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Firefox 73 Released with Global Zoom Level Setting

Last updated: February 11, 2020

Mozilla Firefox 73.0 was released today. The new release features new global zoom level setting and High Contrast Mode improvement.

While per-site zoom is still available, Firefox 73.0 adds a new global default zoom level setting, which is available in about:preferences under ‘Language and Appearance’.

For user with low vision rely on Windows’ High Contrast Mode, without disabling background images websites in High Contrast Mode are now more readable.

Firefox 73.0 release highlights:

New global zoom level setting.
High Contrast Mode improvement.
Audio playback improvement
WebRender will roll out to laptops with Nvidia with drives newer than 432.00 and smaller than 1920X1200 screen resolution.
Various security fixes.

Download / Install Firefox in Ubuntu:

While Ubuntu 20.04 already contained the new Firefox package in the main repository, Firefox 73.0 will be available to upgrade via Software Updater utility in a few days for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 19.10. Check HERE.

Or you can install the Firefox 72 Snap package (runs in sandbox) simply from Ubuntu Software. It can be installed alongside the pre-installed Firefox, and will be automatically update to the latest.

Also Mozilla Firefox website offers non-install (extract and run the executable) tarball for all Linux desktop.

In News Firefox

OpenShot 2.5 Released with Hardware Encoding/Decoding Support

Last updated: February 15, 2020

OpenShot Video Editor

OpenShot video editor 2.5.0 was released a few days ago with exciting new features hardware acceleration support.

OpenShot 2.5.0 brings experimental support for hardware acceleration. You will see some new options available if you have a supported encoder/decoder. This can result in a huge performance improvement on some systems.

It has also completely rewritten the keyframe system to deliver real-time interpolated values, and no longer cache the entire value set.

Other changes in openshot 2.5.0 include:

Export and Import of EDL and XML.
Improved Thumbnail generation via a local HTTP server
Blender 2.8+ support
Ability to recover previous saves
many fixes and improvements to SVG support.
Improved preview window resizing in OpenShot
Disable metrics until opt-in
Export, built, and Cross-platform improvements.

How to Install OpenShot 2.5.0 in Ubuntu:

OpenShot has an official PPA repository that contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10 ~~though it’s not updated at the moment for the new release~~.

1.) You can add the PPA repository by running command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T), so to receive future software updates via Software Updater utility.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa

2.) Then install the video editor via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install openshot-qt

Alternatively you may simply download the 64-bit .appimage file from OpenShot website:

OpenShot Downloads Page

Right-click on the .appimage and make it executable in the file ‘Properties > Permissions’. And finally run the .appimage to launch Openshot video editor 2.5.0.

In Howtos, News OpenShot Video Editor

RawTherapee 5.8 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 19.10

Last updated: February 5, 2020

RawTherapee

RawTherapee 5.8, cross-platform raw photo processing system, was released a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Linux Mint 19.x.

RawTherapee 5.8 release highlights:

New Capture Sharpening tool to automatically recover detail lost to lens blur.
CR3 support: image data is decoded, though metadata is not supported yet.
Improvements of various camera models
Speedups and optimizations to various tools
Better memory management and various bug fixes.

Download / Install RawTherapee 5.8 in Ubuntu:

The official Linux Appimage, single executable to launch the software (non-install), is available for download in the previous link.

For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Linux Mint 19.x, you can also install RawTherapee 5.8 via this unofficial PPA.

1. Open terminal by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for “Terminal” from application menu. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway

Type user password (no asterisk feedback due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter to add the PPA.

2. After that, upgrade the software via Software Updater if a previous version was installed:

or run commands one by one in terminal to install RawTherapee:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install rawtherapee

How to Remove:

To uninstall the free raw developer, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove rawtherapee

And remove the PPA via Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab, by removing the line says “http://ppa.launchpad.net/dhor/myway/ubuntu”.

In Howtos, News RAW processor

CopyQ Clipboard Manager 3.10 Released (How to Install)

Last updated: February 3, 2020

CopyQ clipboard editor released version 3.10.0 a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.10.

CopyQ is a free open-source clipboard editor with editing and scripting features. It monitors system clipboard and saves its content in customized tabs. Saved clipboard can be later copied and pasted directly into any application.

Changes in CopyQ 3.10.0 include:

Use environment variable COPYQ_DEFAULT_ICON=1 to show the original
application icon.
Avoid updating menu unnecessarily
Require at least Qt 5.5
Use non-native color and font dialogs which fixes showing these in Gnome/Gtk
Fix GUI with fractional scaling
Improve clipboard/selection synchronization
Avoid reading clipboard in parallel in the monitor process

How to Install Copyq 3.10.0 in Ubuntu:

The official PPA repository has made the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, Ubuntu 19.10, and Linux Mint 18.x, 19.x.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:hluk/copyq

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

2. Then install CopyQ either via Synaptic package manager or by running commands in terminal:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install copyq

Once installed, start the clipboard manager from application menu and you’ll see the icon in system tray area.

Uninstall:

To remove the software, either use Synaptic package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove copyq

To remove PPA repositories, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

In Howtos, News clipboard manager, CopyQ

How to Install TLP (Battery Saving Tool) in Ubuntu

Last updated: April 24, 2024

TLP is a free and open-source tool aims to save laptop battery life for Linux laptops. It’s a feature-rich command line utility for saving battery power without the need to dig deeper into technical details

It comes with a default configuration already optimized for battery life, so you may just install and forget it. Nevertheless TLP is highly customizable to fulfill your specific requirements.

TLP features include:

Kernel laptop mode and dirty buffer timeouts
AMD/Intel CPU scaling driver operation mode
Processor frequency scaling and turbo boost
Intel CPU max/min P-state limits to control power dissipation
AMD/Intel CPU energy/performance policies (EPP) and dynamic boost
Intel GPU frequency limits
AMD GPU power management
Enable/disable integrated bluetooth, Wi-Fi and WWAN devices
And much more.

How to Install TLP in Ubuntu:

The software has an official PPA repository so far supports for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.10, and Ubuntu 24.04.

1.) Open terminal either from application launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp

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

2.) If you already installed an old version, open Software Updater and upgrade the package.

This will also upgrade TLP from the beta release to the latest stable.

Or run command in terminal to install it for the first time:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install tlp

After installation, just leave it running silently in the background and you’re done.

For advanced users, you may edit the config file /etc/tlp.conf and change the settings according to your need:

sudo gedit /etc/tlp.conf

For Ubuntu 23.10, and Ubuntu 24.04, replace gedit with gnome-text-editor. For non-default desktop environments, use your own text editor, or use nano that works for all. For how to configure the file, see the official documentation.

Uninstall TLP:

You can run command in terminal to purge the PPA which also downgrade TLP to the stable version available in Ubuntu main repository:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:linrunner/tlp

To completely remove the TLP power management tool, run command:

sudo apt remove tlp tlp-rdw

In Howtos, News battery saving, TLP

LibreOffice Office Suite 6.4 Released [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: January 29, 2020

LibreOffice

LibreOffice, Ubuntu pre-installed office suite, released version 6.4 today as the latest “fresh” version.

LibreOffice 6.4.0 so far is recommended for technology enthusiasts, which contains new features and program enhancements.

LibreOffice 6.4 release highlights include:

Option to mark comments as resolved in Writer
Possible to comment on Writer images and charts
btLr text direction in Writer.
Allow-overlap shape property in Writer
Export Calc files to PDF with all pages on a sheet as one page in the PDF.
Add ‘Remove Hyperlink’ to context menu in Impress
Add ‘Consolidate Text’ which combines multiple selected textboxes into one
Access2Base callable from Python
Doc, DocX, PPT, PPTX, Excel 2003 XML import/export improvements.
Draw MIME type icon overlay on thumbnails at the start center
Add new ‘Table’ sidebar panel to Writer

How to Install the Latest LibreOffice in Ubuntu:

Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run following commands one by one.

1.) Add LibreOffice Fresh PPA. It contains v6.3.4 at the moment, and v6.4 packages will be available in a few days.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

For enterprises, the mature “still” version (v6.3 so far) of LibreOffice is recommended. See HERE.

2.) Once the official PPA updated with the new packages, you’re able to upgrade the office suite through the Software Updater utility:

Uninstall:

You can either remove the LibreOffice PPA via Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab,

or purge the PPA which also downgrade LibreOffice to the default pre-installed version via command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:libreoffice/ppa

In Howtos, News LibreOffice

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.5 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Linux Kernel 5.5 was announced two days ago. Linus Torvalds wrote on lkml.org:

“So this last week was pretty quiet, and while we had a late network update with some (mainly iwl wireless) network driver and netfilter module loading fixes, David didn’t think that warranted another -rc. And outside of that, it’s really been very quiet indeed – there’s a panfrost driver update too, but again it didn’t really seem to make sense to delay the final release by another week.

…”

Kernel 5.5 release highlights:

Support for the Broadcom BCM2711 SoC (Raspberry Pi 4).
New Logitech driver for G15 and G510 keyboard.
KVM support for IBM POWER secure guests/VMs.
Initial Intel Jasper Lake support.
Intel 5-level paging support is enabled by default
AMD OverDrive overclocking for Navi GPUs.
and much more other changes.

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.5 in Ubuntu:

The mainline kernels do not include any Ubuntu-provided drivers or patches. They are not supported and are not appropriate for production use

The mainline kernel packages for Linux 5.5 are available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 5.5

Depends on your OS type, download and install the packages in turns:

linux-headers-5.5.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
linux-headers-5.5.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
linux-modules-5.5.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
linux-image-xxx-5.5.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio), amd64 for 64bit system, or armhf, arm64, etc for other OS types.

Alternatively you can download and install the kernel binaries via terminal commands ( open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T):

For 64-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.5/linux-headers-5.5.0-050500_5.5.0-050500.202001262030_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.5/linux-headers-5.5.0-050500-generic_5.5.0-050500.202001262030_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.5/linux-image-unsigned-5.5.0-050500-generic_5.5.0-050500.202001262030_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.5/linux-modules-5.5.0-050500-lowlatency_5.5.0-050500.202001262030_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Note that there’s no Kernel 5.5 packages for 32-bit system.

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.5:

Restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in boot menu ‘Grub2 -> Advanced Option for Ubuntu’. Then run command to remove Linux Kernel 5.5:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-unsigned-5.5.0-050500-generic

In Howtos, News kernel, Linux Kernel

MPV 0.32 Released with RAR5 Support & Initial Bash Completion

Last updated: January 27, 2020

MPV media player logo

MPV media player released version 0.32.0 today with some new features and various bug-fixes.

MPV 0.32.0 features RAR5 support and initial implementation of bash completion. Other changes include:

add support for forcing the dedicated GPU for rendering

add pinch to resize window gesture

support minimizing/maximizing using osc window controls

add a playlist-unshuffle command

add osd-dimensions property

new PLAYONLY and PAUSEONLY keycodes

various fixes for wayland

usability improvements for osc window controls

To install the latest MPV 0.32.0 in Ubuntu, besides building from the source, you may keep an eye on the Doug McMahon’s PPA, which will built the new release packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Mint 19.x.

Just open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following command to add the PPA. And new MPV packages will be available in Software Updater after the maintainer updating the PPA.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/mpv-tests

Type user password (Ctrl+Alt+T) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

To remove the PPA, either open Software & Updates and remove the repository line from ‘Other Software’ tab,

or run previous command with --remove flag:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:mc3man/mpv-tests

In News mpv

Music Notation Software MuseScore 3.4 Released!

Last updated: January 25, 2020

Music notation software MuseScore 3.4 was released a day ago with new features, UX improvements, and dozens of bug fixes.

MuseScore 3.4 release highlights:

Single click to apply palette elements if there is a selection in the score
Allow dragging notes horizontally
Slurs, hairpins and other elements can be edited after single click
Add middle adjustment handle for beams, for moving whole beam vertically
Introduce section break properties, bend properties, tremolo bar properties in the Inspector
Allow access to several properties window in the Inspector
Name of the newly created custom palette can be specified
Accessibility: improve speech for elements with spanners

Download / Install MuseScore 3.4 in Ubuntu:

64-bit Appimage has been updated, 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 3.4 and enjoy!

MuseScore also available as Snap (runs in sandbox), which can be installed directly from Ubuntu Software, though it’s still v3.3.4 at the moment.

Also the flathub repository contains MuseScore flatpak package, check the package version in the page bottom

In Howtos, News musescore 3

Kid3 Audio Tagger 3.8.2 Released with Crash Fix for M4A Files

Last updated: January 24, 2020

Kid3 audio tag editor released version 3.8.2 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 19.10.

Kid3 3.8.2 is a small but important release for those who have a lot of M4A files. The release fixes a crash that happens when frames are removed from M4A files. Additionally it brings new Catalan, Portuguese and Ukrainian translations.

How to Install Kid3 3.8.2 in Ubuntu:

The official Kid3 PPA has built the packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and, Ubuntu 19.10.

1. Open terminal either from application launcher or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ufleisch/kid3

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

2. If an old version was installed, upgrade Kid3 using Software Updater:

upgrade kid3 via software updater

or run commands one by one in terminal to install or upgrade to the latest tag editor:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install kid3-qt

You may replace kid3-qt with kid3 in the code for KDE integration, or with kid3-cli for the command-line interface

Uninstall

To remove the PPA repository, either open Software & Updates -> Other Software tab, or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ufleisch/kid3

To remove the audio tag editor, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove kid3 kid3-*

In Howtos, News audio editor, kid3