Check Battery Status on Ubuntu Using This GNOME Extension
Looking for an easy way to get a top-level overview of your laptop’s battery health on Ubuntu? If so, check out Battery Status by Spanish blog Atareao. They’ve created a GNOME extension that reminds me a lot of the fancy menu bar apps available for macOS. Y’know, the ones that convey laptop battery health via a well designed panel applet replete with colourful graphs and reams of info. Battery Status provides something similar for the Ubuntu desktop (though it works wherever GNOME Shell does). While it’s not quite as detailed as, say, something like Coconut Battery its still a solid 
#Download #Atareao #Battery #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/battery-status-health-applet-for-ubuntu
An App to Control Your Elgato Key Lights on Linux
I have a set of Elgato lights that I use for filming and they’re very nice. The only problem is that I can only control the brightness and colour temperature on Windows or macOS (or Android and iOS) as those are the only platforms the official Elgato Control Centre software supports. But open source software to the rescue. Keylight Control is billed as “a Linux compatible application for controlling the Elgato Key Lights” and—shock—that’s exactly what it is. As it’s distributed as an .appimage it will (in theory) work on pretty much any Linux distro out there. I took it
#Apps #Appimages #Elgato #Iot
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/elgato-key-light-control-linux
GNOME 42 Adds Support for ‘Dark Wallpapers’
Among the (many) new features in GNOME 42 is an interesting one related to wallpapers (or desktop backgrounds, if you rather). Simply put: when the new standardised dark mode setting is enabled in GNOME 42 a ‘dark’ version of the default wallpaper is applied. When light mode is enabled, a ‘light’ version of the wallpaper is applied. If this all sounds a bit familiar it’s probably because I mentioned this was on the way last month when I wrote about the streamlining of wallpaper options in GNOME 42. Naturally, you are free to override this behaviour and set any image
#News #Wallpaper #Gnome42
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/gnomr-42-dark-background-preference
Firefox 97 Released with Modest Collection of Changes
Mozilla Firefox 97 is now available to download. There aren’t many “big” changes in this release (well, unless you count support for Windows 11 scrollbars) but there is, as always, a healthy chunk of under-the-hood enhancements aimed at improving the performance, security, and privacy. Those loving Firefox’s ongoing obsession with “colour ways” will be delighted to hear six new colour way themes are present in this update, once again for a limited time only. Firefox will likely tell you about the new schemes after you install the update, but you can access them at any time from the “Manage Themes”
#Apps #News #AppUpdates #Firefox #Mozilla
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/whats-new-in-mozilla-firefox-97
KDE Plasma 5.24 Released, This is What’s New
KDE Plasma 5.24 is out and as you'd expect it is chock full of performance improvements, user interface refinements, and even some handy new features.
#News #DesktopEnvironments #Kde #KdePlasma
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/kde-plasma-5-24-released-this-is-whats-new
Use ‘TextSnatcher’ to Copy Text from Images to Your Clipboard on Linux
This nifty utility makes it easy to copy test from anything you see on your screen straight to your clipboard, ready to paste someplace else — nice!
#Apps #Elementary #FlathubApps #FlatpakApps #Ocr #TextSnatcher
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/textsnatcher-copy-text-from-images-linux
Ubuntu MATE 22.04 Will Include Flatpak by Default
Flatpak support will be included in Ubuntu MATE 22.04 out of the box — making it the first official Ubuntu flavour to offer it. All Ubuntu flavours ship with Snap support preinstalled as well the ability to use regular apt repos. Flatpak, however, is something users have to go out of their way to install at a later date. But Ubuntu MATE fans running the next LTS will find they don’t need to as Flatpak is already present. Better yet, all the required desktop integrations with portals are present and working by default. A tiny but telling step; further proof
#News #Flatpak #Ubuntu22_04Lts #UbuntuMate
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/ubuntu-mate-22-04-flatpak-support
Ubuntu 22.04 May Offer a Choice of System Accent Colour
A choice of system accent colour could be on offer in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. Devs have already created a working demo to pick an accent colour for Yaru.
#Dev #News #AccentColours #EyeCandy #Ubuntu22_04Lts #Yaru
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/ubuntu-22-04-accent-colors
Ubuntu 22.04 Dailies Show an Ubuntu Pro Notification on Login
When I wrote about the new “Ubuntu Pro” section in Ubuntu 22.04‘s software settings panel I said the banner wasn’t a nag screen or a desktop notification but something you had to go out of your way to see. Not so in the latest daily builds of the Jammy Jellyfish. Upon login today I was greeted by a desktop notification asking ‘do you want to enable Ubuntu Pro’. Two actions are available in the notification: “Don’t remind me again” and “Enable Ubuntu Pro” (though thanks to a bug the notification will appear on every login even after clicking “don’t remind
#Dev #News #Canonical #Ubuntu22_04Lts #UbuntuAdvantage #UbuntuPro
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/ubuntu-22-04-ubuntu-pro-notification
De-framed: GNOME Shell Removes its Curvy Panel Corners
GNOME Shell’s unique panel corners are being retired after more than a decade of decorating peoples desktops. If you don’t use a vanilla GNOME session you might not know what these are. Many downstreams, including Ubuntu, patch out this subtle frame in their respective Shell .css. See if you can spot panel corners in this screenshot of stock GNOME Shell running on Fedora: No? I’ll make it easier: Hey: I did say they were subtle! This curvaceous cornicing helps to frame the desktop workspace, and it neatly “hugs” the corners of maximised windows (in themes that use rounded corners) for
#Dev #Gnome #Gnome42 #GnomeShell
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/gnome-shell-panel-corners-removed
LibreOffice 7.3 Released, This is What’s New
LibreOffice 7.3 has been released, and is now available to download. This release sees a score of improvements aimed at making it easier for users to migrate from Microsoft Office to LibreOffice, as well as those who regularly swap documents between the two office suites. To this end, LibreOffice devs have spent time developing new features to handle change tracking in tables and text within documents. This, The Document Foundation say will have a “positive impact” on interoperability throughout all Microsoft Office formats. Large files also get a performance boost thanks to upticks in rendering speed, and a glut of
#News #AppUpdates #Libreoffice
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/libreoffice-7-3-released-this-is-whats-new
Canonical, NASA, and Award-Winning Artist Team Up for Space Art Project
Canonical today announced new partnerships with NASA, the International Space Station (ISS) and award winning artist. Ubuntu (indeed Linux in general) is already used in a variety of practical space applications, from powering smart robots to helping rovers rove. But one area they’ve yet to boldly go is in to the realm of cosmic creativity. Until now, that is. Boundary-pushing artist Cecilie Waagner Falkenstrøm and her team at ARTificial Mind hope to “advance the next epoch of digital art”. Their artistic tools of choice? Ubuntu Core, artificial intelligence, and, er, the universe. The far-out composition is called “Celestium“. It’s described
#News #Iot #Nasa #Space #UbuntuCore
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/ubuntu-core-space-station-art-iss-nasa
‘Phinger’ is a Pointedly Cool Cursor Theme for Linux Desktops
I'm writing about a cursor theme cos I never write about cursor themes! Phinger Cursors is a high-quality pointer pack suitable for light and dark desktops.
#Themes #CursorThemes #EyeCandy
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/02/phinger-cursor-theme-for-linux
‘Burn My Windows’ Extension Adds Breaking Glass Effect & More Options
New effects and options are included in the latest release of the ‘Burn my Windows’ GNOME Shell extension. The effervescent animation add-on has won itself a legion of fans thanks to its crop of cool animated window closing effects that look good and aren’t super-heavy on system resources. In its latest update, a ‘Breaking Glass’ effect has been appended to add-on’s animation armoury, albeit only for GNOME 40 and above. As with other effect there are controls to adjust animation time, scale, gravity, and “blow force”. You can also choose to make the window shatter from the location of the
#News #Compiz #EyeCandy #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/01/burn-my-windows-extension-updated-again
New Theme Brings libadwaita’s Sleek Looks to Older GTK Apps
If you love the look of libadwaita and want to bring its style to older apps on your desktop, check out the new adw-gtk theme by designer ~lassekongo83.
#Themes #GtkThemes #Libadwaita
Ubuntu is Axing the Partner Repo Nobody Uses
Ubuntu wants to close the Canonical Partner repository ahead of the Ubuntu 22.04 LTS release. This isn't a shock as it's been empty for more than a year.
#News #Canonical #PartnerRepo #Ubuntu22_04Lts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/01/ubuntu-is-axing-the-partner-repo-nobody-uses
GNOME 42 is Getting Redesigned Volume/Brightness Pop Ups
Redesigned on-screen bubbles, the sort that appear when you tap the volume or brightness buttons on your keyboard, are in the works for GNOME 42. Right now, OSD bubbles in GNOME Shell look a lot like this: GNOME devs consider the current implementation to be a little larger than necessary. And looking at the screenshot above it’s not an unfair assessment. Although macOS still uses big boxy pop-ups when a user bashes the volume, brightness, etc key both Windows 11 and ChromeOS use modestly sized OSDs. Those are just as useful as GNOME’s incumbent toasts but don’t obscure as much
#Dev #News #Design #Gnome42 #Osd
An Official Yaru Theme for Cinnamon? Oh Yes — Here’s What It Looks Like
I check out work on an official Yaru theme for the Cinnamon desktop environment. How well does Ubuntu's stock theme suit this desktop? I find out.
#Themes #Cinnamon #CinnamonThemes #LinuxMint #Yaru
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/01/official-yaru-theme-for-cinnamon-desktop
How I Enabled a Cool Transparent Blur Effect on Ubuntu 21.10
Glance at Windows 11, macOS, or even customised KDE Plasma desktops, and you’ll quickly learn that blurred window effects are a real vibe. But did you know that you can get a similar look on your GNOME-based Ubuntu desktop? Oh yes, all thanks to the third-party, unofficial, no-warranties, use-at-your-own-risk mutter-rounded repository on Github. Transparent app windows on Linux is not a new idea. The road to a feted desktop is littered with code from projects that have, in one form or another, tried to bring this feature to the fore, for all, over the years. Feeling a bit bored, I
#HowTo #EyeCandy #Scripts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/01/mutter-rounded-transparent-blurred-look-on-ubuntu
Can Ubuntu Up Its Wallpaper Game? It Wants To
A new long-term support release of Ubuntu is on the way, and so too is a brand new Ubuntu wallpaper contest. In recent years long term support releases of Ubuntu have tended to include a “greatest hits” package of supplementary wallpapers, often sourced from those that have win wallpaper competitions in the preceding three releases. It’s a format that has some logic to it. An LTS releases is, in many ways, a “best of” itself. And there’s some real honour for those whose art is selected to ship in a version of Ubuntu that gets used across tens of millions
#Community #Ubuntu22_04Lts #WallpaperContest
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2022/01/a-new-ubuntu-wallpaper-contest-is-coming
