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Archives For November 30, 1999

Reduce Top bar Indicator Icon Spacing in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: April 24, 2024

gnome shell

In Ubuntu 20.04 Gnome Shell, application indicator on top panel has wide spaces between icons. You can reduce the icon spacing via an extension called Unite.

Unite is a Gnome Shell extension which makes a few layout tweaks to the top panel and removes window decorations to make it look like Ubuntu Unity Shell. With the extension, your system tray area will look like:

To install the extension, do following steps one by one.

1.) Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

2.) Run command to install the extension required x11-utils library:

sudo apt install x11-utils

3.) Go to extensions.gnome.org/…/unite/, toggle on and install the extension.

If you don’t see the toggle icon, click link to install browser extension and refresh this web page

The extension by default reduces top bar item spacing. To tweak other panel appearance, open Gnome Tweaks (or Extensions tool), and go to unite settings.

In Howtos
 

How to Install Liferea Feed Reader 1.3.2 in Ubuntu 20.04 (PPA)

Last updated: August 29, 2020

This simple tutorial shows how to install Liferea feed reader 1.3.2 via PPA in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Linux Mint 20.

Liferea, stands for Linux Feed Reader, is a news reader for Gnome. The software is available in Ubuntu universe repository, but it’s old.

And here’s the PPA for the latest 1.3 development serious, which so far features:

  • New “Reader mode”.
  • Embed YouTube videos from MediaRSS feeds
  • Add support for subscribing to HTML5 websites without RSS/Atom feeds
  • Add MediaRSS support (e.g. Youtube feeds) to display descriptions and thumbnails
  • Many UI improvements, bug-fixes.

Install Liferea 1.3.2 via PPA:

1.) Open terminal from application launcher and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

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

2.) Then check updates and install the news reader via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install liferea

or update the old package (if installed) via Software Updater utility:

Uninstall:

As the PPA also contains many other applications, you may remove the PPA either via Software & Updates > Other Software, or by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

And remove the feed reader if want via command:

sudo apt remove liferea
In Howtos
 

3D Arcade Racer SuperTuxKart 1.2 Released [How to Install]

Last updated: August 28, 2020

SuperTuxKart 1.2, free and open-source kart racing game, was officially released a day ago.

What’s new in SuperTuxkart 1.2:

  • Support gamepad hotplugging
  • Use SDL2 for window creation
  • New “Cartoon” theme
  • Haiku support
  • Add support for IPv6 LAN servers
  • Team chat for team games
  • A new Kiki kart and improved Pidgin and Puffy karts
  • Fixed most gamepad related bugs
  • New settings to customize the game’s camera
  • And many many enhancements and fixes

How to Get SuperTuxKart 1.2:

Source code as well as packages for Android, Linux (portable), Mac OS, and Windows are available for download at the link below:

Also, there’s an Ubuntu PPA that contains .deb packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20 / 19.x.

1.) Open terminal from system application launcher, then run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stk/dev

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

2.) After adding the PPA, either upgrade from an old version via Software Updater, or run commands in terminal to install the game:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install supertuxkart

Uninstall SuperTuxKart:

To remove the PPA, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:stk/dev

To remove the racing game, run:

sudo apt remove --autoremove supertuxkart supertuxkart-data
In Howtos, News
 

Tartube – A GTK+ 3 Front-end for Youtube-DL Video Downloader

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Looking for a graphical interface for the command line youtube-dl video downloader? Tartube is a GTK+ 3 front-end written in Python 3.

Tartube is partly based on youtube-dl-gui and runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, and BSD. It’s a free and open-source software that can download individual videos, and even whole channels and playlists, from YouTube and all youtube-dl supported websites.

Besides downloading videos, Tartube can also organize your videos into convenient folders, alert you when livestreams are starting, and more.

How to Get Tartube:

The Ubuntu deb, Windows exe, Fedora rpm, and source code are available for download at the link below:

For Ubuntu users, grab the .deb package and click install either via “Software Install” or “Gdebi” (if installed).

NOTE: To make the software work, you have to install youtube-dl, and in Tartube’s “system preferences” set the path to youtube-dl executable.

In App Review
 

Gcolor3 – A GTK+ 3 Color Selector and Picker for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Gcolor3 is a color selector and picker written in GTK+ 3. It is much alike Gcolor2, but uses the newer GTK+ version to get better integrate into modern desktop.

Gcolor3 enables you to pick the color from any pixel on your screen. It also offers a palette, so that you can easily mix and match a couple of colors together.

When you have found the perfect combination of colors, naturally you want to save them. Gcolor3 allows you to conveniently save and retrieve colors.

By releasing version 2.4.0, Gcolor3 now is “Color Picker” with a new maintainer, a new icon, lots of new improvements, and many translation updates.

How to get Gcolor in Ubuntu:

The latest Gcolor so far is available as Flatpak package. You can either download the package from the link below:

or open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following commands one by one to install the package:

sudo apt install flatpak

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

flatpak install flathub nl.hjdskes.gcolor3

To uninstall the software, run command:

flatpak uninstall nl.hjdskes.gcolor3

Prefer deb to the containerized flatpak package?

Gcolor3 has been made into the universe repository of Ubuntu 20.10.

For Ubuntu 20.04, you can grab the .deb package for 20.10 from the launchpad page.

In App Review
 

LaTex Editor TeXstudio 3.0.0 Released [How to Install]

Last updated: August 25, 2020

TeXstudio 3.0.0, an open-source cross-platform LaTex editor, was finally released after some alpha, beta, and rc tests.

According to the changelog, TeXstudio 3.0.0 features:

  • speed up document parsing, should result in faster document load times
  • spell checking is done asynchronously
  • custom verbatim/math env highlighting abandoned for a cwl based approach
  • better dark-mode support
  • qt4 support abandoned

How to get TeXstudio 3.0.0 in Ubuntu Linux:

The new release source code, as well as Windows, Mac OS, and Linux packages are available to download at:

The official PPA also made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 19.x, 20, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunderme/texstudio

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

2. If an old version was installed in your system, remove the texstudio-doc, texstudio-l10n (if any) package before upgrading the software:

sudo apt-get remove texstudio-doc texstudio-l10n

3. After adding the PPA, you can either upgrade it via Software Updater:

or run commands in terminal to install or upgrade the software:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install texstudio

Uninstall:

To remove the LaTeX editor, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove texstudio

And go to Software & Updates -> Other Software to remove PPA repositories.

In News
 

4 Nifty Grub Themes for Your Linux Boot Menu

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Boring with the default boot menu in purple? Try installing some themes for this Grub boot-loader.

There’s an open-source project maintains 4 modern design themes for Grub2. They are Vimix, Stylish, Tela, and Slaze.

First take a look at the screenshots:

It’s easy to install the themes as the maintainer offers an installer script. First go to link below and download the source code:

Download Source Code

Then do following steps to install the grub themes:

1. Go to Downloads folder, extract the source tarball, and go into source folder.

2. Right click on blank area and select ‘Open in Terminal’

3. When terminal opens, run command to install a theme:

sudo ./install.sh --boot --vimix

For another theme, replace --vimix in command with --stylish, --tela, or --slaze.

You may use more flags, e.g.,

  • --white, install white color icons.
  • --ultrawide, install 2560×1080 background image – not available for slaze theme
  • --2k, install 2k(2560×1440) background image
  • --4k, install 4k(3840×2160) background image

Once installed, restart your machine and enjoy!

(Optional) To remove the Grub theme, re-do the first 2 steps and run command:

sudo ./install.sh --remove --vimix

You may replace --vimix in command with --stylish, --tela, or --slaze to remove one of them.

In Howtos
 

Free Image Enlarger SmillaEnlarger 0.9.1 Ported to Qt5

Last updated: August 22, 2020

Free open-source image enlarger SmillaEnlarger sees first update in over 10 years.

SmillaEnlarger is small graphical tool, based on Qt, to resize, especially magnify bitmaps in high quality. The used algorithm is an invention of the developer’s own.

SmillaEnlarger 0.9.1 is the first release in over 10 years, features Qt 5 port.

Get SmillaEnlarger:

The source tarball as well as Mac OS package are available to download in the link below:

It’s easy to compile the software, simply do:

  • Grab the source tarball, open Downloads folder and extract the tarball.
  • In file browser, navigate to the source “smillaenlarger-0.9.1” folder.
  • Right-click on blank area and select “Open in terminal”

When terminal opens, run following commands one by one to build the image enlarger:

qmake ImageEnlarger.pro
make

Finally launch the software within the terminal window via command:

./SmillaEnlarger

That’s it.

In App Review
 

Kaidan – Modern XMPP Chat Client for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Kaidan is a simple, user-friendly chat client that uses the open communication protocol XMPP (Jabber) and runs on Linux, Mac OS, Android, Plasma Mobile and Ubuntu Touch.

The software is written in C++ with Qt and the Qt-based XMPP library QXmpp. Unlike other chat apps, you are not dependent on one specific service provider.

Kaidan features: supported XEPs / RFCs and planned XEPs. The latest release so far is Kaidan 0.5 that contains QR code scanning and generation, message search, and more.

Get Kaidan chat client:

Source code, APK, Appimage, and Mac os packages are available for download at the link below:

For Linux, grab the .appimage package, make executable in file’s Properties > Permissions. And finally run it to launch the chat app.

As an alternative, Kaidan is also available in flatpak package:

In App Review
 

KeePassXC 2.6.1 Released with Xfce Screensaver Support [PPA]

Last updated: August 20, 2020

KeePassXC, a community fork of KeePassX password manager, released version 2.6.1 today with some new features, improvements, and various fixes.

KeePassXC 2.6.1 release highlights:

  • Add option to Auto-Type just the username or password
  • Automatic database locking with Xfce screensaver.
  • Add command for retrieving current TOTP
  • Add OARS metadata
  • Substitute tilde with USERPROFILE on Windows
  • Change actions for F1, F2, and F3 keys
  • Improve man page, and password generator UI / UX
  • And various bug-fixes, see here for more details.

How to Install KeePassXC 2.6.1 in Ubuntu:

The official upstream PPA has made the packages of the password manager for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and derivatives.

1.) Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching for ‘terminal’ from system application launcher.

When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phoerious/keepassxc

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

2.) Then either update the software package using Software Updater

or run command to install the software:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install keepassxc

Uninstall:

You can run the PPA repository simply by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:phoerious/keepassxc

And if you want, remove keepassxc password manger via command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove keepassxc
In Howtos