Sweet Home 3D 6.5 Released, How to Install in Ubuntu 20.04

March 4, 2021 — Leave a comment

Free interior design software SweetHome3D 6.5 was released a few day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 19.x, and 20.x.

According to the release note, SweetHome3D 6.5 features:

  • Azul OpenJDK 11.0.10 bundle for 64-bit Windows to get better HiDPI support.
  • Azul OpenJDK 15.0.2 bundle for Mac OS X ≥ 10.9, which supports notarization and the Apple new M1 processor.
  • JOGL library updated to 2.4 RC 20210111
  • Display Java runtime and Java 3D version in About dialog.
  • New options in Furniture and Textures Library Editors
  • Add a new example to the gallery, shows a house with pillars built on a small hill along a lake.

How to Install Sweet Home 3D 6.5 in Ubuntu:

First the software offers Linux portable as well as jar package in sourceforge page.

Sweet Home 3D is also available to install and keep updated via Flathub repository.

1. Setup Flatpak framework in Ubuntu:

First open terminal from system application launcher. When it opens, run command to install flatpak:

sudo apt install flatpak

Then add the flathub repository by running command:

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

2. Install Sweet Home 3D flatpak package:

To install the package, run command in terminal:

flatpak install flathub com.sweethome3d.Sweethome3d

To update the flatpak package, run command:

flatpak update com.sweethome3d.Sweethome3d

Once installed, you can launch the software from ‘Show Applications’ menu and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To uninstall Sweet Home 3D flatpak package, run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall com.sweethome3d.Sweethome3d
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LibreOffice 7.1 Finally Available to Install via Ubuntu PPA

March 2, 2021 — Leave a comment

The official LibreOffice Fresh PPA finally made the LibreOffice 7.1 packages for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.10.

LibreOffice, Ubuntu’s default office suite, released version 7.1 almost a month ago. The new release features new Additions Dialog to better integrate extensions, new User Interface select dialog, new widget with styles preview in tabbed Notebookbar.

LibreOffice Math gets full support of HTML colors, and new examples in Element pane. The Writer application features faster find/replace, a new Style Inspector, and better detection of Unicode in documents. LibreOffice Impress gains new animation presets and adds “Pause/Resume” and “Exit” buttons.

How to Install LibreOffice 7.1 via Ubuntu PPA:

For Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 20, firstly open terminal and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

After that, open Software Updater and you’ll see the package updates for office suite after checking for updates.

Just install all the updates and done!

How to Restore:

For any reason, you can restore the office suite to the original pre-installed version, by running command in terminal to purge the PPA:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:libreoffice/ppa
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How to Install Blender 2.92 in Ubuntu 20.04, 20.10 via PPA

March 1, 2021 — Leave a comment

Blender 2.79

For those prefer installing apps via the classic apt method, you can now install Blender 2.92 via PPA in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, and also Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04.

The open-source 3D modeller software Blender 2.92 was released a few days ago. Features “a completely new workflow for editing meshes, new physics simulation methods, faster Cycles rendering, better compositing with Eevee, and so much more.”

Blender offers official Snap package, which runs in sandbox, and is available to install directly from Ubuntu Software. As well, a Linux portable package is available to download in its website. For those prefer the classic deb packages, Thomas Schiex’s PPA has made it for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.10 users.

1. Add Blender PPA:

Firstly open terminal from system application launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:thomas-schiex/blender

Type user password, no asterisk feedback, when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

The PPA does not support for Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04, but another PPA do! It however requires a few more PPA for updated libaries, see the PPA description for detail.

2. Install or update Blender:

If you have an old version of Blender packages installed via apt method, open Software Updater (Update Manager) and update the software:

upgrade to blender 2.79

Or run commands in terminal to install / update the package:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install blender

3. Fix missing libLLVM-6.0.so.1 issue:

Blender 2.92 does not start in my Ubuntu 20.04, and it outputs an error when running from terminal:

/usr/lib/blender/blender: error while loading shared libraries: libLLVM-6.0.so.1: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

This can be easily fixed by running command:

sudo apt install libllvm6.0

Not sure if the problem exists in Ubuntu 20.10, but libllvm6.0 is not available in the Groovy repository.

Uninstall:

To remove the Ubuntu PPA, open Software & Updates and go to Other Software tab, then remove the relevant line.

To remove Blender installed via apt, run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove blender
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Flameshot 0.9 Released with Global Shortcut Menu, Improved Wayland Support

February 28, 2021 — Leave a comment

Flameshot, the popular screenshot software, released version 0.9.0 with great new features!

Flameshot 0.9.0 adds new global shortcut menu in configuration dialog. All actions hotkeys are fully customizable.

Another great new feature is new “Latest Uploads” option in indicator menu. It opens upload history dialog which lists all images uploaded to imgur with buttons to quickly copy image URL and open in browser.

Other changes in the 0.9.0 release include:

  • Official Mac OS support.
  • Improved Gnome Wayland support.
  • Offer digitally signed windows releases.
  • Ability to run flameshot on Sway
  • Option to use JPG format for clipboard.
  • Take “symmetric” selections by holding the Shift key
  • Add “check for updates” option
  • The rectangle tool now round the corners based on the current thickness
  • New “fixed save path” option.

Download / Install Flameshot in Ubuntu:

The deb packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, as well as other system packages are available to download at the link below:

Flameshot releases

Grab the deb for your Ubuntu edition, or download the non-install Appimage package.

For the deb, double-click to install via Software Install, or run command in terminal to install it:

sudo apt install ./Downloads/flameshot-0.9.0-*.deb

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How to Install Wine 6.3 in Ubuntu 18.04 / 20.04 / 20.10

February 27, 2021 — Leave a comment

Wine Stable

The Wine team announced the new development release Wine 6.3 with new features and various bug-fixes.

Wine 6.3 features:

  • Better debugger support in the NT syscall interface.
  • WineGStreamer library converted to PE.
  • Still more WinRT support in WIDL.
  • Optional support for build IDs.

And there are various bug-fixes for Windows applications including py2exe, Achieve Planner 1.9.0, 32-bit iTunes 12.1.3.6, WRC 4, and more.

How to Install Wine 6.3 in Ubuntu:

The Wine team has made in the Linux packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 20.10. And you can install it by doing the steps below one by one.

Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching for ‘terminal’ from system application menu. When it opens, run following steps one by one.

Install Wine Development version via following commands will replace the latest stable Wine release package if installed.

1.) Run command to enable 32 bit architecture (if you don’t have it):

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2.) Install the repository key by running command:

wget -O - https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key | sudo apt-key add -

3.) Add wine repository via command:

sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ focal main'

IMPORTANT: In this command, you have to replace focal with:

  • focal for Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20.x
  • groovy for Ubuntu 20.10.
  • bionic for Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 19.x

Don’t know your system edition? Run lsb_release -a command in terminal to check out.

4.) For Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 19.x only, libfaudio0 library is required to install from a third-party repository by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cybermax-dexter/sdl2-backport

5.) Finally install Wine 6.3 via command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-devel

If you get unmet dependency issue, try aptitude command instead:

sudo apt install aptitude && sudo aptitude install winehq-devel

Uninstall wine:

You may remove the PPA by launching Software & Updates utility and navigating to Other Software tab.

To remove wine 6.3, run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove winehq-devel
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