The Unity desktop was quite a big step forward in usability and design back when it came out (at least in my opinion), but by the end of the decade, the reskinned Gnome 3 environment became quite dated compared to the competitors. There are things in both macOS (window decorations) and Windows 10 that I like way more, but I also want to keep Ubuntu for the speed and stability.
Using your Android phone as a webcam for Ubuntu 20.04 with DroidCam
During the current pandemic, the home office suddenly became the preferred mode of work. This, of course, caused a huge increase in webcam prices and shortages in supply. I ran into the same problem and my laptop camera was no viable alternative either with its subpar quality. Luckily, there is a way to use my better-than-average phone camera for conference calls with the desktop computer running Ubuntu.
Chrome extensions for Q2 2020
I always used a lot of extensions with Google Chrome to tailor it to my liking and to streamline my workflow. This was especially true when I was working as a web developer as I needed a lot of tools that are otherwise completely unnecessary for everyday use. Let's see what I still use in May 2020.
Creating an installer for Windows from your JAR file to easily distribute your Java project
Your first Java project finally runs from the command line and you want to share it with your friends to show the spectacular progress you made. All you need to do is to create a compressed jar file and send it to them, right? Not quite as in case they have no Java Runtime Environment (JRE) installed or have a different version from the one you used, all they will get is a criptic error message.
Setting up your AMD video card in Ubuntu 20.04
Ubuntu 20.04 just arrived with fractional scaling of the desktop available from the settings. Yes, you have to turn it on first to be able to choose fractional scaling of 125% or 150%, but finally you don't have to edit gnome settings to do this. Also, this time it might work as intended too...
Exporting to WebP image format from GIMP in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS
WebP is an image format employing both lossy and lossless compression currently developed by Google. It is great if you want that slight advantage when you look at your SEO scores, but not so great (yet) for Facebook share images. The problem is, Ubuntu 18.04 LTS comes with GIMP 2.8 by default and this version cannot export to the WebP format.
Dark Souls: Home rule for parrying
Dark Souls™: The Board Game from SFG implemented the original game's game mechanics. One notable thing missing is parrying, which to tell the truth I didn't use at all, but would still like to have as an option in the board game.
Dark Souls: Push Rules Flowcharts
My latest hobby is Dark Souls™: The Board Game from SFG, which is a really good representation of the video game series with simple enough rules. The only rule too complex for beginners is the push rule, that defines what happens if an enemy pushes the player characters...
Fix AMDGPU driver problems for your AMD video card in Ubuntu 18.04 after upgrading to a new kernel
Your AMD video card will probably work flawlessly out of the box without installing any additional drivers in Ubuntu. However if you are unlucky like me and experience random crashes, you might want to give the official drivers a try.
How a tiny USB Soundcard solved 3 separate problems
By now, the sound coming out from a computer should be a trivial issue. Ever since soundcards integrated on PC motherboards appeared, all you had to do was to plug in your speakers or headphone in the green stereo audio-out port and everything worked like magic. At least that is how it should work.