App Review | UbuntuHandbook

Cawbird – Native Linux Twitter Client for Gnome 3 (‘Corebird’ fork)

Last updated: November 28, 2019

Cawbird is a modern lightweight Twitter client for GNOME 3. It features inline image and video preview, creation of lists and favorites, filtering of tweets and full text search.

“Cawbird is a fork of Corebird, which became unsupported after Twitter disabled the streaming API. Cawbird works with the new APIs and includes a few fixes and modifications that have historically been patched in to IBBoard’s custom Corebird build on his personal Open Build Service account.”

Cawbird has the following limitations due to changes in the Twitter API (imposed by Twitter, not the fault of the client):

Cawbird will update every two minutes
Cawbird does not get notified of the following, which will be refreshed on restart:
- Unfavourite
- Follow/Unfollow
- Block/Unblock
- Mute/Unmute
- DM deletion
- Some list changes

How to Install Cawbird in Ubuntu:

The easiest way is simply search for and install cawbird from Ubuntu Software.

This is a Snap package runs in sandbox. And it’s maintained by the community.

For those prefer native .deb package, go to the developer maintained repository at the link below:

Select Ubuntu, then click ‘Grab binary packages directly‘ and download the .deb package for your system.

Finally install the .deb via Gdebi package installer (available in Ubuntu Software) and enjoy!

In App Review, Howtos corebird alternative, twitter client

Glimpse Image Editor (GIMP Fork) 0.1 Available to Install in Ubuntu

Last updated: November 24, 2019

Glimpse, a downstream fork of the GNU Image Manipulation Program (GIMP in short), released version 0.1 a few days ago. It can be installed in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher via either Snap or Flatpak.

Due to the problematic word “gimp”, Glimpse forked the well known image editor so there are no potential barriers to using the software in businesses and educational institutions.

“If English is not your first language, then you may not have realised that the word “gimp” is problematic. In some countries it is considered a slur against disabled people and a playground insult directed at unpopular children. It can also be linked to certain “after dark” activities performed by consenting adults.

…”

Glimpse 0.1 is based on GIMP 2.10. So far they just look like same application with different names (in my own opinion).

How to Install Glimpse in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, you can easily install the community build Snap package of Glimpse image editor from Ubuntu Software.

If you’re familiar with command line, run command in terminal to install the Snap package:

sudo snap install glimpse-editor

The software also offers official Flatpak package available in Flathub repository:

In App Review GIMP fork, Glimpse image editor

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

In App Review, Howtos fast application launcher, ulauncher

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

In App Review Qt5 image viewer

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:

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!

In App Review, News PDF Mix Tool, pdf split and merge

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

In App Review Edit Application Menu

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

In App Review translation tool

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

In App Review, Howtos slideshow duration, wallpaper changer

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:

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!

In App Review Microsoft Teams for Linux

Xsnow – Snow on Your Desktop in Ubuntu 18.04 / Higher

Last updated: July 19, 2019

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.