UbuntuHandbook

Xsnow – Snow on Your Desktop in Ubuntu 18.04 / Higher

Last updated: July 19, 2019

Xsnow, let it snow on your desktop, now is working on Gnome, KDE, FVWM desktop in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.

Xsnow is a handy command tool that brings Christmas to your desktop. However, it does not work properly in Ubuntu since Ubuntu 12.04 Precise.

Now a brand new Xsnow based on the original xsnow-1.42 is available to work on many desktop environments, and a simple graphical interface is available for those who are not familiar with command line.

Finally, a working xsnow for Gnome, KDE, etc. Based on the original xsnow-1.42 created by Rick Jansen, after the xsnow-2019 conference in Antas (Spain) we now have available a xsnow that works on many desktop environments, even Raspian. By request of many beta-testers, a graphical front end has been created as well.

For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 19.04, and higher, download the package from the link below:

Select download i386.deb for 32-bit OS, amd64.deb for 64-bit OS, or armhf.deb for Raspberry pi.

Then double-click to install via Ubuntu Software, or run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/xsnow_*.deb

Once installed, launch the tool from your application menu and enjoy!

(Optional) To remove the tool, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove xsnow

In App Review, News bring Christmas to desktop, Snow on Gnome, Xsnow Ubuntu 18.04

VirtualBox 6.0.10 Released with UEFI Secure Boot Support

Last updated: July 16, 2019

Oracle Virtualbox 6.0.10 was released today with many improvements and fixes to Linux hosts and guests.

Virtualbox 6.0.10 release highlights:

Fix guest display resolution resize issue with recent Linux hosts.
Fixed guru meditation when raw mode is enabled
Fixed possible VM crash under certain circumstances
Fixed “unrecoverable error” problems in OHCI emulation.
USB: improve captured device identification
Support UEFI secure boot driver signing on Ubuntu and Debian hosts
Fix focus grabbing problems with recent Qt versions.
Share folder fixes for Windows hosts and guests.
Linux kernel module build fixes for various kernels
Remember Linux guest screen size after a guest reboot

How to Install Virtualbox 6.0.10 in Ubuntu:

For all current Ubuntu releases, you can either download the official .deb binary from the link below:

or install VBox from its official apt repository:

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T), paste below command and run to add the repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian $(lsb_release -sc) contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list'

For Linux Mint, you HAVE to replace $(lsb_release -sc) in the command with bionic for Mint 19.x, or xenial for Mint 18.x.

2. Then download and install the repository key via command:

wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

3. Refresh system package cache via command:

sudo apt update

4. Finally install Virtualbox 6.0:

sudo apt install virtualbox-6.0

Uninstall:

To remove it, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove virtualbox-6.0

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

In Howtos, News Virtualbox

How to Install FeedReader RSS Client in Ubuntu 18.04 / Higher

Last updated: July 14, 2019

FeedReader is modern GTK+ 3 client for online RSS services like tt-rss and others.

FeedReader currently supports Feedbin, Feedly, FreshRSS, InoReader, Local RSS, Nextcloud/ownCloud, The Old Reader, and Tiny Tiny RSS.

It combines all the advantages of web based services like syncing across all your devices with everything you expect from a modern desktop application. It also allows to save articles to read-it-later with Instapaper, Pocket, or Wallabag.

Also it lets you share articals with others via Email, Twitter, Telegram.

FeedReader in Elementary OS

How to Install FeedReader in Ubuntu 18.04 & Higher

The software is available in universe repositories of Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 19.04, Ubuntu 19.10, but they are old and won’t receive future updates.

To install the latest release in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or from application menu, and run following commands one by one:

1. First run command to install the flatpak framework:

sudo apt-get install flatpak

2. Add flathub repository, which hosts a large list of flatpak applications:

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

3. Finally install RSS client via command:

flatpak install flathub org.gnome.FeedReader

And future install updates if available via flatpak update org.gnome.FeedReader command.

(Optional) To remove FeedReader flatpak package, run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall org.gnome.FeedReader

In Howtos Feed Reader, RSS Client

Foliate – A Simple & Modern New GTK eBook Viewer

Last updated: July 13, 2019

Foliate is an open-source GTK eBook viewer built with GJS and Epub.js. It offers a simple and modern user interface, and features:

View EPUB files in two-page view or scrolled view
Customize font, line-spacing, margins, and brightness
Light, sepia, dark, and invert mode, or add your own custom themes
Reading progress slider with chapter marks
Bookmarks and annotations
Quick dictionary lookup with Wiktionary, Wikipedia, and dictd, or translate text with Google Translate
Touchpad gestures—use two-finger swipe to turn the page
Basic text-to-speech support with eSpeak NG and Festival

To install foliate ebook reader in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher:

The software offers Ubuntu .deb package, com.github.johnfactotum.foliate_1.4.0_all.deb at the moment, which is available to download at the release page:

Grab the package, then either double-click to install it, or open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/com.github.johnfactotum.foliate_*.deb

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

(Optional) To remove the software, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove foliate

For those who prefer the Flatpak package, Foliate is also available in Flathub repository.

In App Review ebook reader, GTK ebook reader

Customizable Weather Widget ‘Gis Weather’ 0.8.4 Released

Last updated: July 12, 2019

Gis Weather is an open-source desktop weather widget and indicator applet with highly customizable user interface.

Gis Weather is written in Python 3 with GTK+ 3. It features:

View weather for several days
Detailed weather forecast for today and tomorrow
Select the background and theme weather icons
“Compass” with the wind direction, with adjustable angle of rotation
Highlighting the high wind
Support weather services: Gismeteo.com, OpenWeatherMap.org, Yr.no.

The new version 0.84 was released hours ago with updated icons, translations, and various bug-fixes.

How to Install Gis Weather in Ubuntu:

The software offers .deb package available to download at the link below:

Grab the package the install it by opening terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/gis-weather_*.deb

Once installed launch it from your system application menu:

Choose weather service, and setup your location at first launch:

Then you can change icons, background, text font via widget’s right-click menu. And in Preferences, change units, widget location, refresh time interval, appearances, enable indicator applet, auto-start, etc.

In Howtos gis weather, weather indicator, weather widget

FireFox 68 Releazed with Improved Dark Mode (How to Upgrade)

Last updated: July 12, 2019

Mozilla Firefox 68.0 was released a few days ago with dark mode improvements, new features, and security fixes. Here’s how to install it in all current Ubuntu releases.

Firefox 68.0 release highlights:

Window controls, sidebars and toolbars will be dark with dark mode in reader view.
New reporting feature to report security and performance issues with extensions and themes.
Redesigned extensions dashboard for easy accessing to information about your extensions
Redesigned extensions now displays user count and ratings for each extension.
Add cryptomining and fingerprinting protections to strict content blocking settings
Windows Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS) update download support.
Camera and microphone access now require an HTTPS connection.
And various security fixes. See release note for details.

Upgrade to Firefox 68 in Ubuntu:

Firefox 68 has been ~~will be~~ made into Ubuntu universe repositories for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and higher ~~in a few days~~. Check HERE, and do following to upgrade it once available.

For all current Ubuntu releases, simply open Software Updater and install the updates after checking for updates.

If you don’t see the Firefox updates, go to Software & Updates and make sure the security and updates repositories are enabled in Updates tab.

In Howtos, News Firefox

Syncthing 1.2.0 Released, Adds QUIC Transport Protocol

Last updated: July 10, 2019

Open source continuous file synchronization program syncthing 1.2.0 was released yesterday with new features, various bug-fixes, and enhancements.

Syncthing 1.2.0 release highlights:

Add QUIC with NAT traversal as a new transport protocol. TCP remains the preferred way of connection when possible.
Adds automatic crash reporting.
Make large / variable block size the only available mode of operation
Versions are now named with the time of their archiving
The new release does not interoperate with Syncthing 0.14.45 or older

Syncthing offers official Snap package. It can be easily installed in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher via Ubuntu Software:

For Ubuntu 16.04, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install snapd daemon first:

sudo apt-get install snapd

Then install Syncthing via command:

sudo snap install syncthing

Once installed, start it via command syncthing. Then go to localhost:8384 in web browser to setup shared folder, remote devices, and more.

For more, read the getting started guide.

In Howtos, News file sync, syncthing

xinput-gui: Simple Graphical Tool To Configure X Input Devices

Last updated: July 9, 2019

Xinput-gui is a simple graphical application for Xorg’s Xinput tool, utility to configure and test X input devices.

Xinput-gui is written with Python 3 and GTK+3. It’s in early stage with basic features. For bugs, feature requests, reports to project issues page.

To install xinput-gui utility in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher:

1. Download the source tarball from the link below:

2. Then extract and select “open in terminal” from source folder context menu:

3. When terminal opens, run commands:

sudo python3 setup.py install

If everything goes OK, an executable file xinput-gui should be created in the source folder.

To launch xinput-gui utility:

To launch the tool, either run command xinput-gui when you’re in the source folder:

xinput-gui

Or run the executable file from its context menu:

In App Review Xinput GUI

How to Install Python 3.8 Beta in Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04

Last updated: July 7, 2019

The second Beta of the latest Python 3.8 was released a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA.

Python 3.8 new features so far include:

New syntax (the “walrus operator”, :=) to assign values to variables as part of an expression.
new syntax (/) to indicate that some function parameters must be specified positionally
Parallel filesystem cache for compiled bytecode files
Debug build uses the same ABI as release build
f-strings now support = for quick and easy debugging
new C API to configure the Python Initialization
Added the “vectorcall” protocol to the Python/C API.
Pickle protocol 5 with out-of-band data buffers

How to Install Python 3.8 in Ubuntu:

The deadsnakes team PPA is maintaining most recent packages for current two Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa

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

2. Then check updates and install Python 3.8 via 2 commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install python3.8

Once installed, check via command python3.8 --version

Uninstall:

You can run command in terminal to purge the PPA which also remove the installed 3.8 packages:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:deadsnakes/ppa

In Howtos python 3.8

VS Code 1.36 Released! Dropped Linux 32-bit Support

Last updated: July 5, 2019

Code 1.36, the June 2019 release of Visual Studio Code, was released. The new release has updated to Electron 4.x, means it will no longer run on Linux 32-bit.

VS Code 1.36 release highlights: