Mozilla Firefox 125 Released with Added Conveniences
You know the drill by now: a new month rolls around, and a new version of the inimitable Mozilla Firefox rolls off the release server for us all to enjoy. And bang on cue, Firefox 125 has arrived. The big-ticket new feature in this update is URL paste suggestions: Mozilla says this feature “provides a convenient way for users to quickly visit URLs copied to the clipboard in the address bar of Firefox.” How does it work? If you copy a URL to the system clipboard and then focus the URL bar (in Firefox 125, that is) you will see 
#News #AppUpdates #Firefox
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/04/mozilla-firefox-125-released
APT 3.0 Adds Colours, Columns, and More
I think most of us are familiar with the way that APT, the package management tool underpinning Ubuntu and all other Debian-based Linux distributions, looks and behaves. But some (much needed) visual changes are coming in the next major stable release, APT 3.0 — and they look great. Oh come now; don’t pretend you’re not excited by fancier looking APT print outs, my friend 🤭. One of the (many) things I love about Fedora is how clean, ordered, and legible DNF printouts are — no, i’m not sure “printout” is the right term for what I mean but saying it
#News #Apt #Ubuntu24_10
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/04/apt-3-0-colours-columns-new-ui
Blanket (Ambient Sounds App for Linux) Gets Calming New Look
If you want to relax or ned to concentrate on a task at your computer then listening to ambient sounds can help — and the best Linux app for this task just got a big update! Blanket is a free, open-source GTK4/libadwaita app that can play a variety of ambient sounds ranging from nature sounds (rain fall, wind, waves, birds, etc) to environmental buzz (coffee shop, city, train, etc). You can play just one sound or create a mix of multiple sounds and adjust the volume level for each independently. If you create a soundscape you like you are able
#News #AppUpdates #Blanket
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/04/blanket-ambient-noise-app-update-new-ui
Ubuntu 24.04 Beta Released, This is What’s New
The Ubuntu 24.04 beta is now available to download — one week later than originally planned! Ubuntu 24.04 will become the next long-term support release (LTS) and this beta will provide developers, testers, and enthusiasts time to try it out, track down bugs, and road test its new features. Beta releases are not intended for everyday use (i.e. you’re not supposed to install it as your main OS or on machines you rely on) but, that said, many folks do. The Noble development cycle hasn’t been without its dramas and hiccups. Devs undertook the largest library transition in Ubuntu’s history (to mitigate
#News #Ubuntu24_04Lts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/04/ubuntu-24-04-beta-released
ClamTK is No Longer Maintained
It’s always sad to hear a long-standing bit of open-source software put itself out to pasture (a euphemism for going way of the dodo, which is a metaphor for dying out). A few weeks back iconic IRC client HexChat announced it was no longer under active development. This week the developer of ClamTk announced the app is longer maintained. Its (seemingly sole) dev has chosen to step away for a mix of personal, technical, and modernity-related reasons, adding: – “My goals were to give back to Linux, which gave me a lot, and to get better at programming. I probably
#News #Antivirus #Clamav #Graveyard
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/04/clamtk-is-no-longer-maintained
Firefox Getting ‘Translate Selected Text’ Feature – How to Try It
A handy new translations feature is in the works for Mozilla Firefox that should help speed up translating short snippets of text from one language to another. Firefox 118 introduced a privacy-respecting web page translation feature, and Mozilla devs have continued to improve on it in subsequent releases But sometimes you don’t need or want to translate an entire website but a snippet of text on the page. And given that Firefox translations take place locally to preserve privacy the process of translating every bit of a text on a web page is a little on the slow side (on
#News #Firefox
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/04/firefox-translate-selected-text-feature
Ubuntu 24.04 Improves Power Efficiency on Laptops
The version of Power Profiles Daemon shipping in Ubuntu 24.04 delivers a raft of power efficiency improvements for all laptop users, but those with AMD devices may see the biggest gains. Release notes for the power-profiles-daemon package uploaded to Ubuntu 24.04 this week state that it is “battery-state aware” and that “some drivers use a more power efficient state when using the balanced profile on battery”. The power profiles daemon is low-level but it’s what enable the “power profile” modes in the Quick Settings menu: “balanced” (default), “power saver”, and “performance” (on systems where it’s supported by drivers) — this
#News #Amd #Ubuntu24_04Lts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/04/ubuntu-24-04-battery-life-improvements
Ubuntu 24.04 Beta Delayed Due to Security Issue
If you were hoping to help test the upcoming release of Ubuntu 24.04 by way of the official beta that was due for release this week, I’ve some bad news: it’s been delayed. However, I think you may have been expecting this. Ubuntu 24.04 beta was scheduled for release on April 4, giving developers, testers, and enthusiasts plenty of time to try out the newest features, find and report issues, check compatibility with real-world hardware, and all of that useful stuff. But owing to a recent security issue — a backdoor was uncovered in recent versions of xz compression library
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/04/ubuntu-24-04-beta-delayed
Linux Mint 22 Adopts PipeWire, New Linux Kernel Cadence
The next version of Linux Mint is set to include a number of modernisations over earlier versions. First up, Linux Mint 22 will ship with Pipewire as its default sound server. Most major Linux distros now use Pipewire. The tech modernises and standardises multimedia processing, is more resource efficient, improves integration between apps and hardware, and supports software made for audio sound systems like PulseAudio and ALSA. Another significant change involves Linux kernel updates. Linux Mint Goes All-In on HWE The Linux Mint 21.x series is based on Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and uses the “GA” kernel (the one Ubuntu 22.04
#News #LinuxMint
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/04/linux-mint-22-adopts-pipewire-hwe-kernels
8BitDo’s Commodore 64 Mechanical Keyboard Even Has a Joystick
I’m gonna geek out hard here as 8BitDo, makers of retro-themed gaming goods, have unveiled their latest mechanical PC keyboard — and it’s even nerdier than their first, NES-inspired one. I never got around the buying the Famicom/NES version, though reviews of it are fairly positive (not universally but given it’s a mechanical keyboard aimed at gamers rather than knuckle-cracking, coffee-swigging all-night programmers, and it’s relatively affordable, that’s a given). Anyway, I digress. The new edition will pressing all the right keys for geeks of a certain age as it pays visual homage to the indomitable Commodore 64 — a
#News #8Bitdo #Hardware #Keyboards #RetroGaming
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/03/8bitdo-commodore-64-keyboard-is-geektastic
Ubuntu in the Wild: Distro Glimpsed in Nature Film ‘Nocturnes’
It’s been a little while since the last #UbuntuintheWild spot but this one feels like a fitting return given it’s quite literally in the wild! The wilds of the Eastern Himalayan forests, in fact. Nature documentary Nocturnes, directed and produced by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan, follows scientists as they undertake a research trop deep in to these dense, fertile forests to monitor, assess, and learn more about the lives of hawk moths. I’ll admit: on paper, it doesn’t sound like the most engaging film. But the critical reception suggests it’s worth seeking out. It’s praised for lush cinematography, a
#News #Ubuntuinthewild #Ubuntuontv
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/03/nocturnes-moth-documentary-ubuntu
Ubuntu 24.04 Takes Cheese Off the Menu
Ubuntu is switching its default webcam app from Cheese to Snapshot, which debuted as part of the GNOME Core app lineup in GNOME 45. Snapshot Cheese has been part of Ubuntu’s default software set since 2010, first added in Ubuntu 9.10 Netbook Remix fuelled by rise of netbooks and their dim n’ dire 0.3MP webcams. Once upon a time people (hi 👋) made heavy use of Cheese for instant messaging profile pics, and the app included integrated plugins to upload photos to sites like Flickr. While Cheese remains a fun tool the webcam “novelty” factor has long-since worn off. When
#News #Cheese #PhotographyTools #Snapshot #Ubuntu24_04Lts
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/03/ubuntu-24-04-swaps-cheese-snapshot-webcam-app
Canonical Extends LTS Support to 12 Years
Ubuntu’s long-term support releases just got even longer, with Canonical today announcing they are eligible for up to 12 years of security coverage from initial release. As you know, every Ubuntu LTS release receives 5 years of standard security (and select application) updates for packages in the ‘main’ Ubuntu repo, while subscribing to Ubuntu Pro adds a further 5 years of security coverage for packages in the ‘main’ and ‘universe’ repos. But now there’s Legacy Support, a purchasable add-on for Ubuntu Pro customers. This offers an additional 2 years of coverage, bringing the total LTS support window up to 12
#News #Canonical #UbuntuPro
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/03/ubuntu-lts-12-years-legacy-support
Ubuntu 24.04 Makes Tiny Tweak to Improve Gaming
Gamers can look forward to more epic top-tier titles working in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. Following a user suggestion, Ubuntu developers have decided to increase the distro’s virtual memory mapping limit. The change will mean games previously reported to crash or exhibit performance issues when run on Ubuntu due to the vm_max_map_count value being low now run better. Games such as Hogwarts Legacy, Payday 2, Counter-Strike 2, DayZ, and Star Citizen are among those which benefit from the value bump — a few of this reportedly refuse to run at all in current versions of Ubuntu. In fact, any game or
#News #Gaming #Steam #Ubuntu24_04Lts
Ubuntu 24.04 Gives ‘App Center’ a Brand New Icon
App Center, Ubuntu’s Flutter-based replacement for the Ubuntu Software app, has a new icon. This isn’t the first icon change to App Center, which is a pre-installed snap package (snap-store) in Ubuntu 23.10 and 24.04 in recent months. A few months back an update to the software installation frontend rolled out and unintentionally swapped the full-colour, 3D Yaru icon for a flat, 2D, solid orange icon with transparent elements. A subsequent update resolved the issue. Now the App Center icon has changed again, although this time the swap is intentional. The new icon is taller, and the right-hand leg of
#News
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/03/ubuntu-app-center-new-icon-noble
How to Bring Back Ubuntu’s Iconic Login Sound
If you only started using Ubuntu sometime after 2012 then you have my apologies: this article won’t make a whole lot of sense. But if your roots with the distro reach back farther then the following curio might appeal (though that ‘might’ is, I accept, doing a lot of lifting). When I reported on the new IRC-based chat app Linux Mint is building a commenter amusingly referred to IRC adherents as “nostalgia connoisseurs”. In some ways, that label applies to me for writing this post. I am a nostalgic dweeb — sorry/not sorry! 💁🏻♂️ — and the “golden era” of
#HowTo #Customization
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/03/enable-old-ubuntu-login-sound
Extension Manager App Gets Update
A big update to Extension Manager, a popular 3rd-party tool to browse, install, and manage GNOME Shell extensions without the need for a web browser, has been released. If you’re into customising Ubuntu, be it changing the look and layout, adding animated effects, patching in new features and capabilities, or modifying underlying behaviour, you’ll know that GNOME Shell extensions are essential — as is this terrific, user-friendly tool. Extension Manager 0.5 is described as a “Performance & Polish” release by its developer Matt Wakeman, and with an update to libadwaita 1.5, smarter adaptive behaviour, (much needed) search fixes, and other
#News #AppUpdates #GnomeExtensions
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/03/gnome-shell-extension-manager-app-updated
GNOME 46 Officially Released
The GNOME project today formally announced the release of GNOME 46 “Kathmandu”, the latest update to its hugely popular open-source desktop environment. And what an update it is. I ran through the best GNOME 46 features earlier this week. Suffice to say there’s a lot of improvement across all areas of the user experience. “This six-month effort wouldn’t have been possible without the whole GNOME community, made of contributors and friends from all around the world,” GNOME says of this release. “Developers, designers, documentation writers, usability and accessibility specialists, translators, maintainers, students, system administrators, companies, artists, testers, the local GNOME Asia team
#News #DesktopEnvironments #Gnome #Gnome46
https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2024/03/gnome-46-officially-released
Plattenalbum is a Modern-Looking MPD Client for Linux
This week I heard about Plattenalbum, a modern GTK4/libadwaita Music Player Daemon (MPD) client and it looks good so figured I’d give it a shoutout! Y’know, cheesy 1980s DJ style 🧀. MPD remains a popular way to access music that’s stored on a server, another computer, or even locally, and a user-friendly desktop MPD client is crucial to being able to enjoy it. Plattenalbum looks to be preciously that. This isn’t a “why you should use MPD” article nor a guide about installing MPD in Ubuntu. If MPD sounds like a faff — in some ways it is! — that’s fine,
#Apps #News #Mpd #MusicPlayer
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Official Wallpaper Revealed (In All Its Crowning Glory)
Esteemed adherents of the arts rejoice, as the official Ubuntu 24.04 wallpaper has finally been unveiled! As you no-doubt know, every new Ubuntu release comes with its own unique desktop background and the upcoming release of Ubuntu 24.04 LTS “Noble Numbat” doesn’t abdicate the responsibility. Indeed, the Ubuntu 24.04 default wallpaper tacks firmly traditional, heeding the formula established in 2017: rich purple gradient, elegant geometric/polygonal edge detailing, and the official mascot image royally positioned in the center: As well as the the “colour” default you see pictured above a darker variant is included for those who prefer nocturnal vibes (i.e.,
#News #DefaultWallpaper #Ubuntu24_04Lts
