Gnome MPV 0.16 Released, How to Install it in Ubuntu 18.04

January 22, 2019 — Leave a comment

Gnome MPV, GTK+ frontend for mpv video player, released version 0.16 a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.

Gnome MPV 0.16 release highlights:

  • Split up the General tab in the preferences dialog
  • Improve behavior when toggling playlist under tiling window managers
  • Move app menu items to primary menu
  • Use separate MPRIS DBus connection for each window
  • Add support for MPRIS property LoopStatus
  • Add option --mpv-options for setting arbitrary mpv options from the command-line

How to Install Gnome MPV 0.16 in Ubuntu:

You can install the latest Gnome MPV via the flatpak (containerised software package) which is available in Flathub repository.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or from software launcher. When it opens, run command to install flatpak daemon:

sudo apt-get install flatpak

2. Then add the flathub repository via command:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

3. Finally install Gnome MPV from the repository:

flatpak install flathub io.github.GnomeMpv

Once installed, launch Gnome MPV from application menu or video file’s context menu and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To remove the flatpak package, simply run command:

flatpak uninstall flathub io.github.GnomeMpv
In Howtos, News ,
 permalink

How to Set Custom Blank Screen / Lock Screen Time in Ubuntu 18.04

January 21, 2019 — Leave a comment

gnome shell

In Ubuntu 18.04 Gnome Shell Power settings, you can choose how long when system is inactive to turn off the screen, though only from 1 minute to 15 minutes and ‘Never’ are available in the drop-down box.

For those who want to increase or set a custom time for “Blank screen” as well as “Lock screen” options in Privacy settings, this tutorial may help.

1. Open Ubuntu Software, search for and install dconf Editor.

2. Launch dconf Editor, navigate to org.gnome.desktop.session, and change the value of idle-delay:

  • Disable ‘Use default value’ switch
  • Type a number in Custom value box(1800=30 minutes in pic.)

3. Then navigate to org.gnome.desktop.screensaver, and change the value of lock-delay:

  • Disable ‘Use default value’ switch
  • Type a number in Custom value box (2700=45 minutes in pic.)

Note that after applying the changes, the Power and Privacy settings will display incorrectly. And it will override previous steps if you change the values in the 2 settings page.

In Howtos ,
 permalink

How to Change the ‘Show Applications’ Grid Icon in Ubuntu 18.04

January 20, 2019 — Leave a comment

gnome shell

For those boring with the default ‘Show Applications‘ button in Ubuntu 18.04 left panel, here’s how to replace it with your desired icon without installing a new icon theme.

In Ubuntu 18.04 Gnome Shell, the ‘Show Applications’ button in the bottom-left corner relies on view-app-grid-symbolic.svg icon file located in /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/scalable/actions/.

By replacing the icon file, you’ll get a brand new ‘Show Applications’ icon in the dock.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut, or from applcation menu.

2. Paste the following command and hit run to backup the original icon file:

sudo cp -p /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/scalable/actions/view-app-grid-symbolic.svg /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/scalable/actions/view-app-grid-symbolic.svg.bak

Type user password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.

3. Prepare your desired .svg icon file. In my case, it’s gnome-launcher.svg located in my ‘Downloads’ folder.

4. Copy your .svg to the original file location:

sudo cp /path/to/your/svg /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/scalable/actions/view-app-grid-symbolic.svg

In my case, the command is:

sudo cp ~/Downloads/gnome-launcher.svg /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/scalable/actions/view-app-grid-symbolic.svg

5. Finally, run command to refresh the icon cache:

cd /usr/share/icons && sudo gtk-update-icon-cache Adwaita

Or simply log out and login back to apply the change.

How to Restore:

As you’ve made a backup in step 2, simply copy the file back via command:

sudo cp -p /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/scalable/actions/view-app-grid-symbolic.svg.bak /usr/share/icons/Adwaita/scalable/actions/view-app-grid-symbolic.svg

And refresh icon cache or log out and back in.

In Howtos ,
 permalink

Inkscape 0.92.4 Released, How to Install it in Ubuntu 18.04

January 19, 2019 — Leave a comment

inkscape

Inkscape, free and open-source vector graphics editor, released version 0.92.4 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10.

Inkscape 0.92.4 features stability improvements and bug-fixes. The key improvements include:

  • Align multiple objects as a group relative to a single object
  • Write image data to standard output and read from it
  • Experience extensions working faster within complex documents
  • See improved speed when deselecting a path with many nodes
  • Ungroup text elements won’t result in changed font size of children
  • Able to print and / or print correct paper size with printers (especially Canon, EPSON, Konica Minolta)
  • See improved performance of the measure tool when grids are visible
  • See proper opacity of partially transparent embedded bitmap images in PDF export
  • Able to Shift/Ctrl-click on control handles of shapes without crashing
  • Build Inkscape with up-to-date poppler library 0.72.0 – useful for Mac users building with Homebrew

Install Inkscape 0.92.4 via Snap in Ubuntu:

Snap is a containerized software package runs in most Linux desktop. It bundles most required libraries and automatic update itself when a new release is available.

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, the official Inkscape snap package can be easily installed from Ubuntu Software Center:

Inkscape snap can be launched either from application menu, or by running command in terminal:

snap run inkscape

Install Inkscape 0.92.4 via PPA in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and higher, the new release is available to install via its official PPA.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:inkscape.dev/stable

Type user password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then upgrade inkscape from an existing release via Software Updater:

or run command in terminal to check updates and install the editor:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install inkscape

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA repository, open Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

To remove Inkscape, either use Synaptic package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove inkscape
In Howtos, News ,
 permalink

Tethered Camera Control & Capture ‘Entangle’ 2.0 Released (Howto Install)

January 18, 2019 — Leave a comment

Entangle, free tethered camera control & capture software, released version 2.0 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and derivatives.

Entangle provides a graphical interface for “tethered shooting”, aka taking photographs with a digital camera completely controlled from the computer. The 2.0 release, “Sodium”, features:

  • Document some missing keyboard shortcuts
  • Fix upper bound in histogram to display clipped pixel
  • Option to highlight over exposed pixels in red
  • Disable noisy compiler warning
  • Remove use of deprecated application menu concept
  • Fix image redraw when changing some settings
  • Update mailing list address in appdaat
  • Add more fields to appdata content
  • Fix reference counting during window close
  • Use correct API for destroying top level windows
  • Fix unmounting of cameras with newer gvfs URI naming scheme
  • Avoid out of bounds read of property values
  • Fix many memory leaks
  • Workaround for combo boxes not displaying on Wayland
  • Fix race condition in building enums
  • Fix setting of gschema directory during startup
  • Set env to ensure plugins can find introspection typelib
  • Dependency libraries, and translation updates

How to install entangle 2.0 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint:

The new release packages has been made into an unofficial PPA, available for Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Ming 19.x, and Ubuntu 18.10. Due to requirement of GTK >= 3.22, Ubuntu 16.04 package is not supported any more.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or from application launcher. When it opens, paste below command hit run to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway

Type user password when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then upgrade the software from an existing release via Software Updater:

or run command to install it in terminal:

sudo apt-get install entangle gir1.2-entangle-0.1

For Linux Mint, you may first run sudo apt-get update to refresh system package cache.

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA, either open Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab, or run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:dhor/myway

To remove the software, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove entangle
In Howtos, News ,
 permalink