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By zikalify
How to create encrypted partitions on Linux with GNOME Disks
by Paul Hill
Some of most popular Linux distributions including Ubuntu, Linux Mint and Fedora come with a disk and partition manager tool called GNOME Disks, a tool developed by the GNOME project. While it’s packed with features, one interesting capability that’s a bit tucked away is disk encryption; this can be used to create secure partitions on your hard drive or create an encrypted USB device.
In this short guide, I will show you how to create an encrypted USB stick. One of the drawbacks to encrypting the device using this method is that you'll be limited to what file system you use. To get started, go to your application menu and search or look for GNOME Disks, it might just be called Disks. If you don’t see it anywhere, then you’ll have to head to your package manager and do a search for it.
GNOME Disks showing multiple partitions on a USB stick Once you’ve opened GNOME Disks, you’ll need to plug in the USB device that you want to encrypt. The encryption process will wipe the device so be absolutely sure that you’ve backed up any important data.
When you plugged in your USB device, you should have seen it pop-up on the left-hand pane, if you didn’t, unplug the device and plug it in again. Once you see it, select it. At this point, you can keep the existing partitions intact and just format one of them or you can format the entire device, create a new partition, and encrypt everything.
The dialog box that appears once you choose to format the disk If you want to format everything, just press the three-dot menu button in the top right of GNOME Disks and select ‘Format Disk’ and feel free to adjust the erasure and partitioning options as you see fit. Once you're happy, hit ‘Format’ and then ‘Format’ again on the confirmation box. Once that’s done, you should see a plus button under the volumes, press that, select your partition size, and press ‘Next’.
Selecting EXT4 and LUKS encryption The next set of options are the most important, give your disk volume a name, then select the EXT4 option and tick the ‘Password protect volume’. If you do not want to use EXT4, press ‘Other’ and then hit ‘Next’. Here you can select XFS, Linux Swap Partition, BTRFS and possibly several others. Be sure to tick the ‘Password protect volume’ box on this screen if you choose one of these alternatives and press ‘Next’, then enter your password twice and press ‘Create’.
If you decided to keep several volumes on your device and you just want to encrypt one of a few of the partitions, select the partition to encrypt and press the gear icon next to the play and minus icons. You should now see ‘Format Partition’, selecting this will open up the same dialog box as the one described earlier and the instructions to encrypt the selected partitions are the same. Be sure that you’ve backed up any data from the partition you’re about to format.
While I’ve only gone over the instructions for encrypting a USB device, the guide is pretty much the same for encrypting internal and external hard drives too. If you plan to alter partitions on a hard drive that’s actively being used, you will have to do this process from a LiveUSB or LiveCD environment, and be sure that you’ve backed up any data you want to keep.
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By zikalify
How to install and use Neofetch on desktop and mobile
by Paul Hill
If you’ve spent any time looking around Linux subreddits, you may have seen some desktop screenshots where the user has their terminal displaying their system’s specs next to the logo of the operating system they use. While other programs can display information like this, one of the common options is called Neofetch – a program written in bash and available on all the popular operating systems and niche ones.
In this guide, I’ll show you how to install Neofetch on Windows, Mac, popular Linux distributions, Android and even iOS. In addition to installation, we’ll walk through some of the more advanced commands that you can run with Neofetch to customise the output.
Neofetch on Windows
On Windows, you will need to install Neofetch using a tool called Scoop, a command-line installer for Windows. To install Scoop, you must be using Windows 7 SP1+ / Windows Server 2008+ and have PowerShell 5 and .NET Framework 4.5. Once you’ve got these, you’ll need to enter the following command in PowerShell: Set-ExecutionPolicy -ExecutionPolicy RemoteSigned -Scope CurrentUser, affirm the changes if it asks.
Next, you’ll want to install Scoop using PowerShell. To do this, use the following command: Invoke-Expression (New-Object System.Net.WebClient).DownloadString('https://get.scoop.sh'). You’ll be able to tell if Scoop has been installed by running: scoop help. Before installing Neofetch, you'll need to install git using Scoop, just type: scoop install git.
If all of those are installed properly, you’re now ready to install Neofetch by typing: scoop install neofetch. Once that is installed just type: neofetch into PowerShell and it will display your system’s specs and the Windows logo.
Neofetch on Mac
Getting Neofetch working on a Mac is quite a bit easier than the process on Windows. Simply open the Mac Terminal and paste the following command to install Homebrew: /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)". With that installed you can type: brew install neofetch and once it’s done just type: neofetch to display your specs next to the Apple logo.
Neofetch on Linux
Neofetch is easy to install on most Linux distribution, this guide includes instructions for installing Neofetch on Arch, Debian, Fedora, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu and their derivatives. For most of these, you will be asked to provide an administrator password.
Arch
Install the package from the command line with the following command:
pacman -S neofetch
Debian
Install the package from the command line with the following commands:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install neofetch
Fedora
Install the package from the command line with the following command:
sudo dnf install neofetch
OpenSUSE
Install the package from the command line with the following command:
sudo zypper install neofetch
Ubuntu
Install the package from the command line with the following commands:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install neofetch
Once you have completed the Neofetch installation on any Linux system, you can run the program by just typing: neofetch into the command line. You will be shown the specs of your computer next to the logo of your particular Linux distribution.
Neofetch on Android
Using Neofetch on Android is fairly straight forward, just head to the Google Play Store and download the Termux terminal emulator, it can also be downloaded from F-Droid if you do not have access to the Play Store for some reason.
Once that’s installed, open it up and type: pkg update and select yes to any questions, this is usually achieved by typing y and pressing enter. Run this command twice just to make sure everything is ready. After you’ve done that, type: pkg install neofetch, when that’s complete type: neofetch. You can pinch to zoom out if any of the output is cut off.
Neofetch on iOS
Neofetch can only be downloaded on iOS with a jailbroken device. You should use a package manager like Sileo to search for and install neofetch. Jailbreaking and installing a package manager is beyond the scope of this tutorial but you can find more information about Sileo on the project’s website.
Advanced options
Neofetch’s default settings should be sufficient for most people but it does come with a decent amount of customisability. If you are comfortable reading help files just type: neofetch --help to see the range of options available to you, if not, here are some pretty cool selections.
When you run Neofetch it will display your operating system’s logo by default but you can make it display any logo by adding to the command. To do this just type: neofetch --ascii_distro distroname and replace distroname with something like ubuntu, fedora, windows etc. Amending _old to the operating system's name will load the old ASCII image if your selection has one. You can find a full list of supported operating systems within the help file, to access that type: neofetch --help.
If you want to personalise your Neofetch output you can create your own ASCII art and supply that to Neofetch. Once you have your ASCII art ready save it a .asc file, then type: neofetch --ascii /path/to/filename.asc.
Conclusion
The advanced features outlined above are not exhaustive by any means, there are lots of settings that you can choose by diving into the Neofetch help file but the ones outlined above will help you get started. If you enjoy tweaking your desktop and want to show it off online, be sure to have your Neofetch output in the foreground so you can show off your specs too!
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By zikalify
Ubuntu 21.04 gets the codename ‘Hirsute Hippo'
by Paul Hill
Following the release of Ubuntu 20.10 almost a week ago, Canonical has revealed the name of the next version of Ubuntu to be ‘Hirsute Hippo’ – the adjective means hairy. Ubuntu 21.04 ‘Hirsute Hippo’ is set to be released next April and is the third Ubuntu release with an ‘H’ codename, the first being Ubuntu 5.04 'Hoary Hedgehog' and the second being Ubuntu 8.04 ‘Hardy Heron’.
Now that we know which animal has been chosen for the codename, it's likely that one of the wallpapers in Ubuntu 21.04 will feature a hippo as has been the case in most prior Ubuntu releases. Ubuntu 21.04 will be an inter-LTS release meaning that it will only be supported for nine months. While it will be stable, most people might be better off staying with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS until 2022 when the next LTS arrives.
According to Phoronix, the Hirsute Hippo is set to come with the GNOME 40 desktop environment, the Linux 5.11 kernel, Mesa 21.0 with more graphics support, Python 3.9, and GCC 10. This release could come with a new desktop installer and Wayland made the default instead of X.Org but nothing has been confirmed yet.
In the coming days, Canonical will start spinning Daily Build ISOs for Hirsute Hippo but the most exciting dates will be April 1 when the beta arrives, April 15 when we get the release candidate, and April 22 when Ubuntu 21.04 finally ships.
Source: Martin Wimpress (Twitter) via Phoronix
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By zikalify
Ubuntu 20.10 ‘Groovy Gorilla' is available to download now
by Paul Hill
Canonical has announced the immediate availability of Ubuntu 20.10 ‘Groovy Gorilla’. While this version is considered stable and fit to be run as a daily driver, it is not a Long Term Support (LTS) release and will therefore only receive security updates for nine months.
The new version comes with a variety of new software including Linux Kernel 5.8 and GNOME 3.38. Developer tools such as programming languages and compilers have also received updates - this release ships with glibc 2.32, OpenJDK 11, rustc 1.41, GCC 10, LLVM 11, Python 3.8.6, ruby 2.7.0, php 7.4.9, perl 5.30, and golang 1.13.
Another notable point about this upgrade is that Canonical has spun a new desktop image aimed at Raspberry Pi 4 devices that have at least 4GB of RAM. Raspberry Pi’s new Compute Module 4 is also supported by the Groovy Gorilla but you’ll need to have 4GB of RAM and 16GB of eMMC or equivalent SD card storage.
Those who want to download and try the new version can download it from the Ubuntu download page. If you’re running Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and want to upgrade you’ll need to open Software & Updates, head to the Updates tab, and change the Notify me of a new Ubuntu version drop down to For any new version. From there, open the update manager and you’ll be offered the upgrade.
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By Rich Woods
Dell refreshes its XPS 13 and XPS 13 2-in-1 with Intel Tiger Lake, Thunderbolt 4, and more
by Rich Woods
Back at CES, Dell announced a redesign for its XPS 13 laptop, and that design also came to the XPS 15 (and the brand-new XPS 17) in May. Now, the XPS 13 2-in-1 is getting the new look, which means that it's getting its IR camera back. Indeed, when Dell finally moved the webcam above the screen, the IR camera took an extra generation to come with it. While the XPS 13 2-in-1 was the last to get the overhaul, it had the least amount of work to do, already having a slim profile and a 16:10 screen.
XPS 13 2-in-1 The XPS 13 clamshell is getting a refresh today as well. As was teased at Intel's launch event earlier this month, both PCs are getting Intel's new 11th-generation 'Tiger Lake' processors. Tiger Lake is the company's second-gen 10nm platform, and it comes with new Iris Xe graphics, which you'll find in the new laptops.
That's not all though, because they come with Thunderbolt 4. That means that the USB Type-C ports can power dual 4K displays off of a single port, or it can power an 8K display. Memory is getting a boost too, as they come with 4267MHz LPDDR4x instead of 37633MHz.
XPS 13 Developer Edition As usual, the XPS 13 is getting a Developer Edition variant, which comes with Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. Moreover, Dell says it's added functionality to allow all XPS 13 users switch their system to Ubuntu 20.04 LTS, even if they didn't get the Developer Edition.
The Dell XPS 13, XPS 13 2-in-1, and XPS 13 Developer Edition will all be available beginning on September 30. The XPS 13 2-in-1 starts at $1,249, and there will be a Frost model with Arctic White woven glass fiber palm rest coming later. The XPS 13 starts at $999, and the Developer Edition's pricing will be announced later.
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