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:
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.
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:
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:
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:
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:
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.
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:
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):
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:
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:
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:
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.
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.
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:
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.
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:
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:
Celluloid, formerly GNOME MPV, released version 0.26 yesterday.
Celluloid is a free open-source video player uses mpv as backend, and is default in Linux Mint 21 Cinnamon. Since v0.24, it’s been ported to GTK4 and Libadwaita that looks native in modern GNOME desktop environment.
In the new 0.26 release, the ‘About‘ and ‘Preferences‘ dialog are also ported to LibAdwaita to follow GNOME’s step. Which, is adaptive to fit different screen sizes.
The ‘Toggle Playlist‘ option has been removed from the ‘≡’ menu. Instead, it added a new button in bottom right to show/hide the playlist. Though, it has wrong tooltip shows ‘Toggle Fullscreen’.
Remove media keys support, since it already uses MPRIS.
Remove support for X11 window embedding, since it doesn’t work with GTK4.
Fix header bar auto-hiding even when a menu is open.
Mark “Extra mpv options” for translation
Remove --mpv-options
Remove ‘vo‘ from the list of default options.
Take screenshots in .PNG file format instead of the previous .jpg.
Remove the old GSettings schema file (io.github.GnomeMpv.gschema.xml).
Export the Position property
Sync translations from Weblate
How to install Celluloid 0.26 in Ubuntu
The video player has an official Ubuntu PPA. Due to updated LibAdwaita library requirement, the new 0.26 release is available in the PPA for Ubuntu 23.04 and Ubuntu 23.10. While 22.04 stuck at v0.24.
1. Firstly, press Ctrl + Alt + T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to add the official PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xuzhen666/gnome-mpv
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue
2. Then either use “Software Updater” (or Update Manager) to update the player if stock version was installed.
Or, run the command below to install/upgrade the app:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install celluloid
For Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04 users who want to try the latest 0.26 release, just search for and install the Snap package from Ubuntu Software. Though, it runs in sandbox.
Uninstall:
To uninstall the celluloid video player, just run the command below in terminal:
Ubuntu 23.10, code-name “Mantic Minotaur”, has reached Beta stage. See what’s new in the upcoming release of the popular Linux Distribution.
Ubuntu 23.10 will use Linux Kernel 6.5, and GNOME Desktop v45.
New App Center
Ubuntu Software, aka the previous GNOME Software and current Snap Store, is really painful! It does NOT work quite often in my case.
It’s always stuck at either “Downloading Software catalog“, or the spinning loading circle.
Now, in Ubuntu 23.10, the new Google Flutter based App Center is in the place for installing/updating applications.
New App Center
Personally, I really like the new ‘App Center’. It’s fast, and just works!
The only issue so far in the development build is that it support Snap packages only… It now supports both Snap and classic .deb package since Beta.
New Firmware Updater app
Ubuntu 23.10 also introduced a new “Firmware Updater” application, that is available out-of-the-box.
With it, user can update hardware firmware as easy as few mouse clicks.
TPM-backed Full Disk Encryption
Ubuntu 23.10 adds experimental support for TPM based full disk encryption. Meaning passphrases will be no longer needed on supported platforms, and that the secret used to decrypt the encrypted data will be protected by a TPM and recovered automatically only by early boot software that is authorised to access the data. See HERE for more about it.
GNOME 45
GNOME 45, developed by another group of people, is the default desktop environment in Ubuntu 23.10.
Features in GNOME 45, include new ‘workspace indicator’ in top-left to replace ‘Activities’ button, removal of current app menu in top-bar.
The top-right corner system status menu, aka Quick Settings, can now be opened/closed via Super (Windows logo key) + S shortcut key. And, it supports for toggle keyboard backlight with a flat button.
Super + S to open Quick Settings
The ‘Files’ (Nautilus File Manager) and Settings (Gnome Control Center) has been redesigned to look even more modern. To follow the steps in GNOME 44, it also redesigned the ‘About’ and ‘Privacy’ pages.
In the release of Ubuntu Desktop, it also introduced a new system extension called “Ubuntu Tiling Assistant“. It features “Tiling pop-up” and “Tiling Groups”, and allows to tile window to half or quarter screen size, either by dragging or keyboard shortcuts.
Other Gnome desktop changes include:
Camera usage indicator, but not work for Cheese.
Drag’n’drop to save web image to file.
New ‘keyboard’ option in top-right system menu to toggle keyboard backlight
New default wallpaper with dark variant.
Default to “Minimal” installation
Don’t know why (probably due to Snap), but Ubuntu’s .iso image is getting bigger and bigger in recent releases. The 64-bit Ubuntu 18.04 image is only 2.3G, while 22.04 & 23.04 now take about 4.6G.
To lose weight, Ubuntu Team proposed to drop some applications from the default install, by introducing new “Default” option.
The change does not apply to Ubuntu 23.10, instead, the Ubuntu installer choose “Minimal” installation by default. It’s still called “Default Installation”, but excludes many applications, such as LibreOffice, Thunderbird. Though, the old default “Full” installation is still available for choice.
Other Changes
Ubuntu PPA now uses deb822 .sources files instead of the classic .list files in ‘/etc/apt/sources.list.d’. And, it includes the key code directly in the source file instead of saving as a separated file.
The network manager now uses Netplan as it’s default settings storage backend. All the config files are located in /etc/netplan now.
The pre-installed Firefox now uses Wayland by default instead of XWayland, which has better touchpad / touch-screen user experience.
New fonts-ubuntu-classic package for those who prefer system font in Ubuntu earlier than 23.04.
For more about Ubuntu 23.10, see the official release note, though it’s not finished yet.
