Luke's Ubuntu and Linux Hacks

OS: Ubuntu 25.10 App: Files (Nautilus) Issue: For eternity (I've been using Ubuntu Linux exclusively for 12 years) I was able to right-click on a folder in Files and select "Open in Terminal." And then suddenly, I was not able to do that. Not being able to pinpoint anything that I had done to cause the problem, I turned to Gemini for an answer.  Diagnosis:  After a considerable amount of back and forth with Gemini (which is unusual), I THOUGHT narrowed the cause down to my having downloaded the New "Console" terminal, but kept the old term terminal as my default. Thus, I had a problem of the two terminals competing for default. As it turns out, something had changed in Nautilus, it seems. Don't ask me what. The Fix: NOT! (but in include this step here, because you probably should do this, too.) I uninstalled my old Terminal, which, among other things, was blocking my switching from the old Terminal to Console Terminal, using the Console settings Preference f...

As of the date of this post—and really, since Ubuntu and/or Gnome announced a "Star" feature for the Files function (Nautilus), it has been pretty much a useless feature. When first released, you could open up Files (Nautilus) and add Star to the file navigation bar (Visible Columns). Starting somewhere around the Ubuntu 22.10 release and continuing into 23.04, you cannot do that; which is odd, because you still have a limited ability to star folders and files, you just can't open the Files function and add "Star" to your Visible Columns.  I would really, really like to be able to star some folders and files, but the star feature is limited to folders and files under the Documents directory only, and, like I said, even if you right-click a file or folder and choose the star in the Properties dialog, after you star the item the star cannot be displayed in Files (Nautilus).  As always, there are some useless conversations in the Ubuntu Forum around this issue. You...