UbuntuHandbook

Delta Chat – Telegram / Whatsapp Like Messenger over Email

Last updated: March 2, 2020

Delta Chat is a free open-source Telegram or Whatsapp like messenger that works on Linux, Mac, Windows, iOS, and Android.

Delta Chat doesn’t have its own servers but uses the most massive and diverse open messaging system ever: the existing e-mail server network.

Chat with anyone if you know their e-mail address, no need for them to install the software! All you need is a standard e-mail account.

Download Delta Chat:

The software offers deb, appimage, and flatpak packages for downloading on its website:

Install the messenger, login via your Email address and enjoy!

For Gmail, you’ll need to turn on “Less secure app access” in account settings > security web page.

In App Review messenger

Kodi 18.6 Available to Install via PPA in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: March 1, 2020

Kodi Media Center 18.6 now is available to install via its official PPA in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and their derivatives.

Kodi 18.6 is a maintenance release contains mainly bug-fixes and stability improvements. It’s not officially announced at the moment. According to the changelog, changes in the new release include: add image mime type for support over imagedecoder.raw, fix launching zip and 7z files from MyGames, fix error playing disk image games, remove now superflous HeadSet check, Remove Headphone check, and much more other changes.

How to Install Kodi 18.6 in Ubuntu:

The Kodi stable PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, and Ubuntu 19.10.

1. Open terminal either from application menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

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

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

2. Then either upgrading Kodi from an existing version via Software Updater:

or refresh system package cache and install Kodi 18.6 via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install kodi

Uninstall:

To remove the Kodi PPA repository, simply open Software & Updates -> Other Software.

To remove Kodi, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove kodi kodi-data kodi-bin

In Howtos, News Kodi, XBMC media center

HPLIP 3.20.2 Released with Linux Mint 19.3 Support

Last updated: February 27, 2020

HPLIP 3.20.2, HP developed open source Linux driver for HP printers and scanners, was released today with many new devices and Linux Mint 19.3 support.

HLIP 3.20.2 added support for Linux Mint 19.3 and the following new printers:

HP Neverstop Laser MFP 1200n, 1200nw
HP Neverstop Laser MFP 1201n, 1202nw
HP Laser NS MFP 1005n
HP Neverstop Laser 1000n, 1001nw
HP Laser NS 1020n
HP ScanJet Pro 2000 s2
HP ScanJet Pro 3000 s4
HP ScanJet Pro N4000 snw1
HP ScanJet Enterprise Flow 5000 s5
HP ScanJet Enterprise Flow N7000 snw1

1. To install the software, download the package “hplip-3.20.2.run” from the link below:

2. Then open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to make the file executable.

chmod +x ~/Downloads/hplip-3.20.2.run

3. Finally run command to run the downloaded file:

sh ~/Downloads/hplip-3.20.2.run

4. Follow the terminal prompts, answer some questions to build and install HPLIP on your system. When everything is done, plug/re-plug your printers and enjoy!

In News HP printer driver, HPLIP

Opera 67 Released with ‘Workspaces’ for Tab Organization

Last updated: February 26, 2020

Opera web browser 67 was released a few days ago with tab organization redefined via a new tool called ‘Workspaces’.

Often have your browser with too many tabs open? With Opera 67, opened tabs can be grouped into different workspaces. And you can easily switch workspaces via the icons in the left sidebar.

You can add up to 5 workspaces, name them, and designate their icons. Tabs can be moved to the workspace of your choice via their context (right-click) menu.

Other new features in Opera 67 include:

Highlight duplicated tabs when hover mouse pointer over a tab.
New tab-cycler via Ctrl+Tab shortcut.
Sidebar setup panel via the three-dot icon in the bottom left.
Improved security with DNS over HTTPS
Improved Video pop-out (picture in picture)

How to Install Opera 67 in Ubuntu:

The Opera team offers snap package (runs in sandbox), available to install in Ubuntu Software:

Also the native Ubuntu .deb package is available for downloading at the link below:

Grab the .deb package, and double-click to install it.

If you installed Opera via the .deb package, you may also add the official apt repository via following steps to receive future software updates.

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

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera.list'

2. Get the key:

wget -O - http://deb.opera.com/archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

Finally either install Opera via following command or upgrade the browser via Software Updater:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install opera-stable

Uninstall:

For the Opera snap package, simply remove it from Ubuntu Software.

For the Opera apt repository, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

To remove traditional opera package, either use your system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove opera-stable

In Howtos, News Opera

GIMP Image Editor 2.10.18 Released with 3D Transform tool

Last updated: February 25, 2020

GIMP image editor 2.10.18 was released a day ago with new features and usability improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu.

Due to a critical bug, v2.10.16 was skipped and GIMP 2.10.18 was released with following release highlights:

Tools now grouped in the toolbox by default.
Sliders now have a compact style by default.
Vastly improved user experience for the transformation preview
Dockable areas now highlighted when a dockable dialog is being dragged
New 3D Transform tool to rotate and pan items
Much smoother brush outline preview motion on the canvas
Symmetry painting enhancements
Faster loading of ABR brushes
PSD support improvements
Consolidated user interface for merging down and anchoring layers
Update check to notify users of new releases available
Various bug-fixes, and translation updates.

Install GIMP 2.10.18 in Ubuntu:

Neither the PPA repository nor GIMP Snap package are updated to v2.10.18 at the moment of writing.

However, GIMP Flatpak package has been updated for Ubuntu 18.04 and higher. Simply open terminal from application menu and run following commands one by one:

1. Install flatpak framework:
```
sudo apt install flatpak
```
2. Add flathub repository:
```
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
```
3. Install GIMP flatpak package:
```
flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP
```
4. If an old GIMP Flatpak version was installed, update it via command:
```
flatpak update flathub org.gimp.GIMP
```

GIMP Flatpak co-exists with Snap and native .deb packages. Run command to start it if you have more than one GIMP icon, and don’t know which one to run.

flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP

Uninstall GIMP Flatpak package:

To remove the flatpak package, simply run command:

flatpak uninstall flathub org.gimp.GIMP

In Howtos, News gimp

Notable – Markdown based Note-taking App for Linux

Last updated: June 15, 2025

Notable is an open-source Markdown-based note-taking application that works in Linux, Mac OS, and Windows.

Notes are written and rendered in GitHub Flavored Markdown, no WYSIWYG, no account required, no proprietary formats, and the app isn’t bloated.

Notable has a pretty user interface and it features:

Markdown editor, the same one VS Code uses.
Notes and attachments stored locally on your disk
Dark theme support.
Zen mode that provides a minimalistic editing and reading experience
Import Evernote and Boostnote notes
Export notes to Markdown, HTML or PDF.
Fuzzy search, attachments, synchronization with Dropbox, and more.

How to Install Notable in Ubuntu:

Notable is available to install in App Center (or Ubuntu Software for 22.04 and earlier) as snap package, which runs in sandbox.

For choice, you may go to the Github releases page via link below to download .deb, .exe, .dmg, .AppImage and source tarball:

Download Notable

Scroll down a little, click download the ‘notable_x.x.x_amd64.deb‘ packages under Assets, then install it either via Gdebi package installer or simply double click on the deb.

Finally open the software from your system application menu and enjoy!

In App Review note-taking app

Remote Touchpad: Control Mouse & Keyboard from Your Phone

Last updated: June 15, 2025

Remote Touchpad is an open-source utility allows to remote control the mouse and keyboard connected to your computer from the web browser of a smartphone or any other device with a touchscreen.

Remote Touchpad supports Flatpak’s RemoteDesktop portal (for Wayland), Windows and X11.

The app is stupid easy to use. Just launch it, then you’ll see a terminal window opened with an URL along with QR code:

Then use your phone to scan the QR code. As long as you keep the terminal window, you’ll be able to use your phone (tested in iPhone) screen as touchpad input for the computer.

Option 1: Install via Snap package

The utility is available as Snap package. You can simply search for and install remote touchpad in Ubuntu Software for 22.04 and earlier, or App Center for 24.04 and higher:

Option 2: Install via Flatpak package

It also available to install via Flatpak package in the Flathub repository.

Linux Mint and Fedora (with 3rd party repository enabled) can search & install the package from either Software Manager or GNOME Software.

While, Debian/Ubuntu users may run the 2 commands one by one to install:

Enable flatpak support:
```
sudo apt install flatpak
```

Install the app package:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/com.github.unrud.RemoteTouchpad.flatpakref

Once installed, launch the utility from your system application menu. And, log out and back in if the app icon is not visible.

Then go to the displayed URL (input in a web browser address bar) or scan the QR code in your phone and enjoy!

In App Review control mouse via phone, control touchpad via phone

VirtualBox 6.1.4 Released with Linux 5.5 Guest Support

Last updated: February 20, 2020

Oracle Virtualbox released a new maintenance update for the 6.1 series a day ago.

The new release features Linux guest with Kernel 5.5 support, and a shared folder fix for loopback mounting of images.

Other changes in the VirtualBox 6.1.4 include:

Fixed a rare issue with ICEBP instruction causing guru meditations on Intel hosts.
Fixed macOS Catalina guests failing to boot after upgrading to 10.15.2 onwards.
Recent NLS integration and bug fixes for GUI and Qt translation tags
Fix isochronous transfers to the VM for xHCI
Fix buffer handling, avoiding receiving stale data when the receive queue is flushed.
Improve host serial port passthrough handling on Windows host
Restore old --clipboard option for modifyvm command
macOS host: Use hardened runtime and request the needed entitlements, meeting latest notarization rules which also required moving VirtualBoxVM executable
macOS host: Update osxfuse to v3.10.4

Windows host: Update Italian translation of installer

Windows host: Improve shared folder compatibility with POSIX append semantic
Windows host: Restore the ability to run VMs through Hyper-V, at the expense of performance
BIOS: Always report non-ATA disks as ready
BIOS: Report EFI support through DMI table
VGA BIOS: Reduce stack space usage for INT 10h handlers

How to Install Virtualbox 6.142 in Ubuntu:

For 64-bit Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and their derivatives, you can either download the official .deb binary from the link below:

or install VBox from its official apt repository by running following steps:

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

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://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 6.1:

sudo apt install virtualbox-6.1

Uninstall:

To remove it, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove virtualbox-6.1

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

In News oracle, Virtualbox 6.1

Install Drop Down Terminal Guake 3.10 in Ubuntu 22.04, 20.04

Last updated: June 15, 2025

This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest drop-down terminal Guake 3.10 in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 22.04.

Guake is an open-source drop-down terminal for Gnome desktop. While the software in Ubuntu main repository is old, the latest Guake 3.7 was released with following changes:

Add tab selection popover in each notebook
Add fullscreen hide tabbar option
Set custom colors for each terminal tab.
Add --select-terminal and --selected-terminal options to Guake CLI
Adds an option to display only the last directory on the current path as the tab name.
Reworked the tab name selection to use a drop-down menu.
Unfullscreen through D-Bus interface, as well as through CLI.

Guake Split Terminal Screen

How to Install Guake in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 24.04 and higher, the latest Guake 3.10 is available in system repositorry. Simply open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install:

sudo apt update; sudo apt install guake

Linux Uprising team maintains a PPA repository that contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linuxuprising/guake

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

2.) Then run command to install the drop-down terminal application via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install guake

Once installed, launch Guake Preferences from system application menu, configure the keyboard shortcuts, and other preferences, and then you can either use the top-right indicator applet, or the shortcut key to drop-down the terminal from top.

If an old version was installed previously, you may first kill Guake process or just reboot your machine to make it well working.

Uninstall:

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

In Howtos, News Drop-down Terminal, Guake Split Terminal

MyPaint 2.0 Released with New Layer Mode, Linear Compositing

Last updated: February 17, 2020

MyPaint 2.0, free open-source raster graphics editor for digital painters, was finally released after more than a year of development.

MyPaint 2.0 is a new major release that features a new layer mode and uses linear compositing by default.

Linear compositing and spectral blending (pigment).
Full Python3 support
Layer views.
Brush strokes dependent on view rotation and view zoom.
Additional symmetry modes: vertical, vertical+horizontal, rotational, snowflake.
Expanded flood fill functionality: offset, feather, gap detection and more.
New brush settings: offsets, gridmap, additional smudge settings, posterize, pigment.
New brush inputs: barrel rotation, base radius, zoom level, gridmap x/y, direction 360, attack angle.

How to Install MyPaint 2.0 in Ubuntu:

So far, there’s only .appimage available in the Github releases page. Go to the following link, scroll down, and select download the ‘MyPaint-v2.0.0.AppImage‘ package.:

Then right-click on the .appimage file, go to Properties -> Permissions, and finally make it executable by checking the box says ‘Allow executing file as program’.