UbuntuHandbook

How to Install GIMP 2.10.8 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Last updated: November 11, 2018

GIMP image editor released version 2.10.8 a few days ago. Now you can install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Linux Mint 18.x / 19.

GIMP 2.10.8 release highlights:

Adaptative chunk size when rendering projections, improving responsiveness dynamically
Detection of RawTherapee (version 5.5 and above) improved on Windows
XCF compatibility information in the Save dialog more understandable and discoverable
Various performance log tools added and log recording made available in the Dashboard dock
Port all plug-ins to the new iterator API in GEGL.
Improve automatic detection of HEIC/HEIF files.
And many other changes.

GIMP 2.10 Splash

How to Install GIMP in Ubuntu via PPA:

For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and Linux Mint 19, you can upgrade the official GIMP package to 2.10.8 via PPA.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

Type your password (no asterisks feedback) for sudo prompt and hit Enter to continue.

2. After adding the PPA via step 1, launch Software Updater (Update Mananger) to update GIMP package:

or simply run command to install the latest GIMP from the PPA:

sudo apt install gimp

3. (Optional) To remove the PPA repository, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software, or run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

How to Install GIMP in Ubuntu via Snap:

Due to dependency issue, the PPA does no longer support Ubuntu 16.04, Linux Mint 18.x. As an alternative, you can install GIMP Snap package, containerized software package with all dependencies bundled.

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, skip following steps and install ‘GIMP snap’ directly from Ubuntu Software Center.

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install snapd daemon:

sudo apt install snapd snapd-xdg-open

2. Then install GIMP snap package via command:

sudo snap install gimp

Note you may have two GIMP icons in app launcher, as the snap co-exist with the legacy GIMP package. You can either remove old GIMP package, or run the snap via command snap run gimp.

3. To remove the snap package, run command:

sudo snap remove gimp

In addition, GIMP also available as flatpak package that GIMP download page refers to all Unix-like systems.

In Howtos gimp PPA, gimp snap

VirtualBox 5.2.22 Released with Further Linux 4.19 Fixes

Last updated: November 10, 2018

Virtualbox

A new maintenance release for Oracle VirtualBox 5.2 was released a day ago with audio and Linux additions fixes.

VirtualBox 5.2.22 release highlights according to the changelog:

Fixed a regression in the Core Audio backend causing a hang when returning from host sleep when processing input buffers
Fixed a potential crash in the HDA emulation if a stream has no valid mixer sink attached
Fixed an incompatibility with recent versions of Windows 10
Fixed a number of brigded networking driver crashes for Windows hosts.
Linux Additions:
- Disable 3D for recent guests using Wayland
- Fix for rebuilding kernel modules for new kernels on RPM guests
- Further fixes for Linux 4.19
- Fixed errors rebuilding initrd files with dracut on EL 6
- Fixed 5.2.20 regression: guests not remembering the screen size after shutdown and restart

How to Install Virtualbox 5.2.22 in Ubuntu:

1. Remove old Virtualbox if any, by opening terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and running command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove virtualbox virtualbox-5.1

2. Download & install the latest Virtualbox package from the link below:

Download VirtualBox for Linux

Finally install the downloaded package via Gdebi (install it via Ubuntu Software) package manager.

3. If you’ve added the Oracle VBox repository, you can directly install the 5.2 release from Synaptic Package Manager or via apt command.

To add the repository, do:

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

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

for Linux Mint 19, replace $(lsb_release -sc) with bionic in the code.

Virtualbox Official Linux repository

Setup the keyring so to trust the updates from the repository:

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

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

Finally install virtualbox 5.2 via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-5.2

With the repository added, you can simply install the future 5.2 series updates via Software Updater.

In Howtos, News

GIMP 2.10.8 Released with Fixes and Improvements

Last updated: November 11, 2018

GIMP image editor 2.10.8 was released yesterday with rendering improvements, various bug-fixes and plugins ported to new iterator API in GEGL.

GIMP 2.10.8 announcement is ~~not ready at the moment~~. Here’s the changes according to the NEWS file:

Use adaptive chunk size instead in GimpProjection when rendering the projection asynchronously, to provide a better trade-off between throughput and responsiveness dynamically, based on how fast the processing is.
In all selection tools, show error on attempt to subtract-from/intersect-with empty selection.
Fix text along path not working with vertical text.
Fix Text tool’s frame position when undoing a move operation.
Streamline Text tool’s drawing blocking/unblocking logic.
When moving a text layer using the text tool (through alt+drag), don’t change the layer’s box mode to “fixed”, which is unnecessary, since the layer’s size isn’t affected.
Transform and deformation operations now maintain color for fully transparent pixels, making unerase and curves manipulation of alpha channel more reliable.
All transform tools now apply changes when you save or export/overwrite an image without pressing Enter first to confirm changes.
Fix wrong application position when painting on a drawable whose origin is above/to the left of the image’s origin, and there’s a selection active.
Port all plug-ins to the new iterator API in GEGL.
Improve automatic detection of HEIC/HEIF files.
Improve RawTherapee discovery by looking up registry key

How to Install GIMP 2.10.8 in Ubuntu:

The latest GIMP Ubuntu packages will be available via following 3 ways: (Be patient, the packages will be available in a few days):

Method 1. Otto Meier’s PPA maintains most recent GIMP packages for Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 18.10.

Adding the PPA (open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T and run command) allows to upgrade the stock GIMP version to the latest.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

Method 2. GIMP also available Snap, containerized software package, for Ubuntu 16.04 and higher.

You can check available GIMP snap package version via command: snap find gimp.

To install the snap package, simply search for and install GIMP snap from Ubuntu Software. Or run command in terminal:

snap install gimp

Method 3. GIMP flatpak, containerized software package, is available for Ubuntu 16.04 and higher. See HERE for details.

In Howtos, News gimp

How to Switch Back Old Desktop Theme in Ubuntu 18.10

Last updated: November 8, 2018

Ubuntu 18.10 was released with great new desktop theme ‘Yaru’. However, there are always some people prefer old Ubuntu desktop look.

And it’s easy to restore the old desktop theme in Ubuntu 18.10 via following steps.

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

sudo apt install light-themes

Type user password (no asterisks feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter.

2. Install Gnome Tweaks if you don’t have it:

3. Finally launch Gnome Tweaks and navigate to Appearance tab.

There set themes to:

Applications -> Ambiance
Cursor -> DMZ-White
Icons -> Ubuntu-mono-dark

That’s it. To revert the changes, simply set those values back to Yaru in step 3.

In Howtos Ubuntu 18.10

Install The Latest Ruby 2.5.3 Easily via Snap in Ubuntu 18.04, 18.10

Last updated: November 7, 2018

Ruby, interpreted object-oriented scripting language, now can be installed easily in Ubuntu 16.04 and higher via Snap package.

The official Ruby snap, containerised software package, was finally released for Linux Desktop. While Ruby is always old in Ubuntu universe repositories, Ruby snap is always updated!

How to Install Ruby Snap in Ubuntu:

1. (Only required for Ubuntu 16.04) Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to make sure snapd daemon is installed:

sudo apt install snapd snapd-xdg-open

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

2. For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, directly install the Ruby snap from Ubuntu Software:

or install it via command (also works in Ubuntu 16.04):

snap install ruby --classic

3. Once installed successfully, check via command /snap/bin/ruby --version:

That’s it!

In Howtos, News Install Latest Ruby Ubuntu, Ruby, Ruby Snap

FFMPEG 4.1 Released with AV1 Support in MP4

Last updated: November 6, 2018

FFMPEG

FFmpeg multimedia libraries released version 4.1 today with a lot of new filters, codec decoders, and more.

FFMPEG 4.1 release highlights according to the changelog:

support for AV1 in MP4
support mbedTLS based TLS
AV1 parser
SER demuxer
ATRAC9 decoder, ilbc decoder, IMM4 video decoder
AVS2 video decoder via libdavs2
Brooktree ProSumer video decoder
MatchWare Screen Capture Codec decoder
WinCam Motion Video decoder
RemotelyAnywhere Screen Capture decoder
AVS2 video encoder via libxavs2
pcm vidc decoder and encoder
decoding S12M timecode in h264
deblock filter, tmix filter, amplify filter, fftdnoiz filter
aderivative and aintegral audio filters
pal75bars and pal100bars video filter sources
adeclick filter, adeclip filter
libtensorflow backend for DNN based filters like srcnn
vc1 decoder is now bit-exact
lensfun wrapper filter, colorconstancy filter, 1D LUT filter (lut1d), cue and acue filters
transpose_npp filter, amultiply filter, acrossover filter
Block-Matching 3d (bm3d) denoising filter
audio denoiser as afftdn filter
sinc audio filter source, chromahold filter, setparams filter, vibrance filter
xstack filter, (a)graphmonitor filter, yadif_cuda filter

Download FFMPEG 4.1:

There’s no PPA package or Snap at the moment to make installing FFmpeg 4.0 easy in Ubuntu.

Download the source tarball:

Download FFMPEG (source)

In News

How to Install MyPaint in Ubuntu 18.10 Cosmic

Last updated: January 29, 2019

Due to conflict between their dependencies, digital painter MyPaint can’t be installed if GIMP is already exist in Ubuntu 18.10.

In Ubuntu 18.10 universe repository, the GIMP package requires libmypaint-common library for mypaint brush, that conflicts with mypaint-data package required by MyPaint digital painting software.

For those who need both GIMP and MyPaint, install GIMP from otto06217’s PPA will solve the dependency conflict.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

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

2. Then either upgrade GIMP via Software Updater:

Or run command in terminal to install GIMP from the PPA:

sudo apt install gimp libmypaint

3. Finally install MyPaint via command:

sudo apt install mypaint mypaint-data

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos MyPaint, Ubuntu 18.10

How to Install CopyQ Clipboard Manager 3.7.0 in Ubuntu

Last updated: November 4, 2018

CopyQ clipboard manager 3.7.0 was released a few hours ago with enhancements and many bug-fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.10.

CopyQ 3.7.0 release highlights:

New option to show notes beside item content
Removed option to show icon instead of notes
Only plain text is Copied/Pasted from menu if Shift key is pressed
Customizable shortcut for Item context menu
Remove unmaintained Data plugin (can be replaced with a script)
Allow to set icon to tab groups in tree view
Allow export even if a tab group or an unloaded tab is selected
Automatic commands are no longer run in clipboard monitor context
Omit aborting monitor by calling abort() from automatic commands
Omit aborting automatic commands by changing configuration
Updated icons (Font Awesome 5.4.2)
Various bug-fixes
X11: Faster and safer clipboard checking and synchronization
X11: Prioritize checking clipboard before selection

Install Copyq 3.7.0 in Ubuntu:

The official PPA repository has made the latest packages for all current Ubuntu releases and their derivatives.

1. To add the PPA, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) from application launcher and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hluk/copyq

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

2. After added the PPA repository, install CopyQ either via Synaptic package manager or by running commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install copyq

Once installed, start the clipboard manager from application launcher and you’ll see the icon in system tray area.

Uninstall:

To remove the software, either use Synaptic package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove copyq

To remove PPA repositories, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

In Howtos, News CopyQ

How to Install Cinelerra CV, GG in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: November 3, 2018

Cinelerra is one of the best video editing software for Linux desktop. This tutorial shows you how to install Cinelerra-CV and Cinelerra-GG in Ubuntu 18.04.

Cinelerra has three branches, Official HV, CV from community, and GG which is CV + ‘Good Guy’ patches etc. See what’s difference between Cinelerra branches.

Install Cinelerra GG in Ubuntu 18.04:

Cinelerra GG has an official apt repository, though it does not work properly in my case.

You can grab the .deb package directly from the repository page:

Download Cinelerra GG (cin_xxx.deb)

Then install the package via Gdebi package installer (install Gdebi from Ubuntu Software)

(Optional) To remove the package, run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove cin

Install Cinelerra CV in Ubuntu 18.04

For all current Ubuntu releases, there’s an official PPA for the latest CV package.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cinelerra-ppa/ppa

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

2. Then install the video editor via command:

sudo apt-get install cinelerra-cv

(Optional) To remove the package, run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove cinelerra-cv

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

In Howtos cinelerra, cinelerra-cv PPA, Cinelerra-GG

[Quick Tip] Slack App Not Launching in Ubuntu 18.10

Last updated: November 2, 2018

For Ubuntu 18.10, the current Slack desktop 3.3.3 does not launch due to outdated libnode.so library. It outputs Segmentation fault (core dumped) when trying to launch from terminal.

Before the software developer team rebuild or update Slack for Linux, here’s a workaround to make Slack work in Ubuntu 18.10.

Note this is only a workaround for Slack for Linux installed by .DEB package provided via Slack website.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or from application launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo updatedb && locate libnode

The command lists all available libnode.so library in your system.

2. In my case (see the previous picture), I have /usr/share/atom-beta/libnode.so other than the one shipped by Slack.

Run command to make a backup of libnode.so privided by Slack:

sudo mv /usr/lib/slack/libnode.so /usr/lib/slack/libnode.so.old

Then replace the library with another one:

sudo ln -s /usr/share/atom-beta/libnode.so /usr/lib/slack/libnode.so

NOTE IN THE LAST COMMAND replace /usr/share/atom-beta/libnode.so depends on the outputs in step 1.