50 Tips and Tweaks for Linux Mint - PART THREE


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50 useful tips and tweaks for Linux Mint (PART 3).

Contents of this page:

This is part three of the Tips and Tweaks. You can find part one here and part two here.


Memory confusion: checking how much of the RAM memory is being allocated to the graphics chipset

1. It can be confusing: the RAM of your laptop doesn't appear to be fully used or recognized. Usually, this is just a wrong impression and all is well.

Because on a machine with no separate graphics card, part of the RAM is being dedicated to the video chipset. Which makes that part of the RAM unavailable for general use.

You can check how much of the RAM of your machine has been dedicated to the video chipset like this:

a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

b. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:

glxinfo | grep -E -i 'video memory'

Press Enter.

An example of the output on one of my machines:

pjotr@ideacentre:~$ glxinfo | grep -E -i 'video memory'
    Video memory: 512MB
    Dedicated video memory: 512 MB
    Currently available dedicated video memory: 414 MB

Rebooting the system straight into the BIOS settings

2. Only for modern UEFI, not for old-fashioned BIOS nor for UEFI running in CSM!

With this terminal command you can reboot your system straight into the UEFI (BIOS) settings:

systemctl reboot --firmware-setup

Press Enter.

Using the right location for manually installing tarballs (apps in .tar.gz format)

3. Installing applications that you receive in .tar.gz format, is not easy. One of the things you need to pay attention to, is where to put them.

Installing in your /home folder has two disadvantages. First of all it leads to the result, that only you (and not another account) can make use of the software. This might or might not be problematic for you.

But a much more serious second problem with this is, that the binaries in your /home are not shielded then by the built-in protection of root permissions. This makes you more vulnerable.

Putting something in the /usr folder solves both problems, but there is another issue: this folder is being used by the package management (APT). So you can never be sure that the package manager doesn't make a change which you're not aware of and which you don't want....

So use /opt. It has all the advantages of /usr without its disadvantages. Actually /opt is made just for that: installations outside the scope of the package management.

Copying over the Favorites from Microsoft Edge

4. You don't even need to launch Microsoft Edge itself, for copying over its favorites to another Edge in another operating system. This is how:

The Favorites of Microsoft Edge for Linux, are stored in a hidden directory in your home folder (hence the dot before the name of the directory). Namely:

.config/microsoft-edge/Default/

First make the hidden directories and files in your home folder, visible in the file manager (for example by the key combination Ctrl h). Look for a file called Bookmarks.

For viewing or editing your bookmarks ("favorites") with text editor Xed, copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:

xed ~/.config/microsoft-edge/Default/Bookmarks

Press Enter.

Knowing that, you should be able to simply copy over the Edge bookmarks ("favorites") in e.g. Windows, to Linux. Because in Windows they are also in a file called Bookmarks, which is exactly the same as in Linux. In Windows 11 you you can find it in:

C:\Users\Your-User-Name\App Data\Local\Microsoft\Edge\User Data\Default\

Replace Your-User-Name by, well, your user name (duh...).

Both in Linux and in Windows, in that hidden directory you should also find Bookmarks.bak and Bookmarks.msbak, which are backup copies of the Bookmarks. Perhaps they can be of use to you some time.

Now I wonder what Microsoft developer had the bright idea to call them Favorites in the GUI, but Bookmarks under the hood....

Terminal command for changing the text scaling factor in Cinnamon

5. If you switch regularly between displays of different sizes for your machine, then it's rather a tedious job to have to set the right text scaling factor for each display over and over again. Each time you have to dive into the menu, choose Font Selection etc.

This boring task can be speeded up if you do the text scaling by means of a terminal command. This allows you to utilize the memory of the terminal, so changing the text scaling factor becomes much quicker. In fact, you can even use that command in a launchable script....

This is the command for scaling the text in Cinnamon with a factor of 1.4 (use copy/paste to transfer it into the terminal):

gsettings set org.cinnamon.desktop.interface text-scaling-factor 1.4

And with this command you reset it to the default of 1.0:

gsettings set org.cinnamon.desktop.interface text-scaling-factor 1.0

Checking the changelogs of kernel updates

6. Linux Mint gets its Linux kernels, unaltered, straight from Ubuntu. By means of a meta package, which unfortunately means that in Update Manager you can see little or no information about the changes and fixes in a kernel update....

Here you can find out what the new kernel fixes:
Ubuntu kernel changelogs

How to tweak the performance of your CPU

7. There are some nifty tools for toggling the performance of your CPU. You can find those on this page.

How to select a Timeshift snapshot for restoring from within the live session of Linux Mint

8. It can drive a grown man crazy: finding out how to restore a Timeshift snapshot residing on the hard disk, after booting into the live session of Linux Mint (using the Mint USB stick or DVD, which may become necessary after a disaster). Because you won't be able to select a snapshot by using the Browse button in the Timeshift toolbar....

The solution is simple, but not intuitive at all: in Timeshift, launch the wizard and select Locations. Point it at the location on the hard disk where the snapshots reside. The rest is as easy as it should have been in the first place.

How to clear the RAM cache (memory flush)

9. Normally it shouldn't be necessary for you to clear the RAM caches, because the automatic memory management in Linux Mint and Ubuntu is pretty smart. Furthermore, the RAM caches should never be in the way, as explained clearly on this website.

But if you would ever feel the need to flush the RAM (memory) of your system anyway, by getting rid of the caches that are in it, this is how:

a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

b. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:

sudo sh -c "sync; echo 1 > /proc/sys/vm/drop_caches"

Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.

You're done. Note that clearing the RAM like this has no permanent effect; after executing the command, normal memory management will take over again and will create new caches as it sees fit.

How to clear the disk swap (virtual memory)

10. Ordinarily it shouldn't be necessary for you to clear the disk swap (virtual memory), because the automatic swap management is rather intelligent.

Warning: be careful doing this, as you may make your system unstable, especially if it's already low on RAM. Also don't do this when your system is actively writing to the swap at the time.

Be sure to have enough free RAM in your system, or you might not be able to free the swap and the OOM-killer would end up killing some of your processes.

Now that's out of the way: if you would ever want to do it anyway, this is how, by momentarily disabling and re-enabling swap:

a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

b. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:

sudo swapoff -a; sudo swapon -a

Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.

Note that the swapoff may take a while. This is particularly true if you have lot of swap to be swapped off.

Get clearer usage examples for terminal commands by means of tldr

11. You can use the terminal application tldr for getting clearer usage examples for terminal commands. Like this:

a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

b. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install tldr

Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.

c. Now fill the database of tldr by this command (by default it's empty):

tldr -u

Press Enter.

d. Time for some testing. For example, if you wish to see some usage examples for apt-get:

tldr apt-get

Press Enter.

How to change the computer name

12. Dissatisfied with the name that you gave your computer while installing Linux Mint? Thankfully it's pretty easy to rename it. Namely like this:

a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

b. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:

xed admin:///etc/hostname

(the three consecutive slashes are intentional and no typo!)

Press Enter. Type your password when prompted.

Change the name of your computer in that file. Save the changes and close the file.

c. Then there's yet another file that contains your computer name. In order to edit that as well, copy/paste this command into the terminal:

xed admin:///etc/hosts

Press Enter.

In that file, change only the computer name and absolutely nothing else! Save the changes and close the file.

d. Reboot your computer. It should have the new name now.

How to alter the default keyboard layout

13. You can change the keyboard layout quite easily by launching the Keyboard application and clicking on its Layouts button (then click the + button). But altering the default keyboard layout requires some more work, namely as follows:

a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

b. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:

sudo dpkg-reconfigure keyboard-configuration

Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.

In the wizard, use the Tab key to activate the "button" you wish to select (like <OK> and <Cancel>), and press Enter.

c. When the wizard has completed, reboot and test.

Installing and configuring Redshift (blue light filter)

14. Note: This is not necessary in the flagship Cinnamon edition of Linux Mint, as Cinnamon already contains its own blue light filter!

You can install and configure a nifty blue light filter called Redshift, for making those late night screens less harsh on the eyes. Like this:

a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

b. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install redshift-gtk

Press Enter. Type your password when prompted. In Ubuntu this remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, that's normal. In Mint this has changed: you'll see asterisks when you type. Press Enter again.

The automatic location service of Redshift will probably not work. So set a location manually, like this:

c. Copy/paste the following command line into the terminal in order to create a new empty text file (and to open it for editing at the same time):

xed ~/.config/redshift.conf

Press Enter.

d. Now you need to put some text into that file. An example for the city of Johannesburg (South Africa) makes it easy:

Copy/paste the following blue text block into that newly created empty text file:

[redshift]
location-provider=manual

[manual]
lat=-26.20
lon=28.04

Adapt the latitude (lat) and longitude (lon) figures to the ones of your location; more precision than two figures after the dot isn't necessary. Then save the modified text file.

e. Close any running instance of Redshift and launch it again. It should work now.


Want more tips? This is part three of the Tips and Tweaks. You can find part one here and part two here.


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