News | UbuntuHandbook

MPV Media Player 0.29.0 Released

Last updated: July 27, 2018

MPV media player logo

MPV media player, an open-source fork of mplayer2 and mplayer, reached 0.29.0 release with numerous changes.

MPV 0.29 now requires FFmpeg 4.0 or newer, and it features:

ao/openal: Add better sample format and channel layout selection
ao/openal: Add support for direct channels output
cocoa-cb: initial implementation via opengl-cb API
context_drm_egl: Introduce 30bpp support (requires Mesa 18.0.0_rc4 or later)
osx: add some more menu bar items as suggested by Apples’s HIG
vo_gpu: make screenshots use the GL renderer
x11: support Shift+TAB as an input key bind
ytdl_hook: support native dash demuxer, if present
ao_alsa, ao_pulse: reduce requested buffer size
audio: change format negotiation, remove channel remix fudging
client API: deprecate opengl-cb API and introduce a replacement API
demux: lower demuxer cache default sizes from 400MB/400MB to 50MB/150MB
osx: always deactivate the early opengl flush on macOS
scripting: change when/how player waits for scripts being loaded
vo_gpu: various improvements to HDR peak detection
vo_gpu: various improvements to HDR tone mapping
wayland_common: update to stable xdg-shell
ytdl_hook: parse youtube playlist urls to set start index if --ytdl-raw-option=yes-playlist= is specified
build: drop support for SDL1 (only applied to ao_sdl)

There are also many new command options, bug fixes and minor enhancements.

While no Ubuntu packages available at the moment, you may download the source and see more details at the link below:

MPV Release Page

UPDATE: This PPA now includes MPV 0.29 for Ubuntu 18.04.

Simply open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run following commands one by one to add the PPA and install mpv 0.29 in Ubuntu 18.04:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/mpv-tests

sudo apt-get install mpv

In News mpv

Install PowerShell Easily via Snap in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: July 21, 2018

Microsoft PowerShell Core now can be easily installed in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04 via Snap package.

PowerShell is a task automation and configuration management framework from Microsoft, consisting of a command-line shell and associated scripting language.

It was announced on MSDN blogs:

The goal of PowerShell Core is to be the ubiquitous language for managing your assets in the hybrid cloud. That’s why we’ve worked to make it available on many operating systems, architectures, and flavors of Linux, macOS, and Windows as possible.

Today, we’re happy to announce an addition to our support matrix: PowerShell Core is now available as a Snap package.“

How to Install PowerShell in Ubuntu via Snap:

Snap packages are containerized applications that can be installed on many Linux distributions. Snap bundles its dependencies in a single package and updates itself automatically once new version is published.

To install PowerShell snap, open Ubuntu Software, search for and install PowerShell Core:

or open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and install it by running command:

snap install powershell --classic

NOTE for Ubuntu 16.04 users first time installing a snap package, install snapd before getting started:

sudo apt install snapd snapd-xdg-open

In Howtos, News PowerShell

Ubuntu 17.10 Reached End of Its Life

Last updated: July 20, 2018

Ubuntu 18.04

Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark reached end of life on July 19 2018. It was announced last night:

“This is a follow-up to the End of Life warning sent earlier this month to confirm that as of today (July 19, 2018), Ubuntu 17.10 is no longer supported. No more package updates will be accepted to 17.10, and it will be archived to old-releases.ubuntu.com in the coming weeks.

The original End of Life warning follows, with upgrade instructions:

Ubuntu announced its 17.10 (Artful Aardvark) release almost 9 months ago, on October 19, 2017. As a non-LTS release, 17.10 has a 9-month support cycle and, as such, the support period is now nearing its
end and Ubuntu 17.10 will reach end of life on Thursday, July 19th.

At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 17.10.“

Users of Ubuntu 17.10 are recommended to upgrade to Ubuntu 18.04 LTS. Before following the official documentation, you need to first make backups, uninstall proprietary drivers, purge third-party PPAs.

And it’s always a good choice to do a fresh install of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS.

Download Ubuntu 18.04

In Howtos, News Ubuntu 17.10

MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: July 19, 2018

MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 stable was released today many fixes and new features and much needed upgrades!

MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 release highlights:

Add Retina and Hi-DPI display support.
Add DSF file support
Add keyboard shortcut for deleting scripts from options > scripting page
Support only 64 bit Picard builds from 2.0
Update dependencies minimal requirements: Python 3.5, PyQt 5.7, and Mutagen 1.37.
And numerous bug-fixes, UI and performance improvements.

How to Install MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 in Ubuntu:

The official PPA has built the music tagger for Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 18.10.

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

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

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

2. If a previous version was installed, upgrade the software via Software Updater:

or run following commands one by one in terminal to install or upgrade to MusicBrainz Picard 2.0:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install picard

Uninstall:

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

To remove MusicBrainz Picard music tagger, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove picard

In Howtos, News audo tag editor, MuiscBrainz Picard, MusicBrainz

TeXstudio 2.12.10 Released, How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: July 6, 2018

Full featured LaTeX editor TeXstudio 2.12.10 was released silently today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 16.04, and/or Ubuntu 14.04.

No release note, no changelog. I can only find following words about TeXstudio 2.12.10:

bug fixes
fix structure view with Qt >5.10

How to Install TeXstudio 2.12.10 in Ubuntu:

There’s a PPA repository contains the latest TeXstudio packages for all current Ubuntu releases. You can do following steps to add the repository and install the latest TeXstudio.

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:sunderme/texstudio

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

2. If you’ve installed the distro’s build of TeXstudio from Ubuntu Software, you may first remove the doc, debug packages via command:

sudo apt-get remove texstudio-d*

3. Finally run commands one by one in terminal to install (or upgrade) the software:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install texstudio

Uninstall:

To remove the editor, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove texstudio

And launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab to remove PPAs.

In Howtos, News LaTeX editor, TeXstudio

GIMP Image Editor 2.10.4 Released (Ubuntu PPA)

Last updated: July 27, 2018

The second point release for GIMP 2.10 was released a day ago with new features and various bug-fixes.

GIMP 2.10.4 release highlights:

Add simple horizon straightening option in the Measure tool
Asynchronous fonts loading to improve startup time.
Add fonts tagging support.
Add new features to the Dashboard dockable dialog that help debugging or finetune the use of cache and swap.
Load PSD file saved with “Maximize Compatibility” option enabled in Photoshop.
Improved Recursive Transform operation, allow multiple transformations to be applied simultaneously

GIMP 2.10 Splash

How to Install GIMP 2.10.4 in Ubuntu:

The best way to install the latest GIMP in Ubuntu is using the otto-kesselgulasch’s PPA, as the PPA maintainer promised the PPA will never die and the most recent packages will for ever be.

The PPA contains the most recent packages for Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 17.10, ~~though GIMP 2.10.4 is not available at the moment~~ (there are always one or two days delay).

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

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

2. After added the PPA, you can upgrade to GIMP 2.10.4 once it’s published via Software Updater (Update Manager):

Or run following commands one by one in terminal to install or upgrade GIMP image editor:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gimp

How to Restore:

For any reason, you can downgrade to the stock version of GIMP by running following command in terminal to purge the PPA:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

In addition to Ubuntu 16.04 users who want to install the latest GIMP 2.10.4, run following commands one by one to install the flatpak app:

1. Run commands to install Flatpak framework in Ubuntu 16.04:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install flatpak

2. Install GIMP flatpak application via command:

flatpak install https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gimp.GIMP.flatpakref

Once installed, it will be made available exactly the same way as other applications.

In Howtos, News GIMP 2.10

Eclipse 4.8 Available to Install via Snap in Ubuntu

Last updated: July 4, 2018

Eclipse 4.8 Photon was released a week ago. You can now install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 16.04 easily via snap package.

Eclipse Photon release highlights:

Full Eclipse IDE user experience for building, debugging, running and packaging Rust applications.
Expanded C# editing and debug capabilities, including syntax coloring, autocomplete suggestions, code diagnostics, and code navigation tools.
Java 9, Java 10 and JUnit 5 support.
Dark theme improvements in text colors, background color, popup dialogs, mark occurrences, and more.

How to Install Eclipse 4.8 Photon in Ubuntu:

The community has built the snap package of Eclipse Photon. It’s an universal Linux package format that bundles all its dependencies, and auto-updates itself once a new release is published.

The Eclipse 4.8.0 snap can by easily installed in Ubuntu Software:

Note that there are two versions of Eclipse in Ubuntu Software. Take a look at the version number before installing the package.

You can also install the snap by running command in terminal:

snap install --classic eclipse

In addition:

1. For Ubuntu 16.04 users never installed a snap package, make sure snapd daemon is installed via command:

sudo apt-get install snapd snapd-xdg-open

2. For Java environment, either install the OpenJDK via command:

sudo apt-get install default-jre

For Oracle Java 8 or Java 10, see this how to tutorial.

In Howtos, News eclipse, java

Stellarium 0.18.1 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 18.04

Last updated: July 3, 2018

Free and open-source planetarium software, Stellarium 0.18.1, was released 2 days ago with new features, many improvements and lots of bug-fixes.

The major changes in Stellarium 0.18.1 include:

Improvements and fixes for Hierarchical Progressive Surveys [HiPS] support
Updated the main UI, code of plugins, code and data.
Updated GPS handling
Added rise, transit and set times for celestial objects
Added dithering support
Many other improvements and various bug-fixes.
See the release note for details.

How to Install Stellarium 0.18.0 in Ubuntu:

The software has an official 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 asterisks 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.

In Howtos, News free planetarium software, Stellarium

How to Install OpenShot 2.4.2 in Ubuntu 18.04, 16.04

Last updated: July 1, 2018

OpenShot Video Editor

OpenShot video editor 2.4.2 was released a day ago with exciting new effects, tons of bug fixes, and performance improvements.

OpenShot 2.4.2 release highlights:

7 New Effects (Crop, Hue, Color Shift, Pixelate, Bars, Wave, Shift)
Auto audio mixing strategy per clip (average, reduce, or none)
Auto-Rotates any Clip with Reader metadata ‘rotate’ attribute.
Experimental codecs now supported in FFmpeg/LibAV
Many improvements for Audio playback, stability, export dialog, etc.
And numerous bug-fixes. See release note for details.

How to Install OpenShot 2.4.2 in Ubuntu:

OpenShot’s official PPA now contains the 2.4.2 release packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 17.10, and Ubuntu 18.04.

1. Open terminal (either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app launcher) and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa

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

2. Then upgrade the editor via “Software Updater”, if you have a previous openshot-qt package installed.

Or run commands to check updates and install / upgrade OpenShot:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install openshot-qt libopenshot*

Uninstall:

To uninstall openshot video editor, run following command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove openshot-qt

And remove the PPA by launching “Software & Updates” and navigating to Other Software tab.

In Howtos, News OpenShot Video Editor

Free Scorewriter MuseScore 2.3 Released (How to Install)

Last updated: July 27, 2018

Free and open-source musical notation software MuseScore 2.3 was released with new features and numerous bug fixes.

MuseScore 2.3 release highlights:

Implement extensions to provide an easy way to install soundfont, templates and instruments.xml
Add buzz roll tremolo stem
Add a more flexible way to choose noteheads in drumset for percussion instrument
Implement filters in Zerberus
Add ability to have a different MIDI pitch for drum instrument based on articulation or tremolo
Implemented flams and crush notation for unpitched percussion

And there are lots of bug-fixes, see the release note for details.

Install MuseScore via PPA in Ubuntu:

The software has a stable PPA contains the most recent MuseScore packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

Open terminal (either via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for terminal from app launcher) and run command to add the PPA:

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

Then you can upgrade the software via Software Updater, or run command to install the latest MuseScore:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install musescore

For more details, see this how to tutorial.

Install MuseScore snap package in Ubuntu:

The software offers official snap package. Snap is an universal Linux package format that runs in sandbox and it auto-updates itself once a new release is published in snappy store.

The snap application can be easily installed in Ubuntu Software:

Download MuseScore appimage:

While PPA and Snap packages are always delayed for a few days, MuseScore 2.3 Appimages, single executable to run the software, are available for download:

MuseScore Appimage (64-bit)

MuseScore Appimage (32-bit)

Select download the appimage matches your OS type, and: