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Linux Kernel

Linux Kernel 4.16 was released yesterday. Linus Torvalds announced in lkml.org:

So the take from final week of the 4.16 release looks a lot like rc7, in that about half of it is networking. If it wasn’t for that, it would all be very small and calm.

We had a number of fixes and cleanups elsewhere, but none of it made me go “uhhuh, better let this soak for another week”. And davem didn’t think the networking was a reason to delay the release, so I’m not.

End result: 4.16 is out, and the merge window for 4.17 is open and I’ll start doing pull requests tomorrow.

Outside of networking, most of the last week was various arch fixlets (powerpc, arm, x86, arm64), some driver fixes (mainly scsi and rdma) and misc other noise (documentation, vm, perf).

The appended shortlog gives an overview of the details (again, this is only the small stuff in the last week, if you want the full 4.16 changelog you’d better get the git tree and filter by your area of interest).

Linux Kernel 4.16 release highlights:

  • Spectre / Meltdown mitigation & other security updates.
  • L2 CDP support for L2 cache partitioning on Intel CPUs
  • Correct AMD Zen temperature reporting for the Ryzen Threadripper 1900X processor.
  • P-State driver support for Skylake X servers.
  • POWER memory protection keys support
  • Oracle DAX driver for SPARC co-processor
  • Jailhouse guest support for non-root users

How to Install Kernel 4.16 in Ubuntu:

Other than using a graphical tool UKUU to install the latest mainline kernel packages, following steps will tell you how to manually download and install it in all current Ubuntu releases.

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 PPA has made the new kernel binaries for Ubuntu, available for download at the link below:

Download Kernel 4.16 (.deb)

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

  1. linux-headers-4.16.0-xxxxxx_all.deb
  2. linux-headers-4.16.0-xxx-generic(/lowlatency)_xxx_amd64(/i386).deb
  3. linux-image-4.16.0-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.

To get the Kernel 4.16 from the command console, run the commands below one by one:

For 64-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.16/linux-headers-4.16.0-041600_4.16.0-041600.201804012230_all.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.16/linux-headers-4.16.0-041600-generic_4.16.0-041600.201804012230_amd64.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.16/linux-image-4.16.0-041600-generic_4.16.0-041600.201804012230_amd64.deb

sudo dpkg -i *.deb

for 32-bit OS:

cd /tmp/

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.16/linux-headers-4.16.0-041600_4.16.0-041600.201804012230_all.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.16/linux-headers-4.16.0-041600-generic_4.16.0-041600.201804012230_i386.deb

wget -c http://kernel.ubuntu.com/~kernel-ppa/mainline/v4.16/linux-image-4.16.0-041600-generic_4.16.0-041600.201804012230_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i *.deb

After installed these .debs, restart and enjoy!

Uninstall Linux Kernel 4.16:

Start/restart your machine and select boot with the previous kernel in Grub2 -> Advanced menu. Then use Ubuntu Tweak, or other system tool to remove the Kernel 4.16, or you may see this how to remove old kernels tutorial.

The first major update of Jetbrains’ Java IDE in 2018, IntelliJ IDEA 2018.1, was released a day ago.

IntelliJ IDEA 2018.1 brings with it significant improvements to supported languages, frameworks, version control tools, debugger, compiler, and editor. See the announcement for details.

Install IntelliJ IDEA 2018.1 in Ubuntu:

Jetbrains offers official snap packages for Ubuntu Linux users. You can install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04 via following steps.

1. (Ubuntu 16.04 only) For those who never installed a snap package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install snapd daemon:

sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open

No visual feedback while typing your password due to security reason.

2. Then you can search for and install PyCharm via Ubuntu Software:

Or run command in terminal instead to install the IDE:

snap install intellij-idea-community --classic

For the ultimate edition, replace intellij-idea-community with intellij-idea-ultimate in the code.

PyCharm IDE

The first release of PyCharm python IDE 2018 was announced earlier today with great new features.

PyCharm 2018.1 release highlights:

  • Data scientists can now define code cells in their files, and choose exactly which parts to execute. No more need to re-import your data every time you finetune your analysis!
  • Do you run Python code on remote machines? Configuring an SSH remote Python interpreter is now easier than ever.
  • Even though Python 3.7 isn’t out yet, PyCharm 2018.1 already fully supports developing Python 3.7 code.
  • Those of you who take pride in having precise commits will be pleased to hear that you can now choose which chunks of files to include in your git commits.
  • PyCharm is the Python IDE that knows your code, and PyCharm 2018.1 knows Python code better than ever with new code intelligence features.
  • Docker Compose file format 3.3 and later are now supported. Also, performance of Docker Compose interpreters has improved significantly.

How to Install PyCharm 2018.1 in Ubuntu:

Jetbrains offers official snap packages for Ubuntu Linux users. You can install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04 via following steps.

1. (Ubuntu 16.04 only) For those who never installed a snap package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install snapd daemon:

sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open

No visual feedback while typing your password due to security reason.

2. Then you can search for and install PyCharm via Ubuntu Software:

Or run command in terminal instead to install the IDE:

snap install pycharm-community --classic

For professional, replace pycharm-community with pycharm-professional in the code.

Free and open source music composition and notation software, MuseScore 2.2.0, was released earlier today.

MuseScore 2.2.0 comes with new features and tons of bug fixes:

  • New MuseScore_General.sf3 soundfont
  • Option to select the MIDI Output
  • Built-in MP3 support for Windows (finding and installing third-party DLL no longer necessary)
  • Add search field to template chooser in New Score Wizard
  • Option to select whether to “Play repeats” for jump elements (D.S. al Coda, etc.)
  • Selected notes are highlighted on the piano keyboard
  • Select / More: ability to distinguish same pitch on a specific string in tablature
  • All elements are now selectable by voice
  • Copy and paste of multiple fretboards
  • Fretboards can be added to chord symbols
  • See release note for more details.

How to Install MuseScore 2.2.0 in Ubuntu:

The single executable Appimage files to run MuseScore in Linux are available for download:

32-bit Appimage

64-bit Appimage

ARM-architectures

Download the appimage, make it executable and run the file to launch the free scorewriter:

MuseScore is also available as Snap, version 2.2 will be available in a few days, which can be easily installed via Ubuntu Software Center (See HERE for details).

Free and open-source planetarium software Stellarium 0.18.0 was released last night. The new release added support for Hierarchical Progressive Surveys (HiPS).

Changes in Stellarium 0.18.0 include:

  • Added support Hierarchical Progressive Surveys [HiPS] (Hello visualization of multiwavelength universe in the Stellarium)
  • Added patches for TeXLive
  • Added Dnoces star name
  • Added computation of solar eclipse magnitude and solar eclipse obscuration on Earth (special case)
  • Added option to allow adding some sky background color
  • Added Moon age computation
  • Added “Western (O.Hlad)” sky culture
  • Added support common names of pulsars
  • Added some DSO images
  • Added calculation of synodic period
  • Added AstroCalc/Monthly Elevation tool
  • Added optional Sun, Moon, Astronomical Twilight and Nautical Twilight lines for AstroCalc/AltVsTime tool
  • Added Battlesteads Observatory into locations list
  • Added a special case of computations (lunar eclipse) into AstroCalc/Phenomena tool
  • Added two new signals to manage wide dates changes with various steps – by months and years
  • Added tools for select color of planetary labels and trails
  • Added option to suppress drawing large halo around bright stars.
  • Added Tesla Roadster orbital elements
  • Added config options for font size of cardinal points
  • Added visualization of civil twilight line in AstroCalc/AltVsTime tool
  • Added ‘Artificial objects’ into Search/Lists tool
  • Added feature to store and retrieve selected HiPS
  • Added bottom bar GUI button for HiPS display
  • Updated and extended AstroCalc tool
  • Added support a Hickson Compact Group collection
  • Updated code and data, and fixed various bugs.

How to Install Stellarium 0.18.0 in Ubuntu:

The developers maintain a stable PPA repository that contains the latest Stellarium packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching ‘terminal’ from app launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:stellarium/stellarium-releases

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then upgrade Stellarium from an existing release with Software Updater utility:

Or run following commands to install the software for the first time:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install stellarium

Uninstall:

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove stellarium

And remove the PPA via “Software & Updates” utility under Other Software tab.

RawTherapee

Open source Raw image processor RawTherapee 5.4 was released a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives.

New features in RawTherapee 5.4 include:

  • New default processing profiles, now the default look for raw photos closely matches the out-of-camera look with regard to tones and includes lens distortion and vignetting correction.
  • New histogram matching tool, to have RawTherapee automatically adjust the image for you to match the out-of-camera look with a single click of a button.
  • New HDR Tone Mapping tool to compress the light in scenes with a high dynamic range, allowing you to show details in both shadows and highlights in a realistic way.
  • New Local Contrast tool to boost clarity using a simple interface.
  • New color toning method L*a*b* Color Correction Grid.
  • New RCD demosaicing algorithm to minimize artifacts even with artificial lighting and strong chromatic aberration.
  • New thumbnail overlay icons in the File Browser and Filmstrip to help you distinguish normal images from HDR and Pixel Shift ones.
  • Added support for showing out-of-gamut areas based on the output profile.
  • Added support for reading and writing metadata and ICC profiles to and from PNG images.
  • Added support for processing Sony Pixel Shift ARQ raw files – make sure that the ARQ extension is enabled in Preferences > File Browser > Parsed Extensions.
  • Create Sony ARQ raw files using https://github.com/agriggio/make_arq
  • Added support for saving 32-bit floating-point TIFFs clamped to [0;1].
  • Added profiled chromatic aberration correction support using Lensfun.
  • More tools now have an on/off switch.
  • The user interface is cleaner, with all power-house tools moved into a new “Advanced” tab to prevent slider-shock to newcomers.
  • The Metadata tab now lets you choose whether you want to copy metadata unchanged, edit metadata or strip metadata when saving images. Now you can also make metadata changes in batch mode.
  • The choice of whether the main histogram should display information using the working profile or the output profile is now available from the Editor tab’s top toolbar.
  • The Crop tool’s aspect ratio now defaults to that of the image, and RawTherapee automatically zooms-to-fit the crop once it’s placed.
  • RGB input-type ICC profiles can now be used as output profiles.
  • The saved reference image for profiling (created from within the Color Management tool) now contains metadata.
  • PNG and compressed TIFF images make use of better compression.
  • Shortcut key changes: Zoom-to-fit the crop using “f”, fit the whole image using “Alt+f”.

How to Install RawTherapee 5.4 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives, the new release is available via this PPA repository.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway

Input your password (no visual 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 App.

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

sudo apt-get update

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”.

opera web browser

Opera web browser reached the new stable 52 release a day ago with ad blocker improvements, cool new animations and more.

Opera 52 release highlights:

  • Faster page loading with improved ad blocker.
  • Select multiple tabs by holding down Ctrl while clicking on each desired tab
  • New tabs’ context menu option: Copy page address(es)
  • Tabs can be closed by holding Alt while clicking it.
  • New error page animations.
  • See the release note for more.

How to Install Opera 52 in Ubuntu:

The opera website offers official .deb binaries for Ubuntu Linux, available for download at the link below:

Download Opera for Linux

If you have a previous release installed, and enabled the official Opera Linux repository, upgrade it via Software Updater:

To manually add the Opera for Linux repository, open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or from app launcher, when it opens, run commands:

1. 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 your system package manager or upgrade the browser via Software Updater.

SMplayer

SMPlayer 18.3, a new monthly release of the Mplayer / MPV front-end, was released a few hours ago.

SMPlayer is a small release with only following changes:

  • Possibility to search for subtitles using the hash and filename methods at the same time.
  • Fix a bug which prevented to play some YouTube URLs.

SMPlayer with Mac skin

How to Install SMPlayer 18.3 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives, do following steps to install or upgrade SMPlayer via its PPA repository.

1. Search for and launch “terminal” from application launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it asks and hit Enter.

Smplayer PPA

2. Then upgrade SMPlayer using Software Updater (or Update Manager):

upgrade smplayer

or run commands in terminal to install (or upgrade) the media player:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install smplayer smtube smplayer-themes

Uninstall:

To remove SMPlayer, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove smplayer smtube smplayer-*

And remove the PPA via “Software & Updates” utility under Other Software tab.

OBS Studio, free and open-source live streaming and screen recording software, reached 21.1 release a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 16.04, and/or Ubuntu 14.04.

Changes OBS Studio 21.1 include:

  • Updated the Browser source to Chromium 63 with a few fixes and APNG (animated PNG) image files support.
  • Dockable windows can now be nested.
  • Updated the program to use the latest Microsoft development toolchain (Visual Studio 2017) for the Windows version.
  • Changed log file uploading to hastebin (for now) instead of anonymous github gists due to github removing anonymous gist support.
  • Fixed an issue where the AMD encoder wouldn’t show up for some people since 21.0.
  • And various other fixes. See the release page.

How to Install OBS Studio 21.1 in Ubuntu:

The software has a Ubuntu PPA contains the latest packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

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:obsproject/obs-studio

Input your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. For Ubuntu 14.04 you also need to run command to another PPA for FFmpeg library:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kirillshkrogalev/ffmpeg-next

3. Now you can install OBS-Studio via Synaptic package manager, upgrade the software from an existing release via Software Updater, or simply run commands one by one:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install obs-studio

Once installed, launch the software from Unity Launcher, Gnome Launcher, or other app launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove obs-studio

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

Kid3 audio tag editor reached the 3.6.0 release earlier today with some new features, MP4 support improvements and bug-fixes.

New features and improvements in Kid3 3.6.0:

  • New look for Android app using Qt Quick Controls 2.
  • Editor for star ratings, configurable mapping between rating values and number of stars.
  • Option to restrict length of file names.
  • Option to show hidden files in file and directory lists.
  • Support adding unknown 4 letter atoms to M4A files.
  • Allow Camelot wheel value 1A-12A, 1B-12B for initial key.

Kid3 Audio Tagger

How to Install Kid3 3.6.0 in Ubuntu:

The developer maintains a PPA repository with the latest packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 17.10.

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:ufleisch/kid3

Type in your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

Kid3 PPA

2. Then run following commands to install or upgrade the audio editor:

sudo apt update 

sudo apt install kid3-qt

For KDE users, replace kid3-qt in the last command with kid3 for better integration.

To upgrade Kid3 from an existing release, simply install the updates via Software Updater:

upgrade kid3 via software updater

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA, launch Software & Updates and navigate to ‘Other Software’ tab.

To remove Kid3 tag editor, either use system package manger or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove kid3 kid3-*