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Calibre 1.0 Released: Install / Upgrade in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.10

Last updated: August 24, 2013

After a year since the last major release, Calibre 1.0 was released with lots of new features, such as a grid view of book covers, a new, faster database backend, the ability to convert Microsoft Word files, tools to make changes to ebooks without needing to do a full conversion, full support for font embedding and subsetting, and many more.

A new ‘cover grid’ view of the books in your calibre library
Excellent for judging your books by their covers :) To use click the button with the icon of a grid in the bottom right corner of the main window. It can be configured via Preferences->Look & Feel->Cover Grid

A new, faster database backend
The database backend in calibre has been re-written from scratch. The new code is smaller, more robust and much faster than the old code. The exact speedup will depend on the number of books and number and type of custom columns in your library. Users have reported calibre startup times decreasing by a factor of 2-3 times.

RTF Input: Add option to ignore WMF images iinstead of replacing them with a placeholder.
Closes tickets: 1213599

Content server: Make virtual libraries available as searches from the start page. They work just like saved searches, clicking on a virtual library will show you all the books in that virtual library.

Read the official announcement

Install Calibre 1.0 in Ubuntu

It’s very easy to install or upgrade calibre 1.0 in Ubuntu and its derivatives, such as Linux Mint and Elementary OS.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal for running commands. Copy the code below by Ctrl+C, and paste in terminal via Ctrl+Shift+V. Finally hit enter:

sudo python -c "import sys; py3 = sys.version_info[0] > 2; u = __import__('urllib.request' if py3 else 'urllib', fromlist=1); exec(u.urlopen('http://status.calibre-ebook.com/linux_installer').read()); main()"

Press Enter to use the default installation directory, and it’ll automatically download calibre and install it on your system as well as the dependencies.

In News calibre 1.0, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10

How to Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.9 in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.04, 12.10

Last updated: August 21, 2013

The latest Linux Kernel 3.10.9 has been released. All users of the 3.10 kernel series are urged to upgrade as soon as possible. Here’s how to install / upgrade in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise and 12.10 Quantal.

Linux kernel 3.10.8 has a problem on networking, so the Kernel 3.10.9 was announced few hours later with a fix. See the official announcement.

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.9

The mainline kernel PPA has updated Debs packages for Debian / Ubuntu based users. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. Then download and install the Debs.

for 32-bit system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.9-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.9-031009-generic_3.10.9-031009.201308201935_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.9-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.9-031009_3.10.9-031009.201308201935_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.9-saucy/linux-image-3.10.9-031009-generic_3.10.9-031009.201308201935_i386.deb

for 64-bit system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.9-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.9-031009-generic_3.10.9-031009.201308201935_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.9-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.9-031009_3.10.9-031009.201308201935_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.9-saucy/linux-image-3.10.9-031009-generic_3.10.9-031009.201308201935_amd64.deb

After that, both 32-bit and 64-bit run below command to install the kernel

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.10.9-*.deb linux-image-3.10.9*.deb

Finally apply changes to grub boot loader:

sudo update-grub

You can remove the downloaded packages after the kernel is properly installed.

In News Linux Kernel, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 13.04

Install Nvidia OpenGL 4.4 Driver 325.05.03 in Ubuntu, Linux Mint

Last updated: August 20, 2013

Nvidia has announced driver 325.05.03 for Linux provides beta support for OpenGL 4.4 and GLSL 4.40 on capable hardware. You will need any one of the following Fermi or Kepler based GPUs to get access to all the OpenGL 4.4 and GLSL 4.40 functionality:

Quadro Series:K600, K5000, K4000, K2000D, K2000, 6000, 600, 5000, 410, 4000, 400, 2000D, 2000

GeForce 700 Series:GTX TITAN, GTX 780, GTX 770, GTX 760

GeForce 600 Series:GTX 690, GTX 680, GTX 670, GTX 660 Ti, GTX 660, GTX 650 Ti BOOST, GTX 650 Ti, GTX 650, GT 645, GT 640, GT 630, GT 620, GT 610, 605

GeForce 500 Series:GTX 590, GTX 580, GTX 570, GTX 560 Ti, GTX 560 SE, GTX 560, GTX 555, GTX 550 Ti, GT 545, GT 530, GT 520, 510

GeForce 400 Series:GTX 480, GTX 470, GTX 465, GTX 460 v2, GTX 460 SE v2, GTX 460 SE, GTX 460, GTS 450, GT 440, GT 430, GT 420, 405

Check out the official announcement for a complete list of fixes and improvements.

It’s easy to install this driver in Ubuntu and its derivatives, such as Linux Mint and Elementary OS. Just close the graphical session and run the installer in command line. To do so, follow the below steps:

1.) Download the Driver 325.05.03 by the links below. You may check your system type (32-bit or 64-bit) by System Settings -> Details.

Download for Linux 32-bit

Download for Linux 64-bit

2.) You have to switch to command console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1, login via your username and password. Then stop the graphical session. For the default Ubuntu Unity, run the below command:

sudo stop lightdm

For Linux Mint, run this instead:

sudo service mdm stop

3.) Give executable permission to the downloaded file:

chmod a+x ~/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-*-325.05.03.run

4.) Now run the installer and follow the on screen prompts to start installing Nvidia Driver:

sudo sh ~/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-*-325.05.03.run

When done, restart your machine via:

sudo reboot

(Optional) To remove this driver, re-run the step 2), and then run:

sudo ~/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-*-325.05.03.run --uninstall

In News Linux Mint, Nvidia OpenGL driver, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04

Install / Upgrade KDE 4.11 in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.04, 12.10

Last updated: August 17, 2013

The KDE Community announced Plasma Workspaces 4.11 a few days ago. Now it’s available in Kubuntu Backports PPA, here you can install / Upgrade to KDE 4.11 in (K)Ubuntu 13.04, (K)Ubuntu 12.04, (K)Ubuntu 12.10.

New in KDE 4.11:

Plasma Workspaces 4.11 Continues to Refine User Experience

Gearing up for long term maintenance, Plasma Workspaces delivers further improvements to basic functionality with a smoother taskbar, smarter battery widget and improved sound mixer. The introduction of KScreen brings intelligent multi-monitor handling to the Workspaces, and large scale performance improvements combined with small usability tweaks make for an overall nicer experience.

KDE Applications 4.11 Bring Huge Step Forward in Personal Information Management and Improvements All Over

This release marks massive improvements in the KDE PIM stack, giving much better performance and many new features. Kate improves the productivity of Python and Javascript developers with new plugins, Dolphin became faster and the educational applications bring various new features.

KDE Platform 4.11 Delivers Better Performance

This release of KDE Platform 4.11 continues to focus on stability. New features are being implemented for our future KDE Frameworks 5.0 release, but for the stable release we managed to squeeze in optimizations for our Nepomuk framework.

Read the official announcement.

Install / Upgrade KDE 4.11

Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, copy (Ctrl+C) the code and paste (Ctrl+Shift+V) in terminal and hit enter to add the Kubuntu Backports PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

Then update package lists and upgrade your system:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get upgrade

If you’re going to install the Kubuntu desktop, run below commands instead:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop

In News Install KDE 4.11 in Ubuntu, Install Kubuntu Desktop in Ubuntu, KDE 4.11, Upgrade KDE 4.11 in Ubuntu

Kernel 3.10.7 Released: Install / Upgrade in Ubuntu, Linux Mint

Last updated: August 16, 2013

Linux Kernel 3.10.7 has been released. All users of the 3.10 kernel series must upgrade. Here’s how to install / upgrade in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, Ubuntu 12.04 Precise, Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal, and Linux Mint.

Linux kernel 3.10.7 is a pretty big release that brings PowerPC enhancements, updated drivers (including DRM ones), as well as improvements to the EXT4, CIFS, ReiserFS and Btrfs filesystems. See official release announcement.

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.7

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands to download the DEBs:

For 32-bit system, run below 3 commands:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.7-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.7-031007-generic_3.10.7-031007.201308150319_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.7-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.7-031007_3.10.7-031007.201308150319_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.7-saucy/linux-image-3.10.7-031007-generic_3.10.7-031007.201308150319_i386.deb

For 64-bit:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.7-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.7-031007-generic_3.10.7-031007.201308150319_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.7-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.7-031007_3.10.7-031007.201308150319_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.7-saucy/linux-image-3.10.7-031007-generic_3.10.7-031007.201308150319_amd64.deb

After downloading the packages, both 32-bit & 64-bit can run below commands to install them:

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.10.7*.deb linux-image-3.10.7*.deb

Once installed, update grub to apply changes and you’re done!

sudo update-grub

(Optional) To remove Linux Kernel 3.10.7, run this command in terminal:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-3.10.7*

In News Linux Kernel, Linux Kernel 3.10.7, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.6 in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.04, 12.10

Last updated: August 12, 2013

The latest stable Linux Kernel 3.10.6 has been released. All users of the 3.10 kernel series must upgrade. Here’s how to install / upgrade in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise and 12.10 Quantal.

The Linux Kernel 3.10.6 comes with lots of fixes and improvements, such as updated Radeon, i915 vedio drivers, update RAID, Wireless, drivers and so forth. See the announcement.

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.6

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands to download the DEBs:

For 32-bit system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.6-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.6-031006-generic_3.10.6-031006.201308112316_i386.deb 

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.6-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.6-031006_3.10.6-031006.201308112316_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.6-saucy/linux-image-3.10.6-031006-generic_3.10.6-031006.201308112316_i386.deb

For 64-bit system:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.6-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.6-031006-generic_3.10.6-031006.201308112316_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.6-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.6-031006_3.10.6-031006.201308112316_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.6-saucy/linux-image-3.10.6-031006-generic_3.10.6-031006.201308112316_amd64.deb

After downloading the packages, both 32-bit & 64-bit can run below commands to install them:

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.10.6*.deb linux-image-3.10.6*.deb

Once installed, update grub to apply changes and you’re done!

sudo update-grub

(Optional) To remove Linux Kernel 3.10.6, run this command in terminal:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-3.10.6*

In News Linux Kernel, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04

Firefox 23 Released: How to Upgrade in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.04, 12.10

Last updated: August 6, 2013

Mozilla finally announced the stable released of Firefox 23. Ubuntu users will receive updates very soon. Here’s a guide to upgrade your Firefox to latest in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise and 12.10 Quantal.

In the new release, the mixed content blocking has been enabled to protect users from eavesdroppers and man-in-the-middle attacks on HTTPS pages, the about:memory’s functional UI (user interface) has been improved, the notifications of plugin installation has a simpler interface, and social share functionality has been added. (Release note)

Upgrade to Firefox 23 in Ubuntu:

Synaptic Package Manager provides a graphical way to upgrade to the latest Firefox web browser.

To get started, open the tool and click Reload button to update package lists, search firefox in the box, right-click and choose “Mark for Upgrade”, and finally click the Apply to start upgrading.

To install Synaptic Package Manager, click the link below to launch Ubuntu Software Center and click to install the package.

Click to install Synaptic

In News Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04, upgrade firefox in ubuntu

Install Netflix Desktop App 0.8 in Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.04

Last updated: August 6, 2013

The Netflix Desktop App has updated to version 0.8.0. This tutorial shows you how to install / upgrade it in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise and 12.10 Quantal.

In this release, it updated the French, Uyghur, Spanish translation, fixed some bugs and also added some new features. Here’s the details:

Added support for beesu sudo GUI.
Added a new package for loading Katsomo.
Updated the British English translation.
Updated the icon for the Maxdome package.
Replace test-xattr binary with python script.
Fixed tab characters in the command-line help.
Updated to the latest release of Firefox (22.0).
Now using a workaround for Katsomo locking up on exit.
Moved downloaded files to /var/lib/wine-browser-installer.
Disabled the client side graphics workaround on new Wine versions.
Disabled screensaver/suspend operations while the browser is running.
Added an override for the User Agent string so that Netflix always sees Firefox 18.0.
Now using fontconfig, in addition to debconf, to establish that msttcorefonts is installed.
Fixed dependencies so that the services could not get out of sync with wine-browser-installer

The Netflix PPA has updated for Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.10, 12.04 and 10.04 users. To add this repository, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio

After that, you can install the Netflix desktop app or receive updates when a new release comes out via below commands:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop

In News netflix desktop app, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.5 in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.04, 12.10

Last updated: August 13, 2013

The latest stable Linux Kernel 3.10.5 has been released. All users of the 3.10 kernel series are urged to upgrade as soon as possible. Here’s how to install / upgrade in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise and 12.10 Quantal.

UPDATE: The 3.10 kernel series has reached 3.10.6, see this tutorial.

Linux kernel 3.10.5 contains lots of fixes and improvements, such as updated video drivers (Radeon, i915, Nouveau, etc.), updated iSCSI, MD, RAID, Wireless, ATA, SATA, ACPI and USB drivers, as well as sound improvements.

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.5

Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal for running commands. When it opens, follow below steps:

For 32-bit system, run below commands to download the Debs:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.5-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.5-031005-generic_3.10.5-031005.201308040618_i386.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.5-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.5-031005_3.10.5-031005.201308040618_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.5-saucy/linux-image-3.10.5-031005-generic_3.10.5-031005.201308040618_i386.deb

For 64-bit system, run beloww commands instead:

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.5-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.5-031005-generic_3.10.5-031005.201308040618_amd64.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.5-saucy/linux-headers-3.10.5-031005_3.10.5-031005.201308040618_all.deb

wget http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v3.10.5-saucy/linux-image-3.10.5-031005-generic_3.10.5-031005.201308040618_amd64.deb

After downloading the packages, both 32-bit & 64-bit can run below commands to install them:

sudo dpkg -i linux-headers-3.10.5*.deb linux-image-3.10.5*.deb

Once installed, update grub to apply changes:

sudo update-grub

(Optional) To remove Linux Kernel 3.10.5, run below commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get purge linux-image-3.10.5*

In News install kernel, Linux Kernel, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04

Songbird Discontinued, Nightingale is Recommended

Last updated: May 20, 2024

UPDATE 2024: Nightingale is also discontinued! Try Clementine Music Player which is available in Ubuntu Software / App Center.

Here I’m going to tell you that the popular Songbird Music Player project has been discontinued. For those who are looking for an alternative, check out Nightingale which is built upon Songbird.

Eric Wittman announced on the Songbird blog, “Unfortunately, the company has found ourselves unable to fund further business operations and as of June 28, 2013 all of Songbird’s operations and associated services will be discontinued.”

Songbird is a music player originally released in early 2006 with the stated mission “to incubate Songbird, the first Web player, to catalyze and champion a diverse, open Media Web”. On June 3, 2010, official Linux support for Songbird was dropped.

While thanking the users, investors, partners, developers of Songbird, Eric Wittman openly recommends the open source desktop media player Nightingale as an alternative.

To access the open source for the Songbird Desktop player, you can go here:

~~http://getsongbird.com/desktop/index.php?download=source~~ (Domain expired)

Nightingale is an open source media player based on Songbird and focused on Linux. It has a beautiful interface with a wide range of supported audio formats, all with multi-platform support!

Nightingale is available for downloading at: getnightingale.com/all-versions.php

For Ubuntu 13.04, 12.04, 12.10 and Linux Mint 13, 14, 15 users, run below commands in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to install nightingale from PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nightingaleteam/nightingale-release

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nightingale

In News nightingale, songbird, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04

Archives For News

Install Calibre 1.0 in Ubuntu

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.9

New in KDE 4.11:

Install / Upgrade KDE 4.11

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.7

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.6

Upgrade to Firefox 23 in Ubuntu:

Install / Upgrade Kernel 3.10.5

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