UbuntuHandbook

Liferea News Feed Reader 1.12.4 Released (How to Install)

Last updated: July 24, 2018

Liferea (Linux Feed Reader) 1.12.4 was released a day ago. The new release brings smaller bug and security fixes.

Add installable plugin to change accels
Fix segfault on date out of range
Fix Free Music Archive link in default OPMLs
Switch from persistent to session-only cookies
Fix unread count of vfolder
Add etra keywords in .desktop file (syndication; rss; atom)
Fix updating counters for remote sources
Updated cookie usage hint in FAQ

How to Install Liferea 1.12.4 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Mint 19, 18.x, the new release is available in a third-party PPA repository.

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/apps

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

2. Then upgrade Liferea via Software Updater utility:

or run commands one by one to install the Linux feed reader:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install liferea

Finally launch the news reader from your application launcher and enjoy! (Log out and log back if you don’t see the icon).

Uninstall Liferea:

As the PPA also contains many other software packages, you may remove it by launching Software & Updates and navigating to Other Software tab.

If you want to remove the news reader software, either use your system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove liferea

In Howtos, News Feed Reader, Liferea News Aggregator

MPV Media Player 0.29.0 Released

Last updated: July 27, 2018

MPV media player, an open-source fork of mplayer2 and mplayer, reached 0.29.0 release with numerous changes.

MPV 0.29 now requires FFmpeg 4.0 or newer, and it features:

ao/openal: Add better sample format and channel layout selection
ao/openal: Add support for direct channels output
cocoa-cb: initial implementation via opengl-cb API
context_drm_egl: Introduce 30bpp support (requires Mesa 18.0.0_rc4 or later)
osx: add some more menu bar items as suggested by Apples’s HIG
vo_gpu: make screenshots use the GL renderer
x11: support Shift+TAB as an input key bind
ytdl_hook: support native dash demuxer, if present
ao_alsa, ao_pulse: reduce requested buffer size
audio: change format negotiation, remove channel remix fudging
client API: deprecate opengl-cb API and introduce a replacement API
demux: lower demuxer cache default sizes from 400MB/400MB to 50MB/150MB
osx: always deactivate the early opengl flush on macOS
scripting: change when/how player waits for scripts being loaded
vo_gpu: various improvements to HDR peak detection
vo_gpu: various improvements to HDR tone mapping
wayland_common: update to stable xdg-shell
ytdl_hook: parse youtube playlist urls to set start index if --ytdl-raw-option=yes-playlist= is specified
build: drop support for SDL1 (only applied to ao_sdl)

There are also many new command options, bug fixes and minor enhancements.

While no Ubuntu packages available at the moment, you may download the source and see more details at the link below:

UPDATE: This PPA now includes MPV 0.29 for Ubuntu 18.04.

Simply open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following commands one by one to add the PPA and install mpv 0.29 in Ubuntu 18.04:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/mpv-tests

sudo apt-get install mpv

In News mpv

How to Install Battle for Wesnoth 1.14 in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: July 22, 2018

This quick tutorial shows you how to install the latest Battle for Wesnoth 1.14.3 in Ubuntu 18.04, and/or Ubuntu 16.04.

Battle for Wesnoth is an open source, turn-based strategy game with a high fantasy theme. It features both singleplayer and online/hotseat multiplayer combat.

While all current Ubuntu releases offer Wesnoth 1.12 in the main repositories, the latest version has reached 1.14.3.

Install Battle for Wesnoth 1.14 via PPA:

There’s an unofficial PPA that contains the game packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04 so far.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vincent-c/wesnoth

Type your password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then run 2 commands one by one to check updates and install the game:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install wesnoth-1.14

Once installed, launch it from your system software launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

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

To remove the game, open terminal and run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove wesnoth

In Howtos Battle for Wesnoth, game

Install PowerShell Easily via Snap in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: July 21, 2018

Microsoft PowerShell Core now can be easily installed in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04 via Snap package.

PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language.

It was announced on MSDN blogs:

The goal of PowerShell Core is to be the ubiquitous language for managing your assets in the hybrid cloud. That’s why we’ve worked to make it available on many operating systems, architectures, and flavors of Linux, macOS, and Windows as possible.

Today, we’re happy to announce an addition to our support matrix: PowerShell Core is now available as a Snap package.“

How to Install PowerShell in Ubuntu via Snap:

Snap packages are containerized applications that can be installed on many Linux distributions. Snap bundles its dependencies in a single package and updates itself automatically once new version is published.

To install PowerShell snap, open Ubuntu Software, search for and install PowerShell Core:

or open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and install it by running command:

snap install powershell --classic

NOTE for Ubuntu 16.04 users first time installing a snap package, install snapd before getting started:

sudo apt install snapd snapd-xdg-open

In Howtos, News PowerShell

Ubuntu 17.10 Reached End of Its Life

Last updated: July 20, 2018

Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark reached end of life on July 19 2018. It was announced last night:

“This is a follow-up to the End of Life warning sent earlier this month to confirm that as of today (July 19, 2018), Ubuntu 17.10 is no longer supported. No more package updates will be accepted to 17.10, and it will be archived to old-releases.ubuntu.com in the coming weeks.

The original End of Life warning follows, with upgrade instructions:

Ubuntu announced its 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) release almost 9 months ago, on October 19, 2017. As a non-LTS release, 17.10 has a 9-month support cycle and, as such, the support period is now nearing its
end and Ubuntu 17.10 will reach end of life on Thursday, July 19th.

At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 17.10.“

Users of Ubuntu 17.10 are recommended to upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Before following the official documentation, you need to first make backups, uninstall proprietary drivers, purge third-party PPAs.

And it’s always a good choice to do a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

In Howtos, News Ubuntu 17.10

MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: July 19, 2018

MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 stable was released today many fixes and new features and much needed upgrades!

MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 release highlights:

Add Retina and Hi-DPI display support.
Add DSF file support
Add keyboard shortcut for deleting scripts from options > scripting page
Support only 64 bit Picard builds from 2.0
Update dependencies minimal requirements: Python 3.5, PyQt 5.7, and Mutagen 1.37.
And numerous bug-fixes, UI and performance improvements.

How to Install MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 in Ubuntu:

The official PPA has built the music tagger for Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 18.10.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:musicbrainz-developers/stable

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

2. If a previous version was installed, upgrade the software via Software Updater:

or run following commands one by one in terminal to install or upgrade to MusicBrainz Picard 2.0:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install picard

Uninstall:

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

To remove MusicBrainz Picard music tagger, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove picard

In Howtos, News audo tag editor, MuiscBrainz Picard, MusicBrainz

Wireshark 2.6 Available to Install in Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04 via PPA

Last updated: July 17, 2018

Wireshark network packet analyzer 2.6 stable series now is available to install in all current Ubuntu releases via the stable PPA.

Wireshark 2.6 was released 3 months ago in Apirl. It mainly features:

Support for HTTP Request sequences
Support for MaxMind DB files. Support for GeoIP and GeoLite Legacy databases has been removed.
The Windows packages are now built using Microsoft Visual Studio 2017.
The IP map feature (the “Map” button in the “Endpoints” dialog) has been removed.

Install Wireshark 2.6 via PPA in Ubuntu:

So far the PPA contains Wireshark 2.6.1 for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wireshark-dev/stable

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

2. If you’ve the previous Wireshark 2.4.x installed on your system, remove it first via command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove wireshark

3. Finally run following commands one by one in terminal to install Wireshark 2.6:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install wireshark

Uninstall:

To remove the software, open terminal and run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove wireshark wireshark-*

And remove the PPA by launching Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.

In Howtos network traffic analyzer, wireshark

Fix Screen Tearing in Ubuntu 18.04 Optimus Laptops

Last updated: July 16, 2018

For Ubuntu 18.04 users plagued by screen tearing issue while using NVIDIA proprietary drivers, this quick tutorial may help you via enable PRIME Synchronization on Optimus.

Screen tearing usually happens on Ubuntu Linux laptop that uses Prime to switch between NVIDIA and Intel drivers.

1. Open terminal (either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher) and run command to create a new config file:

sudo gedit /etc/modprobe.d/nvidia-drm-nomodeset.conf

Type your password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. When the file opens after running the previous command, add following line and save the file.

options nvidia-drm modeset=1

3. Finally update intramfs and reboot your machine.

sudo update-initramfs -u

To check if previous changes work after reboot, run command:

sudo cat /sys/module/nvidia_drm/parameters/modeset

It should output ‘Y’.

In addition, to get much SMOOTHER Nvidia window dragging experience, you can also do:

1. Set maximum performance in Nvidia X Server Settings -> PowerMizer.

2. If you have MORE than enough RAM, set swap tendency to a MUCH lower value by running command to edit sysctl.conf:

sudo gedit /etc/sysctl.conf

and add following 2 lines when the file opens:

via: ubuntuforums

In Howtos nvidia, Nvidia Prime, screen tearing, Ubuntu 18.04

[Quick Fix] Touchpad Right-click not working in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: July 15, 2018

After doing a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04 on my old ASUS laptop, I found that the touchpad right-click does not work. This is because Ubuntu 18.04 by default acts right-click when you perform two-finger click on touchpad.

While my laptop touchpad does not have physical buttons, I have to do two-finger click to perform right-click.

So following steps will show you how to make right-click (clicking on the bottom right area of the touchpad) working again in touchpad without a physical button in Ubuntu 18.04.

1. Open Ubuntu Software, search for and install Gnome Tweaks.

2. Launch Gnome Tweaks and navigate to Keyboard & Mouse settings page.

Under Mouse Click Emulation, simply click enable the second option: “Area – Click the bottom right of the touchpad for right-click and the bottom middle for middle click.”

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos touchpad

4 Best Automatic Wallpaper Changer For Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: July 14, 2018

Looking for how to create desktop slideshow in Ubuntu 18.04? Here I’ll show you some best wallpaper changing software for Ubuntu Linux.

1. Shotwell

For just the basic automatic wallpaper changing feature, you don’t need to install any software.

Just launch the pre-installed Shotwell photo manager, choose the pictures you need (you may need to import them first), then go to Files -> Set as Desktop Slideshow.

Finally set the time interval in next dialog and done!

2. Wallch

Wallch was my favorite wallpaper changing software though it’s not under active development. Besides changing local wallpapers, Wallch also features:

Display live earth as desktop background.
Download and display picture of the day (wikipedia).
Wallpaper clocks
Live website as desktop background.

Wallch can be easily installed in Ubuntu Software:

3. Variety

Variety is an open-source wallpaper changer that use local images or automatically download wallpapers from Unsplash and other online sources, allows you to rotate them on a regular interval, and provides easy ways to separate the great images from the junk. Variety can also display wise and funny quotations or a nice digital clock on the desktop.

Variety can be easily installed in Ubuntu Software. For the latest release, go to Variety website.

4. Wallpaper Downloader

This is a wallpaper downloading software that automatically downloads pictures from Devianart, Bing daily wallpaper, Wallhaven.cc, etc., with given keywords, resolution, time interval. And of course, it provides ability to change wallpaper every x minute.

Wallpaper Downloader can be installed easily in Ubuntu Software.