Using Linux on a 64-bit ARM device and longing to use Firefox Nightly builds? Well, you’re in luck — Mozilla has finally made ARM64 Linux builds available to download. As I understand it most Linux distributions that support ARM64/AArch64 offer a native ARM version of Firefox in their repos (in Ubuntu that’s via snap) though some Linux ARM distros only offer Firefox ESR, which is a long-term support version lacking newer features. It’s not been possible to get Firefox for ARM64 directly from Mozilla itself. But that’s changing. When Mozilla launched its own APT repo bringing DEB versions of Fi ..read more

Among the many new features in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS is out-of-the-box support for HEIF/HEIC images. Anyone using Ubuntu 24.04 won’t have to manually install any extra packages to be able to see HEIF/HEIC thumbnails previews in the Nautilus file manager or open HEIF/HEIC files in the default Eye of GNOME image viewer app. While HEIF (which stands for High Efficiency Image File Format) isn’t a super common web image format it is widely used on smartphones. Both Apple iPhone & newer Samsung devices save to the format for photos taken using the stock camera apps. Which makes this small change ..read more

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 […] You're reading Mozilla Firefox 125 Released with Added Convenien ..read 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. Hey, 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 printout looks — no, i’m not sure “printout” is the right term for what I mean but saying it makes me […] You're reading APT is Getting a Colourfu ..read more

If you want to relax or need to concentrate on a task at your computer then listening to ambient sounds can often help — and the best Linux app for this task just got a big update! Blanket is a free, open-source GTK4/libadwaita app that comes packaged with a variety of ambient looping sounds. These range from classic nature tracks (rain, wind, waves, birds, etc) through to environmental buzz (coffee shop, city, train, etc). You can play just a single sound or layer several sounds simultaneously by adjusting the volume level for each preset individually so everything sits right aurally. […] You ..read more

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 histo ..read more

It’s always sad to see 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 becoming extinct or obsolete, which together are needless inclusions for the start a news post). A few weeks back the iconic IRC client Hexchat announced it is no longer under active development, citing a lack of manpower and will. This week the developer of ClamTk announced it is no longer maintained. The seemingly sole dev has chosen to step away for a mix of personal, technical, and modernity-related reasons, adding: – “My […] You're readin ..read more

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 web page just a portion of text on the page. Plus, given that Firefox translations take place locally to preserve privacy the task of translating every bit of a text visible on a web page can be a little on the […] You're reading Fire ..read more

A new version of Power Profiles Daemon in Ubuntu 24.04 offers power efficiency improvements for laptop users, but those with modern 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 now “battery-state aware” and that “some drivers use a more power efficient state when using the balanced profile on battery”. While the power profiles daemon is low-level it enables the Power Mode options shown in the Quick Settings menu: “balanced” (default), “power saver”, and on systems where it’s supported by drivers ..read more

A slew of modernisation are set to ship in next version of Linux Mint, which will be based on Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. First up, Linux Mint 22 will switch to using 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 app and hardware, and works with software made for other audio sound systems, e.g., PulseAudio, ALSA, etc. Another significant change on the way involves more timely Linux kernel updates. The current Linux Mint 21.x series is based on Ubuntu 22 ..read more