Archives For November 30, 1999

Visual Studio Code 1.18 Released (Howto Install)

Last updated: November 9, 2017

Visual Studio Code IDE

Visual studio code reached the 1.17 release. Here’s the release highlights and how to install it in Ubuntu.

VS Code 1.18 features:

  • Support for multi-root workspaces enabled by default.
  • Support vertical panel layout.
  • File Explorer shows modified, added, conflicting, and ignored files in a different color and with a badge.
  • Faster Windows start-up and editor performance tuning.
  • Speed up your coding with auto imports for JavaScript and TypeScript.
  • Install missing @types for TypeScript.
  • For more, see the release note.

How to Install VS Code 1.18 in Ubuntu:

The official .deb package for Debian/Ubuntu is available for download at the link below:

Then install it via either Gdebi package manager or command (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/code_*.deb; sudo apt -f install

For those who want to receive updates for VS Code via Software Updater utility, add the Microsoft repository via following steps (64bit only):

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

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'

2. Download and install the repository key via commands:

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg

sudo mv microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg

Uninstall Visual Studio Code:

To remove the code editor, either use Synaptic Package Manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove code

And remove the Microsoft repository by launching Software & Updates utility and navigating to Other Software tab.

The new stable Opera 49 was released earlier today with built-in VR playback system, feature improvements, and more.

Opera 49 release highlights:

  • VR playback system that supports 360-degree vedios, 2D movies or standard 180-degree videos.
  • Integrate VK Messenger into browser sidebar.
  • Add editing tools and selfie mode in Snapshot tool.
  • Add five new currencies for the currency converter.
  • Ability to rearrange extension icons
  • Refined private mode, O-Menu and History panel improvements
  • See release note for details.

How to Install Opera 49 in Ubuntu:

The opera website offers official .deb binaries for Ubuntu Linux, available for download at the link below:

If you have a previous release installed, and enabled the official Opera Linux repository, upgrade it via Software Updater:

To manually add the Opera for Linux repository, open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or from app launcher, when it opens, run commands:

1. 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 your system package manager or upgrade the browser via Software Updater.

The Enlightenment desktop environment reached the new major 22 release a few days ago. Here’s how to install it via PPA in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and Ubuntu 17.10.

Enlightenment E22 Features:

  • Greatly improved Wayland support
  • Improvements to new gadget infrastructure
  • Added a sudo/ssh askpass utility gui
  • meson build system
  • tiling policy improvements
  • integrated per-window volume controls

How to Install Enlightment E21 via PPA in Ubuntu:

For all current Ubuntu releases and derivatives, Enlightenment 0.22 is available for install via the PPA repository.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching “Terminal” from app menu. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:niko2040/e19

Type in your password and hit Enter to add the E21 PPA, though it contains e19 in its name.

2. Then check updates and install the window manager via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install enlightenment

If everything goes well, log out and select log back with Enlightenment session.

Uninstall:

The PPA can be removed via the Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab. To remove Enlightenment, simply run command:

sudo apt-get remove enlightenment && sudo apt-get autoremove

Audacity, free and open-source audio editing and recording software, reached the new major 2.2.0 release a few days ago with great new features and tons of bug-fixes.

Audacity 2.2.0 release highlights:

  • Four supplied user interface themes, and customizability of themes for advanced users.
  • Playback of MIDI files (requires cooperating software synthesizer programs on macOs or Linux)
  • Better organized menus
  • Help link buttons in many dialogs lead to the relevant manual pages
  • 198 bugs/annoyances in 2.1.3 fixed, most importantly
  • Improved recovery from full file system errors
  • Thorough update of the manual with new images, more hover texts, and more cross-references.
  • Complete support for macOS 10.12 (Sierra) and 10.13 (High Sierra)

How to Install Audacity 2.2.0 in Ubuntu:

The Audacity team does not offer pre-compiled Linux binaries. Besides building from source, a third-party PPA is available with Audacity 2.2.0 for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and Ubuntu 17.10.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) 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 2.2:

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

The SMPlayer media player reached the 17.11.0 release earlier today. The new release features a few small bug-fixes and improvements.

Changes in SMPlayer 17.11 include:

  • The video equalizer by software has been fixed.
  • The thumbnail generator is now more precise with short videos.
  • The audio quality of the audio equalizer has been improved.
  • The option “add black borders on fullscreen” has been fixed.
  • The option “AC3/DTS passthrough over S/PDIF” has been fixed.

How to Install SMPlayer 17.11 in Ubuntu via PPA:

The new release has made into the official PPA, available for Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, and their derivatives.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer

For those who prefer Qt4 version, use the another PPA instead:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer-qt4

2. Then you can upgrade SMPlayer from a previous release via Software Updater (Update Manager) after checking for updates:

Or you can run the commands below in terminal to do install or upgrade SMPlayer:

sudo apt-get update 

sudo apt-get install smplayer smtube

How to Restore:

For any reason, you can easily restore the installation to the stock version via the ppa-purge tool:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:rvm/smplayer

For the qt4 ppa, replace ppa:rvm/smplayer with ppa:rvm/smplayer-qt4 in the code.

MuseScore, free music composition and notation software, reached the 2.1 release months ago. However, it can’t be built in Ubuntu 16.04 due to old system Qt libraries.

Besides using non-install Appimage, MuseScore 2.1 is finally available as Snap package for Ubuntu 16.04 and higher after a few months of testing in beta channel.

1. Simply open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “terminal” from application launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo snap install musescore

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

Or install it via Ubuntu Software (need sign in with your Ubuntu account).

2. Some interfaces need to be connected manually via commands:

sudo snap connect musescore:cups-control
sudo snap connect musescore:network-manager
sudo snap connect musescore:alsa

Once installed, launch MuseScore from application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To remove the snap version of MuseScore, either use Ubuntu Software or run command:

sudo snap remove musescore

Kid3 audio tag editor got an update by releasing v3.5.1 earlier today with performance improvements and a few fixes.

Changes in Kid3 3.5.1 include:

  • Compatibility of imported and exported CSV files with cells containing new line characters.
  • Do not show unknown frames for ID3v2.3 TDAT, TIME, TYER, TRDA frames.
  • Enable high-DPI scaling for Qt >= 5.6.
  • Change AppStream directory from appdata to metainfo.
  • Fix crash with DSF files having sample rates other than 2822400 or 5644800.

How to Install Kid3 3.5.1 in Ubuntu:

The software has an official PPA that so far offers most recent packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and derivatives.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching ‘terminal’ from app launcher. Then run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ufleisch/kid3

Type in your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then upgrade Kid3 from an existing release via Software Updater:

or run following commands to install or upgrade the audio editor:

sudo apt update 

sudo apt install kid3

Uninstall:

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

To remove Kid3 tag editor, either use system package manger or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove kid3 kid3-*

Gscan2pdf, a simple GUI tool to produce PDFs or DjVus from scanned documents, reached the new 1.8.8 release a few hours ago with some bug-fixes and translation updates.

Changes in Gscan2pdf 1.8.8 include:

  • Filter out 1 and 2 digit integers from tool warnings. Show original message, not filtered message.
  • Add option to profile only after successfully applying it
  • Fix default value for unpaper script direction.
  • Fix race condition updating widgets before they can be created after cycling device handle.
  • Fix 16-bit PNM parsing
  • Fix Perl warning about redundant argument in sprintf
  • Update to Hungarian translation

How to Install Gscan2pdf 1.8.8 in Ubuntu:

The developer’s PPA offers the latest packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives.

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

1. Add the PPA via command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jeffreyratcliffe/ppa

Type in your password (no visual feedback while typing due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. For those who have a previous release installed, upgrade it through Software Updater:

For the first time, you can either install it via Synaptic Package Manager or by running following commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gscan2pdf

How to Remove:

To remove gscan2pdf, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove gscan2pdf

And the PPA can be removed via Software & Updates utility, under Other Software tab.

Supertuxkart, open-source arcade racing game, got a big update by releasing 0.9.3 rc1 yesterday. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA.

Supertuxkart 0.9.3, code name ‘Halloween Update’, includes following changes:

  • Android support! Get it from Google Play store, or download apk from its website.
  • Completely redesigned the old Mansion and made two brand new arenas
  • New tracks: Candela City, Las Dunas Stadium, Cornfield Crossing
  • Karts now have headlights that are automatically turned on during night time.
  • Built-in screen recorder.
  • HSV colorization for some scenery
  • various other bug-fixes and performance improvements.
  • See the release note for more details.

How to Install Supertuxkart 0.9.3 in Ubuntu:

There’s a stable PPA contains the new 0.9.3 release for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and next Ubuntu 18.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stk/dev

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

2. If you have a previous release installed, just upgrade it via Software Updater.

Or run commands in terminal to install or upgrade to Supertuxkart 0.9.3:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install supertuxkart

While the PPA does not support Ubuntu 17.10 so far, you may download the linux tarball, extract, and directly run the executable file (“run_game.sh”) to launch the game.

Uninstall:

You can launch Software & Updates utility and navigate to ‘Other Software’ tab to disable or remove the PPA.

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove supertuxkart

Corebird, an open-source GTK+ 3 twitter client, reached 1.7 release a few hours ago with new features and some bug-fixes.

What’s new in Corebird 1.7:

  • Hashtags and Mentions in profile desriptions are now clickable
  • The mention-completion when composing a new tweet now fetches unknown users from the twitter server
  • Videos larger than the screen size are now getting scaled down while playing
  • Profiles now indicate when an account is suspended
  • Profiles handle protected accounts better when trying to access followers/following users, etc.
  • The compose window now allows tweets with just media attached but not text
  • Improve the hashtag/mention/link detection when composing a new tweet
  • The compose dialog now shows an emoji chooser. (only for GTK+ >= 3.22.19, rendered with color need cairo installed)
  • Fixed a bug that led to wrong Direct Message info being inserted into the database
  • Fixed a bug that resulted in broken files when downloading instagram images

Corebird 1.7.1 was released a few minutes later with a small fix to the appdata file in 1.7.

How to Install Corebird 1.7.1 in Ubuntu 17.10:

For Ubuntu 17.04 and Ubuntu 17.10, you can install the new release from the PPA repository.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/corebird

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

2. Then upgrade Corebird if you have a previous release installed via Software Updater:

Or simply run following commands to install or upgrade Corebird:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install corebird

For Ubuntu 16.04, due to the outdated GTK+ library, choose to install the snap package though the 1.7 release is not ready at the moment.

Uninstall:

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

To remove Corebird, use system package manager or run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove corebird