UbuntuHandbook | News, Tutorials, Howtos for Ubuntu Linux

QuickWall – Command Line Tool Setting Wallpapers from Unsplash

Last updated: April 24, 2024

QuickWall is a free and open-source tool to grab the latest wallpapers from Unsplash and set as your desktop background.

It works with nitrogen, feh background setter as well as Xfce, KDE, Gnome, Unity. Besides setting wallpapers from Unsplash, it can also change your theme (seems only for terminal theme) based on the wallpapers.

How to Install QuickWall in Ubuntu:

1.) Open terminal from system application menu, and run command to install the Python package installer:

sudo apt install python3-pip

2.) Then install the software via command:

pip3 install QuickWall

For Ubuntu 24.04, use pip3 install QuickWall --break-system-packages instead.

How to Use QuickWall:

It’s easy to user the tool though it’s running in command line. For Ubuntu with default Gnome desktop, you can get it work with one of following commands:

QuickWall --setter gnome

QuickWall --random --setter gnome

QuickWall --search "SEARCH_TERM" --setter gnome

The wallpaper are default saved to user’s .cache/QuickWall folder. You can change the location by adding --dir flag in command:

QuickWall --dir ~/Downloads --setter gnome

For more command usage:

usage: QuickWall [-h] [--version] [--clear-cache] [--setter SETTER] [-d]
                 [--remove-id ID] [--dir DIR] [--id ID] [--random]
                 [--search TERM] [--migrate] [--set-lockscreen]

QuickWall - Quickly set latest wallpapers from Unsplash directly from
the commandline.

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  --version             show the program version number and exit
  --clear-cache         Clear the cache from the cache folder
                        (~/.cache/QuickWall)
  --setter SETTER       Wallpaper setter to be used. Currently supported
                        ones: nitrogen, feh, xfce, kde, gnome, unity
                        (default: nitrogen)
  -d, --disable-blacklist
                        Disable adding the image to blacklisted ones.
  --remove-id ID        Remove the passed ID from the blacklist.
  --dir DIR             Directory to download the wallpapers
  --id ID               Get a photo by its ID.
  --random              Get random wallpapers.
  --search TERM         Show wallpapers based on the passed term
  --migrate             ONLY FOR EARLY USERS. Move the files from
                        ~/.QuickWall to ~/.cache/QuickWall.
  --set-lockscreen      Set lockscreen wallpaper (currently for KDE)

Uninstall QuickWall:

To remove the software, simply run command:

pip3 uninstall QuickWall

In App Review Unsplash

[Ubuntu PPA] How to Install Gnome Feeds in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Gnome Feeds, a free and open-source news reader with a neat user interface, now is available to install via Ubuntu PPA for those prefer the classic apt method.

Gnome Feeds is a GTK+3 application written in Python 3. It features a simple responsive user interface based on Purism’s libhandy library. Feeds can be added via URL address and support importing and exporting large feed collection from and to OPML.

The software has been made into main repositories since Ubuntu 20.10 Groovy. For request, I’ve uploaded the latest packages into the unofficial PPA for Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20, and Ubuntu 20.10, with Ubuntu 18.04 excluded as libhandy requires at least GTK 3.24.

NOTE: It’s recommended to install the official Flatpak package, while the PPA offers unofficial .deb binary package for choice.

1.) Open terminal from your system application launcher, then run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gfeeds

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2.) While adding PPA will automatically refresh the system package cache, you can then install the feed reader via command:

sudo apt install gnome-feeds

Once installed, launch it from system application launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall Gnome Feeds:

To remove the feed reader, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove gnome-feeds

And remove the PPA either using Software & Updates utility under Other Software tab, or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/gfeeds

In Howtos Feed Reader

How to Install VeraCrypt and Create Encrypted Disk in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: April 24, 2024

This simple tutorial shows how to install VeraCrypt and create encrypted hard drive, USB stick in Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Linux Mint 20, Ubuntu 20.10.

VeraCrypt is a free and open-source disk encryption software based on TrueCrypt 7.1a. It works on Linux, Windows, and Mac OS.

With VeraCrypt, you can:

Creates a virtual encrypted disk within a file and mounts it as a real disk.
Encrypts an entire partition or storage device such as USB flash drive or hard drive.
Encrypts a partition or drive where Windows is installed.

How to Install VeraCrypt in Ubuntu via PPA:

The software offers official 64-bit .deb binaries for all current Ubuntu releases.

For arm64, armhf, ppc64el packages, there’s an unofficial PPA maintained by the administrator of “XUbuntu Developers” team.

1.) To add the PPA, open terminal from system application launcher and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:unit193/encryption

2.) Then refresh system package cache and install the encryption software via commands:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install veracrypt

How to Create an Encrypted Disk via VeraCrypt:

Once installed the software, open it from system application launcher. Then click on the “Create Volume” button to start creating an encrypted disk.

Then either select “Create an encrypted file container” for a virtual encrypted disk within a file, or “Create a volume within a partition/drive” to encrypt non-system partition, external hard drive, or entire USB stick.

Then follow the setup wizard to choose volume type, encryption algorithm, volume password, file system type, and finally click “Format”.

When everything’s done, mount the volume and you’ll be able to access it via Nautilus file browser.

For more, read the official Documentation.

Uninstall:

To remove VeraCrypt, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --autoremove veracrypt

To remove the Ubuntu PPA, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:unit193/encryption

In Howtos Disk Encryption

How to Install Tor & Tor Browser in Ubuntu 24.04 | 22.04 | 20.04

Last updated: December 3, 2024

This is a beginner’s guide shows how to install and setup Tor service and Tor Browser in Ubuntu 24.10, Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and their based systems, .e.g, Linux Mint 22/21. It should also work in Debian 11/12, and old Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 16.04.

Tor, The Onion Router, is a free and open-source service enables people to browser the internet anonymously. While Tor in Ubuntu main repositories is always old, here’s how to install the LATEST version and receive updates via its apt repository.

How to Install Tor via the Official Apt Repository:

Tor has an official apt repository that supports for all current Ubuntu and Debian releases.

1.) Open terminal either from start menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. Then run command to enable the usage of https support for apt package manager:

sudo apt install apt-transport-https

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) for sudo prompt and hit Enter. NOTE: In recent Debian/Ubuntu, this command is no longer required since apt now support https out-of-the-box!

2.) Run command to add the Tor repository:

echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/deb.torproject.org-keyring.gpg] https://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org $(lsb_release -sc) main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/tor-project.list

This command will create tor-project.list file under apt sources directory, and write the content under double quotation marks into it.

NOTE 1: For arm64 (e.g., Rasperry Pi), 32-bit Ubuntu 18.04/16.04, you have to remove arch=amd64 from the command.
NOTE 2: For Linux Mint and other Ubuntu based systems, replace $(lsb_release -sc) in the command with the Ubuntu code-name that your system based on, e.g.,

noble for Ubuntu 24.04, Linux Mint 22, etc.
jammy for Ubuntu 22.04, Linux Mint 21, etc.
focal for Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20, etc.
Run cat /etc/os-release to tell if you don’t know which Ubuntu version your system is based on.

3.) The keyring updates regularly and there’s no valid command to install it so far. As an alternative, download the latest keyring .deb package from the link below:

Download Latest Keyring (.deb)

Then install it via double-click, gdebi, or by running command in terminal:

sudo apt install ./Downloads/deb.torproject.org-keyring*.deb

4.) Finally, refresh system package cache by running command:

sudo apt update

The output should include something looks like: “Get:x https://deb.torproject.org/torproject.org …”

Then, install tor package via command:

sudo apt install tor

Or update it, if an old version was installed, via Software Updater

5.) Once installed, you can check Tor version and if it’s running via commands:

tor --version

systemctl status tor

NOTE: In case the service is not in active status, try systemctl daemon-reload then start with systemctl start tor.

How to Install Tor Browser in Ubuntu:

If everything goes OK, let’s now install the Tor web browser.

1.) Simply open terminal and run command:

sudo apt install torbrowser-launcher

UPDATE: Due to package bug in Ubuntu 22.04, it may refuse to launch. To workaround it, open ‘terminal’ and run command to edit the ‘__init__.py‘ (2 underscores before & after ‘init’) file:

sudo gedit /usr/lib/python3/dist-packages/torbrowser_launcher/__init__.py

When the file opens, change the line 98, 99, 100 and save it:

gui.move(
(desktop.width() – window_size.width()) // 2,
(desktop.height() – window_size.height()) // 2
)

2.) Then search for and open Tor Browser from system application launcher. It will automatically download & install the browser in your system.

For choice, you may open Tor Browser Launcher to select mirror, change listening port, and reinstall Tor browser.

3.) Once the download process finished, select ‘Configure’ if you’re in a Country censors Tor or behind proxy in next window, or select ‘Connect’:

When everything’s done, the Tor browser starts. That’s all. Enjoy!

Uninstall Tor and Tor Browser:

To remove Tor Browser, open terminal and run command:

sudo apt remove torbrowser-launcher

To remove Tor network service, run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove tor

The ‘Software & Updates -> Other Software‘ seems no longer display software repositories added via “signed-by” argument. To remove the repository, use command to remove the source file:

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/tor-project.list

Also, remove the keyring files via command:

sudo rm /usr/share/keyrings/deb.torproject.org-keyring.gpg

And, finally refresh system package cache via sudo apt update command.

In Howtos Tor

GTK+ Twitter Client ‘Cawbird’ 1.3 Released with Uploading Video Support

Last updated: January 1, 2021

Cawbird, free and open-source GTK+ Twitter Client for Linux, released version 1.3 with many new features, improvements, bug-fixes.

Cawbird 1.3 comes with improved DM (Direct Messages). It adds ability to send media in DMs, delete DMs, load older DMs, and fixes DM load order issue.

The new release includes new Vala implementation API allows to upload videos and larger animated GIFs.

Other changes in Cawbird 1.3 include:

Apply filtering across all feeds (including search)
Apply changes to filtering, muting, blocking and hiding RTs across all feeds instantly
Allow the filtering of mentioned @-handles
Load media in DMs and linkify users and hashtags
Use HTTPS avatars throughout
Allow Compose view to shrink to narrower screens (e.g. for PinePhone)
Design changes, stability improvements, and bug-fixes.

How to Install Cawbird in Ubuntu:

The software developer maintains OBS repository with the packages for CentOS, Debian, Fedora, Ubuntu, openSUSE. You can download the deb package directly from the link below:

Download Cawbird

To receive future updates via Software Updater, you can open terminal and run following commands one by one to add the OBS repository:

Run command to add the cawbird repository (you may replace xUbuntu_20.04 with xUbuntu_18.04 or xUbuntu_20.10 depends on your system edition):

echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:/IBBoard:/cawbird/xUbuntu_20.04/ /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/home:IBBoard:cawbird.list

Then install the keyring via command (also replace xUbuntu_20.04 to your system edition):

curl -fsSL https://download.opensuse.org/repositories/home:IBBoard:cawbird/xUbuntu_20.04/Release.key | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/home_IBBoard_cawbird.gpg > /dev/null

You can finally refresh package cache and install the twitter app via commands:
```
sudo apt update; sudo apt install cawbird
```

Uninstall Cawbird:

To remove the Twitter client, simply run command in terminal:

sudo apt remove --auto-remove cawbird

To remove the software repository, go to Software & Updates -> Other Software, and remove the relevant line.

In News twitter client

Planner – Stylish Task Manager with Todoist Support for Linux

Last updated: April 24, 2024

Planner is a free and open-source task manager with Todoist support. It’s designed for Linux with a stylish user interface.

The software is written in Vala programming language with GTK+ 3 framework. It can synchronize your Projects, Task and Sections thanks to Todoist. And it supports for offline mode, everything will be synchronized when reconnected.

The Planner UI is highly customizable. It supports light, night, and dark modes, allows to adjust font size, button layout, and toggles on / off system window decoration.

Drag and drop to sort your tasks wherever you want.
Progress indicator for each project.
Drag and Drop and create your tasks wherever you want.
Create reminders, keyboard shortcuts, export database, and more.

How to Install Planner in Ubuntu Linux:

For elementary OS, it’s available in the AppCenter. For other Linux, the task manager is available via Flatpak package.

1.) Open terminal and run command to install flatpak daemon if you don’t have it:

sudo apt install flatpak

2.) Then add the flathub repository, which hosts the software packages:

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

3.) Finally install the Planner flatpak package via command:

flatpak install flathub com.github.alainm23.planner

Uninstall Planner:

To remove the package, simply run command in terminal:

flatpak uninstall com.github.alainm23.planner

In App Review task manager

Parole Media Player 4.15.0 Released, How to Install in Ubuntu 20.04

Last updated: December 30, 2020

Parole, Xfce’s default media player, released version 4.15.0 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20, and Ubuntu 20.10.

Parole 4.15.0 features a in-window popover Playlist instead of a slide-out panel. The shuffle functionality now utilizes a sort filter instead of randomly selecting the next track, making it possible making the playback history more accurate.

The new release also features improved DVD support, including a menu option to activate the subpicture menu, DVD menu load automatically if playback does not start successfully.

Other changes include:

Each dialog ported to CSD with some cleanup and default buttons marked as “suggested”.
Add new icon.
Fix build and missing-prototypes errors.
Play control improvements and translation updates.

How to install Parole 4.15.0 in Ubuntu:

The unofficial PPA has made the new release package for Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 20.10. Ubuntu 18.04 is not supported at the moment due to a compile issue.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut key or by searching for “Terminal” from application menu. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Type user password (no asterisk feedback when typing due to security reason) when it prompts and hit Enter.

2. Then either upgrade the media player via Software Updater utility:

upgrade parole media player

or run following command to install / upgrade it:

sudo apt install parole

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

Uninstall:

Run following command to purge the PPA repository which also downgrade installed packages to the stock version in your Ubuntu:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

In Howtos xfce4

qBittorrent 4.3.2 Adds Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) Support

Last updated: December 29, 2020

qBittorrent

qBittorrent 4.3.2 was released a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu via PPA.

The new release of the Bittorrent client features an option for Internationalized Domain Names (IDNs) support, which enable people around the world to use domain names in local languages and scripts.

It now allows to add root folder to torrent content. And “HTTPS tracker validation” option is available on all platforms with latest libtorrent.

Bug-fixes in qBittorrent 4.3.2 include:

Fix broken sorting on some columns
Fix availability per file value
Fix status of torrents without metadata
Don’t try to remove folders for a torrent without metadata
Lift upper limit of “Max concurrent HTTP announces” option
Add links to libtorrent documentation
Move “embedded tracker” options to qbt section
Properly handle “Append extension” option changing
Correctly save paused torrent state
Fix bug of “move storage job” can be performed multiple times

There are also a few WEB UI changes, including ability to use ‘shift+delete’ to delete torrents, allow to attach tags while adding torrents.

How to Install qBittorrent via PPA:

The official qBittorrent PPA has built the new release packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and derivatives.

1. To add the PPA, open terminal by either pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or searching for “Terminal” from application menu. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. If an old version was installed on your system, upgrade it via Software Updater,

upgrade qBittorrent

or run following commands to install /upgrade qBittorrent in terminal:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install qbittorrent

Uninstall:

To remove qBittorrent PPA, either go to Software & Updates -> Other Software, or run command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable

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

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove qbittorrent

In News qbittorrent

TeXstudio 3.0.2 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 20.04, 20.10

Last updated: December 28, 2020

TeXstudio, an open-source fully featured LaTeX editor, released version 3.0.2 a few hours ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu, Linux Mint.

Though it’s a bug-fix version, TeXstudio 3.0.2 was released after two beta test releases. It features:

Add large number of default dictionaries.
Handle \tabularnewline correctly
Fix text insertion on selected text
Change behavior for cut buffer and Ctrl+e (insert env).
Add texdoc as selectable command
Windows build now uses 64 bit and can handle larger documents

How to Install TeXstudio 3.0.2 in Ubuntu:

Non-install Appimage:

The editor offers official Appimage package, available to download at the link below:

TeXstudio Github Releases

Just grab the .appimage package, add “allow executing as program” in file’s Properties -> Permissions dialog, and finally run it to launch TeXstudio.

Install the LaTeX editor via PPA:

The official TeXstudio PPA maintains the software packages for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 20.10.

While the PPA is not updated for the new release at the moment, you may grab the .deb binary from OBS repository (official).

Once the PPA is updated with the new release packages, you can do following steps one by one to install it:

1. Open terminal either by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard or by searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunderme/texstudio

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to add the PPA.

2. If the stock version in Ubuntu main repository was installed, remove the texstudio-doc, texstudio-l10n (if any) package before upgrading the software:

sudo apt-get remove texstudio-doc texstudio-l10n

3. After adding the PPA, you can either upgrade it via Software Updater:

or run commands in terminal to install or upgrade the software:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install texstudio

Uninstall:

To remove the LaTeX editor, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove texstudio

And go to Software & Updates -> Other Software to remove PPA repositories.

In Howtos, News LaTeX editor

GIMP 2.99.4 Released as New Development Version to GIMP 3.0

Last updated: December 27, 2020

GIMP image editor 2.99.4 was released a few days ago as the second development release for the next major GIMP 3.0.

Release highlights include:

Usability fixes across various parts of GIMP
New Paint Select tool in the playground
New generic dialog generation and metadata support API for export plug-ins
Multi-threaded JPEG2000 decoding
Initial documentation on porting plug-ins to 3.0

As Xmas present, there’s also a comic strip in the release note:

How to Install GIMP 2.99.4 in Ubuntu Linux

The new release has been made as Flatpak package available to install via flathub beta channel. Like the previous GIMP 2.99.2, you can follow this how to guide to install it in Ubuntu.