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MPZ – New Linux Music Player for Big Local Collections

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Looking for a Linux music player to manage large local collections? Mpz is a new open-source player that does the job.

If you like to organize your music in folders, then this player might be for you. It doesn’t try to index all the files into a library, but rather treats your files and folders as a library and provides a convenient way to create playlists directly from folders. Similar to Foobar2000’s Album List, but it’s not an attempt to clone.

The main feature is 3-columns UI allows you to quickly create playlists from folders via middle-click and switch between playlists.

Other mpz features include:

  • Built with Qt/C++ with fast and responsive native UI;
  • Supports internet radio in m3u and pls playlists formats;
  • Supports CUE sheets;
  • Supports MPRIS on Linux for remote control;
  • Configuration in 2 yaml files
  • Supports global media keys and non-global shortcuts.

How to Install mpz in Ubuntu:

The software developer maintains binary packages for Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, Fedora, openSUSE, etc, which are available to download at the link below:

For Ubuntu, grab the deb package and install it either via Gdebi or apt command in terminal:

sudo apt install ./Downloads/mpz*.deb

(Optional) To remove the music player application, run command:

sudo apt remove mpz
In App Review
 

LazPaint – Raster Image Editor Similar to Paint.Net / PaintBrush

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Looking for an image editor similar to Windows Paint.Net or Mac OS PaintBrush? LazPaint is the open-source image editor that works on Linux.

LazPaint is an image editor with layers and transparency. It’s written in Lazarus (Free Pascal) and uses BGRABitmap library. With OpenRaster format support it can interoperate with MyPaint, Gimp and Krita.

Features include:

  • Read and write a variety of file formats, including layered bitmaps and 3D files.
  • Tools: many tools are available to draw on the layers.
  • Select parts of an image with antialiasing and modify the selection as a mask.
  • View: color window, layer stack window and toolbox window.
  • Command line support.
  • Keyboard shortcuts support.

How to Install LazPaint in Ubuntu:

The image editor offers .deb packages available to download at the link below:

Just grab the latest deb package, and install it by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install ./Downloads/lazpaint*.deb

Once installed, open it from system application launcher and enjoy!

(Optional) To remove LazPaint simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove lazpaint
In App Review
 

[Quick Tip] Drag and Drop Pasting File / Folder Path into Terminal

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Familiar with Linux commands? You may already know many tips and tricks that will save you a lot of time.

Here are some that I have been using for a long period of time, including Tab auto-completion, when you type something in Linux terminal and hit Tab, it auto-completes the command or file path, or outputs all possible options.

And Ctrl+Shift+V will do paste text to terminal instead of Ctrl+V. Without copying to the clipboard, you can simply select / highlight the text and use mouse middle-click to paste into terminal.

Today I found a new terminal tips that I didn’t know before. Thanks to the reddit, I’m going to share it with you by following steps.

1. Drag and drop file or folder to paste the path into terminal.

Just drag and drop a file or folder into terminal, and you’ll see the full path pasted with single quotes. It’s useful if there’s special character in file path or you just don’t want to type …

2. Drag and drop a selection of text into terminal.

You can also drag and drop a selection of text into terminal, so you don’t need to do copy and paste with context menu clicks or keyboard shortcuts.

In command skills
 

Voice Chat App Mumble 1.3.3 Released with Stability Improvements[PPA]

Last updated: October 7, 2020

Mumble, open source, low-latency, high quality voice chat software, released version 1.3.3 a few days ago. PPA updated for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 20.04.

Changes in Mumble 1.3.3 include:

  • Fix chat box invisble (zero height)
  • Fix handling of invalid packet sizes
  • Fix race-condition leading to loss of shortcuts
  • Link in About dialog is now clickable again
  • Fix sizing issues in ACL-Editor
  • PulseAudio now always samples at 48 kHz
  • Fix server crash due to problems when using PostgreSQL

How to install Mumble 1.3.3 in Ubuntu:

The official release PPA has made the packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

1. Open terminal either from system application launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, paste below command and hit Enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mumble/release

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

2. If an old release was installed, simply upgrade Mumble via Software Updater:

Or run commands one by one in terminal to check updates and install the chat utility for gamer:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install mumble mumble-server

Uninstall Mumble:

You can purge the PPA which also downgrade the VoIP chat app to the stock version via command:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:mumble/release

To simply remove mumble, either use system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove mumble mumble-server
In News
 

Python 3.9.0 Released, How to Install via PPA in Ubuntu

Last updated: October 6, 2020

Python programming language 3.9.0 was released with new features and optimizations. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 20.04 via PPA.

Python 3.9.0 is the first version default to the 64-bit installer on Windows. Windows 7 is unsupported.

Python 3.9.0 release highlights:

  • Module State Access from C Extension Methods
  • Union Operators in dict
  • Type Hinting Generics In Standard Collections
  • Flexible function and variable annotations
  • Python adopts a stable annual release cadence
  • Relaxing Grammar Restrictions On Decorators
  • Support for the IANA Time Zone Database in the Standard Library
  • String methods to remove prefixes and suffixes
  • New PEG parser for CPython
  • Garbage collection does not block on resurrected objects;
  • os.pidfd_open added that allows process management without races and signals;
  • Unicode support updated to version 13.0.0;
  • when Python is initialized multiple times in the same process, it does not leak memory anymore;
  • A number of Python built-ins (range, tuple, set, frozenset, list, dict) are now sped up using PEP 590 vectorcall;
  • A number of Python modules (_abc, audioop, _bz2, _codecs, _contextvars, _crypt, _functools, _json, _locale, operator, resource, time, _weakref) now use multiphase initialization as defined by PEP 489;
  • A number of standard library modules (audioop, ast, grp, _hashlib, pwd, _posixsubprocess, random, select, struct, termios, zlib) are now using the stable ABI defined by PEP 384.

How to Install Python 3.9.0 in Ubuntu:

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 “deadsnakes” team PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa

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

2.) Then run commands to refresh system package cache, and install Python 3.9:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install python3.9

3.) Once successfully installed, check your system Python versions (python –version):

4.) (NOT Recommended) To use Python 3.9 as the default python3, run commands:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.8 1

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.9 2

For Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04, replace python3.8 in the code with system’s default python3 version..
And you can then switch between the two Python3 versions via command:

sudo update-alternatives --config python3

NOTE: Due to known bug, terminal won’t open if you changed python3 symlink. An workaround is recreate a symlink via command (Replace python 3.8 with your system default python3 version):

sudo rm /usr/bin/python3; sudo ln -s python3.8 /usr/bin/python3

Uninstall:

To uninstall the Python3.9 packages, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove python3.9 python3.9-minimal

To remove the Deadsnakes PPA, launch Software & Updates and go to Other Software tab, then remove the repository line and close the window.

In News
 

GIMP Image Editor 2.10.22 Available to Download [PPA]

Last updated: October 5, 2020

GIMP image editor 2.10.22 available to install in Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04, though it’s not officially announced at the moment.

GIMP 2.10.22 was ready to download in its website last night. Release highlights in the new release inlcude:

  • HEIF support improvements: optional exporting with high bit depth, AVIF importing and exporting
  • Multiple improvements in Corel PaintShop Pro support
  • “Sample merged” now available in GEGL operation tool options
  • “Sample merged” is now enabled by default for color picking
  • The option enabling OpenCL support has been moved to the Playground tab in Preferences
  • Matting Levin is now the default engine of Foreground Select tool as it performs a lot better
  • New progressive performance logs and dashboard updates
  • Verbose debug now shows Flatpak info when relevant
  • Various bug fixes

How to Install GIMP 2.10.22 in Ubuntu:

The GIMP flatpak is recommended for Linux, and you can get it in flathub repository.

For those prefer installing deb package via apt, the unofficial PPA contains the packages for Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04.

There’s known issue of the PPA packages: translations won’t install, so GIMP will always work in English.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2.) If an old version of GIMP .deb package was installed, upgrade it via Software Updater (Update Manager) utility.

or run apt commands in terminal to install GIMP:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install gimp gimp-gmic

If an old version was installed, it’s recommended to run sudo apt upgrade which will also update the required babl, gegl libraries.

How to Restore:

To restore GIMP to the stock version in main Ubuntu repository, run command to purge the PPA:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp
In News
 

Folder Comparison and Synchronization App FreeFileSync 11.2 Released

Last updated: October 4, 2020

FreeFileSync 11.2, folder comparison and synchronization software to create and manage backup copies of all your important files, was released a few days ago.

Changes in FreeFileSync 11.2 include:

  • Improved grid layout with file icons hidden
  • Improved rendering of inactive and disabled grid items
  • Remember last user-selected paths for file and folder pickers
  • Fixed folder name hidden in “item name” view type
  • Fixed determination of unsupported trash folder (Linux)
  • Fixed copying broken symlinks (macOS)
  • Fixed default action when pressing Enter in popup dialogs
  • Fixed default popup dialog size (macOS)
  • Use localized start of week for %WeekDay% (Linux, macOS)
  • Swap sides using CTRL+W instead of F10
  • Show confirmation dialog before swapping sides

How to Install FreeFileSync in Ubuntu:

The software offers official Linux package (portable tarball contains executable and most run-time libraries) available to download at the link below:

Simply grab the Linux package, extract, and run the executable. You may also read this step by step guide to create an app launcher for this program.

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AntiMicroX – Graphical Tool to Map Mouse & Keyboard Keys to Gamepad

Last updated: September 3, 2024

Want to play games or control any desktop application with a gamepad on Ubuntu Linux? There’s a graphical tool AntiMicroX that may help.

AntiMicrox is program used to map keyboard buttons and mouse controls to a gamepad. Useful for playing games with no gamepad support.

The program can be also used for generating SDL2 configuration (useful for mapping atypical gamepads to generic ones like xbox360).

Install AntiMicroX

The software offers both .deb and .appimage packages in the release page:

Download AntiMicroX

You can either grab the single executable .appimage package that runs the program without install, or download the .deb package and install it by opening terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install ./Downloads/antimicrox*.deb

In App Review
 

Pale Moon Web Browser 28.14 Released [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: October 1, 2020

Pale Moon, an open-source Goanna-based web browser, released version 28.14.0 (and 28.14.1 with quick fix) with stability and security improvements.

Pale Moon 28.14.0 release highlights:

  • Updated the browser identity code for website security to more clearly indicate website status.
  • Updated unofficial branding to be more generic and more clearly separate unofficial builds from Pale Moon as a product.
  • Added a preference (signon.startup.prompt) to give users the option to ask for the Master Password the moment the application starts.
  • Changed the way download sources are displayed to always use the actual domain downloads are from.
  • Implemented the CSS flow-root keyword.
  • (Re-)implemented percentage-based CSS opacity values according to the updated spec.
  • Implemented the last few missing bits for a standards-compliant implementation of JavaScript modules.(preloading, resource: scheme, etc.)
  • Implemented the ResizeObserver DOM API.
  • Updated script handling inside SVGs to only run scripts if they are enabled and permitted, avoiding a potential XSS pitfall.
  • Updated the MediaQueryList interface to the updated spec.
  • Removed support for the archaic and non-standard <marquee> element.
  • Removed some leftovers and cleaned up the Windows widget code.
  • Security issues fixed: CVE-2020-15676 and CVE-2020-15677
  • Unified XUL Platform Mozilla Security Patch Summary: 2 fixed, 1 defense-in-depth, 7 not applicable.

How to Install Pale Moon via apt repository:

The opensuse repository offers the new release packages for Debian, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 16.04.

1.) Open terminal from your system application launcher. When it opens, run command to add the repository for Ubuntu 20.04:

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/stevenpusser/xUbuntu_20.04/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:stevenpusser.list

Depends on your Ubuntu edition, replace xUbuntu_20.04 to xUbuntu_18.04 or xUbuntu_16.04.

2.) Download and install the repository key by running command:

wget -O - https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:stevenpusser/xUbuntu_20.04/Release.key | sudo apt-key add -

Also replace xUbuntu_20.04 in the commands depends on your Ubuntu edition.

3.) Finally refresh system package cache and install the web browser by running 2 commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install palemoon

Uninstall:

To remove the apt repository, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab:

To remove the web browser, open terminal and run command:

sudo apt remove palemoon
In News
 

OBS Studio 26.0 Released with Initial Virtual Camera Support [PPA]

Last updated: September 30, 2020

OBS Studio 26.0, free open-source streaming and recording program, was released with many new features, improvements, and numerous bug-fixes.

The new released added Virtual Camera feature, allowing you to use the OBS output as a camera in other apps. So far, it’s only for Windows.

Other changes include:

  • Add a Source Toolbar to access to relevant controls for selected source.
  • Add media controls on the source toolbar.
  • Ability to take screenshots of the previews, sources, or scenes with hotkeys
  • Add percentage toggle to the volume controls in advanced audio properties
  • Add more audio capture support for BSD operating systems
  • Add option to disable antialiasing for text sources
  • Add a right-click context menu option to projectors.
  • See here for more details.

How to Install OBS Studio 26.0 in Ubuntu 20.04, 18.04:

The official PPA offers the latest release packages for Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04:

1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio

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

2. Then either upgrade OBS Studio from an existing version via Software Updater, or run command in terminal to install the software:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install obs-studio

Once installed, launch the software from your system application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove obs-studio

To remove PPA repositories, launch Software & Updates and navigate to ‘Other Software’ tab.

In News