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PPA Updated for Audacity 2.1.1, Added Ubuntu 15.10 Support

Last updated: July 22, 2015

audacity-logo1

The 2.1.1 release of Audacity audio editor and recorder was released more than a week ago with some new features and fixes. Now it’s ready in PPA for Ubuntu users (unofficial).

Release highlights of Audacity 2.1.1:

  • The most visible new feature is scrubbing and seeking, including backwards play. Updates to Quick-Play also help with finding a precise position in the audio.
  • You can now install plug-ins without restarting Audacity or add and remove any effect or generator from the menus.
  • Over 50 bugs have been addressed with this release. Edits are now processed much faster in longer projects of a few hours duration.
  • Effects now have presets. A new Limiter replaces the Hard Limiter effect. There’s a new version of Vocal Removal, a cross-fade effect for combining clips on the same track and ‘classic filters’ available as an opt-in effect.
  • There’s also been lots of work behind the scenes, including VI usability enhancements and upgrade to new libraries.

For more, see the wiki page.

How to Install Audacity 2.1.1 in Ubuntu:

The 2.1.1 release is available in PPA for Ubuntu 15.10, Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04 and their derivatives. Due to the old libsuil-0-0 library, Ubuntu 12.04 is excluded but the 2.1.0 release is available.

1. To add the PPA repository, open terminal from the Dash, Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut keys. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity

2. After adding the PPA, you can install/upgrade the editor either via below commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install audacity

or by using Software Updater if you’ve a previous release installed:

Hope this helps those who are not good at compiling from source tarball.

In Howtos ,
 

Kodi 15.0 (Stable) Released, Install it in Ubuntu via PPA

Last updated: July 22, 2015

The 15.0 release of Kodi media center, formerly known as XBMC, was released yesterday with quite a lot of new features. Codename is Isengard

According to the official release note, Kodi 15.0 features:

  • A new chapter selector window allows you to visually browse and select chapters from mkvs and other containers that support chapters.
  • Adaptive seeking (aka Skip Steps). The more times you press a button to seek in a period of time, the larger the jump forward or backward will be.
  • Audio and Subtitle Lists. For content that includes multiple audio and subtitle choices, you can select from a full list of choices, rather than manually searching through a spinner.
  • Language Add-ons and Expanded International Preferences. Now language translations get regularly updated to all users as the add-ons themselves update.
  • Improved Add-on Manager to make finding the add-ons you are looking for easier.

The new release also brings other improvements include: ffmpeg 2.6.3 update, improved Closed Captioning support in Live TV, fixed music video queuing, allow scanning of new sources and marking as watched, and Windows DXVA HEVC hardware decoding support.

Install / Upgrade Kodi 15.0 in Ubuntu:

Ubuntu 12.04 support has been dropped in Kodi PPA. Packages for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Linux Mint 17 and Elementary OS Freya will be made into PPA very soon.

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

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

2. After adding PPA, you can install or upgrade Kodi as well as the encoder, addons via commands:

sudo apt-get update

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

Or using Synaptic Package Manager to install/upgrade the software:

In Howtos ,
 

How to Install SopCast Player in Ubuntu 15.04

Last updated: July 21, 2015

Quick tutorial shows how to install SopCast Player, GUI for SopCast p2p TV streaming, in Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid using PPA.

SopCast Player is designed to be an easy to use Linux GUI front-end for the p2p streaming technology developed by SopCast. It features an integrated video player (VLC), a channel guide, and bookmarks. Once SopCast Player is installed it simply “just works” with no required configuration.

Install SopCast Player in Ubuntu:

There’s a PPA repository available for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 10.04 and their derivatives (e.g., Mint 13/17, and Elementary OS Freya).

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

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:lyc256/sopcast-player

2. After that, you can install the player either from Synaptic Package Manager after clicking Reload button or by running below commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install sopcast-player

For those who don’t want to add PPA, download and install the .deb packages of sp-auth and then sopcast-player for your OS from this page.

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Install Twitter Client ‘Corebird’ 1.0.1 in Ubuntu 15.10

Last updated: July 20, 2015

Corebird, a native Gtk+ Twitter client for Linux desktop, gets a new release recently though there’s even not a release note.

Corebird 1.0.1 was released silently without a release note and even changelog file in its source tarball. The only change I can tell is that it now provides minimize, maximize, and close at top-left corner in Ubuntu 15.04 both Unity and Gnome Shell.

For Elementary OS Freya, the global menu (gear button) has been merged into header bar.

Install Corebird 1.0.1 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 15.10 and Ubuntu 15.04 user, open terminal from the Dash, Launcher, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run below commands one by one to get it from PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/corebird 

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install corebird

For Elementary OS Freya and those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb installer from launchpad page.

UPDATE: Ubuntu 14.04 is not supported! If you REALLY want this app, first add Gnome Testing PPA (USING THE PPA COULD BREAK YOUR SYSTEM OR MAKE IT UNSTABLE!) and update your system cache, finally install the .deb from the previous link.

In Howtos ,
 

Open Gnome Terminal in New Tab in Ubuntu 15.04 [Quick Tip]

Last updated: July 16, 2015

Gnome Terminal used to have an “Open Tab” option allows to open new terminal windows in tabs. Now the option is gone in Ubuntu 15.04.

The “Open Tab” option has been merged into “Open Terminal” option in Ubuntu 15.04, so it opens new terminals in either new windows or new tabs depends on the Preferences settings under General tab:

The shortcut key does not change, so you can now open Gnome Terminal in a new tab via either Ctrl+Shift+T or “Open Terminal” option:

In Howtos
 

How to Install FileBot 4.6 in Ubuntu 15.10, 15.04, 14.04

Last updated: July 15, 2015

Quick tutorial shows how to install latest FileBot, the ultimate tv renamer / subtitle downloader / sfv validator, in Ubuntu, and Linux Mint.

FileBot is the ultimate tool for organizing and renaming your movies, tv shows or anime, and music well as downloading subtitles and artwork. It’s smart and just works.

FileBot provides a simple user-interface tuned for drag-n-drop, renames and moves hundreds of media files in a matter of seconds, fetches episode info from TheTVDB, AniDB or TVRage, and auto detects names for Series/Anime and Movies.

It also features:

  • Powerful and full-featured cmdline interface and scripting interface for any kind of automation
  • Accurate and robust and simply awesome file / episode matching logic
  • Powerful and highly customizable episode naming scheme
  • Supports language preferences for series and episode titles
  • Supports movie identification and renaming via TheMovieDB
  • Reverse rename files using internal history or the original torrent file
  • Download subtitles from OpenSubtitles
  • Advanced logic for matching files to most suitable subtitles
  • Find exact subtitles on OpenSubtitles
  • Upload subtitles with movie hash to OpenSubtitles
  • Integrated subtitle viewer for srt, ass and sub files
  • and more …

Install FileBot in Ubuntu:

FileBot is available in Ubuntu Software Center, but it costs $9.95. To install the latest release (4.6 so far) for free, follow below steps.

1. Install Oracle Java. Since version 4.5, Oracle Java >= 8 is required for this software.

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

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:webupd8team/java

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer

Above commands add the Webupd8 PPA and install an installer script which automatically downloads and installs oracle java from its official website.

After that, you may run below command to set Java 8 as default java environment on your system:

sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-set-default

2. Download & install FileBot package.

Depends on your OS type, 32bit (i386) or 64-bit (amd64), select download the Debian package from its official web page:

Download FileBot

Once the download process finish, click to open the package with Software Center (or Gdebi) and finally install the software.

In Howtos
 

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 ,
 

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 ,
 

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
 

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