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Calibre E-book App 5.0 Released with Highlighting & Dark Mode

Last updated: October 1, 2020

Calibre, cross-platform open-source comprehensive e-book software, released version 5.0 with some great new features.

Calibre 5.0 features highlighting in the E-book viewer. Simply select text and click the Highlight selection button. It can be colors, underlines, strikethrough, etc. and has added notes. All highlights can be both stored in EPUB files and centrally in the Calibre library.

The new release also feature Dark mode support. On Windows and Mac, it is activated automatically based on OS settings. In Ubuntu Linux, launch the software in dark mode via CALIBRE_USE_DARK_PALETTE=1 environment variable.
Other features in the release include:

  • Python 3 port. Some third-party plugins will no longer work, until they are also ported to Python 3.
  • Support both vertical and right-to-left text.
  • Enhanced search in the E-book viewer
  • Support bookmarking in content server’s in-browser viewer

How to Install Calibre 5.0 in Ubuntu Linux:

Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to download & install the official installer script:

sudo -v && wget -nv -O- https://download.calibre-ebook.com/linux-installer.sh | sudo sh /dev/stdin

Once installed, open it from system application launcher and enjoy!

Enable Calibre Dark Mode in Ubuntu:

To temporarily open the e-book reader in dark mode, simply run command:

export CALIBRE_USE_DARK_PALETTE=1 && calibre

To make it permanent, run command to edit the .desktop file and do:

  • add env CALIBRE_USE_DARK_PALETTE=1 at the beginning of the values of “TryExec” and “Exec”.
  • remove --detach flag, or the shortcut icon will disappear.

How to Remove Calibre E-book software in Linux:

To remove the software, open terminal and run command:

sudo calibre-uninstall

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Mozilla Firefox 81 Released with New Theme, Media Control via Keyboard

Last updated: September 23, 2020

Mozilla Firefox 81.0 was released a day ago with new features and security fixes.

Firefox 81.0 release highlights:

  • Pause and play audio or video in Firefox from your keyboard or headset
  • New Alpenglow theme
  • Save, manage, and auto-fill credit card information for users in US and Canada.
  • AcroForm support allows to fill in, print, and save supported PDF forms
  • The PDF viewer got a new fresh look.
  • Pocket recommendations for Austria, Belgium and Switzerland users with German version.
  • Important fixes to HTML5 audio/video controls
  • Extended file types support.
  • Picture-in-Picture got new iconography.
  • Security fixes.

How to install Firefox 81 in Ubuntu:

The latest packages will be made into security & updates repositories for all current Ubuntu releases in a few days.

At that time, you can upgrade Firefox through the Software Updater utility:

If you can’t wait, download the Linux package from mozilla website.

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Flameshot Screenshot Tool 0.8.0 Released with Counter Tool

Last updated: September 20, 2020

Flameshot, powerful yet simple to use screenshot tool, released version 0.8.0 with new editing tools, improvements, and many fixes.

Flameshot 0.8.0 added the popular requested circle counter tool. It added a button in left-side of screen to open the sidebar, which was previously only accessible by hitting Space on keyboard.

The blur tool has been replaced by pixelate tool. If the “thickness” is 0 or 1, the old blur behavior is preserved. If the thickness is increased past 1 the image will pixelate by the thickness.

Other changes include:

  • Allow enter key to copy image to clipboard
  • Add support for saving as JPG and BMP files.
  • Add line thickness to side panel
  • Add option to close after capture (buggy at the moment.)
  • Add option to auto copy URL after upload
  • Fix capture after pressing ctrl + S during textarea input
  • Add more translations.
  • Add Snap and Flatpak packages

How to Install Flameshot 0.8.0 in Ubuntu 20.04 / 18.04:

Go to the release page at the link below, scroll down, and select download an installer package:

For Ubuntu 20.04, grab the “flameshot_ubuntu_0.8.0-1_amd64.deb” package. Then install it by either GDebi, or running command in terminal:

cd ~/Downloads && sudo apt install ./flameshot_ubuntu_0.8.0-1_amd64.deb

For older Ubuntu releases, grab the .Appimage – single executable to launch the screenshot tool, .snap or .flatpak – universal Linux packages run in sandbox.

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Celluloid (formerly GNOME MPV) 0.20 Released! How to Install

Last updated: September 19, 2020

Celluloid, formerly Gnome MPV, released version 0.20 a few hours ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04 via PPA.

Celluloid is a simple GTK+ frontend for mpv media player. The latest 0.20 release features:

  • Make it possible to activate context menu when the playlist is empty.
  • Prevent constant resizing of the seek bar due to timestamp label resizing as its value changes.
  • Only show a single error dialog when a large number of errors occurs in rapid succession.
  • Add menu item for opening folders.
  • Adjust position of UI elements of modal dialogs in non-CSD mode to be more consistent with CSD mode.
  • Add support for loading external video tracks.
  • Make playlist shuffle toggleable.
  • Make arrow key bindings work with arrow keys on numpad.

How to Install Celluloid 0.20 in Ubuntu 20.04:

Celluloid media player is available to install via Flatpak package in Flathub repository.

For those prefer apt repository, the formerly Gnome MPV PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 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:xuzhen666/gnome-mpv

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

2.) Then install the media player via command:

sudo apt install celluloid

For Ubuntu derivatives, you may need to run sudo apt update to refresh package cache first.

Uninstall Celluloid:

To remove the media player, open terminal and run command:

sudo apt remove celluloid

And remove the PPA repository via command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:xuzhen666/gnome-mpv
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Opera 71 Released with Tab & History Searching Improvements

Last updated: September 16, 2020

Opera web browser 71 was released one day ago. The new version features more options for tab searching and history searching, custom shortcuts for Messengers & Workspaces.

Opera 71 release highlights:

  • Add Show more (Show less) button in ‘Search in tabs’ result.
  • Add date filtering to the history searching options.
  • Add Delete History Below button to delete history items you’ve found.
  • Ability to create your own keyboard shortcut for each messenger or workspace.
  • Updated to Chromium 85, see changelog for more.

How to Install Opera 71 in Ubuntu:

Snap Package:

The Opera team offers official snap package (runs in sandbox), available to install directly from Ubuntu Software:

Deb package:

Also the native Ubuntu .deb package is available for downloading at the link below:

Grab the .deb package, and double-click to install it.

You may also add the official apt repository via following steps to receive future software updates.

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the opera repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://deb.opera.com/opera-stable/ stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera.list'

2. Get the key:

wget -O - http://deb.opera.com/archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

Finally either install Opera via following command or upgrade the browser via Software Updater:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install opera-stable

Uninstall:

For the Opera snap package, simply remove it from Ubuntu Software.

For the Opera apt repository, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

To remove traditional opera package, either use your system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove opera-stable
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Battle for Wesnoth 1.14.14 Released with Add-on Improvements

Last updated: September 13, 2020

Battle for Wesnoth 1.14.14 was released one day ago as the latest maintenance release for the turn-based strategy game.

In the new release, translations for add-on titles and descriptions now are used in Add-on client when available, and provided via Add-on server at upload time in the .pbl.

Other changes in Wesnoth 1.14.14 include:

  • Translation updates.
  • 5p – The Wilderlands: Player 5’s units are sorted when cycling through them with the »n« key.
  • Fixed disabled buttons using the pressed highlight color.
  • Made wmllint recognize [remove_time_area] in order to avoid spurious warnings about unit ids.
  • Files created by the scenario editor include a boilerplate warning about hand-editing them.

How to Install Wesnoth 1.14.14 in Ubuntu:

The latest Wesnoth package is available as Flatpak package for Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, and most other Linux desktops.

1.) If you’re first time installing a Flatpak package in Ubuntu, setup your system by running commands in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

  • Install flatpak framework via command: 
    sudo apt install flatpak

  • Add Flathub repository via command: 
    flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

2.) Then you can install Battle for Wesnoth flatpak package by running command:

flatpak install flathub org.wesnoth.Wesnoth

To update the package, simply run flatpak update org.wesnoth.Wesnoth command.

Uninstall Wesnoth:

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

flatpak uninstall org.wesnoth.Wesnoth
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Wine 5.17 Released with Initial NDIS Network Driver

Last updated: September 12, 2020

Wine 5.17, a new development release of the compatibility layer allows to run Windows apps on Linux and Mac OS, was released with new features and various bug-fixes.

Wine 5.17 release highlights:

  • ADVAPI32 library converted to PE.
  • Beginnings of an NDIS network driver.
  • Still more restructuration of the console support.
  • Various bug fixes.

How to Install Wine 5.17 in Ubuntu:

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 haven’t already):

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:

  • bionic for Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 19.x
  • xenial for Ubuntu 16.04

4.) Add PPA for the required libfaudio0 library:

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

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

5.) Finally install Wine 5.17 via command:

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

NOTE: installing the latest development release will automatically remove the stable version (if installed).

And for the unmet dependencies issue installing 32-bit libraries, try running command:

sudo apt-get install libgnutls30:i386 libldap-2.4-2:i386 libgpg-error0:i386 libxml2:i386 libasound2-plugins:i386 libsdl2-2.0-0:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libdbus-1-3:i386 libsqlite3-0:i386

(Optional) After successfully installed Wine 5.17, you may remove the PPAs by launching Software & Updates utility and navigating to Other Software tab.

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KeePass 2.46 Released with TLS 1.3 Support on .NET 4.8+

Last updated: January 10, 2021

KeePass Password Safe 2.46 was released a day ago with new features, improvements and bug-fixes.

KeePass 2.46 release highlights include:

  • Secure connections (e.g. for WebDAV) now support TLS 1.3, when running on .NET 4.8 +.
  • Add keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+*, Ctrl+/ for the ‘Expand Recursively’, ‘Collapse Recursively’ group command.
  • The {VKEY ...} command now supports some flags
  • Add option to protect KeePass windows against certain screen capture operations.
  • Added command line parameter ‘-wa-enable:’ for enabling specific Mono workarounds.
  • With the KPUInput plugin on Wayland, it can auto-type the default sequence and manually selected sequences of the currently selected entry.
  • Generic CSV Importer improvements, and bug-fixes.

How to Install KeePass 2.46 in Ubuntu:

Julian Taylor’s PPA maintains KeePass2 packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 20.04.

NOTE the PPA is not updated for v2.46 at the moment of writing, check the PPA link before getting started.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “Terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/keepass2

Type user password (no visual feedback due to security reason) when it asks and hit Enter.

2. Then upgrade KeePass password safe via Software Updater if you have a previous version installed:

Or run commands to install / upgrade the software:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install keepass2

Uninstall:

The PPA repository can be removed via Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab. To remove KeePass password safe, simply run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove keepass2
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digiKam 7.1.0 Released with Better Canon CR3 Metadata Support

Last updated: September 9, 2020

digiKam photo management software 7.1.0 was released a few days ago with some new features and plenty of bug-fixes.

digiKam 7.1.0 release highlights include:

  • Better Canon CR3 metadata support.
  • New Batch Queue Manager plugin to fix Hot Pixels automatically.
  • New Batch Queue Manager plugin to apply texture over images.
  • Improve the IPTC compatibility with UTF-8 characters encoding.

Download / Install digiKam:

Non-install single executable .appimage package is available in the download page.

digiKam is also available as Flatpak package, you can get it either from flathub repository, or by running following commands one by one in Ubuntu:

1. Open terminal from system application launcher. When it opens, run command to install flatpak framework:

sudo apt install flatpak

2. Then add Flathub repository which hosts a large list of flatpak packages:

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

3. Finally run command to install digiKam flatpak package:

flatpak install flathub org.kde.digikam

Already installed the flatpak package? You may update the application via:

flatpak update org.kde.digikam

For any reason, you can remove the package via command:

flatpak uninstall org.kde.digikam
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GTK+ Twitter App Cawbird 1.2.0 Released (PPA)

Last updated: September 8, 2020

Cawbird, an open-source fork of Corebird Twitter client, released version 1.2.0 a few days ago with many improvements and bug-fixes.

Cawbird 1.2.0 release highlights include:

  • Resolved major accessibility issue with timelines.
  • Added ability to add and read descriptions on images
  • App window can be reduced to a narrower width and has a “responsive” layout for tweets
  • Improved thumbnail and image loading to reduce resource usage.
  • Image gallery loop back.
  • Made “Replying to” on Tweet info page list all users.
  • Reworked @-mention completion so it works with multilingual text.
  • And various bug-fixes.

How to Install Cawbird 1.2.0 in Ubuntu:

The software developer maintains Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, as well as other Linux packages via the repository at the link below:

Select Ubuntu, then click ‘Grab binary packages directly‘ and download the .deb package for your system.

Finally install the .deb via Gdebi package installer (available in Ubuntu Software) and enjoy!

You can also add the repository to receive future updates via Software Updater (Update Manager), by running following commands one by one in terminal:

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/IBBoard:/cawbird/xUbuntu_20.04/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:IBBoard:cawbird.list

curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:IBBoard:cawbird/xUbuntu_20.04/Release.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home:IBBoard:cawbird.gpg > /dev/null

sudo apt update

sudo apt install cawbird

For Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint 19.x, replace xUbuntu_20.04 in the commands with xUbuntu_18.04.

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