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[Quick Tip] Auto Resize the Dock Launcher in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: March 10, 2019

gnome shell

This quick tutorial shows how to get Mac OS style auto-resize dock launcher in Ubuntu 18.04, without installing extensions, e.g., Dash to Panel or Dash to Dock.

The left panel in Ubuntu 18.04 is called “Ubuntu Dock“. It is forked from Dash to Dock extension and less customizable via System Settings. There are only auto-hide, panel position, and icon size settings.

To get more settings for Ubuntu Dock, there’s a graphical tool called Dconf Editor.

1. First search for and install dconf editor from Ubuntu Software:

2. Launch dconf editor, and navigate to org/gnome/shell/extensions/dash-to-dock. And turn off the switch for ‘extend height’.

Then you’ll see an auto-resize Mac OS style dock launcher instead of the extended panel.

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Audacity 2.3.1 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: March 9, 2019

Audacity audio editor 2.3.1 was finally released and restored Linux support which was missing in 2.3.0.

Audacity 2.3.1 brings over 20 bug-fixes and following new features / improvements:

  • Microfades are now an opt-in feature. They were always on in 2.3.0.
  • The advanced vertical zooming option is now available in the View->Zoom menu.
  • Regular interval labels now support range labels.

How to Install Audacity 2.3.1 in Ubuntu:

There’s an unofficial PPA contains the 2.3.1 packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 19.04, and their derivatives, e.g., Linux Mint 18.x and 19.x.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity

Type user password (no asterisk feedback due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter to add the PPA.

2. If you have a previous version installed, you can upgrade Audacity via Software Updater after adding the PPA.

or run following commands one by one to check updates and install (or upgrade) audacity 2.3.1:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install audacity

Uninstall:

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

To remove Audacity audio software, either use system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove audacity audacity-data
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How to Install NVIDIA Driver 418.43 (G-SYNC Support) in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: March 8, 2019

NVIDIA driver 418.43 for Linux was released 2 weeks ago with G-SYNC Compatible (a.k.a. FreeSync / Adaptive-Sync) support. Now you can install it in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher via the “Graphics Drivers” team PPA.

NVIDIA driver 418.43 is the first stable release in the 418 series, and it features:

  • New GPUs support:
    • GeForce GTX 1660 Ti
    • GeForce RTX 2070 with Max-Q Design
    • GeForce RTX 2080 with Max-Q Design
  • Initial support for G-SYNC Compatible monitors.
  • Support for stereo presentation in Vulkan.
  • NVIDIA optical flow support.
  • NVIDIA Video Codec SDK 9.0 support
  • Various Vulkan and OpenGL fixes
  • See the release note for more details.

How to Install NVIDIA Driver 418.43 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Mint 19, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 19.04, you can do following steps to add the PPA and install the latest NVIDIA 418 drivers.

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:graphics-drivers/ppa

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

2. For Linux Mint 19, you may need to run command to refresh system package cache:

sudo apt update

3. Launch Software & Updates utility, and navigate to Additional Drivers tab.

Then choose using “NVIDIA driver metapackage from nvidia-driver-418” from the list and click Apply Changes.

In addition, if the driver does not install after clicking ‘Apply Changes’, try running command in terminal:

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-418 nvidia-settings

For unmet dependency issue, try removing old NVIDIA proprietary drivers first.

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How to Install Facebook Messenger ‘Caprine’ in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: March 7, 2019

Caprine is an unofficial and privacy-focused Facebook Messenger works on Ubuntu, Mac OS, and Windows.

Caprine is free, open-source, and features a dark theme, privacy settings, keyboard shortcut, Work chat support, code blocks, custom styles, compact mode, and more.

The software offers .deb, .snap, and .Appimage packages to make it easy to install in Ubuntu desktop.

1. Caprine snap package:

Snap is a containersized software package that features software auto-updating. Ubuntu 18.04 and higher can easily install it from Ubuntu Software.

2. Caprine .deb package:

For those don’t prefer snap applications, download the .deb package from the release page:

Then install the package via:

  • install Gdebi package installer from Ubuntu Software.
  • Right-click the .deb -> open with other application -> Gdebi package installer.
  • Finally install the package and launch Caprine from applicatione menu.

3. Caprine .Appimage package

Without installing the software, you can launch the messenger by running the .Appimage file.

  • download the .Appimage from the previous link.
  • right-click and go to file Properties -> Permissions.
  • check the box says ‘Allow executing file as program’
  • finally click run the Appimage file to launch Caprine.

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Mari0 (Mario + Portal) Aailable to Install via Snap in Ubuntu

Last updated: March 5, 2019

Mari0, a fan-made video game that combines elements of Super Mario Bros and Portal, now is available to install in Ubuntu easily via Snap package.

Although there’s already a 2D jump and run game SuperTux available in Ubuntu Software, Mari0 is available as a complete from scratch recreation of Super Mario Bros, with puzzle game mechanics from Portal. It also features play 4-player coop, with everyone having their own Portal gun!

How to Install Mari0 in Ubuntu:

It’s quite easy to install the snap package (unofficial) in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher. Simply open Ubuntu Software, search for and install mari0.

For Ubuntu 16.04, open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or from application menu. When it opens, install snapd via command:

sudo apt-get install snapd

Then install the game via command:

sudo snap install mari0

In addition, for allowing the game to use joystick, you need to run one more command:

sudo snap connect mari0:joystick

Uninstall:

To remove the game, simply run command in terminal:

sudo snap remove mari0
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Linux Kernel 5.0 Released, How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: March 4, 2019

Linus Torvalds announced the released of Kernel 5.0 yesterday afternoon. He wrote on lkml.org:

Ok, so the last week of the 5.0 release wasn’t entirely quiet, but it’s a lot smaller than rc8 was, and on the whole I’m happy that I delayed a week and did an rc8.

It turns out that the actual patch that I talked about in the rc8 release wasn’t the worrisome bug I had thought: yes, we had an uninitialized variable, but the reason we hadn’t immediately noticed it due to a warning was that the way gcc works, the compiler had basically initialized it for us to the right value. So the same thing that caused not the lack of warning, also effectively meant that the fix was a no-op in practice.

But hey, we had other bug fixes come in that actually did matter, and the uninitialized variable _could_ have been a problem with another compiler.

Regardless – all is well that ends well. We have more than a handful of real fixes in the last week, but not enough to make me go “Hmm, things are really unstable”. In fact, at least two thirds of the patches are marked as being fixes for previous releases, so it’s not like 5.0 itself looks bad.
…

Changes in Linux Kernel 5.0 include:

  • AMD Radeon FreeSync support
  • Logitech High Resolution Scrolling support
  • Raspberry Pi Touchscreen support out of the box.
  • New console font for HiDPI and retina screens.
  • Initial support for NVIDIA Turing GPUs
  • And numerous other changes

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.0 in Ubuntu:

The mainline kernel packages for Linux 5.0 are available for download at the link below:

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

  1. linux-headers-5.0.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-5.0.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
  3. linux-modules-5.0.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
  4. linux-image-xxx-5.0.0-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.

Alternatively you can download and install the kernel binaries via terminal commands (Ctrl+Alt+T):

For 64-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.0/linux-headers-5.0.0-050000_5.0.0-050000.201903032031_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.0/linux-headers-5.0.0-050000-generic_5.0.0-050000.201903032031_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.0/linux-image-unsigned-5.0.0-050000-generic_5.0.0-050000.201903032031_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.0/linux-modules-5.0.0-050000-generic_5.0.0-050000.201903032031_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

for 32-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.0/linux-headers-5.0.0-050000_5.0.0-050000.201903032031_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.0/linux-headers-5.0.0-050000-generic_5.0.0-050000.201903032031_i386.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.0/linux-image-5.0.0-050000-generic_5.0.0-050000.201903032031_i386.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.0/linux-modules-5.0.0-050000-generic_5.0.0-050000.201903032031_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.0:

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 5.0:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-5.0.0-050000-generic linux-image-unsigned-5.0.0-050000-generic
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[Quick Tip] Disable / Mute Terminal Alert Sound in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: March 3, 2019

Ubuntu will play a simple alert sound for certain types of messages and events, e.g., error input in terminal and usb plugged in or removed.

For some reason, you may want to disable or mute the alert sounds. And this quick tutorial will show you how to do it in Ubuntu 18.04 Gnome desktop.

1. Open Settings utility from the left panel, and navigate to Sound settings from its left pane.

2. Then navigate to Sound Effects tab, and either mute or turn off “Alert volume”.

3. (Optional) Instead of playing alert sounds, you can have visual flashes for the events.

Go to Univeral Access settings, choose enable “Visual Alerts”, and set flash window title or entire screen.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Pragha Music Player 1.3.4 Released, How to Install in Ubuntu

Last updated: March 1, 2019

Pragha music player 1.3.4 was released few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10.

While Pragha 1.4 is being close to the final release, Pragha 1.3.4 was released a few days ago as a new maintenance that features:

  • Fixes some border, spacing and margin in all gui.
  • Various improvements to the tag editor dialog.
  • Implement emit CanNext/Prev/Play/Pause/Seek.
  • Use Alt+Return shortcut to edit the selected song.
  • Some backport of improvents to MTP plugin
  • Set user-agent and ssl strict ssl to gstreamer on internet music.
  • Fix second sidebar dont show with accel.
  • Allow apply a custom css. Related to Issue
  • Allows to customize the styles to the distro packagers.

How to install Pragha 1.3.4 in Ubuntu:

There’s an unofficial PPA that contains the latest Pragha packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and Linux Mint 18.x/19.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/pragha

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

2. Then install the music player either via Synaptic Package Manager or by running commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install pragha

Uninstall Pragha:

To remove the music player, either use Synaptic Package Manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove pragha

And you can remove the PPA via Software & Updates utility under ‘Other Software’ tab.

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How to Install MuseScore 3.x via PPA in Ubuntu 18.04, Higher

Last updated: February 28, 2019

Free score writer MuseScore 3 was released a few months ago. Finally the official PPA for MuseScore 3 is available for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and higher.

MuseScore 3 is a new major release that features automatic placement, brand new Mixer and Piano Roll, dark theme, notation improvements, and many other changes.

MuseScore 3 and MuseScore 2.3 can co-exist on one machine. Installation of the MuseScore 3 will create the association with .mscz/.mscx files, but you can keep using both versions of MuseScore on one machine.

How to Install MuseScore 3 via PPA in Ubuntu:

While MuseScore PPA contains the latest 2.3.x packages, a new official PPA for MuseScore 3 was created. You can do following steps to add the PPA and install the score writer.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mscore-ubuntu/mscore3-stable

Type user password (no asterisk feedback due to security reason) when it asks and hit Enter.

2. Then install MuseScore 3 via command:

sudo apt install musescore3

Linux Mint 19 needs to refresh package cache by running command apt update first.

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

Uninstall:

To remove the software, run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove musescore3

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

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OBS Studio 23.0 Released, How to Install it in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: February 27, 2019

OBS Studio, free live streaming and screen recording software, released version 23.0 recently with many new features. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10.

OBS Studio 23.0 release highlights:

  • Add Limiter audio filter, Expander audio filter.
  • Add VAAPI video encoder on Linux.
  • Add batch remuxing support to the Remux Recordings dialog.
  • Option to automatically remux recordings to MP4 in Advanced settings.
  • Add Decklink output tool to the tools menu.
  • Add an optional Stats dock (disabled by default).
  • Add multi-track audio support to FFmpeg output in advanced output settings.
  • Add an Invert Polarity audio filter.
  • Add VLC source support to the Instant Replay script.
  • Some other enhancements, and many bug-fixes.

How to Install OBS Studio 23 in Ubuntu:

For the official PPA packages, all current Ubuntu releases can do following steps to install the latest OBS Studio.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut 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. For Ubuntu 14.04 you also need to run command to add another PPA for FFmpeg library:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kirillshkrogalev/ffmpeg-next

3. Now you can install OBS-Studio via Synaptic package manager, upgrade the software from an existing release via Software Updater, or simply run commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install obs-studio

Once installed, launch the software from Unity Launcher, Gnome Launcher, or other app 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.

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