Mozilla Firefox web browser 84.0 now is available to download.
Firefox 84 is a big release. It comes with WebRender enabled by default in Linux Gnome on X for faster page rendering. For Wayland session, you can manually enable the feature in about:config page, search and enable gfx.webrender.all.
The new browser release also includes native support for Apple Silicon hardware, the M1 processor in new versions of the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, and Mac mini.
Ubuntu keeps publishing the latest Firefox packages through the main Ubuntu security & updates repositories. Just wait and Firefox 84.0 will be available to update for all current Ubuntu releases in next a few days.
If you can’t wait, Mozilla offers official Linux portable packages, in which you can run the executable file to launch Firefox. And you can download it from the link below:
KDE announced its December 2020 apps update including Kdenlive 20.12 two days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA.
Kdenlive 20.12 is a big release with many new features, stability improvements, various mix and transition fixes. While it’s not officially announced at the moment in the Kdenlive.org, here are some changes according to KDE’s announcement:
Allow moving subtitle through subtitle widget.
Add shortcut in/out/delete buttons to subtitle widget.
Add option to export subtitle file.
Add menu for subtitle clips.
Add subtitle import function
Add function to delete all subtitles from subtitle model.
Add timeline ruler menu item to create subtitle clip.
Add button in timeline toolbar to enable subtitle editing.
Add timeline tractor to Subtitle Model to attach subtitle filter.
Port to QtWebEngineWidgets.
Added multiple track deletion feature.
Qtcrop effect: make radius animated.
Add method to easily reload a custom effect.
Add comments feature in custom effects.
Make start and end position of subtitle editable.
Add GPU profiles provided by Constantin Aanicai.
Add MLT’s Pillar Echo effect.
Add signals and slot to subtitle model.
Add class to handle subtitles definition and comparison.
Add SSA Parser.
Add srt parser to model.
Rewrite audio thumbnails to only use FFmpeg’s data and optimize memory usage on creation.
Add avfilter eq filter, allows to adjust image brightness, contrast, saturation, gamma all in one effect.
Update Audio, Editing and Color layouts.
Add Effects layout.
Improve audiomixer layout.
How to Install Kdenlive 20.12 in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10:
The kdenlive team ppa has built the latest packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10, Linux Mint 20.
1.) Open ‘terminal’ from your system application menu, and run command to add the PPA:
The Python programming language 3.9.1 was released a few days ago as the first maintenance release of Python 3.9.
Python 3.9.1 comes with 282 changes since 3.9.0. It is the first version to support macOS 11 Big Sur. With Xcode 11 and later it is now possible to build “Universal 2” binaries which work on Apple Silicon. See the changelog for more.
How to Install Python 3.9.1 in Ubuntu:
1.) Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching for ‘terminal’ from system application launcher.
More tabs management, e.g., open a new tab in the background by default, clone tab in the background.
Add Widevine certificate keys to get better experience on Amazon Prime HD, Spotify, Disney+, Peacock TV, etc.
Share URL with QR code via a small button in the Address Field, when enabled.
Enable shortcuts in context menus
Single key shortcut improvements.
Make Google components optional: Hangouts, Cast, Cloud Print
Accept-language setting
Upgrade to Chromium 87.0.4280.88, and more.
How to Install Vivaldi 3.5 in Ubuntu:
The official Ubuntu .DEB package is available to download at the link below:
Grab the deb matches your OS, then install it via either Ubuntu Software install or Gdebi package installer. Or run command in terminal:
sudo apt install ./Downloads/vivaldi-stable*.deb
Vivaldi also has an official apt repository, with it you can install the browser and get future updates through Software Updater utility.
Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for terminal from application menu. When it opens, run following commands one by one:
HPLIP, HP developed printer and scanner drivers for Linux, released version 3.20.11 a few days ago.
Different to previous releases, HPLIP 3.20.11 does not include new HP printers support. It only adds support for Ubuntu 20.10 and Debian 10.6. And it fixed usb print issue for ipp supported printers for Ubutnu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10 and Linux Mint 20.
There are also known issues that ppd browsing is failing sometimes while doing hp-setup in Ubuntu 20.10. Basically few times it is failing to fetch ppd list from cups server. So you might face the same issue while testing. And hp-toolbox will not work for ippusbxd printers in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10 and LinuxMint 20.
And not sure if it’s only me or for everyone, while it works on Ubuntu 20.10, HPLIP 3.20.11 does not install on my Ubuntu 20.04 since it tries to install the old python-pyqt5 as dependency library.
How to Get HPLIP 3.20.1 in Ubuntu:
1. To install the software, download the package “hplip-3.20.11.run” from the link below:
2. Then open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command to give executable permission:
chmod +x ~/Downloads/hplip-3.20.11.run
3. Finally run command to start installing the driver:
./Downloads/hplip-3.20.11.run
Follow the terminal output and answer some questions. If everything goes OK, plug or re-plug your HP devices and enjoy!
Want to install Google Fonts in Ubuntu? The GTK+ Font Manager now adds support for Google Fonts integration.
Font Manager is a simple font management tool for GTK+ desktop environment. By releasing version 0.8.0, it adds support for downloading and managing Google Web Fonts, so that you can use Google Fonts for off-line use on your desktop.
Font Manager 0.8 changelog:
Fix FTBFS with Vala 0.50+
Add Google Fonts integration via G button on header bar.
Require WebKitGtk and libsoup
Allow saving compare lists contents
Add GNOME Shell search provider
Update Unicode data to 13.0
Update vendor data
How to Install Font Manager 0.8.0 in Ubuntu 20.04:
The software has an official staging PPA contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.10.
1. Open terminal from your system application launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:font-manager/staging
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then upgrade the font manager, if an old version was installed, via Software Updater. Or run command in terminal to install it:
sudo apt install font-manager
Uninstall Font Manager
To remove the PPA repository, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software tab, or run command in terminal:
New sorting option "stable" for intersect, setdiff, setxor, union, and unique functions.
Support for cookies to enable RESTful communication with the web service.
System web browser can be opened by web function.
Numerical integration has been improved.
New format command options: uppercase and lowercase (default).
Deprecated Qt4 support.
Completely rewritten of the legend function.
Updated the axis function and many other graphics backend improvements.
matlab compatibility improvements.
Remove deprecated functions and properties.
Add a list of new functions.
How to Get Octave in Ubuntu:
There’s no PPA repository contains the new release package at the moment of writing.
Before the official Snap package and the community maintained Flatpak package publish the new package, you can download & build GNU Octave from the source tarball:
Blender 2.91 was released on Wednesday as the fourth major release in 2020. It features the user experience improvements, powerful new booleans, better cloth sculpting with support for collisions, volume objects modifiers, improved animation tools and more.
Changes in Blender 2.91 include:
Introduce collision support for the sculpt cloth brush and filter.
New Sculpt Trim tool.
Curve and text objects now support for custom bevel profiles
New modifier for volume objects allows to dynamically convert them into a mesh, ideal for stylized fluids.
Convert any mesh into a volume and combine it with the new Volume Displace modifier.
Convert images into Grease Pencil objects with just one click!
New Holdout option in materials allows to paint holes in strokes and filled areas.
Property search, Fuzzy search support.
Colors, drag & drop supports in outliner.
Animation curves can now become much snappier.
Once click to convert proxy objects into overrides.
And much more other changes, see the release note.
How to Install Blender 2.91 in Ubuntu:
Blender offers official Ubuntu binary via Snap package, which can be installed directly from Ubuntu Software.
Blender also available as universal Flatpak package, which can be installed from flathub.org repository.
For those prefer installing .deb package via apt, there’s a well trusted Ubuntu PPA available though it’s not updated to v2.91 at the moment of writing.
WEBUI: Fix the issue that IPv6 address can’t be banned.
Update dutch.nsi for Windows.
Update .desktop shortcut file translations for Linux.
And various bug-fixes.
How to Install qBittorrent via PPA:
The official qBittorrent PPA has built the new release packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and derivatives.
1. To add the PPA, open terminal by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for “Terminal” from application menu. When it opens, run command:
