happy. In Ubuntu 23.04 you can’t do that. Lest anyone’s face redden, the reason why they don’t work is not down to any kind of ideological-imposed limitation. Rather, Ubuntu 23.04 uses a
#HowTo #Appimages #Ubuntu23_04
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/appimages-libfuse2-ubuntu-23-04
Linux Kernel 6.3 Released, This is What’s New
A new version of the Linux kernel is out with an assortment of hardware, performance, and security improvements. Announcing the release of Linux 6.3 over on Linux kernel mailing list (LKML) Linus Torvalds remarked “…here we are, right on schedule, with the 6.3 release out and ready for your enjoyment”. So what’s new? Let’s take a breezy whip through the new n’ notable. Linux 6.3: New Features As you’d expect Linux kernel 6.3 features a ton of enablement and support for upcoming and yet-to-be-released CPUs and graphics hardware from Intel and AMD. As exciting (and necessary) as these are they’re
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/linux-kernel-6-3-features
Google Chrome 114 Will Respect Dark Mode on Linux
If you use Google Chrome (or Chromium, before anyone hisses) you may have noticed that websites you visit in it don’t respect your dark mode preference on Linux. The window chrome totally matches, but the content of web pages and chrome://urls (which do support dark mode) don’t change. Here’s an example in Google Chrome 112 (which at the time of writing is the most recent stable release). When I load the redesigned Flathub website with dark mode enabled on my system the website content remains light despite supporting the prefers-color-scheme media query: Light remains the default when loading other websites
#News #DarkMode #Development #GoogleChrome
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/google-chrome-114-will-respect-dark-mode-on-linux
10 Things To Do After Installing Ubuntu 23.04
I told myself I wasn’t going to write a list of things to do after installing Ubuntu 23.04 because, honestly, Ubuntu doesn’t need that much tweaking these days — I think that’s called progress 😌. And then… Well, then I installed Ubuntu 23.04 on my old Lenovo laptop (tangent: it was running 22.04 LTS and I didn’t have the patience to upgrade it to Ubuntu 22.10, and then upgrade to Ubuntu 23.04 – I know, I’m lazy). Turns out, there are still a few post-install tweaks I like to make — a few are specific to this release (well, GNOME
#Feature #10ThingsToDo
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-23-04
Ubuntu 23.04 Flavors: What’s New?
Arriving alongside the Ubuntu 23.04 release are new versions of official community flavours. This time around there’s a newbie in the pack: Ubuntu Cinnamon, welcomed into the Ubuntu flavour family back in March after several years as an unofficial Ubuntu remix. In this post I share a concise overview of what new features and changes are present in the most popular Ubuntu flavours, along with downloads links so you can download them to test out yourself. Unless otherwise noted, all flavours inherit Ubuntu’s foundational packages, so you get the same Linux 6.2 kernel, updated graphics drivers, app updates, refreshed tooling,
#News #Flavors #Kubuntu #Ubuntu23_04 #UbuntuBudgie #UbuntuCinnamon #UbuntuMate #Xubuntu
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/ubuntu-23-04-flavors-released
Ubuntu 23.04 is Now Available to Download
It’s alive — Ubuntu 23.04 “Lunar Lobster” is now available to download. This update is the latest short-term release of the Ubuntu Linux operating system and is supported by 9 months of ongoing support, bug fixes, and critical app updates. This might not sound like a long time but Ubuntu 23.10 is released in 6 months time and users of this release will be able to upgrade to it. If you asked me to describe Ubuntu 23.04 in one word I’d choose: “improvement”. Nothing in this release is revolutionary, and that’s not a bad thing. There’s a big user experience
#News #LunarLobster #Ubuntu23_04
How to Upgrade to Ubuntu 23.04 from Ubuntu 22.10
Want to upgrade to Ubuntu 23.04 from Ubuntu 22.10? If you’re full up-to-date and you have an active internet connection, you can – and in this post I run through the steps to do it. As Ubuntu 22.10 is end of life in July so anyone using it will have to upgrade to Ubuntu 23.04 to continue getting updates. If you don’t want the hassle of needing to upgrade every 6 to 9 months you might want to consider doing a fresh install of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS as it’s supported until 2027. Anyway, you’re here cos you want to upgrade, so let’s
#HowTo #LunarLobster #Ubuntu23_04
Canonical Bringing Livepatch Support to HWE Kernels
Ubuntu Pro subscribers will be able to apply reboot-free updates to more Linux kernels from July. As spotted by our friends at Neowin, Canonical announced Livepatch support for Hardware Enablement (HWE) kernels starting this summer. The first HWE kernel being covered as part of this support extension is Linux 6.2, which will be backported from the Ubuntu 23.04 release and pushed out to users of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Livepatch is a feature only available on long-term support (LTS) versions of Ubuntu for users with an active Ubuntu Pro subscription. When enabled, Livepatch allows users to install kernel updates (on eligible
#News #Canonical #Hwe #Livepatch #Ubuntu22_04Lts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/ubuntu-livepatch-hwe-kernels
Ubuntu 23.04: What’s New? [Video]
The Ubuntu 23.04 release is out on April 20 and to help hype its arrival I put together a video to show off the most striking changes. Not that news of what’s new in Ubuntu 23.04 will be a surprise to those of you who read this blog regularly — oh, I know: I make that exact same joke every six months I post one of “these”. Thing is, I could ask ChatGPT for new material but since it was trained on my typo-laden content, it’d likely be just as derivative 😅. All told, Ubuntu 23.04 is a minor but
#News #Video #LunarLobster #Ubuntu23_04
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/ubuntu-23-04-whats-new-video
Mozilla Firefox 112 Released with Low-Key Iterative Improvements
The latest monthly release of Mozilla Firefox is available to download, right on schedule. Firefox 112 intros a handful of changes that gives some extra buffs to this brilliant open-source web-browser. Like what? Well, Mozilla mention the ability to right-click in a password field to access a ‘reveal password’ option. This sounds a bit of a strange addition, granted. But not all password fields pre-populated with your saved credentials offer an option to un-asterisk credentials, so it may be useful. Keeping with the “nice improvement, but I probably won’t use this” vein, Firefox 112 can import browser data from the
#News #AppUpdates #Firefox
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/04/mozilla-firefox-112-released
