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Install LibreOffice 5.3 via PPA or SNAP in Ubuntu 16.04

Last updated: February 4, 2017

The LibreOffice office suite has reached the 5.3 stable series a few days ago. Now it’s available in both Ubuntu PPA and Snappy store.

LibreOffice 5.3 features:

The MUFFIN interfaces (Microsoft Ribbon UI)
First source release of LibreOffice Online, that offers basic collaborative editing of documents in a browser
Faster rendering performance
Many UI/UX improvements
New text layout engine
And much more, see the release note.

LibreOffice 5.3 ‘Ribbon’ UI

How to Install LibreOffice 5.3 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu 16.04 and higher, the latest LibreOffice is now available via snap package, simply run commands below in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo apt install snapd && sudo snap install libreoffice

You can also use Ubuntu Software to install the snap version of LibreOffice (need to install snapd).

To remove the Snap version of LibreOffice, either use Ubuntu Software App, or run command:

sudo snap remove libreoffice

Note that the snap packages so far have known issues, such as unreachable folders outside the Snap’s sandbox, and custom theme issue.

Also, the official PPA is available with traditional packages for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, Linux Mint 17 & 18:

1. To add the PPA, run following command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa

2. Then upgrade LibreOffice using the Software Updater (or Update Manager) utility after checking for updates:

In Howtos, News LibreOffice

GTK+ Twitter App Corebird 1.4.2 Released with some fixes

Last updated: April 4, 2019

Corebird, native GTK+ twitter client, got an update 15 hours ago with compilation and crash fixes. PPA has been updated for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, and derivatives.

Corebird 1.4.2 is a small bug-fix release to the 1.4 series, here’s the changelog:

Fix a crash when going back from a tweet with media to another tweet with media
Fix compilation with –disable-video
Decrease log level of UserStream output to debug when no internet connection is present

How to Install Corebird 1.4.2 in Ubuntu:

I’ve made the new release into PPA (unofficial) available for Ubuntu 16.04, and Ubuntu 16.10.

1. Run the following command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/corebird

2. Then upgrade it via Software Updater if you have a previous release installed.

Or run the commands to install / upgrade the app:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install corebird

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

In News corebird, twitter client

Firefox 51 Released with FLAC, WebGL 2 Support

Last updated: January 24, 2017

Mozilla Firefox web browser has reached the 51 stable release today, features FLAC playback, WebGL 2, video performance improvements, security fixes and other enhancements.

Firefox 51 release highlights:

Users can view passwords in the save password prompt before saving them
Added a zoom button in the URL bar
less CPU usage and a better full screen experience for users without GPU acceleration
Added support for FLAC (Free Lossless Audio Codec) playback
Added support for WebGL 2, with advanced graphics rendering features like transform feedback, improved texturing capabilities, and a new sophisticated shading language
An even faster E10s! Tab Switching is better!
Use 2D graphics library (Skia) for content rendering on Linux
Various security fixes and more.

How to upgrade to Firefix 51 in Ubuntu:

Ubuntu Mozilla Team is maintaining the latest Firefox packages, and will soon build and publish the 51 release via Ubuntu’s main security & updates repositories (check this page).

At that time, you can launch Software Updater and upgrade Firefox after checking for updates.

In News Firefox

Telegram Desktop 1.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 16.04

Last updated: January 15, 2017

The Telegram Desktop App finally reached the 1.0 release! Here’s how to install it via PPA or Snap in Ubuntu 16.10, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Linux Mint 17/18 and derivatives.

The popular instant messaging app, Telegram 1.0 for desktop, was released a few days ago with a fabulous new design. It features:

Consistent material design
Smooth animations
Support for custom themes
Auto sync messages from phone with computer using Telegram’s encrypted cloud.
Ability to start typing on phone, then continue on computer.

Install Telegram Desktop App via Snap in Ubuntu:

1. First time installing an app using SNAP package? You may need to install snapd via command (for one time):

sudo apt install snapd

2. The snap build of Telegram Desktop so far misses system tray icon for Ubuntu Unity.

To install the Telegram snap package in Ubuntu 16.04 and higher, simply open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo snap install telegram-sergiusens

Type in password (no visual feedback) and hit Enter. It will automatically download the snap package and install it in your system.

Uninstall Telegram (Snap):

To uninstall it, simply run the snap command with remove option:

sudo snap remove telegram-sergiusens

Install Telegram Desktop via PPA in Ubuntu:

For all current Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, and derivatives, e.g., Linux Mint and Elementary OS, Telegram is also available as .deb package in an unofficial PPA.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/telegram

Type in password (no visual feedback) and hit Enter.

2. Then search for and install the app via Synaptic Package Manager:

or just run the commands below one by one:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install telegram

Uninstall:

To uninstall it, simply run apt command with remove option:

sudo apt remove telegram && sudo apt autoremove

And the PPA can be removed by launching Software & Updates and navigating the Other Software tab.

In Howtos, News instant messaging client, telegram client

Install The Chat Software for Gamers ‘Discord’ in Ubuntu

Last updated: January 12, 2017

Discord, a free proprietary voice and text chat app for gamers, now offers official Discord stable client for Linux 64-bit.

Discord runs on Microsoft Windows, macOS, Android, iOS, Linux, and in a web browser, which all support fundamental chat-based text features. The Discord application for personal computers is designed for use while gaming, including features such as low-latency, free voice chat servers for users and a dedicated server infrastructure. Discord’s developers plan to add video calling and screen sharing. Direct calling was added in an update on July 28, 2016, with support for calls between two or more users. The company introduced its GameBridge API in December 2016 that allows game developers to directly support integration with Discord within games.

The first stable 0.0.1 release of Discord client for Linux is available for download one day ago. Just go to the official download link below, choose download .deb for Debian/Ubuntu or .tar.gz:

Discord Download Page

Then click install via Ubuntu Software or Gdebi package manager.

In News chat, Discord, game

Corebird Twitter Client 1.4 Released [Ubuntu PPA]

Last updated: January 6, 2017

Corebird, an open-source and native GTK+ twitter client, has reached the 1.4 release a few hours ago with some enhancements and bug-fixes.

The changes in Corebird 1.4 according to the release page:

Images in quoted tweets now look more like they actually belong to the quoted tweet instead of the quoting tweet.
Allow deleting tweets from the tweet info page and not just from timelines.
Fix the user completion not showing all possible results
Focus the already opened window for an account if the account gets selected in the accounts popover
Avoid window resizing when typing in the Direct Message text box
Add ‘q’ accelerator to tweet rows for quoting
Add spellchecking. This add a dependency to gspell
Increase gtk+ dependency to 3.18 to get rid of some workarounds.
Increase avatar size in profiles and slightly overlap them over the banner. Also, always show the full banner.
Fix completion popup positioning under Wayland
Add experimental meson build files
Fix some videos not playing correctly
Add a minimal video progress indicator to the video dialog
Fix the retweet/favorite count updating in the tweet info page

How to Install Corebird 1.4 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint:

The new release has been made into unofficial PPA, available for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 16.10, Linux Min 18 and derivatives. Spellcheck feature disabled due to build error.

Tip: The GetDeb repository also maintains the Corebird packages, see here.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/corebird

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

2. Then update and install Corebird 1.4 via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install corebird

If you have a previous release installed, you can also launch Software Updater to upgrade the software after checking for updates:

Or grab the .deb package directly from PPA archive page.

How to Uninstall:

To remove Corebird, simply run the command below in terminal:

sudo apt remove corebird && sudo apt autoremove

The PPA can be removed by going to System Settings -> Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.

In Howtos, News corebird, twitter client

DVDStyler 3.0.3 Released on New Year’s Day 2017 [PPA]

Last updated: January 2, 2017

DVDStyler 3.0.3, a cross-platform free DVD authoring tool, was released on New Year’s Day 2017. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA.

Changes in DVDStyler 3.0.3:

disabled copy option for non-MPEG2 video streams
added parameter “-pix_fmt yuv420p” to transcoder
fixed displaying first video frame in frame button
changed transcoding caching to allow put multiple equal video files on DVD (e.g. with different cut points)
added support of EXIF metadata in slideshow
added CBR option for menu and slideshow enoding settings (disabled by default)
added Bulgarian translation (thanks to Ivan Dobrev)
win32/win64: updated Manolito’s VBR plug-in

How to Install DVDStyler 3.0.3 via PPA:

DVDStyler does not offer official binary packages for Linux. An unofficial PPA is available with the latest packages for Ubuntu 16.10, Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 14.04, and Linux Mint 17 / 18.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler

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

2. After that, search for and install dvdstyler via Synaptic (or other) Package Manager. Or run the commands below in terminal to update and install the tool:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install dvdstyler

With the PPA repository added, you can receive future updates via Software Updater once a new release is out and made into PPA.

How to Uninstall:

To remove DVDStyler, either use Synaptic Package Manager or run the command below in terminal:

sudo apt remove dvdstyler dvdstyler-data && sudo apt autoremove

And the PPA can be removed by going to System Settings -> Software & Updates -> Other Software tab.

In Howtos, News DVD authoring tool, DVDStyler

Avidemux 2.6.16 Released On The Last Day 2016

Last updated: April 4, 2019

The open-source Avidemux video editor has reached the 2.6.16 release today on the last day of 2016 with core updates, UI / x265 enhancement and some fixes.

Avidemux can be built with visual c++ 2015 (losing some ASM)
Initialize fontconfig so that subtitling works for OS X
Update ffmpeg to 3.0.5
Improved build scripts (euma)
x265: Enforce complicancy with most devices
vaapi : Add resizer
Redone UI, revamped contrast filter
Dont use too much CPU on playback when there is no audio track
Reenabled nvenc + Fixed keyframe detection
Fixed a crash when encoding starts very slowly (x265)
Allow use of system libass, liba52,libmad (euma)

How to Install Avidemux 2.6.16 in Ubuntu:

Avidemux now has Appimage available for download in its official webpage.

For traditional Ubuntu packages, it refers to the ~~GetDeb repository~~ (no ready at the moment, check the link), and you can follow the steps below to add the repo and install Avidemux 2.6 (qt):

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the command to add the repository for Ubuntu 16.04:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu xenial-getdeb apps" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/getdeb.list'

For Ubuntu 16.10 and derivatives, replace xenial in code with yakkety.

2. Install the key so to trust the packages from that repository:

wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -

3. Finally update system package index and install Avidemux video editor:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install avidemux2.6-qt

Uninstall:

To remove Avidemux, use the command below in a terminal window:

sudo apt remove avidemux2.6-qt && sudo apt autoremove

And the GetDeb repository can be removed via Software & Updates utility (Other Software tab).

In News avidemux video editor, video editor

Virtualbox 5.1.12 Released with Kernel 4.9, 4.10 and Other Fixes

Last updated: December 21, 2016

A new maintenance release for Oracle Virtualbox 5.1 has been released one day ago with Linux hosts and guests fixes and kernel 4.9, 4.10, 2.2.68 compile fixes.

Changes in Virtualbox 5.1.12:

VMM: fixed VERR_IEM_ASPECT_NOT_IMPLEMENTED Guru Meditations with certain Linux guests if KVM paravirtualization is enabled
VMM: fixed VERR_VMX_UNABLE_TO_START_VM Guru Meditations under rare conditions
GUI: prevent a crash under certain conditions if the VM is terminated very early
GUI: fixed certain keyboard capture issues for OS X hosts.
GUI: fixed dragging guest windows in seamless mode with the keyboard captured (X11 hosts only)
GUI: fixed a problem where the new version detected dialog was covered by the appliance import dialog (Mac OS X hosts only
Storage: fixed NVMe reset processing when doing rmmod nvme; modprobe nvme in a Linux guest
Storage: fixed creating a snapshot when the VM is running and an NVMe controller is present
Storage: fixed a problem with the LsiLogic SCSI controller where requests could be lost with SMP guests
E1000: fixed “cable disconnected” issue for Mac OS X guests
E1000: fixed “TX unit hang” issue for Linux guests only
Parallel ports: fixed port enumeration on Windows host
API: don’t crash when sanitizing certain VM names
Linux hosts: automatically disable asynchronous I/O on Linux 2.6.18 kernels
Linux hosts / guests: Linux 2.6.28 compile fix
Linux hosts: compile Linux 4.9 compile fix
Linux Additions: warn the user about a known bug with older Linux guests (e.g. Debian 7) requiring manual work to get 3D working
Linux Additions: fix the graphics driver build with Linux 4.10 and later
Windows Additions: fixed a crash in the WDDM driver under certain conditions

Download / Install Virtualbox 5.1.12 in Ubuntu:

The official Linux binary packages are available for download at the link below:

Virtualbox Linux Downloads

Grab the package (i386 for 32-bit, or amd64 for 64-bit) for you system and click install via Ubuntu Software.

For those who have a previous VBox 5.1 release installed, launch Software Updater to upgrade the software if you have Virtualbox Linux repository added in your system:

To manually add Virtualbox Linux repository:

1. Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian xenial contrib" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list'

Replace xenial in the code with yakkety (for 16.10), or trusty for 14.04 and Linux Mint 17.x.

2. Then setup the keyring:

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

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

In Howtos, News Virtualbox, Virtualbox 5.1

Vivaldi Browser 1.6 Released with Tab Notifications and Renaming

Last updated: December 15, 2016

The Vivaldi web browser has reached the 1.6 release today, features ability to display notifications in tabs, rename tab stacks, and tab selection by domain.

Vivaldi 1.6 brings tab notifications features, which displays overlay icons on both pinned and regular tabs that notify you of new emails or messages coming through social media websites.

After enabling “Allow Tab Stack Renaming” in settings, Vivaldi 1.6 also allows you to rename tab stack by right clicking on a tab and choose “Rename Tab Stack” option.

Another feature: Tab selection by domain. You can select multiple tabs at once by simply holding Ctrl (or ⌘ on macOS) and double-clicking on one of the tabs. All open tabs from the same domain will now be selected.