UbuntuHandbook

LibreOffice 7.1 Finally Available to Install via Ubuntu PPA

Last updated: March 2, 2021

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

In Howtos LibreOffice

How to Install Blender 2.92 in Ubuntu 20.04, 20.10 via PPA

Last updated: June 9, 2021

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 uses.

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:

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

In Howtos blender

Flameshot 0.9 Released with Global Shortcut Menu, Improved Wayland Support

Last updated: February 28, 2021

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:

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

In News flameshot

NVIDIA Linux Driver 460.56 Released with GeForce RTX 3060 Support

Last updated: February 25, 2021

NVIDIA announced a new release for the 460 Linux driver series today.

The new NVIDIA 460.56 driver added GeForce RTX 3060 support. The RTX 3060 features 5,888 CUDA cores, 1,777MHz GPU boost clock, 12 GB of GDDR6 video memory, and 170W TGP.

Besides the new GPU support, the 460.56 driver also fixed

a bug with indexed ray payloads in Vulkan,
a bug where calls to vkCreateDevice could fail on Ampere GPUs when ray tracing extensions were enabled and the application was running within the Steam Linux Runtime,
fixed a regression that could cause display corruption when using a scaled resolution after resuming from power management suspend.

How to Install NVIDIA 460.56 in Ubuntu:

Ubuntu now builds the latest NVIDIA drivers and pushes them via its own security & updates repositories. It however take time to publish the new packages.

You can just wait or use this well trusted Ubuntu PPA. Finally launch Additional Drivers utility to install & apply the new NVIDIA driver:

If you can’t wait, go to NVIDIA website and download the .run installer package (not recommended for beginners):

In News Nvidia Driver

Firefox 86 Released with Multiple Video Playback in Picture-in-Picture Mode

Last updated: February 24, 2021

Mozilla Firefox web browser 86.0 was released with improved pop out video support and latest privacy protection.

In Firefox 86, you can now play multiple videos at the same time in the Picture-in-Picture mode.

The new release also features new privacy protection: Total Cookie Protection. It stops cookies from tracking you around the web by creating a separate cookie jar for every website.

To enable this feature, go to about:preferences#privacy page and set Enhanced Tracking Protection to Strict mode.

Other changes in Firefox 86 include:

Improved Print functionality with a cleaner design and better integration
Enable credit card management and auto-fill feature for users in Canada.
Reader mode now works with local HTML pages.
Mitigate the stack clash attack in Linux and Android.
Remove DTLS 1.0 support.
Various security fixes.

How to get Firefox 86 in Ubuntu:

For all current Ubuntu releases, the new Firefox package will be published in Ubuntu security & updates repositories in next a few days.

At that time, you can easily update the web browser through Software Updater (Update Manager)

For those who can’t wait, go to the release page which also includes a download button:

In News Firefox

Appnativefy – Turn Any Website into Single Executable Appimage

Last updated: February 23, 2021

Want to create web apps into the portable Appimage package format? Appnativefy is a simple tool to do the job.

Appnativefy is a simple command line tool to make executable AppImage files from any website, it uses the Nativefier API in the backend, with AppImageKIt.

Appimage is an universal Linux package format. Different to other packages, you don’t need to install it. Just make it executable and run to launch program!

How to use appnativefy:

With Appnativefy, you can run a simple command to turn a website into single executable Appimage:

appnativefy --name "TYPE_PACKAGE_NAME" --url "URL_ADDRESS"

For instance, you can make youtube.com into appimage via command:

appnativefy --name "YouTube" --url "https://youtube.com"

You can add more flags at the end of the command to enable more options, for instance:

--services enables to sign-in using services such as Microsoft 365 and Google.
--favicon forces to use the favicon of the site while making the AppImage.
--widevine adds Widevine support to enable playing DRM enabled content.
For more, run appnativefy -h

For example, run below command will create appimage for Spotify with Widevine support, sign-in services enabled, and using the favicon.

appnativefy --name "Spotify" --url "https://open.spotify.com" --services --widevine --favicon

The app will create an appnativefy folder in users home directory that contains all generated Appimage packages.

How to install Appnativefy:

The software is available as a NPM package. To install it, firstly open terminal and run command to install dependencies:

sudo apt install nodejs npm wget

Then install the tool via npm command:

sudo npm install -g appnativefy

How to Remove Appnativefy:

To remove the command line tool, simply run command:

sudo npm uninstall -g appnativefy

If you don’t use nodejs and npm, remove them to free up a few dozens of MB disk space:

sudo apt purge --auto-remove nodejs npm

In App Review appimage

HPLIP 3.21.2 Released with Fedora 33 and Lots of New Printers Support

Last updated: February 20, 2021

HPLIP, HP developed printer and scanner drivers for Linux, released version 3.21.2 with new Linux distributions and devices support.

According to the release note, HPLIP 3.21.2 add following new Distro’s support:

Fedora 33
Manjaro 20.2
Debian 10.7
RHEL 8.3
RHEL 7.7
RHEL 7.8
RHEL 7.9

The new release also added a lot of new printers support:

HP LaserJet Enterprise M406dn, M407dn
HP LaserJet Enterprise MFP M430f, MFP M431f
HP LaserJet Managed E40040dn
HP LaserJet Managed MFP E42540f
HP Color LaserJet Enterprise M455dn
HP Color LaserJet Managed E45028dn
HP Color LaserJet Enterprise MFP M480f
HP Color LaserJet Managed MFP E47528f
HP PageWide XL 3920 MFP
HP PageWide XL 4200 Printer
HP PageWide XL 4200 Multifunction Printer
HP PageWide XL 4700 Printer
HP PageWide XL 4700 Multifunction Printer
HP PageWide XL 5200 Printer
HP PageWide XL 5200 Multifunction Printer
HP PageWide XL 8200 Printer
HP Laserjet M207d, M208d, M209d, M210d, M212d, M211d, M209dw, M209dwe, M210dw, M210dwe, M212dw, M212dwe, M208dw, M207dw, M211dw
HP LaserJet MFP M234dw, MFP M234dwe, MFP M233d, MFP M232d, MFP M235d
HP LaserJet MFP M237d, MFP M236d, MFP M232dw, MFP M232dwc, MFP M233dw
HP LaserJet MFP M236dw, MFP M235dw, MFP M235dwe, MFP M237dwe, MFP M237dw
HP LaserJet MFP M232sdn, MFP M233sdn, MFP M236sdn, MFP M234sdn
HP LaserJet MFP M234sdne, MFP M235sdn, MFP M235sdne, MFP M237sdne, MFP M237sdn
HP LaserJet MFP M232sdw, MFP M233sdw, MFP M236sdw, MFP M234sdw
HP LaserJet MFP M234sdwe, MFP M235sdw, MFP M235sdwe, MFP M237sdwe, MFP M237sdw

How to Install HPLIP 3.21.2 in Ubuntu:

1. To install the software, download the package “hplip-3.21.2.run” from the link below:

2. Then open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to give executable permission:

chmod +x ~/Downloads/hplip-3.21.2.run

3. Finally run command to start installing the driver:

./Downloads/hplip-3.21.2.run

Follow the terminal output and answer the questions. If everything goes OK, plug or re-plug your HP devices and enjoy!

In News HP printer driver

How to Install Kodi Media Center 19.0 in Ubuntu 20.04/18.04

Last updated: February 20, 2021

The Kodi media center 19.0 now is available to install via its official Ubuntu PPA.

Kodi 19.0 “Matrix” is a new major release for the open-source home theater software. ~~Though it’s not officially announced at the moment of writing~~, the PPA packages has been updated, available for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 20.x and derivatives.

What’s New in Kodi 19.0:

There are many new features in the release. And here are some big changes:

AV1 Codec support.
New color for subtitles and ability to change opacity.
static HDR10 and dynamic Dolby Vision HDR support.
Move to Python 3 for addons.
New functions in the PVR.

How to Install Kodi 19.0 via PPA:

Open terminal either from system app launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run following commands one by one to get the new release packages.

1. Add Kodi PPA.

To add the official Kodi PPA, run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

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

2. Install / Update Kodi.

The Software Updater utility will prompt you to run a “partial upgrade” since the dependency packages switched from Python 2 to Python 3. So it’s recommended to install or upgrade Kodi by running terminal commands.

Firstly refresh system package cache, if you’re on Ubuntu 18.04, via command:

sudo apt update

Then install Kodi via command:

sudo apt install kodi

If you’re going to upgrade Kodi, the previous command may not update the add-ons, so I recommend to run apt upgrade instead:

sudo apt upgrade

How to Downgrade:

You can purge the Ubuntu PPA as well as downgrade Kodi to the stock version available in Ubuntu main repositories. To do so, run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

In Howtos Kodi

How to Install VLC 3.0.12 via PPA in Ubuntu 20.04 / 18.04 / 20.10

Last updated: February 18, 2021

For those prefer installing app via apt method, there’s now an Ubuntu PPA that contains the latest VLC 3.0.12 deb packages.

VLC 3.0.12 was released a few weeks ago. It features native Apple Silicon support, RIST protocol, YouTube & Vocaroo scripts updates, and various bug-fixes.

The VideoLAN team offers the official Snap package which can be installed directly from Ubuntu Software. If you don’t like the Snap package however, you can now install the media player from the unofficial PPA.

1.) Add the VLC PPA:

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/vlc3

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

For the MATE desktop users, run this command instead to add another PPA with patch from full-screen issue:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/vlc3-mate

2.) Add the dependency PPA:

Secondly, add the dependency PPA for updated media tools:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

3.) Install or update VLC:

Finally, either run command to install VLC media player:

sudo apt install vlc

Or open Software Updater and update the software packages:

Uninstall:

You can purge the Ubuntu PPA which also downgrade the installed packages to their stock versions:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo apt install ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/vlc3

Keep an eye when purging the dependency PPA, as it may also remove some media packages.

sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

Alternatively, you can just remove the Ubuntu PPAs via commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/vlc3

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

And remove VLC if you want by running command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove vlc

In Howtos VLC PPA

2D Animation App Pencil2D 0.6.6 Released with Crash Recovery Support

Last updated: February 17, 2021

The Pencil2D team announced a new release of its 2D animation software with new feature and various bug-fixes.

Pencil2D is a free and open-source software to make 2D hand-drawn animations. It’s lightweight, easy to use, and works on Linux, Windows, Mac OS, and FreeBSD. It supports both bitmap and vector graphics, and allows to seamlessly switch between the two workflows.

By releasing version 0.6.6, Pencil2D gets crash recovery support. On app startup, it now opens the last edited project automatically. And the timeline now using the system palette colors.

Other changes in the release include:

Improved user interface overlapping issue at low screen resolutions by adding scrollbars
“Reset Windows” now resets all sub panels to their initial positions
Fixed that Check for updates not working on Windows.
Fixed a couple of issues regarding frame cache invalidation
Fixed misc tablet/mouse stroke issues
Fixed memory leaks
Fixed new layer naming
Fixed broken polyline tool