UbuntuHandbook

Install Gnome Twitch (Twitch Client) in Ubuntu 15.04, 15.10

Last updated: April 4, 2019

Gnome Twitch is an open-source and unofficial Twitch app for watching Twitch on your GNU/Linux desktop. Allow user to enjoy favorite streams without the hassle of flash or the web.

Gnome Twitch is new project created a few weeks ago. It’s based on GTK 3 and uses gstreamer 1.0 to handle audio and video playback.

Screenshots:

Gnome Twitch can be installed in Elementary OS Freya, but streams does not play in my case!

Install Gnome Twitch in Ubuntu:

Gnome Twitch is available in GetDeb repository for Ubuntu users. The current build is for Ubuntu 15.04, it also works on Ubuntu 15.10 (tested on beta 2).

1. Select download the .deb package from the link below

Download Gnome Twitch (amd64.deb for 64-bit, or i386.deb for 32-bit OS)

2. Click the package to open with Software Center and finally install the software.

3. If the audio/video playback does not work, install below packages one by one in Software Center:

gstreamer1.0-plugins-base
gstreamer1.0-plugins-good
gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad
gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly
gstreamer1.0-libav

Or just run below command in terminal to install them via apt-get:

sudo apt-get install gstreamer1.0-plugins-base gstreamer1.0-plugins-good gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly gstreamer1.0-libav

In Howtos Gnome Twitch, Twitch Client

Linux Native Twitter Client ‘Corebird’ Sees a New Release

Last updated: November 28, 2019

Corebird, Linux native GTK+3 twitter client, has reached the 1.1 release with lots of enhancments and bug fixes.

Changes in Corebird 1.1 according to the release note:

Tweets now get hidden/shown more correctly
Corebird now saves an application-wide list of snippets that you can use to insert common phrases or longer unicode emoticons. It can be found in the application settings in the “Snippets” tab.
Corebird now supports showing quote tweets in timelines as well as creating quote tweets. This replaces the old “Quote” item for tweets which would simply copy the original tweet’s text.
Media links and trailing hashtags can now be hidden via the “Tweets” tab in the application settings.
Profiles can now also show followers and followees
Twitter removed the 140 char limit on Direct Messages and so did we
Lots of other small enhancments and bug fixes

Corebird 1.1 now requires GTK >=3.16. Ubuntu 15.10 user can install the new release from PPA by running below commands one by one in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/corebird

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install corebird

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the installer package from this page.

“corebird_1.1-1~15.10_amd64.deb” for 64-bit OS
“corebird_1.1-1~15.10_i386.deb” for 32-bit OS

In Howtos twitter client

Install / Upgrade to SMPlayer 15.9 in Ubuntu 15.10, 15.04, 14.04

Last updated: October 1, 2015

SMPlayer, Qt front-end for MPlayer, got a new release a few days go with many great new features and improvements.

SMPlayer 15.9 brings support for MPV, 3D stereo formats, MPRIS2, and MKV ordered chapters and precise seeking. It also brings better YouTube support, ability to stream videos from DailyMotion, Vimeo, Vevo,and more(besides Youtube). SMPlayer now uses new H2O theme as the default theme.

For more details, see smplayer.sourceforge.net/en/changes

Install / Upgrade SMPlayer in Ubuntu:

SMPlayer PPA has built the new release for Ubuntu 15.10, Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, and their derivatives, e.g, Linux Mint 13/17.x, Elementary OS Freya and Luna.

1. To add the PPA.

Open terminal from the Dash, App Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer

2. After that, launch Software Updater (or Update Manager) and upgrade SMPlayer after automatically checking for updates.

Don’t have a previous version installed? Just search for and install smplayer in Software Center. Or run below commands one by one in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install smplayer smtube smplayer-themes smplayer-skins

In Howtos mpv, SMPlayer

Install Laptop Mode Tools 1.68.1 in Ubuntu 15.10

Last updated: September 29, 2015

Laptop Mode Tools, power saving tool for Linux laptop, got a new release two days ago. Here’s how to install/upgrade it in Ubuntu 15.10, Ubuntu 15.04, and Ubuntu 14.04.

This is a point release of Laptop Mode Tools 1.68 that updates details about runtime-pm in manpage, reverts “Drop out reload” feature, offers a more descriptive log error, repairs issues with stdout descriptor, and brings a couple of bug-fixes.

Install Laptop Mode Tools 1.68.1:

NOTE: Laptop Mode Tools conflicts with TLP (they are doing the same thing). You have to remove TLP if installed before installing this software!

Besides building it from the source tarball, you may install the binary package from my personal PPA. Just open terminal from the Dash, Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T key. When it opens, run below commands one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install python-qt4 laptop-mode-tools

Or download the .deb installer (98K) directly from THIS PAGE.

Once installed, run below command in terminal to launch the configuration UI (see above pic.):

gksu lmt-config-gui

Install gksu from Software Center if need. That’s it.

In Howtos Laptop Mode Tools, Ubuntu Laptop Power Saving

How to Install Foxit Reader in Ubuntu The Official Way

Last updated: September 27, 2015

Foxit PDF reader officially added Linux support a few days ago. The .run installer available for download in its website for Linux 32-bit & 64-bit.

Foxit Software announced that its PDF reader is officially available for the Linux and Mac platforms in the middle of September. Features include:

Open multiple PDFs at the same time in tabs.
Open password protected PDF files
View PDF files in single page, continuous, facing, or facing continuous mode
Support page rotation, text search
Print PDF documents to physical printers
Microsoft RMS support
Annotate PDF support, more in release page

Install Foxit PDF Reader in Ubuntu:

The installation is quite easy and I’ve done that via below steps in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

1. Download the installer from this page.

Click “Free Download” and select Linux 32-bit or 64-bit, check out your OS type at top-right shutdown menu -> About This Computer.

2. Extract the downloaded .tar.gz archive and run the result .run installer from its context menu.

Tip: Don’t see the “Run” option? Do below steps:

Go to File Browser menu Edit -> Preferences -> Behavior tab
check the box that says “Run executable text files when they are opened”
apply changes via nautilus -q command in terminal, or log out and back in.

3. After running .run file, the setup wizard pops up. Follow the wizard and done.

The uninstaller is available in the installation folder, you can simply run the file to bring up Foxit Reader uninstall wizard as want.

In Howtos Foxit PDF Reader

How to Install Spotify Client in Ubuntu 15.10

Last updated: March 10, 2016

Quick tutorial shows you how to install Spotify client, stable or development version, in Ubuntu 15.10 and fix the app does not launch issue.

The spotify community provides an official repository for Linux to make the installation easy. Both stable and latest dev releases are available.

1. Open terminal from the Dash, App Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key. When it opens, select add the stable or test repository:

add Spotify stable repository via command:

echo deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list

or add the test repository for development version:

echo deb http://repository.spotify.com testing non-free | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list

2. Run command to get the signing key to be able to verify downloaded packages:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys D2C19886

3. Finally install the client via Synaptic Package Manager or by running below commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install spotify-client

Tip: The current stable release was built against Ubuntu 14.04. It does not launch in Ubuntu 15.04 and Ubuntu 15.10 without the library libgcrypt.so.11.

To fix it, just select download the package from the link below and click to install via Software Center.

libgcrypt11 for 64-bit | libgcrypt11 for 32-bit

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos spotify client

Final Beta of Ubuntu 15.10 Available for Download

Last updated: September 29, 2017

The final beta of Ubuntu 15.10 Wily Werewolf was released a few hours ago, features images from not only the Ubuntu Desktop, Server, Cloud, and Core products, but also the Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu flavours.

The final release of Ubuntu 15.10 is planned for release on 22 October. It will be supported for 9 months for Desktop, Server, along with all other flavours.

Ubuntu 15.10 Beta2 include Kernel 4.2.1 and features:

Kubuntu: Plasma 5 and KDE Applications 15.08
Lubuntu: another bug fixes for LXQt, replace iBus with Fcitx.
Ubuntu Gnome: Gnome 3.16, experimental wayland session available (install gnome-session-wayland)
Ubuntu MATE: Migration MATE 1.10 is complete.
See more at fridge.ubuntu.com

Upgrade to Ubuntu 15.10 from Ubuntu 15.04:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/WilyUpgrades

Download Ubuntu 15.10 and flavors:

Ubuntu 15.10: http://releases.ubuntu.com/15.10/

Kubuntu 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/15.10/

Lubuntu 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/15.10/

Ubuntu Gnome 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-gnome/releases/15.10

UbuntuKylin 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/15.10/

Ubuntu MATE 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/releases/15.10/

Xubuntu 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/15.10/

In News Ubuntu 15.10

Install Pragha Music Player 1.3.3 in Ubuntu via PPA

Last updated: September 24, 2015

A new release of Pragha, a lightweight music player for GNU/Linux was released a few hours ago with new features and bug fixes.

For those who never heard about Pragha, it’s a continuation of Consonance, an excellent player emerged in the archlinux forums, which is based on Gtk+3 and written in C, constructed to be fast and light.

The new Pragha 1.3.3 brings new features and changes:

Rework the interface of equalizer and adds the preamplifier.
Add a switch for disabling the equalizer preset easily.
Add option to use small icons on tool/headerbar.
Change “Use Gnome 3 HIG” option to “Use system title bar and borders”
Don’t use icons on menubar.

There’s also some bug fixes and translation updates. See details at the release page.

Pragha Music Player in Elementary OS Freya

How to Install Pragha 1.3.3 in Ubuntu:

The new release depends on GTK >= 3.14. It’s available in PPA for Ubuntu 15.10, Ubuntu 15.04, and Elementary OS Freya.

Open terminal from the Dash, App Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key. When it opens, run below commands one by one to add PPA, update system cache, and install the player:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/pragha

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install pragha

For Elementary OS Freya (use 15.04 package), and those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb installer from the PPA archive.

Tip: The close button does not close the player by default, instead minimize the software window. To change the function, go to Preferences -> Desktop, and untick the box says “Minimize Pragha when closing window”

In Howtos pragha player

How to Install Stunt Rally 2.6 in Ubuntu 14.04, 15.04

Last updated: April 4, 2019

Stunt Rally, an open-source rally game with Stunt elements, finally reached the 2.6 release with new tracks, cars and other improvements.

Now this VDrift and OGRE based racing game features 172 tracks in 31 sceneries, 20 cars and a Track Editor. See the changelog of Stunt Rally 2.6.

How to Install / Upgrade Stunt Rally in Ubuntu:

PlayDeb repository is currently building the game binaries for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04 and their derivatives. Check out its repository page before doing below steps.

1. Add PlayDeb repository:

Open terminal from the Dash, App Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key. When it opens, run command:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu trusty-getdeb games" >/etc/apt/sources.list.d/playdeb.list'

For Ubuntu 15.04, replace trusty with vivid in the code.

Then run command to get the keyring:

wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

For Linux Mint 17.x, you may enable this repository from Software Sources -> Additional repositories -> archive.getdeb.net

2. Then update system cache and install the game packages via below commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install stuntrally

For Linux Mint, you may use Synaptic Package Manager instead to install it.

For those who don’t want to add PlayDeb repository and know a little about how to install a .deb binary and manually fix dependency issue, download the packages for ~~stuntrally~~ and ~~stuntrally-tracks~~.

In Howtos open source racing game, stunt rally