Exciting tips

Are you an avid Ubuntu Linux user trying to figure out what version of the operating system you are using? If so, this guide is for you. Follow along as we demonstrate ways to check the Ubuntu version!

Check Ubuntu version – Ubuntu system info area

If you’re using the default Ubuntu desktop environment (Gnome Shell 3), the best way to check your Ubuntu version is with the built-in Ubuntu System Info application. To access the Ubuntu system info area on your PC, start by pressing the Win key on the keyboard.

When you press the Win key on your keyboard, the Ubuntu desktop will go from “Desktop” mode to “Overview” mode. In this “Overview” mode, you will see all open windows, your favorites bar on the left, and a search box.

Click on the search box with the mouse. Then, type in “About” in the search. After typing out “About,” the Ubuntu desktop should return some search results. Under the “Settings” area of the search results, you should see “About View information about your system.” 

Click on “About View information about your system” with the mouse. Doing this will open up Ubuntu’s system info area. In here, there is a lot of information. To check the Ubuntu version, find “OS Name.”

In the “OS Name” section, the version of Ubuntu will be printed. In this example, the version of Ubuntu is Ubuntu 20.04.1 LTS. Yours will differ, depending on how often you upgrade your Ubuntu PC.

Save info for later

Do you want to save the Ubuntu version information from the Ubuntu system info area? Do the following. 

Step 1: Locate the PRNT SC button on the keyboard (it may also say PRNT SCRN or some other variation) and press it to take a screenshot of the Ubuntu system info area. 

Step 2: After capturing a screenshot of your Ubuntu version, the Ubuntu screenshot tool will ask you to save the image. Select where to save your image using the UI to save your Ubuntu version info for later.

Check Ubuntu version – Neofetch

While the Ubuntu system info is pretty great, it’s only available on the Gnome version of Ubuntu. If you’re using an alternative flavor of Ubuntu such as Mate, KDE, XFCE, or others, you’ll need another option.

The best alternative to the Ubuntu system information area in Gnome is Neofetch. Neofetch is a command-line system information utility that can tell users tons of detailed information, including the Ubuntu version.

However, before we can go over how to use Neofetch to check the Ubuntu version, we must go over how to install the program. The reason? Neofetch doesn’t come pre-installed on any mainstream Linux operating system.

To install Neofetch on your Linux PC, start out by opening up a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open, follow along with the command-line installation instructions below.

Ubuntu

sudo apt install neofetch

Debian

sudo apt-get install neofetch

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S neofetch

Fedora

sudo zypper install neofetch

OpenSUSE

sudo zypper install neofetch

After installing the Neofetch app, return to the terminal window. Once in the terminal window, execute the neofetch command. When the command is completed, you will see an ASCII output in the terminal window. 

neofetch

Inside the ASCII output, there is a lot of system information available for viewing. Look to the top line of the Neofetch ASCII output for “OS”. In this “OS” area, you will see the Ubuntu version.

Want to save your Neofetch output to a text file for later viewing? Pipe it to a text file by using the command below.

neofetch > ~/neofetch-output.txt

To view the Neofetch text file, make use of the cat command in a terminal window.

cat ~/neofetch-output.txt

Check Ubuntu version – Hardinfo

A third way you can find out your Ubuntu version is with the Hardinfo tool. Hardinfo shows many detailed system information such as RAM usage, network info, and much more. It can also show your exact Ubuntu version. Here’s how.

First, ensure you have the Hardinfo app installed on your Linux PC. To install it, open up a terminal window and execute the commands below that correspond with the Linux OS you currently use.

Ubuntu

sudo apt install hardinfo

Debian

sudo apt-get install hardinfo

Arch Linux

sudo pacman -S hardinfo

Fedora

sudo dnf install hardinfo

OpenSUSE

sudo zypper install hardinfo

With Hardinfo installed, launch it by searching for “System Profiler and Benchmark” in your app menu. Or via hardinfo in the terminal.

Inside the Hardinfo application, find the “Computer” tab on the left in the list and click on it. When you select this button, you will see a summary of your computer, including your Ubuntu version in the “Operating System” area.

Want more information about your Ubuntu PC. In the Hardinfo app, click on the “Operating System” button under “Computer.” You’ll be able to see even more detailed info, including kernel versions, etc.

Are you a Debian Linux user? Can’t use the Sudo command and don’t know why? We can help! Follow along with this guide as we show you how to add users to the sudoers file in Debian!

Before we begin

This tutorial will be walking you through how to add users to the Sudoers file on Debian Linux. Unlike many other Linux operating systems, Debian does not set up Sudo for the user during the installation.

However, if you are using an operating system based on Debian, such as Bunsen Labs, Devuan, SolydXK, or others, you may also not have Sudo set up. If this is the case, please follow this guide as the instructions should be similar, as these operating systems are based on Debian.

Debian add user to sudoers – adding a single user  

The easiest way to gain Sudo access for a user on Debian is to completely ignore adding users to the Sudoers file via the group management tools and instead manually editing the Sudoer file, specifying a particular user and giving them full permissions.

To start adding a single user to the Sudoers file on Debian, open up a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open, you will need to log into the Root account. The reason? The root account is required to modify system files, including sudoers.

Once your terminal window is open, you can access the root account on Debian by executing the su command in a terminal. Keep in mind you will need to remember the root password set during the Debian installation process.

su -

After logging into the root account in the terminal on your Debian PC, you’ll need to open up the Sudoers file for editing purposes. The Sudoers file is located in the /etc/ directory (/etc/sudoers). However, you should never edit the file directly. Instead, you must use the visudo command.

Note: in this guide, we’re using the Nano editor as it is approachable and easy to use for most Linux users. If you do not like Nano, feel free to change “nano” in the command below to something else.

EDITOR=nano visudo

Once the visudo command has been executed, the Nano editor will open up the Sudoers file on your Debian Linux PC. From here, use the Down Arrow key to locate the specific line “## User privilege specification“.

Under that line, you should see “root ALL=(ALL) ALL.” This code tells Debian that the Root account can use Sudo. You’ll need to replicate this line for your own user to give it Sudoer privileges. 

In the Nano editor, underneath “root ALL=(ALL) ALL” create a new line, and write in the line below. Keep in mind you will need to change “user” to your username to access Sudo in Debian.

user ALL=(ALL) ALL

Once you’ve written out the Nano text editor’s line, the Sudoers file must be saved. To save it in Nano, press the Ctrl + O button combination on the keyboard. Press Ctrl + X to exit.

Debian add user to sudoers – adding via sudo group

On Debian, if you don’t want to add users individually, the operating system also allows users to give any user account Sudo access simply by adding them to the sudo group. Here’s how to do it.

First, open up a terminal window if you don’t have one open already. On Debian, the easiest way to launch the terminal window is by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T on the keyboard. Once the terminal window is open, you must log in to the root account using the su command.

su -

Now that the terminal session is logged into the root account, you’ll need to run the grep command to determine if the “sudo” group exists on your Debian Linux PC. 

grep -i "sudo" /etc/group

The output should show “sudo” and denote that your Debian Linux PC indeed has the sudo group. If for some reason, your Debian Linux system doesn’t have the sudo group as it should, you can create it using the following command in a terminal window.

groupadd sudo

After creating the new group, re-run the grep command to confirm it’s there.

grep -i "sudo" /etc/group

When you’ve confirmed that the sudo group is there, you can use the usermod -aG command to add existing users to the group. By adding users to this group, they’ll be able to execute sudo commands on Debian.

Note: be sure to re-run the usermod command below as many times as needed to give users access to sudo.

usermod -aG sudo YOUR_USERNAME

Need to remove a user from the sudo group to deny them sudo privileges? You can remove any user from the sudo group by executing the usermod -G command below in a terminal window.

su usermod -G sudo YOUR_USERNAME

After removing the user from the group, they will no longer have the ability to execute sudo commands in Debian. 

Kitty is a versatile, snappy GPU-powered terminal emulator for Linux. It’s highly customizable and an excellent alternative for those on Linux who are not happy with the stock terminal apps that come with popular desktop environments. In this guide, we’ll show you how to install Kitty and customize it too. 

Installing the Kitty terminal emulator on Linux

The Kitty emulator is widely available to all Linux users. From Ubuntu to OpenSUSE, you’ll be able to get Kitty set up and installed without any issues. To start the installation process on your Linux computer, launch a terminal window.

Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, follow along with the command-line installation instructions outlined below that corresponds with the Linux operating system you currently use.

Ubuntu

Since Ubuntu 18.04 LTS, the Kitty terminal emulator has been installable on the Ubuntu platform (Linux OSes based upon Ubuntu). To install the app on your Linux PC, start by enabling the “Universe” software repository.

To enable the Ubuntu “Universe” software repository, make use of the following add-apt-repository command. 

sudo add-apt-repository universe

After adding the new repository to your Ubuntu system, execute the update command to refresh your software sources.

sudo apt update

Finally, you can install the Kitty terminal emulator on your Ubuntu Linux PC using the Apt command below.

sudo apt install kitty

Debian

Debian 10 and 11, as well as Sid, have the Kitty terminal emulator available for installation. To start the installation on your computer, you must upgrade to at least Debian 10 and enter the Apt-get command below to get the app working.

sudo apt-get install kitty

Arch Linux

On Arch Linux, the Kitty emulator is available for installation in two methods: through the official “Community” software repository and the Arch Linux AUR. We’ll cover both.

To install the Kitty terminal emulator directly from the “Community” software repo, use the following Pacman command. However, keep in mind that you must have the “Community” software repo enabled in the /etc/pacman.conf file for the command to work.

sudo pacman -S kitty

To get Kitty via the AUR, you will need to make use of Trizen. To get Trizen, use the commands below.

sudo pacman -S git base-devel git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git cd trizen makepkg -sri

Install the Kitty terminal emulator with:

trizen -S kitty-git

Fedora

On every Fedora Linux release, the Kitty terminal emulator is installable through the default Fedora software repositories. To install, execute the following Dnf installation command.

sudo dnf install kitty

OpenSUSE

If you’re using OpenSUSE and want to use the Kitty terminal emulator, you will need to ensure you are using LEAP 15.2 or Tumbleweed’s latest release. Once you’ve figured that out, you’ll be able to install the app with the following Zypper command.

sudo zypper install kitty

Customizing Kitty

The Kitty terminal emulator’s customization is done through a configuration file, rather than a built-in UI like other terminal apps on Linux. As a result, you have much more control. In this section, we’ll go over some very basic customization options you can do.

To start the customization, you will need to create a new configuration file for your user. Keep in mind that this configuration file will need to exist for each user who wants to customize Kitty’s look.

To create the configuration file, make use of the following mkdir and touch commands.

mkdir -p ~/.config/kitty/

touch ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf

Once you’ve made the new configuration file on your Linux system, open it up for editing purposes using the Nano editor with the command below.

nano -w ~/.config/kitty/kitty.conf

With the config file open, we can start customization. The most apparent customization to make is font size. By default, Kitty is using a tiny font. Use the font_size code below to specify how big you want the font.

font_size 13.0

The next thing to customize is the text color. By default, Kitty uses white (AKA #ffffff). You can change the text color to whatever you want by adding a color hex code after foreground in the config file.

foreground #YOUR-COLOR-HERE

Another thing you can customize in Kitty is the background color. By default, the terminal background color is black. Many people like the color black, and many others don’t. You can change it to any color you like by adding a color hex code after background in the config file.

background #YOUR-COLOR-HERE

After adding those three customizations to your Kitty config file, it should look like the example below.

font_size 13.0 foreground #YOUR-COLOR-HERE background #YOUR-COLOR-HERE

At this point, you can save the edits by pressing Ctrl + O on the keyboard. Or, you can add more customization options to your Kitty configuration file by visiting the Kitty website. They have tons of information on what you can do to make your Kitty terminal your own!

An Apple ID isn’t essential if you use a Mac. Some Mac features require an Apple ID e.g., the Mac App Store, Find my Mac, iCloud, iMessage, Facetime, etc., but if you do not use any of these services, you can do without an Apple ID.

Most Mac users will create and use an Apple ID simply because Apple ensures their data is not tracked and is protected. The features that an Apple ID gives access to on macOS are another great reason to use it.

An Apple ID can also be used to recover the password to a Mac account. It has to be set up in advance i.e., if you’ve never linked your Apple ID to a Mac account, you won’t be able to use it to recover your password when/if you forget it.

Link Apple ID to Mac account

Before we proceed, you should understand that an Apple ID is linked to a Mac user account, and not the system itself. For each user that is set up on a Mac, a different ID can be linked to each one.

1. Sign in to the Mac account you want to link an Apple ID to.
2. Open System Preferences.
3. Make sure you’re signed in with an Apple ID. It should appear on the top row in System Preferences.
4. Go to Users & Groups.
5. Click the padlock icon at the bottom left.
6. Enter the password to your Mac user account.
7. Enable the “Allow user to reset password using Apple ID’ option.

Recover Mac password with Apple ID

Now that you have an Apple ID linked to your Mac account, you can use it to recover your password.

1. On the login screen, click inside the password field. 
2. Click the question mark button that appears next to the field.
3. Select the ‘Reset it using Apple ID’ option.
4. Follow the on-screen prompts and reset your Mac account’s password.

Conclusion

Apple doesn’t force its users to link an Apple ID to their Mac and those that have one configured in the Mac App Store, or for Find My Mac, will find that it doesn’t try to sign users in on other apps. Windows 10 works in stark contrast to this where Microsoft urges users to use a Microsoft account, the account pops up and interferes with all sorts of features on the OS, and it collects quite a bit of user data. Apple has the upper hand here.

студия веб-дизайна

Minecraft Bedrock Edition works on Linux with the help of the Minecraft Bedrock Launcher for Linux. It is an unofficial app that makes the game work on Linux with the Minecraft Android APK. 

In this guide, we will go over how to set up Minecraft Bedrock Edition on Linux. However, keep in mind that Minecraft Bedrock Edition requires a Microsoft account, and you will also need to own the Android version of the game on the Play Store.

Installation instructions

To start the installation of the Minecraft Bedrock Edition launcher on your Linux PC, open up a Linux terminal on the desktop. Once the terminal window is open, follow the installation instructions outlined below that corresponds with the distribution you use.

Ubuntu

The unofficial Bedrock Edition launcher is available in Ubuntu. Unfortunately, the app software repository has not been updated to run on Ubuntu 20.04 or 20.10. As a result, if you want to play Bedrock on Ubuntu, you will need to use the Bedrock launcher AppImage instead.

To get the latest AppImage, open up a terminal window. Once the terminal window is open and ready to use, create a new folder with the name of “AppImages” in your home directory using mkdir.

mkdir -p ~/AppImages

After creating the new folder, use the wget downloader command to download the Minecraft Bedrock Edition AppImage file to your computer. 

wget https://mcpelauncher.mrarm.io/appimage/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage -O ~/AppImages/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

Once the download is complete, use the chmod command to update the AppImage file’s permissions. Permissions need to be updated so that the AppImage file can run as a program. 

chmod +x ~/AppImages/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

With the file’s permissions changed, use the CD command to move into the “AppImages” directory where the launcher file is.

cd ~/AppImages/

Inside of the “AppImages” folder, you can launch Minecraft Bedrock Edition using the command below. Or, double-click on the Minecraft Bedrock Edition file in the “AppImages” folder with the Linux file manager.

./Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

Debian

There’s currently no support for Debian with the Bedrock launcher via a DEB package. However, the AppImage file should work just fine. To get started, open up a terminal window and use the mkdir command to create a new directory called “AppImages.”

mkdir -p ~/AppImages/

After creating the new folder, you will need to download the Bedrock AppImage file from the internet. Using the wget command, grab the file from the internet. 

wget https://mcpelauncher.mrarm.io/appimage/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage -O ~/AppImages/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

Once the file is done downloading to your Debian Linux PC, you will need to update the file’s permissions using the chmod command. 

chmod +x ~/AppImages/Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

With the permissions up to date, enter the “AppImages” directory using the CD command. 

cd ~/AppImages/

Inside of the “AppImages” folder, execute the Bedrock launcher using the command below. Alternatively, open up the “AppImages” directory using the Linux file manager and double-click on the AppImage file to start it up.

./Minecraft_Bedrock_Launcher.AppImage

Arch Linux

On Arch Linux, the Minecraft Bedrock Edition client is available in the AUR. The installation process is not complicated, thanks to the Trizen AUR helper. To install Bedrock on your Arch system, open up a terminal and enter the commands below.

sudo pacman -S git base-devel git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/trizen.git cd trizen makepkg -sri trizen -S mcpelauncher-msa-git mcpelauncher-msa-ui-qt-git mcpelauncher-linux-git mcpelauncher-ui-git lib32-libpulse lib32-alsa-plugins

Fedora/OpenSUSE

Both Fedora and OpenSUSE Linux support Flatpak very well. As a result, it is ideal to follow the Flatpak installation instructions to get Bedrock working on your Linux system.

Flatpak 

The Minecraft Bedrock launcher is available on Flathub as a Flatpak package. To start the installation process, you will need to install the Flatpak runtime on your computer. Once the runtime is set up, install the Bedrock launcher using the commands below.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo flatpak install flathub io.mrarm.mcpelauncher

Setting up Minecraft Bedrock Edition 

To set up Minecraft Bedrock Edition on your Linux PC, open up the Bedrock launcher on your computer via the app menu. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Note: If the game doesn’t load with the latest version, click on the pencil icon, select the drop-down menu next to “Versions,” and download an older release.

Step 1: Look for the “Sign in with Google” button in the launcher window, and click on it with the mouse. Upon selecting this button, a Google sign-in window will appear. Using this window, log into your Google account.

Step 2: After signing in, you’ll see the Bedrock launcher show the “DOWNLOAD AND PLAY” button, with version 1.16.100.04 on the screen. Select this button to download the latest version of the game.

Step 3: Select the “PLAY” button to start up Minecraft Bedrock Edition on your Linux PC to start up the game. When the game starts up, select “Sign In For Free” to log into your Microsoft account.

Upon signing in, you will be able to play Minecraft Bedrock Edition on your Linux PC!

Windows 10 can be set up with a local account and with a Microsoft Account. Users that connect a Microsoft Account to their Windows 10 user account can sign in with the password to the account, or they can set up a PIN.

Up until Windows 10 20H2, users had the option to switch between password or PIN when signing into their account. The password option is now gone which means you cannot sign in using the password unless you’re attempting to reset the PIN.

Passwordless sign in

The missing password sign-in option may seem like a bug but it’s a feature that Microsoft has added to make sign-in more secure. It forces users to sign in with a PIN no matter what. The option to switch to the password option on the lock screen has been removed. 

Enable password sign-in on Windows 10

The good thing about passwordless sign-in is that it can be turned off. Doing so will restore the option to sign in with your password on the lock screen.

1. Open the Settings app (Win+I keyboard shortcut).
2. Go to the Accounts group of settings.
3. Select the Sign-in Options tab.
4. Scroll down, and turn the “Require Windows Hellow sign-in for Microsoft accounts” switch On.

5. Tap Win+L to lock the desktop.
6. On the lock screen, you will see a ‘Sign-in Options’ option.
7. Click it and select the password option.
8. Sign in with your Microsoft Account password.

Password vs PIN

Users noticed that when performing a fresh installation of earlier versions of Windows 10, the set-up process pushed them to create a PIN. Skipping the step wasn’t easy and even so, Windows 10 would later badger the user to set the PIN up. 

A PIN is specific to the system it is set-up on. You may have the same Microsoft Account set-up on multiple Windows 10 systems but a PIN will always be specific to the system you set it up on.

If your PIN is compromised, you can recover it using your Microsoft Account password. The breach is limited to just one system.

In contrast to this, if your Microsoft Account’s password is compromised, you stand to lose access to your system, other systems, as well as to the online account itself where your purchases and subscriptions are managed.

To avoid this, Microsoft encourages users to sign in with a PIN. A PIN can be a simple four-digit number or it can be much longer and it can include letters as well. If you’re apprehensive about a PIN because of its length, opt for a longer one. 

Windows 10 has a long list of keyboard layouts that a user can add to their system. These layouts cater to multiple languages including Mandarin and Arabic, and they are available for all types of keyboards.

Installing a keyboard layout on Windows 10 is easy; all you have to do is select one from a list and it will be added. Users can switch between keyboard layouts on the fly with a keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+Shift).

Custom keyboard layouts

Windows 10 keyboard layouts are all preset and they cannot be edited. In order to get a custom keyboard layout, you either have to download it or create one yourself.

Create keyboard layout

Creating a keyboard layout is easy but time-consuming since every single key has to be mapped individually. Try to find a ready-made keyboard layout if you can. If a ready-made keyboard layout isn’t available, you’ll have to make the layout yourself.

1. Download the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator.
2. Run the app and tap each key, one-by-one.
3. Select the key you want to map to it.
4. Map the entire keyboard.
5. Go to Project>Build DLL and Setup Package.
6. Save the layout.

Install custom keyboard layout

A keyboard layout, whether it’s custom made with the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator or if you’ve downloaded it yourself, is going to be an executable file or an installer file. Installing it is as easy as installing any app.

1. Open File Explorer and navigate to the EXE or MSI file for the keyboard layout.
2. Run the file.
3. Grant the app admin permission to install (The keyboard is installed for the current language).

4. Open the Settings app.
5. Go to Time & Language.
6. Select the Language tab.
7. Select the current language.
8. Click the keyboard button under it.
9. The current and new keyboard layout will be listed. Remove the one you do not want to use.

Conclusion

Keyboard layouts for commonly spoken languages like English are more common. If you need to type in a language that doesn’t have many layouts available, or you need to set the keys up in a layout that you can’t find in any configuration, a custom layout is the best alternative. 

It’s worth mentioning that if you only need to change one or two keys, you can do with remapping them instead of creating a custom layout. Remapping tools like AutoHotKey and PowerToys are good options. If you remove the layout at any point, you can still use the MSI or the EXE file for it to install it again.

In the past on AddictiveTips, we’ve talked about Symbolize, a Linux app that works with Dropbox to keep your config files in sync. However, not everyone has a Dropbox account. 

If you do not have a Dropbox cloud account but still want your Linux configs to stay in sync, the next best tool to use is Syncthing. In this guide, we’ll show you how to set up a Syncthing system that will always keep your configuration files on Linux in sync. 

Installing Syncthing GTK on Linux

Syncthing GTK is the preferred tool for syncing on the Linux desktop, as Syncthing is a web server app, and the GTK tool makes it easy to use on the desktop. However, the Syncthing GTK tool does not come pre-installed. As a result, we will need to go over how to install it before continuing.

The Syncthing GTK application is available for installation on Arch Linux, Debian 10, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE Leap, and Flatpak. To start installing the app on your computer, open up a terminal window and follow the command-line installation instructions down below.

Ubuntu

On Ubuntu, the Syncthing GTK application is installable via the Apt command.

sudo apt install syncthing-gtk

Debian 10

If you are using Debian 10, you will get Syncthing GTK working with the Apt-get command below.

sudo apt-get install syncthing-gtk

Arch Linux

Syncthing-GTK is in the Arch Linux “Community” repo. To install it, run the Pacman command.

sudo pacman -S syncthing-gtk

Fedora

Syncthing-GTK is available on Fedora 30 via the Dnf command. However, Fedora 30 is out of date (2 years to be exact). If you use Fedora and need to get Syncthing GTK working, you will need to follow the Flatpak installation instructions instead.

OpenSUSE

Syncthing GTK is available on OpenSUSE 15.1 and 15.2 via the “Oss” software repository. Ensure you have “Oss” enabled. Then, enter the command below to get Syncthing GTK working.

sudo zypper install syncthing-gtk

Flatpak

Syncthing GTK is available for installation as a Flatpak. So, if you’re a Fedora Linux user (or any other distribution that doesn’t have Syncthing GTK available) and need to install it, this is the way to go.

Installing Syncthing GTK via Flatpak requires the Flatpak runtime. To install the runtime, follow this guide on the subject. Once the runtime is set up, please enter the two commands below to get it running.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo flatpak install flathub me.kozec.syncthingtk

Set up Syncthing GTK 

Syncthing GTK requires configuration before use. To configure it, launch the app on your Linux desktop. Then, follow the on-screen Wizard to get the app working on your PC. Be sure to read what the Wizard tells you in detail, so you can understand how Syncthing operates on your computer.

Please note that you will need to set up Syncthing GTK on all computers that you plan to sync config files between.

Syncing config files

Syncing configuration files with Syncthing on Linux is done with the symlinking function. To set it up, follow the step-by-step instructions below.

Step 1: Pick the Linux PC that you use the most. This PC will be the one that we take configuration files from and the one that will do the config file hosting.

For example, if all of your essential configuration files are on your Desktop, set up the sync in Syncthing GTK on the desktop, and move all the config files into the “Sync” folder on this PC sync with other Linux systems.

Once you’ve figured out what PC you use as your primary, use the mv command to place your configuration files into the Syncthing “Sync” directory.

cp -r ~/.config ~/Sync

This command above will move most of your configuration files into the “Sync” folder handled by Syncthing. To sync other configuration files on your PC, you will need to change ~/.config in the command above to whichever folder you wish to keep in sync.

Step 2: In Syncthing GTK, click on the “Gear” icon next to the minimize button to access the menu button. Inside of the menu, click on “Add device” and select it. Then, use the menu to add other Linux PCs on your network to the sync.

Note: you may need to click on “Show ID” on computers you wish to add to the sync to get their ID before attempting to add it to the PC that you are hosting the sync from.

Step 3: On the PC doing the sharing, access Syncthing GTK, right-click on “Default Folder,” and select the “Edit” button. Then, look for “Share With Devices” and select it with the mouse.

Inside of the “Share With Devices” area, check the boxes next to the PCs you’ve added to your Syncthing folder, giving them access to the sync.

Step 4: After adding a device to the share, go to the device you are adding and look at the Syncthing GTK app. You will see a notification asking if you want to connect to the share. Select “Accept” to accept the connection.

Step 5: Once you’ve accepted the connection on the Linux PC attempting to connect to the Syncthing GTK share, you’ll see another notification. This notification will ask if you wish to add the “Default Folder.” Select “Yes” to add the “Sync” folder to the Linux devices that you’ve added to the sync.

Step 6: Allow the connected PCs to download the configuration files from the sync over your network. When the process is done, run the following commands on all PCs to keep your configuration files in sync using Syncthing GTK.

rm ~/.config ln -s ~/Sync/.config ~/

With the two commands run above, your configuration files will be in sync. However, keep in mind that Syncthing must be running to receive file updates.

iOS 14 has a new feature that allows users to configure gestures that are executed by tapping the back of their phones. The feature is called ‘Back taps’, and it works with two and three taps, each with their own action to execute.

Compatible iPhone models

Back taps is an iOS 14 feature however, that does not mean that all iPhone models that can run iOS 14 will be able to use Back Taps. This feature relies on certain hardware capabilities in order to work so older iPhones are going to be left out.

Back tap compatible iPhone models are listed below.

• iPhone 8
• iPhone 8 Plus
• iPhone X
• iPhone XS
• iPhone XS Max
• iPhone XR
• iPhone 11
• iPhone 11 Pro
• iPhone 11 Pro Max
• iPhone SE 2020

Set up Back tap gestures

Make sure you’ve upgraded to iOS 14, and then follow the steps below to set up back taps.

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. Go to Accessibility>Touch.
3. Scroll to the very bottom, and tap Back Tap.
4. Tap ‘Double Tap’.
5. Select an action to execute for a double-tap.
6. Go back to the main Back Tap screen.
7. Tap ‘Triple Tap’.
8. Select an action to execute for the Triple Tap.

Execute a Back Tap

A Back Tap will work if you have a case on your iPhone, or not however, some cases are a bit too thick of the feature to work. To test it out, remove the case on your phone.

To execute a double-tap on the back of your iPhone, double-tap on the back with one finger.

To execute a triple-tap on the back of your iPhone, tap the back three times, in quick succession with one finger.

Back tap gestures

When setting up Back Tap on your iPhone, you can choose gestures from those that iOS 14 has pre-configured.

• Accessibility Shortcut
• App Switcher
• Control Center
• Home
• Lock Screen
• Mute
• Notification Center
• Reachability
• Screenshot
• Shake
• Siri
• Spotlight
• Volume Down
• Volume Up
• AssistiveTouch
• Classic Invert
• Magnifier
• Smart Invert
• Speak Screen
• VoiceOver
• Zoom
• Scroll Down
• Scroll Up

Custom Back Tap gestures

You can set up custom back tap gestures but you need a Shortcut to do the job. You must first create a Shortcut (or import one) for the action you want to perform in the Shortcuts app.

Once the Shortcut has been set up, and run at least once, it will appear in the list of actions that you can set for a double and triple back tap.

The downside of this method is that you may have to interact with your phone’s screen to execute the shortcut (accept or confirm an action).

Takasago flavor

Windows Defender will block malicious apps even if you allow them to run from the UAC prompt. For some apps though, those that it isn’t entirely sure about or that are generally safe but can be used maliciously, it flags as Potentially unwanted apps. It issues a warning. The Windows Defender icon in the system tray shows a yellow exclamation mark, and you will likely see the prompt each time you run the app.

Fix ‘Potentially unwanted app found’

There are two simple ways to fix the Potentially unwanted app found error; you can get rid of the app that is being flagged, or you can allow the app to run on your system. If you decide to allow the app to run, make sure it is safe.

Windows Defender will often flag torrent clients as PUAs (Potentially unwanted apps) not because they’re dangerous but because they can be used to download files that may be dangerous.

Allow Potentially unwanted app to run

You can allow a PUA to run by whitelisting it in Windows Defender.

1. Open Windows Defender.
2. Go to App & browser control.
3. Click ‘Review’ under Reputation based protection.
4. Open the dropdown that says ‘Low’.
5. You will need to confirm you have admin access to the system to get beyond this point.
6. Review the details of the threat and decide if you want to keep the app.
7. Scroll to the bottom of the details for the detected threat, and open the ‘Actions’ dropdown.
8. Select ‘Allow on Device’.
9. Apply the change.

Remove the app

You can remove the app that Windows Defender is flagging. To find out which app is being flagged, follow these steps.

1. Open Windows Defender.
2. Go to App and browser control.
3. Click ‘Review’ under Reputation-based protection.
4. Select the most recently listed command to view its details.
5. The ‘Affected item’ will tell you which app was flagged.
6. Go ahead and uninstall it.

Conclusion

If you’ve allowed a PUA app to run on your system, you may continue to see the “Potentially unwanted app found” message. It depends on the type of app that’s being flagged. You can turn off the Reputation-based protection if you want. It’s not a core Windows Defender feature and apps that you run on Windows 10 will still continue to be scanned. If you continue to see the error message after allowing or removing the app, you need to clear your protection history to make it go away.