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Archives For November 30, 1999

How to Install Opus 1.2 Audio Library in Ubuntu 16.04, 14.04

Last updated: June 22, 2017

The Opus audio codec reached the new major 1.2 release a few days ago with many quality improvements, new features, and bug fixes.

Changes in Opus 1.2 includes:

  • Speech quality improvements especially in the 12-20 kbit/s range
  • Improved VBR encoding for hybrid mode
  • More aggressive use of wider speech bandwidth, including fullband speech starting at 14 kbit/s
  • Music quality improvements in the 32-48 kb/s range
  • Generic and SSE CELT optimizations
  • Support for directly encoding packets up to 120 ms
  • DTX support for CELT mode
  • SILK CBR improvements
  • Support for all of the fixes in draft-ietf-codec-opus-update-06 (the mono downmix and the folding fixes need --enable-update-draft)
  • Many bug fixes, including integer wrap-arounds discovered through fuzzing (no security implications)

Besides building the codec from source, a third-party PPA now is available to make it easy to install Opus 1.2 in Ubuntu 16.04 and/or Ubuntu 14.04.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by application launcher, when it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/ffmpeg-3

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

2. Then upgrade the library and opus-tools via Software Updater:

Or simply run commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install libopus0 opus-tools

NOTE: the PPA contains the latest FFMPEG 3 packages. If you want to install it, the Tesseract OCR PPA is required in Ubuntu 14.04 for the dependencies.

f you don’t want to upgrade your ffmpeg libraries, remove the PPA via command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:jonathonf/ffmpeg-3
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Vimix Grub2 Theme Makes Ubuntu Boot-loader Look Prettier

Last updated: December 22, 2023

Grub

Boring with the default Grub2 boot loader appearance? Besides switching to Burg boot-loader, you can change the look and feel via the Vimix-grub-theme.

The theme is designed by vinceliuice, the man behind Vimix GTK theme. To try it out, follow the steps below one by one:

1. First, either download the theme package from Github project page, or use the direct link below:

Download Grub2 Themes

2. Then, go to your Downloads folder. Extract the tarball, and right-click on new generated folder and select “Open in Terminal”.

3. In the pop-up terminal window, run command to install the theme:

sudo ./install.sh --theme vimix

For choice, you can install a few other themes by replacing vimix with tela, stylish, or whitesur. And/or add more options, such as:

  • --screen 2k (or 4k, ultrawide, ultrawide2k) to specify screen resolution. Skip this for 1080p.
  • --icon white (or whitesur) for the icon color. Skip for colorful.

In addition:

For those who want to change the background image or change theme later, simply install Grub-Customizer, launch the software and do:

  1. navigate to Appearance settings tab.
  2. highlight the theme file “background.png”
  3. click ‘Load file’ selection box and choose your image (must be .png)
  4. finally click Save button in Grub Customizer.

Also remove useless Grub menu entries via the first tab in Grub-Customizer if you have multiple Linux Kernels.

Uninstall:

To restore Grub boot menu screen, re-do step 2 to open the theme source folder in terminal, and run command:

sudo ./install.sh --remove vimix

Also replace vimix according which theme you installed.

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Install jEsuSdA Color Palettes for GIMP, Inkscape in Ubuntu

Last updated: June 19, 2017

GIMP extra color palettes

To make life easier for users, the atareao team has packaged the color palettes of the jEsuSdA Color Palettes project and add the one corresponding to the RAL colors.

So it can be easier to install the color palettes for GIMP and/or Inkscape via PPA. And they do not interfere with those that are installed by default in Gimp or Inkscape.

gimp color palettes

1. Open terminal 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:atareao/atareao

2. Then update and install the color palettes:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install palettes-extra-for-gimp palettes-extra-for-inkscape

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb package for Ubuntu 17.04 from THIS PAGE.

Click install via Ubuntu Software and it works on all current Ubuntu releases.

Uninstall:

The PPA can be removed via Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab. If you want to remove the color palettes from GIMP or Inkscape, simply run command:

sudo apt-get remove palettes-extra-for-gimp palettes-extra-for-inkscape
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Animated GIF Recorder ‘Peek’ 1.0.3 Released [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: June 17, 2017

peek Animated GIF recorder

Simple animated GIF screen recorder Peek 1.0.2 and then 1.0.3, with packaging fixes, were released a few days ago.

Peek provides a simple user interface allows you to select a screen area to record by moving and resizing the window. There’s a countdown after clicking on the ‘Record’ button.

peek recording area

Peek 1.0.2 / 1.0.3 come with bug-fixes, translation updates and small tweaks:

  • Finish and save recording when closing the app while rendering
  • Highlight file when launching Dolphin file manager
  • Use raw video for recording GIF with GNOME Shell recorder (fix poor video quality)
  • fix app failed to record MP4 when dimensions where not divisible by 2
  • fix the countdown issue.
  • fix that close window while recording could leave temp files behind
  • fix notification in KDE Plasma, Cinnamon and XFCE
  • Place close button on the left on all desktops
  • Translation updates, added man page.

How to Install Peek GIF recorder in Ubuntu:

The developer has made the packages into PPA repository, available for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and derivatives.

Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or searching for “Terminal” from app launcher, when it opens, run commands:

  1. Add the Peek stable PPA: 
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:peek-developers/stable

  2. Then check updates and install peek via commands: 
    sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install peek

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb package from your system from PPA packages page.

Uninstall:

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove peek

You can also manage the PPA repository by going to System Settings -> Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.

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‘Komorebi’ Display Clock & Animations on Ubuntu Desktop

Last updated: June 15, 2017

Komorebi is a Linux wallpaper manager that provides fully customizable backgrounds, e,g., show date and time on desktop.

Wallpapers included by default range from animated ones, still, and gradients! See screenshots below.

A settings dialog is available to launch by right-clicking on desktop and choose what to display.

Wallpapers are located in /System/Resources/Komorebi/, you can create your own wallpapers easily by following this tutorial.

Starting by opening terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T and run command to open the wallpaper folder:

gksudo nautilus /System/Resources/Komorebi/

Install Komorebi:

Download the .deb package from the link below, then click install via Ubuntu Software or Gdebi:

Komorebi Release Page

(Optional) To uninstall Komorebi, either use you system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove komorebi

In addition, the software so far is in beta stage. I’ve tested on Ubuntu 16.04. The configuration dialog works on launch, but changing wallpaper sometimes not work a few minutes later.

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How to Downgrade An Installed Package in Ubuntu via Synaptic

Last updated: June 14, 2017

synaptic

For some reason, you may want to downgrade an installed application to an old version in Ubuntu.

Usually, you can easily restore a package to its stock (initial) version available in Ubuntu universe repository. Or, you can restore to a specific software version if you added a third-party repository that contains the version of that package.

By following below steps, you can easily switch between software versions via Synaptic package manager.

1. Install Synaptic package manager via Ubuntu Software app:

Install Synaptic

2. Launch Synaptic package manager and input your user password when prompts since it requires root user privilege:

launch synaptic

3. Search for and then highlight the software you want to downgrade, then go to menu Package -> Force Version…

4. The next dialog allows you to choose among all available software versions.

select old version

Select the version as you want, click ‘Force Version’ and confirm by clicking Mark button in next dialog.

Finally click the Apply button to apply changes.

Tip: After downgraded the software, you may also want to lock the software version by highlighting it in Synaptic then go to menu Package -> Lock Version.

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How to Install PyCharm Professional 2017.1.3 in Ubuntu 16.04, 17.04

Last updated: June 13, 2017

PyCharm IDE

The professional version of PyCharm IDE 2017.1.3 can now be easily installed via a PPA repository (unofficial) in Ubuntu, though there’s an official Linux tarball available.

Although the GetDeb repository is maintaining the latest community version of PyCharm IDE for Ubuntu users, there lacks a PPA for PyCharm Pro since Mystic-Mirage dropped his PPA support half a year ago.

Now there’s another PPA contains both PyCharm Community and Pro (2017.1.3 so far). Though the PPA only supports Ubuntu 16.10 and Ubuntu 17.04 at the moment, the packages also work in Ubuntu 16.04.

PyCharm Professional

1. To add the PPA, open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:viktor-krivak/pycharm

Type in your password (no visual feedback) when prompts and hit Enter.

PyCharm unofficial PPA

2. Then you can install PyCharm Pro via command (replace pycharm-professional with pycharm for the community version):

sudo apt update 

sudo apt install pycharm-professional

Install PyCharm Pro in Ubuntu 16.04:

For Ubuntu 16.04 LTS, grab the .deb package either for zesty or yakkety from PPA packages page.

Then install it either via Gdebi (available in Software Center) package installer or by running command:

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

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA repository, go to System Settings -> Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

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

sudo apt remove --autoremove pycharm-professional
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How to Install The Latest GnuCash 2.6.16 in Ubuntu 16.04, 17.04

Last updated: April 4, 2019

GnuCash

While Ubuntu repositories only provide old versions of GnuCash, here’s how to install the latest version of the financial-accounting software, GnuCash 2.6.16, Ubuntu 16.04, Linux Mint 18, and Ubuntu 17.04.

GnuCash is free small-business financial-accounting software designed to be easy to use, yet powerful and flexible. It allows you to track bank accounts, stocks, income and expenses.

The latest so far is GnuCash 2.6.16, features various bug-fixes and translation updates.

GnuCash 2.6.16

How to Install GnuCash 2.6.16 in Ubuntu:

The GetDeb repository offers the binary packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, Ubuntu 17.04, and their derivatives.

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

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

Type in your password (no visual feedback) and hit Enter to add the repository.

For Linux Mint, please enable GetDeb App repository via Software Sources -> Additional repositories.

2. For those who have a previous release installed, launch Software Updater (Update Manager) and upgrade GnuCash after checking for updates:

upgrade GnuCash

or simply run commands to update and install the financial-accounting software:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install gnucash

Uninstall:

The GetDeb repository can be removed via the Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab.

If you want to downgrade GnuCash to the stock version in Ubuntu repositories, install Synaptic Package Manager via Ubuntu Software, launch it and force install old version of gnucash.

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How to Install G’MIC 2.0 via PPA in Ubuntu 16.04, 14.04 & Higher

Last updated: June 9, 2017

G’MIC, a generic, extensible, and open source framework for image processing, has reached the new major 2.0 release. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA.

The IMAGE team of the research laboratory GREYC in Caen/France is pleased to announce the release of a new major version (numbered 2.0) of its project G’MIC: a generic, extensible, and open source framework for image processing. Here, we present the main advances made in the software since our last article. The new features presented here include the work carried out over the last twelve months (versions 2.0.0 and 1.7.x, for x varying from 2 to 9).

See the announcement for details.

How to Install G’MIC 2.0 & GIMP Plugin in Ubuntu:

Besides downloading the official binaries from G’MIC download page, you can install / upgrade G’MIC and G’MIC plugin for Gimp from the Thorsten’s PPA, which so far supports for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10.

1. Open terminal 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:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

Type in your password (no visual feedback) when prompts and hit enter.

GIMP PPA for 16.04

2. Then update and install both G’MIC and its gimp plugin:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gmic gimp-gmic

Once installed, launch gmic from terminal or gmic plugin from GIMP Filters menu.

If you have a previous release installed, simply upgrade it via Software Updater after adding the PPA.

Uninstall:

To remove GMIC and GIMP plugin, simply run command:

sudo apt-get remove gmic gimp-gmic && sudo apt-get autoremove

You can also manage the PPA repository by going to System Settings -> Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.

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HPLIP 3.17.6 Released with Ubuntu 17.04, New Printers Support

Last updated: June 7, 2017

HP Linux Imaging and Printing

HPLIP, Hewlett-Packard’s Linux imaging and printing software, has reached the 3.17.6 release with lots of new printers support, and Ubuntu 17.04, Debian 8.8 support.

HPLIP 3.17.6 is the second release in 2017, it adds following new printer support:

  • HP LaserJet Enterprise M607n, M607dn, M608n, M608dn, M608x, M608dh, M609dn, M609x.
  • HP LaserJet Managed E60055dn, E60065dn, E60065x, E60075dn, E60075x.
  • HP LaserJet Enterprise MFP M631dn, MFP M631z, MFP M632fht, MFP M632h, MFP M633fh.
  • HP LaserJet Enterprise Flow MFP M631h, Flow MFP M632z, Flow MFP M633z
  • HP LaserJet Managed MFP E62555dn, MFP E62565hs
  • HP LaserJet Managed Flow MFP E62565h, Flow MFP E62565z, Flow MFP E62575z
  • HP Color LaserJet Enterprise M652dn, M652n, M653dn, M653dh, M653x
  • HP Color LaserJet Managed E65050dn, E65060dn, MFP E67550dh, Flow MFP E67560z, MFP M681dh, MFP M681f
  • HP Color LaserJet Enterprise Flow MFP M681z, Flow MFP M681f, Flow MFP M682z
  • HP PageWide Managed P77750z Multifunction Printer
  • HP Pagewide Pro 750dn, 750dw, 772dw Multifunction Printer
  • HP PageWide Managed P77740zs Multifunction Printer
  • HP PageWide Managed P77750zs Multifunction Printer
  • HP PageWide Managed P75050dn Printer
  • HP LaserJet Pro MFP M25a, MFP M25nw, MFP M26a, MFP M26nw, MFP M27c, MFP M27cnw

HPLIP 3.17.6

How to Install HPLIP 3.17.6 in Ubuntu:

The official .run installer is available for download at the link below:

Download HPLIP (.run file)

After downloaded the .run installer, open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “Terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command:

cd ~/Downloads/ && chmod +x hplip-3.17.6.run && ./hplip-3.17.6.run

The commands navigate to your Downloads folder, give executable permission, and finally run the installer script in that terminal window.

Simply follow the terminal prompts, answer some questions, wait it automatically building HPLIP and setting up your devices, and enjoy.

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