LibreOffice 24.2 Released, This is What’s New
A brand new version of free, open-source office suite LibreOffice is ready to download. LibreOffice 24.2 is the follow up to last year’s LibreOffice 7.6 release. A leap because the latest edition is the first to use a calendar-based version number (like Ubuntu’s own): 24 denotes 2024, and 2 denotes the month, February. Switching to a date-based version number will allow LibreOffice users to know how up-to-date their version is. After all, LibreOffice 7.6 tells you nothing about when it was released, really. LibreOffice 24.2 ships with 6 months worth of developments from 5098 commits, spanning the full breadth, from :sys_more_orange:
#News #AppUpdates #Libreoffice
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/libreoffice-24-2-released-this-is-whats-new
Linux Mint 21.3 Edge ISO Offers Newer Hardware Support
Linux Mint developers have announced the release of the Linux Mint 21.3 Edge ISO, which is powered by Linux kernel 6.5. The standard Linux Mint 21.3 release that arrived a few weeks back uses the Linux 5.15 LTS kernel by default. That kernel version is solid, stable, and actively supported. But it might not boot on newer hardware (i.e. released after November 2021, when Linux 5.15 was released). While the Linux 5.15 LTS kernel is still actively supported with critical bug fixes and security patches new hardware support is not back-ported to it. For such situations, the Linux Mint Edge ISO is 
#News #LinuxMint
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/linux-mint-21-3-edge-iso-newer-linux-kernel
Firefox 122 Released with Official Deb for Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc
Mozilla Firefox 122 has been officially released, with an official Deb package debuting alongside it. Yes: there’s now an official Firefox Deb package for Debian-based distros, including Ubuntu. This gives users a safe, reliable way to get the latest version of their browser should they (for whatever reason) not want to use a repo build, Snap, Flatpak, PPA, etc. Last year Mozilla launched their own dedicated apt repo to make it easier for Debian, Ubuntu, Linux Mint, etc users to install Firefox Developer Edition, Nightly, and, most recently. Beta builds. Adding a stable build was the logical end point. Mozilla
#News #AppUpdates #Firefox
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/firefox-122-released-with-official-deb
Ubuntu Pro Packages in ‘Software Updater’ — Annoying, or Necessary?
It seems some users aren’t happy that there’s (currently) no way to disable Ubuntu Pro package updates from showing in the Software Updater tool in Ubuntu LTS releases. Last year, Canonical updated update-manager (aka Software Updater) to show a list of Ubuntu Pro package updates available for user systems regardless of whether Ubuntu Pro is enabled or not. Prior, only users who explicitly opted-in to Ubuntu Pro would see corresponding package updates available for their systems. Now, everyone sees them. And the inability to opt-out of being asked to opt-in is providing an irritant… Ubuntu Pro Branded ‘Misguided Marketing Trick’
#News #UbuntuPro
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/ubuntu-pro-software-updater-issue
Installing the Latest Enlightenment Desktop Release in Ubuntu 22.04
Just before Christmas I was introduced to a handy script that makes it very easy to install the latest Enlightenment desktop release on Ubuntu 22.04. Emphasis on latest as (I’m sure you already know) you can install the Enlightenment desktop in Ubuntu from the archives, i.e. no PPAs, 3rd-party repos, or scripts required. However, Ubuntu’s archive snapshots of Enlightenment are almost always older versions. Depending on which version of Ubuntu you use, it may even several years behind the most recent release. Now, there’s nothing inherently wrong with using an older version of anything (if it still works), but it
#News #DesktopEnvironments #Enlightenment
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/install-enlightenment-desktop-ubuntu-script
AYANEO’s New Mini PC Hits Hard on NES Nostalgia
Remember the AYANEO mini PC I wrote about last year? You know, the one that looked like a classic Macintosh, ran Windows 11, and was advertised as being Ubuntu-friendly? Well, forget it. —Wait, you already had? Savage, dear reader! Today, AYANEO announced a seriously superior successor in the shape of the AYANEO AM02. The Apple-aping aesthetic has gone, the AMD-powered internals amped up, and a 4-inch touchscreen added to the case (though no, it’s not designed to be the primary display). As I think this unit sounds dope I got in touch with the editor of this blog (it me)
#News
Canonical’s Steam Snap is Causing Headaches for Valve
Canonical may be ramping up its efforts to improve the Ubuntu gaming experience — yasss — but it seems their Steam snap package is causing headaches for Valve. Timothée Besset, a software engineer who works on the Steam client for Valve, took to Mastodon this week to reveal that “Valve is seeing an increasing number of bug reports for issues caused by Canonical’s repackaging of the Steam client through snap”. “We are not involved with the snap repackaging. It has a lot of issues”, Besset adds, mentioning that “the best way to install Steam on Debian and derivative operating systems
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/valve-dont-recommend-ubuntu-steam-snap
Wine 9.0 Released with New WoW64 Mode, Experimental Wayland Driver
Developers have popped the cork on a new stable release of Wine, the open-source compatibility layer that lets you run Windows apps and games on Linux. Wine 9.0 release’s cup runneth over with enhancements, refinements, and enablements touching on every part of the Wine experience, from app compatibility to performance through to user-interface polish. As you’d expect. During the past 12 months Wine developers have poured in considerable effort. Indeed, the Wine 9.0 released is made up more over 7,000 individual grapes changes. Of course, those of you who sup on the twice-monthly dev releases —hic!— will be familiar with
#News #Wine
The KDE Plasma 6.0 Default Wallpaper is a Real Winner
The winner of the KDE Plasma 6.0 wallpaper competition has been announced. In August of last year KDE devs launched a community-based contest to select the default wallpaper for KDE Plasma 6.0. The contest garnered a lot of attention — I often feel like the KDE community is more ‘arty’ in general, though that might be perpetual due to leading creative software, e.g., Krita, Inkscape, Kdenlive, being Qt-based — which naturally made it harder for judges to pick an ultimate winner. And there was a lot at stake. As well as the prestige in seeing their artwork shipped as part
#News #Kde #Wallpaper
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/kde-plasma-6-0-default-wallpaper
Linux Mint 21.3 Officially Released, This is What’s New
Linux Mint 21.3 is now available to download — the first version to offer Wayland support in the Cinnamon desktop. Following a successful bout of bug-busting in last month’s beta release, Mint devs have rubber-stamped the latest release as stable – meaning you can reasonably expect to encounter no major issues from installing or using it. This is 3rd major stable release in the Linux Mint 21.x series, following on from the Linux Mint 21.2 release back in the summer. It’s still based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and continues to use the Linux 5.15 kernel by default, though newer kernels
#News #DistroRelease #LinuxMint
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/linux-mint-21-3-official-released-download-now
Ubuntu 22.04 Users Can Now Upgrade to Linux Kernel 6.5
You can now upgrade to Linux kernel 6.5 in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS — no PPAs, additional repos, or edge packages required. Ubuntu routinely back-ports newer Linux kernels from “interim” releases to its latest long-term support release. The Linux 6.5 kernel from Ubuntu 23.10, released back in October, is the latest version to get the treatment. Now, this major kernel update affects the standard hardware-enablement (HWE) kernel only. It will not replace the standard GA kernel Ubuntu 22.04 LTS originally came with. If you’ve chosen to stick with Linux 5.15 because it works best then don’t fret: it ain’t going away.
#News #Hwe #LinuxKernel #Ubuntu22_04Lts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/ubuntu-2204-linux-6-5-kernel-update
How to See Bluetooth Device Battery Level in Ubuntu’s Quick Settings
A new GNOME Shell extension makes it easier to check Bluetooth battery status in Ubuntu 23.10. Emphasis on easier as we can already see battery level for connected Bluetooth devices from the Settings > Power pane, no extensions required. But they’re out of sight, and out of mind. GNOME developers enhanced the Quick Settings menus in the GNOME 44 release to make connect to previously-paired Bluetooth devices faster, but they didn’t add battery icons or percentages for connected devices, like mice, keyboards, headphones, game controllers, etc. Not so with the Bluetooth Battery Meter GNOME Shell extension. Once installed, it puts
#News #Bluetooth #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/see-bluetooth-battery-levels-ubuntu
Linux 6.7 Kernel Released
A new year, and an all-new Linux kernel to help power it along! Yes, the Linux 6.7 kernel is now officially release — and it’s hefty one packed with an assortment of new features, new hardware enablement, and more. By commit size alone Linux 6.7 is one of the largest in recent history, an indicator of just how much effort has been poured into honing the latest release. Linus Torvalds touches on this in his release announcement, writing: “We had a little bit more going on last week compared to the holiday week before that, but certainly not enough to make
#News #LinuxKernel
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/linux-kernel-6-7-new-features
System Monitor GNOME Shell Extension Made by GNOME
Keeping an eye on CPU, memory, and network activity in GNOME Shell is made easy, thanks to an array of community-built extensions tailored-made for the task. And soon there’ll be a new option for users to choose from, one designed, developed, and supported by GNOME itself. GNOME’s Florian Müllner explains: “A long time ago, we used to include a system monitor extension, that added CPU/memory graphs to the (long gone) message tray. However demand for this type of extensions hasn’t died down, to the point where RHEL includes a revived version of the old extension.” In light of the continue
#News #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/gnomes-official-system-monitor-extension-for-gnome-shell
Intel’s AI Effects, Including Transcription & Music Generation, Available for Audacity
An array of new AI tools are now available to use with open-source audio editor Audacity, all courtesy of Intel. They’ve released a clutch of OpenVINO AI effects for Audacity designed to work offline and locally, with tools for editing spoken word audio like podcasts as well as music creation/production: OpenVINO stands for ‘Open Visual Inference and Neural network Optimization’. It’s a new, open-source toolkit developed by Intel to run “AI inference” tasks “locally” on Intel hardware. I hadn’t heard of it before, but it’s great to see it’s open-source and Linux friendly. Sadly, there is a catch. These new
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/intel-ai-effects-audacity
Shutter on Wayland
Want to use legendary Linux screenshot tool Shutter in Wayland? Well, now you can. Upstream, Shutter remains under active development (2 releases last year). However, the app is yet to officially bake in support for Wayland sessions. You can use it via xWayland but some of its most compelling features don’t function — which sort of defeats the point, rather. Shutter user Maurizio V., long-time Linux user and IT developer from Italy, decided to do something about it. The result is Shutter on Wayland, a retooled version of this iconic tool that’s fully-functional under Wayland sessions, as demoed in this
#News
Open-Source Desktop Publishing Software Scribus Scores a Major Update
When it comes to free, open-source desktop publishing (DTP) there’s little as capable, as fully-featured, or as widely used in professional settings as Scribus. Now a brand new stable release of this powerful page-making tool is available, the first since 2019. Scribus 1.6.0 ships with “thousands of enhancements and fixes across all areas of the program”, with its development team noting it’s more featured, faster, and more stable than all versions prior. Used to create everything from newsletters to books, Scribus provides scores of features commonly found in paid-for, proprietary DTP software, allowing users to design and create complex layouts,
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/01/scribus-desktop-publishing-software-major-update
GNOME Devs Improve Nautilus’ Custom Folder Icon Feature
A few months back I wrote a guide on how to set custom folder icons in Nautilus. Though not a new feature – the option to change a folder icon in Nautilus been there since time immemorial – it’s currently an underexposed, lesser-known capability. Unless you know to open a folder’s Properties dialog and then click on the directory icon at the top, there’s a good chance you’d never discover the feature. Custom folder icons can improve your workflow by letting you give important folders a more distinct precedes, or just scratch a personal itch, as was my case when
#News #Gnome
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/gnome-devs-improve-nautilus-custom-folder-icon-feature
Ubuntu 23.04 support ends January 25, 2024
Official support for Ubuntu 23.04 ‘Lunar Lobster’ ends on January 25, 2024 — just under a month away at the time I’m writing this post. As an interim/short-term support release, Ubuntu 23.04 receives 9 months of updates from release. Having been released in April of 2023, January 2024 is when the Lunar Lobster hits end of life (EOL). Do you run Ubuntu 23.04? If so, you should upgrade to Ubuntu 23.10 to ensure you get prompt security patches, critical bug fixes, and important updates to select software from Canonical. Since you’re able to upgrade directly —no downloading an ISO and
#News #Eol #Ubuntu23_04
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/ubuntu-2304-support-ends-january-2024
Enlightenment Desktop Sees New Stable Release
An early Christmas treat has arrived for those seeking Enlightenment — no, not spiritual concept, but the EFL-based desktop shell for Linux and BSD systems. Enlightenment 0.26.0 is modest uplift to Enlightenment 0.25, which was released in December 2021. For those unfamiliar with it, Enlightenment (sometimes referred to as just ‘E’) is a deft, lightweight window manager, compositor, and desktop shell built around the Enlightenment Foundation Libraries (EFL). It’s designed for X11 but an experimental Wayland mode is available. Enlightenment is famed for its low-resource usage, modularity, and unique look and feel, though the latter isn’t to everyone’s tastes. The Moksha desktop
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2023/12/enlightenment-0-26-desktop-released
