Archives For November 30, 1999

TeXworks, the free open-source application for authoring TeX (LaTeX, ConTeXt, etc) documents, released 0.6.7 today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.10, and Ubuntu 22.04.

TeXworks 0.6.7 added some minor new features, improved dark mode support, and fixed various bugs.

  • Add a ruler with draggable guidelines to the PDF previewer
  • Improve preservation of Unicode characters during loading/saving
  • Prevent concurrent typesetting in multi-file sources
  • Disable “Remove Aux Files” during typesetting
  • Add full paths as tool tips in the “Open Recent” menu
  • Use native separators (/ or \) in the recent files menu
  • Add “Fit to Content Width” to the PDF preview zoom context menu and to the scaling preferences
  • Improve interoperability with docstrip by adding support for “%^^A ! TeX…” magic comments

Install TeXworks via PPA in Ubuntu:

Ubuntu includes the software package in its official repositories, but it does not provide package updates. To get the latest version, an official PPA is available which so far support all current Ubuntu releases and the next Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. As well, the old Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 are supported!

1. Add the PPA:

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, paste the command below and hit Enter:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:texworks/stable

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

2. Update system package cache:

Ubuntu 20.04 and higher now refresh the package cache automatically after adding PPA. However, Ubuntu 18.04 and old releases need to do it manually by running command:

sudo apt update

3. Install or Upgrade TeXworks:

If an old package was installed, using ‘Software Updater‘ may upgrade the package to the latest:

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

sudo apt install texworks

How to Remove TeXworks:

To remove the software package installed via PPA repository, simply run the command below in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove texworks

To remove the PPA repository, either run the command below:

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

Or, open ‘Software & Updates‘ utility, navigate to ‘Other Software’ tab and remove the relevant source line.

The Ubuntu team announced the release of Ubuntu 20.04.4 last night, with hardware enablement stacks, many security updates and bug-fixes.

‘Like previous LTS series, 20.04.4 includes hardware enablement stacks for use on newer hardware. This support is offered on all architectures.’

Linux Kernel 5.15 is still in proposed repository at the moment of writing, while Kernel 5.13 has been distributed for a period of time. So I’m kinda confused about the ‘hardware enablement stacks’.

Perhaps they are the following updates:

  • Update hardware support for Dell XPS 13 9300.
  • Add support for Alder Lake P graphics (ADL-P).
  • Add support for AMD’s Yellow Carp.
  • Update hardware support for Lenovo ThinkStation P340 Tiny, Lenovo ThinkCentre M70q/M80q/M90q.
  • Update hardware support for HP Z8 G4 Workstation, HP Z2 Mini G5 Workstation, SFF G5 Workstation, TWR G5 Workstation.
  • Add support for AMD’s Beige Goby.
  • Support Foxconn SDX55 T99W175 5G sub6 PCIE and Quectel SDX24 EM160R-GL 4G LTE CAT16 PCIE wireless Modem

In the release, it also enabled native Wayland support for thunderbird package, and restored nautilus copying filenames functionality. See the change summary for more.

How to Get Ubuntu 20.04.4:

For Ubuntu 20.04.x, simply run regular system update via either ‘Software Updater‘ or the command below will bring you to the new release.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

To verify, either run cat /etc/issue or see the ‘About’ page in settings.

Or download Ubuntu 20.04.4 from the official website:

The new development release for the next major 3.0 of the popular image editor, GIMP 2.99.10, is out last night!

The GIMP website does not announce the release at the moment. According to the welcome dialog, the new release introduced the new ‘Layer set’ concept to replace ‘Linked layers’. It also added Microsoft Windows Cursor file format (.cur files) support, and improved support for Wayland, macOS Big Sur, as well as PSD / JPEG-XL / HEIF files.

other changes in GIMP 2.99.10 include:

  • Lock icons in item dockables (Layers, Channels, Paths) moved next to the visibility (eye) icon
  • Alt-click on visibility and lock icons in item dockables massively toggles visibility and locks among selected items
  • Item dockables now display icon headers for visibility and locks column
  • The System theme shows visible hints around unset visibility and locks icons when hovering them in item dockables
  • New checkbox to enable or disable dynamics in paint tools’ options (replacing “Dynamics Off” dynamics)
  • “Fill by line art detection” in Bucket Fill tool has a new option
  • Channels and paths multi-selectable with part of relevant actions working
  • Removed KDE and GNOME screenshot portals in favor of Freedesktop one
  • Windows screenshot implementation now has an “Include mouse pointer” option
  • New and modified libgimp API for plug-in developers

Install GIMP 2.99.10 in Ubuntu:

The develop team publishes the Dev package via Flatpak package. Just open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. Then run the commands below one by one will install it:

sudo apt install flatpak
flatpak remote-add --user flathub-beta https://flathub.org/beta-repo/flathub-beta.flatpakrepo
flatpak install --user flathub-beta org.gimp.GIMP

For more, see this detailed how to install guide.

Tilix, the popular tiling terminal emulator, released v1.9.5 with a few new features and some bug-fixes.

Tilix is a GTK+3 terminal emulator supports for splitting app window horizontally or vertically. It supports drag and drop re-arranging terminals, quake mode, custom hyperlinks, as well as many other features.

After a year of development, it finally announced the new 1.9.5 with only a few new features due to lack of maintainers.

New features in Tilix 1.9.5 include:

  • Disable advanced paste when there is no linebreak like iTerm2
  • Add environment variable when in quake mode
  • Add possibility to configure always enabled regex

Get Tilix 1.9.5 in Ubuntu:

There’s no binary package for current Ubuntu releases so far, though it’s proposed to be included in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS repository.

User may download the source code and build manually via the link below:

Prefer running Linux apps via AppImage package format? ‘AppImage Pool’ is an app center for searching and downloading your favorite apps as AppImage.

More and more apps today publish Linux packages via universal Flatpak, Snap and AppImage. The former two are easy to install since they are well integrated in Ubuntu or other Linux. But, AppImage is a non-install portable package. It uses one file per application. Just run the file will launch the app.

To make it easy to find out and download an app as AppImage, the free libre and open-source software ‘AppImage Pool’ is created as a simple, modern AppImageHub client.

AppImage Pool

The tool uses Google’s flutter to provide a Gnome Software and Ubuntu Software look like user interface, allows user to browser, search for, and download AppImage packages. Though, it so far has sharp window borders that looks not native in GNOME.

Instead of using ‘Install‘ option, each app has a blue ‘Download‘ button. By clicking on it will pop up the dialog to choose package to download. Not only the latest, history packages are also available. And, it downloads from github directly, no extra-server involved

Downloaded packages are listed under ‘Installed‘ tab, with ability to click to launch app as well as delete buttons.

Other features include:

  • Dark / Light mode.
  • Store files by default in ‘Applications‘ folder in user home.
  • Multi download support.

How to Install AppImage Pool:

The app itself is available as AppImage package, which can be downloaded from the GitHub releases page (via Assets section):

It’s also available as universal Flatpak package. Ubuntu user may firstly press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run command to install Flatpak daemon:

sudo apt install flatpak

Then install the tool via command:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/io.github.prateekmedia.appimagepool.flatpakref

Uninstall AppImage Pool:

For the Flatpak package, run the command below in terminal to remove it:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data io.github.prateekmedia.appimagepool

And clear useless library via flatpak uninstall --unused.

There are quite a few YouTube apps for Linux today. SF Tube is a new one that has an elegant user interface with easy to use download options.

SF Tube, formerly FluTube, is a free libre and open-source app made using Google’s flutter. So far, it provides packages for Linux, Android, and Windows.

The app provides a beautiful user interface with Home, Like, Downloads, and Settings tabs. A ‘search‘ button is available in top-right corner, allows to search in YouTube. And, the results are displayed along with download buttons.

By clicking on download, it pop-up a dialog allows to choose download ‘Video + Audio‘, ‘Audio only‘, or ‘Video only‘ with quality options.

On the ‘⤓’ tab, it shows history downloads as well as current downloading process if any. As well, each video/audio has a delete button in the right.

In any page clicking on a video will open the detail page with descriptions, comments, as well as share, like, download buttons. Sadly, the video playback is not implemented at the moment of writing though the developer is now working on it!

SF Tube Dark Mode

Other features of SF Tube include:

  • Download via YouTube url via ‘+’ button.
  • Dark / Light mode.
  • Lightweight and fast.
  • No Login Required.
  • Playlists support.
  • Ads free forever.

Install SF Tube in Ubuntu & other Linux:

The app provides packages in the Github releases page under ‘Assets’ section:

Linux user may choose the non-install .Appimage package. Add executable permission via file’s ‘Properties’ dialog, and finally click run it to launch the app.

Ubuntu, Debian and Linux Mint based systems may just download the ‘.deb‘ package and double-click on file to install the app.

As well, a Linux tarball is available. Grab and then extract the package, then user may run the executable from extracted folder to launch the YouTube app.

That’s all. Enjoy!

Can not navigate in Activities overview and app grid screen using Tab or arrow keys? Here’s how to re-enable the feature via extension in GNOME 40 & 41.

In GNOME 3.x, user may press Tab or down arrow and then left/right keys to navigate between app windows in the overview screen. Also, the keys can be used to navigate in ‘Show Applications’ app grid.

Navigation via Tab/Arrow keys in overview screen

However, in Ubuntu 21.10, Fedora 35 or other Linux with recent GNOME 40/41 desktop, you’ll find the keys no longer navigate unless you first hover over an app window in overview.

This is a GNOME bug will be fixed in the next GNOME 42. In current releases, an extension is available to re-enable the function so you can:

  • use Arrow keys to navigate app windows in overview. However, Tab key does not work in my case.
  • use Tab and/or Arrow keys to navigate app icons in ‘Show Applications’ app grid.

Install the Extension to Fix Overview Keyboard navigation:

1. Firstly, install chrome-gnome-shell package if you’re running Ubuntu. To do so, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard and run the command below:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

2. Next go to the extension web page and switch on the toggle button to install it:

If you’re first time installing a GNOME Shell extension via browser, you may not see the on/off switch until clicking the link to install browser extension.

NOTE for Ubuntu 21.10: the pre-installed Firefox is Snap package so far does not support installing Gnome Shell extension, use another browser or install Firefox as classic deb package.

The extension should work immediately after installation, just press Super (Windows) key or click on upper-left ‘Activities’ to bring up overview and try out the shortcut keys.

The popular FFmpeg multi-media library released version 5.0 recently. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04 and/or Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA.

FFmpeg 5.0, codename “Lorentz”, is a new major release that features:

  • remove the old encode/decode APIs and replace them with an N:M-based API.
  • new easy to use AVframe-based API for libswscale.
  • remove the entire libavresample library.
  • Many new filters.
  • ADPCM IMA Westwood encoder, Apple Graphics (SMC) encoder, VideoToolbox ProRes encoder
  • ADPCM IMA Acorn Replay decoder, GEM Raster image decoder.
  • DoVi support, and more in ffmpeg.org.

Install FFmpeg 5.0 in Ubuntu:

IMPORTANT: Upgrading FFmpeg is not recommended for beginners! It may conflict with other packages in your system. Use it at your own risk!

Rob Savoury has built the FFmpeg 5.0 packages into PPA for all the current Ubuntu LTS releases. Though the updates is suspend due to lack of donations. The PPA still works, and if you find it’s useful you may help by making donations (see the previous link).

1.) Add the PPAs

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:savoury1/ffmpeg5

Also add the FFmpeg4 PPA which contains the dependency libraries:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

2.) Update package cache:

If you’re running Ubuntu 18.04 or Ubuntu 16.04, you need to manually refresh the system package cache by running command:

sudo apt update

3.) Upgrade FFmpeg to 5.0:

Finally, run the command below to install all the available updates including FFmpeg 5:

sudo apt full-upgrade

NOTE: This command may remove some apps on your system due to package conflict! DO CHECK the terminal output before typing ‘y‘ to confirm installation!

When everything’s done successfully, verify via ffmpeg -version command.

How to Restore:

You may purge the two PPAs which also downgrade all the installed packages. Firstly, install the ppa-purge tool via command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge

Then purge the PPAs via the commands below one by one:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg5
sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

NOTE: The downgrade process may also remove some other apps. Keep an eye on terminal output before performing the action!

Boring with the external disk partitions, USB drive, as well as Trash icons displayed on the left panel (aka, Ubuntu Dock)? Ubuntu 22.04 now has the options in system settings to toggle display these icons.

It’s not hard to do the tweaks in previous Ubuntu editions. Usually, we just need to run single command in terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal):

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-mounts false

Or, install and use the advanced ‘Dconf Editor‘ configuration tool to look for and change the key values.

Hide Mounted Drives & Trash from left panel in Ubuntu 22.04

In the daily build of the next Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, it now includes the options in the ‘Appearance‘ tab of system settings. So, users don’t have to search for the commands or look through the keys to do the trick.

1.) Firstly, open ‘Settings‘ either from start menu or top-right corner system tray menu. When it opens, navigate to ‘Appearance’ tab and click on ‘Configure dock behavior‘ in the right.

2.) In will pop-up a small dialog with toggle icons and check-boxes to show/hide the volumes and trash icon on Ubuntu Dock.

Just change the settings as you wish. The change will take effect immediately.

NOTE: Ubuntu 22.04 is not officially released at the moment, things can be changed and even removed in the final freeze.

The popular open-source live streaming app OBS Studio released v27.2 with exciting new features! Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via different ways.

What’s New in OBS Studio 27.2:

Release highlights in OBS Studio 27.2 include:

  • Add AJA source for AJA devices
  • Add AJA output to tools menu for AJA devices
  • AOM AV1 and SVT-AV1 encoding support.
  • Hotkey filter search
  • Hotkey duplicate detection
  • Support for the RIST protocol
  • Official Flatpak support for Linux
  • Many other changes and bug-fixes.

Install OBS Studio 27.2 in Ubuntu:

The software package is available in Ubuntu default repositories, but old. For the most recent version, there are official Ubuntu PPA, Official Flatpak package, and community maintained Snap package.

Option 1: Install OBS Studio via Ubuntu PPA:

The official PPA may be the most favorite method, since it installs the app as the classic .deb. So far, the PPA contains 64-bit package for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 21.10.

1.) Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Next, paste the command below and hit Enter to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio

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

2.) After adding the PPA, Ubuntu 18.04 user need to manually refresh system package cache via command:

sudo apt update

3.) Finally, either install the app via command:

sudo apt install obs-studio

Or update the software package using ‘Software Updater’ utility:

Option 2: Install OBS Studio via Flatpak:

The Fluthub repository offers the official 64-bit and 32-bit packages available to install in most Linux systems.

The Flatpak package updates automatically and use the latest dependency libraries for best performance. However, it takes hundreds more megabytes disk space!

1.) Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command to install Flatpak daemon:

sudo apt install flatpak

2.) Next, install OBS Studio as Flatpak using command:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/com.obsproject.Studio.flatpakref

Option 3: Install OBS Studio via Snap:

Snap is another universal package format runs in most Linux. It’s developed by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu. It updates automatically and takes more disk space too. However, OBS Studio as Snap is NOT official package so far.

Ubuntu user may install the Snap package easily from Ubuntu Software. Though, it’s v27.1.3 at the moment.

NOTE: Snap, Flatpak, and Deb packages can be installed alongside with each other. So you may have duplicated app icons if more than one installed.

Uninstall OBS Studio:

To remove the Ubuntu PPA, open terminal and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:obsproject/obs-studio

And remove the live streaming app .deb package using command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove obs-studio

To remove the Flatpak package, run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data com.obsproject.Studio

And clean up disk space via flatpak uninstall --unused.

For the Snap package, simply use Ubuntu Software.