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Archives For November 30, 1999

How to Install RetroArch (1.19 Updated) in Ubuntu 22.04

Last updated: July 30, 2024 — Leave a comment

UbRetroArch game emulator has reached 1.16.x release series. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04 via PPA.

The new 1.15.0 release feature steam support for macOS user, though macOS 10.13 or later is required. Also, it supports Apple’s native Gamepad protocol MFi, includes Vulkan video driver that is HDR capable for macOS users.

The new release also features Append Preset and Prepend Preset, allows to stack shader presets now on top of each other. Meaning user can mix various shader presets and then save it as a new preset.

Another big change is the alternative system to runahead – preemptive frames. Which, works by rerunning core logic to “rewrite history” before the current frame. Frames are only rerun when the controller state changes. Runahead is still available, and user can choose which one to use.

 

Other changes include:

  • Add support for system subdirs per core/database.
  • Restore cached video driver always on quit
  • Add keyboard recording support to BSV
  • Add checkpointing feature for replay recordings
  • PS3/PSL1GHT: Add RSX video driver
  • Add “Switch Icons” option
  • Add Run-Ahead data to on-screen statistics
  • See the release note for more details.

For the changes in the new RetroArch 1.16.0, see the release note.

How to Install RetroArch 1.19 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

RetroArch download page offers the downloads for all supported platforms.

For Ubuntu, Linux Mint based systems, the official PPA is a good choice, which so far support for Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libretro/stable

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. For Linux Mint, user may need to manually refresh package cache by running command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, either run command in terminal to install the emulator:

sudo apt install retroarch libretro-*

Or if an old version was installed, use Software Updater to update to v1.19.x.

After installing the software, search for and launch it from start menu or ‘Activities’ overview.

Then, use “Online Updater” menu option to update core libraries, assets, profiles, database, etc. And, use ‘Content Downloader’ option to grab free contents for selected core.

How to Remove RetroArch

To remove the software package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove retroarch libretro-*

Also remove the PPA repository, either by running the command below:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:libretro/stable

Or use “Software & Updates” utility by removing the source line under “Other Software” tab.

In Howtos
 

Ksnip 1.10.1 Add KDE Support for Scale Factor [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: April 24, 2024 — Leave a comment

Ksnip, the popular free open-source screenshot and annotation tool, released 1.10.1 version yesterday.

Ksnip is a Qt based screenshot tool with editing features, that works in Windows, macOS, and Linux on both Wayland and Xorg. It’s one of my top favorite applications for adding annotations in screenshot.

The app just released version 1.10.1 one day ago as the first point release for the 1.10 release series. It’s a small release with a new feature: KDE support for scale factor. Meaning it’s now working better in KDE desktop (such as KUbuntu, Ubuntu Studio) with different scaling factor.

Other changes include:

  • Fix drag and drop issue for Ksnip installed as Snap.
  • Fix sticker resizing issue when bounding rect flipped.
  • Show tab tooltips on initial tabs.
  • Fix for unnecessary scrollbars when a screenshot has a smaller size than the previous one
  • Fix that loading image from stdin single instance client runner side doesn’t work

How to Install KSnip 1.10.1 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Option 1: Snap package

The easiest way to install the tool in Ubuntu is using the official Snap packages. Simply open Ubuntu Software, then you can search for and install it via few clicks.

Install Ksnip via Ubuntu Software

Option 2: AppImage / Deb

The software project page also provides AppImage and Deb packages, as well as Windows and Mac OS packages for download under ‘Assets’ section:

Download Ksnip

For most Linux, you may download the non-install AppImage package, make it executable via right-click menu “Properties” dialog -> “Permissions” tab, and finally click run the package to launch it.

For Debian and Ubuntu based system, download the .deb package and install it by running command in terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal):

sudo apt install ~/Downloads/ksnip-*.deb

NOTE for Ubuntu 22.04, double-click installing this local deb via “Software Install” option may not work properly. It refers to the Snap package, rather than installing the local package.

Option 3: Ubuntu PPA (unofficial)

For those prefer Ubuntu PPA, here’s an unofficial repository with Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10 and Ubuntu 23.04 support.

Simply press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and run the commands below one by one will add the PPA and install the screenshot tool from it.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/ksnip
sudo apt update
sudo apt install ksnip libkimageannotator0 libkcolorpicker0

Install the OCR plugin:

The OCR plugin is available to install as a separate package. It’s available to download at the link below:

Download OCR plugin

Click to expand the ‘Assets‘ section, download & install the .deb package for Debian and Ubuntu based system.

Uninstall Ksnip

For the snap package, simply click ‘uninstall’ button in Ubuntu Software.

For deb package, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard and run the command below to remove it:

sudo apt remove --autoremove ksnip libkimageannotator0

And, remove the Ubuntu PPA (if added) by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/ksnip
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Transmission 4.0.2 Released with Numerous Bug-Fixes [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: March 16, 2023 — 5 Comments

Transmission BitTorrent client got another bug-fix release for the new major 4.0.0 that was released a month ago.

The new Transmission 4.0.2 fixed the bug that some torrents thought they were magnet links, auto-add watch folder issue for macOS, broken speed limits for utp peers, and using announce-list when creating single-tracker private torrents.

The release also restored support for path.utf-8 keys in torrent info dictionaries, fixed potential crash when downloading from webseeds or receiving malformed piece data from peers.

There are also various other bug-fixes, including:

  • Fixed value of TR_TIME_LOCALTIME environment variable in torrent scripts.
  • Fixed display of IPv6 tracker URLs.
  • Added up / down arrows to upload / download badge info for macOS UI.
  • Fixed “Unrecognized colorspace number -1” error messages from macOS
  • Fixed per-torrent ratio display in main window in QT UI.
  • Fixed 4.0.0 ignoring -m/–minimized command line option.
  • See more about the changes, see github releases page.

How to Install Transmission 4.0.2 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Transmission does not provide official binary packages for Linux. Besides building from the source tarball, user can either use the universal Flatpak package or an Ubuntu PPA.

For those prefer the classic .deb package, this unofficial PPA has been updated with the latest packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 22.10.

The new web user interface depends on NPM (Node.js package manager). It requires internet connection while building process, but launchpad build farm does NOT have. Meaning so far the PPA package does not include new web UI via JavaScript, but the old web user interface for remote control is stilling working.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/transmission

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. After adding the PPA, you can then launch Software Updater (Update Manager) and upgrade the system pre-installed transmission package to the new 4.0.2 release.

For Ubuntu based system without the BitTorrent client pre-installed, you may run command below to install it:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install transmission-gtk

You may replace transmission-gtk with (or add) following package:

  • transmission-qt – Qt user interface for KDE, LXQt, etc.
  • transmission-cli – command line interface.
  • transmission-daemon – the daemon for running in background, and access via webUI

Uninstall Transmission 4.0.2

You can choose to downgrade the BitTorrent client to system pre-installed version, by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/transmission

Or, remove the software packages instead by running command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove transmission-gtk transmission-qt transmission-cli transmission-daemon

And remove the PPA repository either via “Software & Updates” tool by removing the source line under “Other Software” tab, or by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/transmission

That’s all. Enjoy!

In Howtos
 

Liferea News Reader 1.14.1 Released with A Critical Security Fix

Last updated: March 15, 2023 — Leave a comment

For users of Liferea feed reader, new version 1.14.1 and 1.12.10 were released few days ago. All users are urged to upgrade due to an important security fix.

Liferea is a free open-source GTK3 feed reader that brings together all of the content from your favorite subscriptions into a simple interface. It can synchronizes with Reedah, TinyTinyRSS, and Google Reader API.

Just few days ago, it release new point releases for its 1.14 and 1.12 release series with an important security fix.

It’s CVE-2023-1350 Remote code execution on feed enrichment.

If you have enabled “Extract full content from HTML5 and Google AMP” for one or more of your feed subscriptions it is possible for a an attacker to inject a script command that would run any command on your system.

All users are recommended to upgrade to the new release with this bug-fix.

Without the upgrade, user can alternatively disable “Extract full content from HTML5 and Google AMP” for all the feeds via following steps:

  1. Close Liferea
  2. Open ~/.config/liferea/feedlist.opml in an editor
  3. Replace all occurences of html5Extract="true" with an empty string

How to Install Liferea 1.14.1 in Ubuntu:

For most Linux, Liferea is available to install as Flatpak package, that runs in sandbox.

Ubuntu users can also use the unofficial PPA, which so far supports for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, Linux Mint 20/21, and their based systems.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then, install the Liferea package by running command:

sudo apt install liferea

Linux Mint user may have to run sudo apt update first to update cache.

Uninstall:

The PPA also contains some other software packages, so you may remove it immediately after installed Liferea.

To do so, either run the command below in terminal, or remove the source line under “Other Software” tab in Software & Updates tool.

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

To remove the feed reader package, simply run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove liferea-data liferea

That’s all. Enjoy!

In Howtos
 

Kodi Media Center 20.1 Released with Lots of Bug-fixes

Last updated: March 13, 2023 — 1 Comment

The first point release of Kodi 20 ‘Nexus’ is out today after almost 2 months of development.

As the title said, the new Kodi 20.1 includes mainly bug-fixes. It introduced a new algorithm to look to overcome some audio issues on Android devices. Fixed DVD playback folder structures over network sources (e.g. SMB/NFS/HTTP, etc.)

Other changes include:

  • Assorted fixes to the new Savestate Manager to improve usability.
  • An assortment of OSD improvements
  • A number of performance improvements (memory reads, faster dialogs/savestates).
  • Input fixes allow resetting multitap controller inputs
  • Sync of some of the common controller types
  • Fixes various overflows when using new chrono infrastructure.
  • A fix for an issue on 32-bit systems that affected the sorting of items.
  • Resolve PVR Channel Groups to correctly show channels ordered as provided by a PVR backend.
  • A couple of fixes for WebVTT subtitles

How to Install Kode 20.1 in Ubuntu

Kodi website provides the downloads for all supported platforms.

For Ubuntu and Linux Mint users, the official PPA repository is one of the best choices to install the media play. So far, it supports Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, Ubuntu 23.04, Linux Mint 20/21.

1. First, open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

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

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Software Updater may not upgrade the media center if an old version was installed in Ubuntu 22.04. Instead it show ‘Partial Updates’ issue.

As a workaround, either run apt install command below:

sudo apt install kodi kodi-bin

Or run sudo apt full-upgrade to install all available updates (you may still need to install kodi-bin manually). For Linux Mint, run sudo apt update before doing updates!

How to Uninstall:

For choice, you can either run command in terminal to purge the PPA, which will downgrade Kodi to stock version in system repository:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

Or manually remove the software package via command:

sudo apt remove kodi kodi-bin --autoremove

And remove the PPA via command as you prefer:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
In Howtos
 

Install & Set up “Scrcpy” Android Remote Control App in Ubuntu

Last updated: September 18, 2024 — 6 Comments

This is a step by step guide shows how to install and use Scrcpy, the Android screen mirroring and remote control application, in Ubuntu desktop.

Scrcpy, pronounced “screen copy“, is a popular free open-source application works on Linux, Windows, and macOS. With it, user can mirror Android screen on computer desktop and control it with mouse, keyboard, and/or gamepad.

The Android device is connected either wired with USB cable or wirelessly through TCP/IP network protocol. Nothing needs to be installed on Android, as it uses >b<Android Debug Bridge (ADB) to implement the core features.

Besides mirroring Android screen on your desktop, it also features:

  • Audio mirroring or forwarding (Android 11+).
  • Screen recording.
  • Copy and paste in both directions.
  • Mirroring with Android screen off.
  • Camera mirroring.
  • OTG mode, that only run physical keyboard, mouse and gamepad simulation, as if the computer keyboard, mouse and gamepads were plugged directly to the Android device.


Continue Reading…

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Mixxx Free DJ Software 2.3.4 Released! Ubuntu PPA

Last updated: March 9, 2023 — Leave a comment

Free DJ mixing software Mixxx announced the 2.3.4 release a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.10, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 18.04 via PPA.

The new release added controller mapping for the Traktor Kontrol S2 Mk1, and initial mapping for Numark Party Mix.

It now shows ‘date added’ as local time, supports macOS 13.0 Ventura by using portaudio 19.7.0, again allows searching in external libraries. For Ubuntu, it fixed the menu bar issue when working in full-screen mode.

There are as well many other bug-fixes in the release, see the changelog for details.

How to install Mixxx in Ubuntu via PPA

The DJ software has an official PPA for Ubuntu, Linux Mint based systems. So far, it provides the latest 2.3.4 packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.10, Ubuntu 22.04, and Linux Mint 20/21.

1. Add Mixxx PPA

Open terminal either from app launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mixxx/mixxx

Type your password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. Update package cache:

For Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint, users need to manually refresh the package cache after adding new software sources. To do so, simply run command:

sudo apt update

3. Install or Upgrade Mixxx:

If an old Mixxx package was installed on your system, you may try upgrading the DJ software using Software Updater:

Or just run the command below in terminal to either install or upgrade the DJ software:

sudo apt install mixxx

Uninstall Mixxx:

You can easily remove the software by running command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove mixxx

And remove the PPA repository via Software & Updates, by removing relevant line utility under Other Software tab.

In Howtos
 

Peek Animated GIF Screen Recorder Discontinued!

Last updated: March 8, 2023 — Leave a comment

Peek, the popular animated GIF screen recorder application, has been discontinued!

It was one of my most favorite applications, that provides an easy to use interface for recording rectangle screen area into animated GIF.

The software developer announced that “With this announcement I officially declare the Peek project deprecated. This is something I should have done for a while now, but I always told myself that I will eventually do a last release, fixing some issues. As you know this never happened.”

The big reason is because of Wayland. Peek is working good in Ubuntu 20.04, though it cannot record the top-bar. But Ubuntu 22.04+, Fedora Workstation and other Linux with recent GNOME have switched to Wayland that cause problems.

Wayland session does not provide the classic way that Peek uses to determine the recording area. It’s even not working properly when running as X11 app in Wayland via XWayland. The issue can’t be resolved unless completely rewritten the app in different UI in different way, but the developer is not interested in it.

However, Peek is still working in classic Xorg session that is default so far in most other desktop environments, and optional in GNOME. Though, it may have bugs and won’t receive fixes!

Alternative apps for recording animated GIF

As far as I know, Kooha is a good alternative that can record screen as GIF and supports Wayland session. And it’s available to install as Flatpak in Flathub repository.

In Howtos
 

DeaDBeef Music Player 1.9.5 Adds PipeWire output Support

Last updated: March 7, 2023 — Leave a comment

The lightweight DeaDBeef music player got an update recently. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 18.04.

Just like Audacious did in v4.3, DeaDBeef 1.9.5 added the low-latency PipeWire sound server support. Meaning Ubuntu 22.10+, Pop! OS 22.04 and all current Fedora Linux users can select use the new sound output in ‘Preferences’ settings page.

The release also added new LibRetro resampling plugin, updated DUMB plugin with Chiptune voice muting support. Other changes include $itematindex(index,value) function to title formatting, improved drawing of spectrum analyzer, and various bug-fixes. See release note for details.

DeadBeef custom layout

How to Install DeadBeef 1.9.5

The music player website provides official packages for Linux, Windows, and macOS, available to download at the link below:

Download DeaDBeef

However, I personally prefer using the PPA repository, which provides both GTK3/2 and Qt5 user interface, as well as a few more plugins. Sadly, the PPA so far supports only Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 18.04 LTS and their based systems.

  1. Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to add the PPA: 
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:spvkgn/deadbeef

    Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

  2.  After adding PPA, update system package index by running command below, though it’s done automatically in Ubuntu 20.04+. 
    sudo apt update
  3. Finally, install the music player with your favorite UI interface (GTK3 for example): 
    sudo apt install deadbeef-gtk3

    As you see in the screenshot, you may also install the mpris2 plugin, Qt5 UI, file browser plugin, etc.

Uninstall DeadBeef

To remove the PPA, use command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:spvkgn/deadbeef

And remove the music player via:

sudo apt remove --autoremove deadbeef*
In Howtos
 

Audacious Music Player 4.3 Released! Ubuntu PPA Updated

Last updated: March 6, 2023 — 2 Comments

Audacious music player finally announced the release of version 4.3 after a few weeks of beta testing.

As you may already know, the new release features PipeWire output plugin. Meaning Ubuntu 22.10 + users can switch sound output using the new low-level multimedia framework.

Pop! OS 22.04 (have PipeWire support out-of-the-box) and Ubuntu 20.04 that have switched to Pipewire to replace PulseAudio are also supported.

The release also added GTK3 support again, which has much better appearance in my case compare to the old GTK2 interface. It now has a new set of tool-bar icons with both light and dark mode support. Though, the icons in the Settings page are still too big.

Other changes in Audacious 4.3 include:

  • Native Opus decoder plugin, previously done via FFmpeg plugin.
  • Qt6 support goes mature, though still defaults to Qt5.
  • Meson built system support
  • Allow copying file path in song info dialog.
  • Support Ogg FLAC audio streams
  • Support reading embedded lyrics tags.
  • Account for album artist in Search Tool.
  • Support new song length database format in SID plugin.
  • Support Publisher and Catalog Number tags
  • Add file filter to Export Playlist file dialog
  • Remove alarm plugin.
  • Add Romanian translation.

How to Install Audacious 4.3 in Ubuntu:

Without building from the source, Ubuntu users can install the audio player in 2 ways: Flatpak and Deb.

1. Flatpak

Audacious 4.3 is available to install as Flatpak package, though it runs in sandbox. Linux Mint user can easily search for and install it from Software Manager.

Ubuntu user can press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run the 2 commands below one by one to get it.

  • Enable Flatpak support: 
    sudo apt install flatpak
  • Install Audacious as Flatpak: 
    flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.atheme.audacious.flatpakref

2. Ubuntu PPA

For those who prefer the classic .deb package, I’ve upload the new package into this PPA repository.

It now supports the package for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, and Ubuntu 23.04. Besides the modern PC and laptop with x86_64 architecture type, arm64/armhf devices such as Raspberry Pi are also supported!

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then, update system package index in Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint via the command below. For Ubuntu 20.04+, it’s done automatically while adding PPA.

sudo apt update

3. If you have an old version of the music player installed, you can now update the package to the latest using “Software Updater” utility.

Or, run the command below in terminal to install or upgrade the package:

sudo apt install audacious audacious-plugins

Uninstall Audacious

Remove the Flatpak package

To remove the audio player installed as Flatpak, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and use command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.atheme.audacious

Also clean up runtime library via flatpak uninstall --unused.

Remove Audacious installed from PPA

If you want to restore the music player to the stock version available in system repository. Run command below to purge PPA as well as downgrade installed packages:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Or, simply remove the software packages, use command:

sudo apt remove audacious audacious-plugins-data libaudcore5

And remove the PPA either via “Software & Updates” under ‘Other Software’ tab or use command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

That’s all. Enjoy!

In Howtos