The GIF format is widely supported by desktop image viewers and online image editors, as well as various social media sites. It’s grown in popularity quite a bit but you still can’t use it anywhere and everywhere you want. That said, the right GIF can still be used anywhere, as long as the image format is supported. Google supports the GIF format for profile pictures. If you have the right GIF, and by right we mean appropriate, you can use it as your profile picture. Here’s how you can set a GIF as your Google profile picture.
GIF as Google profile picture
First things first; find a good GIF to use. The GIF being used for this post is not an example of an appropriate GIF. It’s there for instructional purpose only. You can create your own GIF, or you can search online for one.
Once you have the GIF, visit this page. If prompted to, sign in with your Google account. Your profile picture is editable from this very page. Click the camera icon on the picture.
Select the option to upload an image from your computer, and then upload the GIF that you want to use.
Adjust the image if you need to and click ‘Set as profile photo’. That should do the trick and your profile photo should update however, it doesn’t always update immediately. You can wait for the update to eventually happen or you can force it.
To force the update, click the camera button on your profile picture. If the new image hasn’t appeared, you will still see the old one. Clicking the camera button will return you to the same upload photo screen. This time, go to the ‘Your photos’ tab, and select the ‘Profile Photos’ folder. Inside this folder, you will see the GIF you uploaded. Select it, and click the ‘Set as profile photo’ button. Repeat this 2-3 times until the profile photo updates.
The GIF will appear as your profile photo when you send an email and it will play which is why it’s important to have something appropriate and nothing that plays too long.
You can change the profile photo back to your old one, or to something else. The process is the same as it is for setting a GIF as your Google profile photo. All you have to do is use a different image i.e., one that isn’t a GIF when given the option to choose an image. This will update your profile photo across all Google services including YouTube and Chrome. If you want, you can set a different profile photo for Gmail.
An Apple Developer account gives you access to two things; development tools from Apple, and the ability to upload apps to the App Store or the Mac App store. It’s common knowledge that in order to get an Apple Developer account, you need to pay an annual $100 fee but this is needed only if you need to upload an app to one of Apple’s stores. If you’re looking to access the myriad of tools that Apple has for developers, a free account will do the trick.
In order to create a free Apple developer account, you need only use your regular Apple ID to sign into the Apple Developer portal.
Apple Developer account
Visit this link in your browser. You can do this on any device, it doesn’t necessarily have to be an Apple device. Click the Account option at the top right and sign in with your Apple account.
That’s really all that’s needed. Once you sign in, you will be taken to Apple’s Developer portal where you can access documentation and tools for developing iOS and macOS apps. You also get access to developer forums where you can talk to and seek help from other developers.
If you scroll a little further down, you will see a ‘Join the Apple Developer Program’, message. When you’re ready to distribute your apps, click this message.
The next page will show you the benefits of joining the developer program, go through them if you want or just click the Enroll button at the top. Follow the on-screen instructions until you arrive at the page to buy a subscription. Buy it if you’re ready to distribute your app. You should know that the purchase can take up to two days or 48 hours to complete so don’t leave this to the last minute before app distribution.
If you’re looking for a way to distribute apps to either the App Store or the Mac App Store with the free Apple Developer account, that isn’t possible. A free account gives you access to the tools, documentation, and forums, nothing else.
Apple lets you sign up as an individual or as a company. There doesn’t seem to be an option that offers students a discounted rate for a developer account. You will need the paid version to update your app however, you do not need it to continue distribution. Many developers end up abandoning their apps but the apps, while out-dated, are still available in their respective stores.
Enso OS is a “green” Linux operating system, that is relatively new on the scene. Their mission is to provide a useful, modern, and lightweight operating system that is easy to use, and can run on even the oldest hardware. In this guide, we’ll go over how to set up Enso OS on PC. So, If you’re excited about trying out a new Linux operating system, get out your trusty USB flash drive and follow along below as we go over how to install Enso OS!
Download Enso OS
The first step in setting up Enso OS on a computer is the download process. Thankfully, the developers behind Enso OS make it very easy to get a copy of the operating system. On the website, there are no weird menus or hoops to jump through. Instead, click this link here, select the big red “Download” button, and you’ve got the latest Enso OS ISO downloaded to your computer.
Making a bootable Enso OS USB
Installing a Linux operating system on a computer these days is usually done with a USB flash drive, as optical media is not very popular any more. With Enso OS, this is no different, and you’ll need to create a bootable USB to get the installation process going.
Creating a bootable USB flash drive that can load a Linux operating system is very easy, thanks to Etcher. Click this link here and download the latest version. Then, follow the step-by-step instructions below to learn how to create a bootable Enso OS USB stick!
Note: Etcher runs on Linux, Mac, and Windows. So, no matter what operating system you flash Enso OS with, the instructions will be the same!
Step 1: After installing the Etcher USB flash tool on your computer, launch the app to get started with it.
Step 2: Once the Etcher application is open on your computer, plug in a USB flash drive. The size of the USB flash drive should be at least 2 GB in size!
Step 3: Find the “Select Image” button and click it to load in the Enso OS ISO file into the Etcher application.
Step 4: Find the “Select Drive” button and click it to set your USB flash drive as the device that Etcher will flash the ISO file to.
Step 5: Select the “Flash!” button to start the ISO flashing process. This flashing process will take some time, so be patient. When the process is done, reboot your PC into the BIOS settings and configure it to load from the USB flash drive to access the Enso OS installer.
Installing Enso OS
To start the installation of Enso OS, click the “Install Enso” button at the welcome screen. Selecting this option will take you to the “Keyboard layout” page.
On the “Keyboard layout” page, look through the list of available keyboard setups, and choose the one that suits your needs the best. Then, when you’ve made your selection, click the “Continue” button.
Paste the “Keyboard layout” page is “Updates and other software” page. On this page, select “Download updates while installing Enso,” and “Install third-party software for graphics and Wi-Fi hardware and additional media formats.” Then, select the “Continue” button to move on to the next page.
Following the “Updates and other software” page, the Enso OS installer will present you with the”Installation type” page. On this page, you’ll be presented with several different options. For best results, choose the “Erase disk and install Enso” option. Or, if you prefer to dual-boot, choose the “Install Enso alongside” option. Click the “Install Now” button to start up the installation after selecting your install type.
In the installer, once you click the “Install Now” button, a window will appear that says, “Write the changes to disks?” Select the “Continue” button to confirm your choice.
With the changes written to the disk, Enso will begin installing itself to your PC. However, there are still things that need to be done, such as setting the timezone. To choose your timezone, look at the “Where are you?” screen and click on your location. The installer will quickly assign a timezone and tune the clock on your new Enso OS installation automatically. After choosing your timezone, click the “Continue” button.
Right after the “Where are you?” page in the Enso OS installer, a “Who are you?” screen will appear. On this screen, fill out your full name, your computer name (the name your PC will use to be identified on the network), and your username and password. Once everything is filled out, click “Continue”.
After setting up your username in the Enso OS installer, the installation will finish up. When the process is complete, you’ll see a message that your installation is complete. Select “Restart Now” to reboot into your new Enso OS setup!
FPS (or frames per second) has long been used to gauge the visual quality of content on your screen in general. It’s most notably applied to games where a higher FPS means your games looks much, much better. FPS depends on the hardware you have on your system so less capable hardware means a lower FPS. That said, even with good hardware, you can end up with a low FPS. Here’s how to view FPS on macOS.
There is no shortage of tools for viewing FPS on macOS but we’re going to use a free tool developed by Apple itself.
Xcode Graphics tool
Visit the Apple Developer page and sign in with your Apple ID. If prompted to, sign up as a developer. You will not have to purchase a membership. That is only necessary if you’re looking to upload an app to one of Apple’s app stores.
Once you’re signed in and on the Downloads page, use the filter and select only Developer Tools. In the search bar, type ‘Graphics’, and tap Enter.
In the filtered items, look for Additional tools for Xcode and make sure it’s for the latest, stable version of Xcode. Download the small DMG file.
FPS on macOS
Open the DMG file, and inside the Graphics folder, look for the Quartz debug tool. Run it.
Once it’s running, go to the Window item on the menu bar and select FrameMeter from the menu. This will add a meter at the bottom left of the screen that will show you the current FPS. If there is a change in the FPS that you’re currently getting, the meter will update to reflect it.
There’s also a smaller meter inside this FPS meter that shows you CPU usage.
There are third-party tools that will measure the FPS on macOS, and some of them might be better visually. If this free tool from Apple doesn’t quite suit your needs, you can try Count It.
FPS tends to fluctuate; there is likely a maximum rate that your Mac can reach based on its hardware but the frame rate can drop to a drastically low level if your system resources are being dragged down. Normally, FPS fluctuation isn’t extreme. You might see a frame rate drop from 1-5 frames, or in extreme cases, up to 10-15 frames but it should recover. If you’re running an app on your system that is consistently giving you a low frame rate, it is likely because your system does not have the resources to run the app at a higher frame rate. Other apps, those that are not as resource hungry will still be able to run at a higher FPS.
Are you using Linux and in need of good video conferencing tool that can handle high-quality video and audio? Install Zoom! It’s a cloud-based conference tool that works perfectly on Linux and supports Ubuntu, Debian, Arch Linux (unofficially,) as well as Fedora, OpenSUSE, and many other Linux distributions via Flatpak.
Ubuntu instructions
The Zoom video conferencing application has first-class support for Ubuntu Linux, versions 14.04 and onward. The support doesn’t come from a dedicated, third-party repository or PPA. Instead, users looking to install the software must download a DEB package from their website.
To get your hands on the latest DEB package for Zoom on Ubuntu, head over to the download page on the website and select Ubuntu in the drop-down menu. Alternatively, open up a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard and download it directly using the wget command.
wget https://zoom.us/client/latest/zoom_amd64.deb
After downloading the latest Zoom DEB package to your Ubuntu PC, use the dpkg command to load up the software.
sudo dpkg -i zoom_amd64.deb
Following the installation, you may notice some dependency errors have occurred. Don’t worry! These errors are easily fixed by running the apt install -f command.
sudo apt install -f
Are you still having dependency issues on Ubuntu? Follow our in-depth guide on how to correct dependency problems on Ubuntu Linux.
Debian instructions
Zoom for Debian Linux is well supported, though there isn’t a dedicated software repository that users can add to their sources file ensuring constant updates, and there’s only a DEB package available.
As of right now, Zoom works flawlessly on Debian Linux so long as you’re on version 8.0 of the operating system or higher. To get the Zoom DEB head to the download page on the official website and select “Debian” in the drop-down menu. Or, open up a terminal window with Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T, and use the wget command below to download it directly.
wget https://zoom.us/client/latest/zoom_amd64.deb
Once the Zoom DEB package is done downloading onto your Debian Linux PC, use the dpkg command to load up the software on your system.
sudo dpkg -i zoom_amd64.deb
When the installation finishes, you may run into dependency issues. To fix it, run the apt-get install -f command in a terminal window.
sudo apt-get install -f
Dependency issues still occurring? Be sure to check out our in-depth guide on how to fix dependency problems on Debian Linux.
Arch Linux instructions
Zoom’s website doesn’t indicate official support for Arch Linux. However, there is an unofficial AUR package available to users that pulls in the software so that it can be converted to run on Arch Linux.
Installing the Zoom AUR package on Arch Linux starts by installing both “git” and “base-devel” through the Pacman package management system. Using the Pacman command below, start the installation.
sudo pacman -S git base-devel
Following the installation of “git” and “base-devel,” use the git clone command to download the latest Zoom AUR package from the internet.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/zoom.git
When the files are done downloading through git, use the CD command to move into the “zoom” directory.
cd zoom
Build and install the Zoom app on Arch Linux using the makepkg command. Keep in mind that this is an unofficial package. If you have issues with it, consider running the Flatpak release instead.
makepkg -sri
Fedora instructions
The Zoom video conferencing application is available for Fedora Linux. To get it working on your Fedora system, start by heading over to the official Zoom website’s download page. Then, on the download page, click the drop-down menu, and select the “Fedora” option to get the latest RPM package. Alternatively, launch a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard and use the wget download tool to get it through the command-line.
Once the downloading process is done for the Zoom RPM file, use the Dnf command to install the package on your system.
sudo dnf install zoom_x86_64.rpm
OpenSUSE instructions
Zoom has excellent OpenSUSE Linux support, as one of the packaging options is the RPM format. To get the latest RPM package for OpenSUSE, head to the Zoom website’s download page. Look through the page for the drop-down menu, and select the “OpenSUSE” option. Or, if you prefer the command-line, launch a terminal by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard, and use the wget command below to download the RPM.
After downloading the OpenSUSE Zoom RPM file, use the Zypper command to install the software your system.
sudo zypper install zoom_openSUSE_x86_64.rpm
Flatpak instructions
The Zoom video conferencing software is on Flatpak! So, if you’re not using Arch Linux, Ubuntu, or any of the other Linux operating systems covered in this guide, this is the best way to get the app working. To start, be sure you have Flatpak enabled on Linux. Then, open up a terminal window with Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T and enter the commands below to install.
Computers tend to freeze up if they’re overburdened. You might think that if you throw enough money at a computer, it should at the very least keep it from freezing but that isn’t how it works. If you run enough resource heavy processes on a system, it will eventually freeze. A system with more capable hardware will obviously be able to take on more processes but it too can be brought to its knees.
When a system freezes, the OS that’s running will try and free up resources and push itself out of its frozen state. That doesn’t always work in which case you have to force shut down the system by holding down the power button. On a Mac, particularly a MacBook, this may not work or perhaps you don’t want to manually force the shut down and then boot up again. If that’s the case, you can automatically restart a frozen Mac by setting it up to do so in advance. Here’s how.
Automatically restart a frozen Mac
In order to automatically restart a frozen Mac, you need to run a Terminal command. This command will require admin rights to run because it will override everything else when it comes down to restarting a frozen system.
Open terminal, and run the following command. You will be prompted to enter the admin password. Once you do so, the system will be set to restart automatically when it freezes.
sudo systemsetup -setrestartfreeze on
Any time you want to disable this, open Terminal again and run the following command. Like before, you will be prompted to enter the admin password in order to execute it. Once it’s been executed, your system will no longer restart automatically if it’s frozen.
sudo systemsetup -setrestartfreeze off
A word of caution
A forced restart or shut down is not the natural shut down state for any system, and Macs are no exception. The above command is basically forcing a restart and it will very likely result in lost data. If you had anything open when your system froze, it is highly likely that some, if not all data that was unsaved will be lost. In this case, apps that have an auto-save feature might also be of little use.
If you have a less capable Mac that tends to freeze often, this is NOT something you want to enable. It’s a useful option if your system tends to run fine normally by freezes up when certain tasks are executed but on a low-resource system, this could just end up crippling it.
Evernote is one of the most popular note-taking applications ever. The service has millions of users, and it grows every day and is constantly adding in new features to get excited about. Sadly, for as good as the service is, there is no support for Linux users. So, if you use Evernote on Linux, you’ll need to use via an unofficial client.
Introducing the Whatever Evernote client. It’s an Electron-based program that bundles up the Evernote web interface into a slick, easy to use native Linux application. Here’s how to get it working on your system.
Ubuntu instructions
Installing the Whatever Evernote client on Ubuntu Linux is done via a downloadable DEB package, as Whatever isn’t officially carried by Ubuntu in their software sources. Additionally, the developer hasn’t provided a PPA to give users an easy way to install through the Apt package manager.
To get your hands on the Whatever DEB package, you’ll need to head over to the project’s Source Forge page. Once on the page, click on either “Whatever_1.0.0_amd64.deb,” or “Whatever_1.0.0_i386.deb” to download the 64-bit or 32-bit release for Ubuntu. Alternatively, open up a terminal window and use the wget command to download them directly.
When the DEB package is done downloading to your Ubuntu Linux PC, use the dpkg command to install it to the system.
sudo dpkg -i Whatever_*.deb
Finally, finish up the installation by correcting any dependency issues that may have arisen during the installation.
sudo apt install -f
If you are having issues with dependencies and the above command doesn’t solve the issue, there are other ways to fix it. For more information, read this guide.
Debian instructions
There are DEB packages available for the Whatever Evernote client. So, if you’re a Debian user, you’ll be able to enjoy a first-class Evernote experience.
To get your hands on the latest Whatever DEB package, head over to the developer’s Source Forge page. Then, download either “Whatever_1.0.0_amd64.deb,” or “Whatever_1.0.0_i386.deb”. Or, open up a terminal window and use the wget commands below to grab them directly from the internet.
After downloading the Whatever DEB package to your Debian Linux PC, use the dpkg command to install the program.
sudo dpkg -i Whatever_*.deb
Following the installation of the Whatever DEB package, you may see some dependency errors. No worries, these are easily fixed by using the apt-get install -f command.
sudo apt-get install -f
Are you still having dependency issues on your Debian Linux PC? If so, head over to our in-depth guide all about how to correct dependency issues on Debian.
Arch Linux instructions
The developer of the Whatever Evernote application supports quite a few Linux distributions by offering up RPM packages, DEB packages, and generic TarGZ archives. However, there’s no official support for Arch Linux with this app. Not to worry, the Arch Linux AUR is on the case! As it turns out, there’s a downloadable package build of the app that can be installed!
To start the installation of the Whatever Evernote app on Arch Linux via the AUR, you must first install two packages. These packages are “git” and “base-devel,” and without them, building programs from the Arch Linux AUR isn’t possible. Using the Pacman command below, install “git” and “base-devel.”
sudo pacman -S git base-devel
Following the installation of “git” and “base-devel,” use the git clone command to download the latest AUR package for the Whatever Evernote client from the internet.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/whatever.git
Move the terminal window from the home directory (~) to the newly created “whatever” directory with the CD command.
cd whatever
Using the makepkg command, compile Whatever on your Arch Linux PC. Keep in mind that this AUR package is unofficial, and could run into problems. Be sure to check the comment section if you need support using the package.
makepkg -sri
Fedora instructions
Whatever has direct support for the Fedora Linux operating system, as the developers have RPM package files available for download. If you’re a Fedora Linux user and want to use this app on your system, go to the Whatever SourceForge page and download either “Whatever-1.0.0.rpm” or “Whatever-1.0.0-ia32.rpm”. Or, use the wget commands below to download directly through the terminal.
When the RPM file is done downloading, you’ll be able to install the app on Fedora Linux straight away with the Dnf command.
sudo dnf install Whatever-*.rpm
OpenSUSE instructions
As the Whatever Evernote client supports Fedora Linux via RPM package files, it’s natural that they’d also work with OpenSUSE Linux as well. To start the installation on OpenSUSE Linux, go to the Whatever Evernote SourceForge page, and download “Whatever-1.0.0.rpm” or “Whatever-1.0.0-ia32.rpm” You’ll also be able to download the RPM files with the wget commands below.
Aside from Snap packages, and the Ubuntu Software Center, Ubuntu Linux relies on downloadable DEB packages to provide users with software. Unfortunately, it can be quite challenging to install DEB packages on Ubuntu through the terminal interface for beginner users.
Even though DEB packages are quite a pain to deal with on Ubuntu, all is not lost. It’s possible to get around the installation of DEB packages with a package installation tool like GDebi or QApt.
Method 1 – GDebi
The GDebi application is a GTK front-end for the Dpkg installation tool found in the command-line on Debian-based Linux distributions like Ubuntu. With this application installed on the system, it makes the installation of downloaded DEB packages much more straightforward, by giving users incredible features like automatic dependency resolution, and others. If you’re trying to make DEB packages easier to install on Ubuntu, this program should be your first choice.
Getting GDebi working on Ubuntu Linux starts by installing the program. To start the installation, open up a terminal window. On Ubuntu, you’ll be able to quickly launch a terminal window by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. With the command-line terminal open, use the commands below to get GDebi installed on your Linux PC.
Note: the GDebi application isn’t exclusive to Ubuntu Linux. If you’re using Linux Mint, Elementary OS, or another operating system that is based on Ubuntu, feel free to install the app and reap the benefits it offers!
sudo apt install gdebi
In addition to being able to install the GDebi application on Ubuntu Linux via the Apt command in the terminal, it is also possible to get the app through the Software Center.
To install via Software Center, open up the Ubuntu Software Center application, and look for the search icon. Click it and type “GDebi.” Then, look through the results with the app, and click the “Install” button to get it going.
Use GDebi
With the GDebi application installed, we can go over how to use it. First, download a DEB package to your Linux PC using your favorite web browser. In this example, we will use Google’s Chrome browser.
Once the DEB package is done downloading to the “Downloads” folder, it’s time to start the installation. Launch your file manager and click on “Downloads.” From there, look for the “DEB” package you’ve downloaded and double-click on it to launch it in GDebi.
Note: if the Deb package doesn’t open with GDebi, right-click on the DEB package, select “Properties,” and look for “Open With,” or a similar setting. From there, change it so that the DEB opens with GDebi by default.
Upon double-clicking on the DEB package, a “Package Installer” window will appear. In this window, you’ll see a brief description of the package, as well as details about what you’re installing on the system, files included within the package, etc.
To install the DEB package, click “Install.” When it’s done, close the “Package Installer” window.
Method 2 – QApt
QApt is a Qt-based front-end for Debian-based Linux distributions including Ubuntu, and others. It’s primarily found on Kubuntu, or other Qt-based desktops, as it provides similar functionality to GDebi. QApt can handle DEB packages, and install them flawlessly, including resolving package dependencies.
To get going with the QApt tool on your Ubuntu Linux PC, open up a terminal window. Launching a terminal window is done by pressing Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, with the terminal window open, follow the installation instructions below to install QApt.
Note: the QApt application isn’t exclusive to Ubuntu Linux. If you’re using a distribution based on Ubuntu that makes use of KDE feel free to follow along and learn how to get QApt working!
sudo apt install qapt-deb-installer
Once the QApt application is set up on your Linux PC, download a DEB package. In this example, we’ll use Google Chrome.
When the DEB package is done downloading, open up the file manager, locate “Downloads” and click on it to access the “Downloads” folder.
Inside of the “Downloads” folder, double-click on the DEB package and it should open in QApt. If it does not open in QApt, right-click on the DEB package, select “properties” and change the settings so that it opens with QApt.
Upon QApt opening, you’ll see a description of the package you’ve opened with the app. Additionally, it’ll show what dependencies it will install along with the package and some other information.
In the QApt window, look for the “Install Package” button and select it with the mouse. As soon as the “Install Package” button is selected in QApt, you’ll be prompted to enter a password. Do so, and your package will install on the system.
On Linux, $PATH defines the standard directories in which executable programs can run from on the system through the terminal. These directories are “/usr/bin”, “/usr/local”, “/usr/sbin”, and a few other ones (depending on what Linux distribution you use). If you want to run programs outside of these directories, the directory needs to be added to the $PATH.
Back up .bashrc
Adding directories to $PATH on Linux is done by editing the “.bashrc” file of an individual user. However, before starting the editing process, you must make a backup of your “.bashrc” file, as it defines the terminal variables for the user account.
Using the cp command, make a complete copy of the “.bashrc” file in your home directory (~), and place the backup in “Documents,” with the “.bak” file extension.
Note: don’t want to store your backup in the “Documents” directory? Try “Desktop,” a cloud sync folder like “Dropbox” or something similar.
cp ~/.bashrc ~/Documents/bashrc.bak
Edit .bashrc
With the “.bashrc” file backed up to your “Documents” folder, editing can begin. Using the Nano command, open up the “.bashrc” file (located in your home directory) for editing purposes.
Warning: do not open “.bashrc” with sudo, as you will open up the Root account’s “.bashrc” file and not your own user account’s file!
nano -w ~/.bashrc
Inside of the Nano editor, make your way to the bottom of the file. Then, write in export followed by PATH=$PATH:directory. So, for example, to run a program directly from the “programs” folder in “/home/derrik/” I’d write the following code into Nano.
export PATH=$PATH:/home/derrik/programs/
For your purposes, copy the command example below and replace “directory” with the exact location of the program folder, or script folder so that it can be added to your path. Keep in mind that it is possible to add multiple $PATH lines, and there is no limit, so feel free to add as many locations as you like!
When you’ve added as many $PATH lines to the “.bashrc” file as you need, press the Ctrl + O button on the keyboard to save the edits. Then, close Nano with Ctrl + X.
After exiting the Nano text editor, your $PATH will not be updated right away. The reason that updating is not instant is the terminal session doesn’t auto-update and needs to be refreshed. To refresh the terminal session, close the terminal and re-open it. From there, you can confirm your new $PATH locations have been added by running the following command in a terminal.
echo $PATH
Adding locations to the $PATH for other users
In addition to adding locations to the $PATH for your user account on the Linux system, you may want to add items to the $PATH of another user account. Here’s how to do it.
First, use the su command to log into the user in which you wish to modify the Linux $PATH.
su username
After logging in to the user account, use the cp command to copy their “.bashrc” file to “Documents” for safekeeping.
cp .bashrc ~/Documents/bashrc.bak
With the backup taken care of, open up the “.bashrc” file in the Nano text editor with the command below.
nano -w ~/.bashrc
Move to the bottom of the “.bashrc” file, and write in the command below. Keep in mind that you will need to change “/location/to/program/or/script/folder/” to suit your own needs.
Repeat this process to add as many locations to the $PATH as you like. When done, save the edits using Ctrl + O, and exit with Ctrl + X. Next time the user logs in, they’ll be able to run things in $PATH from the new locations you’ve added.
Temporarily add directories to $PATH on Linux
Permanently adding individual directories to the $PATH on Linux by editing the “.bashrc” file is useful if you have specialized programs you’d like to run all the time. However, if you only need to run something once for testing, or just tinkering, it doesn’t make sense to add something to the $PATH on Linux permanently.
An alternative to permanent custom directories in the $PATH is by making use of the export command in the terminal to temporarily add a location to the $PATH.
Open up a terminal window and write in the export command, followed by ATH=$PATH:directory. For example, to add in a shell-script directory in “Documents” temporarily, you’d do:
Upon running this command, the terminal session you are using will have the new temporary path location. The temporary $PATH location will stay accessible on your Linux system until the system reboots.
Remove additions to $PATH
Looking to get rid of the custom locations added to your $PATH on Linux? Follow the steps below to undo the edits.
Note: if you need to restore the defaults for another user, log in with su username before following the steps below.
Step 1: Delete the “.bashrc” file using the rm command.
rm ~/.bashrc
Step 2: Rename the “bashrc.bak” file as “.bashrc” in the “Documents” folder, and place it in the home directory (~).
mv ~/Documetns/bashrc.bak ~/.bashrc
Step 3: Restart your terminal session for the changes to take effect.
Step 4: Run the $PATH command to check to see if your custom edits are gone.
The Areeze icon theme is a slick re-colored spin on the default Breeze icon theme for KDE Plasma 5. Areeze intends to take the best aspects of the Breeze theme while matching other KDE themes such as Apollo and Ares.
Areeze is first and foremost a KDE Plasma 5 icon theme, and that’s what it’s designed to run on. That said, it also looks good with the Arc GTK theme on Gnome-based Linux desktop environments. Here’s how to get it installed.
Note: the Areeze icon theme goes best with the Apollo-KDE theme if you intend to use these icons on KDE!
Download Areeze icons
The Areeze icon theme is available for users to download at Gnome-look.org. Additionally, the source code for the icon theme is up on GitHub, but getting it through this method is not recommended.
To get the latest release of the Areeze icon theme for Linux on your system, head over to this page on Gnome-look.org. Then, when you’ve made it to the Areeze page on Gnome-look.org, find the “Files” button and click it to reveal available downloads.
Inside of the “Files” section, there’s one single downloadable file available. This file’s name is “Areeze.tar.gz.” To get it, click the icon under “DL,” followed by the blue “Download” button that appears right after.
When the download completes, open up a terminal window using Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard, and use the CD command to move your terminal session from the home directory (~) into the “Downloads” directory where the “Areeze.tar.gz” file is saved.
cd ~/Downloads
Once inside of “Downloads,” keep the terminal window open and move down to the “Extracting” section of this guide.
Extract Areeze icons
The Areeze icon theme, when downloaded, comes in a compressed TarGZ archive file. It is compressed and must be fully decompressed so that we can gain access to the icon files inside. To extract the icon theme, use the tar command in a terminal window.
tar xvf Areeze.tar.gz
Let the tar command decompress everything. It shouldn’t take long. When the decompression process is complete, the Areeze TarGZ archive will create a new folder in the “Downloads” directory with the name “Areeze,” and all of the icon files will be accessible in it.
Install the Areeze icon theme
Installing the new Areeze icon theme is done by placing the “Areeze” theme folder that was extracted from Areeze.tar.gz during the decompression process into one of the two icon folders on Linux. Launch a terminal window and follow the instructions below to get everything set up.
Installing for single-user
Installing the Areeze icon theme for a single user is the best way to go about installing icon themes if you only want one user to have access to the theme. Setting up Areeze for a single user means placing everything in the “.icons” folder in the home directory (~). Some Linux systems do not have a “.icons” folder by default, so a new one must be created. Using the mkdir command, make a new “.icons” folder.
mkdir -p ~/.icons
After making the new “.icons” directory in the home directory (~), CD into the “Downloads” directory. Then, move the “Areeze” icon theme using the mv command.
mv Areeze/ ~/.icons/
When the icon files are done moving into the “.icons” folder on your Linux PC, the installation is done. To finish up, confirm that the icon theme is set up in the “.icons” folder by running the ls command with grep.
ls ~/.icons/ | grep 'Areeze'
Installing for system-wide
Getting the Areeze icon theme set up system-wide should only be done if you’re trying to give every single user on your Linux PC access to the icon theme. To start the installation, use the mv command to place the “Areeze” folder from “Downloads” in the “/usr/share/icons/” directory.
sudo mv ~/Downloads/Areeze/ /usr/share/icons/
After placing the Areeze icon files in the “/usr/share/icons/” directory, the installation process is complete. The new icons are available to every user on your Linux system. To confirm, run the ls command in combination with grep.
ls /usr/share/icons/ | grep 'Areeze'
Activate Areeze icon theme on Linux
Following the installation of the Areeze icon theme on your Linux system, the theme must be set as the default icons theme on your Linux PC. To change the defaults, open up “System Settings” on your Linux desktop environment. From there, find the icon settings and select “Areeze” from the list.
Sometimes activating icon themes on Linux can be confusing, due to how hidden the settings are on Linux. If you’re having trouble activating the Areeze icon theme on Linux, check out the list of desktops below to get instructions on changing the default icon theme on Linux.
Next Generation Portal Hi-tech, android, iOS, Mac OS, linux, windows, games, security
