Archives For November 30, 1999

Ubuntu 18.04

The beta release of Ubuntu 19.10, codename “Eoan Ermine“, was announced today.

This beta includes images for not only the Ubuntu Desktop, Server, and Cloud products, but also the Kubuntu, Lubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, UbuntuKylin, Ubuntu MATE, Ubuntu Studio, and Xubuntu flavors.

Ubuntu 19.10 includes Linux Kernel 5.3, Gnome 3.34, and GCC 9.2 compiler, Python 3.7.3 by default, and new light Yaru GTK theme.

To upgrade to Ubuntu 19.10 Beta from Ubuntu 19.04:

Ubuntu 19.04 users can upgrade to Ubuntu 19.10 Beta by following this community guide.

By installing regular updates, Ubuntu 19.10 beta will be automatically updated to Ubuntu 19.10 final.

To download the iso image:

Ubuntu 19.10 iso images are available to download at the link below:

For Kubuntu, Lubuntu, and other flavors, check the links in the official announcement.

Peek screen recorder 1.4.0 was released today with stability fixes and some use interface improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, and derivatives.

Peek is a handy desktop screen recorder with an easy to use interface. It supports recording to GIF, APNG, Webm, and MP4, and so far works on X11 or inside a GNOME Shell Wayland session using XWayland.

Peek 1.4.0 release highlights:

  • Move app menu into application window
  • New app icon
  • Set window type hint to UTILITY
  • Show shortcut hint in main window
  • Added Recorder, Video and AudioVideo to desktop files categories
  • Build fixes and updated translations.

How to Install Peek 1.4.0 in Ubuntu:

Note the Peek PPA will not update for Ubuntu 16.04 any more, since the 1.4.0 release required GTK >=3.20.

1.) Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for “Terminal” from application menu. When it opens, run commands to add the Peek PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:peek-developers/stable

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

2.) Then check updates and install peek via 2 commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install peek

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb package for your system from PPA packages page.

Uninstall:

To remove the screen recorder, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove peek

You can also remove the PPA repository by going to Application menu -> Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.

Vivaldi web browser released the new stable version 2.8 today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.

Vivaldi 2.8 features sync support for Android release, and also following changes:

  • Add keyboard navigation to bookmark menu bar
  • Bookmark manager columns width should be resizable
  • Toggle images via keyboard: Ctrl+Alt+Shift+I / ⌥⌘I
  • Bookmark menu supports for hovering across horizontal menu or the bookmarks bar
  • Various bug-fixes range over bookmark, history, Windows and mac OS platform, and more.

Download / Install Vivaldi in Ubuntu:

The official Ubuntu .DEB packages are available for download at the link below:

Grab the deb matches your OS, then install it via Ubuntu Software or Gdebi package manager. Or run command in terminal:

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/vivaldi-stable_2.8*.deb

For those who want to receive future Vivaldi updates via Software Updater utility, the browser has an official apt repository for Ubuntu / Debian based system.

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:

1. Download and install the repository keyring:

wget -qO- https://repo.vivaldi.com/archive/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -

Typer user password when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. Add Vivaldi repository via command:

sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://repo.vivaldi.com/archive/deb/ stable main'

3. Finally check updates and install the web browser via command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install vivaldi-stable

Or upgrade from an old version via Software Updater utility.

(Optional): To remove Vivaldi apt repository from you system, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

Linux Kernel 5.3 was released yesterday. Linus Torvalds announced that:

So we’ve had a fairly quiet last week, but I think it was good that we ended up having that extra week and the final rc8.

Even if the reason for that extra week was my travel schedule rather than any pending issues, we ended up having a few good fixes come in, including some for some bad btrfs behavior. Yeah, there’s some unnecessary noise in there too (like the speling fixes), but we also had several last-minute reverts for things that caused issues.

One _particularly_ last-minute revert is the top-most commit (ignoring the version change itself) done just before the release, and while it’s very annoying, it’s perhaps also instructive.

Linux 5.3 kernel brings many exciting changes including initial Intel HDR display support, Intel Speed Select support, Radeon RX 5700 Navi series support, better Intel Icelake Gen 11 graphics support, ACRN guest hypervisor support.

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.3 in Ubuntu:

The mainline kernel packages for Linux 5.3 are available for download at the link below:

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

  1. linux-headers-5.3.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-5.3.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
  3. linux-modules-5.3.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
  4. linux-image-xxx-5.3.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio), amd64 for 64bit system, i386 for 32bit 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/v5.3/linux-headers-5.3.0-050300_5.3.0-050300.201909152230_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.3/linux-headers-5.3.0-050300-generic_5.3.0-050300.201909152230_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.3/linux-image-unsigned-5.3.0-050300-generic_5.3.0-050300.201909152230_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.3/linux-modules-5.3.0-050300-generic_5.3.0-050300.201909152230_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

for 32-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.3/linux-headers-5.3.0-050300_5.3.0-050300.201909152230_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.3/linux-headers-5.3.0-050300-generic_5.3.0-050300.201909152230_i386.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.3/linux-image-5.3.0-050300-generic_5.3.0-050300.201909152230_i386.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.3/linux-modules-5.3.0-050300-generic_5.3.0-050300.201909152230_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.3:

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 5.3:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-5.3.0-050300-generic linux-image-unsigned-5.3.0-050300-generic

MusicBrainz Picard, a cross-platform music tagger, released version 2.2 a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04.

MusicBrainz Picard is a free and open-source software application for identifying, tagging, and organising digital audio recordings. It was developed by the MetaBrainz Foundation, a non-profit company that also operates the MusicBrainz database.

The latest Picard 2.2 was released with following new features:

  • Post save plugins
  • Built-in media player (beta feature)
  • Support for ReplayGain 2.0 tags
  • Replace genre / folksonomy tag blacklist with more comprehensive list
  • Replace hardcoded colors by user-configurable ones
  • Add plugin hook for file-added-to-a-track event, file-removed-from-a-track event, album-removed event, and file loaded event
  • Provide $is_video() / $is_audio scripting functions
  • Tons of bug-fixes, and many improvements.

How to Install Picard in Ubuntu:

Picard is available as Snap (runs in sandbox, version 2.2 is not ready at the moment), which can be directly installed from Ubuntu Software in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.

MusicBrainz stable PPA also contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Linux Mint 19.x, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:musicbrainz-developers/stable

Type user password when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. After that, either upgrade from an existing version via Software Updater:

or simply run commands one by one to install the music tagger:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install picard

Gscan2pdf, GTK tool to produce PDF / DjVu from scanned document, released version 2.5.6 with stability improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu.

Gscan2pdf 2.5.6 release highlights according to the changelog:

  • Prevent Negate from changing the alpha channel.
  • Avoid image corruption with colour images when applying WhiteThreshold after BlackThreshold.
  • Extended edit profile functionality in scan dialog to current scan options, when no profile selected.
  • Don’t try to compress log file if it wasn’t created.
  • Don’t blacklist empty device name
  • Improve layout of multiple message dialog.
  • Don’t use tiff2pdf to create temporary PDF to check for pdftk.
  • Fix --import option.
  • Fix updating extended page numbering on scan dialog after changing document
  • Fix printing.
  • Set “wait” cursor while scan options are being loaded and “progress” cursor while scanning.
  • Use gtk-3 cursors for ImageView widget
  • Ghost scan button while scan options are being loaded and scanning.
  • Fix bug storing responses from multiple message window when no responses had been stored before.

How to Install gscan2pdf 2.5.6 in Ubuntu:

The official Ubuntu PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04 and their derivatives.

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:

For the first time, you can either install it via Synaptic Package Manager or by running following commands in terminal:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get 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.

Free raw image processing software RawTherapee 5.7 was released a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, and derivatives.

RawTherapee 5.7 release highlights:

  • Film Negative tool
  • Support for reading “rating” tags from Exif and XMP
  • Updated CMake, GTK+, and other library requirements
  • Hundreds of bug fixes, speed optimizations and raw format support improvements.

Download / Install RawTherapee 5.7 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 19.04, Linux Mint 19.x, you can also install RawTherapee 5.7 via this unofficial PPA.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by 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”.

KeePass password manager 2.43 was released today with user interface and integration enhancements. All users of version 2.x are recommended to upgrade to the new 2.43 release.

Changes in KeePass 2.43 include:

  • Added option ‘Remember password hiding setting in the main window’
  • Added yellow intermediate step in password quality progress bars.
  • Added trigger events ‘Synchronizing database file’ and ‘Synchronized database file’.
  • Enhanced the Password Agent import module to support XML files created by version 3.
  • KeePass now excludes itself from Windows Error Reporting.
  • Added workaround for .NET initial focus bug.
  • Auto-Type improvements.
  • Improved main window state handling.
  • Improved construction and updates of the main menu and the group/entry context menus.
  • Main menu items can now be deselected by pressing the Esc key.
  • Improved performance of automatic scrolling in the main entry list.
  • Various other improvements.

How to Install KeePass 2.43 in Ubuntu:

KeePass2 website only offers source tarball for downloading at the link below:

Julian Taylor’s PPA now contains the 2.43 packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, and Ubuntu 19.10,

1. Open terminal 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

Mumble, open source low latency and high quality voice chat utility, released new major 1.3.0 released a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and even Ubuntu 14.04.

Mumble 1.3.0 is the new major release that features over 3000 changes. Release highlights include:

  • New Lite and Dark themes
  • Individual user volume adjustment (local)
  • Dynamic channel filtering
  • Attenuate other users while talking as Priority Speaker.
  • An optional clock (current time) in the overlay
  • Overlay: support for DirectX 11
  • Improved user management, banlist, avatar handling for administrators.

And there are many many other changes, see the announcement for details.

How to Install Mumble 1.3.0 in Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04:

Mumble Team PPA has built the new release package for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and even Ubuntu 14.04.

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:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install mumble mumble-server

Uninstall Mumble:

You can purge the PPA which also downgrade the VoIP chat app to the stock version via command:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:mumble/release

To simply remove mumble, either use system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove mumble mumble-server

Ubuntu’s default office suite LibreOffice released version 6.3.1 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, and their derivatives.

LibreOffice 6.3 “Fresh” is a major new release that features:

  • Writer and Calc performance improvements.
  • The Tabbed Compact NotebookBar UI now available for Writer, Calc, Impress and Draw
  • Export as PDF improved with the support for the standard PDF/A-2 document format,
  • Export support for DOTX and XLTX, import of charts from DOCX, import/export of SmartArt from PPTX files

And LibreOffice 6.3.1 is the first minor release of the LibreOffice 6.3 family, that brings a large list of bug-fixes and a key security improvement.

How to Install LibreOffice 6.3.1 in Ubuntu:

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

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

2. Then launch Software Updater (Update Manager) and install updates for new LibreOffice packages:

or simply run commands in terminal after adding the PPA:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install libreoffice

Uninstall:

To remove the LibreOffice PPA only, run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:libreoffice/ppa

To remove the PPA as well as downgrade LibreOffice to the pre-installed version:

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