Archives For November 30, 1999

SMplayer 17.1.0

A new monthly update of SMPlayer media player was released earlier today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA.

SMPlayer 17.10 following two changes:

  • Replace the deprecated video and audio filters in mpv with new ones.
  • The karaoke filter is available again.

Note that due to the first change, Linux users may need to update MPV (see how to install the latest MPV) in order to use SMPlayer 17.10.

A workaround is to turn off all video and audio filters. Another workaround is to switch to mplayer by selecting mplayer as multimedia engine in Preferences -> General.

SMPlayer with Mac skin

How to Install SMPlayer 17.10 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

Smplayer PPA

For those who prefer Qt4 version, use the new 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:

upgrade smplayer

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 smplayer-themes

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.

Ubuntu 17.10

Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark reached its final beta release earlier today. Ubuntu 17.10 Desktop, Server, and Cloud images, and flavors images of Kubuntu 17.10, Lubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu Budgie 17.10, Ubuntu Kylin 17.10, Ubuntu MATE 17.10, Ubuntu Studio 17.10, and Xubuntu 17.10 are available for download.

The beta release of Ubuntu 17.10 includes 4.13 kernel and updated version of core applications.

Ubuntu 17.10 desktop and server images: http://releases.ubuntu.com/17.10/

Kubuntu 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/17.10/

  • use VLC as default media player.
  • Muon package manager shipped by default, as an alternative to Plasma Discover.
  • Cantata Qt5 music player replaces the unmaintained KDE4 based Amarok as default.
  • Telepathy instant messaging client has been dropped from defaults.

Lubuntu 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/17.10/

Ubuntu Budgie 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-budgie/releases/17.10/

  • Files (Nautilus) 3.26 with Folder-Color extension.
  • Replaced GNOME Photos with gThumb
  • Login screen changed from lightdm-gtk-greeter to slick-greeter

Ubuntu Kylin 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/17.10/

Ubuntu MATE 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/releases/17.10/

  • Add new features to Caja file manager: Advanced bulk rename, Hash checking.
  • Replaced caja-gksu with caja-admin.
  • Updated folder-color extension.

Ubuntu Studio 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/17.10/

Xubuntu 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/17.10/

Firefox 55

Mozilla Firefox web browser has reached the new stable 56.0 release a day ago.

Firefox 56 features a built-in screenshot tool, allows you to take, save, and share screenshots without leaving the browser.

The new release updated the Preferences section with a search tool so users can find a specific setting quickly.

Other changes in Firefox 56:

  • improved Send Tabs feature, it can be discovered even by users without a Firefox Account
  • Added hardware acceleration for AES-GCM
  • New Encoding Standard-compliant implementation written in Rust
  • Updated the Safe Browsing protocol to version 4
  • Reduced update download file size by approximately 20 percent
  • Improved security for verifying update downloads
  • Added Layout Panel to CSS Grid DevTools

Download / Install Firefox in Ubuntu:

The best way to install the latest Firefox in Ubuntu is waiting for the distribution builds published in security/updates repository.

Be patient, it will be available in a few days. At that time, you can simply install/upgrade it via Software Updater:

upgrade firefox 46

For those who don’t want to wait, download the official Firefox package, extract and run the executable to launch Firefox 56.

opera web browser

Opera web browser reached the new stable 48 release earlier today with new and improved features.

Opera 48 release highlights:

  • Add measurement, time zone, currencies converters in Search pop up tool.
  • Capture your favorite parts of the web with the Snapshot tool
  • Add option to remove unwanted autocomplete suggestions in the search and address bar.
  • O-Menu cleaned up
  • All importing bookmarks from Edge and Yandex
  • UI improvements for HiDPI displays.
  • Update to Chromium version 61.
  • And see the release note for more.

How to Install Opera 48 in Ubuntu:

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

Download Opera for Linux

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.

brackets code editor

Adobe Brackets, a modern open-source code editor for the web, has reached the 1.11 release a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and derivatives.

What’s New in Brackets 1.11:

  • Brackets now supports ECMAScript 2015. Quick-type listing now shows classes, methods, arrow functions, generator functions and much more. Brackets also supports linting of ECMAScript 2015 code, with ESLint defaulting as Javascript linter, as well.
  • Brackets now offers full support for the Linux platform.
  • Fix a few minor issues found by lgtm.
  • Fix extension registry link in README.md
  • Fix CTRL+Space handling while the CodeHintList is open
  • Fix wrong function call in ProjectManager.js
  • Double click on search result header closes search results window
  • Add mapping for stylus mode in LanguageManager
  • Now reverse inspect can be disabled by setting the ‘livedev.enableReverseInspect’ pref to false
  • Upgrade brackets-eslint to 3.2.0
  • See the release note for more.

How to Install Brackets 1.11 in Ubuntu:

Adobe offers the official .deb packages in the github release page.

For those who want to receive updates though Software Updater, you can use the Webupd8Team PPA which provides Brackets packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and derivatives.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or from app launcher. Run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/brackets

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

2. Then you’re able to upgrade the code editor via Software Updater utility:

or install it for the first time via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install brackets

Uninstall:

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

To remove Brackets code editor, either use system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove brackets

GnuCash

Free accounting software GnuCash got a new update recently for its 2.6 stable series.

GnuCash 2.6.18 is primarily comprised of bug fixes, including 2 bugs that are six years old. They are:

  • Calendar of upcoming SXes has various display issues.
  • Interdependent report options fail to change state after using apply for a limited number of times.
  • Set Invoice/Bill items date correctly from imported CSV.
  • unifying “Clear the entry.” tooltip on Loan Repayment Calculator.
  • Persian currency symbol is doubled.
  • Added Catalan Accounts for the New Account Assistant
  • Fixed errors from loading init.py.
  • Run the python bindings tests in a CMake build.
  • Implement dist, distcheck, and uninstall targets for CMake build.

How to Install GnuCash in Ubuntu:

The GetDeb repository contains the most recent GnuCash packages for Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 17.04, though the 2.6.18 is not available at the moment (Be patient, it will be available in a few days).

1. To add the repository, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu $(lsb_release -sc)-getdeb apps" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/getdeb.list'

For Linux Mint 18.x, replace $(lsb_release -sc) in the code with xenial.

2. Then install the key so to trust the updates from the repository via command:

wget -q -O - http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

3. Once the new release is published in that repository, use Software Updater to upgrade it:

upgrade GnuCash

or install GnuCash for the first time via either system package manager or run commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gnucash

Uninstall:

To remove GnuCash financial-accounting software, either use system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove gnucash

To remove GetDeb repository, launch “Software & Updates” utility and navigate to Other Software tab.

Gscan2pdf, a simple GUI tool to produce PDFs or DjVus from scanned documents, has reached the new 1.8.7 release that is primarily comprised of bug fixes and some improvements.

Gscan2pdf 1.8.7 release highlights:

  • Add units to scan and edit paper dialogues.
  • Remove unsupported libsane-perl offered as Frontend choice
  • Fixed support for Poppler (pdftops) as postscript backend.
  • Remove “reload recursion limit” option in Edit/Preferences. Set reload recursion limit as triangular number of number of scan options. i.e. if there are 5 scan options, the recursion limit is 5+4+3+2+1=15
  • Fixed crash with scanimage frontend due to empty cache
  • Ghost save button, rather than hiding save dialogue if all pages removed.
  • Fixed bug causing profile dropdown to be cleared after setting profile
  • Filter out integers from tool warnings, analogous to the hex warnings from unpaper.
  • Fixed visibility of options in save dialogue (again).
  • Right mouse click in thumbnail panel makes the page range (e.g. in save dialogue) default to “selected”.
  • Take filename of PDF to email from default filename settings (and therefore from metadata). If this produces a blank filename, use “document.pdf”.
  • Fixed bug requiring scan dialog to be requested twice after changing frontend
  • Update to Hungarian translation

How to Install Gscan2pdf 1.8.7 in Ubuntu:

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

gscan2pdf ppa

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

upgrade gscan2pdf

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.

Stellarium, a planetarium software shows a 3D simulation of the night sky, has reached the 0.16.1 release. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and derivatives.

Stellarium 0.16.1 is a bug-fix release with some important new features:

  • Added moons of Saturn, Uranus and Pluto
  • Added improvements for AstroCalc tool
  • DSO catalog was updated to version 3.2:
    • Added support ‘The Strasbourg-ESO Catalogue of Galactic Planetary Nebulae’ (Acker+, 1992)
    • Added support ‘A catalogue of Galactic supernova remnants’ (Green, 2014)
    • Added support ‘A Catalog of Rich Clusters of Galaxies’ (Abell+, 1989)
  • Added support asterisms and outlines for DSO
  • Added improvements for the GUI

How to Install Stellarium 0.16.1 in Ubuntu:

The official Stellarium PPA has built the packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and their derivatives.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stellarium/stellarium-releases

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

2. Then upgrade Stellarium from an existing release with Software Updater utility:

Or run following commands to install the software for the first time:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install stellarium

Uninstall:

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove stellarium

And remove the PPA via “Software & Updates” utility under Other Software tab.

The open-source non-linear video editor, Pitivi 1.0, is finally near after thirteen years of development.

Pitivi 1.0 release candidate “Ocean Big Chair”, marked as version 0.99, has many bug-fixes and performance improvements. There are quite a few important fixes thanks to the students who contributed in Google Summer of Code.

The development is focused on bug fixing until Pitivi 1.0. A flatpak repository has been created so Ubuntu users can easily install the latest release of Pitivi via following steps.

How to Install Pitivi via Flatpak in Ubuntu:

1. For Ubuntu 16.04, first open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following commands to install flatpak daemon while it’s not available by default:

  • Add the PPA repository for flatpak:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak

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

  • Then install flatpak for Ubuntu 16.04 and derivatives:
    sudo apt update
    
    sudo apt install --install-recommends flatpak

2. Then run command to install Pitivi flatpak package:

flatpak install --user http://flatpak.pitivi.org/pitivi.flatpakref

Once installed, launch the video editor either from your application launcher or via command:

flatpak run org.pitivi.Pitivi

In addition, to update the Pitivi flatpak when a new release is available, run command:

flatpak --user update org.pitivi.Pitivi

And to uninstall the flatpak, run following command in terminal:

flatpak --user uninstall org.pitivi.Pitivi stable

The FlightGear flight simulator has reached the 2017.3 release earlier today with a huge list of changes.

Though it’s not official announced at the moment, FlightGear 2017.3 features following changes according to the changelog:

  • Aircraft: detailed Carrier USS Harry Truman and escort group, with many animated elements, using experimental wave motion
  • Multiple flightplans fixed and is now possible to be controlled from Nasal.
  • Starting on carriers fixed
  • Enabling of display lists for random vegetation provides a massive performance boost for random vegetation.
  • More than 1000 screenshots now allowed
  • Support for AI wake turbulence added.
  • new Mediterranean tree textures, new desert shrub textures
  • See more in the changelog.

flightgear flight simulator 2.12 ubuntu

How to Install FlightGear in Ubuntu:

The official website refers to the PPA repository, which contains FlightGear packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, though the 2017.3 release is not made into PPA at the moment of writing.

1. Add the PPA by opening terminal, either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching it from app launcher, and running command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:saiarcot895/flightgear

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

2. Then you can upgrade FlightGear via Software Updater once it’s published in the PPA repository.

Or install it for the first time via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install flightgear

Uninstall:

To uninstall FlightGear, simply run following command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove flightgear

And remove the PPA by launching “Software & Updates” utility and navigating to Other Software tab.