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FFmpeg 3.4 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 16.04

Last updated: October 16, 2017

FFMPEG

The FFmpeg multimedia library 3.4 “Cantor” was released earlier today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA.

Click to see what’s new in FFmpeg 3.4:
  • deflicker video filter
  • doubleweave video filter
  • lumakey video filter
  • pixscope video filter
  • oscilloscope video filter
  • config.log and other configuration files moved into ffbuild/ directory
  • update cuvid/nvenc headers to Video Codec SDK 8.0.14
  • afir audio filter
  • scale_cuda CUDA based video scale filter
  • librsvg support for svg rasterization
  • crossfeed audio filter
  • spec compliant VP9 muxing support in MP4
  • remove the libnut muxer/demuxer wrappers
  • remove the libschroedinger encoder/decoder wrappers
  • surround audio filter
  • sofalizer filter switched to libmysofa
  • Gremlin Digital Video demuxer and decoder
  • headphone audio filter
  • superequalizer audio filter
  • roberts video filter
  • The x86 assembler default switched from yasm to nasm, pass --x86asmexe=yasm to configure to restore the old behavior.
  • additional frame format support for Interplay MVE movies
  • support for decoding through D3D11VA in ffmpeg
  • limiter video filter
  • libvmaf video filter
  • Dolby E decoder and SMPTE 337M demuxer
  • unpremultiply video filter
  • tlut2 video filter
  • floodfill video filter
  • pseudocolor video filter
  • raw G.726 muxer and demuxer, left- and right-justified
  • NewTek NDI input/output device
  • Some video filters with several inputs now use a common set of options: blend, libvmaf, lut3d, overlay, psnr, ssim. They must always be used by name.
  • FITS demuxer and decoder
  • FITS muxer and encoder
  • add --disable-autodetect build switch
  • drop deprecated qtkit input device (use avfoundation instead)
  • despill video filter
  • haas audio filter
  • SUP/PGS subtitle muxer
  • convolve video filter
  • VP9 tile threading support
  • KMS screen grabber
  • CUDA thumbnail filter
  • V4L2 mem2mem HW assisted codecs
  • Rockchip MPP hardware decoding
  • vmafmotion video filter
  • use MIME type “G726” for little-endian G.726, “AAL2-G726” for big-endian G.726

How to Install FFmpeg 3.4 via PPA in Ubuntu:

Not recommended to upgrade from distribution build of FFmpeg, unless you need the latest version for special reasons. And some FFmpeg based applications may need to be re-built after following steps.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “Terminal” from the dash. When it opens, run command to add the PPA repository (unofficial):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/ffmpeg-3

Type in password (no visual feedback due to security reason) and hit Enter.

2. (For Ubuntu 14.04 only), you also need to add another PPA for the dependencies:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jonathonf/tesseract

3. Then upgrade FFmpeg using Software Updater:

upgrade ffmpeg

Or simply run command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

How to Restore:

To undo the changes and restore to the stock version of FFmpeg in main Ubuntu repositories, purge the PPA via command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && ppa-purge ppa:jonathonf/ffmpeg-3
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QupZilla 2.2.0 released as ‘Final Series’ of the Qt browser

Last updated: October 10, 2017

QupZilla 2.2, the final release series of the cross-platform Qt web browser, is now available.

QupZilla will now get only bug-fix releases, and next major release will be named Falkon as a KDE project.

QupZilla 2.2.0 release highlights:

  • added back print element background option
  • added back print preview dialog
  • added session manager
  • tab icon is now hidden when page has no icon
  • improved locationbar completer with search suggestions
  • improved handling of downloading dependencies in GreaseMonkey scripts
  • various improvements in TabManager extension
  • Linux: PulseAudio streams now have QupZilla app name and icon

QupZilla 2.2.0

Install QupZilla 2.2.0 in Ubuntu:

QupZilla 2.2.0 requires Qt 5.9.2. It can’t be built with default Qt libraries in all current Ubuntu releases.

At the moment, you can only download the Appimage, non-install single executable file, from the link below:

Download QupZilla 2.2.0 Appimage

Then make it executable via its Properties window, and run the file to launch QupZilla:

QupZilla 2.2 Appimage

Don’t see the “Run” option even after made the appimage executable? Go to file manage menu Edit -> Preferences -> Behavior -> Choose the option says ‘Run executable text files when they are opened’.

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Rhythmbox 3.4.2 Released, How to Install it via PPA

Last updated: October 9, 2017

Rhythmbox music player

Rhythmbox, Ubuntu’s default music playing application, got a new release update after a year of development.

Besides removing visualization plugin, Rhythmbox 3.4.2 features responsiveness improvements during media player sync, better network buffering when crossfading is enabled, and various bug-fixes (or feature request) including:

  • Critical Assertion Errors
  • Add --version command option.
  • Rhythmbox crashed with SIGSEGV during import
  • Expand playing icon column in entry view
  • Import hangs for special file
  • Playqueue UI improvements
  • Memory leak in error handling of utimes on podcast-timestamp
  • Open settings crashes the app
  • build failure with gcc 7.1.1
  • Keyboard navigation with tab is broken by search entry widget

How to Install Rhythmbox 3.4.2 in Ubuntu:

The project leader for Ubuntu Budgie, fossfreedom, was maintaining PPA with Rhythmbox package and its plugins, though they are not updated for a period of time.

So I uploaded Rhythmbox 3.4.2 into the PPA, available for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and Ubuntu 17.10.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then upgrade the music playing application via Software Updater:

or upgrade your system via command:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

How to remove:

To revert back to stock version of Rhythmbox in your Ubuntu, purge the PPA as well as downgrade the player via command:

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

If it’s working good, you may still remove the PPA repository via Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab.

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Yarock 1.2.0 Released! How to Install it via PPA

Last updated: October 8, 2017

Yarock, a Qt music player designed to provide a clean music collection based on album cover art, reached 1.2.0 release a few hours ago.

It has been one year since the last update of Yarock music player. And Yarock 1.2.0 features:

  • Configurable custom cover art size
  • Redesign player tool bar with expanded tool bar mode
  • Replace Echonest with Spotify web service for artist image.
  • Add option to prevent downloading artist image from internet.
  • Change & fix many lyrics provider services
  • Changes: Many minors ui changes and improvments

yarock minimize mode

How to install yarock 1.2.0 in Ubuntu:

There are a few third-party PPAs contain yarock packages for Ubuntu. At the moment, you can install the 1.2.0 release via this PPA in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and derivatives.

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

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then install the player either via Synaptic Package Manager (after clicking refresh), or by running commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install yarock

Once installed, launch the music player from your application launcher and enjoy!

How to Remove:

To remove the software, use Synaptic Package Manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove yarock

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

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Visual Studio Code 1.17 Adds Mac OS Touch Bar Support

Last updated: October 7, 2017

Visual Studio Code IDE

Visual studio code reached the 1.17 release a day ago with Mac OS touch bar support, and some performance improvements.

VS Code 1.17 features:

  • Mac OS Touch Bar actions for navigation and debugging.
  • Folding now supports region markers.
  • Terminal rendering is up to 45 times faster with new canvas-based rendering engine
  • Automatically show module and path import suggestions while coding
  • Debug Console messages show source location (optionally)
  • Built-in Dark+ and Light+ themes now highlight regular expression components
  • new SOURCE CONTROL PROVIDERS section to view changes in multiple source control repositories.

See the video about VS Code 1.17:

How to Install VS Code 1.17 in Ubuntu:

The official .deb package for Debian/Ubuntu is available for download at the link below:

Download VS Code (.deb)

Then install it via either Gdebi package manager or command (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/code_*.deb; sudo apt -f install

For those who want to receive updates for VS Code via Software Updater utility, add the Microsoft repository via following steps (64bit only):

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

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'

2. Download and install the repository key via commands:

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg

sudo mv microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg

Uninstall Visual Studio Code:

To remove the code editor, either use Synaptic Package Manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove code

And remove the Microsoft repository by launching Software & Updates utility and navigating to Other Software tab.

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How to Install SMPlayer 17.10 via PPA in Ubuntu 17.10

Last updated: November 2, 2017

SMplayer 17.1.0

A new monthly update of SMPlayer media player was released earlier today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA.

SMPlayer 17.10 following two changes:

  • Replace the deprecated video and audio filters in mpv with new ones.
  • The karaoke filter is available again.

Note that due to the first change, Linux users may need to update MPV (see how to install the latest MPV) in order to use SMPlayer 17.10.

A workaround is to turn off all video and audio filters. Another workaround is to switch to mplayer by selecting mplayer as multimedia engine in Preferences -> General.

SMPlayer with Mac skin

How to Install SMPlayer 17.10 in Ubuntu via PPA:

The new release has made into the official PPA, available for Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal and run the following command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer

Smplayer PPA

For those who prefer Qt4 version, use the new PPA instead:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer-qt4

2. Then you can upgrade SMPlayer from a previous release via Software Updater (Update Manager) after checking for updates:

upgrade smplayer

Or you can run the commands below in terminal to do install or upgrade SMPlayer:

sudo apt-get update 

sudo apt-get install smplayer smtube smplayer-themes

How to Restore:

For any reason, you can easily restore the installation to the stock version via the ppa-purge tool:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:rvm/smplayer

For the qt4 ppa, replace ppa:rvm/smplayer with ppa:rvm/smplayer-qt4 in the code.

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Final Beta of Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark Available for Download

Last updated: September 29, 2017

Ubuntu 17.10

Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark reached its final beta release earlier today. Ubuntu 17.10 Desktop, Server, and Cloud images, and flavors images of Kubuntu 17.10, Lubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu Budgie 17.10, Ubuntu Kylin 17.10, Ubuntu MATE 17.10, Ubuntu Studio 17.10, and Xubuntu 17.10 are available for download.

The beta release of Ubuntu 17.10 includes 4.13 kernel and updated version of core applications.

Ubuntu 17.10 desktop and server images: http://releases.ubuntu.com/17.10/

Kubuntu 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/kubuntu/releases/17.10/

  • use VLC as default media player.
  • Muon package manager shipped by default, as an alternative to Plasma Discover.
  • Cantata Qt5 music player replaces the unmaintained KDE4 based Amarok as default.
  • Telepathy instant messaging client has been dropped from defaults.

Lubuntu 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/lubuntu/releases/17.10/

Ubuntu Budgie 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-budgie/releases/17.10/

  • Files (Nautilus) 3.26 with Folder-Color extension.
  • Replaced GNOME Photos with gThumb
  • Login screen changed from lightdm-gtk-greeter to slick-greeter

Ubuntu Kylin 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntukylin/releases/17.10/

Ubuntu MATE 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntu-mate/releases/17.10/

  • Add new features to Caja file manager: Advanced bulk rename, Hash checking.
  • Replaced caja-gksu with caja-admin.
  • Updated folder-color extension.

Ubuntu Studio 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/ubuntustudio/releases/17.10/

Xubuntu 17.10: cdimage.ubuntu.com/xubuntu/releases/17.10/

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Mozilla Firefox 56 Released with Built-in Screenshot Tool

Last updated: September 28, 2017

Firefox 55

Mozilla Firefox web browser has reached the new stable 56.0 release a day ago.

Firefox 56 features a built-in screenshot tool, allows you to take, save, and share screenshots without leaving the browser.

The new release updated the Preferences section with a search tool so users can find a specific setting quickly.

Other changes in Firefox 56:

  • improved Send Tabs feature, it can be discovered even by users without a Firefox Account
  • Added hardware acceleration for AES-GCM
  • New Encoding Standard-compliant implementation written in Rust
  • Updated the Safe Browsing protocol to version 4
  • Reduced update download file size by approximately 20 percent
  • Improved security for verifying update downloads
  • Added Layout Panel to CSS Grid DevTools

Download / Install Firefox in Ubuntu:

The best way to install the latest Firefox in Ubuntu is waiting for the distribution builds published in security/updates repository.

Be patient, it will be available in a few days. At that time, you can simply install/upgrade it via Software Updater:

upgrade firefox 46

For those who don’t want to wait, download the official Firefox package, extract and run the executable to launch Firefox 56.

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Opera Browser 48 Released with Search Improvements (Howto Install)

Last updated: September 27, 2017

opera web browser

Opera web browser reached the new stable 48 release earlier today with new and improved features.

Opera 48 release highlights:

  • Add measurement, time zone, currencies converters in Search pop up tool.
  • Capture your favorite parts of the web with the Snapshot tool
  • Add option to remove unwanted autocomplete suggestions in the search and address bar.
  • O-Menu cleaned up
  • All importing bookmarks from Edge and Yandex
  • UI improvements for HiDPI displays.
  • Update to Chromium version 61.
  • And see the release note for more.

How to Install Opera 48 in Ubuntu:

The opera website offers official .deb binaries for Ubuntu Linux, available for download at the link below:

Download Opera for Linux

If you have a previous release installed, and enabled the official Opera Linux repository, upgrade it via Software Updater:

To manually add the Opera for Linux repository, open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or from app launcher, when it opens, run commands:

1. 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 your system package manager or upgrade the browser via Software Updater.

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Brackets 1.11 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu via PPA

Last updated: September 26, 2017

brackets code editor

Adobe Brackets, a modern open-source code editor for the web, has reached the 1.11 release a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and derivatives.

What’s New in Brackets 1.11:

  • Brackets now supports ECMAScript 2015. Quick-type listing now shows classes, methods, arrow functions, generator functions and much more. Brackets also supports linting of ECMAScript 2015 code, with ESLint defaulting as Javascript linter, as well.
  • Brackets now offers full support for the Linux platform.
  • Fix a few minor issues found by lgtm.
  • Fix extension registry link in README.md
  • Fix CTRL+Space handling while the CodeHintList is open
  • Fix wrong function call in ProjectManager.js
  • Double click on search result header closes search results window
  • Add mapping for stylus mode in LanguageManager
  • Now reverse inspect can be disabled by setting the ‘livedev.enableReverseInspect’ pref to false
  • Upgrade brackets-eslint to 3.2.0
  • See the release note for more.

How to Install Brackets 1.11 in Ubuntu:

Adobe offers the official .deb packages in the github release page.

For those who want to receive updates though Software Updater, you can use the Webupd8Team PPA which provides Brackets packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and derivatives.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or from app launcher. Run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/brackets

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then you’re able to upgrade the code editor via Software Updater utility:

or install it for the first time via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install brackets

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA repository, launch Software & Updates utility and navigate to Other Software tab.

To remove Brackets code editor, either use system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove brackets
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