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Install Laptop Mode Tools 1.67 To Save Power in Ubuntu

Last updated: July 12, 2015

Laptop Mode Tools, a Linux power-saving package, gets an update recently with many important bug-fixes. All users are recommended to upgrade to the new release.

Laptop Mode Tools controls the “laptop mode” feature of the Linux kernel. It saves power by spinning down hard drives, and in addition, it can be configured to tweak all sorts of other power-related things.

Version 1.67 was released 10 months after the last 1.66 release, which brings more reliably check for Device Mapper based devices, which is common these days with Crypt and LVM. See changes:

Relax minimum window size to accomodate low res screens
Fix variable name to comply with our “constants” assuptions
Get more aggressive in power saving for Intel HD Audio
Account Device Mapper devices
Add swsusp freeze support
Switch battery-level-polling default to True
Detect ethernet carrier, early and relibaly
changes the boolean setting *_ACTIVATE_SATA_POWER to a customizable *_SATA_POLICY, with backward-compatible defaults and documentation

How to Install Laptop Mode Tools 1.67:

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

Open terminal from the Dash, Launcher, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run below commands one by one to install it in Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Mint 17, or Freya from PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install laptop-mode-tools

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

After installation, start the graphical configuration interface via command:

gksu lmt-config-gui

You’ll see the window in above picture after typing your password.

For the source tarball, go to this page.

In Howtos Laptop Mode Tools, Ubuntu Laptop Power Saving

How to Install VirtualBox 5.0 Stable in Ubuntu 15.04, 14.04, 12.04

Last updated: April 2, 2024

Oracle finally announced the stable release of Virtualbox 5.0, which provides increased security with encryption and improved performance.

According to the press release, the 5.0 release supports the latest guest or host operating systems including: Mac OS X Yosemite, Windows 10, Oracle Linux, Oracle Solaris, other Linux operating systems, and legacy operating systems. Oracle Virtualbox 5.0 also features:

Paravirtualization Support for Windows and Linux Guests
Improved CPU Utilization
Guest os can directly recognize USB 3.0 devices and operate at full 3.0 speeds
On all host platforms, Windows, Linux and Oracle Solaris guests now support “drag and drop” of content between the host and the guest.
Disk Image Encryption, using the industry standard AES algorithm with up to 256 bit data encryption keys (DEK).

There are also numerous of other changes and bug fixes, including:

New User Interface settings page for customizing status-bar, menu-bar and guest-content scaling
VMs can be started in separate mode.
VM guest-content scaling support (including 3D acceleration)
Hotplugging support for SATA disks
support for Linux distributions using systemd without sysv emulation
upgraded to rdesktop-vrdp 1.8.3

To see the full list of changes, go to the wiki page.

How to Install Virtualbox 5.0 in Ubuntu:

1. Before installing the new release, you may first remove the previous release on your system via Synaptic Package Manager, Software Center, or by running below command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo apt-get remove virtualbox virtualbox-4.* virtualbox-5.0

2. Download Virtualbox 5.0 from the official links below:

Download Virtualbox 5.0

select i386 for 32-bit, or amd64 for 64bit system. Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 12.04 are supported so far.

3. After downloaded the package, click to open with Software Center/Gdebi and finally install the Virtualbox 5.0

Addition, to receive future updates and fixes for VBox 5 through Software Updater or your Package Manager, you may add the official Virtualbox repository for Linux

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian $(lsb_release -cs) contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list'

The command creates a separate source file for VBox and writes the repository address into it. $(lsb_release -cs) automatically detects your release name, Linux Mint and Elementary OS users have to replace it (e.g., trusty for Mint 17.x and Freya, precise for Mint 13 and Luna).

Also download and insert the keyring so that Ubuntu trusts the package from that repository:

wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Finally you can upgrade VirtualBox as a part of system updates through Software Updater/Package Manager when a new release is out.

In Howtos Virtualbox, Virtualbox 5.0

Xpad – Alternative To Windows’ Sticky Notes Application

Last updated: July 4, 2015

Xpad is a sticky note application for Linux desktop with a simple and nice design. Each xpad session consists of one or more open pads and you can set different fonts and colors on each of them.

By toggling the toolbar and window decorations, you can easily change the look of the pads. A pad can contain different stylings. Keyboard shortcuts and undo/redo are supported.

There’s also a help option shows you how to use this simple sticky notes application.

install xpad in Ubuntu:

Xpad is available in Ubuntu universe repositories. You have to do nothing special, just open Ubuntu Software Center search for and install the xpad package.

In App Review sticky notes Ubuntu

Blender 2.75 Released, How-to Install or Upgrade it in Ubuntu

Last updated: July 3, 2015

Blender, an open source 3D content-creation program, has recently reached the 2.75 release, which features AMD OpenCL rendering and fully integrated stereo/multiview support.

Blender Foundation and developer community announced the release of Blender 2.75 on July 1st. The main highlights of this release are:

Blender now supports a fully integrated Multi-View and Stereo 3D pipeline
Cycles has much awaited initial support for AMD GPUs, and a new Light Portals feature.
UI now allows font previews in the file browser.
High quality options for viewport depth of field were added
Modeling has a new Corrective Smooth modifier.
The Decimate modifier was improved significantly.
3D viewport painting now supports symmetry and the distribution of Dynamic Topology was improved
Video Sequence Editor: Placeholders can now replace missing frames of image sequences
Game Engine now allows smoother LOD transitions, and supports mist attributes animation
And: 100s of bug fixes and smaller feature improvements.

For details, release the announcement.

How to install/upgrade Blender in Ubuntu:

Blender website provides pre-built binary packages for Linux 32-bit/64-bit, you may read this post to install the official package and make a shortcut icon for Ubuntu desktop.

Since the official package is not well integrated with Ubuntu desktop, you can alternatively install Blender from Thomas Schiex’s PPA, and receive future updates through Software Updater.

To do so, run below commands one by one in a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) window:

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

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install blender

Note that there might be a small delay before a new release to be made into the PPA. You may check out the PPA web page for the Blender version.

In addition, to associate .blend files with Blender go to file’s context menu (right-click menu) -> Properties -> Open With tab -> select Blender software from the list and finally click the Set as default button.

In Howtos blender

Install Hot Corners Plugin for Xfce4 Desktop in Ubuntu 14.04/15.04

Last updated: July 14, 2017

XFCE4 desktop now has a hot-corner panel plugin that provides an easy way for users to set hot corner action, though there’s already a Gnome app brightside works on Ubuntu with Xfce.

XFCE4 HotCorner Plugin is a new project created one week ago. It currently supports the following operation in primary display:

xfdashboard
toggle desktop
start screensaver
turn off monitor
run custom command

It also provides an option to disable hot corner when active window is fullscreen.

Install HotCorner Plugin in (X)Ubuntu:

Update: Thanks to Jackson Doak, the most recent packages have been made into Xubuntu Extras PPA. So far, Ubuntu 15.10, Ubuntu 15.04, and Ubuntu 14.04 (Xfce 4.12 is not required) are supported.

To install the HotCorner plugin and receive future updates, run below commands one by one in a terminal emulator:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/extras

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install xfce4-hotcorner-plugin

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb package from ~~launchpad page~~.

This plugin ~~requires XFCE 4.12~~. For (X)Ubuntu 14.04 and (X)Ubuntu 15.04 and Mint 17 users who are still running with old Xfce desktop, you may first read this guide to upgrade to Xfce 4.12

To install the plugin, select download one of below packages that matches your OS type (32-bit=i386 or 64-bit=amd64)

xfce4-hotcorner-plugin_0.0.2-0ubuntu1~15.10_amd64.deb
xfce4-hotcorner-plugin_0.0.2-0ubuntu1~15.10_i386.deb

from the ppa packages download page:

~~download xfce4-hotcorner-plugin (.deb)~~

Then double-click to install the package via Software Center, or install it via dpkg command.

NOTE 1: the packages were built against Ubuntu 15.10 Wily, but they work on old Ubuntu releases (tested in 14.04) running with Xfce 4.12.

NOTE 2: Xubuntu Extras PPA also provides the packages for this plugin, ~~but it’s an old release with bugs at the moment of writing this post.~~

After installing the plugin, go to Xfce4 panel preference window and add HotCorner plugin to panel:

Finally set your hot corners actions from the plugin’s preference window and enjoy!

In Howtos hot corners, xfce4

Install Notepadqq (Notepad++-like Editor) in Ubuntu 14.04/15.04

Last updated: June 30, 2015

Notepadqq is a free, open source, and Notepad++-like text editor for the Linux desktop. It’s written in C++ and works on Qt5.

Notepadqq helps developers by providing all you can expect from a general purpose text editor, such as syntax highlighting for more than 100 different languages, code folding, color schemes, file monitoring, multiple selection and much more.

You can search text using the power of regular expressions. You can organize documents side by side. You can use real-time highlighting to find near identifiers in no time.

Install Notepadqq in Ubuntu:

Notepadqq team provides an official PPA repository for all current Ubuntu releases (e.g., Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10) and their derivatives such as Linux Mint 17, Elementary OS Freya.

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

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

2. After that, refresh system package cache and install the editor via Synaptic Package Manager:

or by running below commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install notepadqq

And you can receive future updates of this editor just as part of system updates via Software Updater.

In Howtos notepad++, notepadqq

Change the Minimum Password Length in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: June 28, 2015

Ubuntu 14.04 requires a minimum password length of 8 characters, as well as complexity check by default, though you can set a short password while installing Ubuntu.

The /etc/pam.d/common-password file handles password-related configurations. If you want to set a short password and disable complexity check, edit the file via below steps:

1. Open terminal from the Dash, Launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run below command to edit the file:

sudo nano /etc/pam.d/common-password

Type in your user password when it asks

2. When the file opens in the terminal screen, scroll down and find out the line:

password     [success=1 default=ignore]    pam_unix.so obscure sha512

To set minimum password length, add minlen=N (N is a number) to the end of this line.

To disable complexity check, remove “obscure” from that line.

After that, press Ctrl+X and then type Y to save changes and finally press Enter to exit editing.

After all, change your password via passwd USERNAME command.

In Howtos minimum password length, short password

Ubuntu 15.10 Wily Werewolf Alpha 1 Available for Download

Last updated: September 29, 2017

The first alpha release of Ubuntu 15.10 Wily Werewolf was released a few hours ago, which features images for Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu MATE, UbuntuKylin and the Ubuntu Cloud images.

Alpha 1 includes a number of software updates that are ready for wider testing. All releases are based on Linux Kernel 3.19.

Kubuntu 15.10 Alpha 1 features Plasma 5.3 desktop and KDE Applications 15.04.1.
LXQt is still in development, Lubuntu 15.10 Alpha 1 is set to be another bug fix release.
Ubuntu MATE 15.10 Alpha 1 features TLP for improved laptop battery endurance, xdg-utils support, more options in MATE Tweak tool, artwork updates, and some fixes.

For Ubuntu flavor developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting and fixing bugs, download Ubuntu 15.10 Alpha 1 from:

Kubuntu 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/wily/
Lubuntu 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/wily/
Ubuntu MATE 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/releases/wily/
UbuntuKylin 15.10: http://cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/wily/
Ubuntu Cloud 15.10: http://cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/wily/

Ubuntu 15.10 release schedule:

Alpha 1 – June 25th
Alpha 2 – July 30th
Feature Freeze — August 20th
Beta 1 – August 27th
UI Freeze — September 10th
Beta 2 – September 24th
Kernel Freeze — October 15th
Release Candidate – October 15th
Ubuntu 15.10 Final – October 22nd

via: fridge.ubuntu.com

In News Ubuntu 15.10

Record Videos with Your old Canon DSLR in Ubuntu via EOS-MovRec

Last updated: April 24, 2024

If your old Canon DSLR does not have video recording feature, but you still want to make one, you can use EOS Camera Movie Record, a software directly writes short movies from Canon DSLR to computer.

From the software’s main window you can instantly initialize and stop the recording process, adjust the focus and zoom, choose the desired White Balance and display the captured image. It also has preview, Av, Tv and WB control.

The camera must have LiveView feature to work. Here’s a list of known supported cameras:

Canon EOS 450D
Canon EOS 1000D
Canon 40D
Canon 50D
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 1Ds Mark III.

Learn how to use the software:

Install EOS Camera Movie Record in Ubuntu:

Thanks to Dariusz Duma, the software has been made into PPA, available for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Linux Mint 17, and Elementary OS Freya.

To add the PPA and install the software, open terminal from the Dash, app launcher, or by press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run below commands one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install eos-movrec

Once installed, follow previous video to record videos with your Canon DSLR and enjoy!

In Howtos Canon DSLR

Install WhatsApp Client (Unofficial) in Ubuntu 15.04, 14.04

Last updated: June 23, 2015

A simple and beautiful WhatsApp desktop client has been created recently, available for Linux, Windows, and OS X. It’s an open-source and unofficial client based on WhatsApp Web.

Besides the basic WhatsApp features (e.g., group chats, send photos & videos, and share locations), this unofficial WhatsApp for desktop also features:

Badge with the number of notifications in the dock/taskbar (OS X and Windows)
Auto-launch on OS startup (OS X, Windows)
Native notifications (all platforms)
System tray icon (OS X, Windows)
Open links in browser or new window
Preferences in the right-click context menu (or menu bar for OS X, tray menu for Windows)

unofficial whatsapp client on all platforms

Install WhatsApp for Desktop in Ubuntu:

Before installing this software, you may first read the following DISCLAIMER from its project page:

This project does not attempt to reverse engineer the WhatsApp API or attempt to reimplement any part of the WhatsApp client. Any communication between the user and WhatsApp servers is handled by WhatsApp Web itself; this is just a native wrapper for WhatsApp Web, more akin to a browser than any WhatsApp software.

To install it, select download linux32.deb or linux64.deb that matches your os type (32-bit or 64-bit) from the link below and then click install via Software Center or Gdebi package installer.

WhatsApp for Desktop release page

For issues and other information, refers to github page.

In Howtos WhatsApp client

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