How to Install The Latest Kodi 19.2 via PPA in Ubuntu 21.04, 20.04

Last updated: October 10, 2021

This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest version of Kodi media center in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and their based systems, e.g., Linux Mint 20, Elementary OS 6 and Zorin OS 16.

Kodi, formerly XBMC, is now at version 19.2 “Matrix”. It fixed some possible crashes caused by missing timer type, missing channel icons, accessing invalid PVR channel, or switching monitors, toggling on/off HDR from Windows 10 display settings.

The big one in the release it that Kodi 19.x now is available on the Xbox, along with swap chain and HEVC DXVA2 decoder performance improvements, and 4k resolution and HDR video playback fixes. For more, see the release note.

How to Install Kodi 19.2 in Ubuntu:

Kodi has an official Ubuntu PPA. It usually contains the latest packages for all current Ubuntu releases.

1. Add Kodi PPA.

Firstly, open terminal either by searching from the activities overview screen or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard.

When terminal opens, paste the command below into it and hit Enter to add the PPA:

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

Type user password when it asks, while no asterisk feedback, and hit Enter to continue.

2. Install / Upgrade Kodi.

If you’re now running the stock version of Kodi package in Ubuntu, the Software Updater may refuse to update it. So it’s recommended to use the command below to install or update the media player.

Firstly refresh system package cache for old Linux, e.g., Ubuntu 18.04, by running command:

sudo apt update

Next, install or upgrade Kodi via command:

sudo apt install kodi

Once installed, you may open Kodi like normal apps by searching from the overview screen. Or log out and select login via Kodi session.

The PPA also provides more audio encoder and PVR add-ons packages. Install them as you need via either apt command or synaptic package manager.

How to Downgrade:

You can purge the Ubuntu PPA as well as downgrade Kodi to the stock version available in Ubuntu main repositories. To do so, run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
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How to Compile & Install Python 3.11/3.10 from Source in Ubuntu

Last updated: October 3, 2023

This simple tutorial shows how to compile and install Python 3.11, Python 3.10, or other certain Python version in Ubuntu.

For Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 22.04 LTS, there’s well trusted “deadsnakes” team PPA that maintains all the Python packages. For non-LTS releases, you may build the programming language package manually from the source tarball.

NOTE: This tutorial is tested and works in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, and Ubuntu 23.04 in my case.

1. Preparation:

Before getting started, you need to install some essential packages for building the computer language package.

Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching from start menu. When it opens, run the command below to install the dependencies:

sudo apt install wget build-essential libreadline-dev libncursesw5-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libbz2-dev libffi-dev zlib1g-dev

2. Download Python Tarball:

You can simply download the latest tarball from the Python website via the link below:

Download Python

In case you’re running Ubuntu without desktop environment, download the source package by running the wget command in terminal:

wget -c https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.11.0/Python-3.11.0.tar.xz

For other Python version, go and download via web browser in this page. And, change the version number in command accordingly.

And uncompress the tarball either by right-click and selecting ‘Extract Here‘ in file manager, or by running command in terminal:

tar -Jxf Python-3.11.0.tar.xz

3. Configure the source:

Depends on how you grab the source tarball, either right-click on it in file manager, extract, and open the source folder in terminal via context menu option:

Open Python 3.11 source folder in terminal

If you just did the tar command above, then you may navigate to source folder via:

cd Python-3.11.0/

The command varies depends on which Python version you downloaded.

When you’re in source directory, run command to configure the source with expensive, stable optimizations (PGO, etc.):

./configure --enable-optimizations

4. Build and install Python:

Finally compile and install it into “/usr/local/bin” by running command:

sudo make -j4 && sudo make altinstall

Here -j4 will start 4 threads to speed up the job. Depends on your CPU, you may increase the number or just skip it. And, when make command done, it will ask you to type password for running make install with sudo privilege.

5. Verify

If everything’s done successfully without error, you may verify by running command:

python3.11 --version
python3.11 -m pip --version

It should output the language version as well as the pip package manager version for you

5. Make Python 3.11 default

IMPORTANT: Change default Python3 in Ubuntu MAY cause issues!!! Do it at your own risk.

After installation, you may set it as default by creating symbolic links to /usr/bin/python3:

sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/local/bin/python3.10 110
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/local/bin/python3.11 100

In the first command change system default python3.10 to python3.8 if you’re on Ubuntu 20.04. Finally, run command below at any time to select which Python to use as default:

sudo update-alternatives --config python3

Uninstall Python 3.11:

Until you removed the source directory, you may first either navigate to that folder in terminal or right-click and select open folder in terminal, finally run make uninstall command to remove Python 3.11:

sudo make uninstall

If you’ve already removed the source, or the previous command does not work for you, try removing all the installed libraries manually via:

cd /usr/local/bin && rm -f sudo rm -f 2to3 2to3-3.11 idle3 idle3.11 pip pip3 pip3.10 pip3.11 pydoc3 pydoc3.11 python3 python3.11 python3.11-config python3-config
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How to Install Blender in Ubuntu 20.04, 21.10 [All the Ways]

Last updated: October 7, 2021

This tutorial shows all the ways to install the 3D creation software Blender in Ubuntu, including Snap, Flatpak, native Deb packages, and compile from source tarball.

Blender is a free open-source software for creating animated films, visual effects, computer games. It’s available to install in Ubuntu via a few different package formats. Here you may choose the one that you prefer.

1. Blender Snap package:

The software developer team offers official snap package that works on Ubuntu and most other Linux distributions. Snap is an universal Linux package format developed by Canonical, the company behind Ubuntu.

The Snap package features:

  • Easy to install.
  • Auto update.
  • Maintained by Blender Foundation.
  • Works on 64-bit modern PC only.
  • Run in box with snapd daemon, though pre-installed out-of-the-box.
  • Take more disk space than native deb package.

Install Blender Snap package:

The package is easy to install as mentioned. Simply open Ubuntu Software, search for and install Blender. From both package details and header bar, it’s marked as Snap package.

2. Blender in Ubuntu Universe repository:

Ubuntu has the 3D creation software in its official repositories. Though it’s always old, it has multi-arch support!

stock Blender package features:

  • Easy to install.
  • Official package by Ubuntu, but no update anymore.
  • Works on 64-bit PC, arm64 (Apple Silicon, Raspberry Pi), armhf, ppc64el, and s390x processors.

The stock deb package is also available to install in Ubuntu Software, though it sucks and may not work! Instead, users may open terminal by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard, and run apt command instead:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install blender

And to uninstall the package, use sudo apt remove --autoremove blender command in terminal.

3. Blender Flatpak package:

Flatpak is another universal Linux package format that was developed as part of the freedesktop.org project. Blender is available as Flatpak package in the flathub repository.

The Flatpak package features:

  • Auto update.
  • Maintained by the community.
  • 64-bit modern PC only.
  • Run in box with flatpak daemon.
  • Take more disk space than native deb package.

Install Blender Flatpak package:

To install the package, open terminal either by searching from activities overview screen or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When terminal opens, run following commands one by one.

  1. Run command to install flatpak daemon: 
    sudo apt install flatpak
  2. Add the flathub repository: 
    flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
  3. Finally install Blender via command: 
    flatpak install flathub org.blender.Blender

And it can be easily removed via flatpak uninstall org.blender.Blender command.

4. Blender Portable Linux Tarball:

The Blender website provides Linux Tarball in its download page. Just grab the package, extract in your file manager, and right-click run the executable file from generated folder will launch the program.

No installation required, but only works for Linux on 64-bit modern desktop PC and laptop.

5. Install Blender from Ubuntu PPA:

Some Ubuntu users do NOT like the Snap and Flatpak packages. Besides portable Linux tarball, third-party PPAs is one of the choices.

The PPA package features:

  • Native deb packges.
  • Able to upgrade through “Software Updater”.
  • Maintained by unofficial third-parties.

Blender PPAs:

There are quite a few Ubuntu PPAs contains the 3D creation software package. You can find them in THIS PAGE.

So far, the Rob Savoury’s PPA contains the most recent Blender 2.93.4 (check the link) packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04 and higher for 64-bit PC. However, it was built with updated FFmpeg libraries that might break other package dependencies in your system.

To install Blender from the PPA, open terminal and run the commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/blender
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install blender

And to remove the PPA packages, run following commands one by one in terminal to purge the PPA repositories which will also downgrade the installed packages:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/blender
sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

6. Blender Appimage package:

The software is also available as single Appimage binary package, though it seems not being updated regularly.

The Appimage is a non-install package works on most Linux systems. Users just have to add executable permission in file’s Properties dialog, then right-click and select run to launch the program.

The Appimage package features:

  • 64-bit PC only.
  • no installation required.
  • Runs in most Linux, like Snap and Flatpak.
  • Unofficial.

The Blender Appimage is available to download at THIS PAGE and it’s v2.90 at the moment.

7. Compile Blender from the Source:

If none of the previous methods meet your need, you can build the software package from source code, though it’s not recommended for beginners.

Build from the source features:

  • Not beginner friendly.
  • Works on all processor architecture, though Blender 2.8+ need GPU with OpenGL 3.3+ support
  • Build whatever version with optional functions as user prefer.
  • Build process may fail due to “unknown” reason, and need technical support.

How to Compile Blender from source tarball.

Firstly, download the source tarball from the link page below:

Download Blender (tar.xz)
Install the build dependencies:

1.) After downloaded the source tarball, extract it in the file manager. Then right-click on source folder and select ‘Open in Terminal‘

Blender 2.9x has an ‘install-deps.sh’ script that automatically install the build depends both from system repositories and by download and building others from source.

2.) When terminal opens after clicking the previous menu option, first run command to install essential packages:

sudo apt install build-essential git subversion cmake libx11-dev libxxf86vm-dev libxcursor-dev libxi-dev libxrandr-dev libxinerama-dev libglew-dev libwayland-dev wayland-protocols libegl-dev libxkbcommon-dev libdbus-1-dev linux-libc-dev

3.) Next, run the script to start installing build dependencies:

sudo ./build_files/build_environment/install_deps.sh

NOTE: the script may fail building dependencies from source tarballs. You may skip and/or specifies what to build via flags. And, find out the command options via:

sudo ./build_files/build_environment/install_deps.sh --help

So the command might be (run scrip with --show-deps shows required libraries):

sudo ./build_files/build_environment/install_deps.sh --with-embree --build-python --skip-oiio

4.) You may need to run the script several times to install the dependencies successfully. After that, create “build” folder in the source directory:

mkdir build && cd build

And configure the source with your preferred options, for example:

cmake ../ -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DWITH_INSTALL_PORTABLE=OFF -DWITH_BUILDINFO=OFF -DWITH_PYTHON_INSTALL=OFF

The command will generate “CMakeCache.txt” in “build” folder under source. You can edit the file to change build options.

5.) Finally build Blender if everything goes OK. Depends on how many CPU core that you have, you may change -j4 (4 threads) to -j8 to speed up the process.

make -j4

And finally install Blender via sudo make install if make succeed.

Summary:

For Ubuntu users, there are quite a few ways to get Blender running. The easiest and official way is search for and installing the SNAP package from Ubuntu Software. However, the old .deb package in universe repository support more processors, e.g., Apple Silicon, Raspberry Pi and other Mobile devices. To test without installing, there’s Linux portable tarball present in official download page. And third-party Ubuntu PPAs maintains most recent packages in native .deb format. Also, advanced users may build it from source with free options.

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Python 3.10 Officially Released with New Syntax / Typing Features [PPA]

Last updated: October 6, 2021

After several alpha, beta and rc tests, the Python programming language finally released version 3.10 today!

Python 3.10 will receive bug-fix updates in next 18 months. After that, it’s supported with 5-year security updates until October 2026.

What’s New in Python 3.10:

  • Pattern matching syntax, inspired by similar syntax found in Scala, Erlang, and other languages.
  • Support using enclosing parentheses for continuation across multiple lines in context managers
  • Allow writing union types as X | Y
  • Add optional length-checking to zip
  • Precise line numbers for debugging and other tools
  • Require OpenSSL 1.1.1 or newer
  • Remove Py_UNICODE encoder APIs
  • Add optional EncodingWarning
  • Explicit Type Aliases
  • Parameter Specification Variables

See the release note for more about Python 3.10.

How to Install Python 3.10 in Ubuntu:

The well trusted “deadsnakes” team PPA has made the packages for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and derivatives, e.g., Linux Mint 20, Elementary OS 6 and Zorin OS 16.

1.) Firstly, open terminal by either searching from overview screen or pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa

2.) Then refresh system cache and install the language via command:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install python3.10

Use Python 3.10 as default Python3:

It’s possible to make Python3 in Ubuntu to be Python3.10 via following commands. However, it causes issues, such as Gnome Terminal refuses to launch. Do it at your own risk!

  • Check current Python3 version: 
    python3 --version
  • Use update-alternatives to create symbolic links to python3 (replace python3.8 in Ubuntu 16.04 with ): 
    sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.8 1
    sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/bin/python3 python3 /usr/bin/python3.10 2
  • And choose which one to use as Python3 via command: 
    sudo update-alternatives --config python3
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Firefox 93.0 Released! Adds AVIF Support & Blocks Insecure Downloads

Last updated: October 5, 2021

Mozilla Firefox 93.0 was officially released today. The release features AVIF image support and further security improvements.

The AV1 image format (AVIF) is an image file format for storing images or image sequences compressed with AV1 in the HEIF file format. It offers significant file size reduction compare to JPEG, PNG and WebP. Google Chrome added it support since version 85. By releasing v93.0, Firefox now has AVIF image support.

Some PDF files have interactive fields to fill in data. Since Firefox 83, the built-in PDF viewer supports filling fields such as text, check boxes, and radio buttons. In the new release, it adds more forms (XFA-based forms, used by multiple governments and banks) support.

Firefox PDF viewer filling forms

To protect against potentially malicious or unsafe downloads, Firefox now blocks insecure HTTP downloads on a secure HTTPs web page, and blocks downloads in sandboxed iframes, unless the iframe is explicitly annotated with the allow-downloads attribute. Though, an option is available to select download anyway.

Other changes in Firefox 93 include:

  • Automatically unload tabs on Windows, when system is running out of memory.
  • Prompt to finish installation for macOS users first time running Firefox from a mounted .dmg file.
  • Improved SmartBlock and new Referrer Tracking Protections.
  • Fixed working with Orca screen reader.
  • And various security fixes.

How to Get Firefox 93.0:

Ubuntu will build and publish the latest Firefox packages through the security & updates (main) repository in next few days (check the launchpad build page). The best choice is just wait and upgrade Firefox using “Software Updater” once available.

For the release note, as well as download link for the portable tarball that contains non-install executable file to launch Firefox, go to:

Firefox 93.0 Release Note
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KShutdown 5.90 Allows to Auto Restart from Linux into Another OS

Last updated: October 5, 2021

The graphical auto shutdown app KShutdown released version 5.90 with feature to reboot from Linux into another OS automatically.

KShutdown is a free open-source app that provides a simple Qt based user interface. It allows users to automatically shutdown, restart, hibernate, sleep, log-out, or run a command on certain time, after a period of time, on user inactivity or other event.

The app is getting more and more powerful. The latest 5.90, beta for next 6.0 release, introduced experimental multi-booting support. User can now automatically reboot from Linux into another OS, such as Windows, from Grub menu entries.

KShutdown reboot into another OS

The new feature needs administrator user privilege to get access ‘/boot/grub/grubenv’. The app however does not apply it properly so far, and user need to start it manually via sudo kshutdown from command line.

And it does not read the Grub menu automatically, though it can be set manually in ‘Tools -> Configure KShutdown -> Restart’. Use the app ‘Grub Customizer’ to get the menu entries.

Manually write Grub Menu entries (from grub-customizer)

Other features in KShutdown 5.90 include:

  • Add “File Monitor” trigger (detects a file remove/create).
  • New configurable global shortcuts to show/hide main window, actions window.
  • Add more “journalctl” commands in ‘Tools -> Run’ menu.
  • Basic Qt 6 support.
  • Add Help → System Information menu to show basic system and app info.
  • Various minor UI tweaks and improvements.
  • And various bug-fixes.

How to get KShutdown in Ubuntu Linux

KShutdown is available in Ubuntu universe repositories though the package is old! Sadly, there’s no binary package so far for the latest release.

Download KShutdown (zip)

Grab the source tarball from the link page above, install the dependencies via command:

sudo apt install cmake debhelper extra-cmake-modules libkf5config-dev libkf5configwidgets-dev libkf5plasma-dev libkf5globalaccel-dev libkf5idletime-dev libkf5notifications-dev libkf5notifyconfig-dev libkf5crash-dev

You may then follow the ‘README.html’ file from source folder to compile the package yourself.

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How to Disable Touchpad While Typing in Ubuntu (22.04 Updated)

Last updated: December 13, 2022

While typing in my Ubuntu laptop, I was often making mistakes by tapping on touch-pad accidentally. The text cursor (aka caret) jumped to another place, and/or app window lost focus. It made me crazy since the built-in ‘disable touchpad while typing‘ option does not function in my HP laptop.

Option 1: system built-in option

GNOME has the option to disable touchpad while typing, which is enabled out-of-the-box in current Ubuntu releases. Users may access the settings either via ‘/org/gnome/desktop/peripherals/touchpad/‘ in Dconf Editor or using Gnome Tweaks tool.

Both configuration tool available to install in Ubuntu Software.

Disable touchpad while typing via Gnome Tweaks Tool

For Synaptics touchpad running on Xorg, like me, this option may not work. And, here are the few other choices I’m going to show you in this tutorial.

Option 2: Disable touchpad while typing via Touchpad-Indicator

A ten years old app, Touchpad-Indicator, has ability to toggle this function for all Ubuntu users.

It’s a free and open-source project developed and maintained by atareao team from Spain. It has option to disable touchpad while typing and set milliseconds to wait after the last key press before enabling touchpad.

It also allows to disable touchpad while mouse is plugged, toggle scrolling options and remap one-, two- and three-finger tap actions.

How to Install Touchpad Indicator in Ubuntu:

The software developer maintains an official PPA contains the software packages for all current Ubuntu releases (Ubuntu 18.04, 20.04, 21.04, 21.10) and old releases such as Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 16.04.

1.) Firstly, open terminal from start menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:atareao/atareao

2.) Next, refresh package cache and install the app:

sudo apt update && sudo apt install touchpad-indicator

Once installed, search for and open it from the overview screen and go to Preferences to change its settings.

Uninstall Touchpad-indicator:

To remove the applet, open a terminal window and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove touchpad-indicator

Also remove the Ubuntu PPA by running command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:atareao/atareao

Option 3: Single command to disable touchpad while typing (for synaptics)

Touchpad indicator is great, however it’s a little bit heavy for the single function only. Without installing any third-party app, a single command can also do the trick!

The synaptics touchpad driver for Xorg server offers a command line tool “syndaemon” that monitors keyboard activity and disables the touchpad when the keyboard is being used.

Users can simply open terminal and run the command below to test it out:

syndaemon -i 0.8 -K -t -d

The command will run the service silently in background. And the parameters are:

  • -i 0.8 tells to wait 0.8 second after last key press before re-enabling the touchpad.
  • -K makes it ignore Modifier+Key combos, such as Ctrl, Alt, and/or Shift + key combinations.
  • -t tells to disable tapping / scrolling only. Mouse movement is still possible while typing.
  • -d runs the command as daemon, in background.

Syndaemon works until reboot. If you like this method, you may make it running automatically at start up via following steps:

1.) Firstly, search for and open ‘Startup Applications’ utility from overview screen.
2.) When it opens, click ‘Add’ button and type:

  • Name: Disable TouchPad while typing
  • Command: syndaemon -i 0.8 -K -t -d
  • Comment: optional

And finally click on ‘Add’ button will make it auto-start at login.

NOTE: It has downside in my case in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS. When trying to stop syndaemon either via “System Monitor” or using sudo kill -i Process-ID command, it causes touchpad tap to click not working until reboot!

Option 4: For Ubuntu with Xorg session (Libinput driver)

The function works out-of-the-box in my Ubuntu 22.04 with the default Wayland session. User may use Gnome Tweaks to toggle the option, see screenshots in Option 1.

If you’ve switch back to “Ubuntu on Xorg” session, then this method may help for those using libinput driver.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command to edit the config file:

sudo gedit /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/40-libinput.conf

If you’re trying this in Ubuntu 22.10, replace gedit with gnome-text-editor or nano.

2. When the file opens in text editor, find out the section that contains “Identifier “libinput touchpad catchall”“. Add rule Option “DisableWhileTyping” “True”, so it will look like:

Section "InputClass"
             Identifier "libinput touchpad catchall"
             MatchIsTouchpad "on"
             MatchDevicePath "/dev/input/event*"
             Driver "libinput"
             Option "DisableWhileTyping" "True"
EndSection

3. Make sure you don’t have the synaptics driver installed, or the previous change will be overridden.

Open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to list the config file in that directory:

ls /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/

If you see 70-synaptics.conf file in the terminal output, run command to remove the Synaptics driver package:

sudo apt remove xserver-xorg-input-synaptics<.pre>

Finally, restart computer and done!

In Howtos
 

HexChat IRC Client 2.16.0 Adds New IRCv3 Features, Strikethrough Formatting

Last updated: October 2, 2021

After almost two years of development, the HexChat IRC client finally released new 2.6.0 version with a number of new IRCv3 features and strikethrough formatting support.

HexChat is a free open source Internet Relay Chat client that forked from XChat. It offers both command line and customizable graphical interface, allows to securely join multiple networks and talk to users privately.

The app supports features such as DCC, SASL, proxies, spellcheck, alerts, logging, custom themes, Python/Perl scripts, and even transfer files.

Changes in the latest HexChat 2.16.0 include:

  • Add support for IRCv3 SETNAME, invite-notify, account-tag, standard replies, and UTF8ONLY
  • Add support for strikethrough formatting
  • Update network list (including Libra.Chat as the default)
  • Update to OpenSSL 1.1.1 on Windows
  • Fix text clipping issues by respecting font line height
  • Fix URLs not being escaped when opened
  • Fix misc IRC message parsing issues
  • Remove libnotify and libproxy dependencies on Linux.
  • Print ChanServ notices in the front tab by default
  • Add CBC mode support for fishlim plugin.
  • Rewrite plugin in python with CFFI This lowers memory usage and fixed conflicts with many C Python modules including pygobject.

How to install HexChat 2.16.0 in Ubuntu:

The Windows exe as well as source tarball are available to download at its official website.

For Ubuntu and other Linux, the client so far only available via universal Flatpak package which runs in sandbox. And below is how to install HexChat 2.16.0 flatpak in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Ubuntu 21.10 and their based systems.

1.) Firstly, open terminal by either searching from activities overview screen or press Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard.

2.) Next install the Flatpak daemon if you don’t have it, by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install flatpak

NOTE for Ubuntu 18.04, you have to add THIS PPA to be able to install the package.

3.) Add the flathub repository that hosts the flatpak packages by running command:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

4.) Finally install the HexChat IRC client via command:

flatpak install flathub io.github.Hexchat

NOTE the Flatpak package co-exists with native deb and snap, so you may have more than one app icons in overview search box. If so, you may run the command below in terminal to launch HexChat Flatpak:

flatpak run io.github.Hexchat

How to Remove HexChat:

To remove the HexChat flatpak package, open terminal and run command:

flatpak uninstall --delete-data flathub io.github.Hexchat

And run flatpak uninstall --unused command will remove unused runtime libraries to free up your disk space.

In Howtos
 

How to Access Clipboard (Copy & Paste) History in Ubuntu via GPaste

Last updated: October 1, 2021

For those doing copy & paste actions frequently in Ubuntu Linux, GPaste remembers the clipboard history and allows to find them easily via few click.

The clipboard is the place to store the text, image, file path and all the stuff that you last copied (or cut). The content in clipboard will be overwritten once you do another copy & paste action. So, when you trying to find out what you’ve copied earlier, a clipboard manager will be helpful.

Install and Use GPaste:

GPaste is a free open-source clipboard manager that keep a trace of what you’re copying and pasting. It offers an indicator applet in system tray, allows you to search from history, single click to copy to clipboard, so to paste to anywhere as you want. And, a global switch is present to toggle tracking clipboard changes.

By clicking on the home icon in the drop-down menu, it brings up the main app window. There you may do all the functions, including create, edit, and/or delete content from the clipboard history. And, the hamburger icon on header bar allows to change the app settings and keyboard shortcuts.

Install GPaste in Ubuntu Linux:

For Ubuntu with default GNOME desktop, open terminal either by searching from overview screen or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard.

When terminal opens, run command to install the gpaste and extension packages in Ubuntu 18.04 & Ubuntu 20.04:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extensions-gpaste

NOTE for Ubuntu 21.04 and Ubuntu 21.10, the package name has changed (removed ‘s’ in ‘extensions’). So command will be:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-gpaste

Other Linux, such as Fedora may install the clipboard manager via sudo dnf install gnome-shell-extension-gpaste command.

Restart Gnome Shell:

The indicator applet is provided by Gnome Extension, users have to restart GNOME Shell to allow working. To do so, press Alt+F2 key combination on keyboard, type r in pop-up ‘Run a Command’ dialog, and hit Enter.

For Wayland session, you need to log out and back in to restart Gnome Shell.

Enable GPaste Indicator:

Search for and open gpaste from the overview screen will launch the main app window. For the indicator applet, enable it via Gnome Extensions app.

Firstly, open terminal (press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard) and install Gnome Extensions app if you don’t have it:

sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-prefs

Next, launch ‘Gnome Extensions’ app, scroll down and turn on the slider icon to enable GPaste indicator:

And click on the gear button to change it settings as you like.

That’s all. Enjoy!

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OBS Studio 27.1.1 Adds YouTube Integration, 18-scene Multiview

Last updated: September 29, 2021

Free open-source live streaming app, OBS Studio 27.1.1, was released. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, Linux Mint 20, and derivatives.

OBS Studio 27.1.1 is a hot-fix release for version 27.1, which was released yesterday. It introduced YouTube integration, so users can connect YouTube account without using a stream key. And, it features a new “Manage Broadcast” button to create and manage YouTube streams, a chat dock for public and unlisted broadcasts, set settings on per stream base, and bandwidth testing support in the Auto-Configuration wizard.

Other features include a 18-scene multiview option, a “Mask Only” option to the stinger track matte, an option to draw safe areas in the preview, and a feature to browser sources to allow limited control over OBS.

OBS Studio 27.1 also features user interface tweaks and performance improvements, such as optimize media source to reduce CPU usage, re-enable drag & drop for scenes & sources on Linux, and more. See the release note for more details.

How to Install OBS Studio 27.1 in Ubuntu:

Universal Snap and Flatpak packages:

The Open Broadcaster Software is available as SNAP package, which can be installed via Ubuntu Software. If you have already installed the package, it will be updated to the new 27.1 automatically once the maintainer published it!

Also, the recording and live streaming app can be installed via universal Flatpak package via this page.

OBS Studio PPA:

The software has an official Ubuntu PPA for those prefer the classic deb package format. It so far supports for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 21.04, and their based systems, e.g., Linux Mint 20, Elementary OS 6, and Zorin OS 16.

1.) To add the PPA, search for and open terminal from activities overview or press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When terminal opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio

2.) Update the system package cache. For Ubuntu 18.04 and some Ubuntu based distros, users have to manually refresh the system package cache by running command in terminal:

sudo apt update

3.) Finally copy and paste the command below into terminal, and run to install the broadcaster app:

sudo apt install obs-studio

Or, upgrade the app via “Software Updater” (Update Manager) if an old version was already installed on your system.

How to Remove OBS Studio:

To remove the package, also run apt command in terminal with ‘remove’ flag:

sudo apt remove --autoremove obs-studio

And remove the Ubuntu PPA either using Software & Updates utility by removing the relevant line from ‘Other Software’ tab.

Or, run the command below in terminal instead:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:obsproject/obs-studio
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