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Install MKVToolNix 15.0.0 Easily via Snap in Ubuntu

Last updated: September 14, 2017

MKVToolNix now is available as Snap app. You can now run the latest 15.0.0 in all current Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 14.04, while the official MKVToolNix apt repository only provides packages for Ubuntu 16.04 and higher.

Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “terminal” from your application launcher. When it opens, simply run command:

sudo snap install mkvtoolnix-jz

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

The snap includes almost all required dependency libraries. Once you installed it, launch the software from your application launcher and enjoy.

For Ubuntu 14.04, you may first install the snapd daemon while it’s not installed by default:

sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open

The snap application can co-exist with the traditional packages. If you installed both version of MKVToolNix, and can’t find out which is the snap app from your application launcher, launch the tools via command in terminal:

/snap/bin/mkvtoolnix-jz.gui

For mkv info, merge, extract, etc., see the picture:

Uninstall MKVToolNix snap:

To remove the snap package of MKVToolNix, run following command in terminal:

sudo snap remove mkvtoolnix-jz
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Blender 2.79 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: June 9, 2021

Blender 2.79

Blender 2.79 was finally released a day ago after 2 release candidates. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and derivatives.

Blender 2.79 release highlights:

  • OpenCL support has improved and should be closer to parity with Blender’s CUDA capabilities.
  • 10~20% faster performance for modern x86_64 CPUs with AVX2
  • automatic DPI support for determining HiDPI displays
  • an overhaul to Blender’s video output support
  • new denoiser, PBR shader, shadow catcher, filmic color management
  • and over 700 bug-fixes.

blender 2.79 splash

How to Install Blender 2.79 in Ubuntu:

The official Blender tarball (non-install) for Linux is available for download at:

Blender Download (non-install version)

For third-party binaries, Blender is also available via Snap and traditional PPA. You can install both or either one via following steps.

Install Blender in Ubuntu via Snap:

Blender 2.79 is also available as snap package, which is large in file, but bundles almost all required libraries. Available for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and higher.

1. For Ubuntu 14.04 only, install snapd daemon if you don’t have it:

sudo apt-get install snapd xdg-open-snapd

2. If you have installed the snap package “blender-tpaw” (2.78c so far), first remove it via:

sudo snap remove blender-tpaw

3. Finally run command to install blender 2.79 snap maintained by another guy:

sudo snap install blender --classic

Install Blender 2.79 via PPA in Ubuntu:

Thomas Schiex’s PPA contains the Blender packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04.

NOTE that Blender 2.79 is not ready in the PPA at the moment of writing. Be patient, it will be there in a few days.

The PPA is abandoned, see this tutorial instead.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:thomas-schiex/blender

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

upgrade to blender 2.79

or run commands to check updates and install blender package:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install blender

How to Remove:

To remove Blender packages either use your system package manager or run commands:

To remove Blender snap app, run command:

sudo snap remove blender

To remove Blender installed from PPA, run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove blender

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

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Install Internet Radio App ‘Gradio’ 6.0 via Snap in Ubuntu

Last updated: September 30, 2017

Gradio

Gradio, an open-source GTK+ internet radio application, has reached the 6.0 release.

Now it’s available as snap app while the official PPA can no longer build it for Ubuntu 16.04 due to the old system GTK+3 library.

Gradio 6.0 release highlights:

  • Group your radio stations into collections
  • New sorting options.
  • export and import station library.
  • create and edit stations.
  • New details sidebar, selection system.
  • Gradio 6.0 requires GTK 3.22 or higher
  • and many more.

How to Install Gradio via Snap in Ubuntu:

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

1. For Ubuntu 14.04 only, you need to first install snapd daemon if you don’t have it:

sudo apt-get install snapd

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

2. Install Gradio snap app via command:

sudo snap install gradio

3. Install Gnome environment via commands:

sudo snap install gnome-3-24

sudo snap connect gradio:gnome-3-24-platform gnome-3-24:gnome-3-24-platform

Finally launch Gradio desktop radio app from your application launcher and enjoy!

How to Remove:

To remove the snap version of Gradio, simply run following command in terminal:

sudo snap remove gradio
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Pandora Radio Client ‘Pithos’ 1.4.0 Released [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: September 11, 2017

Pithos, an open-source Pandora radio client, has reached the 1.4.0 release with new plugins support, performance improvements and more.

Pithos is a native Pandora Radio client for Linux. It’s much more lightweight than the Pandora.com web client, and integrates with desktop features such as media keys, notifications, and the sound menu.

Pithos 1.4.0 release highlights:

  • Add new plugin that inhibits screensaver/suspend during playback
  • Add new plugin adding a 10-band equalizer
  • Add new plugin that automatically normalizes volume between tracks
  • Add help entry (F1) that opens the wiki
  • Replace build system with Meson
  • Automatically detect if the user has Pandora One
  • Improve saving and restoring window position
  • Improve plugin loading performance and error reporting
  • Notification Icon: Improve detecting if a tray is available
  • Notification Icon: Add option to use symbolic icon

How to Install Pithos in Ubuntu:

The software has an official Ubuntu PPA that contains Pithos deb packages for Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 17.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pithos/ppa

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

2. Then check updates and install the Pandora radio client via command:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends pithos

Note that at the moment of writing, the PPA contains the last 1.3.1 release. It needs time for the developer building the software packages.

Uninstall Pithos:

To remove Pithos, run following command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove pithos

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

In addition, Pithos is also available as Gnome Platpak, see the wiki.

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How to Install The Lightweight Claws Mail in Ubuntu [Updated]

Last updated: November 14, 2021

This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest Claws Mail email client 4.0.0 in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and derivatives, e.g., Linux Mint.

Claws Mail 4.x now is a lightweight GTK3 email client features quick response and user-friendly UI. It’s a good choice for XFCE and MATE desktop running on old PC with limited system resources.

Claws Mail Dark Mode

Option 1: Install Claws Mail from Ubuntu repository:

The email client is available in Ubuntu official repositories, though it’s always old! If you don’t stick to the latest features, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. And, run command below to install it:

sudo apt install claws-mail

Option 2: Install the Latest Claws Mail via Flatpak package:

For the latest release, the mail client is also available as universal Flatpak package for modern 64-bit PC and AArch64 (aka ARM64) devices.

Flatpak app runs in sandbox and installs on most Linux systems. All current Ubuntu releases as well as the old Ubuntu 16.04 may install Claws Mail as Flatpak. Though Flatpak takes more disk spaces due to separate run-time libraries, it always up-to-date by installing updates automatically.

1.) First press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. If you’re still running Ubuntu 18.04 and/or Ubuntu 16.04, run command to add the Flatpak stable PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:flatpak/stable && sudo apt update

2.) Install the Flatpak daemon package by running command:

sudo apt install flatpak

3.) Add the Flathub repository, which hosts the Flatpak packages:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

4.) Finally, install Claws Mail as Flatpak using command:

flatpak install flathub org.claws_mail.Claws-Mail

Once installed, search for and open the email client from start menu or activities overview and enjoy!

How to Remove Claws Mail Flatpak package:

For any reason, you may easily remove the software package by running command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.claws_mail.Claws-Mail

And run flatpak uninstall --unused may also free up a few hundred MB disk spaces.

Option 3: Install Claws Mail 4.0 via Ubuntu PPA:

For those prefer the native DEB package, an unofficial Ubuntu PPA is available withe the 4.0.0 packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and Ubuntu 21.10 on 64-bit PC.

a.) First open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:janvitus/ppa

Type user password when is asks while no asterisk feedback, and hit Enter to continue.

b.) Some Ubuntu based systems may need to manually refresh package cache after adding the PPA:

sudo apt update

c.) You can finally install Claws Mail 4.0 via command:

sudo apt install claws-mail

How to Remove Claws Mail installed via Apt command:

To remove the DEB package installed via apt command, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove claws-mail

And you may remove the Ubuntu PPA using command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:janvitus/ppa

That’s all. Enjoy!

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Visual Studio Code 1.16 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: September 8, 2017

Visual Studio Code IDE

Visual Studio Code has reached the 1.16 release earlier today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu.

Visual Studio Code 1.16 release highlights:

  • Easily extract JavaScript or TypeScript code into methods or functions with new code actions.
  • Improved editor productivity with automatic close tags.
  • You can now use the VS Code color picker in HTML files.
  • The Integrated Terminal can now be launched in Quick Open.
  • Drag and drop from Search results and Problems panel
  • Support for having multiple source control providers simultaneously
  • New online documentation and more.

How to Install VS Code 1.16 in Ubuntu:

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

Download VS Code (.deb)

Install the package 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

Install VS Code Snap app in Ubuntu:

Microsoft Visual Studio Code is available via Snap app in Ubuntu, though it’s not updated to version 1.16 at the moment of writing, see how to install VS Code vis Snap in Ubuntu.

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OpenShot 2.4 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: September 11, 2017

OpenShot Video Editor

The openshot video editor has reached the 2.4 release earlier today with stability improvements. Here’s how to install it in all current Ubuntu releases.

OpenShot 2.4 mainly features following changes:

  • Vastly improved stability, improved undo/redo history (now being saved inside each project file).
  • Fixed Image Sequence exporting. Supports PNG, JPG, PPM, BMP and a few others.
  • Added ‘Audio Only’ and ‘Video Only’ export options.
  • New freeze and zoom menu
  • Prevent crashes related to too many threads
  • Fix many crash issues and other bugs.
  • See the release note for details.

openshot 2.4

How to Install OpenShot 2.4 in Ubuntu:

A 64-bit AppImage is available for download at the link below. Just download, make executable and run the file to launch OpenShot:

Download OpenShot AppImage

For traditional packages, OpenShot’s official PPA contains the .deb packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 17.04, though OpenShot 2.4 build it not ready at the moment of writing.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa

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

2. Then upgrade the editor via “Software Updater”, if you have a previous openshot-qt package installed.

Or run commands to check updates and install / upgrade OpenShot:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install openshot-qt

Uninstall:

To uninstall openshot video editor, run following command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove openshot-qt

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

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Shotcut 17.09 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 16.04

Last updated: September 5, 2017

Shotcut, a free, open-source, and cross-platform video editor application, has reached the 17.09 release earlier today.

Shotcut 17.09 contains various bug fixes and translation updates, it also contains following changes:

  • Renewed the code signing certificate for the Windows installer and executable.
  • Updated SDL to v2.0
  • Updated FFmpeg to v3.2
  • Updated x264, x265, and vp8/9 to the latest stable versions.
  • Add the ability to turn off the welcome message

How to Install Shotcut 17.09 in Ubuntu:

The software offers portable Linux package available for download at the link below:

Download Shotcut

Simply extract the Linux tarball, and run executable to launch the editor.

For better Ubuntu integration, install the Shotcut snap app via following commands:

1. For Ubuntu 14.04 & Ubuntu 16.04 who’ve never installed a snap app, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install snapd daemon:

sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open

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

2. Then install Shotcut snap app via command:

sudo snap install shotcut --classic

Once installed, launch it from your application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

The snap app will be upgrade automatically once a new release is published. To remove it, open terminal and run command:

sudo snap remove shotcut
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How to Install Linux Kernel 4.13 in Ubuntu 16.04 & Higher

Last updated: September 4, 2017

Linux Kernel

After 7 release candidates, Linux Kernel 4.13 was finally released yesterday afternoon. Linus Torvalds announced that:

So last week was actually somewhat eventful, but not enough to push me to delay 4.13.

Most of the changes since rc7 are actually networking fixes, the bulk of them to various drivers. With apologies to the authors of said patches, they don’t look all that interesting (which is definitely exactly what you want just before a release). Details in the appended shortlog.

Note that the shortlog below is obviously only since rc7 – the _full_ 4.13 log is much too big to post and nobody sane would read it. So if you’re interested in all the rest of it, get the git tree and limit the logs to the files you are interested in if you crave details.

…

New Features in Kernel 4.13:

  • Initial Intel Cannonlake and Coffeelake support
  • Nouveau has HDMI 3D / stereoscopic support.
  • Radeon/AMDGPU DRM updates
  • New HID, audio hardware support
  • New input drivers support.
  • And lots of more other changes and improvements.

How to Install Kernel 4.13 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint:

The mainline kernels do not include any Ubuntu-provided drivers or patches. They are not supported and are not appropriate for production use.

The mainline kernel PPA has made the new kernel binaries for Ubuntu, available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 4.13 (.deb)

Depends on your OS type, download and install the packages in turns:

  1. linux-headers-4.13.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-4.13.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
  3. linux-image-4.13.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio), amd64 for 64bit system, i386 for 32bit system, or armhf, arm64, etc for other OS types.

To get the Kernel 4.13 from the command console, run the commands below one by one:

For 64-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.13/linux-headers-4.13.0-041300_4.13.0-041300.201709031731_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.13/linux-headers-4.13.0-041300-generic_4.13.0-041300.201709031731_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.13/linux-image-4.13.0-041300-generic_4.13.0-041300.201709031731_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

for 32-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.13/linux-headers-4.13.0-041300_4.13.0-041300.201709031731_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.13/linux-headers-4.13.0-041300-generic_4.13.0-041300.201709031731_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.13/linux-image-4.13.0-041300-generic_4.13.0-041300.201709031731_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

After installed these .debs, restart and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 4.13:

Start/restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in Grub2 -> Advanced menu. Then use Ubuntu Tweak, or other system tool to remove the Kernel 4.13, or you may see this how to remove old kernels tutorial.

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Shutter 0.94 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 16.04

Last updated: September 11, 2018

shutter screenshot

Shutter, a feature-rich screenshot tool, got a new release recently after 2 years and 9 months since the last.

Shutter 0.94 is a bug-fix release with following fixes:

  • A crash issue when launching a second instance of Shutter
  • Shutter screenshots uploaded to Dropbox expires
  • Imgur uploaded links dialog shows links in random order on every upload
  • “Send by email” (ctrl+shft+E) error.
  • Insecure use of system() allows arbitrary code execution via “Show in Folder”
  • ‘Window’ does not show non-latin characters
  • imgur upload plugin no longer works due to now unsupported API 1 and 2
  • Linux software store metadata

shutter 0.94

How to install Shutter 0.94 in Ubuntu 16.04, 17.04:

Shutter has an official PPA repository, but it does not update the new 0.94 packages at the moment of writing, though it has been released for more than 2 weeks.

For Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 17.04, you can upgrade to Shutter 0.94 via following steps using the unofficial PPA:

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/shutter

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

2. Then upgrade the screenshot tool via Software Updater:

or simply run commands to check updates and install shutter:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install shutter

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb package directly from HERE.

How to Remove:

To downgrade Shutter to previous 0.93.1, purge the PPA repository via command:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

To just remove the unofficial PPA and keep Shutter 0.94, launch “Software & Updates” utility and navigate to Other Software tab.

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