News | UbuntuHandbook

Puddletag Audio Tagger 2.0.1 Released with Python 3 Port

Last updated: August 31, 2020

Puddletag audio tag editor 2.0.1 was released 2 days ago with official Python 3 and PyQt5 support.

Since Ubuntu 20.04 dropped Qt4 and old Python 2 libraries, Puddletag 1.2 as well was removed from Ubuntu universe repository.

The Python 3 & PyQt5 branch was started a few months ago by sandrotosi. Now it’s finally merged into Puddletag 2.0.1.

The audio tagger might be added back (hope so) into main repositories in future Ubuntu releases. Before it happens, you can either grab the source code or use an unofficial PPA.

See how to install puddletag in Ubuntu 20.04 via PPA.

Or grab the .deb package directly from PPA link:

Puddletag 2.0.1 (.deb)

And install it via either Gdebi package installer:

or by running command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T)

cd ~/Downloads/ && sudo apt install ./puddletag_2.0.1-0focal1_all.deb

In News audio tag editor

3D Arcade Racer SuperTuxKart 1.2 Released [How to Install]

Last updated: August 28, 2020

SuperTuxKart 1.2, free and open-source kart racing game, was officially released a day ago.

What’s new in SuperTuxkart 1.2:

Support gamepad hotplugging
Use SDL2 for window creation
New “Cartoon” theme
Haiku support
Add support for IPv6 LAN servers
Team chat for team games
A new Kiki kart and improved Pidgin and Puffy karts
Fixed most gamepad related bugs
New settings to customize the game’s camera
And many many enhancements and fixes

How to Get SuperTuxKart 1.2:

Source code as well as packages for Android, Linux (portable), Mac OS, and Windows are available for download at the link below:

SuperTuxKart in Github

Also, there’s an Ubuntu PPA that contains .deb packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20 / 19.x.

The PPA so far contains SuperTuxKart 1.2 RC1 package. It should be updated to v1.2 in days. Check the PPA link before getting started.

1.) Open terminal from system application launcher, then run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stk/dev

Type user password, no visual feedback, when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2.) After adding the PPA, either upgrade from an old version via Software Updater, or run commands in terminal to install the game:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install supertuxkart

Uninstall SuperTuxKart:

To remove the PPA, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:stk/dev

To remove the racing game, run:

sudo apt remove --autoremove supertuxkart supertuxkart-data

In Howtos, News racing game

LaTex Editor TeXstudio 3.0.0 Released [How to Install]

Last updated: August 25, 2020

TeXstudio 3.0.0, an open-source cross-platform LaTex editor, was finally released after some alpha, beta, and rc tests.

According to the changelog, TeXstudio 3.0.0 features:

speed up document parsing, should result in faster document load times
spell checking is done asynchronously
custom verbatim/math env highlighting abandoned for a cwl based approach
better dark-mode support
qt4 support abandoned

How to get TeXstudio 3.0.0 in Ubuntu Linux:

The new release source code, as well as Windows, Mac OS, and Linux packages are available to download at:

Download TeXstudio

The official PPA also made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 19.x, 20, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunderme/texstudio

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

2. If an old version was installed in your system, remove the texstudio-doc, texstudio-l10n (if any) package before upgrading the software:

sudo apt-get remove texstudio-doc texstudio-l10n

3. After adding the PPA, you can either upgrade it via Software Updater:

or run commands in terminal to install or upgrade the software:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install texstudio

Uninstall:

To remove the LaTeX editor, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove texstudio

And go to Software & Updates -> Other Software to remove PPA repositories.

In News LaTeX editor

NVIDIA 450.66 Released with Matrox D1450 D1480 Support

Last updated: August 18, 2020

Nvidia Linux driver

NVIDIA for Linux driver 450.66 was released today as the latest long lived branch version.

NVIDIA 450.66 fixed triple buffering support of Vulkan X11 swapchains when applications are syncing to vblank.

It also added following GPUs support:

EIZO Quadro MED-XN31LP
EIZO Quadro MED-XN50LP
EIZO Quadro MED-XN51LP
EIZO Quadro MED-XN70
EIZO Quadro MED-XN71
EIZO Quadro MED-XN72
EIZO Quadro MED-XN90
EIZO Quadro MED-XN91
EIZO Quadro MED-XN92
Matrox D-Series D1450
Matrox D-Series D1480

How to Get Nvidia 450.66 in Ubuntu:

The “Graphics Drivers” team PPA is a reliable source that contains most recent Nvidia packages for Ubuntu. Check the PPA link before getting started as it’s not updated to 450.66 at the moment of writing.

1. To add the PPA, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

Type user password for sudo prompt (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then launch Additional Drivers utility, choose Nvidia 450 and apply changes.

Sorry I can’t see these drivers as I don’t have a discrete graphics card in my laptop :(

(Optional) To remove the PPA repository, either go to Software & Updates > Other Software, or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:graphics-drivers/ppa

In News nvidia

Kdenlive 20.08 Released with New Interface Layouts [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: August 17, 2020

Kdenlive, KDE Non-Linear Video Editor, released version 20.08 today with nifty new features, stability and interface improvements.

Kdenlive 20.08 release highlights:

New interface layouts.
Multiple audio stream support
A new cache management interface to maintain / control the size of cached and proxied files as well as backup-ed data.
Zoom bars in the Clip Monitor and Effects Panel
Some new keyboard shortcuts.
Performance boost to audio thumbnail generation as well as JPG image sequence playback
And miscellaneous improvements

See the video about the new Kdenlive video editor:

How to Install Kdenlive 20.08 in Ubuntu 20.04:

The software offers single executable Appimage which is available in files.kde.org.

For those prefer native .deb packages, the kdenlive team ppa has built the packages for Ubuntu 20.04 and derivatives.

1.) Open ‘terminal’ from your system application menu, and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable

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

2. ) If an old version of kdenlive was installed, upgrade it via Update Manager:

Or simply run command in terminal to install the video editor:

sudo apt install kdenlive

NOTE for non-KDE users, Kdenlive will be installed along with a large list of KDE libraries.

Uninstall:

To purge the PPA as well as downgrade Kdenlive package, run command in terminal:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable

To remove the PPA only, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:kdenlive/kdenlive-stable

And to remove Kdenlive, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove kdenlive kdenlive-data

In News KDE Video Editor, Kdenlive

Ubuntu 18.04.5 Released with Linux 5.4 Kernel

Last updated: August 14, 2020

Ubuntu 18.04

The Ubuntu team announced the release of Ubuntu 18.04.5 and Ubuntu 16.04.7 last night.

While Ubuntu 16.04.7 comes with only security package updates and other fixes, Ubuntu 18.04.5 includes an updated hardware enablement stack from Ubuntu 20.04.

With Linux Kernel 5.4, WiFi should work out-of-the-box in Ubuntu 18.04.5 with RTL8723DE (tests in my HP 246 G6 laptop).

Also users of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS will be offered an automatic upgrade to 18.04.5 via Update Manager.

Get Ubuntu 18.04.5 / Ubuntu 16.04.7

For Ubuntu 18.04.4 and previous, you’ll be automatically update to v18.04.5 after installing all system updates.

If you were updated from the original Ubuntu 18.04, and you never installed the hardware enablement stack, you may run command to get the latest kernel:

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-18.04

For ISO images, go to releases.ubuntu.com

In News Ubuntu 18.04

GNU Emacs 27.1 Released with Native JSON Parsing Support

Last updated: August 12, 2020

GNU Emacs 27.1 was released after almost one year of development. Here is what’s new and how to install it in Ubuntu.

Emacs 27.1 contains a wide variety of new features, including:

Built-in support for arbitrary-size integers
Text shaping with HarfBuzz
Native support for JSON parsing
Better support for Cairo drawing
Portable dumping used instead of unexec
Support for XDG conventions for init files
Additional early-init initialization file
Lexical-binding is used by default
Built-in support for tab bar and tab-line
Support for resizing and rotating of images without ImageMagick

How to Get Emacs 27.1 in Ubuntu:

Emacs is available Snap Store, v27.1 will be available very soon.

To install Emacs Snap, simply search for and install Emacs in Software utility.

Emacs flatpak package has been updated. It’s available to install in flathub repository.

To install Emacs flatpak, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following commands one by one:

sudo apt install flatpak

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

flatpak install flathub org.gnu.emacs

In News

Scorewriter MuseScore 3.5 Released with Chord Symbol Playback

Last updated: August 9, 2020

MuseScore, free music composition and notation software, released version 3.5 with long list of new features, bug fixes, and other improvements.

MuseScore 3.5 contains one of the most requested features: Chord Symbol Playback. The feature is disabled by default so far. You can enable it by going to Edit > Preferences > Note Input.

Other features in MuseScore 3.5 include:

Much improved support for voices to arts feature
Dragging the end handles of hairpins and other lines will change their actual durations.
Specify whether transposition should prefer flats or sharps in the key signature.
Improved tremolo layout, so you need to do a lot less manual adjustments
Support “beamed half note” style of minim-based two-note tremolo
Support the Orca screenreader on Linux.
See release note for details.

Download / Install MuseScore 3.4 in Ubuntu:

Single executable Appimage package is available for download:

MuseScore Appimage

Right-click on the Appimage, then go to Properties -> Permissions, check the box ‘Allow executing file as program’. Finally run the Appimage to launch MuseScore 3.5 and enjoy!

Also MuseScore flatpak package has been updated, and you can install it via following commands.

1.) Open terminal and run command to install flatpak framework in Ubuntu:

sudo apt install flatpak

2.) Add the flathub repository which hosts the flatpak package:

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

3.) Finally install MuseScore via command:

flatpak install flathub org.musescore.MuseScore

If an old version of this package installed, update it via command:

flatpak update org.musescore.MuseScore

(Optional) To remove MuseScore flatpak package, run command:

flatpak uninstall org.musescore.MuseScore

In News free scorewriter

The First Point Release of Ubuntu 20.04 Available to Download

Last updated: August 7, 2020

Ubuntu 20.04.1, the first point release for the LTS, was released. ISO images and upgrade from Ubuntu 18.04 are available.

This point release DO NOT contain updated Kernel and X stack. It contains various bug fixes to installation, upgrade, desktop, server and cloud, and Kernel and hardware support updates. See change summary.

Download / Upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04.1:

The desktop and sever ISO images are available for download at the link below:

Download Ubuntu 20.04.1

For Ubuntu 20.04, simply install regular updates via Software Updater will bring you to Ubuntu 20.04.1.

For Ubuntu 18.04, if you want to upgrade to Ubuntu 20.04, do:

Keep your system up-to-date by installing all system updates via Software Updater.
Restart your computer after installing updates if Software Updater asks.
Launch Software & Updates, select Download from “Main sever”.
Still in Software & Updates, under Updates, choose Notify me of a new Ubuntu version “For any new version”.
Finally launch Software Updater. It will prompt that Ubuntu 20.04 available to upgrade.

In News Ubuntu 20.04.1

Automatic CPU Speed & Power Optimizer Auto-cpufreq 1.2 Released

Last updated: August 7, 2020

Auto-cpufreq, automatic CPU speed & power optimizer for Linux to improve battery life, released version 1.2 with AMD support.

Different to cpufreq indicator and / or TLP, Auto-cpufreq automatically make “cpufreq” related changes based on active monitoring of laptop’s battery state, CPU usage and system load. Ultimately allowing you to improve battery life without making any compromises.