Archives For November 30, 1999

Linux Kernel

Linux Kernel 5.11 was released a day ago on Valentine’s Day. Here’ how you can install it in Ubuntu and Linux Mint based systems.

Linus Torvalds announced the Kernel 5.11: “Nothing unexpected or particularly scary happened this week, so here we are – with 5.11 tagged and pushed out.
In fact, it’s a smaller-than-average set of commits from rc7 to final, which makes me happy. And I already have several pull requests lined up for tomorrow, so we’re all set for the merge window to start.
.”

New features in Linux Kernel 5.11 include:

  • Intel Integer Scaling support
  • Intel async page flipping support
  • Initial support for AMD Green Sardine and Van Gogh APUs
  • Intel WiFi 6GHz band support
  • NVIDIA RTX 30 “Ampere” Support
  • The OUYA game console and other new ARM hardware support
  • Improved USB4 and Thunderbolt support
  • Sound support for Intel Alder Lake
  • Fixed the frequency invariance performance regression for AMD.

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.11:

The Ubuntu Mainline Kernel Archive provides the new kernel packages via DEB files.

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 those prefer using a graphical tool, see this tool to install the latest Kernel.

To manually download the mainline kernel packages for Linux 5.11, go to the link button:

Download Kernel 5.11

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

  1. linux-headers-5.11.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-5.11.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  3. linux-modules-5.11.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  4. linux-image-xxx-5.11.0-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/v5.11/amd64/linux-headers-5.11.0-051100_5.11.0-051100.202102142330_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.11/amd64/linux-headers-5.11.0-051100-generic_5.11.0-051100.202102142330_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.11/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.11.0-051100-generic_5.11.0-051100.202102142330_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.11/amd64/linux-modules-5.11.0-051100-generic_5.11.0-051100.202102142330_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.11:

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 5.11:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-unsigned-5.11.0-051100-generic

Wine Stable

The wine team announced the new wine development version 6.2 with a few new features and various bug-fixes.

According to the release note, Wine 6.2 updated Mono engine to version 6.0.0, with DirectX support.

Other changes include:

  • Support for NTDLL debugger APIs.
  • More WinRT support in WIDL.
  • Xbox One controller fixes on Mac.
  • Bug fixes to Paint.NET, Earth 2160, Foxit Reader, Google SketchUp 13, and many other applications.

How to Install Wine 6.2 in Ubuntu:

The Wine team has made in the Linux packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 20.10. And you can install it by doing the steps below one by one.

Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching for ‘terminal’ from system application menu. When it opens, run following steps one by one.

Install Wine Development version via following commands will replace the latest stable Wine release package if installed.

1.) Run command to enable 32 bit architecture (if you don’t have it):

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386

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

2.) Install the repository key by running command:

wget -O - https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key | sudo apt-key add -

3.) Add wine repository via command (for Ubuntu 20.04 and Linux Mint 20):

sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ focal main'

NOTE: You may replace focal in the code with:

  • groovy for Ubuntu 20.10.
  • bionic for Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 19.x

4.) For Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 19.x only, libfaudio0 library is required to install from a third-party repository by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cybermax-dexter/sdl2-backport

5.) Finally install Wine 6.2 via command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-devel

Uninstall wine:

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

To remove wine 6.2, run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove winehq-devel

The Tilix terminal emulator released version 1.9.4 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10 via PPA.

Tilix, formerly Terminix, is a free and open-source terminal emulator that uses the VTE GTK+ 3 widget. It features terminal screen splitting and drop-down mode support.

After one year and a half of development, it finally announced the new release with minimal maintenance. And Tilix is looking for maintainers!

What’s new in Tilix 1.9.4:

  • Actually install Yaru color scheme
  • Give every tab the ${title} (instead of “Default”)
  • Add option to strip trailing whitespace on paste.
  • Add shortcut to “Unselect all”
  • Update metainfo data
  • Update to GtkD 3.9.0.
  • Bump minimum VTE version to 0.46
  • And various bug-fixes.

How to Install Tilix via Ubuntu PPA:

For request, you can now install the new release packages from the unofficial PPA, by doing the steps one by one:

1.) Open terminal from system app launcher and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/tilix

Type your login password if asks, while no asterisk feedback, and hit Enter to continue.

2.) Then either install the terminal via command:

sudo apt install tilix

or upgrade via Software Updater if an old version was installed.

Uninstall Tilix:

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

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

or use Software & Updates utility with Other Software tab.

You can alternatively purge the Ubuntu PPA, which also downgrade the terminal emulator package to the stock version. To do so, run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/tilix

And to remove Tilix, run command:

sudo apt remove tilix

Mumble, voice chat app for gamer, released version 1.3.4 with important bug-fixes.

Mumble is a free and open-source VoIP application designed for use by gamer and is similar to programs such as TeamSpeak.

Before, the public server list registration script doesn’t have an URL scheme whitelist for the website field. So a malicious server can register itself with a dangerous URL in an attempt to attack a user’s machine. In Mumble 1.3.4, now it only allows http and https schemes in both client-side and public server lists.

The new release also fixed an issue that applying a noise gate generates significant packet loss. Due to the mitigation for vulnerabilities discovered in OCB2, it allows some packets with specific characteristics to be dropped during encryption. It however causes packet loss issue. Now it is fixed by a workaround from contributor.

Other changes in Mumble 1.3.4 include:

  • Don’t use outdated (non-existent) notification icon names on Linux.
  • Use qInfo instead of qFatal for logging, which fixes a crash issues.

Unfortunately, there are still known issues in Mumble that overlay blocked by CS:GO Trusted Mode and BattleEye.

How to install Mumble 1.3.4 in Ubuntu:

The official release PPA has made the packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 20.04.

1. Open terminal either from system application launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, paste the command below and hit run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mumble/release

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

2. If an old release was installed, simply upgrade it via Software Updater:

Or run commands one by one in terminal to check updates and install the chat app for gamer:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install mumble mumble-server

Uninstall Mumble:

You can purge the PPA which also downgrade the VoIP app to the stock version via command:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:mumble/release

To simply remove mumble, either use system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove mumble mumble-server

Flowblade, a multi-track non-linear video editor Linux, released new major 2.8 version today with focused on making the app more configurable.

For 1680 x 1050 and higher screen resolution, now you can change the panels layout by moving panels to different positions using View->Panel Placement submenu.

The Middlebar now is more customizable by selecting View->Middlebar layout->Free Bar and then selecting which items in Middlebar are displayed and in which order via View -> Middlebar layout – > Configure Free Bar….

The keyboard shortcut is also customizable. First create a custom shortcut group via top-left menu button in “Keyboard Shortcuts” dialog, you can then select this group and change the shortcuts as you want.

Other changes in Flowblade 2.8 include:

  • New Flowblade Neutral and Flowblade Gray themes.
  • Use Tool Dock widget to select Timeline Edit Tools
  • Move Filter Selection panel to right side of the Timeline
  • A set colored of icons to be optionally used in the Middlebar
  • Relink a directory feature for Media Relinker
  • New new French language user manual and more.

How to install Flowblade in Ubuntu:

The software offers official DEB binary package available to download at:

Download Flowblade

Just grab the DEB package, then install it either via Gdebi, Software Install, or by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install ./Downloads/flowblade-*.deb

shutter screenshot

The Shutter screenshot tool released version 0.95 a few days ago as the first update after moving to Github, and the first step getting back into Ubuntu universe repositories.

Shutter is one of the most popular Linux screenshot applications with editing features. Since Ubuntu dropped old Gnome 2 libraries from the main repositories, Shutter is removed too from Ubuntu repository.

The project now is working on removing old dependency libraries and getting back into Linux Distros’ (Arch Linux, Debian, Ubuntu) repositories. And the release of version 0.95 is the first step in the process.

Shutter 0.95 changelog:

  • Almost fully dropped the dependency on the outdated Perl Gnome2 library
  • Update translations.
  • Removed dependencies: Arch: gnome-perl, gnome-vfs-perl; Debian: libgnome2-perl, libgnome2-vfs-perl
  • New dependencies:
    • Arch: perl-number-bytes-human, perl-glib-object-introspection
    • Debian: libnumber-bytes-human-perl, libglib-object-introspection-perl

How to Install Shutter in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10:

Shutter packages as well as missing dependencies are now available in a trusted third-party PPA

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linuxuprising/shutter

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

2. Then install Shutter either via Synaptic package manager or by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install shutter

Once installed, launch it from gnome software menu and enjoy!

Uninstall Shutter:

To remove shutter, simply open terminal and run command:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove shutter

And remove the PPA via Software & Updates -> Other Software.

Audacious music player

The Audacious audio player 4.2 was released a few days ago. Here’s PPA with the deb binary packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Linux Mint 20, and derivatives.

Following the lead of Debian and Fedora, the new release now features dual Qt5 + GTK2 build by default. And it offers an option in the Settings to make it easy to switch between Qt and classic GTK interfaces.

Audacious has been updated to version 4.2, feature new dark mode support and Flat icon set in both light and dark mode.

Other changes include:

  • Add partial support for Ogg FLAC streams
  • Automatically set the title of an imported playlist based on the filename
  • Preselect the filename of an imported playlist when exporting it again
  • Add a Jump to Song dialog to the Winamp interface in Qt mode
  • Add formatter syntax to allow truncating title strings

Install Audacious 4.2 via PPA in Ubuntu:

The new release package has been made into the Ubuntu PPA. Due to a compile issue and lack of time for debugging, Ubuntu 16.04 build is excluded.

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

NOTE: If you got problem installing / updating the audio player, remove the old packages first by running the command in the bottom.

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 audacious-dev

KeePassX 2 YubiKey support

The fourth maintenance update for KeePassXC 2.6 was released with various minor bug-fixes, and some new features.

KeePassXC 2.6.4 now provides native ARM64 builds for the new Apple Silicon M1 Macs. For the time being, it comes without support for signed KeeShare containers due to dependency incompatibilities.

In the new release, you can now switch between light and dark mode without restart the application. For Windows and Mac OS, it also responds automatically to light/dark theme changes in the system.

With an updated libgcrypt library, a buffer overflow vulnerability now is fixed in Windows and Mac OS. Users are urged to upgrade as soon as possible.

Other changes in KeePassXC 2.6.4 include:

  • Show window title as tooltip on system tray
  • Compress Snap release as LZO for faster initial startup
  • Set maximum selectable password length to 999 for password generator.
  • Fix crash on app close when using SSH agent
  • Fix KDF selection showing wrong item when using Argon2id
  • Automatically close About dialog on database lock if it is still open
  • Fix click-to-move on empty area activating when using menus in Linux.

How to Install KeePassXC 2.6.4 in Ubuntu:

The Latest KeePassXC is available in Ubuntu Software via Snap package. The official download page also offers the non-install single executable Appimage package.

For those prefer the classic apt method, the official upstream PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 20.10.

1.) Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching for ‘terminal’ from system application launcher.

When terminal opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:phoerious/keepassxc

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

2.) Then either update the software package using Software Updater

or run command to install the software:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install keepassxc

Uninstall:

You can run the PPA repository simply by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:phoerious/keepassxc

And if you want, remove keepassxc password manger via command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove keepassxc

Kaidan, free and open-source Jabber / XMPP client, released version 0.7.0 with enhancements and bug-fixes.

Kaidan is a user-friendly and modern chat app uses the open communication protocol XMPP (Jabber). Unlike other chat apps, you are not dependent on one specific service provider.

The new version 0.7.0 was released today adds more information in contact profile including nickname, software version, and operation system.

The favorite emojis now is showing by default, and you can search emoji by typeing :<name>.

Other changes in Kaidan 0.7.0 include:

  • drag’n’drop support for sending files
  • Paste images from clipboard (Ctrl+Shift+V) into the chat
  • Insert newline with Shift + Enter
  • Custom hostname and port.
  • Improved design of media preview sheets
  • Restructure message sending bar
  • And bug-fixes.

How to Install Kaidan in Ubuntu:

The software offers non-install Appimage available to download at its website.

It also available as Flatpak package, which runs in sandbox. Open terminal from system app launcher and run following commands one by one to install it:

1. Run command to install flatpak daemon if you don’t have it:

sudo apt install flatpak

2. Add the flathub repository which hosts the software package:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

3. Finally install Kaidan package via command:

flatpak install flathub im.kaidan.kaidan

Once installed, open it either from app launcher or by running command flatpak run im.kaidan.kaidan

Uninstall Kaidan:

To remove the flatpak package, simply run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall im.kaidan.kaidan

The Kid3 audio tagger 3.8.5 was released today as a new bug-fix release which however includes also some minor new features.

Kid3 3.8.5 adds ability to change the language via Settings -> Appearance, though app needs a restart to apply change.

It also brings “Invert Selection” option under Edit menu, command option “config” to query and set configuration options, and script to rewrite all tags of the selected files.

Other changes include:

  • Import multiple genres from Discogs and MusicBrainz.
  • Support import from Discogs JSON API when token is provided.
  • Allow code signing for Mac OS
  • Fix crash issue when adding Chapter frame.
  • Fix support for ID3v2 Podcast Category (TCAT) and Podcast Keywords (TKWD).
  • Fix support for multiple genres with ID3v2.3.0.
  • Fix support for MP4 values with multiple strings with TagLib.

How to Install Kid3 3.8.5 in Ubuntu via PPA:

The official Kid3 PPA has made the new packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 20, and derivatives.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ufleisch/kid3

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

2. If an old version was installed, upgrade Kid3 using Software Updater:

upgrade kid3 via software updater

or run commands one by one in terminal to install or upgrade to the latest tag editor:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install kid3-qt

You may replace kid3-qt with kid3 in the code for KDE integration, and/or with kid3-cli for the command-line interface.

Uninstall

To remove the PPA repository, either open Software & Updates -> Other Software tab and remove the relevant line, or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ufleisch/kid3

To remove the audio tag editor, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove kid3 kid3-*