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How to Upgrade to Linux Kernel 3.19 in Ubuntu 14.04/14.10

Last updated: February 10, 2015

Linux Kernel 3.19

The first stable release of Linux Kernel 3.19 was released yesterday by Linus Torvalds. He wrote on the Linux Kernel Mailing List:

So nothing all that exciting happened, and while I was tempted a couple of times to do an rc8, there really wasn’t any reason for it.

Just as an example, Sasha Levin used KASan and found an interesting bug in paravirtualized spinlocks, but realistically it’s been around forever, and it’s not even clear that it can really ever trigger in practice. We’ll get it fixed, and mark it for stable, and tempting as it was, it wasn’t really a reason to delay 3.19.

And the actual fixes that went in (see appended shortlog) were all fairly small, with the exception of some medium-sized infiniband changes that were all reverting code that just wasn’t ready.

So it’s out there – go and get it. And as a result, the merge window for 3.20 is obviously also now open.

What’s new in the Linux Kernel 3.19:

  • SI/CI SMC fan control support within the Radeon driver. Should reduce the fan noise on systems with a higher default fan profile.
  • Initial GM204 GPU support (NVIDIA GeForce 900 series) in Nouveau driver
  • RAID 5 and RAID 6 level support is better off in the Btrfs file-system
  • LZ4 Compression Support for SquashFS
  • multi-touch for more Logitech devices
  • New keyboard backlight support in DELL laptop. ThinkPad ACPI driver reworked to simplify sound muting. Toshiba ACPI driver improvements
  • The initial hardware enablement for Skylake, Intel’s successor to Broadwell
  • AMD HSA open-source support is closer to reality
  • and more ….

How to Install / Upgrade to Kernel 3.19 in Ubuntu:

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

Download Linux Kernel 3.19 (.deb)

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

  1. linux-headers-3.19.0-031900_xxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-3.19.0-031900-generic_3.19.0-031900.xxx_i386/amd64.deb
  3. linux-image-3.19.0-031900-generic_3.19.0-031900.xxx_i386/amd64.deb

If you need a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio) then replace the second and third packages with:

  1. linux-headers-3.19.0-031900-lowlatency_3.19.0-031900.xxx_i386/amd64.deb
  2. linux-image-3.19.0-031900-lowlatency_3.19.0-031900.xxx_i386/amd64.deb

For Ubuntu Server without an UI, you may 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/v3.19-vivid/linux-headers-3.19.0-031900-generic_3.19.0-031900.201502091451_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.19-vivid/linux-headers-3.19.0-031900_3.19.0-031900.201502091451_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.19-vivid/linux-image-3.19.0-031900-generic_3.19.0-031900.201502091451_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.19.0-*.deb linux-image-3.19.0-*.deb

For 32-bit system, run:

cd /tmp/

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.19-vivid/linux-headers-3.19.0-031900-generic_3.19.0-031900.201502091451_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.19-vivid/linux-headers-3.19.0-031900_3.19.0-031900.201502091451_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.19-vivid/linux-image-3.19.0-031900-generic_3.19.0-031900.201502091451_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.19.0-*.deb linux-image-3.19.0-*.deb

When done, restart your computer.

Tip: For Desktop machine running with a proprietary video driver, you may have to re-build/re-install the driver for the new kernel.

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 the Linux Kernel 3.19:

sudo apt-get remove linux-headers-3.19.0-* linux-image-3.19.0-* && sudo update-grub
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How to Install or Upgrade to LXQt 0.9 in Ubuntu 14.04/14.10

Last updated: February 8, 2015

LXQt 0.9, the lightweight desktop environment (merge between LXDE and Razor-qt), was released this Sunday. The new release drops Qt4 and now requires Qt5.

Besides enforcing Qt5, LXQt 0.9 comes a new LXQt Frost theme, lots of UI and internal polishing and several new features. See the official release note.

Install / Upgrade LXQt 0.9 in Ubuntu:

For (L)Ubuntu 14.04, (L)Ubuntu 14.10, and upcoming (L)Ubuntu 15.04 users, LXQt 0.9 has been made into PPA. Just follow below steps to install or upgrade it.

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

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:lubuntu-dev/lubuntu-daily

2. After that, update system package cache and install LXQt by running below two commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install lxqt-metapackage lxqt-panel openbox

Once the installation finished, log out and log in back with “LXQt Desktop” session and enjoy!

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Enable Client-side Decorations for Rhythmbox in Ubuntu 14.04/14.10

Last updated: February 7, 2015

For Rhythmbox users who are using Gnome Shell, now there’s a plugin to make it look like a real Gnome application by enabling the GTK3 Client-side Decorations (Header bar).

Thanks to david mohammed, with this alternative-toolbar plugin Rhythmbox in Gnome looks like:

For non-gnome desktops, this plugin doesn’t use the CSD header bar by default. But there’s also a little changes:

If you really want the CSD header bar, non-gnome user cat get it in the plugin preferences.

How to install the plugin for Rhythmbox:

For Ubuntu 14.10 and Ubuntu 14.04, the plugin is 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, update system cache, and install the plugin:

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

sudo apt-get update

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

If you don’t want to add PPA, grab and install the .deb package directly from this page. Once installed, enable it by going to Tools -> Plugins.

For other systems and issues, go to the plugin’s project page.

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HP Printer Drivers ‘HPLIP’ Adds Python 3, New Distro’s Support

Last updated: February 6, 2015

HPLIP, HP print, scan and fax drivers for Linux, has recently reached the 3.15.2 release with new Linux distributions support, Python 3 support, and a few bug fixes.

For the Python 3 support for HPLIP, there are some limitations:

  • Doesn’t support Fax Cover Page in Python 3 environments
  • XSane installation failed message on Debian, type ‘n’ to continue installation when HPLIP tools ask to retry xsane installation
  • Cannot launch hp-toolbox for Python less than version 3.4
  • Dependent package installation fails on Fedora

New Distro’s added support in HPLIP 3.15.2:

  • Debian 7.7, 7.8
  • OpenSuse 13.2
  • Fedora 21

And the launchpad fixes in this release:

  • Doesn’t build against libjpeg-turbo 1.3.90
  • hpcups crashes if DEVICE_URI not set in environment
  • Incorrect call to hpmudext.device_open
  • plugin download fails if python links to python3
  • Incorrect IEEE 1284 Device IDs for many models

How to install/upgrade HPLIP in Linux:

First download the HPLIP installer, the “hplip-x.x.x.run” file at:

Once the download process finish, open a terminal window and cd to the downloads folder:

cd ~/Downloads

Make the installer package executable (replace ‘hplip-x.x.x.run’ with the real package name in below commands):

chmod +x hplip-x.x.x.run

Finally start the installer and follow the onscreen prompts:

./hplip-x.x.x.run

via: HPLIP release note

.

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How to Share A Folder in Ubuntu 14.04 (Local Network)

Last updated: February 5, 2015

This is a beginners’ step by step guide that shows how to share a folder in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS over local network.

1. To get started, right-click on the folder you want to share and choose the “Local Network Share” option.

If you don’t see this option, search for and install nautilus-share in Ubuntu Software Center and restart Nautilus by running nautilus -q or just log out and back in.

2. When the ‘File Sharing’ dialog opens, click the box to enable ‘Share this folder’ option. Click the “Install service” button if it asks.

Once the installation process finish, log out and back in.

3. Re-do step 1 to open the ‘File Sharing’ dialog for any folder. Depends on your need, enable write permission and/or guess access.

4. If you want client machines to access this share with a username and password, disable Guest access and do:

  • Search for and install system-config-samba in Ubuntu Software Center.
  • Start Samba (graphical tool) from the Dash or menu.
  • Navigate to menu Preferences -> Samba Users
  • Click ‘Add User’ in next window and then select your username, type in a Windows username and password.

Finally you can access this folder in a local network machine using the username (either handbook or ubuntu-laptop in picture) and password.

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Sigil Epub Editor Now Is Based on Qt 5.4.0+

Last updated: February 4, 2015

Sigil, a free and open-source EPUB e-books editor, gets a big update recently by releasing version 0.8.3 and 0.8.4 one day after.

One of the big changes is that now Qt 5.4.0 is the minimum required version for building Sigil. Since Qt 5.4.0 fixed the macdeployqt application and even integrated code signing, Mac OS X (>= 10.9.5) users no longer need to disable gatekeeper.

But for Ubuntu, this may not be good news since Ubuntu repositories still provide Qt 5.2 for 14.04 and Qt 5.3 for 14.10 (and 15.04). Users need to manually download & install Qt 5.4.0+ and compile Sigil from the source tarball.

Sigil release notes, binary packages for Windows & Mac, and source code are available at github.com.

For Ubuntu user, besides building the latest Sigil 0.8.4 source code as well as Qt 5.4.0 manually, the old 0.8.2 release can be easily installed from a third-party PPA (run below commands one by one or grab the .deb from link page).

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:i2p.packages/i2p

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install sigil
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Upgrade to Bluefish Editor 2.2.7 in Ubuntu 14.04 / 12.04

Last updated: February 4, 2015

Bluefish advanced text editor has reached the 2.2.7 release recently. Now it supports HTML5 tags in Generic HTML, PHP, CFML, etc.

The new release also brings various fixes and improvements:

  • fix rare crashes in the autocompletion, the filebrowser, the htmlbar plugin preferences, and in file-load-cancel
  • fix a rare case of broken syntax highlighting after multiple search/replace actions
  • better error/warning output when parsing language files
  • fix javascript regex syntax highlighting
  • improve loading of files with corrupt encoding (partially loading into read-only file)
  • improve project loading over sftp
  • fix UTF-16 loading/saving
  • improved css, html and pascal/delphi language file
  • improve autocompletion for html tags
  • OSX: changed the keys for tab switching such that they no longer confict with some keyboard layouts
  • OSX: improve behavior at shutdown
  • improve upload/download to ignore backup files
  • fix number of results in search and replace on files on disk
  • better fallback when loading files with a corrupt encoding
  • improve home/end keys on wrapped text

How to install/upgrade Bluefish in Ubuntu:

Both Gtk2 and Gtk3 versions have been made into its PPAs available for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, Ubuntu 14.10 and Ubuntu 15.04.

1. Open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add Bluefish PPA (Gtk3):

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:klaus-vormweg/bluefish

For the Gtk2 version, use this command instead:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:klaus-vormweg/bluefish-gtk2

2. After that, you can upgrade Bluefish editor through Software Updater:

Or by running below two commands one by one in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install bluefish

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Kodi 14.1 (formerly XBMC) Released With Various Bug Fixes.

Last updated: February 3, 2015

XBMC Team finally announced the Kodi 14.1 (formerly known as XBMC), the first small bugfix release in the Kodi 14 Helix range.

For Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, and derivatives users, the new release has been made into its official PPA two days before the announcement.

According to the Kodi 14.1 announcement, this release fixes:

  • incorrect video screensize on Android AML devices
  • potential segfault when silencing audio
  • do not skip streaminfo if format is not know.
  • DXVA flickering on AMD
  • prevent possible over-flow in ALSA
  • possible sorting problems in library
  • possible problem in library navigation
  • don’t scroll text when it’s set to not do it
  • scroll text if it’s too long on spinner controls
  • don’t overlap PVR search labels
  • bug in DLNA client string on iOS
  • updated several PVR add-ons
  • remember played state of video when started from recently added
  • correct vsync on OSX
  • broken keyboard input
  • prevent crash on circular dependencies of add-ons
  • large file support on Android
  • random exiting on Android x86 builds (Nexus Player for example)

How to install/upgrade Kodi 14.1 in Ubuntu:

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

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

After added the PPA, you can upgrade Kodi Media Center via Software Updater, or by running below commands one by one in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

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

Finally, log out and log in back with Kodi session, or start Kodi from the Dash.

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Install Flair Weather Conky Widget on Your Ubuntu Desktop

Last updated: February 2, 2015

Flair Weather is a nice clean conky widget for Linux that shows time, date, and weather information on your desktop.

The conky theme contains both white and black version:

Flair Weather Conky White

Thanks to speedracker, Kelly Kretchek, and zagortenay333, you can install this theme on your desktop by below steps.

1. Install curl and Conky Manager, a graphical tool to manage conky themes.

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

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install conky-manager curl

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

2. Download Flair Weather Conky from the right pane of deviantart.com.

3. Open the downloaded package via Archive Manager and extract it to your user Home folder, so you’ll see the result folder Flair_Weather under user’s Home -> .conky (press Ctrl+H to see hidden folders).

4. Start/restart Conky Manager. You should be able to start Flair Weather White or Black theme from the list.

5. Now let’s setup your weather location. Since the theme uses Yahoo! Weather, go to weather.yahoo.com, search your city (and select from drop-down prompts), finally write down the id in the url.

6. Set the weather location for your city by doing below steps:

  1. In conky manager, highlight the Flair Weather widget.
  2. Click the pencil icon to edit the theme file in text editor.
  3. Replace the location id.

Finally configure the widget size, location, transparency, time format, auto-start, etc in the widget settings and app preferences window.

All done. Enjoy!

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Install/Upgrade to Scribus 1.4.5 in Ubuntu 14.04/14.10

Last updated: February 1, 2015

Open source desktop publishing (DTP) software, Scribus 1.4.5, has been released recently with a total of 75 bug-fixes, including many corrections backported from 1.5.0 svn.

Scribus 1.5.0, the preview of the next stable Scribus release (1.6.0), is supposed to be released for testing purposes early in 2015.

According to the official release note, the new release brings below important changes:

  • Scribus is now being shipped with the most recent version of Barcode Writer in Pure PostScript.
  • Updates to the Scripter that enable more control on PDF export. There is also a new command in Scripter, applyMasterPage(), which allows you to apply an existing Master Page.
  • Updates to the Resene color palettes, including, for the first time, The Resene Total Colour System (TCS) Master Palette.
  • Many translation updates and improvements.
  • Usability improvements.
  • Better application icons.
  • New templates.
  • The OS X application bundle is now code signed (version 1 code signing, due to the OS X 10.5 Leopard build), and now contains the path tools for mesh distortion again.

Complete change log, installer for Windows, Mac, and Linux (RPMs) are available at wiki.scribus.net

How to Install Scribus 1.4.5 in Ubuntu:

Since there’s no official Ubuntu packages for the new Scribus release, I’ve made it into my personal PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04(64-bit failed), and Linux Mint 17/17.1.

NOTE: Please back up all project files before you doing below steps.

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:ubuntuhandbook1/ppa

Then you can upgrade Scribus via ‘Software Updater’, or by running below two commands one by one in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install scribus

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

(Optional) To downgrade scribus, run:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/ppa

That’s it. Hope this will help!

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