News | UbuntuHandbook

GitKraken Released Official Snap package for Linux

Last updated: December 5, 2018

GitKraken now offers official snap package to make it easy to install and update the software in Ubuntu Linux.

Used by the likes of Netflix, Tesla and Apple, GitKraken is the go-to home for developers who are looking for a more user-friendly interface for Git with integrations for GitHub, GitLab, Bitbucket and VSTS (Azure DevOps).

GitKraken Snap is containerised software package designed to work within most Linux desktop. It bundles its required dependencies and auto-updates itself once a new release package published.

To install GitKraken Snap in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, simply open Ubuntu Software, search for and install gitkraken:

For Ubuntu 16.04, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run commands to install the snap:

sudo apt install snapd && sudo snap install gitkraken

In News GitKraken

Liferea News Reader 1.12.6 Released (Ubuntu PPA)

Last updated: December 4, 2018

Liferea (Linux Feed Reader) 1.12.6 was released day. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.10.

Liferea 1.12.6 is a new bug-fix release which resolves several usability problems.

Add confirmation dialog when adding duplicate subscription
Fix that when resuming from sleep feeds were being fetched before Wifi came up
Fix Headerbar plugin “Mark All Read” button is not feed-specific
Fix scrollbars not always present in the headline area
Fix that Next update overrides HTML5 enrichment
Fix overly wide label in enclosure preferences dialog
Dropped unencrypted warning from auth dialog (not true anymore)
Adding translatable tooltips for the headerbar plugin

How to Install Liferea 1.12.6 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and derivatives, the new release packages are available in an unofficial PPA repository.

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/apps

Type your password (no asterisks feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then upgrade Liferea via Software Updater utility:

or run commands one by one to install the Linux feed reader:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install liferea

Finally launch the news reader from your application launcher and enjoy! (Log out and log back if you don’t see the icon).

Uninstall Liferea:

As the PPA also contains many other software packages, you may remove it by launching Software & Updates and navigating to Other Software tab.

If you want to remove the Liferea news reader software, either use your system package manager or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove liferea liferea-data

In Howtos, News Liferea News Aggregator

HPLIP 3.18.12 Released with Ubuntu 18.04 64-bit Support

Last updated: December 3, 2018

HPLIP, HP developed Linux drivers for HP inkjet and laser based printers, released version 3.18.12 a few hours ago with new devices and Linux Distros support.

According to the release note, HPLIP 3.18.12 adds support for 64-bit Ubuntu 18.10 and Debian 9.6.

Also following new devices are supported:

HP Tango
HP Tango X
HP Scanjet Pro 2000 S1

Download / Install HPLIP 3.18.12 in Ubuntu:

To install the software, download the package “hplip-3.18.12.run” from the link below:

Then open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or search for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command:

cd ~/Downloads/ && chmod +x hplip-3.18.12.run && ./hplip-3.18.12.run

Type your user password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter.

Then follow the terminal prompts, answer some questions to build and install HPLIP on your system. When everything is done, plug/re-plug your printers and enjoy!

In Howtos, News HP Print Driver for Linux, HPLIP

Gscan2PDF 2.2.0 Released, How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: December 1, 2018

Gscan2pdf, GTK tool to produce PDF / DjVu from scanned document, released version 2.2.0 recently. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 16.04.

Gscan2pdf 2.2.0 release highlights according to the changelog:

Check validity of device blacklist regex when applying preferences
Modify preference “Force new scan job between pages” to only take effect when scanning from flatbed.
Fixed crash switching frontend option in Edit/Preferences between libimage-sane-perl and scanimage.
Fixed visibility of scan widgets when switching from libimage-sane-perl to scanimage.
Collect all warning and error messages in one dialog.
Be more tolerant of errors whilst fetching options.
Use default text if the title of a group of scan options is empty.
Lock panning of image and OCR output views
Translation updates.

How to Install gscan2pdf 2.2.0 in Ubuntu:

The official Ubuntu PPA has made the new release packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jeffreyratcliffe/ppa

Type user password (no asterisks 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.

In Howtos, News gscan2pdf, scan to pdf

Wine 3.0.4 Released with Lots of Bug Fixes

Last updated: January 25, 2019

Wine, an open-source compatibility layer allows to run Windows apps on Linux, released the new stable version 3.0.4 a day ago with lots of bug-fixes.

Wine 3.0.4 added a lot of icons in Shell32, and fixed 47 bugs affecting Total Commander, SuperPower 2, ODB++ Viewer, Wechat, World of Warcraft, Total War, Wargaming Game Center, Overwatch, and more.

How to Install Wine 3.0.4 in Ubuntu:

The new release packages will be made into official Wine apt repository in a few days.

At that time, you can do following steps to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, and derivatives.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching it from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the repository key:

wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key && sudo apt-key add winehq.key

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

2. Add wine repository via command:

sudo apt-add-repository https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/

For Linux Mint 19, use following command instead (replace bionic with xenial for 18.x):

sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ bionic main'

3. Finally check updates and install wine stable packages:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-stable

NOTE: If you get the unmet dependencies issue while installing Wine, try aptitude instead via command:

sudo apt install aptitude; sudo aptitude install winehq-stable

For more details, see the official documentation.

Uninstall:

To remove wine-stable package, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove wine-stable wine-stable-amd64

To remove Wine repository, launch Software & Updates utility and navigate to Other Software tab.

In Howtos, News wine

Opera 57 Released with Smarter News Recommendation for Start Page

Last updated: November 28, 2018

Opera web browser released new stable version 57 today with smarter news recommendation engine for start page, usual bug fixes and UI touch-ups.

Opera 57 release highlights:

An improved AI-driven news-selection algorithm for news recommendation on the start page.
Add like and dislike buttons on every news article
Netflix recommendations, which will be switched on in selected countries
A new styling of the settings page
Improved the page-opening mechanism to avoid flashbang impressions.
Close pinned tabs without having to unpin them first.

How to Install Opera 57 in Ubuntu:

The Opera team offers snap package (containerised software package), which is always up-to-date (auto-updates itself). You can simply install it in Ubuntu Software:

Also traditional Opera binary package for Ubuntu is available for download at the link below:

To receive future updates through Software Updater, add the official Opera apt repository via following steps:

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

In Howtos, News Opera

How to Install Oracle Java 11 in Ubuntu 18.04/18.10

Last updated: June 26, 2019

This quick tutorial shows you how to easily install the latest Oracle Java 11 LTS in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04 via PPA.

Thanks to the “Linux Uprising” team PPA, an installer script is available to automatically download java package from Oracle web server, and install it in on your system.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linuxuprising/java

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

2. Then run commands to install the script to start downloading and installing Java 11 on your Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install oracle-java11-installer-local

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, skip sudo apt-get update command since it’s done after adding PPA.

Before getting started, you must accept the license (press Tab to highlight OK and hit Enter).

3. If you have installed multiple Java versions, install (or remove) oracle-java11-set-default package to set (or not set) Java 11 as default.

sudo apt-get install oracle-java11-set-default-local

Finally check Java version via java -version:

Uninstall:

To remove Oracle Java 11, run command to remove the installer script:

sudo apt-get remove oracle-java11-set-default-local

And go to Software & Updates -> Other Software to remove the PPA repository.

In Howtos, News Oracle Java, Oracle Java 11

TeXstudio 2.12.12 Released, How to Install it in ubuntu

Last updated: November 25, 2018

The open-source LaTeX editor TeXstudio released version 2.12.12 today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04.

TeXstudio 2.12.12 release highlights:

improve macro handling, provide gui that directly downloads macros from github.com/texstudio-org/texstudio-macro
add fuzzy completion mode
add cwls
fix rare bug that the character appear reverse order
bug fixes

Install TeXstudio 2.12.12 in Ubuntu via PPA:

There’s a PPA repository contains the latest packages for all current Ubuntu releases and derivatives.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunderme/texstudio

Type user password (no asterisks feedback) from sudo prompt and hit Enter to add the PPA.

2. If you have installed TeXstudio from Ubuntu Software, remove the texstudio-doc package before upgrading the software:

sudo apt-get remove texstudio-d*

3. After adding the PPA, you can either upgrade the editor via Software Updater:

or run commands in terminal to install or upgrade the software:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install texstudio

Uninstall:

To remove the LaTeX editor, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove texstudio

And go to Software & Updates -> Other Software to remove PPA repositories.

In Howtos, News LaTeX editor, TeXstudio

Wine 3.21 Released with Improved Support for Android, DirectWrite, Joystick

Last updated: January 25, 2019

The new development release Wine 3.21 was announced a day ago with some improvements and various bug-fixes.

Wine 3.21 release highlights:

Typelib marshaller rewrite using NDR functions.
Graphics support on recent Android versions.
Support for memory font resources in DirectWrite.
Joystick support improvements.
A lot of bugs were fixed in the release, including issues with Guild Wars 2, Microsoft .NET 2.0, Crysis Warhead, and more.

How to Install Wine 3.21 in Ubuntu:

As usual, Wine’s apt repository will build the new release packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 18.04 in 2 or 3 days.

Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching ‘terminal’ from app launcher. When it opens, run following commands one by one to and the repository and install Wine:

1. Add the official wine apt repository via command:

sudo apt-add-repository https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/

For Linux Mint 18.x, run below command instead to add the repository:

sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ xenial main'

For Linux Mint 19, run this command instead:

sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ bionic main'

2. Download and install the GPG keyring via command:

wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key && sudo apt-key add winehq.key

3. Finally refresh system package cache and install the latest Wine development package via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-devel

If you got dependencies issue, install aptitude (sudo apt-get install aptitude) and replace apt-get in last command with aptitude.

Uninstall:

To remove wine dev release, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove winehq-devel

And you can remove the repository via Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab.

In Howtos, News wine

HTML Conversion Software ‘HTMLDOC’ Available as Snap

Last updated: November 23, 2018

The latest HTMLDOC, open-source HTML conversion software, now can be easily installed in Ubuntu 16.04 and higher via Snap package.

HTMLDOC is a program that reads HTML and Markdown source files or web pages and generates corresponding EPUB, HTML, PostScript, or PDF files with an optional table of contents.

While Ubuntu universe repository provides an old software package, the HTMLDOC developer offers the Snap (containerized software package) which is always updated.