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MythTV 31 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu via PPA

Last updated: March 24, 2020

MythTV, open source software digital video recorder (DVR), released new stable version 31 a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10.

MythTV 31 comes with significant changes to video decoding and playback, python3 support, greatly improved channel scanning, and support for the DataDirect guide service from Schedules Direct has been removed. For details, see the release note.

How to Install MythTV 31 in Ubuntu:

Mythbuntu Team PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and Ubuntu 20.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mythbuntu/31

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

2.) Then either upgrade the software from an installed version via Software Updater:

or install it by running commands in terminal:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install mythtv

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA repository, open terminal and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:mythbuntu/31

And remove the digital video recorder via command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove mythtv
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Audacious 4.0 Released with Qt5 UI [How to Install]

Last updated: March 22, 2020

Audacious music player

Audacious audio player 4.0 was finally announced as the new stable release. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and Ubuntu 20.04.

Audacious 4.0 switches to Qt 5 UI by default, though GTK2 is still available as a build option. New features in the release include:

  • New option to hide playlist tabs.
  • New OpenMPT-based tracker module plugin
  • New VU Meter visualization plugin
  • Added option to use a SOCKS network proxy
  • New “Next Album” and “Previous Album” commands
  • The tag editor in Qt UI can now edit multiple files at once
  • Implemented equalizer presets window for Qt UI
  • Lyrics plugin gained the ability to save and load lyrics locally
  • Blur Scope and Spectrum Analyzer visualizations ported to Qt
  • MIDI plugin soundfont selection ported to Qt
  • JACK output plugin gained some new options
  • Added option to endlessly loop PSF files
  • Some other improvements and bug-fixes.

How to Install Audacious 4.0 in Ubuntu:

Note the following packages are built with default QT5 UI. The Qt port of the Winamp-like UI is still missing some key features such the Jump to Song window.

Users of the Winamp-like UI may build with GTK2 yourself, or keep the old version.

The unofficial PPA contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and Ubuntu 20.04.

1. Open terminal by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

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

2. Then run commands one by one in terminal to install or upgrade the audio player:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install audacious audacious-plugins

Upgrade via Software Updater may not work this time as new libaudqt5 library breaks old libaudgui5 library.

Uninstall:

You can easily remove the PPA either by going to Software & Updates utility -> Other Software tab, or by running command:

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

To remove audacious, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove audacious audacious-plugins
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DeadBeeF Music Player 1.8.3 Released [Howto Install]

Last updated: March 20, 2020

DeaDBeeF music player 1.8.3 was released a day ago as the third bugfix update for 1.8 series.

The new release fixed CD Text reading issue, added more title formatting functions & value, added option to start deadbeef hidden / minimized to tray, and added detecting and ignoring freeformat MP3 files.

There also a lots of bug-fixes in the release including fixes to AAC plugin, HTTP stream interruption, ALSA, handle ffmpeg file, and a bunch of crashes and memory leaks. See here for more details.

How to Install DeaDBeeF 1.8.3 in Ubuntu:

There’s an Ubuntu PPA repository that contains deadbeef .deb packages, though it’s not been updated for the new release at the moment.

You may also download the 64-bit .deb package from the link below:

DeaDBeeF for Linux

NOTE: If you’ve installed an old Deadbeef version from an Ubuntu PPA, you have to remove it first (run following command in terminal), as the .deb from the previous link will install the music player into /opt/ directory.

sudo apt remove deadbeef

Then install the .deb via Gdebi package installer (available in Ubuntu Software) and enjoy!

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OBS Studio 25.0 Released! How to Install it via PPA in ubuntu

Last updated: March 18, 2020

OBS Studio 25.0 was finally released today after 6 release candidates. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, via PPA.

Changes in OBS Studio 25.0 include:

  • Ability to capture Vulkan-based games
  • Add new window capture mode to capture browser-based windows, Microsoft Store (UWP) programs.
  • Add advanced scene collection importing
  • Media source hotkeys to allow control of playback
  • Add T-bar to studio mode
  • Add support for the SRT protocol
  • Ability to copy/paste multiple selected sources

There are also many other new features, enhancements, and various bug-fixes. See MORE.

How to Install OBS Studio 25.0 in Ubuntu 18.04:

The containerized Snap package has been updated and available to install via Ubuntu Software.

The official PPA offers the latest release packages for Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 19.10:

1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio

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

2. Then either upgrade OBS Studio from an existing version via Software Updater, or run command in terminal to install the software:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install obs-studio

Once installed, launch the software from your system application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To remove the software, either use Synaptic package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove obs-studio

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

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gThumb 3.9.1 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: March 13, 2020

gThumb image viewer released a new stable version 3.9.1 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04， Ubuntu 19.10, and Ubuntu 20.04.

gThumb 3.9.1 comes with many new features and user visible changes. Here are some of them:

  • Ability to customize the keyboard shortcuts.
  • A shortcuts window to show the available shortcuts.
  • Option to change the mouse wheel action.
  • Ability to define the transparency style.
  • Allow to view the video at the original size
  • Ability to search in multiple folders.
  • Added %T to insert a timestamp in the command.
  • Add ‘Open in Terminal’ command in folder tree context menu.
  • Updated app icon to follow the new GNOME style.
  • And many other changes.

How to Install gThumb 3.9.1 in Ubuntu:

Dariusz Duma’s PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 19.x, and their derivatives.

1.) Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for terminal from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway

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

2.) If an old version was installed, upgrade it using Software Updater:

or run commands in terminal to install or upgrade the image viewer:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install gthumb

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA, either open Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab, or run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:dhor/myway

And you can remove gThumb via command:

sudo apt remove gthumb gthumb-data
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How to Hide Top-left ‘Activities’ Button in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: March 12, 2020

gnome shell

This quick tutorial shows how to remove the Activities button in the left corner of top-bar in Ubuntu Gnome desktop.

The top-left corner ‘Activities’ button shows all opened application windows with a search box on the top and workspaces on the right. Some users find it useless and want to remove the button. And it can be done easily via a Gnome Shell extension.

1. Open Ubuntu Software, search for and install Hide Activities Button.

Install the first one. So far, it supports Gnome up to v3.34 (shipped in Ubuntu 19.10). Done!

2. To manage the extension, install and launch Gnome Tweaks via Ubuntu Software, then go to Extensions tab.

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GScan2PDF 2.6.5 Released with Stability Improvements [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: March 7, 2020

Gscan2pdf, a graphical tool to produce PDF / DjVu from scanned document, released version 2.6.5 with some bug fixes and improvements. Here’s how to install it in all current Ubuntu releases.

As a new monthly release, Gscan2pdf 2.6.5 includes following changes:

  • Fixed bug when editing page number causing page to deselect and thumbnails to scroll to top of list
  • Use a scrolled window in the multiple message dialog to prevent it from growing too large.
  • Use the “Don’t show these messages again” checkbox to switch the checkboxes for the individual messages. Set the button inconsistent if the states are not all the same.
  • Fix warning message about pdftk (again) by making sure that user-defined tmp directory is available in time.
  • Improve responsiveness with OCR output (again)
  • Select # pages = all when switching from reverse->facing.
  • Show “waiting” cursor for longer to prevent scans from being started before all options applied.
  • Respect ‘Use timezone from locale’ option when setting file system timestamp
  • Updated translations.

How to Install gscan2pdf 2.6.5 in Ubuntu:

The official Gscan2PDF PPA has made the new release packages for all current Ubuntu releases, and their derivatives, including Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 18.x and 19.x

1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jeffreyratcliffe/ppa

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

2. For those who have a previous release installed, upgrade it through Software Updater:

upgrade gscan2pdf

Or run following command in terminal to install or upgrade the software:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install gscan2pdf

How to Remove:

To remove gscan2pdf, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove gscan2pdf

And the PPA can be removed via Software & Updates utility, under Other Software tab.

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OpenShot 2.5.1 Released, How to Install it via PPA

Last updated: March 4, 2020

OpenShot Video Editor

OpenShot video editor 2.5.1 was released a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and derivatives via PPA.

OpenShot 2.5.1 features faster performance, huge optimizations with effects, and improved UTF-8 character support. Release highlights include:

  • UTF-8 Project Encoding Bug Fix (for non-ASCII characters)
  • Auto-Repair UTF-8 Corrupted Projects
  • Thumbnail Server UTF-8 Encoding
  • Fixed Broken Color-Shift and Shift Effects
  • Optimize Saturation, Hue, Blur, Wave, Brightness, Pixelate Effects
  • Frame: Fix interlaced AddImage
  • Raise Preview Cache to CPUs X 8 Frames (max 64)
  • Enhance Json Data Handling
  • Improve Travis Speed (remove homebrew from Mac builds)
  • Auto-Update HEX Version (for older CMake versions)

How to Install OpenShot 2.5.1 in Ubuntu:

1. Open terminal from software launcher (or press Ctrl+Alt+T), when it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa

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

2. Then run following commands one by one to refresh repository cache and install OpenShot:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install openshot-qt

Also it’s recommended to upgrade your system libraries via sudo apt upgrade to avoid launching issue.

Uninstall:

To uninstall openshot video editor, run following command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove openshot-qt

And remove the PPA by launching “Software & Updates” and navigating to Other Software tab.

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Kodi 18.6 Available to Install via PPA in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: March 1, 2020

Kodi Media Center 18.6 now is available to install via its official PPA in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and their derivatives.

Kodi 18.6 is a maintenance release contains mainly bug-fixes and stability improvements. It’s not officially announced at the moment. According to the changelog, changes in the new release include: add image mime type for support over imagedecoder.raw, fix launching zip and 7z files from MyGames, fix error playing disk image games, remove now superflous HeadSet check, Remove Headphone check, and much more other changes.

How to Install Kodi 18.6 in Ubuntu:

The Kodi stable PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, and Ubuntu 19.10.

1. Open terminal either from application menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

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

2. Then either upgrading Kodi from an existing version via Software Updater:

upgrade Kodi

or refresh system package cache and install Kodi 18.6 via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install kodi

Uninstall:

To remove the Kodi PPA repository, simply open Software & Updates -> Other Software.

To remove Kodi, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove kodi kodi-data kodi-bin

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Opera 67 Released with ‘Workspaces’ for Tab Organization

Last updated: February 26, 2020

opera web browser

Opera web browser 67 was released a few days ago with tab organization redefined via a new tool called ‘Workspaces’.

Often have your browser with too many tabs open? With Opera 67, opened tabs can be grouped into different workspaces. And you can easily switch workspaces via the icons in the left sidebar.

You can add up to 5 workspaces, name them, and designate their icons. Tabs can be moved to the workspace of your choice via their context (right-click) menu.

Other new features in Opera 67 include:

  • Highlight duplicated tabs when hover mouse pointer over a tab.
  • New tab-cycler via Ctrl+Tab shortcut.
  • Sidebar setup panel via the three-dot icon in the bottom left.
  • Improved security with DNS over HTTPS
  • Improved Video pop-out (picture in picture)

How to Install Opera 67 in Ubuntu:

The Opera team offers snap package (runs in sandbox), available to install in Ubuntu Software:

Also the native Ubuntu .deb package is available for downloading at the link below:

Download Opera for Linux

Grab the .deb package, and double-click to install it.

If you installed Opera via the .deb package, you may also add the official apt repository via following steps to receive future software updates.

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

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera.list'

2. Get the key:

wget -O - http://deb.opera.com/archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

Finally either install Opera via following command or upgrade the browser via Software Updater:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install opera-stable

Uninstall:

For the Opera snap package, simply remove it from Ubuntu Software.

For the Opera apt repository, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

To remove traditional opera package, either use your system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove opera-stable
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