UbuntuHandbook

Install Kodi 14 Stable (Formerly ‘XBMC’) in Ubuntu 14.04/12.04

Last updated: December 24, 2014

The first stable release of Kodi Media Center, formerly known as XBMC, has been released the day before Christmas Eve. The code name of Kodi 14.0 is ‘Helix Unwinds’.

Besides changing names, Kodi 14.0 uses FFmpeg 2.4.4 which means it’s now able to play back h.265 and VP9 video codecs. Also there are improvements on Kodi Library and audio playback, crashes on Linux and audio-related bug-fixes, more user controls.

More details, see the Kodi release page.

Install Kodi 14 via PPA in Ubuntu:

Kodi 14 available in its official PPA for Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04 and derivatives.

Open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run the commands below one by one:

1. First install the required packages to manage repository:

sudo apt-get install python-software-properties pkg-config software-properties-common

2. Then add the Kodi PPA by running:

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

3. Reload the system package lists:

sudo apt-get update

4. Finally install Kodi as well as the encode, addon:

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

When done, run kodi in terminal to start the media center. For me, I need a restart to make the Kodi icon available in the Dash.

In Howtos Kodi, XBMC media center

Latest Tomahawk Player 0.8.x Available for Ubuntu 12.04

Last updated: December 23, 2014

The PPA repository for Tomahawk Music Player finally made the latest 0.8.x release available for Ubuntu 12.04 Precise. Now the PPA provides the latest packages for Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04 and derivatives.

For those who have never heard of Tomahawk, it is a music player that not only plays your local collection, but also streams from SoundCloud, Beats, Spotify, Google Play Music, YouTube and many more. You can even connect Tomahawk with your friends via Jabber / GTalk and share your playlists and collections.

Tomahawk 0.8 was released a month ago with redesigned UI and new music services support and various fixes. Here’s the release highlights:

New UI and Icons
Drag and drop support for iTunes, Deezer, Beats Music, Rdio, Spotify, SoundCloud links (into Tomahawk) for playlists/tracks/artists/album links.
Added Google Play Music and Beats Music support.
Now Playing notifications
Support rtmp:// streams.
Add support for Opus codec (requires TagLib 1.9). Ubuntu 12.04 is not supported because it’s built with Taglib 1.8

For more details, see the github page.

Install Latest Tomahawk in Ubuntu:

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tomahawk/ppa

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

After that, you can upgrade your music player through Software Updater after checking for updates. Or install it by running below commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install tomahawk

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos tomahawk, Ubuntu 12.04

PPA Updates For LiVEs Video Editor 2.2.7

Last updated: December 22, 2014

The open-source video editor and VJ tool LiVEs 2.2.7 has been released recently. PPA’s ready for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Linux Mint 17, and derivatives.

What is LiVEs?

LiVES is a Video Editing System. It is designed to be simple to use, yet powerful. It is small in size, yet it has many advanced features.

LiVES mixes realtime video performance and non-linear editing in one professional quality application. It will let you start editing and making video right away, without having to worry about formats, frame sizes, or framerates. It is a very flexible tool which is used by both professional VJ’s and video editors – mix and switch clips from the keyboard, use dozens of realtime effects, trim and edit your clips in the clip editor, and bring them together using the multitrack timeline. You can even record your performance in real time, and then edit it further or render it straight away.

For the more technically minded, the application is frame and sample accurate, and it can be controlled remotely or scripted for use as a video server. And it supports all of the latest free standards.

For features, documentation and other details, see LiVEs web site.

Changes in LiVEs 2.2.7:

Add support for audio triggered generators.
Add support for projectM (milkdrop) generators.
Improvements to openGL playback plugin.
Add permanent inputs in jack and pulse audio when handling external audio.
Fix bug in chroma_blend transition.
Further code cleanup.
Fix text width for “show VJ keys” window.
Remove unnecessary deinterlacing from threaded player.
Added OSC commands /clip/selection/rte_apply, /clip/undo and /clip/redo.
Add libvisual plugins to correct submenu (regression).
Minor fixes for the rfx builder window.
Minor fixes for merge in clip editor.

Install/Upgrade to LiVEs 2.2.7 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 12.04 users, run below commands one by one to install or upgrade to LiVEs 2.2.7.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/lives

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

2. If you have a previous version installed, upgrade the editor using “Software Updater” or “Synaptic Package Manager” after checking for updates.

Or you can run below commands one by one to update packages cache and install LiVEs:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install lives

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos LiVES, LiVES Video Editor PPA

Speed Up Firefox in Ubuntu 14.04 By Moving Cache to RAM

Last updated: December 21, 2014

There are a variety of ways to improve your Firefox browser’s page load times. If you have a lot of RAM to spare in Ubuntu, moving Cache to RAM can speed up Firefox since computer can access data in RAM much faster than on a hard drive.

Firefox has a built-in feature that uses the browser cache in memory instead of disk. Below I’ll you how to enable it:

1. In address bar of Firefox, type in about:config and hit Enter. Click the button says “I’ll be careful, I promise!” to pass the warning page.

2. Stop Firefox from caching to disk.

In the filter bar, type in browser.cache.disk.enable. Double-click on the result line to set value to false.

3. Enable cache to RAM and assign cache size.

To enable cache to RAM, type “browser.cache.memory.enable” in the filter bar and make sure the value of result preference is true!

To assign cache size, create a new preference:

right click on blank area -> select “New” -> Integer
type in name “browser.cache.memory.capacity” (without quotes)
type in a value, number in KB (for example, 100000 means 100,000KB or 100MB). You can set the value to -1 to tell Firefox to dynamically determine the cache size.

When everything’s done, restart Firefox and check out the cache information by going to the about:cache page.

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos cache, Firefox, RAM

[Quick Tip] Enable Telnet Service in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: December 20, 2014

This is quick tutorial that shows you how to install and setup a Telnet server in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

TELNET (TELetype NETwork) is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area network LAN connections. It allows one computer to access a command-line interface on a remote host.

Telnet is insecure because the communication is not encrypted, your password and all other data will be transmitted as clear text. If possible avoid Telnet, and use Secure Shell (SSH) instead.

If you really want to enable the Telnet in Ubuntu, just run the command below in text console (terminal) to install Telnet server:

sudo apt-get install xinetd telnetd

The Telnet service is started automatically once the installation is done. And you can either run telnet serverip or use a Telnet client (PuTTy, SecureCRT, etc.) to access this server.

To change the port (default is 23), edit the /etc/services file with your favorite text editor. Find out and change the number in the line below:

telnet        23/tcp

To apply changes, you have to restart the service by running the command below:

sudo /etc/init.d/xinetd restart

More configurations, see this document.

In Howtos Telnet, Ubuntu 14.04

First Alpha Of Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet Available For Download

Last updated: September 29, 2017

The first alpha of the next Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet has been released today. It features images for Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu GNOME, UbuntuKylin and the Ubuntu Cloud images.

NOTE Pre-releases of the Vivid Vervet are *not* encouraged for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for Ubuntu flavor developers and those who want to help in testing, reporting and fixing bugs as we work towards getting this release ready.

Alpha 1 includes a number of software updates that are ready for wider testing. This is quite an early set of images, so you should expect some bugs.

Kubuntu 15.04: The Plasma 5 is now the default.
Ubuntu Gnome 15.04:
- Gnome-shell is still 3.12 for now (hopefully by Alpha 2, we shall have 3.14).
- Few applications have been updated to 3.14 (hopefully by Alpha 2, most of the applications will be 3.14).
- gnome-terminal has transparency again.
- Window control Button layouts have been reverted to upstream default (only close); use gnome-tweak-tool if you want to get back the other controls.

Download Ubuntu 15.04 Flavors:

Kubuntu 15.04: cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/vivid/
Lubunuu 15.04: cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/vivid/
Ubuntu Gnome 15.04: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-gnome/releases/vivid/
UbuntuKylin 15.04: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/vivid/
Ubuntu Cloud 15.04: cloud-images.ubuntu.com/releases/vivid/

via: fridge.ubuntu.com

In News ubuntu 15.04

Linux Kernel 3.18.1 Is Available For Upgrade

Last updated: December 18, 2014

The first update of the latest Linux Kernel 3.18 series has been released recently. Greg Kroah-Hartman urges all users of this kernel series to upgrade as soon as possible.

Linux Kernel 3.18.1 is a small release which brings some fixes to wireless and alsa drivers. If you’re using the Asus Z99He laptop, a EAPD fixup has been added to solve “internal speaker not working” issue. For details, see the Linux Kernel Mailing List page.

How to Upgrade to Kernel 3.18.1 in Ubuntu:

The Ubuntu Kernel Team has made the packages for the new kernel release, available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 3.18.1 .debs

First check out your OS type, 32-bit (i386) or 64-bit (amd64), then download and install the packages below in turn:

linux-headers-3.18.1-031801_xxx_all.deb
linux-headers-3.18.1-031801-generic_3.18.1-031801.xxx_i386/amd64.deb
linux-image-3.18.1-031801-generic_3.18.1-031801.xxx_i386/amd64.deb

For Ubuntu Server edition with graphical session, run below commands one by one to download & install the kernel debs:

For 64-bit system, run:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.1-vivid/linux-headers-3.18.1-031801-generic_3.18.1-031801.201412170637_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.1-vivid/linux-headers-3.18.1-031801_3.18.1-031801.201412170637_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.1-vivid/linux-image-3.18.1-031801-generic_3.18.1-031801.201412170637_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.18.1-*.deb linux-image-3.18.1-*.deb

For 32-bit system, run:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.1-vivid/linux-headers-3.18.1-031801-generic_3.18.1-031801.201412170637_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.1-vivid/linux-headers-3.18.1-031801_3.18.1-031801.201412170637_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.1-vivid/linux-image-3.18.1-031801-generic_3.18.1-031801.201412170637_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.18.1-*.deb linux-image-3.18.1-*.deb

Once done, restart the machine.

If for some reason, the new kernel does not work properly for you, reboot with the previous Kernel (Grub boot loader -> Advanced -> select previous kernel) and run below command to remove Linux Kernel 3.18.1:

sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-3.18.1-* linux-image-3.18.1-* && sudo update-grub

That’s it. Enjoy!

In Howtos Linux Kernel, Linux Kernel 3.18 series

Install Virtual CD/DVD Drive ‘CDemu’ in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: December 17, 2014

Looking for a virtual cd/dvd drive software for Ubuntu? CDemu is an open-source software suite designed to emulate an optical drive and disc (including CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs) on Linux.

CDEmu consists of:

a kernel module implementing a virtual drive-controller
libmirage which is a software library for interpreting optical disc images
a daemon which emulates the functionality of an optical drive+disc
textmode and GTK clients for controlling the emulator

Optical media emulated by CDemu can be mounted within Linux. Automounting is also allowed.

Install CDemu in Ubuntu 14.04:

There is an unofficial PPA repository that contains the CDemu packages for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS and Linux Mint 17.

To add the PPA, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below and type in your user password when it asks:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cdemu/ppa

After added the PPA, update system package lists and install the emulator by running below commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gcdemu cdemu-client

Once installed, start the GTK client gCDEmu from the Dash or Menu. Or run cdemu -h to get the command line help.

In Howtos cdemu, virtual cd/dvd drive

Install Battle for Wesnoth 1.12.0 In Ubuntu 14.04/14.10

Last updated: December 16, 2014

The Battle for Wesnoth game has reached a new stable series by releasing the 1.12.0 release. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu from PPA.

The Battle for Wesnoth is a turn-based strategy video game with a fantasy setting, featuring both single-player, and online/hotseat multiplayer combat. In Wesnoth, the player attempts to build a powerful army by controlling villages and defeating enemies for experience. The game is loosely based on the Sega Genesis games Master of Monsters and Warsong.

The latest Wesnoth 1.12.0 was released a few days ago, which brings forth loads of new features for players and content creators, as well as a vast number of bug fixes and small enhancements. A new multiplayer faction, a refurnished game interface, and an improved map editor comprise only a small fraction of the changes this new version has to offer to veterans from previous versions.

For details, go to the official web page.

Screenshots:

How to Install Battle for Wesnoth 1.12.0 in Ubuntu:

An unofficial PPA has made the new release into PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10 and Linux Mint 17.

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

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:vincent-c/wesnoth

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install wesnoth-1.12

Above commands will add the PPA repository, update your system package cache, and finally download & install the game.

In Howtos Battle for Wesnoth, game

Install Synapse Application Launcher in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: December 14, 2014

Synapse is a powerful app launcher for Ubuntu Linux, which allows to start applications as well as find and access relevant documents & files by making use of the Zeitgeist engine.

Synapse supports keyboard shortcuts. By default, you can:

press Ctrl+Space on keyboard to bring up the search box
type anything and use top/down arrow keys to navigate among results.
finally hit Enter to start application or open the document or file.

With the default enabled plugins, Synapse launcher also allows you to:

find and execute arbitrary commands
calculate basic expressions
log out current session and lock screen
shutdown, restart, suspend, hibernate computer
share images using imgur
connect to host with SSH
search the web.

Install Synapse in Ubuntu 14.04:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one to add Synapse stable PPA, update system cache and install the program:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:synapse-core/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install synapse

If you don’t want to add the PPA, download & install the synapse and synapse-dbg packages(.deb packages) from the launchpad page.

Once installed, open the program from the Dash or Menu. When it opens, you can configure the auto-start, keyboard shortcuts, and plugins from the indicator menu preferences window.