Archives For November 30, 1999

Rhythmbox 3.4.3 Released with Numerous Bug Fixes

Last updated: January 8, 2019

Rhythmbox music player

The default Rhythmbox music player released version 3.4.3 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04.

Rhythmbox 3.4.3 release highlights:

  • Improved Android plugin to work better with Samsung and Android 9 devices
  • Replaced status bar with floating bar as used by Nautilus
  • Fixed crash when store request processing fails
  • Fixed crashes when editing auto playlist sorted by Location / Bitrate
  • Fixed crashes when insert a cd
  • Fixed issue that can not transfer songs to phone over MTP
  • And many other changes.

How to Install Rhythmbox 3.4.3 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10 and derivatives, you can install Rhythmbox 3.4.3 from the unofficial PPA.

1. Open terminal either from app launcher or via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

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

2. Then launch Software Updater, upgrade the music player packages:

How to Restore:

You can purge the PPA which also downgrade Rhythmbox to the stock version via command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

MKVToolNix 30.0.0 Released with W64 Support

Last updated: January 4, 2019

MKVToolNix 30.0.0 was released today with new features, enhancements, and bug-fixes.

MKVToolNix 30.0.0 release highlights:

  • mkvextract now writes W64 files for .w64 file or file size > 4 GB
  • Add button to show the 10 most recently used output directories.
  • Predefined split sizes and durations can now be customized in the preferences.
  • Add option to append chapters from an existing file to the current open editor tab.
  • Add new context menu action to copy selected entry to another open editor tab.
  • And more other changes, see the release note for details.

How to Install MKVToolNix 30.0.0 in Ubuntu:

The latest MKVToolNix packages will be soon made into its official apt repository for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Mint 19/18, and higher

Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching it from app launcher. When it opens, do following steps:

1. Run command to add the repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://mkvtoolnix.download/ubuntu/ $(lsb_release -sc) main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bunkus.org.list'

Replace $(lsb_release -sc) with bionic for Linux Mint 19, or xenial for Linux Mint 18.x. And input your password (no asterisks while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then install the key:

wget -q -O - https://mkvtoolnix.download/gpg-pub-moritzbunkus.txt | sudo apt-key add -

3. Finally either upgrade the software via Software Updater (Update Manager):

or run command to install the software packages:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui

Uninstall:

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

To remove MKVToolNix, use Synaptic Package Manager or run following command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui

Free accounting software GnuCash 3.4 was released a few days ago with tons of bug-fixes and improvements. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10.

According to the release note, GnuCash 3.4 redesigned gnc-uri-utils, cleaned up more report code, improved toolbar buttons, text options widget, and fixed a large number of bugs.

How to Install GnuCash 3.4 in Ubuntu 18.04:

While GnuCash flatpak package is still at version 3.2, you can install the latest 3.4 release via an unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 18.10.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut key. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sicklylife/gnucash

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

2. Then either upgrade GnuCash via Software Updater, or install it via command:

sudo apt install gnucash

Uninstall:

To remove GnuCash 3.4, run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove gnucash

And remove the PPA via Software & Updates -> Other Software.

VLC media player released version 3.0.5 a few days ago with performance improvements and numerous fixes. Here’s how to install it in all current Ubuntu releases.

VLC 3.0.5 release highlights:

  • Faster and more complete support for the AV1 codec
  • Compatibility with macOS 10.14 “Mojave”, with native dark mode, and notarization
  • Improvements for Blu-ray playback, RTP and UDP streams
  • Improvements for MP4, MKV, CAF and AV1 media
  • Improvements for HDR support, tone-mapping and native Windows HDR support
  • Fixes for Chromecast, Direct3D11, Youtube and subtitles rendering

How to Install VLC 3.0.5 in Ubuntu:

Linux Snap package:

The official VLC snap package (containerized software package) has been updated to v3.0.5. For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, simply install it from Ubuntu Software.

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

sudo apt install snapd && sudo snap install vlc

VLC package for Ubuntu:

Ubuntu comes with VLC package (see previous picture), and offers software updates through updates repository.

NOTE VLC 3.0.5 is not available at the moment of writing. As usual, the new release package will be published in a few days.

For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, simply install VLC .deb package from Ubuntu Software, and VLC 3.0.5 package will be available via Software Updater once published.

Audacious audio player released version 3.10.1 today with some important bugs fixed. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 18.10.

Audacious 3.10.1 fixed following issues:

  • Crash on invalid tuple D-Bus request
  • Playlist search in Qt5 is really slow on huge playlists
  • Song Info window takes a few seconds to appear or UI freezes, when listening to an MP3 stream
  • Audtool doesn’t output UTF-8 on Windows
  • Info popup causes segmentation fault in Qt 5 UI
  • Playlist drag-and-drop no longer working in 3.10 (Qt UI)
  • Floating-point WavPack files play as noise

How to Install Audacious 3.10.1 in Ubuntu:

You can install the new release packages in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 18.10 via the unofficial PPA.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

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

2. Then you can upgrade Audacious via Software Updater:

or run commands one by one in terminal to install or upgrade the audio player:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install audacious audacious-plugins

Uninstall:

You can easily remove the PPA either by going to Software & Updates utility -> Other Software tab, or by running command:

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

To remove audacious, either use your system package manager or run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove audacious audacious-plugins

Linux Kernel 4.20 was released a few days ago. Linus Torvalds announced:

Let’s face it, last week wasn’t quite as quiet as I would have hoped for, but there really doesn’t seem to be any point to delay 4.20 because everybody is already taking a break.

And it’s not like there are any known issues, it’s just that the shortlog below is a bit longer than I would have wished for. Nothing screams “oh, that’s scary”, though.

And as part of the “everybody is already taking a break”, I can happily report that I already have quite a few early pull requests in my inbox. I encouraged people to get it over and done with, so that people can just relax over the year-end holidays. In fact, I probably won’t start pulling for a couple of days, but otherwise let’s just try to keep to the normal merge window schedule, even if most people hopefully won’t even be back until over the merge window is over.

As to the details of this last week of 4.20 – most of it is networking (drivers, core networking fixes, bpf). There’s a few other non-network driver updates too, and a revert series of some of the x86 inline asm changes that were obviated by upcoming compiler support.

… …

Changes in Linux 4.20 include:

  • AMD Picasso APU support as well as Raven 2 APU support
  • Intel DRM driver has full PPGTT support for Haswell/Ivy/Valley View hardware.
  • The open-source NVIDIA Nouveau driver has initial HDMI 2.0 support.
  • The NVIDIA Xavier “Tegra194” SoC has initial display support.
  • Support for the Hygon Dhyana CPUs
  • Intel 2.5G Ethernet support via the new “IGC” driver.
  • LG Gram laptop support
  • File systems improvements, drivers updates, and many other changes.

How to Install Linux Kernel 4.20 in Ubuntu:

For easy way, there are a few third party tools, e.g., UKTools and Ukuu, make it easy to install the latest Kernel in Ubuntu.

You can also manually download the .deb binary packages:

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

  1. linux-headers-4.20.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-4.20.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
  3. linux-modules-4.20.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
  4. linux-image-xxx-4.20.0-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.

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

For 64-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-headers-4.20.0-042000_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-headers-4.20.0-042000-generic_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-image-unsigned-4.20.0-042000-generic_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_amd64.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-modules-4.20.0-042000-generic_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

for 32-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-headers-4.20.0-042000_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_all.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-headers-4.20.0-042000-generic_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_i386.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-image-4.20.0-042000-generic_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_i386.deb

wget -c https://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.20/linux-modules-4.20.0-042000-generic_4.20.0-042000.201812232030_i386.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

Once installed, restart your computer and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 4.20:

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 4.20.0:

sudo dpkg --purge linux-image-4.20.0-042000-generic linux-image-unsigned-4.20.0-042000-generic

Musical notation software MuseScore 3.0 was released a few hours ago with full of new features and improvements.

MuseScore 3.0 release highlights:

  • Automatic placement to resolve potential collisions between elements
  • System dividers that automatically generate dividers between systems
  • Temporary and cutaway staves
  • MuseJazz font
  • Named noteheads
  • Tours – get online help automatically
  • Timeline – navigate using a graphical overview of the music structure
  • Score comparison tool
  • Single page mode – vertically scrolling view of your score
  • Palette search
  • Timewise note input and editing
  • Alt+Right/Left shortcuts to navigate through each element of your score
  • Improved parts facility, Mixer, and Piano Roll Editor, and redesigned Play Panel

How to Install MuseScore 3.0 in Ubuntu:

AppImage:

The software offers official Appimage, non-install executable file to launch MuseScore, which is available for download at the link below:

Once you get it, right-click and go to file Properties to make it executable, and finally run the Appimage to launch MuseScore.

Snap Package:

The official Snap package is on the way. For Ubuntu 18.04 and higher, simply install it from Ubuntu Software. It will automatically update to MuseScore 3.0 once the snap package is published.

or run command in terminal for Ubuntu 16.04 and higher.:

sudo snap install musescore

Ubuntu PPA:

The software also has a stable PPA contains the latest .deb packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 18.10.

NOTE: MuseScore 3.0 is not available in the PPA at the moment of writing.

1. Open terminal and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mscore-ubuntu/mscore-stable

2. Then you can update the Ubuntu legacy package (see picture 3) via Software Updater.

Or run command to install MuseScure .deb package:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install musescore

Kid3 audio tag editor released version 3.7.0 a few hours ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Linux Mint 18.x, 19.x.

The most important new feature in Kid3 3.7.0 is a playlist editor. Playlist items can be added, removed and reordered. Improvements include editors for the formats to convert between tags and file names and drop down lists with available tag values when multiple files are selected. The new file list fixes problems with updates when directories are renamed.

Kid3 3.7.0 release highlights:

  • Add and reorder playlist items using drag’n’drop.
  • Edit tags from files referenced in playlist.
  • Play songs from playlist.
  • Drag image files from file list to embed them in audio files.
  • Drag files from file list into other applications.
  • Reload action to refresh file list.
  • Completions with different values when selecting multiple files.
  • Option “–dbus” to have a D-Bus interface with kid3-cli.
  • Code “%{dirname}” to use current directory name when renaming.
  • Code “%{disk}” as alias for “%{disc number}”.
  • Edit list of availble formats to set file and directory names
  • Bug fixes and a few improvements.

How to Install Kid3 3.7.0 in Ubuntu:

The official Kid3 PPA contains the latest software packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 18.10 so far.

Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, do following steps one by one.

1. Copy and paste following command in terminal and hit run to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ufleisch/kid3

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

2. Then you can upgrade Kid3 from a previous version 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

For KUbuntu, you may replace kid3-qt with kid3 in the last command for KDE integration.

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 --autoremove kid3 kid3-*

RawTherapee RAW image editor released version 5.5 last night with exciting new features. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.10, Ubuntu 18.04.

RawTherapee 5.5 release highlights:

  • Filter to remove striping artifacts and banding artifacts for any camera has a PDAF entry in camconst.json.
  • Ability to specify custom working color spaces through the workingspaces.json file.
  • Unbounded processing – allows you to decide whether out-of-gamut colors should get clipped.
  • New Shadows/Highlights tool (replaced previous one).
  • Contrast threshold mask which divides an image into areas of high and low detail, allowing the effect of certain tools (Sharpening, Post-Resize Sharpening, Microcontrast, Demosaicing) to be focused where it matters most and to mitigate the effect on areas where it would be undesirable.
  • Dual-demosaic algorithms, making use of the new contrast threshold mask, allowing one to use a combination of demosaicing algorithms where one is best for details and the other best for plain areas.
  • New color toning methods: Grid and Regions
  • Support for Blackmagic and Canon Magic Lantern lj92 encoded files.
  • New Soft Light tool which enhances contrast and saturation by emulating the effect of blending an image with a copy of itself in “soft light” blending mode in GIMP.
  • New Haze Removal tool to reduce the effects of haze or fog.
  • The Resize tool allows you to specify whether you want it to upscale or only downscale.
  • New icon and cursor theme. New cameras support, and new input color profiles.
  • Other new features, enhancements, and bug fixes.

Download / Install RawTherapee 5.5 in Ubuntu:

The official Linux Appimage, single executable file to launch the software, is available for download at the link below:

Go to file’s properties, allow executable file as program, and finally run it to launch RawTherapee 5.5.

There are also a few PPA repositories that contain RawTherapee packages for Ubuntu. I’ll update the tutorial once the 5.5 release package is available.

UPDATE: For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 18.10, Linux Mint 19.x, you can install RawTherapee 5.5 via the unofficial PPA.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for “Terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway

Input your password (no asterisks feedback when typing) 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:

The upgrading process may be kept back if you were installing it from Ubuntu Software.

A workaround is simply running following commands instead to install or upgrade RawTherapee:

sudo apt-get 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”.

Kdenlive, KDE Non-Linear Video Editor, released version 18.12 a few days ago with some crashes fixed and other improvements.

Kdenlive 18.12 release highlights:

  • Backport crash on image sequence import.
  • Backport fix for titler text gradient.
  • Add donation url to appdata.
  • Fix minor EBN issues and typos.
  • Fix play/pause on Windows.
  • Sync quickstart manual with UserBase.
  • Install doc files.
  • Make it compiles when we use QT_NO_NARROWING_CONVERSIONS_IN_CONNECT.
  • Fix minor EBN issues.

Download / Install Kdenlive 18.12 in Ubuntu:

Before Kdenlive stable PPA and/or the flathub repository building the latest packages for Ubuntu Linux, you can download the Appimage from the link below:

Make it executable in the Appimage file properties, and run to launch the video editor.