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Archives For November 30, 1999

How to Install Speed Dreams in Ubuntu 18.04, 18.10

Last updated: July 13, 2019

Speed Dreams, open source motorsport simulation and racing game, now can be installed in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and also Ubuntu 16.04 easily via Flatpak package.

Speed Dreams is a fork of the open racing car simulator Torcs, aiming to implement exciting new features, cars, tracks and AI opponents to make a more enjoyable game for the player, as well as constantly improving visual and physics realism.

The official Speed Dreams PPA was abandoned for years. Thanks to Flatpak (containerized software package), now you can install the game in Ubuntu via following steps.

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T), run command to install Flatpak framework if not exist (For Ubuntu 16.04, add the PPA first):

sudo apt-get install flatpak

2. Then add the flathub repository:

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

3. Finally install Speed Dreams:

flatpak install flathub org.speed_dreams.SpeedDreams

Once successfully installed, open the game from application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To remove the Flatpak package, simply run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall org.speed_dreams.SpeedDreams
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PPSSPP PSP emulator 1.7 Released with Stability and Bugfixes

Last updated: October 29, 2018

PPSSPP Sony PSP emulator 1.7 was released a few days ago with a large number of compatibility and bugfixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 14.04.

PPSSPP 1.7 release highlights:

  • Fix for insta-crash on Galaxy Note 9, some Xiaomi devices, and the new nVidia Shield
  • Vertex range culling on most platforms, fixes DTM: Race Driver and similar
  • Major speed boost in some Gundam and Earth Defense Force games
  • Fix for issues with post processing shaders in GL 3+
  • Fixes to sound output switching on Windows (WASAPI)
  • Detects DirectInput devices when running
  • Simple Discord integration
  • New debugging APIs
  • Task switching made a lot more robust (fixes GPD XD problems)
  • Texture decoding optimizations
  • Tons and tons of miscellaneous bugfixes and compatibility fixes

How to Install PPSSPP 1.7 in Ubuntu:

Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, do following steps one by one to install PPSSPP in all current Ubuntu releases.

1. Copy and paste the command and hit run to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ppsspp/stable

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

2. Then refresh system package cache and install the latest PPSSPP via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install ppsspp

Replace ppsspp with ppsspp-sdl in the code for the SDL version.

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ppsspp/stable

To remove PPSSPP, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove ppsspp ppsspp-sdl ppsspp-common
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Canon IJ Printer, ScanGear MP Drivers for Ubuntu 18.04, 18.10

Last updated: October 28, 2018

For those looking for Canon IJ or ScanGear MP drivers, there are now .deb packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and also Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA.

Thierry Ordissimo made the official drivers of Canon printers and multifunction devices, included versions 2.20 and newer, into PPA. There’s also sane backend for some scanners.

Supported devices in the repository:

  • bjf900, bjf9000
  • bjs300, bjs500
  • e400, e500, e510, e560, e600, e610
  • i250, i255
  • ip90, ip100, ip1800, ip1900, ip2200, ip2500, ip2600, ip2700, ip2800, ip3300, ip3500, ip3600, ip4200, ip4300, ip4500, ip4600, ip4700, ip4800, ip4900, ip6600d, ip7200, ip7500, ip8700
  • ix6500, ix6700, ix6800
  • mg2100, mg2200, mg2400, mg2500, mg3100, mg3200, mg3500, mg4100, mg4200, mg5100, mg5200, mg5300, mg5400, mg5500, mg6100, mg6200, mg6300, mg6400, mg6500, mg7100, mg8100, mg8200.
  • mp140, mp160, mp190, mp210, mp230, mp240, mp250, mp270, mp280, mp490, mp495, mp500, mp510, mp520, mp540, mp550, mp560, mp600, mp610, mp630, mp640
  • mx320, mx330, mx340, mx350, mx360, mx370, mx390, mx410, mx420, mx430, mx450, mx470, mx510, mx520, mx530, mx710, mx720, mx860, mx870, mx880, mx890, mx920.
  • p200
  • pixmaip1000, pixmaip1500
  • pixus550i, pixus560i, pixus850i, pixus860i, pixus950i, pixus990i
  • pixusip3100, pixusip4100, pixusip8600

1. To add the PPA repository:

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:thierry-f/fork-michael-gruz

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

2. Install the setup utility, later can be launched from application menu.

For Ubuntu 16.04, run sudo apt update to refresh system cache first.

sudo apt install cnijfilter2 scangearmp2 cndrvcups-utility

3. Depends on your device, search for cnijfilter (for printing) or scangearmp (for scanning) in Synaptic package manager (install it via Ubuntu Software).

And finally select install the driver that is match for your device. And it’s OK to install i386 only package on 64-bit Ubuntu.

Uninstall:

To remove the driver packages, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove cnijfilter2 scangearmp2 cndrvcups-utility cnijfilter-* scangearmp-*

To remove the PPA repository, go to Software & Updates -> Other Software.

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P7Zip Desktop Available to Install via Snap in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: October 27, 2018

P7Zip Desktop, graphical frontend for p7zip file archiver, available to install via Snap package in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and higher.

7-zip is a file archiver with the highest compression ratio. And P7zip is a port of the command line version of 7zip.

P7Zip-Desktop is a soft-fork of p7zip that provides graphical user interface, though the UI looks old.

Install P7Zip Desktop in Ubuntu:

P7Zip Desktop is available as Snap, containerised software package, so it can be easily installed from Ubuntu Software:

You can also run command in terminal to install it:

snap install p7zip-desktop

To access outside user home directory, run snap install p7zip-desktop --classic instead.

Once installed, open the file archiver from application menu and enjoy!

In addition for Ubuntu 16.04, install snapd daemon first if previous steps do not work:

sudo apt install snapd snapd-xdg-open

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Add ‘Show Desktop’ to Dock Panel in Ubuntu 20.04 & 18.04

Last updated: September 24, 2023

This simply tutorial shows how to add a ‘Show Desktop‘ icon into the left dock panel in Ubuntu 21.10, Ubuntu 20.04, or Ubuntu 18.04 with default GNOME desktop.

The ‘Show Desktop‘ button was dropped since Ubuntu switched to Gnome 3 Desktop. For those using desktop app shortcuts, it’s useful to have a button to toggle display blank desktop quickly. And to add it back, you can manually create shortcut icon to do the trick and add it to panel (dock).

As you may know, the keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+Alt+d or Super+d do the function hide or show all opened app windows. And following steps will create a ‘show desktop’ shortcut icon simulates the keyboard press (Super+d) via the xdotool tool.

NOTE that following steps don’t work on Wayland session, since xdotool simulates X11 keyboard/mouse input events.

1. Install xdotool:

Xdotool is a command-line X11 automation tool, that allows to simulate keyboard input and mouse activity, move and resize windows, etc.

To install it, open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard, or by searching from the activities overview screen. When terminal opens, paste the command below into it and hit run:

sudo apt-get install xdotool

Type your user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and answer y to confirm.

2. Create a shortcut icon for Show Desktop:

Most Linux distributions identify app shortcut icons via .desktop file under “/usr/share/applications” for global or ‘.local/share/applications’ for local user only.

To create an app shortcut in the case, run command in terminal:

gedit ~/.local/share/applications/show-desktop.desktop

This command will create and also open it via gedit text editor. When the file opens, copy and paste the lines below and save it.

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Name=Show Desktop
Icon=desktop
Exec=xdotool key --clearmodifiers Super+d

3. Add show desktop to dock panel:

After created the shortcut, either press Windows (or Super) key on keyboard or click upper-left corner ‘Activities’ to bring up the overview screen.

Then search for ‘Show Desktop’ (without quotes), right-click on the result icon and select ‘Add to Favorites’.

Finally, you’ll see the ‘Show Desktop’ icon on the dock panel. As mentioned, it works only on Xorg session. For Ubuntu 21.04 and higher, you may need to choose ‘Ubuntu on Xorg‘ from the login screen via the gear button.

That’s all. Enjoy!

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Vivaldi 2.1 Released with AV1 Support, Improved Quick Commands

Last updated: October 25, 2018

Vivaldi web browser 2.1 was released today with focus on Quick Commands improvements and various other changes.

Vivaldi 2.1 release highlights:

  • Enable support for AV1
  • Quick Commands improvements including:
    • Notes search
    • UI Zoom and support for command line parameters
    • Open items in a new tab via modifier keys
  • Numerous fixes, Updated translations, and Upgraded Chromium to 70.0.3538.77
  • For more, see the release note.

    • How to Install Vivaldi 2.1 in Ubuntu:

    The official Ubuntu .DEB packages are available for download at the link below:

    Download Vivaldi (DEB)

    Grab the deb matches your OS, then install it via Ubuntu Software or Gdebi package manager. Or run command in terminal:

    sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/vivaldi-stable_2.1*.deb; sudo apt -f install

    In addition, after installed the .deb package, you can enable Vivaldi apt repository (Softare & Updates -> Other Software) to receive future updates through Software Updater:

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    Firefox 63 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu

    Last updated: October 24, 2018

    Firefox 55

    Mozilla Firefox 63.0 was released one day ago. All current Ubuntu releases can install it through security & updates repositories.

    Firefox 63.0 release highlights:

    • Performance and visual improvements for Windows users.
    • Faster tab switching, reactivity improvements for macOS users.
    • Opt to block third-party tracking cookies or block all trackers and create exceptions for trusted sites
    • WebExtensions now run in their own process on Linux
    • Added search shortcuts for Top Sites: Amazon and Google appear as Top Sites tiles on the Firefox Home (New Tab) page.
    • The Ctrl+Tab shortcut now displays thumbnail previews of your tabs

    Upgrade to Firefox 63 in Ubuntu:

    The Ubuntu Mozilla Team has published the new Firefox packages for Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, and their derivatives.

    Simply open Software Updater (Update Manager), and install the updates after checking for updates:

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

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    Linux Kernel 4.19 Released, How to Install it in Ubuntu

    Last updated: October 23, 2018

    Linux Kernel

    Linux Kernel 4.19 LTS (Long Term Support) was released yesterday. Instead of Linus, Greg KH announced the new 4.19 release and wrote lots of words:

    While it was not the largest kernel release every by number of commits, it was larger than the last 3 releases, which is a non-trivial thing to do. After the original -rc1 bumps, things settled down on the code side and it looks like stuff came nicely together to make a solid kernel for everyone to use for a while. And given that this is going to be one of the “Long Term” kernels I end up maintaining for a few years, that’s good news for everyone.

    A small trickle of good bugfixes came in this week, showing that waiting an extra week was a wise choice. However odds are that linux-next is just bursting so the next -rc1 merge window is going to be bigger than “normal”, if there is such a thing as “normal” for our rate of development.

    And speaking of development, there’s that other thing that happened this release cycle, that ended up making it such that I’m the one writing this instead of Linus. Allow me the guilty pleasure of taking a few minutes to talk about that….

    …

    What’s New in Kernel 4.19 (via omgubuntu.co.uk):

    • An alternate mode driver for USB Type-C/DisplayPort Type-C support
    • Better support for Intel’s Low Power Subsystem (LPSS)
    • Support for Qualcomm Adreno 600 series hardware
    • Initial support for Intel Icelake graphics
    • Armada atomic mode-setting
    • Ongoing DRM improvements
    • x86 KVM improvements
    • In-kernel GPS subsystem
    • General touchscreen improvements
    • Initial support for the 802.11ax WLAN
    • Various Filesystem improvements
    • Obligatory Linux power management tweaks
    • Continued Y2038 prep

    How to Install Linux Kernel 4.19 in Ubuntu:

    There are a few third-party tools, e.g., UKTools and Ukuu, make it easy to install the latest Kernel in Ubuntu.

    You can also manually download the Kernel 4.19 Ubuntu binary packages at:

    Download Kernel 4.19

    Depends on your OS type, download and install the packages in turns:

    1. linux-headers-4.19.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
    2. linux-headers-4.19.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
    3. linux-modules-4.19.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
    4. linux-image-xxx-4.19.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb

    Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio), amd64 for 64bit system, i386 for 32bit system, or armhf, arm64, etc for other OS types.

    Also you can download and install the kernel binaries via terminal commands:

    For 64-bit OS:

    cd /tmp/

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.19/linux-headers-4.19.0-041900_4.19.0-041900.201810221809_all.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.19/linux-headers-4.19.0-041900-generic_4.19.0-041900.201810221809_amd64.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.19/linux-image-unsigned-4.19.0-041900-generic_4.19.0-041900.201810221809_amd64.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.19/linux-modules-4.19.0-041900-generic_4.19.0-041900.201810221809_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

    for 32-bit OS:

    cd /tmp/

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.19/linux-headers-4.19.0-041900_4.19.0-041900.201810221809_all.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.19/linux-headers-4.19.0-041900-generic_4.19.0-041900.201810221809_i386.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.19/linux-image-4.19.0-041900-generic_4.19.0-041900.201810221809_i386.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.19/linux-modules-4.19.0-041900-generic_4.19.0-041900.201810221809_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

    Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

    Uninstall Linux Kernel 4.19:

    Restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in boot menu ‘Grub2 -> Advanced Option for Ubuntu’. Then run command to remove Linux Kernel 4.19.0:

    sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-4.19.0-041900-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.19.0-041900-generic
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    How to Install Shutter Screenshot Tool in Ubuntu 18.10

    Last updated: April 21, 2019

    shutter screenshot

    Shutter, the popular Linux screenshot tool, is finally removed from the final release of Ubuntu 18.10 repository.

    For those who want to install Shutter in Ubuntu 18.10. This unofficial PPA offers the latest packages that include:

    • Shutter 0.94.2 released a month ago with Gyazo uploads and some bug-fixes.
    • libgoo-canvas-perl and its dependencies to make ‘Edit’ option work.
    • libgtk2-appindicator-perl for system tray app indicator working.
    UPATE: PPA abandoned since another PPA maintained the latest Shutter packages. For Ubuntu 19.04, read this howto tutorial.

    Install Shutter in Ubuntu 18.10:

    1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/shutter

    Type your user password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to add the PPA.

    2. Then install shutter via command:

    sudo apt install --install-recommends shutter

    --install-recommends is required for application indicator. And you can add --install-suggests flag in the command for more functions.

    Once installed, open shutter from software launcher and enjoy!

    Uninstall:

    To remove shutter screenshot tool, run command in terminal:

    sudo apt remove --autoremove shutter

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

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    SMPlayer 18.10 Released with 4K Youtube Videos Support

    Last updated: October 21, 2018

    SMplayer

    SMPlayer media player 18.10 was released a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 16.04, and their derivatives.

    SMPlayer 18.10 optimised the internal code for YouTube, so it now supports resolutions up to 4K. In addition, support for age restricted videos has been fixed.

    SMPlayer with Mac skin

    How to Install SMPlayer 18.6 in Ubuntu:

    For all current Ubuntu releases and their derivatives, do following steps to install or upgrade SMPlayer via the PPA repository.

    1. Search for and launch “terminal” from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer

    Type your user password (no asterisks feedback while typing) when it asks and hit Enter.

    Smplayer PPA

    2. Then upgrade SMPlayer using Software Updater (or Update Manager):

    upgrade smplayer

    or run commands in terminal to install (or upgrade) the media player:

    sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install smplayer smtube smplayer-themes

    Uninstall:

    To remove SMPlayer, run command in terminal:

    sudo apt-get remove --autoremove smplayer smtube smplayer-*

    And remove the PPA via “Software & Updates” utility under “Other Software” tab.

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