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Archives For November 30, 1999

NeoChat – KDE Matrix Client For Linux Desktop and Mobile

Last updated: April 24, 2024

KDE announced a new chat application NeoChat, a Matrix client for Desktop and Mobile, in its January 2021 apps update.

Matrix is an instant messaging system similar to Whatsapp or Telegram, but uses an open and decentralized network for secure and privacy-protected communications.

NeoChat is a fork of Spectral, another QML client, and uses the libQuotient library to interact with the Matrix protocol. It features an elegant and responsive user interface allows to adapt to any screen size automatically and gracefully. It works on both Desktop and Mobile, and will be installed by default on PinePhone KDE edition.

Apart from sending and responding to messages, NeoChat also features:

  • upload image, audio, video files.
  • room chat and private chat support.
  • emoji picker integration.
  • Drag and drop copying support.
  • Built-in image editor with crop and rotate images support.

The chat app so far is in version 1.0 and some features are not implemented, including encryption support, video call, editing messages.

How to Install NeoChat in Ubuntu Linux:

Besides building from the source tarball, it’s so far only available as universal Linux flatpak package.

1.) Open terminal and run command to install flatpak daemon if you don’t have it.

sudo apt install flatpak

2.) And add the flathub repository which hosts the flatpak packages:

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

3.) Finally install the instant messaging app via command:

flatpak install flathub org.kde.neochat

Uninstall NeoChat:

To remove the chat app, run command:

flatpak uninstall org.kde.neochat
In App Review
 

QuickWall – Command Line Tool Setting Wallpapers from Unsplash

Last updated: April 24, 2024

QuickWall is a free and open-source tool to grab the latest wallpapers from Unsplash and set as your desktop background.

It works with nitrogen, feh background setter as well as Xfce, KDE, Gnome, Unity. Besides setting wallpapers from Unsplash, it can also change your theme (seems only for terminal theme) based on the wallpapers.

How to Install QuickWall in Ubuntu:

1.) Open terminal from system application menu, and run command to install the Python package installer:

sudo apt install python3-pip

2.) Then install the software via command:

pip3 install QuickWall

For Ubuntu 24.04, use pip3 install QuickWall --break-system-packages instead.

How to Use QuickWall:

It’s easy to user the tool though it’s running in command line. For Ubuntu with default Gnome desktop, you can get it work with one of following commands:

QuickWall --setter gnome
QuickWall --random --setter gnome
QuickWall --search "SEARCH_TERM" --setter gnome

The wallpaper are default saved to user’s .cache/QuickWall folder. You can change the location by adding --dir flag in command:

QuickWall --dir ~/Downloads --setter gnome

For more command usage:

usage: QuickWall [-h] [--version] [--clear-cache] [--setter SETTER] [-d]
                 [--remove-id ID] [--dir DIR] [--id ID] [--random]
                 [--search TERM] [--migrate] [--set-lockscreen]

QuickWall - Quickly set latest wallpapers from Unsplash directly from
the commandline.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --version             show the program version number and exit
  --clear-cache         Clear the cache from the cache folder
                        (~/.cache/QuickWall)
  --setter SETTER       Wallpaper setter to be used. Currently supported
                        ones: nitrogen, feh, xfce, kde, gnome, unity
                        (default: nitrogen)
  -d, --disable-blacklist
                        Disable adding the image to blacklisted ones.
  --remove-id ID        Remove the passed ID from the blacklist.
  --dir DIR             Directory to download the wallpapers
  --id ID               Get a photo by its ID.
  --random              Get random wallpapers.
  --search TERM         Show wallpapers based on the passed term
  --migrate             ONLY FOR EARLY USERS. Move the files from
                        ~/.QuickWall to ~/.cache/QuickWall.
  --set-lockscreen      Set lockscreen wallpaper (currently for KDE)

Uninstall QuickWall:

To remove the software, simply run command:

pip3 uninstall QuickWall
In App Review
 

Planner – Stylish Task Manager with Todoist Support for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Planner is a free and open-source task manager with Todoist support. It’s designed for Linux with a stylish user interface.

The software is written in Vala programming language with GTK+ 3 framework. It can synchronize your Projects, Task and Sections thanks to Todoist. And it supports for offline mode, everything will be synchronized when reconnected.

The Planner UI is highly customizable. It supports light, night, and dark modes, allows to adjust font size, button layout, and toggles on / off system window decoration.

  • Drag and drop to sort your tasks wherever you want.
  • Progress indicator for each project.
  • Drag and Drop and create your tasks wherever you want.
  • Create reminders, keyboard shortcuts, export database, and more.

How to Install Planner in Ubuntu Linux:

For elementary OS, it’s available in the AppCenter. For other Linux, the task manager is available via Flatpak package.

1.) Open terminal and run command to install flatpak daemon if you don’t have it:

sudo apt install flatpak

2.) Then add the flathub repository, which hosts the software packages:

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

3.) Finally install the Planner flatpak package via command:

flatpak install flathub com.github.alainm23.planner

Uninstall Planner:

To remove the package, simply run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall com.github.alainm23.planner
In App Review
 

Hypnotix – Watch Live TV via Linux Mint developed IPTV Player

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Want to watch live TV on Ubuntu Linux? Try Hypnotix, a new IPTV player developed by Linux Mint team.

Hypnotix is a player application which streams from IPTV providers, which can be configured via a local M3U playlists, remote M3U URLs or the Xtream API.

The player uses libmpv for video playback, and it’s configured to ship with Free-IPTV as default IPTV provider. You can easily remove it and set your own providers via software preferences dialog.

Hypnotix can handle live TV channels but also VOD libraries for movies and TV series.

Content can be organized by categories and/or seasons. And you can watch TV in either left and right mode or full-screen mode.

How to Install Hypnotix in Ubuntu:

Hypnotix is available out-of-the-box in Linux Mint 21.x, other Linux can the source code by visiting its project page:

Hypnotix in Github

Besides building from the source tarball, there’s also a third-party PPA contains the package for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 23.10. If you don’t know how to use the PPA, see this step-by-step guide instead.

In App Review
 

LosslessCut – Super Fast Tool for Trimming / Cutting Video & Audio

Last updated: April 24, 2024

No patience with common video editors (e.g., Kdenlive and Openshot) as they can take hours to export a video after trimming / cutting it? Try LosslessCut.

LosslessCut is a cross platform tool for lossless trimming / cutting of video and audio files. The software is extremely fast, it does the job in seconds without losing quality because it simply cuts the data stream and directly copies it over.

With LosslessCut, you can do:

  • Losslessly trim or cut out parts of video/audio
  • Lossless merge/concatenation of arbitrary files (identical codec parameters)
  • Lossless stream editing: Combine arbitrary tracks from multiple files
  • Losslessly extract all tracks from a file
  • Remux into any compatible output format
  • Take full-resolution snapshots from videos in JPEG/PNG format
  • Apply a per-file timecode offset in the preview
  • Change rotation/orientation metadata in videos
  • Powerful timeline with zoom and frame/keyframe jumping
  • Auto-saves per project cut segments to file
  • View ffmpeg last command log so you can modify and re-run modify recent commands on the command line
  • Give labels to cut segments
  • Segment panel showing segments with details, export/import cut segments as CSV
  • Video thumbnails and audio waveform
  • Cut out commercials from a recorded TV show
  • Replace audio track
  • Include a subtitle into a video
  • Extract audio, video, oro subtitle track from video

How to Get LosslessCut in Ubuntu:

There’s no .deb binary package for the software so far. You can either download the appimage or Linux tarball from the link below:

Download LosslessCut (under ‘Assets’)

You can choose:

  • grab the .appimage package, give executable permission in file Properties, finally run it to launch the software.
  • or download the Linux tarball, extract and run the executable file to open the video editor.

Launch Lossless Cut executable from portable Linux tarball

The software is also available in Ubuntu Software as Snap package. The package version is however lag behind.

For those OK with Linux universal Flatpak package, LosslessCut can be also installed via the flathub repository.

In App Review
 

Tootle – Lightning Fast GTK+3 Mastodon Client for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Looking for a mastodon client for Linux? Tootle is a simple free and open-source GTK-based Mastodon client with dark mode support.

NOTE: The Tootle project has discontinued! There will be no security updates and bug-fixes!

Tootle is a client for the world’s largest free, open-source, decentralized microblogging network with real-time notifications and multiple accounts support.

Mastodon is lovely crafted with power and speed in mind, resulting in a free, independent and popular alternative to the centralized social networks.

Anyone can run a server of Mastodon. Each server hosts individual user accounts, the content they produce, and the content they are subscribed. Every user can follow each other and share their posts regardless of their server.

Tootle is available in Ubuntu universe repositories since Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. You can simply open terminal and run command to install it:

sudo apt install tootle

You can also search for and install the client in Ubuntu Software. You’ll see two Tootle packages as it also available via containerized SNAP package.

Go check the package details via “source” section before installing the package.

In App Review
 

cpupower-GUI – A Simple Graphical Tool to Adjust CPU Frequency

Last updated: April 24, 2024

CPUPower-GUI is a simple graphical utility allows to change the frequency limits of your cpu and its governor.

With the tool, you can easily change the frequency settings on per CPU core basis. Just choose a profile you want to configure, then highlight each cpu core, and set its minimize and maximize frequency using the slider-bars. By default, it has only built-in “Balanced” and “Performance” profiles, but you can create your own in “Profiles” tab and set its frequency for each core as you prefer.

You can also change the cpu governor profiles, Performance and Balanced. And the profiles can be selected easily from the system tray indicator menu.

After setup your profiles, you can configure which to use on startup along with a few other options in the second Preference tab.

How to Install cpupower-gui in Ubuntu:

The software is available in Ubuntu universe repositories since Ubuntu 20.04. The package however is always old.

UPDATE: the 1.0.0 release do NOT work in Ubuntu 22.04 and higher !!

The software developer now offers the official .deb packages for downloading in the Github releases page:

Download CPUPower-GUI (under Assets)

Download and install the .deb package. Then press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and install it via:

sudo apt install ./Downloads/cpupower-gui*all.deb

For Linux Mint, grab the last 3 .deb packages instead and install them using Gdeb package installer.

For the source tarball and more about the utility, go to github project page.

In App Review
 

Wonderwall – Wallaper Manager with Huge Collection of Wallpapers

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Want to get some wallpapers for your Ubuntu Desktop? Here’s a simple tool to browse, download, and apply wallpaper from huge collection of wallpapers.

Wonderwall is a simple graphical utility that allows to browse through the world’s largest collection of online 4k and Ultra HD Wallpapers.

You can search wallpapers via colors, tags, categories, resolution, popularity, views, or by just typing a keyboard in filter.

Simply click on a picture, you’ll get the menu with image details and download buttons.

For downloaded wallpapers, you can crop / scale selected wallpaper to make it fit into your screen resolution. And of course, there’s an option to set as wallpaper.

The settings window allows you to change the desktop back-end, open the download folder, change content scaling, and search settings.

How to Install Wonderwall in Ubuntu:

Wonderwall seems to be closed source software as I can’t find the source code and the developer website refers to a tech reviews website.

And the binary package is ONLY available as Snap package. You can install it easily by searching from either Ubuntu Software or App Center.

Or, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and install the package by running command in terminal:

sudo snap install wonderwall

In App Review
 

Giara – Modern GTK Reddit App for Linux [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Looking for a Reddit client for Linux desktop? Giara is a modern new GTK app for Reddit written in Python 3 with GTK.

Giara is a free open-source software created with mobile Linux in mind. It comes with most Reddit features including new text, link, media posts, search subreddits and users, up vote, down vote, post rely, dark mode support, and more.

How to Install Giara in Ubuntu:

It is recommended to install the software using flatpak package, see Giara in flathub.org.

For those prefer native DEB package, I’ve uploaded the packages into the unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.10.

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/giara

2. Then refresh package cache and install the app:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install giara

Note for Ubuntu 20.04, the app window border and top-bar buttons are not looking good due to old system libraries (upstream issue).

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software tab or run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/giara

And remove the Reddit app if you want by running command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove giara
In App Review
 

Kinto – Easily Get Mac OS Like Keybinds in Ubuntu Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

For Mac users want to change keybinds in Ubuntu Linux or Windows, Kinto is an easy system-wide solution with setup wizard and system tray indicator.

The software description says:

‘Type in Linux & Windows like it’s a Mac. Seamless copy and paste with all apps and terminals. The zero effort solution.‘

Kinto works for standard Windows, Apple and Chromebook keyboards. Different to most other re-mappers, it is a complete system-wide remap of your base level modifier keys.

GUI keys:

Physical Ctrl Win/Alt Alt/Cmd Spacebar
Virtual Win/Super* Alt RCtrl Spacebar

Terminal Keys:

Physical Ctrl Win/Alt Alt/Cmd Spacebar
Virtual LCtrl Alt RCtrl Spacebar

How to Install Kinto in Ubuntu:

Make sure you have python 3 installed, then follow the steps to grab the source and set it up.

1. Open terminal and run command to clone the source:

git clone https://github.com/rbreaves/kinto.git

2. Then run command to navigate to kinto folder, and run the setup.py script.

cd kinto && ./setup.py

If everything goes well, a setup wizard will pop-up

Just click on ‘Agree’ button, follow the wizard, hit Enter, and you’re done! The system tray indicator is not enabled by default, you can enable it from the File menu.

see Kinto on github.

In App Review