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LiVES Video Editor 2.8.8 Released (How to Install)

Last updated: March 11, 2018

LiVES, free and open-source video editor and VJ tool, reached the 2.8.8 release today. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04.

Changes in LiVES 2.8.8 include:

  • Fix “undo render to same clip” after rendering to selection.
  • Add new libav_stream playback plugi
  • Set openGL playback plugin (if present) as the default for new installs.
  • (Multi monitor support) always show dialog windows on the gui monitor.
  • Re-enable audio recording from external sources (was inadvertantly disabled).
  • Fix possible problems with layout reloading (regression).
  • Reset to correct playback position when stop is pressed during / after pause (multitrack),
  • Increase size of playback area in multitrack mode.
  • Increase preview window size for video part open.
  • Add quick transcode menu option (beta).
  • Keep showing framebar when not playing (can be overriden in prefs).
  • Show audio source in framebar (overridden by pref).
  • Optimise redrawing of audio waveforms in clip editor.
  • Implement external audio trigger for recording.
  • Theme fixes for buttons.
  • Various optimisations.
  • Scale many widget sizes based on screen resolution.
  • Fix crash in multitrack parameter adjustment for effects with repeated channels.
  • Ctrl + mouse scroll can be used to zoom in / out in multitrack.
  • Disable ctrl-q (quit) accelerator during playback to prevent accidental triggering.
  • Updates for libav 3.5.

How to Install LiVES 2.8.8 in Ubuntu:

Other than building the software from source, you can install it from unofficial PPA in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Linux Mint 18.x and their derivatives by following steps:

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T and run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/lives

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

2. Then upgrade the software from an existing release via Software Updater:

or simply run commands in terminal to install or upgrade LiVES:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install lives lives-plugins

Uninstall:

To remove the software, simply run commands:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove lives lives-plugins

The PPA can be removed via Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab.

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First Beta of Ubuntu 18.04 LTS Released (Opt-in Flavors)

Last updated: March 10, 2018

The first beta of Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic Beaver LTS (Long Term Support) was released last night.

Ubuntu 18.04 Beta 1 features images for Kubuntu, Ubuntu Budgie, Ubuntu Kylin, Ubuntu MATE, and Xubuntu.

NOTE the pre-releases of Ubuntu 18.04 are not recommended for anyone needing a stable system or anyone who is not comfortable running into occasional, even frequent breakage. They are, however, recommended for those who want to help in testing, reporting, and fixing bugs.

Changes in Xubuntu 18.04 Beta 1 include:

  • Removed the GTK Theme Configuration tool
  • Replaced the Sound Indicator with the Xfce PulseAudio Plugin.
  • Replaced Application indicator with Status Notifier Plugin
  • Replace some desktop applications: Evince -> Atril, File Roller -> Engrampa, GNOME Calculator -> MATE Calculator.

Changes in Kubuntu 18.04 beta 1 include:

  • Replace Dragonplayer with VLC as default media player.
  • Muon package manager is shipped by default once again.
  • Replace Amarok with Cantata Qt5 as default music player.
  • Drop Telepathy instant messaging client from the defaults.

Changes in Ubuntu MATE 18.04 Beta 1 include:

  • MATE desktop 1.20
  • Uses Indicators by default in all layouts.
  • Brisk Menu switches to a dash-style launcher for Mutiny or Cupertino layout.
  • Minimal installation support and more and more other changes.

Changes in Ubuntu Budgie 18.04 Beta1 include:

  • Better font handling for Chinese and Korean users
  • Play mp3 out of the box.
  • New applets available via Budgie settings, Budgie welcome.
  • New exciting GTK+ theme by default called Pocillo
  • Minimal installation.

Future releases of Ubuntu 18.04:

April 5th Final Beta
April 19th Final Freeze / Release Candidate
April 26th Final release of Ubuntu 18.04
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Visual Studio Code 1.21 Supports Moving Files Across Windows

Last updated: March 9, 2018

A new update of the Visual Studio Code IDE was released. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu.

The 1.21 release of Visual Studio Code features:

  • New Notifications UI to easily manage and review VS Code notifications.
  • Integrated Terminal splitting allows to work with multiple open terminals at once.
  • Markdown preview now supports bidirectional scrolling.
  • Text buffer optimizations for large files.
  • Centered editor layout that maximize your code viewing screen real estate.
  • Drag & drop, copy & paste across open VS Code windows.
  • HTML path completion – IntelliSense for file paths in common HTML elements.
  • Language Packs in the Marketplace – Install new display languages from the Marketplace.
  • Deploy Azure Functions tutorial – Learn how to create and deploy serverless Azure Functions.
  • PREVIEW: Horizontal search results – You can now view search results in a horizontal panel.

How to Install VS Code 1.21 in Ubuntu:

The official .deb package for Debian/Ubuntu is available for download at the link below:

Grab the deb and install it via either Gdebi package manager or command (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/code_*.deb; sudo apt -f install

For those who want to receive updates for VS Code via Software Updater utility, add the Microsoft repository via following steps (64bit only):

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'

2. Download and install the repository key via commands:

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg

sudo mv microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg

Uninstall Visual Studio Code:

To remove the code editor, either use Synaptic Package Manager or run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove code

And remove the Microsoft repository by launching Software & Updates utility and navigating to Other Software tab.

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Liferea Feed Reader 1.12.2 Released with Plugin Installer

Last updated: March 8, 2018

A new bug-fix release for Liferea 1.12 was released earlier today. A plugin installer plugin was introduced that allows easy discovery and installation of 3rd party plugins.

Full changes in Liferea 1.12.2 include:

  • Adding a plugin installer plugin that allows discovering and automatically installing 3rd party plugins
  • Drop language from user agent to increase privacy
  • Add transmission-gtk and aria2 as download tool options
  • New command line option --disable-plugins (-p) to start with all plugins disabled.
  • Fix that Liferea not showing up in GNOME Software
  • Correctly print error message when failing to unlock GNOME keyring
  • Fix that CSS style for GTK link colors not used
  • Redirect location updates and adds HTTP 308 (RFC 7538) support
  • Fix unable to set unread items in bold
  • Fix broken OPML feed list entries
  • Add Norwegian feed list
  • Translation updates.

How to Install Liferea 1.12.2 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives, the new release is available in a third-party 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:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Type your password (no visual feedback while typing) when it asks 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:

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove liferea

To remove the PPA repository, open “Software & Updates” utility and navigate to Other Software tab.

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Video Cutter & Joiner ‘VidCutter’ Now Available as Snap

Last updated: March 7, 2018

The snap package of VidCutter, a free and open-source video cutting and joining software, now is available.

Which means you can search for and install the software directly from Ubuntu Software app:

Snap package, the universal Linux app packaging format, runs in sandbox and comes with most required libraries bundled. It runs in all current Ubuntu releases.

For Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 14.04, you need to first install the snapd daemon by opening terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T and running command:

sudo apt install snapd snapd-xdg-open

Then you can install the snap in ALL current Ubuntu releases either via Ubuntu Software or by running command in terminal:

snap install vidcutter

Once installed, launch it from your application launcher and enjoy!

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Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS Released (How to Install HWE Stacks)

Last updated: March 3, 2018

A new point release of Ubuntu 16.04 LTS was released last night for its Desktop, Server, and Cloud products, as well as other Ubuntu flavors.

Lukasz Zemczak announced in the Ubuntu Release mailing list:

“Like previous LTS series’, 16.04.4 includes hardware enablement stacks for use on newer hardware. This support is offered on all architectures except for 32-bit powerpc, and is installed by default when using one of the desktop images. Ubuntu Server defaults to installing the GA kernel, however you may select the HWE kernel from the installer bootloader.

As usual, this point release includes many updates, and updated installation media has been provided so that fewer updates will need to be downloaded after installation. These include security updates and corrections for other high-impact bugs, with a focus on maintaining stability and compatibility with Ubuntu 16.04 LTS.“

To upgrade from a previous Ubuntu 16.04 release, either run Software Updater and install all available updates or run command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt):

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Then check result via command:

cat /etc/issue

How to Install HWE Stacks in previous Ubuntu 16.04:

The new point release ships with an updated kernel and X stack (HWE Stacks) by default for the desktop in its ISO images.

These HWE Stacks were released in the LTS point releases as a means to enable newer platforms and components.

For those upgrading from a previous release, you need to manually install the stacks via command:

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends linux-generic-hwe-16.04 xserver-xorg-hwe-16.04

For any reason, you can uninstall HWE stacks by following this tutorial.

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Parole Media Player 1.0 Released! Install it in Ubuntu 17.10

Last updated: March 1, 2018

Xfce’s Parole media player reached the 1.0 stable series earlier today! Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 17.10 and Ubuntu 18.04.

Xfce 1.0.0 brings a new feature and following bug-fixes:

  • Added “Automatic” video output option. This uses the autoimagesink to provide the best available video sink for the environment, eliminating the dreaded ‘Could not initialise Xv output’ error.
  • Fixed 32-bit crashes when using the MPRIS2 plugin
  • Fixed crash on “Clear History” button press
  • Fixed appdata validation
  • Fixed full debug builds and resolved implicit-fallthrough build warning
  • Replaced stock icon by freedesktop.org compliant option

How to Install Parole 1.0.0 in Ubuntu 18.04, 17.10:

Ubuntu 18.04 includes the new release package in its main repository archive, just search for and install ‘parole’ in Ubuntu Software.

For Ubuntu 17.10, you can install or upgrade to the new release via an unofficial PPA. No updates for Ubuntu 16.04, since Parole now requires GTK+ >=3.20.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Type in your password (no visual feedback when typing due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then upgrade the media player via Software Updater utility:

or run following commands to install / upgrade it:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install parole

For those who don’t want to add PPA, grab the .deb package from HERE.

Uninstall:

Run following command to purge the PPA repository which also downgrade installed packages to the stock version in your Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
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VirtualBox 5.2.8 Released with Linux Kernel 4.15 Support

Last updated: April 18, 2018

Oracle VirtualBox 5.2.8 was released a day ago. For Linux guests, Kernel 4.15 now is supported and black screen issue when 3D enabled is fixed.

Changes in Virtualbox 5.2.8 include:

  • Added support for FSGSBASE, PCID, INVPCID CPU features for guests
  • fixed EMM386 issue with detecting suitable page frame base
  • Linux: prevent VM window from jumping and auto-resizing to tiny size after resizing it on HiDPI screen
  • Linux: fixed seamless regression caused by wm_class functionality
  • Front end: switched to https downloads
  • Fixed crash while opening New machine wizard
  • Added support for distinguishing recording sources in the PulseAudio mixer on the host when multiple VMs are running
  • Various fixes for the DirectSound backend
  • Added better file seeking support and fixed playback of recorded files with certain players (e.g. Firefox)
  • Various fixes for Windows guest surround setups and HDA emulation
  • Fixed an issue where the serial port parameters in the emulation and host serial port got out of sync
  • Fixed overwriting certain INQUIRY data for the DVD/CD drive attached to a AHCI controller
  • Fixed handling VMDK images created by Amazon EC2 VM export
  • Fixed PXE boot regression in e1000
  • Added a workaround for older guests which do not enable bus mastering for the virtio PCI device
  • 3D: add environment variable to configure presenting 3D content on main thread
  • Windows hosts: fixed indiscriminate binding of NDIS5 bridged driver, that caused PPPOE malfunction
  • Windows guests: fixed incorrect function error when using shared folders in certain applications
  • Linux 4.15 support, fixed black screen when 3D enabled in Linux guests
  • Linux guests: suppress setuid and setgid in shared folders

How to Install Virtualbox 5.2.8 in Ubuntu:

1. If you’re still running with VirtualBox 5.1.x, open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or from application launcher. Remove old Virtualbox via command:

sudo apt-get remove virtualbox virtualbox-5.1

2. Download & install the latest Virtualbox package from the link below:

3. If you’ve added the Oracle VBox repository, you can directly install the 5.2 release from Synaptic Package Manager or via apt command, after removing the old version.

To add the repository, do:

Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to add the repository:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian $(lsb_release -sc) contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list'

for Linux Mint 18.x, replace $(lsb_release -sc) with xenial in the code.

Setup the keyring so to trust the updates from the repository:

wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox_2016.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

wget -q https://www.virtualbox.org/download/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

Finally install virtualbox 5.2 via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install virtualbox-5.2

With the repository added, you can simply install the future 5.2 series updates via Software Updater.

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MKVToolNix 21.0.0 Released, mkvinfo’s GUI Portion Removed

Last updated: January 4, 2019

Free and open-source Matroska software MKVToolNix v21.0.0 was released days ago. The biggest change is that mkvinfo’s GUI portion has been removed.

New features and enhancements in MKVToolNix 21.0.0:

  • mkvmerge: track statistics tags: the TagDefault element will not be written anymore as it was always set to the default value 1 anyway.
  • mkvmerge, MKVToolNix GUI: JSON files can now contain C++-style line comments outside of strings (e.g. something like this: // this is ignored). Such comments, even though not part of the official JSON specifications, are now ignored when reading JSON files.
  • MKVToolNix GUI: chapter editor: opening a Matroska file without chapters in it will now open the file in an empty chapter editor instead of showing an error message.
  • MKVToolNix GUI: an “info” tool has been added, replacing the functionality of mkvinfo’s GUI. The functionality is not on par yet but will be for release v22.

For the bug-fixes and other changes, see the release note.

How to Install MKVToolNix 21.0.0 in Ubuntu:

The official apt repository offers the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10 so far.

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 xenial for Linux Mint 18.x. And input your password (no visual feedback 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 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
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Install Panorama Stitcher Hugin 2018 in Ubuntu 16.04, 17.10

Last updated: February 24, 2018

Hugin panorama stitcher has reached the 2018.0.0 release. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10.

Hugin 2018.0 is mainly a bug fix release and introduce some minor new features.

  • Several improvements for optimizer tabs:
    • mark deselected images
    • allow changing optimizer variables for all selected images at once
    • option to ignore line cp
  • hugin_stacker: New tool to stack overlapping images with several averaging modes (e.g. mean, median).
  • Added option to disable auto-rotation of images in control point and mask editor.
  • Nona, verdandi and hugin_stacker can now write BigTIFF images (for files >4 GB). The output of BigTIFF has to manually activated on the command line.
  • Added expression parser to GUI: This allows to manipulate several image variables at once.
  • Add user-defined assistant and expose it in the GUI. It allows to set up different assistant strategies without the need to recompiling.

How to Install Hugin 2018.0 in Ubuntu:

The new release has been made into Ubuntu 18.04 main archive. For Ubuntu 16.04 and Ubuntu 17.10, you can install it temporarily via following steps while Hugin PPA is not updated.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

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

2. Then run commands to check updates and install Hugin 2018:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install hugin

or upgrade it via Software Updater if a previous release was installed.

Uninstall:

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

To remove Hugin panorama stitcher, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove hugin hugin-tools
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