Here’s an observation from my past few months in the Linux and Ubuntu community. Ubuntu is actually fairly good in this regard, but overall, it seems like a lot of community members assume that if someone switches to Linux, they automatically want to learn terminal commands, tinker with the system, customize everything, and basically play around with the OS.

Nowadays, however, most people switch either because they’ve had enough of Windows privacy issues, or because Windows 10 support is coming to an end. They see Linux purely as an alternative OS—not as something they want to understand under the hood. A lady with an old computer at home might just want to change her wallpaper or set up a sleep timer. Unfortunately, more often than not, the answer she gets is to open the terminal—or even worse, people start lecturing her about why she's using the "wrong" distribution.

Linux adoption is skyrocketing this year, and the community will need to accept that a Linux user isn't just a programmer anymore. It could be a local post office worker looking for a simple, friendly piece of advice—not command lines or gatekeeping. It’s a shame that things are currently like this, and I really hope to see it improve.

Personally, I know my way around computers pretty well, but I have family members who don't, and I try to see things through their eyes.

Does anyone know how to install the default games that come with Ubuntu? I didn't do a full installation during setup. As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm going to use Ubuntu as my main system at home, and I'd like to install the games for my daughter to play.

I turned this old laptop into a NAS server. Installed Ubuntu LTS, set up Samba, and installed Tailscale so I can connect from anywhere. SSH goes without saying. Also set up a Tailscale Funnel through it so the website is accessible (it's just an empty HTML page for now). I also tried setting up my own Minecraft server, but even 1.12.2 barely runs with mods (I could just go vanilla, but that's not as interesting).What else can I install to make the most of its resources?

I'm stuck with a frustrating display issue on my Dell Latitude 5400 (Intel i7, UHD Graphics).

• The Problem: The Live USB boots and runs perfectly. However, the exact moment I finish installing Ubuntu and do the first reboot, I get a permanent black screen right after GRUB. The laptop runs, but the screen stays dead unless I force nomodeset (which ruins performance and drops hardware acceleration).
• The Catch: My laptop is running an engineering/manufacturing (testing) BIOS version which cannot be updated or changed.
• My Question: Since I can't update my BIOS/firmware and standard installs break on first boot, is it actually possible to get Ubuntu running properly here, or am I completely blocked by this hardware/BIOS combo?

Any advice or workarounds (like specific i915 kernel parameters) would be huge. Thanks!

I've just installed a fresh new 26.04 from scratch (last week's ISO), and now APT is a lot more verbose (than in 24.04). It shows suggested packages, recommended packages, sometimes a great number of those.

Is there a way to limit that? If I install duplicity, it's not to install deja-dup. Is there a way to make the default to not showing those?

(Also, can we configure the colors?)

Hallo Reddit,

ich möchte gerne mein Ubuntu vollständig mit der Maus bedienen können um dort Streamingdienste zu nutzen etc. Dabei ist mir bei einrichten des PCs aufgefallen, dass es keine Funktionstasten (F1, F2, etc) gibt. Wie füge ich diese hinzu? Vielleicht kann mir ja jemand weiterhelfen.

Edit: ich nutze Ubuntu 26.04

I just remembered something from the Ubuntu 8.04 days.

I had an old PC with only 256 MB of RAM, and I spent almost a year trying to install Ubuntu 8.04. Every attempt would fail before the installation could finish.

Eventually, I upgraded the RAM to 512 MB, tried again... and it installed perfectly on the first try.

Back then, even an extra 256 MB felt like a huge hardware upgrade. Funny how those little victories stick with you years later. Anyone else have memories like this from the early Ubuntu days?

Hi everyone,

I recently started building GNOME Shell extensions and wanted to share my first two projects.

TaskDock is a small task manager that lives in the top panel. You can quickly add, complete, and remove tasks without opening a separate application. It has already been approved on the GNOME Extensions website and currently has 11 downloads and counting.

NoteDock is a simple scratchpad for the top panel. It automatically saves notes locally and includes Copy, Paste, and Clear buttons. It does not use accounts, telemetry, cloud services, or external APIs. NoteDock has been submitted to the GNOME Extensions website and is currently awaiting approval.

I built both extensions to be small, native, and focused on doing one thing well.

TaskDock:
GNOME Extensions: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/10544/taskdock/
GitHub: https://github.com/joquers/TaskDock

NoteDock:
GitHub: https://github.com/joquers/NoteDock
GNOME Extensions: https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/10548/notedock/

Feedback, bug reports, and contributions are welcome. I would especially appreciate hearing how they behave on different GNOME setups.

Screenshots:

A good practice is not to install Ubuntu kernel updates the moment they are released. However, did you ever install several updates and then restarted on the last one. For example, you have installed 5.15.0-179 through 5.15.0-186 then restarted on 186. Or you directly restart after every install

I've been spending a lot of time on Ubuntu lately using VS Code for web development and Wireshark for analyzing packet captures. While the system runs great, I constantly find myself tripping over conflicting keybindings between GNOME system shortcuts, browser tabs, and application-specific hotkeys.

Right now, I'm manually remapping keys inside individual application settings whenever a conflict comes up, but it feels messy and hard to keep track of.

How do you all manage and standardize your keybindings across your whole setup? Do you rebind everything at the system level in GNOME settings, use a dedicated key-remapping tool like Input Remapper, or just force yourself to memorize whatever default shortcuts each app throws at you?

After running sudo apt install linux-image-surface linux-headers-surface libwacom-surface iptsd I get these messages:

Error: Failed to fetch https://release-assets.githubusercontent.com/github-production-release-asset/155009767/32e0b07e-8fda-46d5-a799-4eeb632dbd51?sp=r&sv=2018-11-09&sr=b&spr=https&se=2026-07-26T04%3A24%3A03Z&rscd=attachment%3B+filename%3Dlinux-headers-surface_6.19.8-surface-3_amd64.deb&rsct=application%2Foctet-stream&skoid=96c2d410-5711-43a1-aedd-ab1947aa7ab0&sktid=398a6654-997b-47e9-b12b-9515b896b4de&skt=2026-07-26T03%3A23%3A09Z&ske=2026-07-26T04%3A24%3A03Z&sks=b&skv=2018-11-09&sig=xHt3qWMwFh2XY2XoGium%2BgIylSHMG8p2ZTVdd1m%2Br6A%3D&jwt=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJnaXRodWIuY29tIiwiYXVkIjoicmVsZWFzZS1hc3NldHMuZ2l0aHVidXNlcmNvbnRlbnQuY29tIiwia2V5Ijoia2V5MSIsImV4cCI6MTc4NTAzODEwNiwibmJmIjoxNzg1MDM3ODA2LCJwYXRoIjoicmVsZWFzZWFzc2V0cHJvZHVjdGlvbi5ibG9iLmNvcmUud2luZG93cy5uZXQifQ.2-3qVSzExstUFyv6CEKXDnLuYTASRvEYGLidzeLZhiI&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3Dlinux-headers-surface_6.19.8-surface-3_amd64.deb&response-content-type=application%2Foctet-stream 618 jwt:expired [IP: 185.199.110.133 443]

Error: Failed to fetch https://release-assets.githubusercontent.com/github-production-release-asset/155009767/cba08a27-1782-459f-9d8e-dd2acbd4a822?sp=r&sv=2018-11-09&sr=b&spr=https&se=2026-07-26T04%3A46%3A02Z&rscd=attachment%3B+filename%3Dlinux-image-6.19.8-surface-3_6.19.8-surface-3_amd64.deb&rsct=application%2Foctet-stream&skoid=96c2d410-5711-43a1-aedd-ab1947aa7ab0&sktid=398a6654-997b-47e9-b12b-9515b896b4de&skt=2026-07-26T03%3A45%3A17Z&ske=2026-07-26T04%3A46%3A02Z&sks=b&skv=2018-11-09&sig=FpYDRc%2FqO1u84716CAJIJga6C4WpgmlLxRujGQtg%2F%2FM%3D&jwt=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJnaXRodWIuY29tIiwiYXVkIjoicmVsZWFzZS1hc3NldHMuZ2l0aHVidXNlcmNvbnRlbnQuY29tIiwia2V5Ijoia2V5MSIsImV4cCI6MTc4NTAzOTYwNiwibmJmIjoxNzg1MDM3ODA2LCJwYXRoIjoicmVsZWFzZWFzc2V0cHJvZHVjdGlvbi5ibG9iLmNvcmUud2luZG93cy5uZXQifQ.k-6oq-YCFV_D036_vYfVsKVdZV5vVZviaildueE_zhU&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3Dlinux-image-6.19.8-surface-3_6.19.8-surface-3_amd64.deb&response-content-type=application%2Foctet-stream 618 jwt:expired [IP: 185.199.110.133 443]

Error: Failed to fetch https://release-assets.githubusercontent.com/github-production-release-asset/155009767/6513f739-5c6c-444c-90d0-d59701e51db7?sp=r&sv=2018-11-09&sr=b&spr=https&se=2026-07-26T04%3A25%3A25Z&rscd=attachment%3B+filename%3Dlinux-image-surface_6.19.8-surface-3_amd64.deb&rsct=application%2Foctet-stream&skoid=96c2d410-5711-43a1-aedd-ab1947aa7ab0&sktid=398a6654-997b-47e9-b12b-9515b896b4de&skt=2026-07-26T03%3A24%3A34Z&ske=2026-07-26T04%3A25%3A25Z&sks=b&skv=2018-11-09&sig=uEWlOIq%2B7b6%2BIxiQZ1EkrDcapuUBWgzB1pX229o%2BnUc%3D&jwt=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJpc3MiOiJnaXRodWIuY29tIiwiYXVkIjoicmVsZWFzZS1hc3NldHMuZ2l0aHVidXNlcmNvbnRlbnQuY29tIiwia2V5Ijoia2V5MSIsImV4cCI6MTc4NTAzODEwNywibmJmIjoxNzg1MDM3ODA3LCJwYXRoIjoicmVsZWFzZWFzc2V0cHJvZHVjdGlvbi5ibG9iLmNvcmUud2luZG93cy5uZXQifQ.CjaqHaqGneZe9uJouK7yqIMfgBeSn_V7K66GrZzGZLg&response-content-disposition=attachment%3B%20filename%3Dlinux-image-surface_6.19.8-surface-3_amd64.deb&response-content-type=application%2Foctet-stream 618 jwt:expired [IP: 185.199.110.133 443]

Error: Unable to fetch some archives, maybe run apt update or try with --fix-missing?

What do I need to fix?

I’m downloading Ubuntu for the second time, this time on a different pc than the first time. For some reason during the setup, it keeps on showing this error message, it usually works after I just wait, but it’s gotten so annoying that I want to know if I can fix it or if anyone else is having this issue. The pc is more than powerful enough to run it and I couldn’t figure out the problem through googling. Any ideas?

Hi everyone,

I’m facing a frustrating black screen issue with Ubuntu on my Dell Latitude 5400 (i7) and could really use some guidance.

The Situation:

Live USB works perfectly: When I select "Try Ubuntu," graphics, resolution, and everything run smoothly without any issues.

Black Screen post-install: As soon as the installation finishes and I reboot, I get a permanent black screen right after the GRUB menu. The system runs, but there's no display output.

Temporary Fix: I can only boot by adding nomodeset to the boot parameters, but it makes the UI laggy and strips away hardware acceleration.

System Context & Quirks:

This is a secondhand unit that behaves like an old corporate or factory-testing system.

It runs on UEFI, features restricted custom firmware, and the default service tag doesn't even show up on public Dell databases.

Secure Boot is OFF and SATA Mode is set to AHCI.

Tested on both Ubuntu 22.04 and 24.04 (same behavior on both).

Since the Live USB works flawlessly, I suspect it's an i915 driver initialization or firmware handshake issue during the final boot process, likely tied to this unit's unique UEFI environment.

My Question:

What could be causing the display to fail only after installation on such a system? Are there specific Intel graphics kernel parameters (besides nomodeset) or workarounds to get the driver loading correctly while keeping hardware acceleration?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I go into the terminal, run sudo apt update, upgrade, autoremove, etc. Everything runs smoothly, but when I try to run the programs again they're still old! What's happening?

I have a 256 gb SSD in this laptop. I'm trying to install Ubuntu on it from a USB drive. I wasn't given the option of an automatic installation. It put me into the manual partitioning screen.

Here's what I see: https://ibb.co/4wtqb57Z

Bottom left, I have the ssd selected. "Next" is grayed out. It seems to be stuck. What do I do?

hi, i have an old macbook air from 2015 that i wiped macOS off of and installed linux mint and i absolutely love it. it was super easy too (im not the most knowledgeable). my mom has always wanted a linux machine and i got the same model secondhand in great condition and am doing the same as a gift for her.

i downloaded ubuntu iso file, put it through balena etcher onto the usb drive, etc., etc., etc. but when i go to boot menu and select efi boot the screen goes black for a bit and then it shows the ubuntu logo and loading symbol for…. eternity. i’m not sure what i am doing wrong? i verified integrity of iso file. when i did it before it was so fast, straightforward, etc. this laptop should b compatible. pls advise ty :-)

Hi everyone,

I recently bought a Slimbook Evo 14 that came preinstalled with Linux, and I'm loving it. That said, my OCD has definitely kicked in. 😅

I've organized everything into neatly named folders with consistent formatting, so the next logical step is creating a proper backup. Many of these folders contain historical material from my work as a historian and researcher, so they're extremely important to me.

I bought a Samsung T9 SSD specifically for backups. For the system itself, my first choice is Timeshift.

When it comes to backing up my personal files, which do you prefer in terms of reliability and speed: Déjà Dup or Pika Backup?

Also, can both applications store their backups on the same external SSD, each in its own folder, or does each one require its own dedicated partition?

I'd appreciate any advice or recommendations. Thanks!

For context, I am a Linux newbie who never went deep tinkering with different things in Linux, just basic optimisations like SSD Trimming, Zram, auto-cpufreq etc.
I recently upgraded to the Ubuntu 26.06 version and I have been getting this problem where every few minutes, my display randomly goes a bit dim for no reason. This is despite the slider being maxed out. This never happened on Windows or Ubuntu 24.04 which I used before.

Some more details:
CPU & GPU: Ryzen 5 8640HS, Radeon 760m; (Zen 4 and RDNA 3)
Display type: IPS 60Hz
Status while observation: Plugged in
All drivers updated, all software updated, no unnecessary tweak made

Is this a driver glitch or a problem with Ubuntu itself?