UbuntuHandbook

Install Selene, batch Audio/Video Converter via PPA in Ubuntu

Last updated: December 2, 2013

Selene is an audio/video converter for converting files to OGG/OGV/MKV/MP4/WEBM/OPUS/AAC/FLAC/MP3/WAV formats. It aims to provide a simple GUI for converting files to popular formats along with powerful command-line options for automated/unattended encoding.

The converting process is quite easy, just select a batch of audio / video files, set the output format and click start.

Install Selene via PPA:

The converter is available in PPA for Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty, Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal, Linux Mint and their derivatives.

To install it, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one:

sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install selene

Once installed, start it from Menu or Unity Dash.

In Howtos batch converter, media converter

Fotoxx 13.12 released with faster workflow, upgrade in Ubuntu

Last updated: December 2, 2013

Fotoxx, the free and open source photo editing software recently released version 13.12 with UI revision for faster workflow when processing multiple photos.

Full changes in Fotoxx 13.12:

The user interface was revised for faster workflow when processing multiple photos:

An edit function can be started without closing a prior active edit function. The prior edit becomes the new base and an undo/redo position is added automatically.

You can step through a series of images with an open edit function. Apply the function to an image or pass over by pressing the [next] button.
Brightness and color functions can recall prior settings for faster application to other photos made under the same lighting conditions.

Other changes:

RAW files are now edited like other image files. Auto-copy to TIFF–16 is no longer done. Edit as usual and save in the desired format (TIFF/PNG/JPEG, 8/16 bit color).
Add Text: new option: retrieve and edit metadata caption/comments.
Captions: new option: show metadata caption/comments above each image.
Move Collections is more flexible: any pathname segment can be replaced.
Some intermediate files now use ramdisk for a small performance gain.
Mashup: move layout images in 1-pixel steps with the keyboard arrow keys.
Mashup: internal speedups, especially when painting transparency.
New Slide Show transition type: double doors open from the middle.
Log file output was made always current, like a terminal session.

Bug Fixes:

Unsaved edits were lost if the [next] button was used beyond the last image file.
Curve nodes were lost when reloading saved complex edit curves.
Mashup: fix erratic overlay image corner drag behavior.

Install Fotoxx in Ubuntu:

The GetDeb repository contains the latest release for Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 12.04 and their derivatives. To add the repository, run commands below in terminal one by one (Ctrl+Alt+T):

wget http://archive.getdeb.net/install_deb/getdeb-repository_0.1-1~getdeb1_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i getdeb-repository_0.1-1~getdeb1_all.deb

For Linux Mint there’s an option under “Software Sources -> Additional repositories” to enable Getdeb.

After that, install Fotoxx from Ubuntu Software Center after checking for updates. Or run commands below instead:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install fotoxx

In Howtos fotoxx digital photo editor

How to Manipulate Image Files using Nautilus Context Menu

Last updated: December 2, 2013

The developer of Touchpad indicator recently announced a new tool: Nautilus-Image-Tools. It’s an Nautilus extension allows to quickly manipulate your pictures through context menu.

The extension currently includes following functions:

black and white
blur
border, add white border
contour
convert to other file format,
enhance
flip
greyscale
negative
resize
rotate
shadow
vintage
watermark

Here are some screenshots:

nautilus image tool blur

nautilus image tool with white border

nautilus image tool negative

nautilus image tool with shadow (png)

Install Nautilus Image tool extension:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below to install it from developer’s ppa. Supports Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10 and Ubuntu 12.04.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/nautilus-extensions

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nautilus-image-tools

nautilus -q

NOTE that this extension is still in development stage. It sometimes freeze your browser and you need to restart it to fix the problem.

Once installed, right-click on an image file and see:

In Howtos nautilus, nautilus extension

How to Install Linux Mint 16 Petra From USB Stick

Last updated: December 1, 2013

Linux Mint 16 has been released recently. It’s based on Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy. This tutorial shows beginners how to install Linux Mint 16 from USB stick.

All you need to do is download the ISO file, burn the image into USB, boot from usb and install Linux Mint.

1. Download Linux Mint 16 ISO file:

The Cinnamon and MATE editions are available in official download page

2. Burn Linux Mint 16 into USB

a. Insert 2GB+ USB and format it into FAT32 (DON’T check the “quick format” box).

b. Download Unetbootin, which allows you to create bootable Live USB drives for Ubuntu, Fedora, and other Linux distributions without burning a CD.

c. Open Unetbootin, choose the downloaded image file and click OK to start burning.

d. Once done, in BIOS choose to boot with USB. You’ll see the screen below:

3. Install Linux Mint 16 from USB:

In previous boot screen choose “Start Linux Mint”. When system boots up, click “Install Linux Mint” icon on Desktop to bring up install wizard and then you can follow this step by step guide to install Linux Mint.

In Howtos Linux Mint

Vuze 5.2.0 released, Install it in Ubuntu 13.10 Linux Mint 16

Last updated: April 4, 2019

Vuze bittorrent client recently released version 5.2.0 with improvements, bug fixes and translation updates. It features torrent tagging, file prioritization, and more.

Vuze 5.2.0 change log:

Better organization of torrents files is possible with the introduction of color-coding for tags

Several improvements have been made to the torrent file experience overall.

users can also choose which file type to download, such as .avi, .mp4 and others.

The torrent client software now has a menu option in the notification area to dismiss all notifications.

Brazilian Portuguese, Basque and Spanish language updates have been implemented.

Persist column add/remove via header menu

Table structure change was losing a tag listener and subsequently failing to update correctly

Multiple concurrent torrent additions causing duplicate dialogs

Unloading a plugin was causing a second plugins images to be disposed

Search bar was truncating long URIs

Magnet plugin wasn’t handling URIs with ‘xt’ sections properly

Removed blocking call to get public IP address from initialization path

Respect ‘do not activate UI’ on download addition

Fixed end-game-mode looping bug

Lots of minor fixes detected by Coverity static code analysis tool

Improved performance of timer event handling

Fixed ‘upload only’ message support

Prevent a hanging UPnP device from blocking caller

Handle separators other than ‘-’ when parsing port ranges

Remove unnecessary retry on downloads that will most likely fail identically

Alert audio files weren’t playing when contained in folders with certain characters or symbols in name

Option to have multiple torrent-options screens on a single dialog as opposed to separate dialogs per torrent

Automatic application of tracker templates on a per-tag basis (to merge, replace and remove trackers)

Automatic tagging of downloads based on their trackers

Install Vuze 5.2.0:

For Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy and Linux Mint 16 Petra, we can install Vuze 5.2.0 from GetDeb repository by running commands below one by one in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu saucy-getdeb apps" >> /etc/apt/sources.list'

wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install vuze

Or download and install the DEB package from ~~here~~

For other releases download the portable version from vuze homepage