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Archives For November 30, 1999

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Release Schedule is Out!

Last updated: October 27, 2023 — 1 Comment

Ubuntu 24.04, is in development now! Here’s when it will be released!

Ubuntu 24.04, code-name ‘Noble Numbat’, will be a new LTS release with 5 years support and another 5 years extend (ESM) support. It will probably features GNOME Desktop 46, and of course newer Linux Kernel.

The development was started this Thursday, according to this announcement. And, the final release is planned for April 25 2024.

Here’s the full release schedule according to the official discussion page.

Ubuntu 24.04 Release Schedule

February 29, 2024 Feature Freeze,  Debian Import Freeze
March 21, 2024 User Interface Freeze
March 28, 2024 Kernel Feature Freeze, Documentation String Freeze
April 01, 2024 Beta Freeze, Hardware Enablement Freeze
April 04, 2024 Beta (mandatory)
April 11, 2024 Kernel Freeze
April 18, 2024 Final Freeze, Release Candidate
April 25, 2024 Final Release
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Audacity 3.4.0 Beta is out! Musical View, Time stretching & New Exporter

Last updated: November 3, 2023 — 1 Comment

Audacity audio editor released the Beta version of the next 3.4.0. Here’s how to try it out in Ubuntu.

According to the project release page, the new release now features several music related features, such as switching between hh:mm:ss time and Beats & Measures, and time-stretching clips to align them to a song’s tempo.

The release also features Time stretching. Just hold “Alt” (macOS: Option) while hovering over the top third of a clip edge to stretch it.

The 3.4.0 also features a new export dialog with easier access to options such as sample rate and custom mapping (for 5.1 or 7.1 audio). Additionally, the “Browse” button uses the native file browser now!

New Export dialog

Other changes include:

  • always uses Joint Stereo mode for MP3.
  • Simplified pasting logic, and stereo tracks.
  • uses Conan 2.
  • Built-in Opus support.
  • And stability fixes.

How to Install Audacity 3.4.0 Beta:

Option 1: AppImage
It provides official macOS .dmg, Windows .exe, and Linux .AppImage packages available to download at the link below:

Download Audacity

For Linux, click expand the “Assets” section and choose download the .AppImage package.

Then, right-click on the .AppImage file and go to its ‘Properties’ dialog. Add executable permission by enable ‘allow executing file as program‘. Finally, right-click on it and select “Run” to launch Audacity.

Option 2: Ubuntu PPA

For choice, I’ve uploaded the new release package into unofficial PPA for x86_64 (amd64) bit Ubuntu 22.04, 23.04, and Ubuntu 23.10 support.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity-unstable

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

2. For Linux Mint users, you may manually update system package cache by running command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, install Audacity 3.4.0 Beta via command:

sudo apt install audacity audacity-data

Uninstall:

To uninstall Audacity 3.4.0 Beta, you have 2 choices:

  • Purge the Ubuntu PPA, which also downgrade the installed packages to stock versions: 
    sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity-unstable
  • Or, remove Audacity package by running command: 
    sudo apt remove --autoremove audacity audacity-data

    Then, remove the Ubuntu PPA via command:

    sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity-unstable
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Firefox 119 Released with Improved PDF Editing Support

Last updated: October 25, 2023 — Leave a comment

Firefox web browser announced the release of 119.0 this Tuesday.

The new release improved PDF editing, by allowing to add images and alt text, in addition to text and drawings.

“Firefox View” icon has been replaced with a folder icon instead of the previous Firefox logo. And, it allows to see all open tabs from all windows, and all tabs from other synced devices.

The release also has some security improvements. They include Encrypted Client Hello (ECH) to extend TLS encryption to cover more of the handshake and better protect sensitive fields, supports the partitioning of Blob URLs for Total Cookie Protection, and restrict website fonts visibility to system fonts and language pack fonts in Enhanced Tracking Protection strict mode.

Other changes in Firefox 119 include:

  • Ability to import some extensions from Chrome.
  • Recently closed tabs now persist between sessions that don’t have automatic session restore enabled.
  • Updated Storage Access API web standard.
  • Santali (sat) language support.
  • Unexpected jumps in scroll position on Facebook.
  • Various security fixes, and development changes.

How to Get Firefox 119

The official release note as well as the download link is available at the link below:

Firefox 119 Release Note

For Ubuntu, the pre-installed Firefox Snap package has already been updated to v119. If you don’t have it, try running snap refresh firefox in terminal.

For the .deb package, Mozilla Team PPA is available though you have to manually block the Snap package.

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qBittorrent 4.6.0 Released with I2P Support & UI Editing (Ubuntu PPA)

Last updated: October 14, 2024 — Leave a comment

qBittorrent, the popular Qt-based BitTorrent client, released version 4.6.0 this Sunday!

The new release introduced experimental support for I2P, a peer to peer fully encrypted private network layer, allowing to transfer data in a more secure way.

The ‘Preferences’ dialog now have “Customize UI Theme” button in the behavior tab. It allows to set custom colors and icons, by double-clicking action, for both light and dark mode when using the default theme.

qBittorrent 4.6.0 also features many other changes, including option to add new torrents to queue top, filter torrent list by save path, option to stop seeding when torrent has been inactive, as well as:

  • ‘socket send/receive buffer size’ options
  • ‘max torrent file size’ setting
  • ‘bdecode limits’ settings
  • Options to adjust behavior of merging trackers to existing torrent.
  • Expand the scope of “Proxy hostname lookup” option
  • Shortcut for “Ban peer permanently” function
  • Option to auto hide zero status filters
  • Allow to disable confirmation of Pause/Resume All
  • Add alternative shortcut CTRL+E for CTRL+F
  • Show filtered port numbers in logs
  • Add button to copy library versions to clipboard

How to Install qBittorrent in Ubuntu Linux

Option 1: AppImage
The software provides official Linux package through .AppImage package, available to download the link below:

Download qBittorrent

It’s a non-install package, that can be run directly to launch the torrent client. Just right-click on .AppImage file and go to ‘Properties’, then enable “Allow executing as program” option under Permissions tab. Finally, click run it to launch the app.

For choices, you can also install qBittorrent 4.6.0 through Flatpak and Ubuntu PPA.

Option 2: Flatpak

Like AppImage, Flatpak is another package format runs in sandbox. All current Ubuntu releases can easily install qBittorrent as Flatpak, by running 2 commands below one by one.

  • First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When terminal opens, run command to ensure Flatpak support: 
    sudo apt install flatpak
  • Then, install the torrent client as Flatpak by running command: 
    flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent.flatpakref

Option 3: Ubuntu PPA

UPDATE: Due to requirement of Qt > 6.5.0, the PPA will NOT update for Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04 and earlier.

For those who prefer the native .deb package format, qBittorrent has an official Ubuntu PPA. Though, it’s NOT updated at the moment of writing (check the previous link).

To add the PPA, and install the app package, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. And, run commands below one by one:

  • Add the PPA: 
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable

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

  • Then, manually refresh system package cache (required for Linux Mint 21): 
    sudo apt update
  • Finally, install the torrent app via command: 
    sudo apt install qbittorrent

Uninstall qBittorrent

Depends on how you installed the software package, uninstall it by running either command below in terminal.

  • To remove the Flatpak package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command: 
    flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.qbittorrent.qBittorrent

    Also run flatpak uninstall --delete-unused to remove useless run-time libraries.

  • To remove the PPA package, use command: 
    sudo apt remove --autoremove qbittorrent

    Also remove the Ubuntu PPA, either by removing source line through “Software & Updates” utility under Other Software tab. Or, by running the command below in terminal:

    sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable
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OnlyOffice Desktop Editor 7.5 released with PDF Editor & Screen Reader

Last updated: October 21, 2023 — Leave a comment

OnlyOffice announced the new 7.5.0 release for its desktop editors office suite few days ago.

Like online version, the desktop app can now open PDF files and do basic editing operations, such as text annotating, form filling, commenting and drawing. While, collaborative editing is planned for the next release.

Another new feature in this release is automatic hyphenation support. It automatically detects syllable boundaries and inserts hyphens for words at the end of the text line.

Other features in OnlyOffice 7.5.0 include:

  • Beta screen reader support.
  • Interface scaling up to 500%.
  • Add ‘Open Recent’ option in each editor page.
  • Create new office files from local templates
  • Smart paragraph selection for Document editor.
  • Page breaks, SORTBY formula, support adding images to headers and footers for spreadsheets
  • Morph transition, SmartArts adding via sidebar placeholder for presentation editor

How to Install OnlyOffice Desktop Editors 7.5:

The office suite is available to install in Ubuntu Linux in 3 different package formats: Snap, Deb, and Flatpak. Choose either one that you prefer.

1. Snap

Snap is an universal package format that runs in sandbox. Ubuntu 20.04 and higher users can simply search for and install OnlyOffice as Snap from Ubuntu Software or App Center.

The snap automatically receive updates, though the package at the moment of writing is still at version 7.4.1.

ONLYOFFICE Snap in Ubuntu Software

2. Deb

Deb is the native package format for Debian/Ubuntu and their based Linux systems. OnlyOffice provides the .deb package along with RPM, EXE, MSI, and DMG packages for downloading at the github releases page:

Download ONLYOFFICE

Just select download the “onlyoffice-desktopeditors_amd64.deb” package, then click in file manager to open with “Software Install” and install it.

Or, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal, and run the command below to install the package you just downloaded (say it’s stored in your ‘Downloads’ folder):

sudo apt install ~/Downloads/onlyoffice-desktopeditors_amd64.deb

3. Flatpak

Linux Mint 21 user may prefer the Flatpak package a bit more, since it’s available to install directly from the Software Manager.

It’s another universal package format runs in sandbox. Ubuntu user can install ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editors as Flatpak by following the steps below one by one:

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to install the Flatpak daemon:

sudo apt install flatpak

Then, install the office suite via:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors.flatpakref

The Flatpak package is also in v7.4.1 at the moment of writing, use the command flatpak update org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors to update the package once new version published.

Uninstall ONLYOFFICE Desktop Editor

Depends on which package you installed, choose to run either command below in a terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) window to remove the office suite.

For the Snap package, remove it either via Ubuntu Software or by running the command below:

snap remove --purge onlyoffice-desktopeditors

For the native deb package, run command to remove it:

sudo apt remove onlyoffice-desktopeditors --autoremove

And to remove the package installed as Flatpak, run command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors

Also clear useless runtime libraries via flatpak uninstall --unused command.

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Ubuntu 23.10 Desktop iso Image finally available to download

Last updated: October 17, 2023 — 3 Comments

The Desktop .iso image of Ubuntu 23.10 is finally available to download after a few days of delay!

Ubuntu 23.10, code-name Mantic Minotaur, was released on October 12. However, due to a malicious translation incident, the .iso image for the desktop edition was removed.

Now, the issue has been fixed. And, today could be the official release date, according to this announcement.

Ubuntu 23.10 is powered by Linux 6.5 and uses GNOME 45 as the default desktop environment. Core features include new app center, new firmware updater, TPM-backed full disk encryption, Raspberry Pi 5 support, new “Tiling Assistant” extension, and more. See my feature overview page for more.

Ubuntu 23.10 Desktop

Download Ubuntu 23.10

To download Ubuntu 23.10, you may either go to the official Ubuntu download page:

Download Ubuntu

Or, use this Ubuntu 23.10 only download link.

For faster downloading speed, you can also choose an official download mirror that near to you.

For Ubuntu 23.04 users, the upgrade channel should be available soon. Just try launching “Software Updater” and install all available updates, then, re-launch with update-manager -c to tell to check if a new distribution release is available.

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Python 3.12.0 Released! How to Install via Ubuntu PPA

Last updated: October 3, 2023 — Leave a comment

Python 3.12.0 final was officially announced this Monday! Ubuntu LTS can easily install it from PPA.

New features in Python 3.12.0:

  • More flexible f-string parsing, allowing many things previously disallowed.
  • Python-level API for the buffer protocol
  • New API for monitoring Python programs running on CPython at low cost.
  • Per-Interpreter Global Interpreter Locks
  • Support for the Linux perf profiler to report Python function names in traces.
  • New type annotation syntax for generic classes
  • New decorator typing.override() in the typing module.

The new Python release also removed a few deprecated modules, including smtpd and distutils. For Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, it causes a broken pip. As a workaround, you need to manually install pip for Python 3.12.

How to Install Python 3.12.0 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and their derivatives such as Linux Mint 21, the Deadsnakes PPA has made the packages for all supported CPU architecture types: amd64, arm64/armhf, ppc64el, and s390x.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then paste the command below and hit run to add PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa

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

2. Ubuntu 20.04+ automatically refresh package cache while adding PPA. However, Linux Mint user may need to do this job manually by running command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, run command to install Python 3.12:

sudo apt install python3.12

For other Ubuntu editions, you may manually compile Python 3.12 from source tarball.

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Auto-CPUFreq 2.0 Released with Graphical User Interfce, Nix Flake Support

Last updated: October 1, 2023 — Leave a comment

Auto-cpufreq, automatic CPU speed & power optimizer, now is at version 2.0.0 release!

This is a popular free open-source tool that monitors Linux laptop’s battery state, CPU usage, temperature and system load. And, automatically switches CPU profile between “power saving” and “performance mode” according to whether power supply is plugged. It also automatically turn on/off CPU turbo boost according to system load.

By releasing 2.0.0 version, it has a graphical GTK3 user interface, making the things easy for beginners! As well, it now has Nix Flake and better NixOS support

Auto-cpufreq graphical interface.

How to Install Auto-CpuFreq in Ubuntu Linux

NOTE 1: In Ubuntu with default GNOME desktop, there’s already an extension can do similar job. So, you may only need this on Ubuntu flavors such as XUbuntu, Ubuntu MATE, KUbuntu, etc.

NOTE  2: Ubuntu Software (or App Center) includes auto-cpurfreq package, though it’s Snap package that so far does not support GUI, due to sandbox permission issue.

NOTE 3: Installing auto-cpufreq in GNOME Desktop will disable the default power profile daemon.

1. First, download the source code (ZIP or Tar.gz) from github releases page:

Download auto-cpufreq (under ‘Assets’)

2. After downloading the source, open your “Downloads” folder and extract the tarball. Then, right-click on extracted folder and select “Open in Terminal“.

3. In pop-up terminal window, run command to start the official installer, and answer “i” to start installing the tool.

sudo ./auto-cpufreq-installer

It will automatically install auto-cpufreq as well as download and installing all required dependencies on your system. If everything goes OK, you’ll be able to launch it from applications menu or ‘Activities’ overview.

And, first launch will prompt to click install and run the daemon. Just click ‘Install’ and re-launch the tool. Finally, you should be able to see the main UI like the top screenshot shows you.

Then, just leave it there to automatically change power profile depends on power state and CPU load. Or, you can manually switch to Power-save or Performance as you need.

Uninstall Auto-CPUFreq

To remove the tool, simply re-run the previous steps, but answer ‘r‘ while running the installer script in terminal window.

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The Beta Release of Ubuntu 23.10, Mantic Minotaur, is out!

Last updated: September 22, 2023 — Leave a comment

Ubuntu 23.10, code name “Mantic Minotaur”, is in Beta stage now!

The Ubuntu team announced the release today on Sep 22:

“This Beta release includes images from not only the Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Cloud products, but also the Edubuntu, Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Cinnamon, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, Ubuntu Unity, and Xubuntu flavours.”

Ubuntu 23.10 features GNOME Desktop 45, Kernel 6.5, and some other exciting new features!

They include a new App Center based on Google’s Flutter toolkit. Compare to the previous Ubuntu Software, it’s fast and just works!

New App Center

The release also features a new firmware updater, for users who are running Ubuntu on real machine. The features also include TPM based full disk encryption, workspace indicator in top-left, Super + S shortcut to open Quick Settings, new Tiling Assistant extension.

The Ubuntu installer now defaults to the ‘Minimal’ installation, though the previous “Full” installation is still available for choice.
Other changes include:

  • Polished ‘Files’ and Settings pages.
  • Use deb822 .sources files for PPA.
  • Network manager now uses Netplan as it’s default settings storage backend
  • Enable Wayland by default for Firefox.
  • New package for the old classic font, that is default in Ubuntu 22.04 and earlier.
  • Drag and drop saving web image into file.
  • Default wallpaper now has dark variant.
  • Firefox 117, Thunderbird 115, LibreOffice 7.6.

Toolkit updates:

  • GCC 13.2.0, binutils 2.41, glibc 2.38.
  • Python 3.11.5 (3.12 rc in the archive), Perl, 5.36.0, LLVM 16 (17 is available in the archive), rustc 1.71.
  • OpenJDK 17, OpenJDK 21, .NET 7, golang 1.21.

For more about Ubuntu 23.10, see the official release note.

Get Ubuntu 23.10

Ubuntu 23.10 final is planned for October 12. The current Beta as well as final release is available to download at the link below:

Download Ubuntu 23.10

For other download links and upgrade channel, see the official announcement.

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HPLIP 3.23.8 is out with Ubuntu 23.04, Fedora 38 & New Printers Support

Last updated: September 18, 2023 — 4 Comments

HPLIP, HP developed Linux driver for its inkjet and laser printers, now is at version 3.23.8!

The official .run installer now supports for OpenSuse 15.5, Fedora 38, and Ubuntu 23.04.

There are as well many new HP printers support in the release. They include:

  • HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4301dwe, 4301fdne, 4301fdwe, 4301cdwe, 4301cfdne, 4301cfdwe.
  • HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4302dwe, 4302fdne, 4302fdwe, 4302cdwe, 4302fdn, 4302fdw.
  • HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4303dw, 4303fdn, 4303fdw, 4303cdw, 4303cfdn, 4303cfdw.
  • HP Color LaserJet Pro 4201dne, 4201dwe, 4201cdne, 4201cdwe.
  • HP Color LaserJet Pro 4202dne, 4202dwe, 4202dn, 4202dw.
  • HP Color LaserJet Pro 4203dn, 4203dw, 4203cdn, 4203cdw.
  • HP DeskJet 2800, 2800e All-in-One Printer series
  • HP DeskJet Ink Advantage 2800 All-in-One Printer series
  • HP DeskJet 4200, 4200e All-in-One Printer series
  • HP DeskJet Ink Advantage 4200 All-in-One Printer series
  • HP DeskJet Ink Advantage Ultra 4900 All-in-One Printer series

The release also has 2 known issues. They are:

  • 1. USB print feature is not working properly with FW version 6.17.X.X for HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4303 devices
  • 2. An I/O error is observed when attempting to add a HP Color LaserJet Pro MFP 4303series device via wireless option.

How to Install HPLIP 3.23.8 in Ubuntu Linux

HPLIP offers official .run installer available to download at the link below:

Download HPLIP (.run)

Once you downloaded the file, right-click on blank area in ‘Downloads’ folder and select “Open in Terminal“.


When terminal opens, run the commands below one by one:

  • Add executable permission for the file: 
    chmod u+x hplip-3.23.8.run
  • Run the file, follow the on-screen prompt and answer some questions: 
    ./hplip-3.23.8.run

Until the command done without errors, you can plug or re-plug your HP printer for the new driver to work.

NOTE: The .run installer so far does not support Ubuntu 23.10! But, after running the previous commands, it generated the source folder in user ‘Downloads’ folder. Right-click on that folder and select ‘Open in Terminal’, then 23.10 user can try running the commands below one by one to build from source:

Install build dependencies:

sudo apt install --assume-yes libcups2-dev libdbus-1-dev build-essential ghostscript openssl libjpeg-dev libsnmp-dev libtool-bin libusb-1.0-0-dev wget python3-pil policykit-1 policykit-1-gnome python3-pyqt5 python3-dbus.mainloop.pyqt5 python-gi-dev python3-dev python3-notify2 python3 python3-reportlab libsane-dev xsane libavahi-client-dev libavahi-core-dev avahi-utils

Configure, make & install:

./configure --prefix=/usr --enable-qt5 --disable-qt4
make -j4
sudo make install

Uninstall HPLIP 3.23.8

As mentioned above, running the installer will create a source folder in user ‘Downloads’ folder.

Right-click on that folder and select “Open in Terminal”.

Then run the uninstall script in pop-up terminal window to remove HPLIP:

sudo ./uninstall.py
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