Mozilla Firefox 88.0 was released today. For Linux users now it supports for smooth pinch-zooming using a touchpad.
Besides that, Firefox 88 introduced a new protection against privacy leaks. Now it confines the window.name property to the website that created it. And it will clear the window.name property when navigating between websites to potential privacy leakage.
For those prefer the built-in ‘Take a Screenshot’ action, the feature has been removed from the ‘three dots’ page actions menu. Instead, you can get it from the context menu.
gThumb, GNOME image viewer and organizer, released version 3.11.3 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.10 via PPA.
gThumb 3.11.3 adds support for JPEG XL – the next generation image coding standard.
JPEG XL (.jxl) is based on ideas from Google’s Pik format and Cloudinary’s FUIF format. It is the next-generation, general-purpose image compression codec by the JPEG committee. Some popular apps, e.g., ImageMagick, XnView MP, have already added support for the image format.
gThumb now opens the .jxl image format through the libjxl library.
Other changes in the release include:
Added file actions to the viewer context menu.
Removed facebook and picasaweb uploaders
Fixed issue that continuously reloads image when it is only image in folder
Webp can have transparency as well.
New and updated translations.
How to Install gThumb 3.11.3 in Ubuntu via PPA:
For Ubuntu 18.04 (64-bit), Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Ubuntu 21.04, Linux Mint 19.x, 20.x, you can install the new release packages via the unofficial PPA.
1.) To add the PPA, open terminal from system application launcher, and run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
2.) You can then either upgrade the image viewer from an old version via Update Manager (Software Updater), or run command in terminal:
sudo apt install gthumb
Uninstall gThumb & the Ubuntu PPA
To remove gThumb image viewer, run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove gthumb gthumb-data
To remove the Ubuntu PPA, either run the apt-add-repository command with --remove flag, or use Software & Updates -> Other Software.
The CopyQ clipboard manager released version 4.0.0 a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 18.04 via PPA.
CopyQ is a free and open-source clipboard manager with editing and scripting features. The new 4.0.0 release features new script engine with some new functions, better ECMAScript support, improved performance.
The release also adds Wayland support and bash completion script. Other changes include:
Update synchronization plugin to keep order of new items consistent between multiple instances.
Search multiple words in any order
Use system notification popups.
Item rows set to 1 by default in main window and tray menu
Tags can be “locked” in configuration.
Web plugin removed.
New advanced options allow to set intervals and wait times for copying,
pasting and window focus.
How to Install Copyq 4.0.0 in Ubuntu:
The official PPA repository has made the latest packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 20.10.
1. To add the PPA, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) from application menu and run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hluk/copyq
Type user password (no asterisk feedback due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then install CopyQ either via Synaptic package manager or by running commands in terminal:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install copyq
Once installed, start the clipboard manager from application menu and you’ll see the icon in system tray area.
Uninstall:
To remove the software, either use Synaptic package manager or run command:
sudo apt-get remove --autoremove copyq
To remove PPA repositories, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.
Wine 6.6 was released a few days ago as the latest development release of the Windows compatibility layer.
In the new release the Mono engine is updated to version 6.1.1 with upstream updates. DWrite and DnsApi libraries are now converted to PE. And it improved plug & play driver support.
Other changes in Wine 6.6 include various bug-fixes to Windows applications and games, e.g., Evil Twin, Half-life, Breath of Fire IV, Google drive, Legends of Runeterra, and more.
How to Install Wine 6.6 in Ubuntu:
The official Wine apt repository now provides the new release package for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 20.10
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.
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:
Shortwave, free and open-source internet radio player for Gnome, released version 2.0.0 today.
The new release introduces a mini player mode. It is a super compact window widget with a few control buttons, and displays the current radio station and playing song name.
Show system notification when start playing a new song.
Redesign the station details window, and add ability to copy the stream URL.
Improved keyboard navigation of the user interface.
Prevent system from going suspend or hibernate during audio playback.
And Shortwave now is built as GTK4 application. For the UI, you’ll see the bottom corners rounded.
How to Install Shortwave 2.0.0 in Ubuntu:
The radio player is available in Ubuntu Software as Snap package, it is however not updated at the moment of writing.
Besides building from source（impossible as it depends GTK4), so far the only way is installing the containerised Flatpak package.
1.) Open terminal either from system application menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to install the flatpak daemon if you don’t have it:
sudo apt install flatpak
2.) Add the flathub repository which hosts the flatpak package:
The game offers official Snap package, which can be easily installed from Ubuntu Software:
Don’t like the containerized software package? For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 19/20, and based systems, grab the classic DEB package from the link below:
Then open terminal from system app launcher, and run command to install the deb package:
Ubuntu 21.04 final beta was officially released. Features images for the Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Cloud products, and also the Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu flavors.
Ubuntu 21.04 code name “Hirsute Hippo”. As a non-LTS release, it has only 9-month support.
The new Ubuntu edition comes with Linux Kernel 5.11 and GNOME 3.38.x, along with some GNOME 40 core applications, e.g, GNOME Calculator, Gnome Clocks, Gnome Disk Utility.
And it by default logins to Wayland session. If your applications are not so far updated with Wayland support, you can easily switch back to X11 session by clicking the gear button when you’re at the login screen.
Another change is that the time & date menu, system tray menu, notifications, and other top-panel drop-down menus are now in Dark Mode. For those prefer either the standard or light mode, you have to install the User Themes Gnome Shell Extension to change the default theme to light. For details, see this tutorial.
Other changes include:
Use nftables as default backend for the firewall.
Add support for smartcard authentication
Desktop icons now handled by Desktop Icons NG extension with drag’n’drop support.
Deepin, a beautiful Linux distribution based on Debian stable, released version 20.2 a day ago.
Deepin 20.2 features the LTS Kernel 5.10 and stable Kernel 5.11. In Grub boot menu, you can select to boot either Kernel as you want.
The new release now integrates the Debian 10.8 stable package repository. Thanks to code optimization, you will get less memory occupation for core apps, faster response, enhanced system performance, and smoother user experiences.
Also, Deepin 20.2 introduced a Downloader app with multiple download protocols support, including HTTP(s), FTP(s), BT, magnet link, etc. And the downloads are extremely fast.
LibreOffice office suite 7.1.2, the second bug-fix release for the 7.1 series, now is available to install in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20, Ubuntu 20.10 via its official PPA.
LibreOffice 7.1.2 comes with 61 bug-fixes. Here are some of them according to the changelog:
Paste sometimes deactivated in (context) menu even though text copied to clipboard and CTRL+V functioning.
Writer: wrong header/footer during export to DOCX.
LibreOffice text blurry on Retina displays on macOS 11.
Font rendering display error (skia) and some DejaVu fonts.
Cannot open .docx in writer – format openXML.
Orca no longer reads many options on the sidebar in Linux.
Autocorrect no longer works with Change Tracking enabled.
elementary: New Arrow Style for Undo and Redo.
Crash when importing docx file.
PDF export with buttons won’t work in Adobe Reader.
How to Install LibreOffice 7.1.2 via PPA:
1. Add the PPA.
LibreOffice Fresh PPA has made the packages for all current Ubuntu releases. You can add it to your system by launching terminal and run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. Install LibreOffice 7.1.2.
After adding the PPA, you can either update your system packages including the office suite via command:
sudo apt full-upgrade
or launch Software Updater (Update Manager) and select install the package updates:
Uninstall:
To remove the PPA repository, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software and remove the relevant line.
Before the next major GIMP 3.0, a new maintenance update for the 2.10 series GIMP 2.10.24 now is available to install.
Though it’s not officially announced at the moment of writing, GIMP has provided the 2.10.24 source tarball & Windows exe for downloading in its website.
And both the Flathub repository and unofficial Ubuntu PPA have updated the packages for the new release.
What’s new in GIMP 2.10.24 according to the release note:
Off-canvas point snapping
GeoTIFF metadata support (georeferencing information embedded within a TIFF file used by map makers)
Many improvements in the metadata viewer and editor
Many file format supports improved: HEIF, PSP, TIFF, JPEG, PNG, PDF, DDS, BMP, PSD
New “Negative Darkroom” operation to simulate enlargement prints from scans of photographic negatives.
The RAW image import now handles darktable 3.6 and over
New Kabyle translation
How to Install GIMP 2.10.24 in Ubuntu:
Method 1: Install GIMP via the universal flatpak package:
If you’re OK with the flatpak package which runs in sandbox, open terminal and run following commands one by one to install it:
1. Firstly add PPA for updated Flatpak package (required for Ubuntu 18.04 only):
4. Finally install GIMP flatpak package via command:
flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP
NOTE: as flatpak runs in sandbox, it takes much more disk space for run-time libraries.
5. (Optional) If you want to remove the package, run command:
flatpak uninstall org.gimp.GIMP
Method 2: install GIMP via Ubuntu PPA:
For those prefer the classic .deb packages, the unofficial PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, and Ubuntu 21.04.
Due to compile issue, the package for Ubuntu 18.04 is stuck at v2.10.22 at the moment.
1.) Open terminal from system application launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2.) If an old version of GIMP .deb package was installed, upgrade it via Software Updater (Update Manager) utility.
or run apt commands in terminal to install GIMP:
sudo apt install gimp
If you’re going to upgrade the image editor from command line, I’d recommend to RUN this command instead, so to also install the updated dependency libraries.
sudo apt upgrade
3.) (Optional) To restore GIMP to the stock version in main Ubuntu repository, run command to purge the PPA:
