UbuntuHandbook

Nvidia 352.41 Released, How to Install via PPA

Last updated: August 29, 2015

NVIDIA driver 352.41 for Linux was released a few hours ago with GeForce GTX 950, Quadro M4000 and M5000 GPUs support.

The new driver also brings two important fixes:

Fixed a bug that caused VDPAU to only display the top half of a video frame when decoding and displaying H.265/HEVC encoded video streams.
Fixed a bug that caused the X server to crash if an OpenGL application tried to allocate a drawable when GPU-accessible memory is exhausted.

Install / Upgrade to Nvidia 352.41 in Ubuntu:

Thanks the Ubuntu community for maintaining a new NVIDIA PPA that contains the most recent Nvidia proprietary GPU drivers. So far Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 15.10, and Ubuntu 14.04 are supported.

1. To add the PPA.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

For those who’ve added Xorg-edgers PPA and Michael Marley’s Nvidia PPA (deprecated), remove them via:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:xorg-edgers/ppa

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:mamarley/nvidia

2. After that, update system cache and install new driver package via either Synaptic Package Manager after clicking Refresh button or below commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nvidia-352 nvidia-settings

In Howtos Nvidia Driver, Nvidia PPA

Install The Latest Linux Kernel in Ubuntu Easily via A Script

Last updated: August 27, 2015

Want to install the latest Linux Kernel? A simple script can always do the job and make things easier in Ubuntu.

Michael Murphy has created a script makes installing the latest RC, stable, or lowlatency Kernel easier in Ubuntu. The script asks some questions and automatically downloads and installs the latest Kernel packages from Ubuntu kernel mainline page.

Install / Upgrade Linux Kernel via the Script:

1. Download the script from the right sidebar of the github page (click the “Download Zip” button).

2. Decompress the Zip archive by right-clicking on it in your user Downloads folder and select “Extract Here”.

3. Navigate to the result folder in terminal by right-clicking on that folder and select “Open in Terminal”:

It opens a terminal window and automatically navigates into the result folder. If you DON’T find the “Open in Terminal” option, search for and install nautilus-open-terminal in Ubuntu Software Center and then log out and back in (or run nautilus -q command in terminal instead to apply changes).

4. When you’re in terminal, give the script executable permission for once.

chmod +x *

FINALLY run the script every time you want to install / upgrade Linux Kernel in Ubuntu:

./*

I use * instead of the SCRIPT NAME in both commands since it’s the only file in that folder.

If the script runs successfully, restart your computer when done.

Revert back and Uninstall the new Kernel:

To revert back and remove the new kernel for any reason, restart your computer and select boot with the old kernel entry under Advanced Options menu when you’re at Grub boot-loader.

When it boots up, see below section.

How to Remove the old (or new) Kernels:

1. Install Synaptic Package Manager from Ubuntu Software Center.

2. Launch Synaptic Package Manager and do:

click the Reload button in case you want to remove the new kernel.
select Status -> Installed on the left pane to make search list clear.
search linux-image- using Quick filter box.
select a kernel image “linux-image-x.xx.xx-generic” and mark for (complete) removal
finally apply changes

Repeat until you removed all unwanted kernels. DON’T carelessly remove the current running kernel, check it out via uname -r (see below pic.) command.

For Ubuntu Server, you may run below commands one by one:

uname -r

dpkg -l | grep linux-image-

sudo apt-get autoremove KERNEL_IMAGE_NAME

In Howtos Linux Kernel

How to Watch Hulu Videos in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Last updated: August 24, 2015

Due to the changes to incorporate Adobe Flash DRM technology, Hulu movies and TV shows are not longer working on Ubuntu Linux without HAL support since a couple of weeks ago.

A couple of weeks ago, Hulu made some changes to their video playback system to incorporate Adobe Flash DRM technology. Unfortunately, this meant that Hulu no longer functioned on Ubuntu because Adobe stopped supporting Flash on Linux several year ago, and therefore Adobe’s DRM requires HAL which was likewise obsoleted about 4 years ago and was dropped from Ubuntu in 13.10. The net result is that Hulu no longer functions on Ubuntu.

Fortunately, Michael Blennerhassett has maintained a PPA repository with HAL packages for all current releases and derivatives, e.g, Ubuntu 15.10, Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Linux Mint 17.

Below is how-to install the HAL (Hardware Abstraction Layer) from PPA:

1. 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:mjblenner/ppa-hal

2. After adding the PPA, install hal package via Synaptic Package Manager. Or by running below commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install hal

via: nhaines.com

In Howtos hulu playback in Ubuntu

Ubuntu 14.04- Sound comes from both Headphones & Speakers

Last updated: August 23, 2015

I rarely use headphones on my Ubuntu laptop. But when I plugged in ones today, sound was coming from both headphones and speakers in Ubuntu 14.04.

This is a very old bug with alsamixer. If you happen to have this issue on Ubuntu 14.04, you may try below steps to fix it:

1. Launch a terminal window from the Dash, App launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key. When it opens, run below command and hit enter:

alsamixer

When you see following screen, use Left/Right arrow key to navigate and choose Auto-Mute, then enable it via Up/Down arrow key.

2. If it does not work, try GNOME ALSA Mixer which can be installed from Ubuntu Software Center or by running below command in terminal:

sudo apt-get install gnome-alsamixer

Then start it from the Dash or via gnome-alsamixer command and enable Auto-Mute Mode

3. Does not work? Well, here is how to install the latest ALSA driver for a “HDA Intel” sound card in Ubuntu 14.04, which fixed the issue for me.

First make sure you have dkms package installed. Install it either from Ubuntu Software Center or via below command in terminal:

sudo apt-get install dkms

Then select download the latest ALSA driver from THIS PAGE.

Depends on your Kernel version, check it out via uname -r command,

select download:

oem-audio-hda-daily-dkms_xxx.deb for 3.13 kernel
oem-audio-hda-daily-lts-utopic-dkms_xxx.deb for 3.16 kernel
oem-audio-hda-daily-lts-vivid-dkms_xxx.deb for 3.19 kernel

After you installed the .deb package, restart you computer and plug / re-plug in headphones to see results.

In Howtos ALSA driver

Install uText Markdown Editor in Ubuntu 15.04, 14.04

Last updated: August 22, 2015

uText is a very simple markdown editor with live text preview and syntax highlighting support. Supported export formats: HTML, ODT, PDF

uText is a minimalist text editor with syntax markdown focused on writing, providing all the tools and facilities that the user may need. It’s written in Python and developed by atareao team who’s behind touchpad-indicator and my-weather-indicator.

The editor features:

Live text preview
Day, Night, and fullscreen mode to focus on writing.
Search and replace, spell check
save in dropbox.
other common options

To install this editor:

Open terminal from the Dash, App Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut keys. When it opens, run below commands to get it from the developer’s PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/utext

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install utext

Or you can directly download and install the “utext_x.x.x_all.deb” package from PPA ARCHIVE. The .deb works on all current Ubuntu releases though it’s built against Ubuntu 15.04.

In Howtos markdown editor, uText

Arc GTK Theme for Ubuntu 15.04, Elementary OS Freya

Last updated: July 14, 2017

Arc-theme, a beautiful, flat theme with transparent elements for GTK 3 and GTK 2 based desktop environments like Gnome, Unity, Budgie, Pantheon, etc.

Arc-theme is a new theme project still under development. It’s available is in three variants:

Arc theme

Arc Dark

Arc Darker

Full preview in Ubuntu Unity with Numix circle icons:

If you like the theme, try it by installing the .deb package available in the link below:

Download arc-theme .deb

Needs Ubuntu 15.04 (higher), or Elementary OS Freya because it depends on GTK 3.14 / 3.16.

Once installed, apply the themes via Unity Tweak Tool (or System Settings -> Tweaks).

In Howtos gtk themes

How to Install Kodi 15.1 in Ubuntu 15.04, 14.04

Last updated: August 17, 2015

The first maintenance release of Kodi 15 “Isengard” has been released. Official PPA’s ready for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04 and derivatives, e.g. Linux Mint 17.x, and Elementary OS Freya.

Following issues has been fixed in Kodi 15.1, remaining issues will be fixed in next point release in the 15.x range.

Flush renderbuffers when flushing video player
Fix broken network.bandwidth setting
Fix stuttering in PVR windows
Fix holding lock while querying PVR backend
Unsigned apps are not working on jailbroken iOS 5.1 devices
Add installed languages to the list of possible stream languages
Ensure that file descriptor for logfile is NULL’ed
Fixes a crash when trying do delete a file in filemanager
Reimplement Cocoa_GetVolumeNameFromMountPoint for OSX
Update label color for sliderex controls
CProgressJob: fix crash in DoModal
Fix missing return in CGUIWindowPVRBase::OnBack
FFmpeg: Bump to 2.6.4
Handle startup splash as regular window
Fix linkage for VTB framework for iOS < 6 – fixes VTB on iOS
Fix broken native keyboard on iOS 5.1.1 devices
Fix wrong navigation in SmartPlaylistEditor.xml
Make some virtual filesystems available when no network is available yet
Fix formatting on mysql queries that could cause crash on update
Only set mouse wheel control spin and slider controls when they are actually focusses
Respect view mode changes of EPG when controlling number of EPG updates
Handle startup splash as regular window which prevent problems if PVR or masterlock is used as startup window
Fix watched flag not displaying if item is also resume-able
Remove some logging on exiting that could crash on exit in some cases
Fix overlapping subtitles in some cases

Install / Upgrade Kodi 15.1 in Ubuntu:

1. Add the official PPA.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

2. Install/Upgrade Kodi

After adding the PPA, you can directly upgrade Kodi by launching Software Updater / Update Manager after checking for updates.

Or you can run below commands one by one in terminal to install it for the first time:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install kodi

You may also install the encoder and addons via command:

sudo apt-get install kodi-audioencoder-* kodi-pvr-*

Once installed, log out and select log in with Kodi session. Or launch the media center from the Dash (may need restart).

In Howtos Kodi, XBMC media center

How to Download APK files from Google Play in Ubuntu

Last updated: August 16, 2015

Want to install an Android application on your phone and for some reason you can’t access Google Play store from your Android device? Well, an alternative way is to download the APK file for the application on desktop computer, transfer it to your device, and install it manually.

Besides a web browser plugin, there’s an open-source desktop application called GooglePlayDownloader that allows you to search for and download APK files of applications from Google Play Store.

The software is based on Python >=2.7 and:

googleplay-api to interact with Google PlayStore
androguard to read info info from local APKs on disk
android-checkin to create AndroiID from Google credentials.

To use it, just select an application from search result and click the Download button. After you selected a folder to save APK files, a window pops up with downloading process though the process bar is not working for me. Just wait until it says ‘Download complete’.

How to install this Software in Ubuntu:

1. (Only for Ubuntu 14.04 and earlier) download the dependency package and click install it via Software Center:

Download python-ndg-httpsclient

2. Download the .deb for the app from link below and install it via Software Center or Gdebi:

Download GooglePlayDownloader 1.7

Or you may check out its web page for most recent release.

Once installed, start the application from the Dash, Application Launcher, or run googleplaydownloader in terminal.

In Howtos download APK

Thumbnail Image for WebP, GIF, LibreOffice Docs in Nautilus

Last updated: August 15, 2015

Nautilus file browser doesn’t generate thumbnail images for WebP files, LibreOffice Documents, and animated GIFs (maybe) by default.

Thanks to atareao team, some simple extensions has been created with that Ubuntu displays thumbnail images for these file formats in Nautilus.

WebP is a image format that provides lossless and lossy compression for images on the web. It is currently developed by Google, based on technology acquired with the purchase of On2 Technologies. more…

Here are the screenshots in my Ubuntu 15.04 desktop:

Before

After

To install these extensions, go to the developer’s PPA page:

Thumbnailers for GIF, WebP, LibreOffice Docs

Scroll down and click package links and download the xxxthumbnailer_xxx.deb packages from expanded pages (Work on Ubuntu 14.04 though they’re built against 15.04).

Finally install these three .deb packages by clicking on each of them to open with Ubuntu Software Center and click the install button.

To apply changes, remove the thumbnail caches and restart Nautilus by running below commands one by one:

rm ~/.cache/thumbnails/fail/gnome-thumbnail-factory/*
rm ~/.cache/thumbnails/large/*
rm ~/.cache/thumbnails/normal/*
nautilus -q

Finally start Nautilus browser and see result.

via

In Howtos gif, LibreOffice, thumbnail images, WebP

Install Haguichi 1.3 in Ubuntu 15.10, 15.04, Elementary OS Freya

Last updated: December 9, 2021

NOTE: This post is outdated!! Ubuntu user may follow this tutorial to install the app. And Elementary OS may just get it from app store.

Haguichi, LogMeIn Hamachi GUI for Linux desktop, has reached 1.3.0 release which is ported to GTK+ 3.x and Vala.

Haguichi 1.3.0 is a big release that brings a completely revamped user interface. Now it’s based on GTK+ >= 3.14 and fully ported from Mono to Vala. It also features:

New GTK headerbar (client side decorations). A classic titlebar is used on Unity, MATE, Cinnamon, etc.
Flexible Layout, the user interface now adapt dynamically to the window size
Haguichi now looks crispy as hell on HiPDI displays.
added a sidebar shows details and actions for the selected network or member.
New logo icon.
Added short text to empty network list on how to add a network.
Added symbolic application and panel icons for adwaita-icon-theme.
Commands that don’t actually exist are not shown as member action anymore.
Unicode characters are now used for ellipsis and quotation marks.
Changed autostart .desktop file installation path back to /usr/etc/xdg/autostart.
Dropped support for Hamachi version 2.1.0.81 and older.
Removed deprecated status icon.
updated translations.

How to Install Haguichi 1.3.0 in Ubuntu:

Thanks to Webupd8 Team, the new release has been made into PPA for Ubuntu 15.10 and Ubuntu 15.04. Also an old version available for Ubuntu 14.04/12.04.

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:webupd8team/haguichi

2. After that, update system cache and install the LogMeIn Hamachi GUI via Synaptic Package Manager or by running below commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install haguichi haguichi-indicator

How to Install Haguichi 1.3.0 in Elementary OS Freya:

It’s able to install the new release in Freya since it comes with GTK+ 3.14 out-of-the-box.

1. Depends on your OS type, 32-bit (i386) or 64-bit (amd64), select download:

haguichi_1.3.0~ubuntu15.04.1_i386.deb or haguichi_1.3.0~ubuntu15.04.1_amd64.deb

from the PPA packages page.

2. Also download the indicator “haguichi-indicator_0.3.0~ubuntu15.04.1_amd64/i386.deb” from this page.

Finally install both packages via dpkg command or just click to open with Software Center and click install button.

Tip: not installed Hamachi yet? Click the “Learn More” link at the official download page and grab the .deb package from the expanded page.

In Howtos Haguichi PPA, LogMeIn Hamachi

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