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Fragments – Stylish GTK4 BitTorrent Client with Remote Control Support

Last updated: April 24, 2024

For GNOME fans, there’s now a GTK 4 BitTorrent client that has a stylish user interface looks native in Ubuntu, Fedora Workstation or other Linux with GNOME desktop.

The software was originally written in Vala as a GTK3 app. By the 2.0 release (in beta at the moment), it’s rebuilt from scratch using Rust. Along with libadwaita library, it has an adaptive UI that fits well in small displays (e.g., Linux mobile or tablet).

Fragments adaptive UI

Fragments is based on Transmission, the out-of-the-box BitTorrent client in Ubuntu. Besides deep integration with GNOME desktop, the key features so far include:

  • Automatic clipboard detection. Click or copy a magnet link, it will handle the downloads automatically.
  • Control remote Fragments or Transmission sessions.

Say you have a Linux machine running as a ‘download server’ either with desktop environment or not. After setting up the remote access functionality in Transmission GTK or CLI, user may use Fragments’ menu option ‘Add Remote Connection‘ to remote control the server via RPC protocol.

Fragments add remote session

Once connected, the header-bar turns purple and it displays ‘Remote Control “Name”‘ as subtitle indicates that you’re in control of the remote session. A little server icon appears in header-bar, allows to switch between local and remote sessions.

As well, it displays statistics about current session, such as overall network usage, and allows to select encryption type and toggle dark mode, and more.

How to Install Fragments in Ubuntu & other Linux:

The software is available as Flatpak package. Open terminal by searching from ‘Activities’ overview screen. When it opens, run following commands one by one:

1.) Install Flatpak framework if you don’t have it installed via command:

sudo apt install flatpak

2.) Add flathub, the main repository hosts a large list of flatpak packages:

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

3.) Finally install the BitTorrent client via command:

flatpak install flathub de.haeckerfelix.Fragments

The last command will install the latest stable release. For those want to try out the 2.0 Beta with newest features, run command below instead:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/beta-repo/appstream/de.haeckerfelix.Fragments.flatpakref

Once installed, search for and open it from ‘Activities’ overview and enjoy!

How to remove Fragments BitTorrent Client:

To uninstall the app, simply run command in a terminal window:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data de.haeckerfelix.Fragments

That’s all. Enjoy!

In App Review
 

Top 7 Screenshot Tools for Ubuntu Desktop

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Looking for screen capturing application for your Ubuntu desktop? Here are 7 popular graphical tools you can try.

1. Gnome Screenshot

GNOME Screenshot is no longer default since GNOME 40 (meaning Ubuntu 22.04 and higher). Install it either from Ubuntu Software or by running sudo apt install gnome-screenshot command in terminal.

First of first, if you just want to take a screenshot. use the default screenshot tool by pressing PrintScreen, Alt + PrintScreen, or Shift + PrintScreen on keyboard to take screenshot of whole screen, focused app window, or selected area.

You can also launch the tool by searching for screenshot from system application launcher.

2. Flameshot

Flameshot is a powerful yet simple to use screenshot software. It starts as indicator applet with option to capture selected rectangular area.

The software features editing tools around screenshot selection area. As well, it supports for uploading to Imgur, and commands.

To install Flameshot, either search for and install it via Ubuntu Software or run command in terminal:

sudo apt install flameshot

3. Shutter

Shutter is a feature-rich screenshot application with a built-in editor.

It’s one of must installed applications on my Ubuntu. The software features:

  • Capture rectangular area.
  • Capture active window, or select an app window to capture.
  • whole screen, workspaces.
  • Capture app child window.
  • Capture menu or cascading menus from an app.
  • Capture tooltips.
  • Upload to Dropbox, Imgur, etc.
  • Edit with built-in editor, or auto-open with other system image editor.

Ubuntu removed Shutter from its universe repositories due to old Gnome 2 dependency libraries. Now, the project is working on removing old libraries and getting back to Ubuntu main repositories.

To install Shutter, either install snap package, or run commands one by one to get it from PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:shutter/ppa

sudo apt update

sudo apt install shutter

4. Screencloud

Screencloud is a screenshot sharing software that works on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS.

It starts as an indicator applet offers menu options & keyboard shortcuts to take screenshot of selection, full-screen, and window.

Screenshot URL is automatically copied to clipboard, if you have pre-defined settings, for easy sharing with your friend. Supported online services include: Dropbox, Imgur, Google Drive, OneDrive, FTP/SFTP, Shell Script.

The software is available as Snap, so you can easily install it from Ubuntu Software. For choices, an Appimage is also available to download in the link below:

Grab the .appimage package, make it executable in file “Properties -> Open With” dialog, and finally run it to launch the tool.

5. GIMP

If you edit images regularly with GIMP image editor, try its built-in screenshot function by going to menu File -> Create -> Screenshot ….

You’ll see a child window with options to capture window, full-screen, and selected area. And screenshot will be opened in a new GIMP window automatically.

6. Ksnip

Ksnip is a Qt-based screen capture with a built-in editor. It works on X11 and Gnome / Plasma Wayland.

It includes most features that other screenshot tools have (e.g, upload to Imgur, hotkeys, etc), and can be a great alternative to Shutter. Although it’s not perfect at the moment, the development is updating regularly.

7. Kazam

Kazam is a simple screencast application which also include features to capture screenshots. Similar to the default Gnome screenshot, it only offers basic options to capture, full-screen, window, and selection area.

To install Kazam, either use Ubuntu Software, or run command in terminal:

sudo apt install kazam

Summary:

There are also many other screenshot tools (e.g., KDE Spectacle, Deepin screenshot, xfce4-screenshooter, lximage-qt) that are either not desktop independent, or not working good in my case.

So the previous 7 tools are the best for Ubuntu so far in 2020 in my private opinion.

In App Review
 

Warpinator – Linux Mint Developed File Transfer App for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Warpinator is a local network file transfer application developed by Linux Mint. It is written with Python 3 and works on most Linux desktops via Flatpak package.

The software offers a simple clean interface that lists all available network machines with Warpinator running.

To send files, simply select a remote machine and click ‘Send files’ button. File transfer must be first approved by the recipient.

How to Get Warpinator:

For Linux Mint:

Linux Mint users can simply search for and launch terminal from start menu. Then run the command below to install the application from system repository:

sudo apt install warpinator

For Ubuntu based systems

There’s a third-party PPA contains the Warpinator package as well as a few other mint tools Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04 and their derivatives.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and run the command below one by one to add the PPA and install the file transfer:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kelebek333/mint-tools
sudo apt update
sudo apt install warpinator

Install the app for most other Linux

The file transfer app is also available to install in most Linux systems as universal Flathub.

Firstly, follow the setup guide to install Flatpak daemon on your system.

Then, install Warpinator as flatpak package by running:

flatpak install flathub org.x.Warpinator

And if you want to remove the package, run command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.x.Warpinator

Other platforms

There are unofficial clients for other platforms. Android user may simply search for and install it in F-Droid or Google Play.

For iOS, an unofficial client is in Beta stage.

And Windows user may download and install the EXE from this github project page.

In App Review
 

Tartube – A GTK+ 3 Front-end for Youtube-DL Video Downloader

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Looking for a graphical interface for the command line youtube-dl video downloader? Tartube is a GTK+ 3 front-end written in Python 3.

Tartube is partly based on youtube-dl-gui and runs on Windows, Linux, Mac OS, and BSD. It’s a free and open-source software that can download individual videos, and even whole channels and playlists, from YouTube and all youtube-dl supported websites.

Besides downloading videos, Tartube can also organize your videos into convenient folders, alert you when livestreams are starting, and more.

How to Get Tartube:

The Ubuntu deb, Windows exe, Fedora rpm, and source code are available for download at the link below:

For Ubuntu users, grab the .deb package and click install either via “Software Install” or “Gdebi” (if installed).

NOTE: To make the software work, you have to install youtube-dl, and in Tartube’s “system preferences” set the path to youtube-dl executable.

In App Review
 

Gcolor3 – A GTK+ 3 Color Selector and Picker for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Gcolor3 is a color selector and picker written in GTK+ 3. It is much alike Gcolor2, but uses the newer GTK+ version to get better integrate into modern desktop.

Gcolor3 enables you to pick the color from any pixel on your screen. It also offers a palette, so that you can easily mix and match a couple of colors together.

When you have found the perfect combination of colors, naturally you want to save them. Gcolor3 allows you to conveniently save and retrieve colors.

By releasing version 2.4.0, Gcolor3 now is “Color Picker” with a new maintainer, a new icon, lots of new improvements, and many translation updates.

How to get Gcolor in Ubuntu:

The latest Gcolor so far is available as Flatpak package. You can either download the package from the link below:

or open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following commands one by one to install the package:

sudo apt install flatpak

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

flatpak install flathub nl.hjdskes.gcolor3

To uninstall the software, run command:

flatpak uninstall nl.hjdskes.gcolor3

Prefer deb to the containerized flatpak package?

Gcolor3 has been made into the universe repository of Ubuntu 20.10.

For Ubuntu 20.04, you can grab the .deb package for 20.10 from the launchpad page.

In App Review
 

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:

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.

In App Review
 

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:

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:

In App Review
 

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.

In App Review
 

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.

In App Review
 

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
In App Review