Pithos 1.4, an open-source Pandora radio client, was released more than one week ago. While it’s official PPA does not contain the 1.4 binaries so far, here’s how to install it via Flatpak in Ubuntu 16.04 and higher.
1. Install Flatpak via PPA in Ubuntu 16.04.
The Flatpak daemon is not included in Ubuntu 16.04 by default. You need to install it via the PPA repository.
Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching it from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak
Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.
Then check updates and install flatpak via commands:
Krop, a simple graphical tool to crop the pages for PDF files, now can be easily installed via Snap in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and higher.
Krop is a simple graphical tool to crop the pages of PDF files. It is written in Python and relies on PyQT, python-poppler-qt4 and pyPDF for its functionality.
A unique feature of krop is its ability to automatically split pages into subpages to fit the limited screen size of devices such as eReaders. This is particularly useful, if your eReader does not support convenient scrolling.
Krop is available as Snap app in Ubuntu for amd64 and armhf architectures, so you can easily installed it by opening terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo snap install krop
Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.
Once installed, launch the tool form your application launcher and enjoy!
Tip for Ubuntu 14.04, install snapd daemon first if you don’t have it:
sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open
Uninstall:
To remove Krop snap package, simply run command in terminal:
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:
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.
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.
How to Install Blender 2.79 in Ubuntu:
The official Blender tarball (non-install) for Linux is available for download at:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
A 64-bit AppImage is available for download at the link below. Just download, make executable and run the file to launch OpenShot:
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:
