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Archives For November 30, 1999

Free Image Enlarger SmillaEnlarger 0.9.1 Ported to Qt5

Last updated: August 22, 2020

Free open-source image enlarger SmillaEnlarger sees first update in over 10 years.

SmillaEnlarger is small graphical tool, based on Qt, to resize, especially magnify bitmaps in high quality. The used algorithm is an invention of the developer’s own.

SmillaEnlarger 0.9.1 is the first release in over 10 years, features Qt 5 port.

Get SmillaEnlarger:

The source tarball as well as Mac OS package are available to download in the link below:

Download SmillaEnlarge

It’s easy to compile the software, simply do:

  • Grab the source tarball, open Downloads folder and extract the tarball.
  • In file browser, navigate to the source “smillaenlarger-0.9.1” folder.
  • Right-click on blank area and select “Open in terminal”

When terminal opens, run following commands one by one to build the image enlarger:

qmake ImageEnlarger.pro
make

Finally launch the software within the terminal window via command:

./SmillaEnlarger

That’s it.

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Kaidan – Modern XMPP Chat Client for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Kaidan is a simple, user-friendly chat client that uses the open communication protocol XMPP (Jabber) and runs on Linux, Mac OS, Android, Plasma Mobile and Ubuntu Touch.

The software is written in C++ with Qt and the Qt-based XMPP library QXmpp. Unlike other chat apps, you are not dependent on one specific service provider.

Kaidan features: supported XEPs / RFCs and planned XEPs. The latest release so far is Kaidan 0.5 that contains QR code scanning and generation, message search, and more.

Get Kaidan chat client:

Source code, APK, Appimage, and Mac os packages are available for download at the link below:

Download Kaidan

For Linux, grab the .appimage package, make executable in file’s Properties > Permissions. And finally run it to launch the chat app.

As an alternative, Kaidan is also available in flatpak package:

Kaidan in Flathub

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FetchCord – Display Your System Info as Discord Rich Presence

Last updated: April 24, 2024

FetchCord is a simple tool grabs your system information and displays it as Discord Rich Presence.

FetchCord is written in Python 3 and relies on Neofetch for your basic system information. With the handy tool, you’ll see your system info inside Discord user’s profile.

How to install FetchCord:

1. In Ubuntu 20.04 and Linux Mint 20, first open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install Neofetch and python3-pip package:

sudo apt install neofetch python3-pip

2. Then install Fetchcord via pip command:

pip3 install fetchcord

Once installed, run fetchcord command while Discord is running and enjoy!

NOTE: while the software is in very early stage, it may have bugs. For any issue report to the Github page.

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Photoflare – Simple Powerful Image Editor Inspired by PhotoFiltre

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Photoflare is an open-source simple and powerful image editing software inspired by PhotoFiltre.

Photoflare is written in C++ with Qt5 framework. It works on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS, and features basic image editing capabilities, paint brushes, image filters, colour adjustments and more advanced features such as Batch image processing.

Besides the community version, the software also offers studio edition requires to pay for packages.

Features of Photoflare include:

  • Simple but powerful, and very fast to do everything.
  • Works on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS.
  • Basic image editing capabilities
  • Paint brushes
  • Image filters
  • Color adjustments
  • And more advanced features such as Batch image processing.

How to Install Photoflare in Ubuntu:

Option 1: Ubuntu PPA

The software has a stable PPA which so far contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 23.10.

1.) To add the PPA, open terminal either from system application launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens,  run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:photoflare/photoflare-stable

2.) After adding PPA, update system package cache and install the image editor via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install photoflare

Option 2: Flatpak package

For choice, user can install the software as Flatpak runs in sandbox environment. Meaning even the old Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04 can install the latest version of this image editing app.

1. (Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04 only) First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, run command to add the Flatpak PPA for old Ubuntu that don’t have the package in system repository:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:flatpak/stable

Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue. Next, run sudo apt update to refresh system package cache.

2. Then, run command to enable Flatpak support:

sudo apt install flatpak

3. Finally, install the app as Flatpak package by running the command below in terminal:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/io.photoflare.photoflare.flatpakref

Once installed, search for and launch the app either from start menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your desktop environment. If app icon not visible, try log out and back in to apply path environment changes.

And for future versions, use the command to check updates:

flatpak update io.photoflare.photoflare

Uninstall Photoflare:

To remove Photoflare image editor, either use your system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove photoflare

And remove the PPA either via Software & Updates under Other Software tab, or by running command:

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

To uninstall the Flatpak package, use command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data io.photoflare.photoflare

Also run flatpak uninstall --unused to remove useless run-time libraries.

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NewFlash – Modern New GTK Feed Reader for Gnome Desktop

Last updated: April 24, 2024

NewFlash, spiritual successor to FeedReader, is a modern feed reader designed for the GNOME desktop.

NewsFlash is a program designed to complement an already existing web-based RSS reader account. It combines all the advantages of web based services like syncing across all your devices with everything you expect from a modern desktop program: Desktop notifications, fast search and filtering, tagging, handy keyboard shortcuts and having access to all your articles as long as you like.

NewFlash so far support for:

  • Miniflux
  • feedly
  • local RSS
  • fever
  • feedbin

How to Install NewFlash Feed Reader:

The software officially is available as flatpak in Flathub repository for most Linux desktops.

Ubuntu 18.04 and higher can install it by running following commands one by one:

1.) Open terminal and run command to install flatpak framework in Ubuntu:

sudo apt install flatpak

2.) Add the flathub repository which hosts the flatpak package:

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

3.) Finally install NewFlash via command:

flatpak install flathub com.gitlab.newsflash

When a new release is out, you can update the package by running command:

flatpak update com.gitlab.newsflash

(Optional) To remove the feed reader, run command:

flatpak uninstall com.gitlab.newsflash
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Automatic CPU Speed & Power Optimizer Auto-cpufreq 1.2 Released

Last updated: August 7, 2020

CPU-G

Auto-cpufreq, automatic CPU speed & power optimizer for Linux to improve battery life, released version 1.2 with AMD support.

Different to cpufreq indicator and / or TLP, Auto-cpufreq automatically make “cpufreq” related changes based on active monitoring of laptop’s battery state, CPU usage and system load. Ultimately allowing you to improve battery life without making any compromises.

How to Install Auto-cpufreq in Ubuntu:

Auto-cpufreq is available as Snap package, which can be easily installed from Ubuntu Software:

Don’t like the containerized snap package? You may also download the source tarball which contains an install script:

Auto-cpufreq tarball

Extract and go into the source folder, then right-click on blank area and select ‘Open in Terminal’

Finally run the installer via command:

sudo ./auto-cpufreq-installer

How to run Auto-cpufre:

Once installed the tool, you can run it with different flags:

1. Monitor and suggest CPU optimizations by running command:

sudo auto-cpufreq --monitor

2. Run the tool to improve battery life for temporary use (work until reboot):

sudo auto-cpufreq --live

3. Install the daemon so it will work permanently and silently in background.

sudo auto-cpufreq --install

4. Uninstall the daemon to stop the service:

sudo auto-cpufreq --remove

see auto-cpufreq in github

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Magnus – A Simple Screen Magnifier for Ubuntu

Last updated: July 31, 2020

Looking for a desktop magnifier? Besides enabling the built-in screen magnifier, there are a few third-party applications can do the job.

Magnus is a very simple desktop magnifier written in Python 3. It shows the area around the mouse pointer in a separate window magnified two, three, four, or five times. Useful for users who need magnification, whether to help with eyesight or for accurate graphical design or detail work.

How to Install Magnus in Ubuntu:

Magnus is available as Snap package, it can be directly installed from Ubuntu Software.

For Ubuntu 20.04 and higher, the software is also available in the main apt repository. Simple open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install it:

sudo apt install magnus

For Ubuntu 18.04, you need to add the PPA repository by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:flexiondotorg/magnus && sudo apt update

Then run the previous apt install command to install it.

Once installed, launch magnus from system application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall Magnus:

To remove the software PPA if added, run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:flexiondotorg/magnus

To remove Magnus, simply run command:

sudo apt remove magnus
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How to Simulate “The Matrix” Screen Display in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: July 22, 2020

Paper GTK3 and Icon themes

Want to display a scrolling “The Matrix” like screen in Ubuntu desktop? You can do the job easily via a command line tool called cmatrix.

CMatrix is based on the screensaver from The Matrix website. It shows text flying in and out in a terminal like as seen in “The Matrix” movie. It can scroll lines all at the same rate or asynchronously and at a user-defined speed.

1. To install cmatrix, simply open terminal from application launcher and run command:

sudo apt install cmatrix

2. Once installed, run cmatrix command to start the display:

cmatrix

You can press F11 to toggle on (off) terminal FULL-SCREEN mode. And press Ctrl+C (or q) to stop the process.

3. (Optional) There are some command line options. You can get them by running command:

cmatrix -h

Note to use the Linux mode -l option, you need to switch to TTY console (Ctrl+Alt+F3).

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Tauon Music Box – Modern Streamlined Music Player for Linux Desktop

Last updated: July 7, 2020

Touan Music Box is a modern, comfortable and streamlined music player for the playback of your music collection.

The software is written in Python, and uses GStreamer or optionally BASS Audio Library for playback.

Touan Music Player features:

  • Fast and responsive UI
  • Drag and drop importing tracks & creating playlists
  • Large album art and gallery displays!
  • Support for gapless playback.
  • Seamless support for CUE sheets.
  • Batch transcode folders of music.
  • Last.fm scrobbling with track love support
  • Download cover art function.
  • Edit tags with MusicBrainz Picard (when also installed).
  • Linux desktop integration with MPRIS2.
  • Built-in topchart generator.
  • Background radio broadcasting. radio satellite (Bass only)
  • Stream music from your PLEX, koel or Subsonic API compatible server.
  • Import and control playback of Spotify tracks. (Requires Spotify Premium)

How to Install Tauon Music Box in Ubuntu:

SNAP Package:

The music player is available to install in Ubuntu Software via Snap package.

You may also run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to install the snap:

snap install tauon

Flatpak Package:

Tauon is also available in Flathub repository as flatpak package.

Linux Portable:

The github releases page offers Linux.zip package.

Grab the package, extract, and run the tauon.py file to launch the music player:

python3 tauon.py

Tips: 1. Go into the folder that contains tauon.py file, right-click on blank area and select ‘Open in Terminal’, finally run the previous python3 tauon.py.

2. The portable package requires python3, python3-musicbrainzngs, and maybe other python libraries, install them via apt command.

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Strawberry – A Fork of Clementine Music Player & Organizer

Last updated: June 21, 2020

Strawberry is an open-source fork of Clementine music player aimed at music collectors and audiophiles.

Strawberry is written in C++ with Qt 5 toolkit. The development started in 2018 while Clementine was not in active development (now development of Clementine revives).

Strawberry music player and organizer features:

  • Play and organize music
  • Supports WAV, FLAC, WavPack, DSF, DSDIFF, Ogg Vorbis, Speex, MPC, TrueAudio, AIFF, MP4, MP3, ASF and Monkey’s Audio.
  • Audio CD playback
  • Native desktop notifications
  • Playlists in multiple formats
  • Advanced audio output and device configuration for bit-perfect playback on Linux
  • Edit tags on music files
  • Fetch tags from MusicBrainz
  • Album cover art from Last.fm, Musicbrainz, Discogs and Deezer
  • Song lyrics from AudD
  • Support for multiple backends
  • Audio analyzer
  • Audio equalizer
  • Transfer music to iPod, iPhone, MTP or mass-storage USB player
  • Scrobbler with support for Last.fm, Libre.fm and ListenBrainz
  • Subsonic streaming support

How to Install Strawberry in Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04:

The software offers Snap package (runs in sandbox) which can be installed simply from Ubuntu Software.

Also the official Strawberry PPA maintains the latest .deb packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 19.x, and their derivatives.

1.) Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from ‘Show Applications’ menu. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonaski/strawberry

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

2.) After adding the PPA, run commands to refresh package cache and install the music player:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install strawberry

Uninstall Strawberry:

To remove the PPA repository, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software:

or run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:jonaski/strawberry

To remove the music player and music collection organizer:

sudo apt remove --autoremove strawberry
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