Archives For November 30, 1999

This tutorial shows you how to install ClipGrab video downloader and converter on Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Linux Mint 20/21 via PPA.

ClipGrab is a free downloader and converter for YouTube, Vimeo, Metacafe, Dailymotion and many other online video sites. It converts downloaded videos to MPEG4, MP3 or other formats in just one easy step.

It supports HTTP and Socks5 proxy.

Clipgrab

ClipGrab has an official PPA which is however no longer updated for very long time. For the all current Ubuntu releases on amd64(Intel/AMD) and arm64/armhf, there’s an unofficial PPA available for choice.

To install this utility, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, then follow the below steps:

1.) Run this command to add the ppa repository to your system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xtradeb/apps

2.) Then update the package cache by running command:

sudo apt update

3.) Finally install it via:

sudo apt install clipgrab

The ClipGrab website also provides non-install version for Linux, just download, extract and make it executable in file’s Properties, finally click to run.

Uninstall ClipGrab

To uninstall ClipGrab, use command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove clipgrab

Also remove the Ubuntu PPA by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:xtradeb/apps

This simple and brief tutorial shows how to install CoolReader 3.x on Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10, 12.04, 11.10, 10.04 and Linux Mint via PPA repository.

CoolReader is fast and small cross-platform XML/CSS based E-Book reader for desktops and handheld devices. Supported formats: FB2, TXT, RTF, DOC, TCR, HTML, EPUB, CHM, PDB, MOBI. Platforms: Win32, Linux, Android. Ported on some eInk based devices.

CoolReader3

To install it, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, then follow the below steps:

1.) Copy and paste this command and run in terminal. It adds the ppa repository to your system:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:vovansrnd/coolreader

2.) If you’ve already Synaptic Package Manager, open it and click Reload to update package lists. Search for and install cr3:

CoolReader-Synaptic

If not, run this command instead:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install cr3

Enjoy!

Nightingale in Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10

UPDATE 2024: Nightingale discontinued! Try Clementine Music Player which is available to install in App Center or Ubuntu Software.

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to install the Nightingale Music Player on Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10, 12.04 and Linux Mint 15, 14, 13 via ppa repository.

As such, Nightingale’s engine is based on the Mozilla XULRunner with libraries such as the GStreamer media framework and libtag providing media tagging and playback support, amongst others. Since official support for Linux was dropped by Songbird in April, 2010, Linux-using members of the Songbird community diverged and created the project.

nightingale main window

Nightingale smart playlist

Nightingale smart playlist

Notable features of Nightingale:

  • Plugins compatible with Songbird (with one modification to the addon)
  • Multi-platform compatibility with Windows XP, Vista, 7, Linux and Mac OS X v10.5 (x86, x86-64).
  • Ability to play multiple audio formats, such as MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Apple Lossless and WMA
  • Ability to play Apple FairPlay-encoded audio on Windows and Mac platforms via hooks into QuickTime (authorization takes place in iTunes)
  • Ability to play Windows Media DRM audio on Windows platforms
  • Media files stored on pages viewed in the browser show up as playable files in Nightingale
  • MP3 file download
  • Ability to subscribe to MP3 blogs as playlists
  • Ability to build custom mixes
  • Ability to scan the user’s computer for all audio files and add them to a local library
  • A configurable and collapsible graphical user interface similar to iTunes, and mini-player mode
  • Keyboard shortcuts and media keyboard support
  • Last.fm integration via a plugin, complete with love/hate buttons
  • Microsoft MTP compatible device support
  • Ability to edit and save metadata tags
  • Gapless playback and ReplayGain
  • Watch folders
  • Media import and export (from and to iTunes)

To install it, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, then follow the below steps:

1.) Copy and paste this command, then run in terminal to add the ppa repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nightingaleteam/nightingale-release

2.) If you’ve already installed Synaptic Package Manager, open it and click Reload button. Search for and install the nightingale package:

nightingale-synaptic

If not, run the below command instead:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install nightingale

Enjoy!

UPDATE: To uninstall the software, also use Synaptic Package Manager, or run following commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove nightingale && sudo apt-get autoremove

The PPA can be removed via Software & Updates utility via Other Software tab.

Grub is the default boot loader of Ubuntu Linux. Since Grub2 there’s an easy way to change its background wallpaper, without any third-party software.

All you need is the picture file you want to set as background. Supported file format: jpeg, tga, and png.

To get started:

1.) Open Nautilus as root account by pressing Alt+F2, then type gksudo nautilus and hit enter.

open-nautilus-asroot

2.) Navigate to Computer/Home/your-user-name, copy the picture and paste it into /boot/grub

boot-grub

3.) Now apply the changes by running this command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo update-grub

You’ll find “Found background image: picture-name.jpg” in the output.

Reboot and see the magic!

download

This tutorial shows you how to mount / access VMware Virutal Machine File System (vmfs) on Ubuntu (non host).

VMFS is a clustered filesystem designed to store virtual machine disks for VMware ESX or ESXi Server hosts. There is a command line tool for Linux that allows to access VMFS filesystems from some other non ESX/ESXi host for e.g. maintenance tasks.

First install this tool by searching and installing the package from Ubuntu Software Center. Or run the command below:

sudo apt-get install vmfs-tools

Find you vmfs partition by running this command:

sudo fdisk -l

Then mount vmfs with this tool. For example, /dev/sdb3 is the vmfs that we want to mount. We’re going to mount it to /mnt directory. Run this command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo vmfs-fuse /dev/sdb3 /mnt/

After that, open your system file manager, and go to the new mounted folder and enjoy!

Enjoy!

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to easily connect to your Ubuntu Desktop using Android Phone.

Preparation:

  • An Ubuntu PC connected to your home network (I’m on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS).
  • An Android Phone (Mine is LG E960, Google Nexus 4).

To get started:

1.) On Ubuntu, search and open Ubuntu Sharing from Unity Dash.

desktop-sharing-unity-dash

2.) Here’s how I configured the preference to enable remote access to my desktop:

desktop-sharing-preferences

3.) Find your Ubuntu IP address by click on Network Manager icon -> Information

4.) On Android Phone, install android-vnc-viewer from Google Play for free. Then open it, type in a nickname, IP address of Ubuntu, and the password to connect:

android-vnc

That’s it. Enjoy!

This brief tutorial will show you how to install DVD decryption library to enable DVD playback on Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, 13.04 Raring. Due to legal reasons, Ubuntu doesn’t play normal or encrypted DVDs by default.

For easy, you can install Fluendo DVD player which is specially designed to reproduce DVD on Linux. It costs $24.95.

Fluendo-DVD-player

For free, you can enable this feature by installing the libdvdcss2 package which is available in medibuntu repository. But the maintainer will stop maintaining the Medibuntu repository, the repository will stay on line as is for a while.

Legal Warning: Check with your local laws to make sure usage of libdvdcss2 would be legal in your area.

1.) Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, run command to install libdvdread4 and vlc:

sudo apt-get install libdvdread4 vlc

2.) Then download and install libdvdcss2 by running below script:

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

After reboot, VLC media player should play DVD movies.

NOTE: BlueGriffon has been DISCONTINUED! See the announcement in its website.

This brief tutorial shows how to install BlueGriffon WYSIWYG editor on Ubuntu 13.04, 12.04, 12.10, Linux Mint using the GetDeb repository.

BlueGriffon is a new WYSIWYG content editor for the World Wide Web. Powered by Gecko, the rendering engine of Firefox, it’s a modern and robust solution to edit Web pages in conformance to the latest Web Standards.

The GetDeb repository contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise, and old versions for Ubuntu 12.10, 11.10, 11.04 and 10.04.

To get started, follow the below steps:

1.) Download the getdeb package and double-click to install. It adds the repository to your system.

2.) If you installed Synaptic Package Manager, open it, click Reload button and search for and install BlueGriffon package.

bluegriffon-synaptic

If not, run below 2 commands instead:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bluegriffon

Enjoy!

NOTE: PeerGuardian is NO LONGER updated since 2016. This tutorial only works in old Ubuntu 16.04 and earlier.

In this tutorial I’ll show you how to install the PeerGuardian Linux (pgl) on Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial, Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty, 12.04 Precise using ppa repository.

PeerGuardian Linux (pgl) is a privacy oriented firewall application. It blocks connections to and from hosts specified in huge blocklists (thousands or millions of IP ranges). Its origin seeds in targeting aggressive IPs while you use P2P.

peerGuardian

PeerGuardian Linux is actively developed. However the team is very small and with few spare time. Contributors are welcome! Check out http://peerguardian.sourceforge.net.

A ppa repository has been created to make it easy to install for Ubuntu and Linux Mint users. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, then follow the below steps:

1.) Run this command in terminal to add the ppa repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jre-phoenix/ppa

2.) Update the package lists to make it available:

sudo apt-get update

3.) Finally instal it:

sudo apt-get install pgld pglcmd pglgui

google_talk_large

This brief tutorial is going to show you how to install Google Talk plugin on Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.10, 12.04 from the official repository.

Update: This Tutorial is outdated, and does NOT work anymore!

Google Talk is browser plugin that allows you to make a voice and video chat with your friends via your webcam and microphone connected to the computer.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, then follow the steps below:

1.) Run this command to add the official repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google-talkplugin.list'

2.) Download and install the key:

wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

3.) Update the package lists to make it available:

sudo apt-get update

4.) Finally install the plugin via Synaptic Package Manager, or by this command:

sudo apt-get install google-talkplugin

That’s it. Enjoy!