UbuntuHandbook

Selene Media Converter Adds VP9 and H265/HEVC Support

Last updated: January 29, 2015

Selene, a free and open-source batch media converter, has recently reached ver 2.5 with VP9 and H265/HEVC encoding support.

For the new encoding supports, there are some points noted in the official release note:

For VP9 encoding support using ffmpeg or avconv:

VP9 encoder is very slow compared to VP8. Use the ‘speed’ slider to adjust the encoding speed. Lower values will give better quality video at expense of encoding speed. Higher values will speed-up encoding at the expense of quality. You need to find a balance that you are comfortable with.
The ‘constant quality’ rate control method seems to be broken in the VP8/VP9 encoder. Both ffmpeg and vpxenc tools ignore the –crf/–cq-level parameter and produce bad quality video. So currently only ‘variable bitrate’ mode is available in the application.
Output format is WebM (*.webm). Other containers currently do not support VP8/VP9 video formats.
Ensure that the version of ffmpeg/avconv on your system was compiled with VP8/VP9 support. As of now, the version available in the Ubuntu repositories for 14.04 and above, have support for VP8/VP9 encoding. You can verify this by running the command: ‘avconv -codecs | grep libvpx’

Selene with VP9 Encoding support

For H.265/HEVC encoding support:

x265 encoder is very slow compared to x264. Change the ‘preset’ option to ‘fast’ or ‘fastest’ to speed-up the encoding at the expense of compression (output file size).
Only MP4 container is supported for output. MKV output is not yet available since both ‘mkvmerge’ and ‘ffmpeg’ are yet to add support for muxing h265 streams.

Selene with H265 encoding support

How to Install / Upgrade Selene in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, and Linux Mint 17/17.1 users, the latest packages for this converter are available in the developer’s PPA.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:teejee2008/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install selene

Or you can directly grab the .deb installer from the ppa packages page.

via: TeeJee Tech

In Howtos batch converter, media converter, selene

How to Install / Upgrade to Linux Kernel 3.18.4 in Ubuntu

Last updated: January 28, 2015

The latest Linux Kernel 3.18.4 has been released. All users of 3.18 kernel series are urged to upgrade as soon as possible.

The kernel 3.18.4 is a big release that brings architecture updates for x86 and ARM, driver updates for i915, radeon, wireless, and ethernet, various USB fixes, and more. For details, see the release note.

Upgrade to Kernel 3.18.4 in Ubuntu 14.04/ 14.10:

Ubuntu Kernel team has made the binary packages of this kernel release, available for download at the link below:

DOWNLOAD KERNEL 3.18.4 .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-3.18.4-031804_xxx_all.deb
linux-headers-3.18.4-031804-generic_3.18.4-031804.xxx_i386/amd64.deb
linux-image-3.18.4-031804-generic_3.18.4-031804.xxx_i386/amd64.deb

If you need a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio) then download and install the packages below in turn:

linux-headers-3.18.4-031804_xxx_all.deb
linux-headers-3.18.4-031804-lowlatency_3.18.4-031804.xxx_i386/amd64.deb
linux-image-3.18.4-031804-lowlatency_3.18.4-031804.xxx_i386/amd64.deb

For Ubuntu Server edition without a 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/v3.18.4-vivid/linux-headers-3.18.4-031804-generic_3.18.4-031804.201501271243_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.4-vivid/linux-headers-3.18.4-031804_3.18.4-031804.201501271243_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.4-vivid/linux-image-3.18.4-031804-generic_3.18.4-031804.201501271243_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.18.4-*.deb linux-image-3.18.4-*.deb

For 32-bit system, run:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.4-vivid/linux-headers-3.18.4-031804-generic_3.18.4-031804.201501271243_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.4-vivid/linux-headers-3.18.4-031804_3.18.4-031804.201501271243_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.18.4-vivid/linux-image-3.18.4-031804-generic_3.18.4-031804.201501271243_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.18.4-*.deb linux-image-3.18.4-*.deb

Once done, restart the machine. For proprietary graphics driver, you may have to re-install/re-built your driver.

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 3.18.4:

sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-3.18.4-* linux-image-3.18.4-* && sudo update-grub

In Howtos Linux Kernel, Linux Kernel 3.18 series

Opera Browser 27 Brings Back ‘Tab Preview’ Feature

Last updated: January 27, 2015

Opera 27 for Linux has been announced today as its first stable release in 2015. The new release brings back the Tab preview feature and improves the navigation between Speed Dial, bookmarks and the Discover feature.

Now when you click to expand the tab menu (or press Ctrl+M on keyboard) and move the cursor over the tab names, you will also see the tab previews.

In addition, the navigation between Speed Dial, bookmarks and the Discover feature in Opera 27 has been moved to the bottom of the browser window so that you have more space at the top, and you can use the background of your choice without the previous fade-out effect.

For more details, see the changelog.

How to Install or Upgrade Opera in Ubuntu:

If you have a previous release installed on your system, you should be able to upgrade to Opera 27 by installing the updates through “Software Updater” utility.

Or you can download the Opera for Linux at the link below:

The downloaded package should be ‘open-stable_xx.xx_i386/amd64.deb’. Just click to open the package with Ubuntu Software Center and click install it in your system.

In Howtos Opera

Install The Twitter Client Choqok 1.5 in Ubuntu 14.04 / 14.10

Last updated: January 26, 2015

Choqok, a free and open-source micro-blogging client for KDE, has reached the 1.5 release recently. It has been more than one year since the previous version was released in September 2013.

Choqok features Twitter, Pump.io (Formerly known as Identi.ca), and OpenDesktop.org services support and KWallet integration. The 1.5 release brings below changes

There’s a new option to disable the system tray.
As mentioned above, we now have a plugin for Pump.io microblogs.
We have a new plugin for expansion of short URLs, and dropped old UnTiny plugin. **
A preview for photos posted to Twitter.com is now available.
Issues in updating friends list of Twitter is fixed and sending direct message is working again.
There’s a new option in User menu for Reporting a User to Twitter.
A long wanted request on StatusNet(Gnu social) plugin was ability to take into account the server’s custom set, char limit. now we have it.
IMStatus plugin now supports KDE Telepathy.
Yourls and Goo.gl shortening plugins are fixed and now they are working again.
Broken shortening plugins are dropped.

How to Install / Upgrade Choqok in Ubuntu:

The latest binaries have been made into Adilson’s PPA, available for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04 and Linux Mint 17 (fail to build for Ubunt 12.04 at the moment).

Note: as a KDE app, installing Choqok also installs numerous Kubuntu libraries.

To add the PPA, open terminal from menu and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:adilson/experimental

Then update package cache and install or upgrade the app by running below two commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install choqok

In Howtos choqok twitter client, twitter client

Install The Free Font Creator & Editor ‘Birdfont’ 2.0 in Ubuntu

Last updated: January 25, 2015

Birdfont, a free and open source font editor, has reached the 2.0 release recently with new UI layout, bug fixes and a few improvements.

BirdFont is a free font editor that lets you create vector graphics and export TTF, EOT & SVG fonts. It is written by Johan Mattsson using Vala programming language, works on Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.

The 2.0 release brings:

New UI layout
New zoom tool
Improved background import
Customizable short cuts
New tab for changing font name
Illustrator SVG import and other bug fixes
Load bf fonts faster

How to Install/Upgrade birdfont in Ubuntu:

The binary packages have been made into my personal PPA (unofficial), available for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10 and Ubuntu 15.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/birdfont

After that, update system package cache and install the editor by running below two commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install birdfont

If you don’t want to add PPA, download & install the .deb package directly from launchpad page.

New to Birdfont? See the video tutorials on its website.

In Howtos birdfont, font editor

How to Use Your Android Phone As A Wireless Webcam in Ubuntu

Last updated: January 24, 2015

Don’t have a camera on your Ubuntu machine? Well, you can use your Android phone as a webcam or IP Cam through WIFI or USB.

In below steps I’ll show you how to do it through the DroidCam software.

1. Install DroidCam client in Ubuntu machine.

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

sudo apt-get install linux-headers-$(uname -r) build-essential

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:paolorotolo/droidcam

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install droidcam

Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint 13/17 are supported.

If you don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb package directly from the launchpad page.

2. Install DroidCam app in your Android device from Google Play.

3. Launch DroidCam app in your Android device:

4. Launch DroidCam client in Ubuntu machine. Select connection mode, type in ip (if need), and click Connect.

5. Once connected, open a webcam specific app, like Cheese, in Ubuntu and select “DroidCam (v4l2loopback)” as its webcam device.

Finally you’ll see what your Android camera sees in the Cheese window. That’s it.

In Howtos Android Wireless Webcam, DroidCam

System Restore App ‘TimeShift’ Adds LUKS-encrypted Partition Support

Last updated: December 10, 2022

TimeShift, the open-source System Restore software, has reached the 1.7.x release recently. The new release added new command line options to restore, list and delete snapshots, added backup and restore support for LUKS-encrypted partitions.

Never heard of it? TimeShift for Linux is a application that provides functionality similar to the System Restore feature in Windows and the Time Machine tool in Mac OS. It takes snapshots of your system files and settings. User files such as documents, pictures and music are excluded. Your files remains unchanged when you restore your system to an earlier date.

The 1.7 version brings command line options to restore, delete snapshots. For example:

timeshift --restore    #interactive

timeshift --restore --snapshot "2015-01-21_19-28-43" --backup-device /dev/sda2 --target-device /dev/sda1 --skip-grub

timeshift --delete    #interactive

timeshift --delete --snapshot "2015-01-21_19-28-43"

timeshift --delete-all    #completely remove all snapshots

If your system is installed on a LUKS-encrypted partition then you can now restore snapshots both online (from running system) and offline (from another system / LiveCD).

How to Install/Upgrade TimeShift:

TimeShift is available in the developer’s PPA for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 12.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:teejee2008/timeshift

After that, update package cache and install the software by running below two commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install timeshift

~~For BTRFS filesystem, replace the last command with this one:~~

sudo apt-get install timeshift-btrfs

In Howtos system restore, TimeShift PPA

VirtualBox 4.2.28 Released With Kernel 3.19 & X11 Fixes

Last updated: January 22, 2015

Still using the VirtualBox 4.2 series? Oracle has recently released an update, VirtualBox 4.2.28, with various Linux related bug fixes, including Linux Kernel 3.19 fixes, Gnome Session crashes, etc.

Below is the full list of changes:

VMM: fixed a potential misbehavior after restoring the A20 state from a saved state
VRDP: fixed a rare crash when using remote audio input
Floppy: fixed read errors and guest memory corruption when running under control of QEMM
Storage: fixed data corruption when resizing VHD images under certain circumstances
NAT: fixed handling of the RFC 1533 DHCP PAD option
X11 hosts: Made the extra key on Brazilian Thinkpads work (bug #8745)
X11 hosts: fixed a problem of input focus cycles and immediately released key presses in full screen mode (bug #13238)
Linux guests: fix a crash in gnome-session (bug #13335)
Linux Additions: fixed a potential use-after-free when unloading the VBoxGuest module
Linux Additions: Linux 3.19 fixes (#13741)
X11 Additions: support X.Org Server 1.15 (bug #12623)
X11 guests: Add support for X.Org Server 1.16 (bug #13207)
X11 guests: fixed a wrong parameter in the video driver which caused problems with full-screen X11 clients (bug #2748)
X11 guests: fix a bug handling video driver display properties w

To install Virtualbox 4.2.28, download the installer from the link below (for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux systems):

Download VBox 4.2.28

For Debian/Ubuntu based system, you can also install/upgrade Vbox from its official repository. To do so:

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

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

2. Then install the keyring:

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

3. Finally update package cache and install or upgrade vbox 4.2.x:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.2

Support for Ubuntu 8.04, Ubuntu 10.04, Ubuntu 11.04, …, up to Ubuntu 14.10.

In Howtos Virtualbox, virtualbox 4.2

Planetarium App ‘Stellarium’ 0.13.2 Fixed Over 70 Bugs

Last updated: January 22, 2015

Free planetarium software Stellarium has reached 0.13.2 release with over 70 bug-fixes and new nice features – like visualization of the zodiacal light and new sky cultures.

Stellarium is a free and open source planetarium software that uses OpenGL to render a realistic projection of the night sky in real time. It works in Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

According to the changelog, the new release fixed below important bugs:

The orbits of Neptune’s moons are not rendered correctly
fail to start stellarium compiled by Qt5.3.1
No disk in station F on start
Mac OS X Yosemite 10.10 mouse bug
Unable to select objects after zoom.
The textures of Hyperion (Saturn VII) fails to render.
Wrong value of proper motion for some stars
Memory leak in 64-bit version
Visual artifacts on the Moon
Insufficient OpenGL version for 0.11.96.MESA-win32

Other bug fixes and installer for Windows and OS X are available at launchpad page.

Install / Upgrade Stellarium in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 15.05 and Linux Mint 17 users, latest Stellarium packages are available in PPA repository.

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

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:stellarium/stellarium-releases

After that, you can upgrade Stellarium by running Software Updater and installing updates. Or run below command to install the software:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install stellarium

In Howtos free planetarium software, Stellarium

How to Remember and Restore The Last Session in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: January 21, 2015

Quick tutorial shows how to save current session status so that Ubuntu remembers and automatically restores the current running applications at next login.

This can be done by a simple graphical configuration tool called Dconf-Editor. So first click the link below to bring up Ubuntu Software Center and install the tool:

Once installed, launcher dconf-editor from the Dash or the Launcher.