UbuntuHandbook

Kid3 3.0 added command-line interface and GStreamer 1.0 support

Last updated: October 24, 2013

Kid3 Audio Tag Editor has reached v3.0 with new features and improvements. It adds command-line interface kid3-cli and supports GStreamer 1.0.

If you want to easily tag multiple MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, FLAC, MPC, MP4/AAC, MP2, Opus, Speex, TrueAudio, WavPack and WMA files (e.g. full albums) without typing the same information again and again and have control over both ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags, then Kid3 is the program you are looking for.

With Kid3 you can:

Edit ID3v1.1 tags
Edit all ID3v2.3 and ID3v2.4 frames
Convert between ID3v1.1, ID3v2.3 and ID3v2.4 tags
Edit tags in MP3, Ogg/Vorbis, FLAC, MPC, MP4/AAC, MP2, Speex, TrueAudio, WavPack, WMA, AIFF and WAV files
Edit tags of multiple files, e.g. the artist, album, year and genre of all files of an album typically have the same values and can be set together.
Generate tags from filenames
Generate tags from the contents of tag fields
Generate filenames from tags
Rename and create directories from tags
Generate playlist files
Automatically convert upper and lower case and replace strings
Import from freedb2.org, MusicBrainz, Discogs, Amazon and other sources of album data
Export tags as CSV, HTML, playlists, Kover XML and in other formats

What’s New in Kid3 3.0:
New:

Command-line interface kid3-cli.
Use common shared libraries for KDE, Qt-only and CLI versions.
Plugins for metadata libraries and importers.
Support Opus files with TagLib 1.9.
Support GStreamer 1.0.
Support libavresample 0.0.3.

Improved:

Editing without leaving the keyboard.
When saving a file fails, tell user if it is not writable.
Escape metacharacters in HTML export.
Updated Czech translation.
Updated Finnish translation.
Cleaned up configuration option sections.

Fixed:

Crash when saving non-FLAC file with flac extension.
Support minimum Mac OS X version 10.5.
Load Qt libraries only from bundle on Mac OS X.

DEBs for Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.10 and installer for MAC OS, Windows are available in Kid3 homepage

In News kid3, kid3 command line, kid3-cli

How to Install Numix 2.0 GTK & Icon theme in Ubuntu 13.10, 14.04

Last updated: October 24, 2013

Numix is a modern flat theme with a combination of light and dark elements. It supports Gnome, Unity, XFCE and Openbox.

This simple tutorials shows how to install Numix GTK as well as Numix icons on Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise and Linux Mint.

First take a look at screenshots:

numix gtk Ubuntu 13.10 Unity

numix gtk & icons linux mint

numix icons & gtk xfce4

numix gtk & icons gnome shell

Install Numix GTK & Icons via PPA:

Numix project gets a launchpad PPA to make it easy to install Numix GTK, icons, wallpaper in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04 and their derivatives.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:numix/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install numix-gtk-theme numix-icon-theme numix-wallpaper-saucy

Once installed, use Gnome Tweak Tool, Unity Tweak Tool or other system tools to apply Numix theme and icons.

In Gnome Shell, Howtos, Linux Mint, Unity, Xfce numix 2.0, numix gtk theme, numix icons

How to Customize the Top Panel in Elementary OS Luna

Last updated: October 24, 2013

This tutorial shows you how to customize your Elementary OS top panel, including background color and transparency, auto hide panel, and show or hide Applications launcher.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to edit the /usr/share/themes/elementary/gtk-3.0/app.css:

sudo scratch-text-editor /usr/share/themes/elementary/gtk-3.0/apps.css

There you can change the value of panel background color and transparency as well as other colors, include Noise, Terminal, Notify, and more.

To apply changes, run:

pkill wingpanel

To get slim wingpanel, run command below in terminal:

sudo apt-get install wingpanel-slim elementary-tweaks

Then go to System Settings -> Tweaks -> Wingpanel Slim, there you can enable slim wingpanel, auto-hide panel, show / hide launcher.

Finally, my panel looks like:

In Howtos Elementary OS Luna, Elementary OS panel

How to Save screen brightness settings in Ubuntu 13.10

Last updated: October 23, 2013

As your may know, every time Ubuntu boots up you get the maximum level of screen brightness on laptop. Here’s a way to save your brightness by adding a startup script which will automatically adjust screen brightness when Ubuntu boots up.

Tutorial Objectives:

Save your screen brightness in Ubuntu 13.10
Enjoy!

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

cat /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/max_brightness

It outputs the maximum level of your laptop backlight. Mine is 9. The minimum is 0.

Run command below to edit the /etc/rc.local file, which is a script executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.

sudo gedit /etc/rc.local

Add following before the last line. Change 0 to the brightness level as you want (from 0 to the max)

echo 0 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

In Howtos screen brightness, Ubuntu 13.10

How to easily Convert gpx files to dxf in Ubuntu via Nautilus

Last updated: October 23, 2013

Want to convert .gpx files to .dxf? Well, there’s an Nautilus extension which adds an option in your file browser’s context menu to make it easy to convert from gpx file format to dxf.

It is gpx2dxf. The developer has create a PPA to make it easy to install in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal, Linux Mint 13/14/15/16 and other Ubuntu derivatives.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/nautilus-extensions

Then you can install it after checking for updates, run:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install gpx2dxf

Once installed, restart Nautilus by command nautilus -q to apply the changes.

If you don’t want to add the PPA, download the DEB or source tarball from the launchpad page.

In Howtos convert gpx to dxf, gpx2dxf

Install Picapy, Picasa Web App in Ubuntu 13.10

Last updated: October 23, 2013

Picapy is a Desktop App to manage your Picasa Web photos without opening a browser or installing Google’s Picasa Photo editor.

It works just like a file browser. Once logged in, you’re presented with a window displaying your Picasa Web albums. There you can add, edit or delete folders to your choosing. To edit/remove more than one folder use CTRL+Click.

Install picasa via PPA:

The developer has created a PPA to make it easy to install in Ubuntu and its derivatives. So far, the PPA supports Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise, Ubuntu 12.10, Linux Mint 13/15/14/16.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao

Then you can install it after checking for updates, run:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install picapy

In Howtos picapy, picasa web app, Ubuntu 13.10

How to Install BitDefender Scanner in Ubuntu 13.10, Linux Mint 16

Last updated: October 23, 2013

This tutorial shows how to install BitDefender Antivirus Scanner in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy or Linux Mint 16 Petra from bitdefender repository.

Bitdefender is an antivirus software suite developed by Romania-based software company Softwin. You can use the Free Edition on Ubuntu Linux to scan remove devices and ntfs partitions.

Tutorial Objectives:

Install BitDefender Scanner in Ubuntu 13.10 or Linux Mint 16
Enjoy!

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run commands to add BitDefender repository for Linux:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://download.bitdefender.com/repos/deb/ bitdefender non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bitdefender.list'

Then get the key:

wget -O- -q http://download.bitdefender.com/repos/deb/bd.key.asc | sudo apt-key add -

After that, you can install the Scanner after checking for updates. Or run:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install bitdefender-scanner-gui

You can also install Bitdefender-samba, Bitdefender-mail with the commands below:

sudo apt-get install bitdefender-samba bitdefender-mail

Once installed, restart your computer and you’ll see the shortcut icon in Unity Dash.

In Howtos bitdefender, Linux Mint, Ubuntu 13.10

How to Install Birdie Twitter Client in Ubuntu 13.10

Last updated: October 22, 2013

Birdie is a beautiful Twitter client designed for elementary OS. It is fast, easy to use and works great. It provides all the basic Twitter features and allows you to enjoy Twitter right on your desktop.

Birdie is built by volunteers. All the source code is licensed under the GPLv3 and freely available for anyone to use, modify or share.

Birdie has been written using native technologies, like Vala and Gtk. It provides a seamless integration with elementary OS and feels like a first-class app.

Install Birdie in Ubuntu

Birdie gets a launchpad PPA, but it is not available for Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander. You can download the Deb from the link below:

32 bits for Ubuntu

64-bits for Ubuntu

Once downloaded, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below to install the DEB as well as fix dependencies.

sudo dpkg -i birdie_0.3*.deb; sudo apt-get -f install

In Howtos birdie, birdie twitter client, Ubuntu 13.10

Install SmillaEnlager, Image Enlarging App in Ubuntu 13.10

Last updated: October 21, 2013

SmillaEnlarger is a small graphical tool (based on Qt) to resize, especially magnify bitmaps in high quality.

The used algorithm is an invention of developer’s own. This tool is free, open source and runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.

This tutorial shows you how to install SmillaEnlager via PPA in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander, which also works in Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04 and Linux Mint 13/14/15/16/

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

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:dhor/myway

Then update package lists and install it:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install -y smillaenlarger

In Howtos image enlarging app, SmillaEnlager

Add Google Search to Gnome Terminal in Ubuntu 13.10

Last updated: October 21, 2013

Want to use ‘Search on Google’ in selected text’s context menu in your Gnome Terminal? The developer of Ubuntu Tweak did a little hack on Gnome Terminal, added the Google search support for it.

So that you can quickly Google command line errors from terminal. Highlight the text, right-click on it and choose ‘Search on Google’. It opens the default web browser and go to the google search result page.

The developer has created a PPA to make it easy to install, but Ubuntu 13.10 is not supported yet. Fortunately, Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander uses Gnome Terminal 3.6.1 which is same in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring. So you can install the DEBs for Raring on Saucy.

To get started, click the links below to download the debs: