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SMPlayer 17.11 Released with Small Fixes (How-to Install)

Last updated: November 3, 2017

SMplayer

The SMPlayer media player reached the 17.11.0 release earlier today. The new release features a few small bug-fixes and improvements.

Changes in SMPlayer 17.11 include:

  • The video equalizer by software has been fixed.
  • The thumbnail generator is now more precise with short videos.
  • The audio quality of the audio equalizer has been improved.
  • The option “add black borders on fullscreen” has been fixed.
  • The option “AC3/DTS passthrough over S/PDIF” has been fixed.

SMPlayer with Mac skin

How to Install SMPlayer 17.11 in Ubuntu via PPA:

The new release has made into the official PPA, available for Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal and run the following command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer

Smplayer PPA

For those who prefer Qt4 version, use the another PPA instead:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer-qt4

2. Then you can upgrade SMPlayer from a previous release via Software Updater (Update Manager) after checking for updates:

upgrade smplayer

Or you can run the commands below in terminal to do install or upgrade SMPlayer:

sudo apt-get update 

sudo apt-get install smplayer smtube

How to Restore:

For any reason, you can easily restore the installation to the stock version via the ppa-purge tool:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:rvm/smplayer

For the qt4 ppa, replace ppa:rvm/smplayer with ppa:rvm/smplayer-qt4 in the code.

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MuseScore 2.1 Available as Snap for Ubuntu 16.04 & Higher

Last updated: November 1, 2017

MuseScore, free music composition and notation software, reached the 2.1 release months ago. However, it can’t be built in Ubuntu 16.04 due to old system Qt libraries.

Besides using non-install Appimage, MuseScore 2.1 is finally available as Snap package for Ubuntu 16.04 and higher after a few months of testing in beta channel.

1. Simply open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching for “terminal” from application launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo snap install musescore

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

Or install it via Ubuntu Software (need sign in with your Ubuntu account).

2. Some interfaces need to be connected manually via commands:

sudo snap connect musescore:cups-control
sudo snap connect musescore:network-manager
sudo snap connect musescore:alsa

Once installed, launch MuseScore from application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To remove the snap version of MuseScore, either use Ubuntu Software or run command:

sudo snap remove musescore
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Kid3 Audio Editor 3.5.1 Improved High-DPI Support (How to Install)

Last updated: October 31, 2017

Kid3 audio tag editor got an update by releasing v3.5.1 earlier today with performance improvements and a few fixes.

Changes in Kid3 3.5.1 include:

  • Compatibility of imported and exported CSV files with cells containing new line characters.
  • Do not show unknown frames for ID3v2.3 TDAT, TIME, TYER, TRDA frames.
  • Enable high-DPI scaling for Qt >= 5.6.
  • Change AppStream directory from appdata to metainfo.
  • Fix crash with DSF files having sample rates other than 2822400 or 5644800.

Kid3 Audio Tagger

How to Install Kid3 3.5.1 in Ubuntu:

The software has an official PPA that so far offers most recent packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, and derivatives.

1. Open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or by searching ‘terminal’ from app launcher. Then 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 upgrade Kid3 from an existing release via Software Updater:

upgrade kid3 via software updater

or run following commands to install or upgrade the audio editor:

sudo apt update 

sudo apt install kid3

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-*
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Gscan2pdf reached 1.8.8 with some fixes (Ubuntu PPA)

Last updated: October 30, 2017

Gscan2pdf, a simple GUI tool to produce PDFs or DjVus from scanned documents, reached the new 1.8.8 release a few hours ago with some bug-fixes and translation updates.

Changes in Gscan2pdf 1.8.8 include:

  • Filter out 1 and 2 digit integers from tool warnings. Show original message, not filtered message.
  • Add option to profile only after successfully applying it
  • Fix default value for unpaper script direction.
  • Fix race condition updating widgets before they can be created after cycling device handle.
  • Fix 16-bit PNM parsing
  • Fix Perl warning about redundant argument in sprintf
  • Update to Hungarian translation

How to Install Gscan2pdf 1.8.8 in Ubuntu:

The developer’s PPA offers the latest packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, 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.

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Supertuxkart 0.9.3 rc1 Released! How to Install via PPA

Last updated: October 29, 2017

Supertuxkart, open-source arcade racing game, got a big update by releasing 0.9.3 rc1 yesterday. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA.

Supertuxkart 0.9.3, code name ‘Halloween Update’, includes following changes:

  • Android support! Get it from Google Play store, or download apk from its website.
  • Completely redesigned the old Mansion and made two brand new arenas
  • New tracks: Candela City, Las Dunas Stadium, Cornfield Crossing
  • Karts now have headlights that are automatically turned on during night time.
  • Built-in screen recorder.
  • HSV colorization for some scenery
  • various other bug-fixes and performance improvements.
  • See the release note for more details.

How to Install Supertuxkart 0.9.3 in Ubuntu:

There’s a stable PPA contains the new 0.9.3 release for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, and next Ubuntu 18.04.

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:stk/dev

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

2. If you have a previous release installed, just upgrade it via Software Updater.

Or run commands in terminal to install or upgrade to Supertuxkart 0.9.3:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install supertuxkart

While the PPA does not support Ubuntu 17.10 so far, you may download the linux tarball, extract, and directly run the executable file (“run_game.sh”) to launch the game.

Uninstall:

You can launch Software & Updates utility and navigate to ‘Other Software’ tab to disable or remove the PPA.

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove supertuxkart
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Android Studio 3.0 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: October 26, 2017

Android Studio reached the new major 3.0 release. Here’s how to install it in Ubunu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.10.

Android Studio 3.0 features:

  • Ability to develop apps with Kotlin, a newer programming language designed to interoperate with existing Java code
  • An SDK for creating Instant Apps
  • New templates for Android Things applications, XML and downloadable fonts for Android 8.0 and higher
  • A new wizard for creating adaptive icons.
  • Android Plugin for Gradle 3.0.0 with significant performance improvements to large multi-module projects.
  • Ability to create Android 8.0 emulators with the Google Play Store pre-installed

How to Install Android Studio 3.0 in Ubuntu:

You can easily install it either via Maarten Fonville’s PPA or by using Ubuntu Make in Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 17.04, and Ubuntu 17.10.

The Maarten Fonville’s PPA contains installer script that automatically downloads Linux package from Google, and installs it into /opt/ for global use.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:maarten-fonville/android-studio

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

2. Then update and install the IDE via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install android-studio

To install Android Studio 3.0 via Ubuntu Make, you need to first install the latest Ubuntu Make from this PPA. Then run command to install the IDE after accepting license.

umake android

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VirtualBox Reached 5.2 Major Release (How-to Install)

Last updated: October 19, 2017

Virtualbox

Oracle VirtualBox reached the new major 5.2 release series with great new features and various bug-fixes and improvements.

New Features in VirtualBox 5.2:

  • export VM to Oracle Cloud.
  • Unattended guest installation, similar to VMware’s “Easy Install”
  • Overhauled VM selector GUI (improved tools VM / global tools handling, new icons)
  • Added experimental audio support for video recording
  • Fixed warning about “XSAVE consistency problem”.
  • Virtual Media Manager and Snapshot Pane rework
  • Ability to enable/disable audio input/output, and more audio settings.
  • Better EFI video mode handling, and support custom video modes
  • See changelog for more.

How to Install Virtualbox 5.2 in Ubuntu:

1. 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:

Download VirtualBox for Linux

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 xenial contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list'

Depends your Ubuntu edition, replace xenial (for Ubuntu 16.04) with trusty (for 14.04, Mint 17.x, eOS 0.3), or zesty (for Ubuntu 17.04).

Virtualbox Official Linux repository

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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How to Upgrade to Ubuntu 17.10 from Ubuntu 17.04 Desktop

Last updated: October 18, 2017

Ubuntu 17.10

Ubuntu 17.10 Artful Aardvark will be released soon today. Here’s how you can upgrade from the Ubuntu 17.04 desktop.

Ubuntu 17.10 replaces Unity with Gnome Shell as its default desktop environment. It’s powered by 4.13 Kernel and runs Gnome on Wayland by default. Xorg is also available for choice.

A fresh install of Ubuntu 17.10 is recommended. But for those who want to upgrade from Ubuntu 17.04, do:

1. First is always backup your important data, bookmarks, and other user documents.

2. Launch Software & Updates utility from application launcher,

  • in first tab, choose “Download from” Main server
  • in Other Software tab, remove/disable all third-party repositories.
  • in Additional Drivers tab, choose an open-source driver if a proprietary one is in use.

3. Remove other desktop environments (KDE, Cinnamon, etc). Upgrading desktop packages may take a few more minutes in the upgrading process.

4. Make you system up-to-date by running command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

5. Finally launch Software Updater to get the upgrade option. Or run following command (-d is required before it’s officially announced):

sudo update-manager -d

Click the Upgrade button and confirm in the next release note dialog to start the upgrading wizard.

Note: while the upgrading process, you need a few clicks to confirm installing or removing some packages.

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MESA 17.2.2 Is Now Available for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS

Last updated: October 17, 2017

The latest release of Mesa graphics library 17.2.2 is now available for users of Ubuntu 16.04 to install via PPA.

Mesa 17.2.2 is a bug-fix release for the 17.2 series. It was released two weeks ago and finally available in the “Ubuntu-X” team PPA for Ubuntu 16.04.

Mesa 17.2 contains many RADV/ANV Vulkan driver improvements, Vulkan and OpenGL performance improvements, more work towards OpenGL 4.6 compliance, and a wealth of other open-source driver improvements.

How to Install Mesa 17.2.2 in Ubuntu 16.04 via PPA:

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates

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

Mesa ppa

2. Then refresh your system and install upgrades via commands:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install dist-upgrade

3. To check result, run command:

glxinfo | grep "OpenGL version"

How to Restore:

To revert back to the original Mesa 3D graphics library in Ubuntu, get into command console and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntu-x-swat/updates
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HPLIP 3.17.10 Released with 2 New Scanners Support

Last updated: October 17, 2017

HP Linux Imaging and Printing

HPLIP, an open-source HP developed Linux drivers for HP printers, has reached the 3.17.10 release. Two new scanners and Debian 9.1 are supported in the release.

New scanners supported in HPLIP 3.17.10:

  • HP Scanjet Enterprise Flow N9120 fn2 Document Scanner
  • HP Digital Sender Flow 8500 fn2 Document Capture Workstation

Download / Install HPLIP 3.17.10:

To install the software, download the package “hplip-3.17.10.run” from the link below:

HPLIP Download Page

Then open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T or search for “terminal” from app launcher. When it opens, run command:

cd ~/Downloads/ && chmod +x hplip-3.17.10.run && ./hplip-3.17.10.run

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

install hplip 3.17.10

Then follow the terminal outputs, answer some questions to build and install HPLIP on your system. When everything is done, plug/re-plug your printers and enjoy!

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