UbuntuHandbook

Plank Dock 0.8.0 Released With New Features & Various Fixes

Last updated: January 3, 2015

Plank, the simplest OS X-style dock launcher, has reached the 0.8.0 release recently with new feature and bug fixes.

“May” is our new feature and bug-fix release on the way to 1.0.

Yet again bunch of more or less subtile bug-fixes and design adjustments. The major feature addition is the integrated settings dialog which is suppose to ease configuring plank and obsolete the need for 3rd party settings tools. Besides that some HiDPI fixes and possible crasher fixes.

For the list of fixed bugs:

the “folders disappeared and can’t be added again” issue in Linux Mint 17.1 Cinnamon 2.4
Plank crashes intermittently when quitting Thunderbird Mail
Elementary OS 0.3 Freya: item-positions not updated in panel-mode
Plank cannot handle GVFS URIs on drag-and-drop
default window icon in dock is ugly
Display “close” in context menu instead of “close all” when single instance is open
Don’t show a window list when single instance is open
Look for theme data in /usr/share/themes too
Use selected-focused background-color for indicators

Install / Upgrade to Plank 0.8.0:

The binary packages have been made into PPA, available for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04 and their derivatives.

To add the PPA repository, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/docky

After that, refresh your system package cache by running:

sudo apt-get update

Finally install or upgrade Plank:

sudo apt-get install plank

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos Lightweight Dock Launcher, Plank

‘Go For It’, A Stylish To-Do List App with Built-in Timer

Last updated: January 3, 2015

Go-For-It is a new and open-source to-do list application available for both Windows and Ubuntu Linux. It features a simple and stylish UI with built-in productivity timer.

To-do lists are stored in the Todo.txt format. This simplifies synchronization with mobile devices and makes it possible to edit tasks using other front-ends.

The developer has created a Youtube video that describes the workflow of this application:

How to Install ‘Go For It’:

The developer, mank319, has built this app into PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 15.04 and derivatives.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mank319/go-for-it

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install go-for-it

Or you can simply download & click install the .deb package via Software Center (i386 for 32-bit, amd64 for 64-bit) the matches your OS edition at the PPA packages page.

For Windows version, go to the Go-For-It website.

NOTE: Due to the bug related to Unity Overlay Scrollbars, the background sometimes looks like broken. As a workaround, run command below to edit the app’s shortcut file:

gksudo gedit /usr/share/applications/go-for-it.desktop

When the file opens, edit the ‘Exec’ line so that it looks like:

Exec=env LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0 go-for-it

This disables the overlay scrollbars for the single app.

In App Review, Howtos timer, to-do list

Advanced Clipboard Manager ‘CopyQ’ 2.4.3 Released

Last updated: July 28, 2015

CopyQ is an advanced clipboard manager available for both Windows and Linux. It allows you to browse, search, and edit clipboard history in text, HTML, images and any other custom format.

The software provides a customizable system tray menu, supports a variety of system-wide shortcuts (e.g. show main window or tray, edit clipboard, copy next/previous, paste as plain text), sorts items in tabs or tree, and provides advanced command-line interface and scripting.

The latest 2.4.3 release brings new plugins and a few fixes:

Plugin for tagging items
Plugins can provide script functions and commands
Improved automatic commands execution
Fixed gradients, transparency and other style improvements
Fixed decryption with newer version of GnuPG
Fixes for Qt 5 version

How to Install CopyQ:

Source tarball and installers for Windows, Debian, Ubuntu, OpenSUSE, and Fedora are available for download at the github release page:

Download CopyQ clipboard manager

For Ubuntu user, select download the i386.deb for 32-bit system or amd64.deb for 64-bit system. Finally click to open the package with Ubuntu Software Center and install the software:

That’s it. For documentation, see the CopyQ wiki page.

In Howtos clipboard manager, CopyQ

Ubuntu based Linux Distro ‘Deepin 2014.2’ (Final) Released

Last updated: March 21, 2019

The final release of Deepin 2014.2, an Ubuntu 14.04 based Linux Distro, is out today!

Deepin is a Chinese Linux Distro that officially supports over 20 languages, it uses its own Deepin Desktop Environment developed based on HTML5 technology, with Deepin Music, Deepin Movie, Deepin Store and other Deepin system software. In addition, deepin comes with media codecs, Adobe Flash Player, Google Chrome, and other software pre-installed under license by the relevant manufacturers.

A great new feature in this release is that a deepin special version of CrossOver is pre-installed, allows to run Windows applications with CrossOver for free.

For Chinese users, the 2014.2 release brings QQ6.7, 360 security guard for Linux, and the latest versions of WPS, Google Chrome, and more.

System Requirements:

minimum system requirements: Intel Pentium IV 2.0GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, 10GB Hard Drive.
recommended requirements: Intel Core 2 2.0Ghz CPU, 2GB RAM, 20 GB Hard Drive.

NOTE: It’s not recommended to run Deepin OS as a guest OS since Compiz Window Manager has poor performance in virtual machines.

Download Deepin Linux:

Deepin 2014.2 32-bit and 64-bit ISOs are available for download in SourceForge

Install:

See the Youtube Video:

In News Linux Deepin

Small Fixes to Faenza Icons 1.3.1 in Ubuntu 14.04 and Higher

Last updated: December 30, 2014

Using Faenza icons on your Ubuntu desktop? If you’re a perfectionist, you may already have found that this icon theme set lacks the wireless mouse icon and the tiny calendar icon under time & date menu in Ubuntu 14.04.

Faenza icons is one of the most popular icon theme sets for Gnome. It’s created by Matthieu James and last updated two years ago in 2012. A guy from Ubuntu forum has recently added fixes to the source so that below icons work in Ubuntu 14.04 & higher:

the wireless mouse icon
the tiny calendar icon under time & date menu

Fix to Faenza icons

No screenshot for the wireless mouse icon because I don’t have one, sorry…

I’ve repack the Faenza Icon 1.3.1 with the fixes into PPA and the .deb package available for download at the link below:

Faenza Icon 1.3.1 with fixes

Just click download the package and then double-click to open it with Ubuntu Software Center and finally click install.

Finally apply the theme in Unity Tweak Tool -> Icons and done.

In Howtos faenza icons

Lollypop – A New GNOME Music Player Available in PPA

Last updated: December 2, 2015

Lollypop is a new Gnome music playing application written in Python and Gtk3. It’s a free and open-source project hosted on github.

The music player features:

mp3/4, ogg and flac.
Genre/Cover browsing
Genre/Artist/Cover browsing
Search
Main playlist (called queue in other apps)
Party mode
Replay gain
Cover art downloader
Context artist view

The screenshots:

How to Install Lollypop Music Player in Ubuntu:

The developer has built the latest packages into his PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.04 (tested in Ubuntu 14.04 but it doesn’t work), Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 15.04 and derivatives.

1. To add the PPA, open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run the command below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnumdk/lollypop

Type in your user password when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. After added the PPA, run command to reload system package cache:

sudo apt-get update

3. Finally install the player from Synaptic Package Manager, or by running below command:

sudo apt-get install lollypop

4. [Fixed in Ubuntu 15.10 and higher] Due to an Ubuntu related bug, you have to disable the overlay scrollbars for better experience.

To do this for this single application, run command to edit the .desktop file:

gksudo gedit /usr/share/applications/lollypop.desktop

Add a parameter so that the ‘Exec’ line will be:

Exec=env LIBOVERLAY_SCROLLBAR=0 lollypop

Save the file and done.

(Optional) To remove the player as well as the PPA repository, run below command in a terminal window:

sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:gnumdk/lollypop && sudo apt-get remove lollypop

In Howtos gnome music player

Minecraft Alternative ‘Minetest’ 0.4.11 Available for Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: December 28, 2014

Minetest, the popular open-source game alternative to Minecraft, has reached the 0.4.11 release recently.

The 0.4.11 release adds new game-play options, provides various visual changes, boasts build system improvements, provides various performance optimizations, and offers a lots of bug-fixes. For a complete list of changes, see the minetest web page.

Install Minetest 0.4.11 in Ubuntu:

While Ubuntu repository provide an old version of the game package, the Minetest Stable PPA has made the new release available for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS (also contains the 12.04 build, but failed so far).

To add the PPA and install the game, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:minetestdevs/stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install minetest

If you don’t want to add the PPA, grab the .deb installer from Launchpad page. Depends on your OS type, 32-bit or 64-bit, select download:

“minetest_xxx~ubuntu14.04.1_amd64.deb” for Ubuntu 14.04 64-bit
“minetest_xxx~ubuntu14.04.1_i386.deb” for Ubuntu 14.04 32-bit.

Once downloaded, double-click to open the .deb package via Ubuntu Software Center and click install.

In Howtos Minecraft, Minetest

Install The Diary Software ‘RedNotebook’ 1.9 in Ubuntu 14.04/12.04

Last updated: December 28, 2014

RedNotebook, a cross-platform diary and journal software, has been updated to the 1.9.0 release recently with a few improvements and bug fixes.

For those who have never heard of RedNotebook, it is a free and modern journal that includes a calendar navigation, customizable templates, export functionality and word clouds. With it, you can also format, tag and search your entries.

It features:

Tagging
Format your text bold, italic or underlined
Insert Images, files and links to websites
Links and mail addresses are recognized automatically
Spell Check on Linux
Live-Search
Automatic saving
Backup to zip archive
Word Clouds with most often used words and tags
Templates
Export the journal to PDF, HTML, Latex or plain text
The data is stored in plain text files, no database is needed
Translated into more than 30 languages

The latest 1.9.0 release was released a few hours ago with below changes:

Add #tags to cloud ignore list to remove them from the tag cloud (thanks Przemysław Buczkowski).
Remove option to start RedNotebook minimized.
Do not remove menu bar in fullscreen mode (lp:1400356).
Allow exiting fullscreen mode with ESC key.
Only allow comment signs (#) at the beginning of a line in the config file.
Fix reading configuration files.

How to Install / Upgrade to RedNotebook 1.9.0 in Ubuntu:

The official PPA repository has made this release available for Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 10.04 and derivatives

To add the PPA and install the software, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, then run the commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rednotebook/stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install rednotebook

If you don’t want to add the PPA, download the “rednotebook_VERSION_OS-EDITION_all.deb” package from the launchpad page. Finally double-click to package to open with Ubuntu Software Center and click install.

In Howtos Diary and Journal, RedNotebook

Remote Control Clementine Player via Your Android Phone

Last updated: December 26, 2014

Want to remotely control the desktop PC music playback via your phone? Clementine music player has a built-in feature allows to remotely control player using Android mobile over LAN (or WAN).

All you need to do is enable this feature in the desktop player and install the official app ‘Clementine Remote’ on your phone.

1. For Ubuntu 14.04 and earlier editions, you have to upgrade to the latest Clementine release by installing the package from the official link below:

Clementine Player Download Page

32-bit or 64-bit? Check it out at System Settings -> Details.

The downloaded package is .deb file, just double-click on it to open with Ubuntu Software Center and click install button to install the player.

Tip: Restart your computer if you were upgrading Clementine from a previous version.

2. Open the music player and go to menu “Tools -> Preferences”. Select Network Remote in the left pane, then do:

Enable remote control by ticking the box ‘Use a network remote control’
Depends on your need, leave the port default or change it.
Set LAN only or both LAN & WAN access
Set an authentication code, so that clients need to type the code to connect.
Tick ‘Allow downloads’ if you want to download songs from Clementine to Android.

3. Now on your Android device, install the ‘Clementine Remote’ app from Google Play.

Once installed, start the app, type in the IP of the remote machine and click connect.

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos Clementine, remote access

Show or hide the Control Bar in Ubuntu 14.04 Rhythmbox Player

Last updated: December 25, 2014

Quick tutorial shows how to show or hide the play bar (control buttons and volume control) in Ubuntu’s default Rhythmbox Music Player.

As a small Christmas present to Rhythmbox v3.x users, a rhythmbox plugin developer has created a plugin allows the control toolbar to be hidden when the application starts.

The bar can be redisplayed via the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+T or the menu “View -> Show Toolbar”.

How to install this Rhythmbox Plugin:

The plugin is available in the developer’s PPA for Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 14.10.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one to add the PPA and install the plugin:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fossfreedom/rhythmbox-plugins

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-alternative-toolbar

For those who don’t want to add PPA, download & install the .deb package (“rhythmbox-plugin-alternative-toolbar_xxx_all.deb”) from the launchpad page.

Once installed, restart Rhythmbox Music Player and enable the plugin from menu “Tools -> Plugins”.