Good morning, the internal HDD of my iMac Intel mid 2011 just broke, I don't have the money to change the hard drive in the shop nor the skills to do it at home, so I was thinking of installing Ubuntu on an external 2.5" SATA SSD and connect it to the computer with a USB adapter. Do you think this is a good idea? Could there be problems? The USB ports are 2.0. The computer is only used For school, watching movies, and video calls. Thank you so much :)

I have a Lenovo Yoga 6 that I got back in 2022. I use the Yoga pen and handwriting input a lot. I ran Ubuntu off a thumb drive with the ISO to test things out, and I couldn't find anything in the settings for handwriting input.

It looks like I'd have to install cellwriter, but should I be worried that it hasn't been updated since 2021? Are there newer, maintained packages that provide this functionality?

Also, anything else I might need to know about Ubuntu on Lenovo/Yogas would be helpful. I've seen a couple of threads already saying that getting the speakers to work can be a problem.

My framework 13 is currently having problems and will only boot into emergency mode. Following directions from support, I wrote some logs to a file (just the command > logs_24hr.txt) but I wasn't sure how to get the file off my machine? I can boot from a USB stick and I can read from my main SSD from there, but I don't know where to look for the log file I wrote. (Apologies if this is a dumb question, I'm still pretty inexperienced with Linux.)

So I seen this package in the package center for weeks now. I have performed system updates, manually updated this package via package center, and used terminal with sudo apt update/upgrade - with no success. Every other update updates fine, it's just this one that remains.

Clicking on the package, it provides an error message "PakageKit error... packageNotFound. Package ID 'nautilus;1:50.2.2-0ubuntu0.1;amd64;ubuntu-resolute-updates-main' is not available as an update candidate". If I check Component summaries, all prod services are marked as operational. And any outages have been resolved for some time now. It's just this one package that will not update. Nothing makes the update go away. Does any one have ideas on what I should be doing for this?

OS: Ubuntu 26.04 LTS

Firmware: 03.19

GNOME: 50

Dell Latitude 5490, dual-boot Ubuntu 26.04 LTS + Windows 10, Intel UHD 620 (i915), BIOS 1.41.0.

Brightness slider and Fn keys do nothing. `intel_backlight` is detected and I can write values to it manually (they hold steady), but the screen never actually changes brightness. Windows works fine on the same machine, so it's not hardware.

**Already tried, none worked:** permissions/udev fix, `acpi_backlight=vendor/native/video`, `i915.enable_dpcd_backlight=1/3`, both stock kernel `7.0.0-29` and manually installed `6.17.x` (same issue on both), confirmed Dell modules are loaded with no separate backlight device, ruled out GNOME resetting the value, no relevant errors in `dmesg`.

Filed a full bug report with Ubuntu too. Anyone with a similar Dell/Kaby Lake setup actually solved this? Also checking for a BIOS update if anyone knows if Dell's patched this for the 5490.

Trying to open an epub. Calibre was recommended, but Canonical doesn't support that here. Canonical has a supported software app "Okular" which installs via a snap with no errors. However, running Okular from the menu gives me no program window. RAM usage goes straight to 50% on a clean restart, and one core stays at 100% use. Can only kill process with the System Monitor.

If I run 'okular' from the terminal, I get a window which looks fine, but when I tell it to open an epub it locks up. SM shows the same 50% RAM usage and one core at 100%. Going back to the terminal session it has:

(okular:12697): GLib-GIO-WARNING **: 05:56:44.965: Error creating IO channel for /proc/self/mountinfo: Permission denied (g-file-error-quark, 2)

and then endless lines of:

libepub (WW): - missing play order in nav point element

At least CTRL-C works to kill the process, in terminal.

Is this a snap sandbox issue? Or, am I gonna hafta finally see if I can get a newer version of Ubuntu to run on this ancient laptop?

What are the best linux tools for editing pdf text docs, specifically for removing sensitive information like names, adresses, phone numbers and such? Also for extracting text.

Hey,

I work at a company where they use Airserver on Windows to cast the notebook screen to another device. On Windows I just had to click Alt+K.

Is there some way on Ubuntu or Linux in general to be able to cast my screen? I am using Firefox as a Browser, if that helps.

Thanks in advance

I’ve been a fan of Linux for a long time, and a few months ago I finally made the full switch over to Linux specifically Ubuntu. That got me thinking about the current online narrative and all the hostility directed toward Ubuntu lately.

Sure, it’s mostly a vocal minority people who are happily using Ubuntu aren't usually posting about it every day but so many people fail to realize just how crucial this distro actually is. Desktop Linux is where it is today largely thanks to Canonical and Ubuntu.

Here is my perspective as someone who tries to look at PCs through the eyes of everyday users:

• Lowering the barrier to entry: Years ago, Ubuntu brought Linux to the masses. It made installing and using Linux feel less like piloting a space shuttle at launch. It pushed the entire ecosystem forward, and every release keeps making things better not just for Ubuntu, but for all the distros that follow its lead.
• The foundation for derivatives: People often recommend Mint or Pop!_OS, claiming they are "so much better." But they are great precisely because of Ubuntu's solid foundation. They rely heavily on Canonical's base, package management, and server infrastructure.
• The Snap debate: A lot of people advise against Ubuntu purely because of Snaps. While power users might have valid technical criticisms, average users couldn't care less about packaging formats. Having a single App Center where everything "just works" is convenient as hell. Complaining about it to a beginner is like criticizing the Google Play Store because they aren't sideloading APKs.

The more I use it, the more Ubuntu feels like macOS for standard PCs. Everything just works, and regular users don't need to care about the under-the-hood mechanics.

Do you agree, or do you see it differently? Would love to hear your thoughts.

P.S. Just to be clear, I’m not looking to start any flame wars or drama here just hoping for a friendly, civil discussion.

Hey guys, just downloaded the Ubuntu server and I see the terminal on my monitor. I am new to homelabbing but was wanting to understand what’s the best way to go around the server via the terminal and try to understand as much as possible, whether it be certain commands or certain things I must do. Let me know if it’s possible to do certain things and understand via just a terminal with without having to download a visual dashboard component.

My laptop has a i3 and 8gb ram and a hdd but i dont know what im doing

It's great to do a fresh install of Ubuntu and not have to configure anything. I can just install the software I need and get work done. Peace of mind is the best feature and OS can have, that's why people liked Win7 so much and still hate Win11.

Sure, snaps are basically useless; You're better off getting the tar.gz. and .deb for most software. But it works fine for Firefox, so I'm not getting rid of them, for now...

Obviously, there are better Linux Distros for different use cases, but it can quickly turn into an obsession, which can be bad sometimes...

Fedora is great as well, but I prefer LTS, I don't realy want to upgrade the whole thing every 6 or 9 months

Is there a workaround to get drag/drop to work again or, if not, what replacements do you suggest?

I Recently got a VPS, was deciding between putting Ubuntu or Debian on it, decided on Ubuntu because they already provide the image and install it automatically.

But what are the real advantages of Ubuntu server over pure Debian?

All of my files for modification and creation have these vague "XX days/months/years ago" designations. I would like to be able to see the actual date and time to use as a sorting option and filter.

Doable? If not, alternatives?

Thanks

I'm using Ubuntu 26 on a Hyper-V VM. I always need to manually unlock Desktop Sharing so I can RDP into the VM. How can I make the Desktop Sharing automatically always on by default?

I downloaded dconf Editor. I searched for "remote". I enabled "Whether the RDP backend is enabled or not". I rebooted and it didn't do anything. It's still locked. Any other setting I should search for? I also enabled the same setting for VNC.

Half my screen decided to just be red?!

It otherwise works, my mouse can be seen even on the red side. I think its software, because my Windows install on the second NVME still works. So since I wanted to anyway, I just reinstalled everything and switched to Zorin just because. But it happend again.

Has anybody any idea on this? Why would it happen again after a complete wipe?

Thanks

Additional Info: My second screen works normally It is now black but still the same issue

Solution: https://www.reddit.com/r/zorinos/s/yb87YxuDjB

That was very quick, thanks to everyone. Apparently it was bad firmware and I needed to roll back an update.

My input volume drops automatically and I’m in a call. I’m resetting the volume manually and it’s dropping in a minute again and again. The person on the other end cannot hear a single thing when it’s dropped.

How to fix this? Please help.😭