UbuntuHandbook

MKVToolNix 24.0.0 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: January 4, 2019

MKVToolNix 24.0.0, free and open-source Matroska software, was released 2 days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10.

MKVToolNix 24.0.0 “Beyond The Pale” release highlights:

mkvmerge: MP4 reader: improved the detection of edit lists consisting of two identical entries, each spanning the file’s duration as given in the movie header atom.
mkvmerge: JSON identification: the “display unit” video track property is now reported as ‘display_unit’.
mkvmerge, mkvextract: AVC/h.264: empty NALUs will now be removed.
mkvextract: VobSub extraction: empty SPU packets will now be dropped during extraction
mkvmerge: E-AC-3 parser: fixed determining the number of channels for streams that contain an AC-3 core with dependent E-AC-3 frames.
Updated Niels Lohmann’s JSON library to v3.1.1.
Updated pugixml library to v1.9.
Various bug-fixes.

How to Install MKVToolNix 24.0.0 in Ubuntu:

The official apt repository offers the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and Ubuntu 18.04 so far.

Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching it from app launcher. When it opens, do following steps:

1. Run command to add the repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://mkvtoolnix.download/ubuntu/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bunkus.org.list'

Replace $(lsb_release -sc) with xenial for Linux Mint 18.x. And input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then install the key:

wget -q -O - https://mkvtoolnix.download/gpg-pub-moritzbunkus.txt | sudo apt-key add -

3. Finally either upgrade the software via Software Updater (Update Manager):

or run command to install the software packages:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui

Uninstall:

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

To remove MKVToolNix, use Synaptic Package Manager or run following command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui

In Howtos, News mkvmerge GUI, MKVToolNix

HPLIP 3.18.6 Released with 3 New Printers Support

Last updated: June 11, 2018

A new monthly release of HPLIP, HP developed Linux drivers for HP inkjet and laser based printers, was announced earlier today.

HPLIP 3.18.6 is a small release that only adds 3 new printers support:

HP DesignJet Z6810 42in PostScript
HP DesignJet Z6810 60in PostScript
HP DesignJet Z6610 60in PostScript

Download / Install HPLIP 3.18.6 in Ubuntu:

To install the software, download the package “hplip-3.18.6.run” from the link below:

Then open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or search for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command:

cd ~/Downloads/ && chmod +x hplip-3.18.6.run && ./hplip-3.18.6.run

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

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

In Howtos HP Print Driver for Linux, HPLIP

How to Install Scribus 1.4.7 in Ubuntu 18.04 / 16.04

Last updated: June 10, 2018

For those who are still sticking to the Scribus 1.4 stable series, here’s how to install the latest stable Scribus 1.4.7 in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 16.04, and/or Ubuntu 14.04.

Scribus 1.4.7 was announced a few weeks ago along with the 1.5.4 preview release:

“Scribus 1.4.7 is almost exclusively a bugfixing and update release and will be the last iteration of the Scribus 1.4.x line. All future development efforts will go into the upcoming new stable version 1.6.x.”

How to install Scribus 1.4.7 in Ubuntu

The official PPA repository has built the packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

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:scribus/ppa

Input your password (no visual feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter

2. Then upgrade Scribus using Software Updater:

or run commands in terminal to install or upgrade the desktop publishing software:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install scribus

Uninstall:

You can remove the PPA repository via Software & Updates utility -> Other Software tab.

To remove Scribus, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove scribus

In Howtos scribus

Avidemux 2.7.1 Released with LibVA API(How to Install)

Last updated: October 19, 2018

Avidemux video editor 2.7.1 was released a few days ago with new encoder support and various improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 16.04.

Avidemux 2.7.1 release highlights:

Add LibVA based HW accelerated H.264 encoder (Intel/Linux)
Fix last frames of video not retrieved from decoder
Fix keyframe-based navigation in field-encoded MPEG-2 video
Fix crash in the Matroska demuxer with high bitrate audio
Fix too short duration reported for MKV and MP4 with B-frames
Fix PTS delay calculation in the Matroska demuxer
Fix audio delay ignored by the Mp4 demuxer
Allow to force display aspect ratio in the configuration of the MP4 muxer
Fix crash in the AVI muxer on switch to OpenDML
Add PNG export, fix wrong colors with some colorspaces
Add feature to export selection as JPEG images
Fix AVI with H.264 / HEVC without B-frames being not seekable
Make AVI with H.264 / HEVC containing B-frames seekable by decoding the entire video
Implement fade-in / fade-out transition for “Add logo”
Add Opus encoder
Allow LPCM in FFmpeg-based muxers

How to Install Avidemux in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, you can install the new Avidemux packages via the unofficial PPA.

Sorry that the package names are still avidemux2.6 due to lack of time and my poor language skill.

1. To add the PPA, open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/avidemux

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then install avidemux2.7-qt5 package either via Synaptic Package Manager or by running commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install avidemux2.7-qt5 avidemux2.7-plugins-qt5

Uninstall:

For any reason remove the software via command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove avidemux2.7-qt5 avidemux2.7-plugins-qt5

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

In Howtos, News avidemux PPA, avidemux video editor

How to Reset Gnome Desktop in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: June 5, 2018

This quick tutorial shows you how to reset Gnome Shell to its original status in Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Note following steps will reset most settings to its original status in the default Gnome 3 desktop, but no guarantee of ALL Gnome appearances.

1. As you may already know, there’s a graphical tool Gnome Tweaks that allows to tweak advanced Gnome 3 settings. And it can be installed in Ubuntu Software:

2. Gnome Tweaks offers an option “Reset to Defaults“. It resets desktop theme, icons, fonts, show desktop icons, and some application window settings.

3. Some changes (e.g., Gnome extensions, favorites applications on left launcher, and some dconf database changes) won’t revert back via the Gnome Tweaks option.

If need, you can run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to reset all the settings:

dconf reset -f /org/gnome/

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos Reset Gnome, Ubuntu 18.04

How to Install Linux Kernel 4.17 in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: June 7, 2018

Linux Kernel 4.17 was finally announced yesterday. Linus Torvalds wrote in lkml.org:

So this last week was pretty calm, even if the pattern of most of the stuff coming in on a Friday made it feel less so as the weekend approached.

And while I would have liked even less changes, I really didn’t get the feeling that another week would help the release in any way, so here we are, with 4.17 released.

No, I didn’t call it 5.0, even though all the git object count numerology was in place for that. It will happen in the not _too_ distant future, and I’m told all the release scripts on kernel.org are ready for it, but I didn’t feel there was any real reason for it. I suspect that around 4.20 – which is I run out of fingers and toes to keep track of minor releases, and thus start getting mightily confused – I’ll switch over. That was what happened for 4.0, after all.

As for the actual changes since rc7 – the shortlog is appended – it’s mostly drivers, networking, perf tooling, and a set of nds32 fixes. With some random other stuff thrown in. Again, the shortlog is obviously only the last calm week, the overall changes since 4.16 are much too big to list in that format.

The big 4.17 stuff was mentioned in the rc1 email when the merge window closed, but I guess it’s worth repeating how 4.17 is actually a slightly smaller kernel than 4.16, thanks to the removal of a number of effectively dead architectures (blackfin, cris, frv, m32r, metag, mn10300, score, and tile). Obviously all the other changes are much more important, but it’s always nice to see spring cleaning like that.

…..

Linux Kernel 4.17 release highlights:

AMDGPU DC enabled by default for the new display code stack.
Intel Cannonlake graphics support enabled by default.
Improved AMDKFD support for pre-Vega discrete GPUs.
Clean up lots of code for obsolete CPU architectures
A significant power-savings improvement on some hardware
And many more other changes.

How to Install Linux Kernel 4.17 in Ubuntu:

A graphical tool UKUU makes it easy to install the latest Kernels in Ubuntu.

For those who don’t want to use any third-party tool, here’s how to manually download and install Kernel 4.17 in Ubuntu (tested in Ubuntu 18.04, though it should work on all current Ubuntu releases).

The mainline kernel PPA has made the new kernel binaries for Ubuntu, available for download at the link below:

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

linux-headers-4.17.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
linux-modules-4.17.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
linux-image-xxx-4.17.0-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.

To get the Kernel 4.17 from the command console, run the commands below one by one:

For 64-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.17/linux-headers-4.17.0-041700_4.17.0-041700.201806041953_all.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.17/linux-modules-4.17.0-041700-generic_4.17.0-041700.201806041953_amd64.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.17/linux-headers-4.17.0-041700-generic_4.17.0-041700.201806041953_amd64.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.17/linux-image-unsigned-4.17.0-041700-generic_4.17.0-041700.201806041953_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

for 32-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.17/linux-headers-4.17.0-041700_4.17.0-041700.201806041953_all.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.17/linux-modules-4.17.0-041700-generic_4.17.0-041700.201806041953_i386.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.17/linux-headers-4.17.0-041700-generic_4.17.0-041700.201806041953_i386.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.17/linux-image-4.17.0-041700-generic_4.17.0-041700.201806041953_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

After installed these .debs, restart and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 4.17:

Start/restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in ‘Grub2 -> Advanced Option for Ubuntu’. Then use Ubuntu Tweak, or run command to remove Linux Kernel 4.17.0:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-unsigned-4.17.0-041700-generic linux-image-4.17.0-041700-generic

In Howtos, News Linux Kernel

VLC 3.0.3 Released with Various Fixes (How to Install)

Last updated: June 3, 2018

VLC media player got a new maintenance release for VLC 3.0 series a few days with numerous bug-fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04.

According to the changelog, VLC 3.0.3 contains following changes:

Update subtitles display while paused
Enable srt support on binary builds
Allow videotoolbox hardware decoding to be disabled
Disable VideoToolbox for 10bits H.264
Fix VideoToolbox with some invalid HEVC streams
Fix subsdec wide character support
Fix 1st order Ambisonics in AAC
Miscellaneous ogg improvements & bugfixes, including oggds
Fix forced tracks selection
Fix tracks detection issues with DolbyVision and Bluray streams
Fix crashes on Direct3D11
Fix tooltip display on some desktop environments
Fix spurious movement of the main Window
Fix playlist being displayed in fullscreen
Fix numerous issues on fonts fallback and font shaping
Fix subtitles toggle through hotkeys
Fix buffer over-read in avcodec audio encoding with non-default layouts
Numerous 3rd party libraries updated, fixing security issues

How to Install VLC 3.0.3 in Ubuntu:

The official snap package of VLC 3.0.3 is available in Ubuntu Software:

or you can run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to install the snap:

snap install vlc --classic

It automatically upgrade to VLC 3.0.3 if an old version of the snap package was installed.

NOTE for Ubuntu 16.04 uses who never installed a snap package, first run command in terminal to install snapd daemon via command:

sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open

In Howtos, News vlc media player

Qmmp 1.2.2 Released with Memory Leaks Fixed

Last updated: June 2, 2018

Qmmp, a Qt audio player with winamp or xmms like interface, has reached the 1.2.2 release a few days ago.

Qmmp 1.2.2 is the Qt5 release that:

fixed build with Qt 5.11;
fixed memory leaks.

A little different to previous releases, there’s no update for Qt4 release (Qmmp 0.11 series) along with Qmmp 1.2.2.

How to Install Qmmp 1.2.2 in Ubuntu 18.04/16.04:

The software has an PPA repository that offers the Qmmp 1.2.2 packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and Ubuntu 18.04.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or from app launcher, and then run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:forkotov02/ppa

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) and hit Enter to continue.

2. If a previous version exists, upgrade Qmmp using Software Updater:

Or run commands to install or upgrade Qmmp and its plugins:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install qmmp qmmp-plugin-pack

Uninstall:

You can manage the PPA repository via Software & Updates utility, under Other Software tab.

To remove Qmmp music player, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove qmmp qmmp-plugin-pack

In Howtos, News qmmp, winamp, xmms

How to Install FlightGear 2018.2.1 in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: June 1, 2018

FlightGear flight simulator 2018.2.1 was released more than a week ago. Now it’s finally made into PPA for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 16.04, and/or Ubuntu 14.04.

FlightGear 2018.2.1 contains many exciting new features, enhancements and bugfixes, including improved support for addons, improvements to the YASim FDM, and user experience improvements to the launcher.

Cessna 550 Citation II – detailed modelling of avionics, improved MP model display, improved flaps modeling
Cessna Citation X – avionics improvements, improved MP model display
North American P-51 Mustang
Piper J3 Cub – improvements to water behaviour
Saab 37 Viggen – Autopilot, HUD and TI improvements
Cessna 172P – FDM, 3D Model, Sound improvements
FG1000 glass panel display, based on the Garmin G1000

How to Install FlightGear 2018.2 in Ubuntu:

The software has a PPA repository contains FlightGear packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:saiarcot895/flightgear

Input your password (no visual feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then upgrade FlightGear via Software Updater, if a previous version exists.

or run command in terminal to install or upgrade the flight simulator:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install flightgear

Uninstall:

To remove FlightGear flight simulator, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove flightgear

And launch Software & Updates -> Other Software tab to remove the PPAs.

In Howtos, News flight simulator, flightgear

How to Install The Latest Eclipse 4.7.3a in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: May 30, 2018

The latest release of Eclipse IDE now is quite easy to install in Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 18.04 since it’s made into snap package.

Snap is an universal Linux package format. It ships with most run-time libraries so it’s normally large in file size. The snap applications run in sandbox and they can be installed directly from Ubuntu Software.