Category: Desktop Support

  • Spinning up an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop VM in VirtualBox

    Spinning up an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop VM in VirtualBox

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    Introduction

    Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop is the latest long-term support release from Canonical. In this guide, you will learn how to download the Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop ISO from Canonical’s website and install it on a new VirtualBox VM (virtual machine).

    Downloading the ISO

    Downloading Ubuntu is as simple as clicking the download button on Canonical’s website. Keep in mind that the file is quite large, at around 6GB, so the download may take some time depending on your internet speed.

    How-to download the ISO:

    Go to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop download page.

    Click the green button that says Download 24.04 LTS.

    Creating a VirtualBox VM

    While creating an Ubuntu VM (Virtual Machine) can be done on any hypervisor, VirtualBox is used in this guide.

    Consider reading or watching our guide on VirtualBox if you have never created a VM or used VirtualBox.

    How to create a VirtualBox VM:

    Click New.

    Give your VM a Descriptive Name.

    Select the ISO image from the dropdown menu.

    Check Skip Unattended Installation.

    Assign desired amount of Base Memory and Processors to your VM.

    Assign desired amount of disk space towards the VM’s VHD (Virtual Hard Disk). Then click Next.

    Read the summary and click Finish when done.

    Click Start to boot your VM.

    Installing Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop

    Congratulations on creating your new VirtualBox VM! Now you need to install Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. While you have the option to try Ubuntu without installing it, for long-term data storage and retrieval, you should install it on the VHD you created earlier.

    Press Enter (on your keyboard) when prompted to try or install Ubuntu.

    Choose your language, then click Next.

    Choose your accessibility options, then click Next.

    Select your keyboard layout, then click Next.

    Connect to the internet, then click Next.

    Press Update now to update the installer. Alternatively, press Skip to continue the installation without updating. For the purposes of this guide we will update the installer.

    After the installer finishes updating, click Close installer.

    Click Install Ubuntu 24.04 LTS to run the installer again. You will need to repeat selecting the desired options as presented by the installer earlier in this guide.

    Select how you would like to install Ubuntu. For the purposes of this guide, the default option, Interactive installation, was left selected.

    Select the apps you would like to start with. For the purposes of this guide, the default option, Default selection, was left selected. Then click Next.

    Now you need to choose whether you intend to install proprietary 3rd party software, such as graphics and Wi-Fi drivers, along with media codecs. For the purposes of this guide, both checkboxes under the heading Install recommended proprietary software?, have been checked. Then click Next.

    Select how you want to install Ubuntu. For the purposes of this guide, Erase disk and install Ubuntu, has been selected. Then click Next.

    Create your account by providing values for Your name, Your computer name, Your username, and your Password. Leave Require my password to login checked. Then click Next.

    Select your Location and Timezone from their respective dropdown menus. Then click Next.

    Review your choices.

    Click the green Install button to start installing Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop.

    After the installation finishes, restart your PC by clicking the green button labeled Restart now.

    Welcome to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS

    When you launch Ubuntu for he first time after installing it, a window with the text “Welcome to Ubuntu 24.04 LTS!” will automatically launch. Read the welcome message before clicking Next.

    The next window will give you the option to enable Ubuntu Pro. Select Skip for now before clicking Next.

    You can help the development of Ubuntu by choosing to send diagnostic data. For the purposes of this article, the option No, don’t share system data was selected. Once done, click Next.

    The next window is intended to introduce the software store. Click Next to finish the guided tour.

    Conclusion

    You should now have the necessary knowledge to download an Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Desktop ISO image and create your very own VirtualBox VM complete with a fresh Ubuntu installation.

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    ASUS Gaming laptop

    Affiliate Disclaimer

    Please note that my website and content may contain affiliate links. This means that when you click on these links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission. Rest assured, all the products I promote are ones that I believe to be of high quality, and I personally use them as a consumer myself. Your support through these links helps me continue to create valuable content. Thank you for your support!

  • Brother all-in-one Printer Driver Installation and Setup on Rocky 9 Linux Workstation

    Brother all-in-one Printer Driver Installation and Setup on Rocky 9 Linux Workstation

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    Introduction

    Printing and scanning with an all-in-one Brother printer is possible on Linux thanks to 3rd party Brother all-in-one printer and scanner drivers.

    Adding a printer in GNOME

    1. Open Settings
    2. In the left menu click, Printers
    3. Notice the banner at the top of the window that says “Unlock to Change Settings”
    4. Click Unlock and enter sudo credentials.
    5. Click Add

    After clicking Add, Settings will start scanning for printers. If your printer doesn’t show up but you know its IP address on your LAN, enter the IP address manually. Connecting your printer to your home network is beyond the scope of this article.

    A Software window launches that attempts to locate and install printer drivers. Generally, this will fail. You will need to go Brother’s website to install the additional drivers.

    Downloading and installing the drivers

    Brother Driver Installer Script Installation Instructions:

    1. Download the Brother MFC-J480DW Printer driver bash script
    2. Open a terminal window.
    3. Go to the directory you downloaded the file to in the last step. e.g. cd Downloads
    4. Enter this command to extract the downloaded file: gunzip linux-brprinter-installer-*.*.*-*.gz
    5. Get superuser authorization with the su command or sudo su command.
    6. Run the tool: bash linux-brprinter-installer-*.*.*-* Brother machine name
    7. The driver installation will start. Follow the installation screen directions

    Scanner support

    Xsane is a scanning utility that provides a graphical user-interface to make scans. It has packages available from the appstream repository requiring no additional configuration.

    sudo dnf install sane-backends sane-frontends xsane
    

    The xsane GUI looks a little intimidating but doing a simple scan is straightforward. When you launch xsane a window with a button exists where you can Acquire a preview. This will take a preview image of a scan. Once read to scan click the button Start in the main menu.

    For a more comprehensive xsane guide read this article by the University of Cambridge Faculty of Mathematics

    The installation process may take some time. Wait until it is complete. Once finished, you can optionally send a test print.

    Conclusion

    After installing the necessary Brother drivers and xsane you should now be able to print and scan on your all-in-one Brother printer and scanner.

    Articles to Read Next

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    How to Install Virtual Box and Answering “What is a Hypervisor?”

    How to Enable Bidirectional Shared Clipboard on VirtualBox VM

    How to Create a Linux VM with VirtualBox

    Affiliate Links

    Form your business with Northwest registered agent

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    Affiliate Disclaimer

    Please note that my website and content may contain affiliate links. This means that when you click on these links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission. Rest assured, all the products I promote are ones that I believe to be of high quality, and I personally use them as a consumer myself. Your support through these links helps me continue to create valuable content. Thank you for your support!

  • A Quick Start to Annotating Screenshots with Ksnip

    A Quick Start to Annotating Screenshots with Ksnip

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    Checkout this same article on the Rocky Linux Documentation website.

    Prerequisites and assumptions

    • Rocky 9.4 Workstation
    • sudo privileges

    Introduction

    Ksnip is a screenshot utility feature rich with tools for annotating screenshots. This guide focuses on installing Ksnip and its annotation tools.

    Install Ksnip

    Ksnip requires the EPEL repository. If you do not have the EPEL enabled, you can do that with:

    sudo dnf install epel-release

    Then perform a system update:

    sudo dnf update -y

    Now, install Ksnip:

    sudo dnf install ksnip -y

    Open an image

    1. Open Ksnip
    2. Click File > Open
    3. Select the image you want to annotate

    Annotate an image with Ksnip

    Ksnip has handy and intuitive tools to annotate screenshots. In the image, down the left side are the options described below.

    The Select tool: used to make a selection. Click an item to select it or click and drag to make a selection.

    The Duplicate tool: used to duplicate a selection. Click and drag to make a selection. Then click and drag the selection to move or further transform it.

    The Arrow tool: used to create arrows. Click and drag to create an arrow.

    The Double Arrow tool (chosen by clicking the down arrow next to the arrow): used to create double-sided arrows. Click and drag to create a double-sided arrow.

    The Line tool: used to create straight lines. Click and drag to create a line.

    The Pen tool: used to make strokes that resemble a pen. Click and move the cursor across the screenshot to use the Pen. Customization options exist to change the style and stroke of the Pen in the top toolbar.

    The Marker Pen tool: used to make strokes that resemble a highlighter. Hold click and move drag the cursor across the screenshot to use the Marker Pen. Customizations exist to change the opacity in the top toolbar.

    The Marker Rectangle tool: is the Marker Pen tool, but when you click and drag your cursor, the Marker Rectangle tool will fill the rectangular selection. Customizations exist to change the opacity in the top toolbar.

    The Marker Ellipse tool: is the Marker Pen tool, but when you left-click and drag your cursor, the Marker Ellipse tool will fill the ellipse made from the selection. Customizations exist to change the opacity in the top toolbar.

    The Text tool: used to annotate a screenshot with text. Click anywhere on the image and begin typing to use the Text tool. Customizations exist in the top toolbar to change the border, color, font-family, font-size, font-style, and opacity of your text.

    The Text Pointer tool: used to annotate a screenshot with text attached to a pointer. The pointer should bring attention to the text, similar to the Text Arrow tool.

    The Text Arrow tool: used to annotate a screenshot with text attached to an arrow. The pointer should bring attention to the text, similar to the Text Pointer tool.

    The Number tool: used to annotate a screenshot with a numbered shape. Click anywhere on the image to place a numbered shape. Customizations exist in the top toolbar to change the color, width, and opacity.

    The Number Pointer tool: used to annotate a screenshot with a numbered shape attached to a pointer. Click anywhere on the image to place a numbered shape attached to a pointer. Customizations exist in the top toolbar to change the color, width, and opacity.

    The Number Arrow tool: used to annotate a screenshot with a numbered shape attached to a pointer. Click anywhere on the image to place a numbered shape attached to an arrow. Customizations exist in the top toolbar to change the color, width, and opacity.

    The Blur tool: used to blur a selection. Left-click and drag anywhere on the screenshot to blur a selection.

    The Pixelate tool: used to pixelate a selection. Left-click and drag anywhere on the screenshot to pixelate a selection.

    The Rectangle tool: used to make a rectangle from a selection. Left-click and drag anywhere on the screenshot to make rectangular selection. Customizations exist in the top toolbar to change the color, width, and opacity.

    The Ellipse tool: used to make an ellipse from a selection. Left-click and drag anywhere on the screenshot to place an ellipse. Customizations exist in the top toolbar to change the color, width, and opacity.

    The Sticker tool: used to place a sticker or emoji on a screenshot. Selecting the tool and clicking will place the sticker.

    Conclusion

    Ksnip is an excellent utility for annotating screenshots. It can also take screenshots, however the main focus of this guide is the annotation capabilities and tools provided by Ksnip.

    Checkout the Ksnip GitHub Repo to learn more about this excellent screenshot utility.

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    How to Install Virtual Box and Answering “What is a Hypervisor?”

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    How to Create a Linux VM with VirtualBox

    Affiliate Links

    Form your business with Northwest registered agent

    Create a website with namedotcom

    Secure your website with Wordfence

    My work laptop

    Affiliate Disclaimer

    Please note that my website and content may contain affiliate links. This means that when you click on these links and make a purchase, I may earn a commission. Rest assured, all the products I promote are ones that I believe to be of high quality, and I personally use them as a consumer myself. Your support through these links helps me continue to create valuable content. Thank you for your support!