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Parole Media Player 4.15.0 Released, How to Install in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: December 30, 2020

Parole, Xfce’s default media player, released version 4.15.0 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20, and Ubuntu 20.10.

Parole 4.15.0 features a in-window popover Playlist instead of a slide-out panel. The shuffle functionality now utilizes a sort filter instead of randomly selecting the next track, making it possible making the playback history more accurate.

The new release also features improved DVD support, including a menu option to activate the subpicture menu, DVD menu load automatically if playback does not start successfully.

Other changes include:

Each dialog ported to CSD with some cleanup and default buttons marked as “suggested”.
Add new icon.
Fix build and missing-prototypes errors.
Play control improvements and translation updates.

How to install Parole 4.15.0 in Ubuntu:

The unofficial PPA has made the new release package for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.10. Ubuntu 18.04 is not supported at the moment due to a compile issue.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key or by searching for “Terminal” from application menu. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Type user password (no asterisk feedback when typing due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then either upgrade the media player via Software Updater utility:

or run following command to install / upgrade it:

sudo apt install parole

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb package from HERE.

Uninstall:

Run following command to purge the PPA repository which also downgrade installed packages to the stock version in your Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

In Howtos xfce4

TeXstudio 3.0.2 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 20.04, 20.10

Last updated: December 28, 2020

TeXstudio, an open-source fully featured LaTeX editor, released version 3.0.2 a few hours ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu, Linux Mint.

Though it’s a bug-fix version, TeXstudio 3.0.2 was released after two beta test releases. It features:

Add large number of default dictionaries.
Handle \tabularnewline correctly
Fix text insertion on selected text
Change behavior for cut buffer and Ctrl+e (insert env).
Add texdoc as selectable command
Windows build now uses 64 bit and can handle larger documents

How to Install TeXstudio 3.0.2 in Ubuntu:

Non-install Appimage:

The editor offers official Appimage package, available to download at the link below:

Just grab the .appimage package, add “allow executing as program” in file’s Properties -> Permissions dialog, and finally run it to launch TeXstudio.

Install the LaTeX editor via PPA:

The official TeXstudio PPA maintains the software packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10.

While the PPA is not updated for the new release at the moment, you may grab the .deb binary from OBS repository (official).

Once the PPA is updated with the new release packages, you can do following steps one by one to install it:

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunderme/texstudio

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

2. If the stock version in Ubuntu main repository was installed, remove the texstudio-doc, texstudio-l10n (if any) package before upgrading the software:

sudo apt-get remove texstudio-doc texstudio-l10n

3. After adding the PPA, you can either upgrade it via Software Updater:

or run commands in terminal to install or upgrade the software:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install texstudio

Uninstall:

To remove the LaTeX editor, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove texstudio

And go to Software & Updates -> Other Software to remove PPA repositories.

In Howtos, News LaTeX editor

Whisker Menu 2.5 Released with Updates for Xfce 4.16 [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: December 26, 2020

Whisker Menu, an alternate application launcher for Xfce, released version 2.5.0 with updated icons and refactor code for the new Xfce 4.16 desktop.

Whisker Menu 2.5.0 release highlights:

Add option to show all applications by default
Rearrange sidebar buttons to match default category
Show panel button title as tooltip in icon-only mode
Always sort top-level categories
Vertically center contents of header
Use new Xfce action icons
Use new desktop ids for default programs
Rewrite to hide menu on focus out
Refactor code to use new Xfce functions
Refactor building translations
Translation updates

How to Install Whisker Menu in Ubuntu:

If you use Xubuntu QA Staging PPA, you’ll find Whisker Menu is available for updating along with Xfce 4.16 packages.

The software is also available in the developer’s PPA for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, and Linux Mint 19.x, 20.

1. Open terminal from system application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gottcode/gcppa

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

2. Then either run commands one by one to install the application menu:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install xfce4-whiskermenu-plugin

or upgrade the package via system package manager.

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:gottcode/gcppa

It’s not recommended to remove Whisker Menu on Xfce desktop unless you use another application menu. You can however purge the PPA, which will downgrade the app menu to the stock version:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:gottcode/gcppa

In Howtos xfce4

Remove Top Bar, Left Dock, Other UI Elements in Ubuntu 22.04/20.04

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Want to disable the top panel, left dock launcher, search box, and other Gnome UI elements in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 24.04 LTS? You can now do it via a Gnome Shell extension.

Just Perfection is an extension allows you to get a super minimal GNOME desktop. It offers a list of options to toggle on / off the visibility of Gnome top bar, Dash (dock launcher), Search (search box in both Activities view and ‘Show Applications’), Hot Corner, OSD (notification pop-up), Workspace popup and workspace switcher, Background Menu, App Gesture.

It also overrides the current GNOME shell theme while user themes extension is not required.

To install the extension in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 24.04., do following steps one by one:

1. Open terminal and run command to install chrome-gnome-shell package if you don’t have it.

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

2. Then go to the extension web page, turn on the toggle icon to install it.

Don’t see the toggle icon? Click the link which says “Click here to install browser extension” to install browser extension and refresh the web page.

NOTE 1: the extension by default disable all the available options. If you want to re-enable any of them, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal and run command:

gnome-tweaks

to bring up Gnome Tweak tool (install it via sudo apt install gnome-tweaks command) and change the settings in Extensions tab.

NOTE 2: At the moment of writing, the extension supports for Gnome from 3.36 to 46. Check the ‘Shell version…’ drop-down box before installing it on your system.

In Howtos Gnome

How to Install Alacritty Terminal Emulator via PPA in Ubuntu 20.04/22.04

Last updated: December 30, 2023

This simple tutorial shows how to install the fastest terminal emulator, Alacritty, in Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20 via PPA. UPDATED: Ubuntu 22.04 & Linux Mint 21 also supported.

Alacritty is a cross-platform, GPU-accelerated terminal emulator works on macOS, Linux, BSD, and Windows. It’s free and open-source software that strongly focus on simplicity and performance. And it features Vi mode, search, Vi search etc.

To install the software, there’s a PPA repository contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04. Also an old version is available for Ubuntu 18.04.

1. Open terminal from your system application launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:aslatter/ppa

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

2. While adding the PPA will also automatically refresh system package cache, run apt command to install the terminal emulator:

sudo apt install alacritty

Once installed, either open it either from system application launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard.

Uninstall Alacritty:

To remove the terminal emulator, run command:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove alacritty

To remove the Ubuntu PPA, either run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:aslatter/ppa

or open Software & Updates and remove the repository line under Other Software tab.

In Howtos terminal emulator

How to Install Panorama Stitcher Hugin 2020 in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: December 16, 2020

Hugin, free open source panorama photo stitching and HDR merging program, finally released version 2020.0.0.

Hugin 2020.0.0 release highlights include:

Fixes fast preview on HiDPI screens under GTK+3 and MacOS.
Make fast preview screen zoom-able with mouse wheel.
Make hugin_hdrmerge aware of cropped intermediate images.
Several improvements for command line tools (pto_var, pto_move, pto_gen, autooptimiser).
More checks in GUI for strange user input.
Fixes for several bugs, and translation updates.

How to Install Hugin 2020.0.0 in Ubuntu:

Hugin 2020.0.0 is available as universal Linux Flatpak package, which runs in sandbox, and you can get it from flathub repository.

For those prefer an Ubuntu PPA, the new release package is available in the unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 20.10. The package was backported from official Ubuntu 21.04 build and there’s known issues, e.g., loading copyright file in about page and “An assertion failed!” dialog when launching calibrate_lens_gui.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

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

2. Then run commands to check updates and install Hugin:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install hugin

or upgrade it via Software Updater if a previous release was installed.

Uninstall:

To remove Hugin panorama stitcher, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove hugin hugin-tools

To remove PPA, launch Software & Updates and navigate to ‘Other Software’ tab.

In Howtos panorama stitcher

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.10 LTS in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Linux Kernel 5.10 was released a day ago as the latest LTS (Long Term Support) release. Here’s how to install in Ubuntu & Linux Mint.

Linus Torvalds announced the release of Kernel 5.10: “Ok, here it is – 5.10 is tagged and pushed out. I pretty much always wish that the last week was even calmer than it was, and that’s true here too. There’s a fair amount of fixes in here, including a few last-minute reverts for things that didn’t get fixed, but nothing makes me go “we need another week”. Things look fairly normal.”

Kernel 5.10 features include:

New hardware support including Intel Rocket Lake and Alder Lake
AMD Zen 3 temperature monitoring support.
Raspberry Pi VC4 support
The Creative Labs SoundBlaster AE-7 sound card support.
Nintendo Switch controller support
Initial support for NVIDIA Orin.
AMDGPU DC display support for GCN 1.0 (Southern Islands) GPUs.
And much more other changes.

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.10 in Ubuntu:

The mainline build kernels do not include any Ubuntu-provided drivers or patches. They are not supported and are not appropriate for production use.

For a graphical tool to install mainline kernel packages, try Ubuntu Mainline Kernel Installer.

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The mainline kernel packages for Linux 5.10 (64-bit) are now available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 5.10

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio):

linux-headers-5.10.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
linux-headers-5.10.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
linux-modules-5.10.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
linux-image-xxx-5.10.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb

Alternatively you can download and install the kernel binaries via terminal commands ( open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T):

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.10/amd64/linux-headers-5.10.0-051000_5.10.0-051000.202012132330_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.10/amd64/linux-headers-5.10.0-051000-generic_5.10.0-051000.202012132330_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.10/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.10.0-051000-generic_5.10.0-051000.202012132330_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.10/amd64/linux-modules-5.10.0-051000-generic_5.10.0-051000.202012132330_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.10:

Restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in boot menu ‘Grub2 -> Advanced Option for Ubuntu’. Then run command to remove Linux Kernel 5.10:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-unsigned-5.10.0-051000-generic

In Howtos kernel

[Quick Tip] Remove ‘Window is Ready’ Notification & Focus Window Immediately

Last updated: April 24, 2024

In the default Gnome desktop when you trying to open an application, the app window sometimes does not get into focus immediately, instead it pops up ‘xxx’ is ready notification and opens the window behind the current focused window.

This usually happens when another window is getting focused during the process of launching a desired application.

To get rid of the ‘Window is ready’ notification and focus window immediately, I think a quick enough system response should fix the problem. Besides, you can install “Focus my window” Gnome extension.

1.) Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install chrome-gnome-shell package if you don’t have it.

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

2.) Then go to the extension web page in your browser. Turn on the toggle icon and install it.

NOTE: The old extension is no longer exist. The new one supports only GNOME 45 and 46 so far, meaning for Ubuntu 23.10 and Ubuntu 24.04!.

Don’t see the toggle icon? Click the link “Click here to install browser extension” and finally refresh the page.

That’s it. Enjoy!

(Optional) If you want to remove the gnome shell extensions, either turn off the toggle icon in the web page, or use either Extensions or GNOME Extensions Manager (both available in the new App Center app) utility.

In Howtos Gnome

XFE – A Lightweight Windows File Explorer Like File Manager for X

Last updated: April 24, 2024

XFE (X File Explorer) is a lightweight Windows File Explorer or Commander like file manager for Unix / Linux X.

It’s small memory footprint, very fast, and only requires the FOX library to be fully functional, and aims to light desktop users.

XFE features include:

UTF-8 support
Commander/Explorer interface with four UI modes
Horizontal or vertical file panels stacking
Integrated text editor (xfwrite), image viewer (xfimage)
Integrated RPM or DEB packages installer / uninstaller (xfpack).<.li>
Custom shell scripts (like Nautilus scripts)
Search files and directories
Disk usage command
Mount/Unmount devices (for Linux only)
Color, control, and icon themes (GNOME, KDE, Windows, …)
Create and extract archives (tar, compress, zip, gzip, bzip2, xz, lzh, rar, ace, arj and 7zip formats are supported)
File comparison (through external tool)
Thumbnails image previews
Configurable key bindings

To install XFE in Ubuntu, simply open terminal and run command:

sudo apt install xfe

Refresh package cache by running sudo apt update if the package somehow is not found.

Once installed open the file manager from your system application launcher and enjoy!

(Optional) To remove XFE, run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove xfe

In Howtos File Explorer

OpenRGB – An Open Source RGB Lighting Control App for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

OpenRGB, formerly OpenAuraSDK, is a free open-source RGB lighting control that doesn’t depend on manufacturer software.

OpenRGB supports ASUS, ASRock, Corsair, G.Skill, Gigabyte, HyperX, MSI, Razer, ThermalTake, and more (See supported devices).

While every manufacturer has their own app, proprietary and Windows-only, some even require online accounts, OpenRGB aims to control all of your RGB devices from a single app, on both Windows and Linux.

OpenRGB features include:

Set colors and select effect modes for a wide variety of RGB hardware
Save and load profiles
Control lighting from third party software using the OpenRGB SDK
Command line interface
Connect multiple instances of OpenRGB to synchronize lighting across multiple PCs
Can operate standalone or in a client/headless server configuration
View device information
No official/manufacturer software required
Graphical view of device LEDs makes creating custom patterns easy

How to Get OpenRGB:

The source code, Windows binary, universal Linux Appimage package, and Deb package for Ubuntu / Debian are available to download at the gitlab releases page:

Download OpenRGB

For Ubuntu users, either grab the Appimage package and run to open the software (after adding executable permission), or, download the Deb package (Debian Buster amd64 for 20.04 and earlier, Debian Bullseye amd64 for later) and click install via Gdebi (Gdebi is available in Ubuntu Software/App Center) package installer.