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How to Install Fast App Launcher ‘Ulauncher’ in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: September 23, 2019

Ulauncher is a super fast Linux application launcher written in Python with GTK+. By pressing a keyboard shortcut and then typing a name in search box, you can quickly launch an application or access a file / file directory.

Ulauncher app launcher features:

  • Fuzzy search, type in app name without worrying about spelling.
  • 4 built-in themes, and custom color themes support.
  • customizable shortcuts, and wide range of plugins.
  • Fast directory browser, type ~ or / to start
  • Search Google, Wikiepdia, and Stack Overflow.

How to Install Ulauncher in Ubuntu:

The official PPA contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 19.04 so far.

1.) Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:agornostal/ulauncher

Type user password for sudo prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2.) Then check updates and install the app launcher via 2 commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install ulauncher

Once installed, open Ulauncher from application menu. You’ll see the app applet in system tray area. Click and open its Preferences dialog and set up theme, shortcut, auto-run, etc.

Uninstall Ulauncher:

To remove the PPA repository, either open ‘Software & Updates -> Other Software’ tab, or run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:agornostal/ulauncher

To remove the app launcher, simply run command:

sudo apt remove ulauncher
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Qimgv – Qt5 Image Viewer with Basic Editing / Optional Video Support

Last updated: September 22, 2019

Qimgv is a Qt5 image viewer with simple, fast, and easy to use user interface. The software features basic image editing and optional video support.

Qimgv image viewer features:

  • Basic image editing: Crop, Flip, Rotate, and Resize.
  • Ability to quickly copy / move images to different folders
  • Video playback via libmpv, including webm support.
  • Ability to run shell scripts
  • Folder view
  • Keyboard shortcuts (Settings > Controls)
  • Extend APng support via QtApng, Raw support via Qtraw (Both included in Windows package)

How to Install Qimgv in Ubuntu 18.04:

The software developer maintains a PPA repository that contains the most recent packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, Linux Mint 19.x.

1.) Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:easymodo/qimgv

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

2.) Then either install Qimgv via Synaptic package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt install qimgv

Note for Linux Mint you may need to run sudo apt update to check update first.

Once installed, either use the image viewer via picture file’s right-click menu or launch it from application menu.

Uninstall Qimgv:

To remove the PPA, either open Software & Updates -> Other Software or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:easymodo/qimgv

To remove the image viewer, simply run command:

sudo apt remove qimgv
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PDF Split and Merge 4.0.4 Released (How to Install)

Last updated: September 6, 2019

PDF Split and Merge (PDFsam) is an open-source and easy-to-use desktop application to extract pages, split, merge, mix and rotate PDF files.

PDFsam is available in Ubuntu universe repository. However, it’s always old and won’t receive future software updates.

The latest release at the moment of writing is PDFsam 4.0.4 released a day ago with following changes:

  • Upgraded PDF engine (Sejda) to latest version (3.2.84)
  • Upgraded AdoptOpenJDK to latest version (11.0.4)
  • Upgraded translations
  • Drag and drop of directories now asks the user if he wants to also add PDFs in subdirectories
  • Numerical sort of file names starting with digits
  • Fixed a couple of bugs

How to Install PDF Split and Merge 4.0.4 in Ubuntu:

The software offers official .deb package for 64-bit Ubuntu available to download at the link below:

Download PDFsam (.deb)

Grab the pdfsam_x.x.x_amd64.deb package and install it either via Gdebi (install it from Ubuntu Software) or just by double-clicking.

Once installed, launch it from system application menu and enjoy!

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AppEditor – Simple Tool To Edit Application Menu Entries

Last updated: January 17, 2024

AppEditor is an open-source tool allows you to edit application entries shown in application menu and their properties.

AppEditor features:

  • Hide and show applications from the application menu
  • Create new application entries
  • Change application’s display name, icon and more

How to Install AppEditor in Ubuntu 18.04 / Higher:

UPDATE Jan, 2024: The steps below will install the Flatpak package, but it’s OLD. For the latest version, the only way is building from source.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu.

2. Paste below command and run to install flatpak framework:

sudo apt-get install flatpak

3. Add flathub repository, which hosts a large list of flatpak applications:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

4. Finally install AppEditor via command:

flatpak install flathub com.github.donadigo.appeditor

Once installed, launch the software from application menu and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To remove AppEditor flatpak package, run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall com.github.donadigo.appeditor
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Translatium – Simply Yet Powerful Translation Tool For Linux

Last updated: August 22, 2019

Translatium is an open-source translation application that translate words, phrases, and text between over 90 languages.

Translatium works in Linux, mac OS, and Windows. And features:

  • auto detect language.
  • Listen to translations using text-to-speech.
  • Take a picture to translate.
  • History support.
  • Personalize your experience with beautiful themes and colors.

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, Translatium snap package can be easily installed from Ubuntu Software utility:

For Ubuntu 16.04, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and first install snapd by running command:

sudo apt-get install snapd

Then install the tool via command:

sudo snap install translatium

(Optional) To remove translatium, either use Ubuntu Software or run command:

sudo snap remove translatium
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Dynamic Wallpaper Editor – Desktop Slideshow Creator for Gnome

Last updated: August 1, 2019

Dynamic Wallpaper Editor is a simply utility to create or edit background slideshows for Gnome Desktop.

Different from other desktop wallpaper tools (e.g., Variety, Wallch.), Dynamic Wallpaper Editor can set duration of each picture and each transition separately or globally. The total duration can be 24 hours to do a wallpaper fitting the daylight.

It can create and edit slideshows, and adjust the start time of the slideshow. An existing XML file can be set as your wallpaper (or as your lock screen) from the app.

How to Install Dynamic Wallpaper Editor in ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, and higher, the utility can be easily installed via the flatpak package.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command to install flatpak framework:

sudo apt-get install flatpak

3. Add flathub repository, which hosts a large list of flatpak applications:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

4. Finally install the software via command:

flatpak install flathub com.github.maoschanz.DynamicWallpaperEditor

Once installed, launch the software from application menu and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To remove the TeamSpeak flatpak package, run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall com.github.maoschanz.DynamicWallpaperEditor
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Microsoft Teams client for Linux 0.4 Released with Stability Fixes

Last updated: July 21, 2019

Teams for Linux is an unofficial Microsoft Teams client for Linux using Electron. It uses the Web App and wraps it as a standalone application using Electron.

The latest Teams for Linux 0.4 was released 2 days ago with mostly stability improvements and fixes. And the spellchecker has been re-implemented not to need an external module.

Teams for Linux is available to install via Snap package (runs in sandbox). So you can easily search for and install it from Ubuntu Software utility in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher:

Also native Ubuntu .deb package is available to download at the release page:

Download Teams for Linux (.deb)

Click install the .deb package via Ubuntu Software, or open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following command:

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/teams-for-linux*.deb

Once installed, launch the client from your system application menu and enjoy!

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Xsnow – Snow on Your Desktop in Ubuntu 18.04 / Higher

Last updated: July 19, 2019

gnome shell

Xsnow, let it snow on your desktop, now is working on Gnome, KDE, FVWM desktop in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.

Xsnow is a handy command tool that brings Christmas to your desktop. However, it does not work properly in Ubuntu since Ubuntu 12.04 Precise.

Now a brand new Xsnow based on the original xsnow-1.42 is available to work on many desktop environments, and a simple graphical interface is available for those who are not familiar with command line.

Finally, a working xsnow for Gnome, KDE, etc. Based on the original xsnow-1.42 created by Rick Jansen, after the xsnow-2019 conference in Antas (Spain) we now have available a xsnow that works on many desktop environments, even Raspian. By request of many beta-testers, a graphical front end has been created as well.

For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 19.04, and higher, download the package from the link below:

Download Xsnow (.deb)

Select download i386.deb for 32-bit OS, amd64.deb for 64-bit OS, or armhf.deb for Raspberry pi.

Then double-click to install via Ubuntu Software, or run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/xsnow_*.deb

Once installed, launch the tool from your application menu and enjoy!

(Optional) To remove the tool, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove xsnow
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Foliate – A Simple & Modern New GTK eBook Viewer

Last updated: July 13, 2019

Foliate is an open-source GTK eBook viewer built with GJS and Epub.js. It offers a simple and modern user interface, and features:

  • View EPUB files in two-page view or scrolled view
  • Customize font, line-spacing, margins, and brightness
  • Light, sepia, dark, and invert mode, or add your own custom themes
  • Reading progress slider with chapter marks
  • Bookmarks and annotations
  • Quick dictionary lookup with Wiktionary, Wikipedia, and dictd, or translate text with Google Translate
  • Touchpad gestures—use two-finger swipe to turn the page
  • Basic text-to-speech support with eSpeak NG and Festival

To install foliate ebook reader in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher:

The software offers Ubuntu .deb package, com.github.johnfactotum.foliate_1.4.0_all.deb at the moment, which is available to download at the release page:

Foliate releases (.deb)

Grab the package, then either double-click to install it, or open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/com.github.johnfactotum.foliate_*.deb

Once installed, launch the software from your system application menu and enjoy!

(Optional) To remove the software, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove foliate

For those who prefer the Flatpak package, Foliate is also available in Flathub repository.

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xinput-gui: Simple Graphical Tool To Configure X Input Devices

Last updated: July 9, 2019

ubuntu 17.04

Xinput-gui is a simple graphical application for Xorg’s Xinput tool, utility to configure and test X input devices.

Xinput-gui is written with Python 3 and GTK+3. It’s in early stage with basic features. For bugs, feature requests, reports to project issues page.

To install xinput-gui utility in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher:

1. Download the source tarball from the link below:

Download xinput-gui (tar.gz)

2. Then extract and select “open in terminal” from source folder context menu:

3. When terminal opens, run commands:

sudo python3 setup.py install

If everything goes OK, an executable file xinput-gui should be created in the source folder.

To launch xinput-gui utility:

To launch the tool, either run command xinput-gui when you’re in the source folder:

xinput-gui

Or run the executable file from its context menu:

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