For user with NVIDIA graphics card, Ubuntu finally added official NVIDIA 580 driver packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

As you may know, NVIDIA 580 is so far the latest driver series for Linux, that was initially released one month ago. It’s a production branch driver qualified for enterprise and data center GPU use.

The 580 driver features Wayland fifo-v1 protocol support for apps/games running via Vulkan API, reducing visual inconsistencies and potential stuttering.

It enabled RMIntrLockingMode feature by default, which can help reduce stutter especially when using virtual reality (VR). As well, it implemented a feature to reduce time spent in the interrupt top half for low latency display interrupts by deferring the work until later. See HERE for more.

With NVIDIA 580.82.07, it also supports NVIDIA Smooth Motion on GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs!

Install NVIDIA 580 driver in Ubuntu

Ubuntu made NVIDIA 580 driver (so far 580.65.06) package into the proposed repository for testing few weeks ago. Now, it finally goes official. And, you may install it by following steps.

1. Enable Restricted and Multi-verse repository

The proprietary driver is available through the restricted and multiverse repositories. They are usually enabled by default in Ubuntu desktop.

Just in case, you may launch “Software & Updates” utility to ensure:

Or, run the command below for Ubuntu Server to enable them:

sudo add-apt-repository restricted multiverse

You need to install software-properties-common package if the command does not work.

2. Update your system.

Before installing the driver, it’s better to install all available system updates, especially kernel updates (usually minor version updates), to prevent potential failure.

To do so, either use Software Updater or run the commands below in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo apt update

sudo apt upgrade

If there’s a kernel updates, restart computer to boot the new kernel.

3. Install NVIDIA 580 driver

NOTE: The driver version so far is nvidia 580.65.06. If you can’t wait to get 580.82.07 for NVIDIA Smooth Motion support on RTX 40 series GPUs, or you’re on old Ubuntu 20.04|18.04, then run command below to add the popular “Graphics Drivers” team PPA, which however is not officially supported.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

For Ubuntu Desktop, you may now launch “Additional Drivers” utility, then select either driver below:

• nvidia-driver-580 for general desktop and gaming purpose.
• nvidia-driver-580-server for Ubuntu Server or computing purpose.

Then, click “Apply Changes” and  restart computer when installation done!

For server without GUI, simply run the commands below one by one to install the driver.

• First, list all available drivers via command:

  sudo ubuntu-drivers list

  Skip the  “udevadm hwdb is deprecated. Use systemd-hwdb instead.” output. It’s a warning that does not matter.
  

• Then, either install the desktop  or gaming use driver via command:

  sudo ubuntu-drivers install nvidia:580

  Or, install the server or computing purpose driver:

  sudo ubuntu-drivers install --gpgpu nvidia:580-server

  

Finally, restart computer and enjoy!

In addition, for Ubuntu with default GNOME Desktop, it by default fall back to Xorg session, you need to manually switch back Wayland session (if need) from login screen.

For NVIDIA Optimus laptop, it by default runs in hybrid mode. You can right-click on an application or game icon and choose “Launching using Discrete Graphics Card” to start it via NVIDIA GPU while leaving all others handled by integrated GPU.

Or, run command below in terminal to set environment variable, so all apps start from that terminal will be rendering via NVIDIA GPU:

export __NV_PRIME_RENDER_OFFLOAD=1 __GLX_VENDOR_LIBRARY_NAME=nvidia

If you want to run Ubuntu desktop with NVIDIA only mode, then launch “NVIDIA Settings” and navigate to PRIME Profiles page to make a switch.

For bugs and other issues, please report to HERE or HERE.

GNOME 49 brings new apps, lock screen media controls, multi-monitor brightness controls, file manager changes and fractional scaling improvements.

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You're reading Firefox Adding Google Lens, Stock Data, AI “Page Buddy” Features, a blog post from OMG! Ubuntu. Do not reproduce elsewhere without permission.

For GNOME users who don’t like the default workspace switch animation, here’s an extension that can help!

When switching workspace (virtual desktop), the transition acts like sliding the desktop wallpaper along with the apps. This is “Sliding Panel” effect that’s also (seems to be) default in Windows and macOS.

If you like, it’s easy to use Android/iOS style swipe left or right switching home screen pages animation. In the case, the wallpaper is static during transitions, it works like only switching the app windows on your desktop.

 

This can be implemented by an extension called Static Workspace Background. And, here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 24.04, 25.04 and 25.10.

NOTE: This extension only works in Ubuntu and other Linux with GNOME Desktop!

Option 1: Install the Extension in Ubuntu 25.04 / 25.10

The extension so far supports GNOME 48 and 49, though it’s working good in my case in GNOME 46.

For Ubuntu 25.04 and 25.10, first launch App Center then search & install Extension Manager (filter by Debian package).

Next, use Extension Manager to search & install the “Static Workspace Background” extension under Browse tab and done!

Option 2: Install it in Ubuntu 24.04

The extension (version 49.0) so far works good in my case in Ubuntu 24.04 with GNOME 46, though it’s not officially supported.

1. First, go to the extension page in extensions.gnome.org (EGO):

In the “Download” section of the page, choose a Gnome version (e.g., v48) and select extension version 49.0 to download it.

2. Once you downloaded the extension package (usually .zip archive), press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run commands below one by one to install.

• First, run command to make sure your GNOME is configured to allow users to install extensions in their home folder, though it’s usually enabled by default.

  gsettings set org.gnome.shell allow-extension-installation true

• Next, disable the validation of extension version compatibility by running command:

  gsettings set org.gnome.shell disable-extension-version-validation true

• Finally, install the extension (.zip archive you just downloaded) via command:

  gnome-extensions install /path/to/zip-archive

  Here replace /path/to/zip-archive by drag’n’dropping it from file manager into terminal!

3. (Optional) After that, you have the extension installed to ./local/share/gnome-shell/extensions directory.

In case you want to re-enable the validation of extension version afterwards, run the command below to edit the metadata of that extension:

gnome-text-editor ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/extensions/static-workspace-background\@CleoMenezesJr.github.io/metadata.json

When file opens, either add “46” in “shell-version” section or simply replace any GNOME version (e.g., 49) to 46.

Then save the file, and re-enable the extension version compatibility validation if you want:

gsettings reset org.gnome.shell disable-extension-version-validation

4. Finally, log out and back in. Launch either “Extension Manager” or “Gnome Extensions” app (both available in App Center) to enable the extension.

Warzone 2100, the free open-source 3D real-time strategy game, released new major 4.6.0 version few days ago.

This is a big release that features revamped options menu. The options menu now has a clean design with reorganized options, which as well introduced many new toggle options, such as show FPS / Unit Counts, Group Reporting, Radar Zoom, default AI and more.

For multi-player mode, the release added option to start hosting in Spectator Host mode, in which case the host is a spectator in the game.

When start hosting in this mode, it also allows to set blind lobby mode to hide players’ true identities until the game starts, or blind game to hide players’ true identities until the game ends, while the host (as a spectator) can see them in both modes.

The 4.6.0 release also massively improved high-quality water effects, improved the performance for loading, path-finding, target selection, networking, and high-object-count situations.

It revamped Lobby game browser with new design, more filtering options, more room information, and increased responsiveness. And, it now automatically attempts multiple graphics backends on first-run, and defaults to Vulkan in more cases, when possible.

For Windows, it now provides single .exe installer (instead of three) to install the game on all the X86, X86_64, and ARM64 computers, along with option to choose install for either all users or current user only.

Warzone 2100 also introduced many additional tweak options for the Original Campaign. They include:

• Infinite Time – missions have no timer when possible.
• Victory Hints – displays a console message every few minutes showing victory related information.
• Finale Fun – activate Final Gamma mission bonus content.
• Insane Spawns – enable additional enemy spawns and behavior for Insane difficulty.
• Non-Insane Spawns – toggle Insane Spawns for Hard difficulty and below.
• Fast EXP gain – 2x unit experience point gain.
• TowerWars – player gets significantly stronger structures.

There are as well many in game changes, including:

• Bump repair spread area from 6 to 10 tiles.
• Update Fractured Kingdom to v1.4.
• Give ACs some basic splash damage.
• Specify missing research names so research appears in the Stats objects.
• Add “Defending Your Base” guide topic.
• Add Particle Gun Laser weapon.
• Adjust Emplacement-PlasmaCannon cost 200 -> 350, buildPoints 400 -> 500.
• Increase spinAngle for Tracks in MP 45->65 to allow better unit packing.

For more, see the official release note.

Download & Install Warzone 2100 4.6.0

The official installers for Linux, macOS, ans Windows are available to download at the link below (under Assets section):

For Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 24.04 on modern Intel/AMD platform, select download the .deb package then click open & install via either Ubuntu Software or App Center.

For all Ubuntu editions on Intel/AMD and ARM64, user may also choose install the Snap package (runs in sandbox) from App Center or Ubuntu Software.

While, there’s also Flatpak package (also runs in sandbox) available to install in most Linux desktops.

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