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Archives For November 30, 1999

Install MPV (0.39.0 Updated) in Ubuntu 22.04, 24.04 via PPA

Last updated: September 29, 2024 — 15 Comments

MPV media player has reached version 0.39.0. Here’s how to install it for those sticking to the classic .deb package format.

MPV does not provide official packages for Ubuntu Linux. It’s however easy to install the latest version via different sources.

Linux Mint 21/22 can directly search for and install MPV Flatpak package from software manager. And, Ubuntu can install the Snap package from Ubuntu Software. Though, both of them run in sandbox.

For those sticking to the classic .deb package, I’ve upload MPV 0.39.0 into this unofficial PPA. It supports Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, ~~and Ubuntu 23.10~~, ~~Ubuntu 20.04~~ on both x86_64 and arm64/armhf CPU architecture types.

Install MPV 0.39.0 via Ubuntu PPA

NOTE: Ubuntu 22.04 has FFmpeg 4.4.2, but mpv now requires at least v6.1. So, the PPA package for 22.04 now has FFmpeg (7.0) built in bundle. Please leave comment below if there’s any issue due to this change.

1. Add the PPA

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, paste the command below and hit run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/mpv

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

2. Update package cache

Since Ubuntu 20.04, it automatically updates the package cache while adding PPA. Though, Linux Mint user needs to do it manually.

To do so, run command in terminal:

sudo apt update

3. Install MPV 0.39.0

Finally, install mpv media player v0.38.0 by running command:

sudo apt install mpv

To verify, run mpv --version command in terminal.

Known Issues

Drag and drop files into mpv app window does not work, due to Wayland. Though, you may right-click on media file to open with mpv.

For hardware video acceleration, first make sure your graphics driver support it, then edit ‘/etc/mpv/mpv.conf‘ file and add hwdec=auto. And, enable classic header bar via gpu-context=x11egl.

Uninstall:

You can choose to purge the PPA repository, which will also downgrade mpv to the stock version in system repository. To do so, open terminal and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/mpv

Or, remove PPA by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/mpv

To remove the mpv media player, use command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove mpv

In Howtos mpv

Shotwell 0.32.2 added Sony Camera .HIF file Support [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: July 24, 2023 — 1 Comment

The Shotwell photo manager and viewer got a new point release few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.04 and 23.04.

The new Shotwell 0.32.2 added .hif file format support. It’s a HEIF variant usually taken by Sony Mirrorless Cameras.

Other changes are mostly bug-fixes, they include:

Fix using wrong data folder when starting profile through browser
Fix sendto in flatpak environment
Fix meta-data being written in a loop
Fix detecting false mtime changes
Fix broken aspect ratio of thumbnail when using external editors
Fix critical when exporting file with no exposure date
Fix minor leak in Flickr and Google authenticators
Enable C&P of paths in profile editor
Translation updates

How to Install Shotwell 0.32.2 in Ubuntu:

Option 1: Flatpak package (Official)

Shotwell provides official package for Linux through universal Flatpak package. Ubuntu user can install the package by running the 2 commands below one by one.

Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Run command to make sure flatpak daemon is installed:

sudo apt install flatpak

Then, run command to install Shotwell as Flatpak package:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gnome.Shotwell.flatpakref

Option 2: Ubuntu PPA

For those prefer the classic .deb package, I’ve upload Shotwell 0.32.2 into this unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 23.04.

1. First, search for and open terminal from your system application menu, or press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/shotwell

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

2. Next, launch Software Updater (Update Manager), then install the updates for the software package.

Or, run command in terminal to install/upgrade the Shotwell package:

sudo apt install shotwell heif-gdk-pixbuf

NOTE: Linux Mint user may need to run sudo apt update first to refresh package cache.

Finally, either right-click on your photo images to select open with the photo manager, or search for and launch shotwell from ‘Activities’ overview and enjoy!

Uninstall Shotwell 0.32.2

For any issue, it’s recommended to purge the Ubuntu PPA. Which, will remove PPA and downgrade shotwell to the pre-installed version.

To do so, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/shotwell

For shotwell flatpak package, remove it by running command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.gnome.Shotwell

In Howtos shotwell

RabbitVCS 0.19 Adds Back Nautilus (GTK4) Support [How to Install]

Last updated: July 20, 2023 — 2 Comments

Ubuntu 23.04 and Debian 12 excluded rabbitvcs-nautilus package in their repositories, since RabbitVCS 0.18 does not support the GTK4 version of Nautilus file manager.

Now, RabbitVCS 0.19 is released! Which, added back plugin support for the newer versions of Nautilus.

The new release has been submitted into Debian new packages queue. It should also be included in the next Ubuntu 23.10, which will be released in October.

For current Ubuntu 23.04 users who want to use the version control systems from file context menu, or Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 20.04 who want to update to RabbitVCS 0.19 with bug fixes and improvements, either build it from source code, or follow the steps below to get it from an unofficial PPA.

Install RabbitVCS 0.19 Nautilus Plugin via Ubuntu PPA

1. Firstly, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When terminal opens, run command to add the Ubuntu PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/rabbitvcs

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

2. The PPA package also include the Nemo plugin. If you’re doing the steps in Linux Mint, you need also run command to manually update the package cache:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, install the RabbitVCS 0.19 with Nautilus integration by running command:

sudo apt install rabbitvcs-nautilus rabbitvcs-core

In the last command, you may replace rabbitvcs-nautilus with rabbitvcs-nemo for Linux Mint Cinnamon, rabbitvcs-caja for MATE, or rabbitvcs-thunar for XFCE desktop.

4. After installed the package, restart your file manager by running command in terminal:

nautilus -q

Or, caja -q, nemo -q depends on your desktop environment.

When done, re-open your file manager and right-click on file/folder to see the new context menu option.

NOTE: Don’t know why, the Nemo file manager do NOT show the RabbitVCS context menu in the first time you right-clicking a file/folder.

Uninstall:

You can purge the Ubuntu PPA, which also downgrade the RabbitVCS plugin to the stock version in system repository.

To do so, open terminal and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/rabbitvcs

To complete remove the RabbitVCS context menu, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove rabbitvcs-core

Finally, run nautilus -q, caja -q, nemo -q or thunar -q to apply changes.

In Howtos RabbitVCS

Change OSD Pop-up Position in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04

Last updated: May 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

Want to configure the OSD (on-screen display) pop-up in Ubuntu and other Linux with GNOME? There’s an extension to do the job in GNOME 42 ~ 44.

When changing volume, screen brightness, device status (e.g., Bluetooth), etc via keyboard shortcuts in GNOME, there will be on-screen pop-ups indicate the status changes.

By default, these pop-ups occur in bottom center of screen and hide automatically in 1 seconds.

GNOME OSD

In Howtos Gnome

Linux Mint 21.2 Released! Touchpad Gestures, Light & Dark Mode Support

Last updated: July 18, 2023 — Leave a comment

Linux Mint announced the new 21.2 point release this Sunday!

The new release introduced Cinnamon Desktop 5.8 with built-in gestures support for touchpad and touchscreen. With the touchegg service running in the background, System Settings now provides a ‘Gestures’ option, allowing to configure actions for 3-finger/4-finger swipe, 2-finger/3-finger/4-finger pinch, and activation thresholds.

Another big change is the “Themes” setting page. It now features “Style” option for changing theme, and each style has light, dark, and mixed, as well as accent colors to choose from.

Other changes in Linux Mint 21.2 include:

MATE Desktop 1.26.
XFCE Desktop 4.18.
Kernel 5.15.
Ubuntu 22.04 package base.
Enable touchpad tap-to-click on login screen.
On screen keyboard now is configurable.
Pix 3.0 with AVIF/HEIF and JXL formats support.
XDG Desktop Portal for better non-native apps (such as Flatpak) support.
Start Menu now is resizable.
Tooltips, icons, and other minor changes.

How to Get Linux Mint 21.2

For the .iso disco image, go to its website via the link below:

Download Linux Mint

Linux Mint 21.1 user can upgrade to the new release by launching “Update Manager” (upgrade the app itself if prompted), then use menu ” option.

For Ubuntu (Cinnamon) user who want to try out the new Cinnamon Desktop 5.8, I’ve created an unofficial PPA for choice.

In Howtos Linux Mint

How to Share Virtual Extended Screen in Ubuntu 22.04 | 24.04

Last updated: May 4, 2024 — 4 Comments

This simple tutorial shows how to enable RDP remote desktop for extended screen in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 with default GNOME desktop.

Since Ubuntu 22.04, the default GNOME desktop has built-in RDP support. The function has feature to share screen in ‘extend’ mode.

In this mode, Ubuntu won’t mirror the primary display, but create virtual extended screens for remote access.

Each remote connection is limited to its own virtual screen. You can drag and drop any app windows to that screen, allowing remote users to see and/or manipulate, while keeping sensitive data un-accessible in primary screen.

Or, you can use remote client PC/laptop’s monitor wirelessly to setup multiple screens for the Ubuntu machine. Though, operating in the virtual external monitors will be a bit laggy.

In Howtos remote desktop

The App Can Record Desktop & Your Face At Same Time

Last updated: May 5, 2024 — Leave a comment

Still looking for an alternative screen recording application for GNOME Desktop? Try this one!

GNOME, the default desktop environment of Ubuntu and Fedora Workstation, lacks good screen recorder after switching to Wayland.

Kooha is a good choice that support recording voice and multiple monitors, which works in both Xorg and Wayland.

In this tutorial I’m going to introduce EasyScreenCast. It’s a free and open-source application for GNOME desktop only.

EasyScreenCast simplifies the use of the video recording function integrated in gnome shell, allows quickly to change the various settings of the desktop recording.

It starts as an indicator applet in the top-right system tray area, by clicking on it will show you the menu to:

Start / Stop recording.
Choose audio source.
Enable webcam recording at the same time.
Select recording area.
Set time delay.

As you can see in the screenshot above, it supports recording full-screen (all desktop), a selected app window.

To record a selected area, just click down and drag to create an rectangle area on screen after clicked ‘Start Recording’. It has option to show a border around the area while recording, though NOT enabled by default.

For multiple monitors, choose “Record a selected monitor” option. Click “start recording” and make some mouse clicks on your desired monitor screen to start.

By enabling webcam recording, it can also record your face and your desktop screen at the same time! Just choose your webcam from the indicator menu, then setup the quality, size, and position in “Options” dialog.

After recording, you video will have a small screen with yourself in bottom right corner. Just like the screenshot below shows.

Other things EasyScreenCast can do include:

Keyboard shortcut.
Run command before and/or after recording.
Configure the video quality.
Record to WebM, MP4, MKV, OGG, with presets or custom resolution.

How to Install EasyScreenCast in Ubuntu & Other Linux

EasyScreenCast is available to install as GNOME Shell extensions. So far, it support GNOME version from 38 to 46.

Meaning, you can install it in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 24.04, current Fedora 38+, RHEL/Rocky Linux/Alma Linux 9, and Debian 12, Arch, etc with GNOME.

1. First, it requires few gstreamer plugins packages for webcam and encoding support. Ubuntu user can simply press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run command to install it:

sudo apt install gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly gstreamer1.0-plugins-good

2. Then, install the extension either from web browser or using “Extension Manager” application.

For Ubuntu, first search for and install “Extension Manager” from Ubuntu Software or App Center.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu Software/App Center

Then, launch “Extension Manager” and use it to search and install “EasyScreenCast” extension.

For other Linux, just go to link below to visit the extension page.

EasyScreenCast Extension

Then use ON/OFF switch to install it. If you don’t see the ON/OFF switch, click the link in the page to install browser extension and refresh!

Uninstall EasyScreenCast

To uninstall the extension, either use ON/OFF switch in the extension web page. Or use “Gnome Extensions” or “Extension Manager”.

In Howtos video recording

GIMP 2.99.16 is out with Full GTK3 Port, Client-Side Decoration

Last updated: July 10, 2023 — 2 Comments

GIMP image editor announced a new development release for next major 3.0 this Sunday!

It’s GIMP 2.99.16, the last release in the 2.99.x series. The release has finished the GTK+3 port. It adds ability to assign several shortcuts for a single action. And, the action search dialog also shows results’ own menu positions.

The GEGL engine has implemented filters as separate modules called “operations”, allowing 3rd party developers added their own filters to menu. And, custom filters (whether or not added to menu) will appear in the action search dialog.

The release also added new ‘Merge menu and title bar‘ option in ‘Preferences -> Image Windows’. This enable Gnome’s Client Side Decoration style that save vertical space.

Other changes in GIMP 2.99.16 include:

New fill with “Middle Gray (CIELAB)” option in new layer creation dialog.
New Text tool option: ‘Show on-canvas editor’
Color Picker tool: added ‘Grayscale (%)’ display mode
Import compressed FITS files (GZIP, HCOMP, PLIO, RICE) in 8/16/32-bit and float/double precision.
Import/Export PSD files with Clipping paths.
Initial support for CMYK(A) export for JPEG-XL
Import and export support for PAM, QOI image formats
Import Amiga IFF/ILBM and DCX files.

How to Install GIMP 2.99.16

GIMP offers official Linux package through universal Flatpak that runs in sandbox.

For Ubuntu, first press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one to get it.

First, run command to install Flatpak daemon in case you don’t have it:
```
sudo apt install flatpak
```

Then, install the GIMP 2.99.16 as Flatpak by running command:

flatpak install --user https://flathub.org/beta-repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref

Once installed, either search for and launch it from ‘Activities’ overview.

Or run command flatpak run org.gimp.GIMP//beta to start it from terminal.

In addition for those who don’t like sandbox applications, keep an eye on this third-party Ubuntu PPA.

Uninstall GIMP 2.99.x

To remove the GIMP development package installed as Flatpak, open terminal and run command:

flatpak uninstall org.gimp.GIMP//beta

You may also run flatpak uninstall --unused to uninstall useless runtime libraries to free up disk space.

In Howtos gimp

Enable Full Light Mode (Panel, Dock, Overview) in Ubuntu 22.04 | 23.04

Last updated: July 8, 2023 — Leave a comment

For those who prefer light theme, there’s an extension now to make all the GNOME Shell components to be light!

Ubuntu so far has light and dark mode options available in the ‘Appearance’ settings page. It can switch the color scheme for system menu, notification, and app windows.

However, other components, such as panel and dock, are always dark!

GNOME developer team has been working on the full light mode support. Before it’s going official, user can try it out via an unofficial extension.

With the extensions, the following part of your desktop will also go light:

Top panel.
Ubuntu Dock (left panel)
OSD (volume down/up pop-up)

Light Shell

Install Light Shell Extension

1. The extension so far supports GNOME 42, 43 and 44. Ubuntu user can first search for and install “Extension Manager” from Ubuntu Software.

Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+

2. Then, click on top-left ‘Activities’ to open overview screen. Search for and launch “Extension Manager” tool.

3. When the tool opens, navigate to ‘Browse’ tab. Search for and install ‘Light Shell’ extension.

In case ‘Extension Manager’ does not work for you, go to the extension web page via the link below:

Light Shell extension

Then turn on the toggle to install it!

If you don’t see the ON/OFF toggle, install browser extension via link in that page and also press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command:

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Finally, refresh the web page.

Turn Off or Remove Light Shell

With the extension enabled, the dark mode (via Appearance settings option) will NOT go fully dark.

In the case, you can launch “Extension Manager“. Then either use the ON/OFF switch to disable the extension, or click expand and use “Remove” button to uninstall.

That’s all. Enjoy!

In Howtos Gnome

One Command to Convert All your Snap Apps into Flatpak in Ubuntu

Last updated: July 7, 2023 — Leave a comment

For those hate Snap but prefer Flatpak, there’s now a script to automatically remove all the snap apps installed on your system, and install them back as Flatpak in Debian and Ubuntu.

It’s Unsnap, a free and open-source script written by Alan Pope and some other contributors. The man was an employee of Canonical (the company behind Ubuntu), and one of the developers of Snap.

As you may know, Snap and Flatpak are universal Linux package format run in sandbox. They make possible to run newer apps (or app in multiple versions) in Linux without worrying about dependency issue. However, they take more disk spaces since run-time libraries also sandboxed, and so far have limitations to interact outside of sandbox.

Snap is powered by Canonical. The client and runtime are open-source while the backend is proprietary. Flatpak is completely open-source, and RedHat is behind the project. And, the open-source community seems to (IMO) prefer Flatpak is bit more.

Use Unsnap to Convert your Snap Apps to Flatpak

Unsnap does NOT rebuilt your Snap apps as Flatpak. It automate the process to remove Snap apps and install equivalent Flatpak apps back. Which, is useful for beginners and advanced users who want to save time for searching packages.

Supported Systems:

According to the script content, it so far supports: Debian, Ubuntu (and its official flavors), Linux Mint, Pop!_OS, Elementary OS, and Zorin OS.

Working Process

The script works in two mode: default and auto.

It by default detects your system status and snap apps, then generates following new scripts:

00-backup – script to run snap save to save current data of snap apps.
01-install-flatpak – script to install Flatpak daemon.
02-enable-flathub – script to add Flathub repository.
03-install-flatpaks – script to install equivalent Flatpak apps.
04-remove-snaps – script to Remove all the Snap apps.
99-remove-snapd – script to remove disable snap. Though it may be installed back via a system update.

It may skip 01/02 scripts if you already installed Flatpak daemon and added Flathub repository. And, the scripts are quite simply and easy to understand for those have basic Linux command and programming skills. Then, you can choose to manually run all or any of the scripts accordingly!

The auto mode will generate the scripts and run all of them automatically!

Limitations:

The scripts so far supports 219 applications. Advanced users can add more apps support by editing the ‘applist.csv’ config file.

It won’t remove unsupported and excluded Snap applications, though they will be gone after running 99-remove-snapd script either manually or automatically.

The script can save current data of all Snap applications. But there seems no way to import them in the equivalent Flatpak applications. And, there’s NO script to undo the changes!

Download Unsnap and Run the script

1. User can either download Unsnap from github page, or open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T in Ubuntu) and run command:

git clone https://github.com/popey/unsnap

Run sudo apt install git if git command not found.

2. After downloading the script, either

run cd unsnap to navigate to source folder and ./unsnap auto to do all the things AUTOMATICALLY in one command.
or run cd unsnap, then ./unsnap to generate the scripts for MANUAL use.