UbuntuHandbook

How to install SupertuxKart 0.8.1 RC1 in Ubuntu Linux Mint

Last updated: November 19, 2013

SuperTuxKart is a Free 3D kart racing game with many tracks and characters. The latest SuperTuxKart 0.8.1 RC1 has been released and here are the new features and how to install it in Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.04 and Linux Mint.

What’s New in SuperTuxKart 0.8.1 RC1:

A new track called the “STK Enterprise” has been added;
The tracks “The Old Mines,” “Lighthouse,” and “Zen Garden” have been updated;
A new Soccer mode has been added;
A new Egg Hunt mode has been added;
Two new karts, Xue and Sara, have been implemented.

SuperTuxKart 0.8.1 new karts

SuperTuxKart 0.8.1 egg hunt

SuperTuxKart 0.8.1 Ubuntu 13.10

Download & Install SuperTuxKart 0.8.1:

1. Download the package from sourceforge page. Choose to download:

supertuxkart-0.8.1-rc1-linux-glibc2.7-i386.tar.bz2 for 32 bit system and supertuxkart-0.8.1-rc1-linux-glibc2.11-x86-64.tar.bz2 for 64 bit system

2. Uncompress the packages in Nautilus file browser by right-clicking on the package and select ‘Extract Here’.

3. Rename the result folder name to SuperTuxKart. You can move this folder to /opt/ for global use.

4. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one to create a launcher for SuperTuxKart:

sudo apt-get install gnome-panel --no-install-recommends

sudo gnome-desktop-item-edit /usr/share/applications/ --create-new

in pop up window, type:

Name: SuperTuxKart-portable
Command: /home/YOURUSERNAME/Downloads/SuperTuxKart/bin/supertuxkart ### The path to extracted folder executabe file
Icon: choose from /home/YOURUSERNAME/Downloads/SuperTuxKart/data/ folder.

Once done, you can launcher the game from Unity Dash.

In Howtos SuperTuxKart

How to easily install DraftSight CAD in 64 bit Ubuntu 13.10

Last updated: March 13, 2014

As you may know, DraftSight is a professional-grade 2D CAD software, it lets users create, edit and view .dwg and AutoCAD DXF files.

DraftSight website only provides 32 bit version installer for Ubuntu users and this quick tutorial show how to easily install it on 64 bit Ubuntu 13.10 (Also works on Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.04).

Tutorial Objectives:

Install DraftSight CAD on 64 bit Ubuntu
Enjoy!

To get started, frist install Gdebi from Ubuntu Software Center. Gdebi is a lightweight DEB package installer which was the default in Ubuntu, it will automatically resolve and install the package dependencies.

Gdebi DEB installer in Ubuntu

Download the DraftSight from its webpage or from the official link below:

Download DraftSight

Right click on the package and select to “open with Gdebi package installer”.

Click Install Package button. Once done, you can open DraftSight from Unity Dash. Enjoy!

UPDATE: Thanks to Quazaban and isabag, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the command below if your DraftSight CAD does not work after this tutorial.

sudo apt-get install libcanberra-gtk-module:i386 libcanberra-gtk0:i386 libglu1-mesa:i386

In Howtos DraftSight CAD, Easy Install DraftSight 64 bit Ubuntu

SoundConverter 2.1.2 released, Install it in Ubuntu 13.10, 12.04

Last updated: April 4, 2019

SoundConverter, a simple Gnome sound converter app recently released version 2.1.2 with various bugfixes.

As you may know, SoundConverter aims to be simple to use, and very fast. Thanks to its multithreaded design, it will use as many cores as possible to speed up the conversion. It reads anything the GStreamer library can read, and writes WAV, FLAC, MP3, AAC and Ogg Vorbis files.

Changes in SoundConverter 2.1.2:

Fix original files deleted when encoding failed.
“Same folder as the input file” fix when “Create folders” is active.
Reset plugin install cancellation after conversion batch.
“Replace all messy characters” based on a black list instead of a white list. This means that only really problematic characters are replaced now.
Added appdata for gnome-software.
Translation updates.

Install SoundConverter 2.1.2:

The Getdeb has made this release into its app repository for Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 12.04 and Linux Mint 13/16.

1. Add the getdeb repository by running commands below in terminal one by one (For Linux Mint, there’s an option in Software Sources -> Additional repoository to enable getdeb):

wget http://archive.getdeb.net/install_deb/getdeb-repository_0.1-1~getdeb1_all.deb

sudo dpkg -i getdeb-repository_0.1-1~getdeb1_all.deb

2. Install SoundConverter after checking for updates:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install soundconverter

If you’re on Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10 or you just don’t want to add the PPA, download and install the ~~DEB packages~~

In Howtos Sound Converter, SoundConverter

Install RetroArch Emulator via PPA in Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.04

Last updated: May 9, 2015

RetroArch is an open-source multi-system game emulator that is designed to be fast, lightweight, and portable. It is formerly known as SSNES.

Currently supported cores include:

bNES, a NES / Famicom emulator.
bSNES, a SNES / Super Famicom emulator.
Final Burn Alpha, a multi-arcade system emulator.
FCEUmm, a NES / Famicom emulator.
Gambatte, a Game Boy / Game Boy Color emulator.
Genesis Plus GX, a Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, Master System, Game Gear and SG-1000 emulator.
iMAME4All, a multi-arcade system emulator.
Mednafen PSX, a Sony PlayStation emulator.
Meteor, a Game Boy Advance emulator.
NXEngine, a Cave Story / Doukutsu Monogatari engine.
Prboom, a DOOM engine.
SNES9x Next, a SNES / Super Famicom emulator.
VBA Next, a Game Boy Advance emulator.

Install RetroArch Emulator:

For Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04 and their derivatives, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command below one by one to install RetroArch:

add-apt-repository ppa:hunter-kaller/ppa

apt-get update

apt-get install retroarch libretro*

UPDATE 2015-05: For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 15.04, there’s now an official PPA for RetroArch. Use below commands instead:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libretro/stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install retroarch retroarch-* libretro-*

In Howtos game emulator, RetroArch

How to Enable Icons in Ubuntu Unity Menus & Buttons

Last updated: April 11, 2015

Want to add icons in Ubuntu context menus, window menus and buttons? Well, it’s very easy because Ubuntu by default provides an option to enable / disable them.

All you need to do is follow the steps below. Works on Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 14.04 Unity Desktop.

First take a look at result:

Ubuntu menu and button have icons

Method 1: If you’re familiar with Linux commands, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run commands below:

To enable menu have icons, run:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface menus-have-icons true

To enable button have icons, run:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface buttons-have-icons true

Replace the value true with false in previous commands to disable them again if you want.

Method 2: Need a graphical interface? Well, search for and install dconf editor or dconf-tools in Ubuntu Software Center.

Then open it from Unity Dash, navigate to org/gnome/desktop/interface. Check on the boxes after button-have-icons and menu-have-icons in right and that’s it.

enable menu have icons via dconf editor

In modify ubuntu Ubuntu button have icons, Ubuntu menu have icons

TORCS 1.3.5 released with a new 4 speed stock car added

Last updated: November 17, 2013

TORCS, The Open Racing Car Simulator recently released versiono 1.3.5. The most important changes in 1.3.5 are:

the ability to modify/store/load car setups during practice and qualifying sessions (screen reachable when you hit escape, “Car Setup, Restart” or during a pit stop, “Setup”)
improved content (totally reworked racetrack e-track-2, improved e-track-6 and wheel-2)
the ability of robots to change the car setup during a pit stop
new Robottools API calls for handling car setups
improvements to the simulation engine (1.5 way LSD, third element)
adjustments to the car categories and physical models
a new 4 speed stock car and category
improvements to the TORCS Racing Board
many little improvements and bug fixes.

Full lists of changes can be found at Torcs 1.3.5 release note

So far, the only way to get Torcs 1.3.5 running on Ubuntu is build from the source code.

Or you can install the old version from Ubuntu Software Center.

In News Open Racing Car Simulator, TORCS

BleachBit 1.0 released, Download Link for WIndows & Linux include

Last updated: November 17, 2013

BleachBit, the disk space cleaner & privacy manager recently released version 1.0. It makes it easier to shred any file; adds three cleaners; improves cleaners for Google Chrome and Adobe Flash; has a digitally signed installer for Windows; and more.

These are the changes since version 0.9.6:

The command line option –shred now shreds arbitrary files.
Add Octave cleaner
Add Warzone 2100 cleaner
Clean recently played in VLC (thanks to nolme/Vincent DUVERNET – Nolmë Informatique)
Google Chrome: Fix errors “Favicons is version 26” and “DatabaseError: no such column: full_path”
Google Chrome: delete more cache
Remove auto-hide option. (Before, it was a default.)
Specific to Linux
- Coming soon: .deb package for Ubuntu 13.10 (Saucy Salamander).
- Coming soon: .rpm package for openSUSE 11.4.
- Add SQLite3 cleaner
- Adobe Flash: clean NativeCache
Specific to Windows
- The BleachBit executable and Windows installer are cryptographically signed, so you are sure no one has tampered with them. Windows should NOT give you the unknown publisher warning.
- Register verb (shortcut menu item) for shredding files.
- When updating winapp2.ini, automatically load changes without GUI restart
- Delete more system logs
- Clean more Adobe Flash
- Fix error “The process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process” when cleaning .ini with overwrite.

For more details, see official announcement.

For Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.04, OpenSuse, Fedora, Debian, CentOS installers and Windows EXE are available in official download page.

In News BleachBit, Disk space cleaner

TypeCatcher 0.1.2 Fixed Google Fonts Can Not Be Previewed Problem

Last updated: November 16, 2013

TypeCatcher, the Google webfonts downloader recently released 0.1.2 with important bugfixes. Here’s how to install / upgrade it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04 and their derivatives.

Due to a change in Google’s javascript webfont loader, fonts can not be previewed in previous version of TypeCatcher. While you can actually still download and install fonts, without being able to preview them the app is pretty much useless for the casual user.

TypeCatcher 0.1.2 fixed this important bug and the developer announced in launchpad page:

TypeCatcher uses an API wrapper served by ajax.googleapis.com to load the font previews. Google recently updated this to a new version. This bug only occurs with the new version. At this time it’s unclear if the new version exposes a bug in how I use it or if my usage exposes a bug in the API wrapper itself. I’m trying to get a clarification from upstream on the issue:

https://github.com/typekit/webfontloader/issues/166

TypeCatcher used to load the wrapper from ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/webfont/1/webfont.js which always provides the newest version. Luckily, Google continues to serve old versions if you use their explicit version number rather than just “1”This bug fix release using the last know “good” version, 1.4.10.

To install or upgrade TypeCatcher, press Ctrl+Alt+T and run commands below one by one in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:andrewsomething/typecatcher

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install typecatcher

In Howtos Google Fonts preview, TypeCatcher

Install Bombono DVD 1.2.2 via PPA in Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04

Last updated: November 15, 2013

Bombono DVD is a DVD authoring program for personal computers. It is made easy to use and has nice and clean GUI (Gtk).

The main features of Bombono DVD are:

Excellent video viewer: Timeline and Monitor
Real WYSIWYG Menu Editor with live thumbnails
Comfortable Drag-n-Drop support
Transcoding, if necessary (from AVI/MKV/MOV/MPEG4…)
Motion menus
Subtitles support
You can author to folder, make ISO-image or burn directly to DVD
Reauthoring: you can import video from DVD discs

The latest Bombono DVD 1.2.2 has been made into Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty. Here’s how to install or upgrade it in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring via PPA.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command below to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:jacob/media

After that, search for and install bombono-dvd package in Ubuntu Software Center after checking for updates. Or, run commands instead:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install bombono-dvd

In Howtos bombono-dvd, DVD authoring tool

Install Recoll 1.19 Full Text Search via PPA in Ubuntu Linux Mint

Last updated: November 14, 2013

Recoll is a full text search tool for Linux Desktops. It is based on the very strong Xapian search engine library, for which it provides a powerful text extraction layer and a complete, yet easy to use, Qt graphical interface.

Recoll finds keywords inside documents as well as file names:

It can search any document format.
It can reach any storage place: files, archive members, email attachments, transparently handling decompression.
One click will open the document inside a native editor or display an even quicker text preview.
The software is free, open source, and licensed under the GPL.

This tutorial shows how to install the latest Recoll (so far it’s 1.19.9) via PPA in Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 10.04 and Linux Mint.

Recoll 1.19.8 in Ubuntu 13.10 Unity

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, copy and paste and run command below to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:recoll-backports/recoll-1.15-on

After that, we can search for and install recoll from Ubuntu Software Center after checking for updates. Or, run commands instead:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install recoll

You can install kio-recoll, a Recoll slave for KDE 4 or recoll-lens (does not support Ubuntu 13.10), Unity Lens for searching the Recoll index in Ubuntu Software Center. Or run command below:

sudo apt-get install kio-recoll recoll-lens

In Howtos Full text search tool, Recoll

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