News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux
To make Firefox web browser looks better in Ubuntu Gnome desktop, you can now hide the title bar at the top of the browser to get Gnome-style application header bar.
1. The new feature was introduced in Firefox 60 that was released 2 days ago. So first upgrade your Firefox web browser using Software Updater utility.
2. Then launch Firefox and go to Menu -> Customize…
3. Next you’ll see the “Title Bar” checkbox in the left bottom of customize tab.
Un-check it to hide the title bar and done.
Opera web browser 53 stable was released earlier today with improvements to tab’s display and the address bar.
Opera 53 optimized and made the tabs’ favicons more visible when a plenty of tabs are open. And click on a tab will make it more visible and easier to manage.
Also there’s some fresh, sharpened coloring done to the address bar.
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.
Mozilla Firefox 60 was released a few hours ago with new enterprise features, Web Authentication / YubiKey support, and new tab enhancements.
“Firefox 60 offers something for everyone and a little something extra for everyone who deploys Firefox in an enterprise environment. This release includes changes that give you more content and more ways to customize your New Tab/Firefox Home. It also introduces support for the Web Authentication API, which means you can log in to websites in Firefox with USB tokens like YubiKey.”
Firefox 60 release highlights:
Ubuntu offers the latest Firefox packages though the updates and security repositories.
Once Firefox 60 packages (check the build page) are published in the repositories, you can install or upgrade it via Software Updater:
qBittorrent reached the new major 4.1.0 release a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 16.04.
qBittorrent 4.1.0 release highlights:
The official qBittorrent PPA contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives.
1. To add the PPA, open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or searching “Terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable
Type in your password (no visual feedback while typing due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. To upgrade from a previous release, launch Software Updater and you’ll see qBittorrent available for upgrade after checking for updates.
Or run commands below to install /upgrade it from terminal:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install qbittorrent
3. (Optional) To uninstall the 4.1 release and revert to the stock version of qBittorrent in Ubuntu repository, do:
sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable
Transmission, the default BitTorrent client, reached the 2.94 release a few days ago. Now you can install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04 easily via PPA.
Transmission 2.94 is a bug-fix release with following changes:
Transmission has a stable PPA that so far maintains the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and Ubuntu 18.04.
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:transmissionbt/ppa
Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then launch Software Updater (update manager) and install updates for Transmission to upgrade the software:
To restore to the default transmission installed by default, run command to purge the PPA as well as downgrade the software:
sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:transmissionbt/ppa
Visual Studio Code IDE 1.23 was released a day ago. This new release focuses on API work to support extension authors as well as plenty of updates.
VS Code 1.23 release highlights:
The official .deb package for Debian/Ubuntu is available for download at the link below:
Grab the deb and 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 Liferea feed reader reached the 1.12.3 release earlier today with various bug fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 16.04.
“Today sees a new 1.12 release which addresses some long-standing user concerns. One being accidentally marking all your headlines as read, we have no a confirmation dialog. Another issue addressed is that of custom download tools. The list provided is not always sufficient so we now provide a CLI command you can enter to use you favorite downloader. A lot of refactoring also allowed us to provide a GTK headerbar plugin for all fans of GNOME style window decorations.”
Liferea 1.12.3 release highlights:
For Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives, 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:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
Type your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it asks 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).
To remove the software, either use your system package manager or run command:
sudo apt-get remove --autoremove liferea
To remove the PPA repository, open “Software & Updates” utility and navigate to Other Software tab.
For Ubuntu 16.04 users who are accustomed to have window buttons ‘minimize, maximize, close’ on the left side, this quick tutorial will show you how to change window buttons position after you install or upgrad to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.
1. To get started, open Ubuntu Software, search for and install Gnome Tweaks.
2. Then launch the Gnome Tweaks, and navigate to Windows tab. At the bottom, you can see the toggle to change the titlebar buttons placement.
That’s it. Enjoy!
SMPlayer media player 18.4.0 was released a few days ago with new feature to change the position of OSD bar.
Other than that, the time displayed by a tooltip when the mouse is over the seekbar is now much more accurate. And now it’s possible to turn off the use of the system native file dialog in Preferences -> Interface.
For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives, do following steps to install or upgrade SMPlayer via its PPA repository.
1. Search for and launch “terminal” from application launcher. When it opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer
Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it asks and hit Enter.
2. Then upgrade SMPlayer using Software Updater (or Update Manager):
or run commands in terminal to install (or upgrade) the media player:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install smplayer smtube smplayer-themes
Uninstall:
To remove SMPlayer, run command in terminal:
sudo apt-get remove --autoremove smplayer smtube smplayer-*
And remove the PPA via “Software & Updates” utility under Other Software tab.
HPLIP 3.18.4, an HP developed Linux drivers for HP inkjet and laser based printers, was released recently with Ubuntu 18.04 beta support and new printers support.
HPLIP 3.18.4 adds support for following new devices:
HPLIP 3.18.4 also adds support for Ubuntu 18.04, Debian 9.2, 9.3, and 9.4.
To install the software, download the package “hplip-3.18.4.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-3.18.4.run && ./hplip-3.18.4.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!
