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Free Scorewriter MuseScore 3.5.2 Released with Audio Export Fixes

Last updated: October 18, 2020

MuseScore, free open-source sheet music player and editor, released version 3.5.2 with bug-fixes.

MuseScore 3.5.2 release highlights:

  • Fix unexpected page stretching in “Edit style” dialog.
  • Fix an issue of harmony playback preferences.
  • Fix audio export (FLAC, OGG, WAV) on Windows
  • Fix a potential crash that could occur when resizing the Piano Roll.
  • Edits to system text/tempo marking after save and reload of score did not propagate to all parts.

Download / Install MuseScore 3.5.2 in Ubuntu:

Single executable Appimage package is available for download:

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 3.5.2 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
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CopyQ Clipboard Manager 3.13.0 Released with New Script / Commands

Last updated: October 17, 2020

CopyQ, free open-source advanced clipboard managing software, released version 3.13.0 with new script function and command line options.

CopyQ 3.13.0 release highlights:

  • New focusPrevious() script function to activate window that was focused
    before the main window.
  • Export now write data to a temporary file before saving.
  • Display command are now also applied on item preview
  • New command line option “tray_menu_open_on_left_click” to check default mouse
    button behavior for tray icon.
  • New command line option “activate_item_with_single_click” to activate items
    with single click.
  • New command line options “filter_regular_expression” and “filter_case_insensitive” to change the item search behavior.
  • New command line option “native_menu_bar” to disable native/global menu bar.
  • Updated icons and various bug-fixes.

How to Install Copyq 3.13.0 in Ubuntu:

The official PPA repository has made the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 20.10.

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
 

Vivaldi 3.4 Released with Configurable Context Menus

Last updated: October 15, 2020

Vivaldi web browser released new stable 3.4 version that features configurable context menus, automatic reloading pages, and Vivaldia, the real 80s arcade-style game.

Vivaldi 3.4 release highlights:

  • Configurable context menus (right-click menus).
  • Add custom links to menus.
  • Automatic reload pages. Right-click on a tab, move over Periodic Reload menu entry and select reload interval.
  • Capture a screenshot directly into a new note.
  • New plus icon to select a custom image for non-synced profiles.
  • Drag’n’drop support creating Speed Dial folder
  • Vivaldia, a real 80s arcade-style game

How to Install Vivaldi 3.4 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 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:

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.

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Pitivi Video Editor 2020.09 Released, How to Install in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: October 14, 2020

Pitivi video editor 2020.09 was released a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives.

It’s been more than 2 years since the last stable release, Pitivi 2020.09 features a plugin system, easy Ken-Burns effect, developer console plugin, timeline markers, user-interface and workflow improvements, a refactored media library, new keyboard shortcuts, and much more.

How to Install Pitivi in Ubuntu:

The new release has been into Ubuntu 20.10 universe repository. For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint and other Linux, it can be installed via Flathub repository.

1. Open terminal from system application launcher, then run command to install Flatpak (if you don’t have it):

sudo apt install flatpak

For Ubuntu 18.04, you have to add the PPA first before installing the flatpak daemon:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak && sudo apt update

2. Then add the flathub repository by running command:

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

3. Finally install Pitivi video editor:

flatpak install flathub org.pitivi.Pitivi

Uninstall Pitivi Flatpak package:

For any reason, you can remove the flatpak package easily by running command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall org.pitivi.Pitivi
In Howtos, News
 

Linux Kernel 5.9 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: October 12, 2020

Linux Kernel 5.9 was released a day ago. Linus Torvalds announced that:

Ok, so I’ll be honest – I had hoped for quite a bit fewer changes this last week, but at the same time there doesn’t really seem to be anything particularly scary in here. It’s just more commits and more lines changed than I would have wished for.

The bulk of this is the networking fixes that I already mentioned as being pending in the rc8 release notes last weekend. In fact, about half the patch (and probably more of the number of commits) is from the networking stuff (both drivers and elsewhere).

…

Linux 5.9 features initial Intel Rocket Lake graphics, NVMe zoned namespaces (ZNS) support, 32-bit x86 Clang build support, initial support for Radeon RX 6000 “RDNA 2” graphics cards, and more.

How to Install Linux Kernel 5.9 in Ubuntu:

The mainline kernel packages for Linux 5.9 (64-bit) are now available for download at the link below:

Select generic for common system, and lowlatency for a low latency system (e.g. for recording audio):

  1. linux-headers-5.9.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-5.9.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  3. linux-modules-5.9.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb
  4. linux-image-xxx-5.9.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64.deb

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

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-headers-5.9.0-050900_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-headers-5.9.0-050900-generic_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-image-unsigned-5.9.0-050900-generic_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v5.9/amd64/linux-modules-5.9.0-050900-generic_5.9.0-050900.202010112230_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 5.9:

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 5.9:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-unsigned-5.9.0-050900-generic
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Liferea 1.3.3 Released with Webkits Intelligent Tracking Protection [PPA]

Last updated: October 11, 2020

Liferea, Linux Feed Reader, released version 1.3.3 a few days ago with a lot of improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04.

Liferea 1.3.3 release highlights:

  • Implement support for Webkits Intelligent Tracking Protection
  • Add Ctrl + 0 hotkey to reset zoom
  • Add debug printing of SAX parser errors
  • CSS color update on theme change without restart
  • Fixes view mode switch
  • Default to https:// instead of http://
  • Progress bar support when loading web pages
  • Drop CDF channel support
  • Drop PIE aka. Atom 0.2/0.3 support
  • Drop RSS namespace “blogChannel” support

Install Liferea 1.3.3 via PPA:

1.) Open terminal from application launcher and run command to add the unofficial PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

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

2.) Then check updates and install the news reader via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install liferea

or update the old package (if installed) via Software Updater utility:

Uninstall:

As the PPA also contains many other applications, you may remove the PPA either via Software & Updates > Other Software, or by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

And remove the feed reader if want via command:

sudo apt remove liferea
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Voice Chat App Mumble 1.3.3 Released with Stability Improvements[PPA]

Last updated: October 7, 2020

Mumble, open source, low-latency, high quality voice chat software, released version 1.3.3 a few days ago. PPA updated for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 20.04.

Changes in Mumble 1.3.3 include:

  • Fix chat box invisble (zero height)
  • Fix handling of invalid packet sizes
  • Fix race-condition leading to loss of shortcuts
  • Link in About dialog is now clickable again
  • Fix sizing issues in ACL-Editor
  • PulseAudio now always samples at 48 kHz
  • Fix server crash due to problems when using PostgreSQL

How to install Mumble 1.3.3 in Ubuntu:

The official release PPA has made the packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

1. Open terminal either from system application launcher 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
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Python 3.9.0 Released, How to Install via PPA in Ubuntu

Last updated: October 6, 2020

Python programming language 3.9.0 was released with new features and optimizations. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 20.04 via PPA.

Python 3.9.0 is the first version default to the 64-bit installer on Windows. Windows 7 is unsupported.

Python 3.9.0 release highlights:

  • Module State Access from C Extension Methods
  • Union Operators in dict
  • Type Hinting Generics In Standard Collections
  • Flexible function and variable annotations
  • Python adopts a stable annual release cadence
  • Relaxing Grammar Restrictions On Decorators
  • Support for the IANA Time Zone Database in the Standard Library
  • String methods to remove prefixes and suffixes
  • New PEG parser for CPython
  • Garbage collection does not block on resurrected objects;
  • os.pidfd_open added that allows process management without races and signals;
  • Unicode support updated to version 13.0.0;
  • when Python is initialized multiple times in the same process, it does not leak memory anymore;
  • A number of Python built-ins (range, tuple, set, frozenset, list, dict) are now sped up using PEP 590 vectorcall;
  • A number of Python modules (_abc, audioop, _bz2, _codecs, _contextvars, _crypt, _functools, _json, _locale, operator, resource, time, _weakref) now use multiphase initialization as defined by PEP 489;
  • A number of standard library modules (audioop, ast, grp, _hashlib, pwd, _posixsubprocess, random, select, struct, termios, zlib) are now using the stable ABI defined by PEP 384.

How to Install Python 3.9.0 in Ubuntu:

1.) Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, or by searching for ‘terminal’ from system application launcher.

When terminal opens, run command to add the “deadsnakes” team PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa

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

2.) Then run commands to refresh system package cache, and install Python 3.9:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install python3.9

3.) Once successfully installed, check your system Python versions (python –version):

4.) (NOT Recommended) To use Python 3.9 as the default python3, run commands:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.8 1

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.9 2

For Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 18.04, replace python3.8 in the code with system’s default python3 version..
And you can then switch between the two Python3 versions via command:

sudo update-alternatives --config python3

NOTE: Due to known bug, terminal won’t open if you changed python3 symlink. An workaround is recreate a symlink via command (Replace python 3.8 with your system default python3 version):

sudo rm /usr/bin/python3; sudo ln -s python3.8 /usr/bin/python3

Uninstall:

To uninstall the Python3.9 packages, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove python3.9 python3.9-minimal

To remove the Deadsnakes PPA, launch Software & Updates and go to Other Software tab, then remove the repository line and close the window.

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GIMP Image Editor 2.10.22 Available to Download [PPA]

Last updated: October 5, 2020

GIMP image editor 2.10.22 available to install in Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04, though it’s not officially announced at the moment.

GIMP 2.10.22 was ready to download in its website last night. Release highlights in the new release inlcude:

  • HEIF support improvements: optional exporting with high bit depth, AVIF importing and exporting
  • Multiple improvements in Corel PaintShop Pro support
  • “Sample merged” now available in GEGL operation tool options
  • “Sample merged” is now enabled by default for color picking
  • The option enabling OpenCL support has been moved to the Playground tab in Preferences
  • Matting Levin is now the default engine of Foreground Select tool as it performs a lot better
  • New progressive performance logs and dashboard updates
  • Verbose debug now shows Flatpak info when relevant
  • Various bug fixes

How to Install GIMP 2.10.22 in Ubuntu:

The GIMP flatpak is recommended for Linux, and you can get it in flathub repository.

For those prefer installing deb package via apt, the unofficial PPA contains the packages for Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 20.04.

There’s known issue of the PPA packages: translations won’t install, so GIMP will always work in English.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp

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

2.) If an old version of GIMP .deb package was installed, upgrade it via Software Updater (Update Manager) utility.

or run apt commands in terminal to install GIMP:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install gimp gimp-gmic

If an old version was installed, it’s recommended to run sudo apt upgrade which will also update the required babl, gegl libraries.

How to Restore:

To restore GIMP to the stock version in main Ubuntu repository, run command to purge the PPA:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gimp
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Folder Comparison and Synchronization App FreeFileSync 11.2 Released

Last updated: October 4, 2020

FreeFileSync 11.2, folder comparison and synchronization software to create and manage backup copies of all your important files, was released a few days ago.

Changes in FreeFileSync 11.2 include:

  • Improved grid layout with file icons hidden
  • Improved rendering of inactive and disabled grid items
  • Remember last user-selected paths for file and folder pickers
  • Fixed folder name hidden in “item name” view type
  • Fixed determination of unsupported trash folder (Linux)
  • Fixed copying broken symlinks (macOS)
  • Fixed default action when pressing Enter in popup dialogs
  • Fixed default popup dialog size (macOS)
  • Use localized start of week for %WeekDay% (Linux, macOS)
  • Swap sides using CTRL+W instead of F10
  • Show confirmation dialog before swapping sides

How to Install FreeFileSync in Ubuntu:

The software offers official Linux package (portable tarball contains executable and most run-time libraries) available to download at the link below:

Simply grab the Linux package, extract, and run the executable. You may also read this step by step guide to create an app launcher for this program.

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