A few Linux tips

I have been trying to dailydrive Linux for over 10 years without ending up destroying my Linux partition out of desperation and going back to Windows for the thousandth time, and even though I know this is just a dream considering my current job, I have decided nonetheless, to provide a couple of tricks and tips for the folks out there.

Take notice that I am currently daily driving an ASUS TUF laptop with Kubuntu 24.02 installed.

This is Bill Williamson, if you care...

Linux/Kubuntu won't detect my Nvidia GPU

This is a dirty one, because even after installing the nvidia detection tools package and forcing an nvidia install, it still won't detect your nvidia gpu and will throw a sad "NVIDIA graphic card not detected" message when trying to detect an nvidia driver.

Most forum threads out there will keep on suggesting to install a different nvidia driver, but what you can also try is switching your Display Mode under the "Advanced" tab on your ASUS BIOS menu and try the detection tool again.

Taking a redditor's word:

It defines if your internal screen will be routed to your dGPU (Ultimate) directly or to iGPU (Standard) (via optimus or not).

Firefox won't use KDE's file picker

This doesn't happen with the flatpak or the snap package but rather with the official Mozilla's PPA.

about:config

Install the following packages with apt install: xdg-desktop-portal and xdg-desktop-portal-kde.

After this, change the value "widget.use-xdg-desktop-portal" to true on the about:config's menu on Firefox and restart. This should work on both Wayland and x11.

Application Launcher

Depending on your current Application Launcher, you will need to find and modify the options it's starting Firefox.

You will need to type, like in the picture above us, the following value as the Environment Variable: GTK_USE_PORTAL=1. Try restarting Firefox.

Expect more tips in the following two minutes...

Last update: 2025 / 02 / 25