ElementaryOS is a beautiful distro based on Ubuntu. It aims at satisfying Linux users with aesthetics or first time Linux users.

Unlike developers of most Linux distros, ElementaryOS developers are not shy to suggest you to pay for play: Purchase your copy of ElementaryOS. The default price tag is $20, which I was happy to pay. I really love the distro’s sleek UI and an option to install free or buy more software at their AppCenter.

Fix wifi issues for Ubuntu

You can follow the short and sweet guide written in another article: Fix Wifi for Ubuntu on Microsoft Surface.

Stop messing up with Windows time

When Ubuntu is dual-booting with Windows, it’s guaranteed that Ubuntu will mess with Windows time because Ubuntu uses RTC with UTC time. To fix this it’s recommended to change Ubuntu to use RTC with local time zone. You just need to run 2 lines of commands:

timedatectl set-local-rtc 1 --adjust-system-clock
timedatectl

There’s also another way but not recommended: Change Windows Registry to force Windows to use UTC, thus having problems with daylight saving time. For more details, see: https://www.howtogeek.com/323390/how-to-fix-windows-and-linux-showing-different-times-when-dual-booting/

Stop displaying * (asterisks) when typing passwords

I’m a power user and a security-minded one. I dislike when people can see how many characters my passwords have. You can follow the link and disable showing * asterisks when typing password on sudo:

If you wish to disable the feedback, try this command:

sudo mv /etc/sudoers.d/pwfeedback /etc/sudoers.d/pwfeedback.disabled

This will keep the file around in case you want to re-enable it, which you can do with the following:

sudo mv /etc/sudoers.d/pwfeedback.disabled /etc/sudoers.d/pwfeedback

Disable natural copy (Ctrl-C) and paste (Ctrl-V) in Terminal

This is one of the feature that makes mad and sad at the same time. I love other key combination: Ctrl-Ins for copy and Shift-Ins for paste. You can follow this link to use proper Linux way of copying in terminals.

  • Install dconf-tools
sudo apt-get install dconf-tools

NOTE: Your latest ElementaryOS could be 5.0 Juno and you need to use the path io.elementary.terminal.setttings when searching for the config natural-copy-paste.

  • Open dconf-editor from terminal or from Applications
  • Find io.elementary.terminal.setttings
  • Untick natural-copy-paste

Typing Vietnamese, Russian

  • For Vietnamese follow the steps

    • Install ibus-unikey and im-config
    sudo apt-get install ibus-unikey im-config
    • Follow System Settings > Language & Region > Keyboard Settings > Input Method Settings > Input Method > Add
    • You can choose either or both of Vietnamese - Unikey or Vietnamese - telex (m17n)
    • Also note the shortcut to switch between input methods. I use Ctrl-Space which is the default

Some links: [1 - outdated], [2 - for Chinese].

  • For Russian, you can follow System Settings > Language & Region > Keyboard Settings > +