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JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2.3 was release one day ago with some new features, usability improvements, and numerous bug-fixes.

According to the release note, IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2.3 fixed bugs and improved usability to SQL database, docker, UML, CSS modules, JavaScript, and more.

IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2 splash

Download / Install IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2.3:

The official source tarballs (non-install) are available for download at the link below:

IntelliJ IDEA for Linux

Just extract and run executable file to launch the IDE.

An unofficial PPA is also available which contains an install script that automatically:

  • downloads the official source tarball via wget.
  • extracts to /opt/ for global use.
  • installs icon and application shortcut for Ubuntu integration.

1. To add the PPA, open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

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

2. Then check updates and install the script:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install intellij-idea-community

For the ultimate edition, use intellij-idea-ultimate in the last command.

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

Uninstall:

To uninstall IntelliJ IDEA installed via the script in PPA, run command:

sudo apt-get remove intellij-idea-community intellij-idea-ultimate

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

Budgie Desktop 10.4 for Ubuntu and Debian users was released earlier today. It has been made into main repositories of Ubuntu 17.10. And here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04 via PPA.

Budgie 10.4 is considered a major release on our 10.x series, with significant improvements to applets, panels, and personalization of Budgie. This release also introduces polish to Alt+Tab, animations, and Budgie Menu!

Budgie 10.4 features:

  • maximize and unmaximize animations for applications.
  • Alt+Tab switcher now prefer the theme icon instead of the X11 icon
  • New ‘Night Light’ applet which can help reduce eye strain
  • Places indicator, workspace applet, and other applet improvements.
  • Searching in App Launcher has been completely overhauled.
  • vertical panels can be set on the left or right.
  • Budgie panel now has dock mode.
  • Budgie Settings now is a dedicated application
  • See other more changes in the release note.

How to Install Budgie 10.4 in Ubuntu via PPA:

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

  • For Ubuntu 16.04, run command:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:budgie-remix/ppa
  • For Ubuntu 17.04, use another PPA:
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntubudgie/backports

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

2. Then check updates and install budgie desktop 10.4 via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install budgie-desktop

Once installed, log out and select login with Budgie Desktop session:

Uninstall:

To remove Budgie desktop, run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove budgie-desktop budgie-indicator-applet

The PPA can be removed via “Software & Update” utility under Other Software tab.

GIMP extra color palettes

The development version of GIMP image editor reached the 2.9.6 release a day ago.

As pre-release for the next major GIMP 2.10, here’s how you can install and test the 2.9.x series in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and their derivatives.

GIMP 2.9.6 release highlights:

  • It’s now multi-threaded for modern processors
  • Better Hi-DPI support
  • Better Adobe PSD file support
  • Metadata Viewing and Editing
  • Several new filters
  • Crop presets (2×3, 3×4, 16:10, 16:9, square)
  • And see the release note for more.

How to Install GIMP 2.9.x in Ubuntu:

There’s a PPA repository contains the latest development GIMP packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and Ubuntu 17.10.

1. Note that GIMP 2.9.x is unstable! It should not be used in production!

2. The PPA grab the source from GIMP git repository, and it’s just bumped to 2.9.7. So following steps installs ‘GIMP 2.9.7’

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

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

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

2. Then upgrade GIMP from an existing release via Software Updater utility:

or simply run commands to check updates and install GIMP:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install gimp

How to Restore:

You can easily restore GIMP image editor to the stock version (distribution build) in your Ubuntu by purging the PPA via command:

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

And if you want to re-install the latest stable GIMP (2.8.22 so far), see this tutorial after purging the previous PPA.

Kodi 17.4 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: August 24, 2017

Kodi media center, formerly known as XBMC, reached the 17.4 release a few days ago with a bunch of bug-fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and their derivatives.

Changes in Kodi 17.4 include:

  • Potentially fix crashing on Windows due to an issue in Python
  • Potentially fix crashing on Windows when enabling zeroconf
  • Fix sporadic crash on Windows when installing or updating add-ons
  • Fix issue for users with reverse proxies attempting to forward websockets.
  • Fix possible issue if Linux distro uses system ffmpeg and cause black screen with 10-bit H.265
  • Properly throttle scraping music information online to prevent overloading the provider
  • Fix native keyboard on iOS 11
  • Fix potential crash on Android O loading App icons
  • Fix non showing Kodi banner on Android O
  • Fix potential crash on Android with certain keymaps
  • Fix wrong detection of VP6 and VP8 videocodec on Android
  • Update FFmpeg to 3.1.9
  • Set hard requirement to use FFmpeg 3.1.x only
  • Fix for Hangup when viewing recording and pressing next/previous
  • Fix merged scraped album type and label correctly with that derived from tags from music files
  • Fix possible crash on Linux when using ALSA
  • Save skin settings immediatly after they have changed instead of only on shutdown

How to Install Kodi 17.4 in Ubuntu:

Kodi has an official PPA that contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 17.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

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

kodi ppa

2. For those who have previous release installed, upgrade the media center via Software Updater:

upgrade Kodi

or run commands to check updates and install kodi:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install kodi

Once installed, log out and log in back with Kodi session, or launch Kodi from Unity Dash, Gnome app launcher, or other app launcher.

Uninstall:

Run command to purge the PPA which also downgrade Kodi to its stock version in your Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:team-xbmc/ppa

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove kodi

Audacious music player

Audacious audio player reached 3.9 release a few days ago with many new features, Qt UI enhancements, usability improvements, and various bug-fixes.

Audacious 3.9 release highlights:

  • New ‘View’ menu and additional options in Settings.
  • Full drag-and-drop capability for playlist entries
  • Configurable playlist columns (add, remove, resize, and rearrange)
  • New controls for stream recording
  • Improved playlist search bar, which hides until Control+F is pressed.
  • Integrated menu items and keyboard shortcuts for the Playlist Manager and Search Tool
  • Better high-DPI support and many other cosmetic fixes
  • audtool gains better support for multiple playlists with the --select-displayed and --select-playing commands
  • Recursive adding of folders specified in M3U playlists
  • See the release note for details.
Audacious GTK and Winamp like interface

Audacious GTK and Winamp like interface

How to Install Audacious 3.9 in Ubuntu:

The Webupd8Team PPA has made the packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Linux Mint 18.x, and derivatives.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8

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

2. Upgrade Audacious via Software Updater (Update Manager) if you have a previous release installed:

Or run following commands one by one to check updates and install the audio player:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install audacious audacious-plugins

Uninstall:

You can restore the Audacious music player to its stock version in your Ubuntu by puring the PPA via command:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8

You can then remove the audio player as you want via Ubuntu Software utility.

MKVToolNix, a set of Matroska tools for Windows and Linux, has now reached the 15.0.0 release with improved support for new track header elements and a couple of bug-fixes.

MKVToolNix 15.0.0 release highlights:

  • Add “Set destination file name from selected file’s name” option to the “source files” context menu for multiplex tool.
  • Add “Only use the first source file that contains a video track” option in the preferences on “Multiplexer” → “Output”.
  • Ctrl+Up/Down keys to move up/down selected jobs
  • Add support for the “video projection” track header attributes for the GUI, mkvmerge, mkvinfo, and mkvpropedit.
  • Add support for editing the video colour attributes for the GUI and mkvpropedit.
  • Remove the keyboard shortcuts for switching between the different tools in GUI

How to Install MKVToolNix 15.0.0 in Ubuntu:

The tool has an official Linux repository offers the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04 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 http://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

Gscan2pdf, a simple graphical tool to produce PDFs or DjVus from scanned documents, reached the new 1.8.5 release a day ago with some new features.

Five clicks are required to scan several pages and then save all or a selection as a PDF or DjVu file, including metadata if required.

gscan2pdf can control regular or sheet-fed (ADF) scanners with SANE via libimage-sane-perl, scanimage or scanadf, and can scan multiple pages at once. It presents a thumbnail view of scanned pages, and permits simple operations such as cropping, rotating and deleting pages.

OCR can be used to recognise text in the scans, and the output embedded in the PDF or DjVu.

PDF conversion is done by PDF::API2. The resulting document may be saved as a PDF, DjVu, multipage TIFF file, or single page image file.

Changes in gscan2pdf 1.8.5 include:

  • Add support for Poppler (pdftops) as postscript backend.
  • Remove support for libsane-perl
  • Reapply current scan settings for those scanners that reset them when forcing a reload
  • Eliminate unnecessary strings from gscan2pdf.pot to prevent unnecessary work and confusion on the part of the translators.
  • Add A3 to default paper sizes
  • Translation updates.

How to Install Gscan2pdf 1.8.5 in Ubuntu:

The developer’s PPA offers the latest packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and derivatives.

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

1. Add the PPA via command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jeffreyratcliffe/ppa

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

gscan2pdf ppa

2. For those who have a previous release installed, upgrade it through Software Updater:

upgrade gscan2pdf

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.

Gnome Twitch App

Gnome Twitch, GTK+3 Twitch app for Linux desktop, now is available as Snap package in beta channel for testing.

WebUpd8 PPA is maintaining the latest Gnome Twitch app for Ubuntu, however, Ubuntu 16.04 LTS is excluded due to old system GTK+3 libraries.

Now Ubuntu 16.04 and even Ubuntu 14.04 users can easily install the latest Gnome Twitch app via snappy store, though it’s in beta stage at the moment.

1. For those who’ve never installed a snap app, install the snapd deamon first in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo apt install snapd snapd-xdg-open

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

2. Install Gnome Twitch snap app via command:

sudo snap install --beta gnome-twitch

3. And gnome environment is required. Install and connect to it via 2 commands:

sudo snap install gnome-3-24

sudo snap connect gnome-twitch:gnome-3-24-platform gnome-3-24:gnome-3-24-platform

Finally launch the app from your application launcher and enjoy! And it should automatically update itself once a new release is out and published in snappy store.

Uninstall:

To remove Gnome Twitch snap app, simply run command:

sudo snap remove gnome-twitch

You may also remove the gnome-3-24 snap if you don’t require it via sudo snap remove gnome-3-24 command.

JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA java IDE has reached the new point release 2017.2.2 a few hours ago. The new release brings some new features, numerous bug-fixes and improvements.

Changes in IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2.2 includes:

  • Fix crashes that occurred with the use of using custom fonts
  • Fix wrong HiDPI scaling on multiple monitors for Windows 10
  • Kotlin pugin updated to 1.1.4
  • Support for CSS Modules with LESS and SASS
  • XQuery/XPath with Language Injection
  • Favorites in the Database tool window
  • Fix major performance regression

IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2 splash

How to Install IntelliJ IDEA 2017.2.2 in Ubuntu:

JetBrains offers official Linux packages for download at the link below:

Download IntelliJ IDEA for Linux

Just extract and run the executable file to launch the Java IDE.

For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, you can also use the installer script available in the link below.

Run the script will download the official package from JetBrains web server, then install it in your Ubuntu automatically with application shortcut integration.

Then install the script via command:

sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/intellij-idea-*_2017.2.2-1_all.deb

To automatically update the installer script, add the PPA repository via command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Uninstall:

To remove IntelliJ IDEA installed via the script, run command:

sudo apt-get remove intellij-idea-community intellij-idea-ultimate

Avidemux Video Editor Reached 2.7.0 Release

Last updated: April 4, 2019

Avidemux video editor

The Avidemux video editor has reached the new version series 2.7.0 release earlier today.

The official website wrote in the announcement:

On windows, some antivirus do not like recent versions, it is a false positive. There is no virus/trojan…… The code is generated on linux.

Changes in Avidemux 2.7.0 include:

  • FFmpeg switched to the 3.3.x branch
  • Fixed frame computation bug that led to bad cutting
  • Put log files into the local folder for Win32.
  • Steplessly zoom paused video when the window is resized
  • Added Ctrl+Shift+C shortcut to copy the current PTS to clipboard
  • HEVC decoding via DXVA2 blacklisted on win32, active on win64
  • Fix VP9 decoding
  • New filter:ADM ivtc
  • Distinguish between AC3 and EAC3 when importing
  • UI improvements and more.

Avidemux 2.7.0

Download / Install Avidemux 2.7.0 in Ubuntu:

The getdeb repository and Thanh Tung Nguyen’s PPA maintain the Avidemux packages for Ubuntu, though the two repositories do not update with the new 2.7.0 release at the moment of writing.

The official AppImage, a single executable file for all Linux, is available for download at the link below:

Download Avidemux (AppImage)

Make the AppImage executable from its ‘Properties’ dialog, and run the file will launch the video editor:

If you don’t see ‘Run’ option, go to menu Edit -> Preferences -> Behavior -> tick the box says ‘Run executable text files when they are opened’, and finally re-open Nautilus file browser.