Guides

Adding new users is a quick and simple task once you know your way round the operating system. This example is done in Ubuntu 18.04.1 LTS. 1 Open Users & Groups Firstly, open gnome-launcher and type in the search box at the top users which will then bring up the option for Users and Groups. 2 Add user This will then bring up a seperate window with any users already created along with the account type and password details.

PPA's (Personal Package Archives) contain software that is not offered by default in Ubuntu. PPA's include various software including themes, utilities and standard programs. 1 Software & Updates  Open the Gnome Launcher and click on Software & Updates. Click on the second tab called Other Software. 2 Add a PPA Click on Add. Enter the PPA name, these follow the format of ppa:starlabs/ppa 3 Remove a PPA To remove a PPA, select the PPA and click remove.

If you would like to access the BIOS settings screen or boot from external media, press the following keys whilst turning on your Lite: F2 = BIOS Settings F7 = Boot Menu Please note: If you have function lock enabled, you will also need to press the fn key. For example, for the boot menu, press fn + F7

It is widely accepted that the blue light emitted from bright screens, like the one you’re staring at right now, can have a negative impact on sleep. Many people are using blue light filters to lower the amount that they are exposed to in order to improve their quality of sleep. Ubuntu 18.04 (since GNOME 3.24) has such a filter built-in. Here's how it works. 1 Screen Display Open the GNOME Launcher and click on Settings.

How to boot with a previous kernel. This can be useful if a system fails to boot after a bad kernel update. 1 Boot into GRUB Turn on the laptop and tap the esc key repeatedly. Stop pressing the esc key when the star logo disappears. This should present you with the below menu: 2 Too many ESC's If you see the below prompt, you have gone too far.

This guide contains the steps for installing two different Linux distributions; Ubuntu and Linux Mint. The steps are very similar for other distributions. Ubuntu 18.04.2 LTS: 1 Create a bootable USB drive Follow our guide to create a bootable USB drive on Linux, macOS or Windows. 2 Boot from USB Firstly, insert the USB drive and turn on your computer whilst repeatedly tapping the F7 key. This will bring up the boot menu.

This guide will provide 5 examples: Gnome: gnome-session Xfce: xubuntu-desktop KDE: kubuntu-desktop Cinnamon: cinnamon-desktop-environment Mate: mate-desktop   All of our laptops ship with Ubuntu GNOME pre-installed. If you would like to change the desktop environment, below are the steps required to install, select and remove alternatives. The below commands will work on Ubuntu, Linux Mint, Elementary OS and most other Debian based distributions. If you are using another distribution, you will need to change "

The following guide is to show you how to change your default display manager on Ubuntu 18.04/18.10. This could be because you wish to switch back over to Unity, which was removed from Ubuntu 17.10 and up. 1 Check the default display manager To begin, you need to check the current default display manager. Open the GNOME Launcher, click on Terminal and type in the command below: cat /etc/X11/default-display-manager Ubuntu 18.

This guide will explain how to adjust your keyboard language and region in Ubuntu. 1 Install another Language Open the GNOME Launcher and click on Settings. From here, navigate to Settings > Language and Region. 2 Manage Languages To install the required language click on 'Manage Installed Languages' 3 Install alternative Language To install an alternative language, select 'Install/Remove Languages...' Select the required language. This will then download the language package, once done click Close.

How to connect a Bluetooth device on Ubuntu. 1 Open Bluetooth Settings Open the GNOME Launcher and click on Settings. From here, navigate to Settings > Bluetooth. 2 Bluetooth console Whilst this window is open, your laptop will automatically search for Bluetooth devices. Put your device in pairing mode as per its instruction manual. 3 Pairing After approximately 15 seconds, you should see your device in the list. Click the device name to pair.

Warning: This will erase all data on your USB drive. You can use a bootable Linux USB stick to: Install or upgrade your current operating system Test or use Linux without affecting your current operating system Repair your current operating system This guide covers how to create a bootable USB stick whilst using Linux but it can also be done using Microsoft Windows or Apple macOS. 1 Using Startup Disk Creator If you are using Ubuntu or one of its derivatives, you can easily create a recovery USB using a program called Startup Disk Creator.

This will cover how to write an Ubuntu ISO image to a USB drive on Windows 10. This process should also work for previous Windows versions i.e. 7 / 8 / 8.1. Requirements: Utility to write to USB: Rufus or Unetbootin Unetbootin - https://unetbootin.github.io Rufus - https://rufus.ie/ 1 USB write tool For this, we will use Rufus to write the ISO image to a USB drive.

This will cover how to write an Ubuntu ISO image to a USB drive on macOS. Note: this process should work for all macOS 10.x verisons. Requirements: Ubuntu ISO image file: https://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop Utility to write to USB: UNetbootin https://unetbootin.github.io Warning: writing the images to USB drives in this guide will remove any data on the target drive. 1 Format USB Drive To make sure you can see your USB drive in the UNetbootin utility, we recommend a format of the USB to MS-DOS (FAT).

The Apport system creates crash report files in the /var/crash directory. These crash report files cause an error message to appear every time Ubuntu boots. After removing all the crash report files, the error message should stop popping up. However if a new crash takes place then it will appear again in future. Apport is responsible for detecting such crashes and upon user consent, reports these crashes to developers so that they can fix it.

On Ubuntu, the default for Right-click on the trackpad is two fingers. To change this to clicking the right side of the trackpad, follow this guide. 1 Install GNOME Tweaks Open the GNOME Launcher and click on Ubuntu Software. Search for and install 'GNOME Tweaks'. For further information on 'GNOME Tweaks Tool' see our guide here. 2 Launch 'GNOME Tweaks' Click on 'Launch' 3 Keyboard & Mouse Navigate to the 'Keyboard & Mouse' settings tab.

This is a simple guide to help new users get started with the terminal. The terminal takes keyboard input only and commands can vary between different operating systems. The below commands are used in Ubuntu's GNOME terminal and will also work in many other distributions of Linux. If they don't then you will need to research the equivalent commands for your specific distribution. Opening a terminal window Open the GNOME Launcher and launch the application for Terminal.

Linux does not support exFAT by default but it can be added. This is a solution to the error: "Cannot mount unknown filesystem type ‘exfat’." 1 Open Terminal Open the GNOME Launcher, launch Terminal and type in the following command: sudo apt install exfat-fuse exfat-utils Enter your password when prompted. 2 exfat-utils installed The process is complete once the terminal returns to a flashing cursor. You can now connect your exFAT device.

This guide will provide an overview of the 12 functions keys. These can be used by pressing Fn and the desired key. Another feature is the function lock, which can be enabled/disabled by pressing the lock key. When enabled, makes the F-keys behave as if you are holding down the Fn key. 1 Mute This will Mute or Unmute the current audio device. 2 Volume Down This will decrease the volume of the current audio device.

The GNOME tweak tool can be used to customise almost every element about the GNOME desktop environment. 1 Install GNOME Tweak Tool Open the GNOME Launcher and click on Ubuntu Software. Search for and install GNOME Tweaks. Open the GNOME Launcher and click on GNOME Tweaks. General Options for animations and suspend settings.  Appearance To change theme, background and lock screen settings.  Desktop Enable and disable desktop icons. 

1 Download the Google Chrome Installer Follow the link: https://www.google.co.uk/chrome Click Download Now and then Accept and Install. This will download the Google Chrome installer file. 2 Install Google Chrome Once the download has completed, double click the google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb file. This will open up the software installer. Click install and enter your password when prompted. 3 Alternatively install Chromium browser Open the GNOME Launcher Click on Ubuntu Software to search and install Chromium.

Firstly, LibreOffice is a free and open-source office suite. Applications included in the package are Writer (word processing), Calc (spreadsheets), Impress (presentations), Draw (vector graphics and flowcharts), Base (databases) and Math (formula editing). Note: LibreOffice is only installed with Ubuntu, when a "normal" install has been selected. If you chose to do a "minimal" install then you will need to install LibreOffice separately. All of our laptops are shipped with a "

1 Open Ubuntu Software Open the GNOME Launcher  2 Install Spotify Click on Spotify to see the summery page, then click Install. Enter your password into the authentication window to start the installation.  3 Ready to launch After the automated download and installation process, Spotify is then ready to launch.  4 Open Spotify Launch Spotify from the GNOME Launcher 

To install the Steam Client, perform the following: 1 Open Ubuntu Software Open the GNOME Launcher 2 Install Steam Once open, search for and install Steam. Enter your password when prompted. 3 Launch Steam Once the download and installation has completed, click on Launch.

Linux distributions will provide a kernel and updates for it automatically. These typically aren't the latest version of the kernel. You may want to use a newer kernel to benefit from new features or performance enhancements. Please note: Using a kernel that hasn't been tested by your Linux distribution may cause issues. 1 Check your current kernel version To find out what kernel version you are using, open the GNOME Launcher and click on Terminal.

GNOME extensions add various functions and tweaks to the GNOME Shell which is the default Desktop Environment used by Ubuntu 17.10 and later. Extensions can be found on the https://extensions.gnome.org/ website. 1 Using Google Chrome/Chromium Open the GNOME Launcher, click on Terminal and type in the below command: sudo apt install chrome-gnome-tool 2 Using Firefox 3 Installing Extensions After completing the above steps for your browser, explore the extensive library of extensions.

An ICC profile will tune your display to output colours as accurately as possible. On Debian based distributions (which includes Ubuntu, Linux Mint, elementary OS and Zorin OS), you can install the ICC Color Profiles by entering the below commands into a terminal window: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:starlabs/ppa sudo apt install starlabs-icc On Manjaro, you can use the below command: sudo pacman -Syu starlabs-icc Or, if you would prefer to use pamac: 

To change your GNOME Shell, icons, cursor or Themes, you will require GNOME Tweaks Tool. This is only applicable to the GNOME 3 Desktop environment. GNOME Tweaks Tool can be installed via the Ubuntu Software Centre or via the Terminal. In this guide, we will be showing you how to graphically install and change themes. 1 Open Ubuntu Software Open the GNOME Launcher and click on Ubuntu Software. Once open, search for and install 'GNOME Tweaks'.

This guide will explain how to install or remove software either via the GNOME launcher. 1 Getting started Open the GNOME Launcher and click on Ubuntu Software. This will launch the Graphical software installer for Ubuntu. 2 Ubuntu Software From here you can: search and install, view installed applications and check for any application updates. 3 Search for an application Click on the magnifying glass icon which will open the search window.

User accounts can be created, modified and removed both graphically and via the terminal. In this guide, we will show you how to do this graphically. 1 Open Users Open the GNOME Launcher and click on Settings. On the left menu, navigate to: Details > Users To make any changes, click on Unlock in the top right corner. Enter your password when prompted. You will now be able to make changes.

How to play audio to an externally connected screen via HDMI, Display Port or USB-C. Please note - Linux will not automatically switch the audio output to external devices that are connected. 1 Settings Open the GNOME Launcher and click on Settings. 2 Sound From here, navigate to Sound where a list of output devices will be displayed. 3 Select output Simply select the output device you wish to use from the output tab.

How to boot from a bootable Recovery USB and recover the boot loader. This is useful if you cannot boot your Operating System from disk. Please note: You can follow this guide to create a bootable USB drive. 1 Cannot boot If you can't access your operating system or its recovery menu, it can be repaired from a bootable USB drive. Firstly, insert the USB drive and turn on your computer whilst repeatedly tapping the F7 key.

How to boot into recovery mode, useful for determining and fixing boot issues. 1 Boot into GRUB Turn on the laptop and tap the esc key repeatedly. Stop pressing the esc key when the star logo disappears. The below menu should appear: 2 Too many ESC's If you see the below prompt, you have gone too far. Restart your laptop and repeat the first step. 3 Select Recovery Mode Use the arrow keys to select Advanced options for Ubuntu.

Xubuntu hangs on a blank screen after suspend, low power state on Star Labs LapTop. This guide will talk you through how to resolve this issue. 1 Remove light-locker Open the Xubuntu Applications menu and click on Terminal. Enter the below command: sudo apt remove light-locker Enter your password when prompted. 2 Install Xscreensaver Open the Xubuntu Applications menu and click on. sudo apt install xscreensaver 3 Configure XScreensaver The new power management settings can be found here: