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SMPlayer 18.2 Released with YouTube Playlists Support

Last updated: January 25, 2018

SMplayer

SMPlayer 18.2, the second release of the free media player in 2018, was available one day ago with two new features.

Changes in SMPlayer 18.2 include:

  • Now it’s possible to use a priority list of preferred languages for the audio and subtitles.
  • Now there’s support for YouTube playlists. In the playlist window, click in the Load/save icon, select “Load playlist from URL” and paste the URL of the YouTube playlist.

SMPlayer with Mac skin

How to Install SMPlayer 18.2 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives, the latest SMPlayer packages are available in the PPA repository (check the link before getting start following steps).

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.

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Mozilla Firefox 58 Released! How to Upgrade

Last updated: January 24, 2018

Firefox 55

Mozilla Firefox reached new stable 58.0 release hours ago. Ubuntu Mozilla team has built the packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and their derivatives.

Changes in Firefox 58.0 include:

  • Loading pages faster by changing how Firefox caches and retrieves JavaScript
  • Rendering graphics for Windows users by using Off-Main-Thread Painting (OMTP)
  • Firefox Screenshots now works in Private Browsing mode
  • Copy and paste screenshots directly to your clipboard
  • Add support for Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) in Firefox on Android.
  • Added Nepali (ne-NP) locale
  • Read the release note for more details.

Upgrade to Firefox 58 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 17.10, simply launch Software Updater (Update Manager) and you’ll see Firefox in the update list after checking for updates.

upgrade firefox

If you don’t see the Firefox update, make sure “security” and “updates” repositories are enabled by Software & Updates utility:

That’s it. Enjoy!

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How to Install Wireshark 2.4.4 in Ubuntu 17.10, 16.04

Last updated: January 20, 2018

wireshark

Wireshark network analyzer 2.4.4 was released a week ago. Now it’s finally available in PPA repository for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10.

Wireshark 2.4.4 is a small release with mainly bug-fixes and updated protocol support. Bug-fixes in the release include:

  • Multiple dissectors could crash.
  • The IxVeriWave file parser could crash.
  • The WCP dissector could crash.
  • Disabled the Linux kernel’s BPF JIT compiler due to security vulnerable.
  • Some keyboard shortcut mix-up has been resolved
  • Remote interfaces are not saved.
  • Wireshark & Tshark 2.4.2 core dumps with segmentation fault.
  • SSH remote capture promiscuous mode.
  • For more, see the release note.

How to Install Wireshark 2.4.3 in Ubuntu:

Wireshark has a stable PPA with the latest packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 17.10.

1. To add the PPA, open terminal from Unity Dash / App Launcher, or via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut keys, and then run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wireshark-dev/stable

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

wireshark-official-ppa

2. For those who have a previous release installed, launch Software Updater (or Update Manager) to upgrade it to the latest:

upgrade wireshark

Or run the commands below in terminal to install / upgrade wireshark:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install wireshark

How to restore:

To restore to the stock version of Wireshark in Ubuntu main repositories, purge the PPA via ppa-purge tool:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:wireshark-dev/stable
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Wine 3.0 Released with Direct3D 10 and 11 Support

Last updated: January 25, 2019

Wine Stable

The Wine team announced the new stable release Wine 3.0 a day ago a large number of improvements and following great changes:

  • Direct3D 10 and 11 support.
  • The Direct3D command stream.
  • The Android graphics driver.
  • Improved DirectWrite and Direct2D support.

“because of the annual release schedule, a number of features that are being worked on have been deferred to the next development cycle. This includes in particular Direct3D 12 and Vulkan support, as well as OpenGL ES support to enable Direct3D on Android.”, the Wine team announced.

For detailed changes, read the announcement.

Wine running windows app in Linux

How to Install Wine 3.0 in Ubuntu:

Wine has an official apt repository contains packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10.

Wine 3.0 binary packages are in the process of being built. Once it’s published in apt repository, do following steps to install it:

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

wget -nc https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key && sudo apt-key add winehq.key

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

2. Add wine repository via command:

sudo apt-add-repository https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/

For Linux Mint 18.x, use following command instead (replace xenial with trusty for 17.x):

sudo apt-add-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ xenial main'

3. Finally check updates and install wine stable packages:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-stable

NOTE: If you get the unmet dependencies issue while installing Wine 3.0, try aptitude instead via command:

sudo aptitude install winehq-stable

The command tells you which packages broke the installation. This usually caused by wrong dependency versions. You can then manually fix the dependencies via Synaptic package manager.

For more details, see the official documentation.

Uninstall:

To remove wine-stable package, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove wine-stable wine-stable-amd64

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

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MKVToolNix 20.0.0 Released with mkvinfo Rewritten

Last updated: January 4, 2019

MKVToolNix, free and open-source Matroska software, reached 20.0.0 release a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10.

MKVToolNix 20.0.0 fixed quite a number of bugs in mkvmerge, and removed those options and features deprecated a year ago. An important change was the near complete rewrite of mkvinfo’s internals.

Important notes in the announcement:

  • Feature removal: several deprecated features have been removed:
    • mkvmerge: the deprecated options --identify-verbose (and its counterpart -I), --identify-for-gui, --identify-for-mmg and --identification-format verbose-text
    • support for the deprecated, old, proprietary format used for option files
    • support for passing command line options via the deprecated environment variables MKVTOOLNIX_OPTIONS, MKVEXTRACT_OPTIONS, MKVINFO_OPTIONS, MKVMERGE_OPTIONS and MKVPROPEDIT_OPTIONS
  • mkvinfo: most of its code was re-written in order to lay the groundwork for including its functionality in MKVToolNix GUI but with more features than the existing mkvinfo GUI. Changes include but aren’t limited to:
    • Several element names are a bit clearer (e.g. Maximum cache instead of MaxCache).
    • All timestamps and durations are now output as nanoseconds in formatted form (e.g. 01:23:45.67890123). All additional formats (e.g. floating point numbers output in seconds or milliseconds) were removed.
    • Element names for chapters and tags are now translated if a translation is available.
    • Elements located in wrong positions within the Matroska document are handled better.

How to Install MKVToolNix 20.0.0 in Ubuntu:

The official apt repository offers the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, 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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How to Install KXStitch 2.1.0 in Ubuntu 18.04, 17.10, 16.04

Last updated: January 15, 2018

Kxstitch cross stitch

KXStitch 2.1.0, free and open-source cross stitch pattern software, was released a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA.

KXStitch is a cross stitch pattern editor by KDE. The software features:

  • Importing images
  • Multiple floss palettes
  • Multiple stitch types
  • Pattern libraries
  • Reads PCStitch files
  • Flexible printing options

The latest KXStitch 2.1.0 was released silently. No announcement, no changelog. If you want to know what changed, look over the project commits on github page.

KX Stitch PPA for Ubuntu

How to Install KXStitch 2.1.0 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04 users, it can be easily installed via the unofficial PPA.

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/kxstitch

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

2. Then check updates and install the software either via Synaptic Package Manager or by running commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install kxstitch

Uninstall:

To remove KXStitch cross stitch software, either use Synaptic or run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove kxstitch

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

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uGet 2.2.0 Released with YouTube Downloading Support

Last updated: January 14, 2018

uGet download manager

uGet download manager has reached the new stable 2.2 release series. The new release features ability to download from Youtube.

“uGet respects the YouTube Policies so depending on the individual settings of a video it may not be possible to download video from YouTube. The vast majority of videos will be available for use in uGet. The reason this was done instead of using something youtube-dl is because this method allows uGet for Android to also download YouTube videos as well as not have to worry about the ever changing APIs of YouTube that consistently break alternative methods of downloading.” uGet team announced.

The “uGet Chrome Wrapper” browser extension is compatible with Firefox, Chromium, Google Chrome, Opera, and Vivaldi. It will be renamed in the near future to better reflect the functionality.

uGet 2.2.0 features:

  • Support for downloading from YouTube
  • Support for downloading from MEGA
  • Batch Downloading up to 3 Wildcard Ranges
  • Better support for Wayland
  • New Browser Extension: uGet Chrome Wrapper

How to Install uGet 2.2.0 in Ubuntu:

The new release has been made into uGet Stable PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and Ubuntu 18.04.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or from app launcher, and then run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:plushuang-tw/uget-stable

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

uGet Stable PPA

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

or you can run following 2 commands to check updates and install / upgrade uGet:

sudo apt-get update 

sudo apt-get install uget

How to Remove:

Run following command in terminal will remove the PPA and also downgrade to the stock version of uGet in your Ubuntu system:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:plushuang-tw/uget-stable

If you want to remove uGet download manager, simply search for and remove it via “Ubuntu Software” utility.

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Ubuntu 17.04 Reaches End of Life Today

Last updated: January 13, 2018

Ubuntu 17.04

Ubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus reaches end of its life today on Jan 13. Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 17.04.

Users can either upgrade to Ubuntu 17.10 (support will end in July 2018), or download Ubuntu 16.04, the current LTS with 5-year support cycle.

Ubuntu announced its 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) release almost 9 months ago, on April 13, 2017. As a non-LTS release, 17.04 has a 9-month support cycle and, as such, will reach end of life on Saturday, January 13th.

At that time, Ubuntu Security Notices will no longer include information or updated packages for Ubuntu 17.04.

The supported upgrade path from Ubuntu 17.04 is via Ubuntu 17.10. Instructions and caveats for the upgrade may be found at:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Upgrades

Note that is NOT patched against Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities due to the End of Life timing. Users are advised to upgrade to Ubuntu 17.10 and install the updated kernel packages.

Development of a complete response to the highly-publicized Meltdown and Spectre vulnerabilities is ongoing, and due to the timing with respect to this End of Life, we will not be providing updated Linux kernel packages for Ubuntu 17.04. We advise users to upgrade to Ubuntu 17.10 and install the updated kernel packages for that release when they become available.

Read the announcement for more details.

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FileZilla Client 3.30.0 Released, How to Install

Last updated: January 9, 2018

FileZilla FTP Client

The FileZilla ftp client reached the 3.30.0 release a day ago with two new features and a few bug-fixes. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10.

Changes in Filezilla 3.30.0 include:

  • In the search dialog local files can now be deleted or opened
  • The root node in the remote directory tree is now expanded by default
  • Fix uploading from search dialog
  • Fix formatting of filename in rename dialog
  • Fix Windows installer crash if an update installation is started with the updated version having been installed
  • Add additional logging if autoupdate mechanism fails

How to Install Filezilla 3.30.0 in Ubuntu:

So far the only to install the latest Filezilla client in Ubuntu is using the Flatpak package. And following steps will tell you how:

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app launcher. When it opens, do:

  • Run command to add the flatpak PPA: 
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak

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

  • Then run commands one by one to get the latest flatpak daemon: 
    sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install flatpak

2. After installed Flatpak, run following single command to install FileZilla client along with required Gnome platform.

flatpak install --from https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.filezillaproject.Filezilla.flatpakref

Uninstall:

To remove Filezilla installed via flatpak, run command:

flatpak uninstall org.filezillaproject.Filezilla

To remove flatpak, run command:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove flatpak

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

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Sayonara Music Player 1.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu

Last updated: January 4, 2018

Sayonara, a Qt music player aims to be intuitive, easy usablility, and organizes even big music collections, reached the 1.0 release a few days ago.

Changes in Sayonara 1.0 include:

  • Choose covers between Google, Discogs and Last.fm servers.
  • Cover view: Reload covers, zoom and sorting
  • Multiple library support for Directories, Library.
  • Move/Copy/Rename operations and show Song info in Directories.
  • Removed date filter support
  • Add “Clear selection” button
  • Ability to choose system icons
  • Fast preference access
  • Lyric server updates
  • Removed MTP device support
  • Moved load/save to playlist tabs instead of plugin
  • Added proxy support
  • Set custom paths for stream recorder.
  • Added preferences options for Streams/Podcast

How to Install Sayonara 1.0 in Ubuntu:

To install the latest Sayonara 0.9.1 in Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and their derivatives, do:

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and add the official Sayonara PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lucioc/sayonara

sayonara-player-ppa

2. Update and install the player via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install sayonara

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

3. (Optional) If you dislike the player, simply remove it via command:

sudo apt remove sayonara && sudo apt autoremove

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

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