GScan2PDF, graphical to produce PDFs or DjVus from scanned documents, released version 2.8.1 a day ago.
The previous program launching issue should be fixed in the release, though it didn’t happen in my machine. Gscan2pdf 2.8.1 release highlights:
Pass resolution to tesseract to avoid messages like “Warning! Invalid resolution 0 dpi. Using 70 instead”
Cope better if data model becomes corrupted
Add restart option to ‘device not found’ mini-wizard & if tmp directory changed.
When saving a session file, note that pages have been saved to avoid ‘Some pages have not been saved. Do you really want to quit?’ message.
Improvements to the Crashed sessions dialog to make it more intuitive.
Update position of OCR text when cropping
Create PS level 3 instead of 1.
Fix check for unpaper version. (Scan fails if unpaper is not installed but selected in post processing)
Fix check for tesseract version. Remove support for tesseract
Update translations.
How to Install gscan2pdf 2.8.1 in Ubuntu:
The official Gscan2PDF PPA has made the new release packages for all current Ubuntu releases, and their derivatives, including Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 18.x, 19.x, and 20.
1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jeffreyratcliffe/ppa
Type user password (no asterisk feedback due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter.
2. For those who have a previous release installed, upgrade it through Software Updater:
Or run following command in terminal to install or upgrade the software:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install gscan2pdf
How to Remove:
To remove gscan2pdf, either use your system package manager or run command:
sudo apt-get remove --autoremove gscan2pdf
And the PPA can be removed via Software & Updates utility, under Other Software tab.
Audacious music player 4.0.5 was released a day ago with some important bug-fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and derivatives.
Fixed UI freeze when asterisk key (Shift+8) was pressed.
Fixed an exception when reading a large APE (> 1M) tag
Fixed album artist not being displayed for .m4a files
Fixed a crash on exit with a plugin settings window open
Fixed a crash when scrobbling with curl 7.71.0
Changed the default CDDB server to gnudb.org
How to Install Audacious 4.0.5 in Ubuntu:
All users of current Ubuntu releases and Linux Mint 18.x, 19.x, 20 can install the new release via Ubuntu PPA by running following commands one by one.
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:
Open source, low-latency, high quality voice chat software, Mumble 1.3.2, was released a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04.
Mumble 1.3.2 is a maintenance release that fixed overlay not starting, and keychain-error on macOS for custom certificates.
There’s also known issues: overlay blocked by BattleEye, CS:GO Trusted Mode.
How to Install Mumble in Ubuntu:
Mumble is available as containerized Snap and Flatpak packages. You can install the Snap from Ubuntu Software, and install Flatpak from flathub repository.
For those prefer .deb package from apt repository, do following steps to install it from Mumble Team PPA.
1. Open terminal either from application menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, paste below command and hit Enter:
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 Mumble via Software Updater:
Or run commands one by one in terminal to check updates and install the chat utility for gamer:
This quick tutorial shows how to enable remote desktop service in Ubuntu 20.04, so that you can access to Ubuntu desktop remotely via VNC viewer.
1.) Open System Settings utility, navigate to Sharing in the left pane, toggle on Sharing in the top-right, and finally click on “Screen Sharing”.
2.) In the pop-up dialog, turn on “Screen Sharing” and select:
Enable remote control by tick “Allow connections to control screen”.
Setup a password or select ask for access on each connection.
3.) As a workaround of TightVNC connection error: “No security types supported. Server sent security types, but we do not support any of them“.
NOTE: Instead of running following commands, you may use Dconf Editor and navigate to org/gnome/desktop/remote-access.
Run command in terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal):
gsettings set org.gnome.Vino require-encryption false
You may also run command to allow people not in local network to access using UPnP (if your router supports it):
gsettings set org.gnome.Vino use-upnp true
Finally, connect to this Ubuntu desktop remotely using either Computer name (as picture in step 1.) shows) or IP address via a VNC viewer / client and enjoy!
Avidemux video editor 2.7.6 was released a day ago with new video encoder / decoder, and many improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04.
Avidemux 2.7.6 release highlights according to the changelog file:
Detect and warn when cut points in HEVC video streams may result in grave playback issues despite being on keyframes
Add libaom-based AV1 decoder
Add libvpx-based VP9 encoder
Update to FFmpeg 4.2.3
Add hardware accelerated deinterlacer and resizer based on VA-API
Increase maximum supported resolution to 4096×4096
Add support for Vorbis audio, LPCM audio to the Mp4 muxer
Add HE-AAC and HE-AACv2 profiles to the FDK AAC encoder plugin
Numerous other improvements and fixes.
How to Install Avidemux 2.7.6 in Ubuntu:
Appimage:
The official non-install single executable .appimage package is available for downloading:
After downloaded the appimage, go to file Properties -> Permissions and make it executable, finally right-click and run the file to launch Avidemux video editor.
NOTE: Due to build failure, I changed names of some shared libraries. If you have problem launching the editor, try sudo apt upgrade to update your system packages.
Free open-source digital audio workstation software LMMS 1.2.2 was released a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Ubuntu 20.04, and derivatives.
LMMS 1.2.2 is a maintenance release contains some improvements and various bug-fixes.
Stop filtering out valid characters from file name while exporting tracks
Fix Invalid warning about “dummy-MIDI-client”
Note selection: Editing values works in dialog
Fix retrigger with vol/pan sliders
Fix loading and saving of .fxb/.fxp files on Windows
There’s non-install single executable .Appimage available to download in the release page (See the previous link).
If you prefer installing lmms music production via Ubuntu PPA, do following steps one by one:
1.) Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching for ‘terminal’ from your system application menu. When it opens, run command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/lmms
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompt and hit Enter to continue adding the PPA.
2.) Then run commands to refresh system package cache and install the music production software:
sudo apt update
sudo apt install lmms
NOTE: lmms-vst-server is 32-bit only package. It may install along with tons of 32-bit dependency libraries. And if you added wine apt repository, it may refuse to install.
Uninstall:
To remove lmms, run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove lmms
And remove the PPA either via Software & Updates -> Other Software or by running command:
Mozilla Firefox 78 was released a few days ago with some new features and improvements.
Firefox 78 added “Refresh Firefox” button to the Uninstaller, which also available in about:support page, allows to reset Firefox to its default state, while saving your essential information like bookmarks, passwords, cookies.
Other changes in the release include:
Protections Dashboard includes reports about tracking protection, data breaches, and password management.
Screen saver will no longer interrupt WebRTC calls on Firefox
Firefox 78 is also Extended Support Release (ESR) features:
Kiosk mode
Client certificates
Service Worker and Push APIs are now enabled
The Block Autoplay feature is enabled
Picture-in-picture support
View and manage web certificates in about:certificate
Improved Pocket recommendations, and security fixes.
How to Install Firefox 78 in Ubuntu:
Firefox 78 will be made into official Ubuntu security / updates repositories for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and Ubuntu 20.04 in a few days!
At that time, you can upgrade Firefox via Software Updater (Update Manager) utility:
This simple tutorial shows how to install GnuCash, the personal and small-business financial-accounting software, in all current Ubuntu releases including Ubuntu 23.10, Ubuntu 23.04, Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 20.04
GnuCash is available in Ubuntu repository, but old. For the latest release, you may install it via either Flatpak package or an Ubuntu PPA.
At the moment of writing, the latest version is GnuCash 5.4, and the changes are available in this page.
Method 1: Install GnuCash from Ubuntu repository
The package in system repository is old, but supported by Ubuntu Team, and available in all supported CPU architecture types, including x86_64, Arm 64/hf, ppc64el, riscv64, s390x.
To install the package, simply press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then, run command:
sudo apt install gnucash
Run sudo apt update if package not found, and type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo authentication.
Method 2: Install latest GnuCash via Flatpak package
For the latest version, so far GnuCash 5.4, the official website refers to the Flatpak package. It can install in most Linux, though runs in sandbox! And, it supports both X86_64 and Arm 64 CPU architecture types.
1.) Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install flatpak framework:
sudo apt install flatpak
Type your password (no visual feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter.
2.) Then install the latest GnuCash as Flatpak package, by running command:
NOTE: First time installing a Flatpak app, may also install hundreds MB of runtime libraries. And, you may need to log out and back in to make the app icon visible.
Method 3: Install latest GnuCash via Ubuntu PPA
Want the latest version but hate running app in sandbox? The popular Xtradeb Apps PPA contains the package with support for Ubuntu 22.04 and Ubuntu 23.04 so far.
It’s native .deb package, though only support X86_64 architecture type (the common Intel & AMD CPUs).
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:xtradeb/apps
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue
2. If you’re following this tutorial in Linux Mint 21, then you have to manually refresh system package cache after adding PPA, which’s done automatically in Ubuntu.
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install the financial-accounting software by running command:
sudo apt install gnucash
After installation, search for and launch the software from either applications menu or the overview screen depends on your desktop environment.
Uninstall GnuCash
Depends on how you installed the software package, remove it by running either command below.
For the package installed via apt command in ‘Method 1’ and ‘Method 3’, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to remove it:
sudo apt remove --autoremove gnucash
Also, remove the Ubuntu PPA from your system by running command:
sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:xtradeb/apps
For the software installed via Flatpak package, run the command below instead to remove it:
