Give Your Ubuntu Desktop a Merry Xmas Makeover
It’s time to deck the digital halls as Christmas is just a few days away. By now you’ll have put up the tree (and the cat’s since stripped it), you’ll have wrapped the presents (all last-minute, I’m sure), and said HECK NO to the eggnog (wise, it is gross). But have you left your trusty Ubuntu desktop out of the festive festooning? If so, consider me your seasonal saviour (just not that one). I’m here to help you sprinkle some Christmas cheer onto your screen. With just 2 simple changes you can get your desktop looking as merry and bright 
#HowTo #EyeCandy #GnomeExtensions #Xmas
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/ubuntu-desktop-xmas-makeover
Firefox 121 released, now defaults to Wayland on Linux
Mozilla Firefox 121 has been released, and it’s a notable one for Linux Wayland users. For the Ubuntu 23.10 release, the Firefox Snap runs in Wayland mode by default (and like many of you I’ve noticed nothing but bountiful benefits resulting from the switch). Mozilla’s workshop elves were clearly happy with the success of that trial as they’ve now chosen to make Firefox 121 run in Wayland mode by default for all Linux users (who use Wayland; the browser runs under Xorg/X11 as well as it ever did). Why is Firefox enabling native Wayland mode by default a big deal?
#News #AppUpdates #Firefox
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/firefox-121-released-now-defaults-to-wayland-on-linux
Ubuntu Working on Office 365, Google Workspace Snaps
Productivity is on the minds of the Ubuntu’s desktop developers as they plan what features to ship in the upcoming Ubuntu 24.04 LTS release. Given that many folks now use of web-based office tools like Microsoft Office 365 and Google Workspace (which is sometimes referred to as ‘gsuite’ by its fans), some time-saving convenience is on the cards. Though sadly we’re not talking web integration that’s as swish as Unity’s web apps of old, sob! “We’re creating a series of productivity snaps targeting gsuite and Office 365. When this is done it will be as simple as running $ snap install
#News #Office&ProductivityApps #Snaps #Ubuntu24_04Lts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/ubuntu-office-365-google-workspace-snaps
Vivaldi 6.5 adds sessions panel, encrypted history sync + more
Hot on the heels of its quasi-official arrival on Flathub, a new version of the Vivaldi web browser has been released. Vivaldi 6.5 includes some nice new features, a few of which enhance and build on existing ones: Of these, the new ‘Sessions Panel’ is the standout addition — not least because it’s been one of the most requested features from Vivaldi users! Here’s what it looks like: Accessed from the sidebar, the Sessions panel lets save sessions, manage and restore saved sessions, name them, edit them, and sync them. Plus, there’s an automatic session backup option at bottom of
#News #Vivaldi
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/vivaldi-6-5-adds-new-sessions-panel-encrypted-history-sync-more
New Emoji Land in Ubuntu
A brown mushroom, a slice of lime, and a fiery phoenix — no, that’s not the start of a rubbish joke but a handful of the newest emoji added to the Unicode standard. And if you’re using Ubuntu, you’ll be able see and use them well before iPhone users, too. Rolling out to users on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and 23.10 is an update to the Noto Color Emoji font that includes support for the 118 new emoji in Unicode 15.1. As well as the aforementioned brown mushroom, lime, and firebird, it includes new nodding and head-shaking smileys, a broken link,
#News #Emoji #Fonts #Ubuntu22_04Lts #Unicode
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/ubuntu-noto-emoji-font-update-unicode-15-1
Geekbench’s Machine-Learning Benchmark App Now Supports Linux
Wondering how your current Linux system will handle AI and ML-related workloads? Well, now you can find out. Primate Labs, makers of the hugely popular Geekbench software, has released a new preview build of their AI benchmarking tool, Geekbench ML. And it now supports Linux. Geekbench ML launched on Android and iOS a few years back but now that PC hardware makers like Intel and AMD are putting neural processing capabilities into their latest chips, enabling ML-accelerated workflows on desktop and laptops, they’re branching out. So the latest Geekbench ML 0.6 preview introduces support for Linux, Windows, and macOS. The
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/geekbench-ml-ai-benchmark-tool-supports-linux
Mission Center Now Shows Intel GPU Usage, Available as AppImage
Intel GPU support has been added to the Linux system monitor app Mission Center. I’ve written about this GTK4/libadwaita app a few times in the past and, to plagiarise myself, the reaction to it has been off the charts (in a good way). The app is written in Rust and uses OpenGL to render the animation graphs (in an effort to ensure it doesn’t cause a spike in system usage itself). Though on the resource usages point (as I’ve seen it come up) Mission Center isn’t the only graphical task manager-type app that does use a fair chunk of resources when
#News #AppUpdates #SystemTools
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/mission-center-intel-gpu-monitoring-linux
Linux Mint 21.3 Beta Released, Available to Download
Eager to get your hands on the next Linux Mint release? You can, as a beta build is now available to download. Linux Mint 21.3 beta isn’t production ready (it’s a beta) so in theory you shouldn’t be installing this as your main OS. However, chances are some of you will, and as this beta is still based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, a mature code base, and the stable Linux Mint 21.3 release is due in a few weeks… As the third major update in the Linux Mint 21.x series, this edition includes a couple of headline-grabbing capabilities, plus some
#News #Cinnamon #LinuxMint
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/linux-mint-21-3-beta-released
GNOME Shell 45.2 Update Rolling out to Ubuntu 23.10
The first point release to GNOME Shell 45 only hit Ubuntu 23.10 at the end of last month, and now a second one is already on its way! GNOME Shell 45.2 was released upstream at the start of December, now Ubuntu’s developers have packaged it up and pushed it out to users of Ubuntu 23.10. It hit the mantic-proposed repo today so assuming no unexpected issues are found in the coming days the update will be pushed out to all users through the regular update channel in the coming week or two. Think of it as an early Christmas treat
#News #Ubuntu23_10
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/gnome-shell-45-2-ubuntu-23-10
Calibre eBook App Now Supports Audio ePubs & Custom Notes
If Calibre, the popular open-source ebook manager, was a book itself it’d surely be a perennial bestseller, thanks to an exhaustive, multi-faceted feature set. And in the latest Calibre 7 release, the feature set expands yet further. The latest version introduces a clutch of new capabilities to the manager’s existing roster of ebook conversion, syncing, reading, and editing options. To me, the standout addition in Calibre 7.0 is the ability to store notes linked to various book attributes within your Calibre library. You can stash notes related to authors, publishers, book series, and more so you can keep track of
#News #AppUpdates #Calibre #Ebooks
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/calibre-ebook-manager-now-supports-audio-epub-notes
Double-Clicking on Apple Docs in Ubuntu 23.10 Now iWorks
Ubuntu ships with LibreOffice because it’s a powerful open-source office suite compatible with document made in rival software, such as Microsoft Office and Apple’s iWork. Thing is, while LibreOffice can open files made in Apple’s Pages (a word processor, saves as .pages) and Numbers (a spreadsheet app, saves as .numbers) the shared-mime-info package in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS misattributes both formats as ZIP archives: So if a user double-clicks on either document in Ubuntu 22.04 the Archive Manager tool is launched, rather than LibreOffice. Thankfully, this bug was fixed upstream last year, and the fix included in the shared-mime-info 2.2 release,
#News #Apple #Libreoffice #Papercuts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/open-apple-pages-documents-ubuntu-fixed
Meta and IBM Assemble Open-Source AI Super Team
Development of open-source AI models just got a major boost with the launch of the AI Alliance, a super-team made up of companies, developers, scientists, academics, and spearheaded by Meta and IBM, owners of Red Hat. While governments around the world wrestle with ways to regulate AI to ensure development is safe, responsible, and not in going to lead to any sci-fi-esque doomsday scenarios, the newly-announced AI Alliance is aiming to offer an industry-led answer. The Ai Alliance says it is “focused on fostering an open community and enabling developers and researchers to accelerate responsible innovation in AI while ensuring
#News #Ai #Chatgpt #RedHat
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/meta-ibm-assemble-open-source-ai-alliance
Zorin OS 17 Beta is Now Available to Download
Ahead of the Zorin OS 17 release (due later this month), a beta version is available for download and testing. Zorin OS 17 rebases on top of Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and the Linux 6.2 kernel but, interestingly, ships with GNOME 43 and not GNOME 42, which is the default in Ubuntu 22.04. Given the substantial leap from GNOME 3.38 used in previous Zorin OS releases, this version offers much improved performance and several major user experience changes, such as a horizontal workspace switcher, interactive screenshot tool, and button-based Quick Settings menu. Zorin OS 17 builds out from those solid foundations
#News #Distros #ZorinOs
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/zorin-os-17-beta-released
Use Reco to Record System Audio & Microphone Input in Ubuntu
Looking to record system sounds and your microphone at the same time on Ubuntu, and save it to a single audio file? Reco is a free, open-source audio recording app for Linux, written in Vala and GTK. Although it’s designed for elementary OS it works well on Ubuntu and other Linux distributions, and doesn’t look too conspicuous on the modern GNOME desktop, either. Better still, Reco is available to install from Flathub. Being able to capture your voice and your system’s audio output (be it game audio, software, music, someone talking in a broadcast) simultaneously is useful for content creation,
#Apps #AudioApps #Reco #Sound
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/reco-record-system-audio-microphone-same-time-ubuntu
Mozilla Firefox Beta & Developer Edition Now Available as Debs via APT Repo
Mozilla now provides Deb builds of Firefox Beta and Firefox Developer Edition for Debian-based Linux distributions (y’know, like Ubuntu) Just like the Firefox Nightly Debs Mozilla announced back in October, Debian packages of Firefox beta and Developer Edition are available to install from a dedicated APT repository that is maintained by Mozilla developers. Mozilla says its Deb packages offer better performance and security compared to other Firefox builds available in distro repos and on other app stores. This is due to custom compiler optimisations, hardened binaries with all security flags enabled, and the fact Mozilla can issue updates to users
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/mozilla-firefox-beta-developer-edition-debs
Switch Workspaces in Ubuntu 22.04 Using Buttons with This Extension
Looking for a quick way to switch workspaces in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS using your mouse? You’ll already known you can click on the Activities button in the top bar. That opens the overview screen which shows all active workspaces. You click on a workspace to go straight to it. Not a hardship, granted, but a bit more effort than just switching instantly. So can hold the super key and scroll on your mouse scroll wheel to cycle between workspaces too. But that assumes you’re using a mouse with a scroll wheel (and still involves keyboard shortcuts; you can press super
#News #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/workspace-switch-buttons-gnome-extension
Ayaneo Retro Mini PC
Outside of single-board computers like the Raspberry Pi, small form-factor desktop PCs aren’t super common — a market gap gaming hardware company Ayaneo hopes to fill. They’ve unveiled the Ayaneo Retro Mini PC AM01, an AMD-powered desktop computer housed inside a 5-inch box designed to look as much like a beige Macintosh from the 1980s as it can, without being sued by Apple. The front is brazenly embellished with a six-colour rainbow logo (magnetic, and removable), and the faux display bears a phoney Finder face on it. Ayaneo is a profiling maker of handheld gaming PCs, so it’s not surprise
#Hardware #News #Amd #Ayaneo
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/11/ayaneo-retro-mini-pc-supports-ubuntu
Varia is a Brand New Download Manager for Linux
Varia is a new, open-source download manager for Linux based on Aria2, a powerful command-line download utility. As the user interface is built with GTK 4 and libadwaita, Varia looks perfectly in-keeping with other modern GTK apps Ubuntu offers: Of course, it’s 2023 and we all (apparently) live in a world of blazing fast internet connections, where giant files download in seconds, and everything else gets streamed or accessed on-demand. Are dedicated desktop download managers still useful? If you need to download a large file over an unreliable internet connection (or if your computer dies mid-way through said transfer) most
#Apps #News #DownloadManager #GtkApps #Varia
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/11/varia-new-download-manager-for-linux
Notepad++ Marks 20th Anniversary with New Release
The open-source text editor Notepad++ is celebrating its 20th anniversary with a new release filled with some neat new features. In Notepad++ 8.6 (the 238th release since 2003, for those keeping count) the Windows-based code tool adds to its extensive feature set with an improved multi-edit feature. Now, I’m not a developer. I dip into a bit of basic PHP for the omg! sites on occasion, but it doesn’t require a bespoke coding environment. I don’t know how this feature adds to or adjust what was (apparently) available in earlier versions of the app. A few 3rd-party plugins for Notepad++
#News #AppUpdates #Notepad++ #Texteditor
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/11/notepad-plus-plus-20th-anniversary-update
Blue Recorder, Linux Screencast App, Ported to GTK4
GNOME Shell’s built-in screen recording feature is perfect at capturing short clips but when you need to record longer sessions you should use a dedicated screen recording app. Such tools give you greater control over video quality, output format, sound capture, frame rate, and so on — all vitally important if you’re looking to create high-quality screencast content for videos, social media, or really helpful bug reports. Amongst the surfeit of Linux screen recording software that’s readily available is Blue Recorder. Blue Recorder is an improved, Rust-based rewrite of Green Recorder, which was an open-source screen recording tool popular circa
#News #AppUpdates #ScreenRecorders
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/11/blue-recorder-linux-app-ported-to-gtk4
