UbuntuHandbook

Integrate PeaZip into Nautilus Context Menu in Ubuntu 13.10/13.04

Last updated: October 8, 2013

Want to use ‘Extract Here’, ‘Add to Archive’, and so forth with PeaZip in Nautilus’ context menu? Well, here’s how to well integrate PeaZip into Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy & Ubuntu 13.04 Raring via Nautilus scripts.

integrate peazip into nautilus

Because PeaZip for Linux comes default with the scripts, all you need to do is move them into the correct location.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, follow the steps below:

1. For installed version, the PeaZip should be installed under /usr/local/share/PeaZip. Run command to move the scripts:

cd /usr/local/share/PeaZip/FreeDesktop_integration/nautilus-scripts/Archiving/PeaZip/

sudo mv * ~/.local/share/nautilus/scripts

2. For portable version, just go to the PeaZip directory “FreeDesktop_integration/nautilus-scripts/Archiving/PeaZip/”, copy and paste all scripts to “user HOME/.local/share/nautilus/scripts”.

3. After that, restart Nautilus file browser and done.

nautilus -q

In Howtos integrate peazip into nautilus, Peazip

Install Format Junkie Media Converter in Ubuntu 13.10

Last updated: November 3, 2013

This tutorial is going to show you how to install Format Junkie media converter in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, while its PPA is not ready.

As you may know, Format Junkie is a program that can convert your media files (audio files, videos and pictures) to all the popular formats! It supports:

Conversion between the audio formats: mp3, mp2, wav, ogg, wma, flac, m4r, m4a and aac
Conversion between the video formats: avi, ogv, vob, mp4, vob, flv, 3gp, mpg, mkv, wmv
Conversion between the image formats: jpg, png, ico, bmp, svg, tif, pcx, pdf, tga, pnm
Create an iso with selected files, convert iso to cso and vice versa.
Encode subtitles to an avi file.

Install Format Junkie:

For Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint 13/14/15, Elementary OS Luna, you can install it from Format Junkie PPA by running below commands one by one in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:format-junkie-team/release

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install formatjunkie

For Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to download DEB for raring:

for 32-bit system:

wget https://launchpad.net/~format-junkie-team/+archive/release/+files/formatjunkie_1.07-1~raring0.2_i386.deb

for 64-bit system

wget https://launchpad.net/~format-junkie-team/+archive/release/+files/formatjunkie_1.07-1~raring0.2_amd64.deb

Both 32-bit & 64-bit install the Deb via:

sudo dpkg -i formatjunkie_1.07-1*.deb; sudo apt-get -f install

In Howtos format junkie, media converter

Qtractor 0.5.11 released, Download Links included

Last updated: October 8, 2013

The free multi-track recording and sequencing software Qtractor has released 0.5.11 with many improvements and bugfixes.

As you may know, Qtractor is an audio/MIDI multi-track sequencer application written in C++ with the Qt4 framework. Target platform is Linux, where the Jack Audio Connection Kit (JACK) for audio and the Advanced Linux Sound Architecture (ALSA) for MIDI are the main infrastructures to evolve as a fairly-featured Linux desktop audio workstation GUI, specially dedicated to the personal home-studio.:

What’s New in Qtractor 0.5.11:

Adding a track now inserts it after the current one, if any; one can also drag and move a track below the last one in the track list (main view left pane).
Extended Edit/Select Mode/Automation: multi-selection mode, cut, copy, paste and delete of current track’s automation curve nodes, now reached implementation ready status.
Another old silent bug bites the dust: changing track names were dropping any track gain/volume and panning automation curves when saving the session.
A primeval processing bug has been sorted out: aux-sends to audio output buses that just appear to be after the input bus where they’re inserted were being left muted and silent (on a ticket follow-up by Holger Marzen, thanks).
Fixed a sure crash bug exposed when processing of aux-send plugins when inserted too early on audio input buses chain (after a ticket report by Holger Marzen, thanks).
Allow the build system to include an user specified CFLAGS (patch by Cristian Morales Vega, thanks).
Shift/Ctrl keyboard modifiers now set to extend current clip selection while in main track view’s Edit/Select Mode/Range, Rectangle modes.
Main Edit/Select Mode/Automation icon retouched to look a bit more obvious and intuitive, hopefully ;)
Allow to change the velocities/values of the current selected events which have the exact same onset times and hide beyhond each other on the MIDI clip editor’s pane below the main view piano-roll (ie. the one that represents MIDI event values as a bar chart).
Fixed some problematic playback/export muting and annoying cleanup freezing, due on audio tracks with too many clips eg. more than hundred clip splits (hopefully fixes an issue reported by Louigi Verona, thanks).
LV2 UI resize feature support/control added.
Fixed dedicated MIDI control and MIDI metronome port connection restore conflict (thanks to jhammen catch & patch:).
New user preference option added: reverse middle-button role to Shift/Ctrl keyboard state, in special regard to edit-head/tail vs. play-head positioning while on the main track and MIDI clip editor (aka. piano-roll) views.

Download Qtractor:

The RPM packages for OpenSUSE, DEBs for Ubuntu, and also source code are available for downloading at qt-apps.org

In News free multitrack recording software, qtractor

Add ‘Open as Administrator’ to Pantheon in Elementary OS Luna

Last updated: October 7, 2013

This simple tutorial will show you how to add ‘Open as Administrator’ or ‘Open as root’ to Pantheon Context menu in Elementary OS Luna. So that you can easily open system files or folders with super user privilege through the default Pantheon file browser.

First take a look at the screenshots:

open file as root in elementary os

open folder as root in elementary os

Before getting started, search for and install gksu from Software Center. It is a Gtk+ frontend allows graphical programs to ask a user’s password to run another program as root / administrator.

Open files as root in Panthen Context Menu:

It’s a little different to Ubuntu Nautilus. Because I don’t know how to use if conditional statements in ‘.contractor’ files, so I divided this into two parts: Open files as root and Open folders as root.

1. Use your favorite editor to create and edit the config file. Here I use gedit (press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal for running commands):

sudo apt-get install gedit

sudo gedit /usr/share/contractor/scratch-openasroot.contract

2. Copy and paste below lines into the file and save it.

[Contractor Entry]
Name=Open file as root
Icon=scratch-text-editor
Description=open file as root with scratch
MimeType=text
Exec=gksudo scratch-text-editor %U
Gettext-Domain=scratch-text-editor

This will add an option “Open file as root” to Pantheon context menu, which open text files as root user with Scratch Text Editor (the default editor for eOS).

Open folders as root in Panthen Context Menu:

1. Use your favorite editor to create and edit the config file:

sudo gedit /usr/share/contractor/folder-openasroot.contract

2. Copy and paste below lines into the file and save it.

[Contractor Entry]
Name=Open folder as root
Icon=pantheon-files
Description=Open current folder as root privilege
MimeType=inode;
Exec=gksudo pantheon-files %U
Gettext-Domain=pantheon-files

This adds the option ‘Open folder as root’ to context menu, which open folders as root privilege.

Remember, you need a restart to get things done. Enjoy!

In Howtos Elementary OS Luna, open as administrator, open as root

How to Remove white dots from Ubuntu 13.10 LightDM login screen

Last updated: October 7, 2013

There’re lots of white dots on default LightDM login screen, which is quite annoying. This quick tip shows you how to remove them in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy.

See the screenshot before and after:

login screen with white dots

login screen without white dots

To get started:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run:

1. Run command to allow user lightdm to create a connection to the X server:

sudo xhost +SI:localuser:lightdm

2. Then switch to user lightdm in the terminal window.

sudo su lightdm -s /bin/bash

3. Finally set draw grid (white dots) feature to false:

gsettings set com.canonical.unity-greeter draw-grid false

That’s it.

If you’re not comfortable with command console. You can use Ubuntu-Tweak, it has an option to turn off this feature under Tweaks -> Login Settings -> unlock -> turn off draw grid.

In modify ubuntu lightdm, remove white dots, Ubuntu 13.10

How to Enable Open as Administrator for Ubuntu 13.10 Nautilus

Last updated: October 7, 2013

This quick tip is going to show beginners how to add ‘open as administrator’ or ‘open as root’ into Nautilus context menu in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy.

With this feature enabled, you can quickly open files and folders in Nautilus with root (super user) privilege. This also works on Linux Mint 16 Petra if you’re using Nautilus 3.8.x.

To get started:

1. Open Ubuntu Software Center, search for and install gksu. It allows graphical programs to ask a user’s password to run program as root / administrator.

2. Open Nautilus file browser, press Ctrl+H to view hidden files & folders. Navigate to USER Home -> .local -> share -> nautilus -> scripts.

Create an empty document under this directory named ‘open-as-administrator’

3. Open this file with Gedit, copy and paste following codes into the file and save.

#!/bin/bash # # this code will determine exactly the path and the type of object, # then it will decide use gedit or nautilus to open it by ROOT permission # # Determine the path if [ -e -n $1 ]; then obj="$NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_SELECTED_FILE_PATHS" else base="`echo $NAUTILUS_SCRIPT_CURRENT_URI | cut -d'/' -f3- | sed 's/%20/ /g'`" obj="$base/${1##*/}" fi # Determine the type and run as ROOT if [ -f "$obj" ]; then gksu gedit "$obj" elif [ -d "$obj" ]; then gksu nautilus "$obj" fi

exit 0

4. Right-click on this file, go to Properties -> Permissions tab. Check the box which says ‘Allow executing file as program’.

Log out and back in, or restart Nautilus by nautilus -q command. Done.

In Howtos open as administrator, open as root, Ubuntu 13.10

Free photo editor Fotoxx 13.10 released with enhancements

Last updated: October 6, 2013

As you may know, Fotoxx is a free open source Linux program for photo editing and collection management. The goal is to meet most user needs while remaining fast and easy to use. The latest Fotoxx 13.10 has been released with many improvements and bug fixes. See details:

Mashup images and text can be moved, resized and rotated using the mouse.
Trim/Crop and Rotate were combined as one function to improve workflow.
Rotate: click image position to add vertical and horizontal guidelines.
Rotate: the automatic trim option was reinstated.
Flatten and Expand brightness distribution were combined as one function.
Paint/Clone: new option to paint/erase gradually or fully in one stroke.
Gallery thumbnail popup menu: rotate +/-90 degrees was added.
Gallery [Top] button: new option to choose from named collections.
World map zoom: toggle full-size/fit-window without intermediate steps.
Slide Show: allow pause and resume at a selected image position.
Slide Show: an image with the tag ‘pause’ will beep and pause until resumed.
View Metadata: option to show only captions and comments (e.g. for slide show).
Making a named collection from search results (or any gallery) was simplified.
CMYK function: the user interface was simplified.
Warp Linear/Curved/Affine are using multiple threads for faster response.
Bugfix: clickable tabular reports would not scroll with the mouse wheel.
Bugfix: the interactive translation update function was broken.

Download Fotoxx at its official website.

Before get started installing the package, you need to first install dcraw & ufraw in Ubuntu Software Center.

In News fotoxx digital photo editor

Linux Kernel 3.10.15 LTS Released, Upgrade in Ubuntu & Linux Mint

Last updated: October 9, 2013

The Latest Kernel 3.10.15 LTS has been released with lots of drivers updates or fixes, including Radeon, Intel i915, and USB. Same to Kernel 3.11.4, the ARM platform gets a fix for the Thumb-2 bug in the AES assembler code, and two bugs were squashed for the x86 architecture. See the official announcement.

All users of Kernel 3.10 series are urged to upgrade as soon as possible. Here’s how to do it in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal, Linux Mint.

Upgrade Linux Kernel 3.10.15

Press Ctrl+ALt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, follow the steps below:

1. Download the DEBs:

For 32-bit system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.15-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.15-031015-generic_3.10.15-031015.201310081202_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.15-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.15-031015_3.10.15-031015.201310081202_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.15-saucy/linux-image-3.10.15-031015-generic_3.10.15-031015.201310081202_i386.deb

For 64-bit system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.15-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.15-031015-generic_3.10.15-031015.201310081202_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.15-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.15-031015_3.10.15-031015.201310081202_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.15-saucy/linux-image-3.10.15-031015-generic_3.10.15-031015.201310081202_amd64.deb

2. Install the Kernel:

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.10.15*.deb linux-image-3.10.15*.deb

Once done. Restart your computer.

(Optional) To remove Linux Kernel 3.10.15 and revert back to previous:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-3.10.15-*

In Howtos kernel, kernel 3.10 series, Linux Kernel

Linux Kernel 3.11.4 Released, How to Upgrade in Ubuntu Linux Mint

Last updated: October 9, 2013

The Linux Kernel 3.11 series has reached 3.11.4, which brings lots of drivers updates or fixes include Radeon, Intel i915, Wireless and USB. The ARM platform gets a fix for the Thumb-2 bug in the AES assembler code, and two bugs were squashed for the x86 architecture. Read the official announcement

All users of Kernel 3.11 series are urged to upgrade as soon as possible. Here’s how to install or upgrade Linux Kernel 3.11.4 in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal and their derivatives.

To get started, press Ctrl+ALt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to download the DEBs:

For 32-bit system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.11.4-saucy/linux-headers-3.11.4-031104-generic_3.11.4-031104.201310081221_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.11.4-saucy/linux-headers-3.11.4-031104_3.11.4-031104.201310081221_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.11.4-saucy/linux-image-3.11.4-031104-generic_3.11.4-031104.201310081221_i386.deb

For 64-bit system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.11.4-saucy/linux-headers-3.11.4-031104-generic_3.11.4-031104.201310081221_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.11.4-saucy/linux-headers-3.11.4-031104_3.11.4-031104.201310081221_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.11.4-saucy/linux-image-3.11.4-031104-generic_3.11.4-031104.201310081221_amd64.deb

Both 32-bit & 64-bit install the Debs via:

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.11.4*.deb linux-image-3.11.4*.deb

Once done, restart your computer.

(Optional) To remove Linux Kernel 3.11.4 and revert back to the previous, run command:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-3.11.4-*

In Howtos kernel, Kernel 3.11 series, Linux Kernel

How to Upgrade to Shotwell 0.15 in Ubuntu 13.04 / 12.10

Last updated: July 25, 2014

Yorba, the developer of Shotwell has announced a new release Shotwell 0.15, which brings several enhancements:

Copy and paste color adjustments between photos
Highlights detail adjustment
YouTube plugin now uses OAuth / OpenID
Videos in Missing Files now re-import properly
Improvements when thumbnailing videos
Numerous bug fixes

Upgrade Shotwell in Ubuntu:

The Shotwell 0.15 tarball is available for download. See the installation guide for information on getting Shotwell on your system

The team has built this release on their PPA for Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal and their derivatives, such as Linux Mint 15 & 14.

To get started installing the photo management tool, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install shotwell

For Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, you don’t have to do something special. Just open Software Center, search for and install shotwell, which is already the newest.

The developer doesn’t build it for Ubuntu 12.04 Precise and its derivatives, because the libraries change so much between versions that it isn’t practical to build on older versions.

In Howtos shotwell