The free and open-source DJ mixing software, Mixxx, announced the beta version of the next major 2.4 release series a few days ago!
The new Mixxx 2.4 added support for saving loops as hotcues, and native Apple Silicon support for better performance on M1, M2, etc., devices.
The release also features explicit sync leader support, new controller mapping scripting engine (ES2016 support), new “all-shaders” scrolling waveforms for much better UI performance, new Quick Effect selector and effect chain buttons.
Other changes include:
background color for quick cover art preview
cover art fetcher to the Musicbrainz dialog
support exporting crates, playlists and the library to Engine Prime and Denon standalone controllers
Add support for m4v files
Add experimental QML user interface
Noise active effect, pitch shift effect, distortion effect.
Drop Ubuntu 18.04 support, add NixOS support.
And numerous other changes including search improvement, optimized database, history cleanup, and more and more. See this page for details.
How to Install Mixxx 2.4 Beta in Ubuntu:
Mixxx has an official Beta PPA contains the package for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 23.04 and Ubuntu 23.10.
NOTE: At the moment of writing, the 2.4 Beta package in PPA is borken due to missing dependency. So, check the link above! And do the commands below when the PPA successfully updated.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mixxx/mixxxbetas
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Then, update system package cache for Linux Mint, etc:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, install Mixxx 2.4 beta package by running command:
sudo apt install mixxx
Before the maintainer fixed the PPA package, user can compile Mixxx 2.4 Beta from the source tarball.
The Bluefish text editor just got a new bug-fix release today!
It’s Bluefish 2.2.14, that fixed crashes when deleting backup files on close, when closing some of the dialogs in flatpak app, and when the CSS language file was loaded on a 32-bit system.
Furthermore, the release fixed zencoding functionality with python3, added option to store the scope of the search dialog to the session or project which was removed in 2.2.12 release. Also, it improves the speed of the bookmarks code.
Bluefish 2.2.14
How to Install Bluefish in Ubuntu
Bluefish is available in Ubuntu repository, but always old. For the most recent releases, either use the official Flatpak package, third-party PPA, or build it from source by yourself.
Option 1: Flatpak package
Bluefish provides official package through Flatpak that works in most Linux but runs in sandbox.
Ubuntu user can press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal, and run the commands below one by one to install the package:
At the moment of writing, the Flatpak package is still v2.2.13. You can run flatpak update nl.openoffice.bluefish to update it when the new package is published.
Option 2: Ubuntu PPA (unofficial)
As you can see in the screenshot above, the Flatpak package will install hundred MB of run-time libraries. So, this unofficial PPA is here for choice.
The PPA supports Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, Ubuntu 23.04, and their based systems with both x86_64 and arm64/armhf CPU architecture types.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:
Type user password (no visual feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. For the old Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint users, manually refresh the system package cache by running command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, either run command to install the text editor:
sudo apt install bluefish
Or, open “Software Updater” and use the tool to upgrade the previous Bluefish package to the latest.
Option 3: Build Bluefish text editor from source
For those who can’t wait, it’s not hard to compile the package from source tarball. And, following steps are tested and work in my case in Ubuntu 23.04.
1. First, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to install the dependency libraries:
For Ubuntu 24.04, Ubuntu 23.10, Fedora 38 and other Linux with GNOME 44 ~ 46, there’s now an extension allows to change display name of audio output devices from the top-right aggregation menu (aka Quick Settings).
By default, the speakers and headphones in the sound output sub-menu is a bit too explicit, that are not very clear to understand. To make the menu easy to read, you may rename them to just “headphones”, “built-in speaker”, or whatever that you want.
1. To install the extension, first open Ubuntu Software, search and install “Extension Manager”:
Install Extension Manager in Ubuntu 22.04+
For Ubuntu 23.10/24.04, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run the command below instead to install it:
sudo apt install gnome-shell-extension-manager
2. Then launch “Extension Manager”, navigate to ‘Browse’ tab, finally search and install the “Quick Settings Audio Devices Renamer” extension.
For Fedora and other Linux, go to this web page and use ON/OFF switch to install the extension.
3. Once installed the extension, switch back “Installed” tab in Extension Manager (or open GNOME Extensions app). Then, click open the settings for that extension, finally click on the ‘pencil’ icon to edit the name of corresponding output device.
You can even insert emojis in the name, either by using a emoji picker or copy from “Gnome Characters” app.
Want to let “Open in Terminal” context (right-click) menu option work for another terminal emulator? Here’s an extension to do the similar job for Nautilus.
When right-clicking on either a folder or blank area in file manager, there’s an “Open in Terminal” menu option to launch system default terminal with that folder as working directory.
The option in Ubuntu so far is provided by the built-in gnome-terminal package. Meaning no way to use the option for another terminal emulator. However, there’s an extension can add similar option to open terminal from in-side folder.
And not only for Gnome Terminal, the extension supports many other terminal emulators:
Then, select download either “nautilus extension” for default GNOME desktop or “caja extension” for MATE desktop. Finally, double-click to open it with either AppCenter or Software Install depends on your Ubuntu edition, then click install.
Option 2: Use Python package
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then run command to install git and python3-nautilus package:
After installed the extension, apply it by running command to quit Nautilus:
nautilus -q
Then, open “Dconf Editor” (install it from Ubuntu Software or App Center) and navigate to ‘com/github/stunkymonkey/nautilus-open-any-terminal‘. Finally, set the value of ‘terminal’ to tell which terminal emulator to use.
You can of course choose another terminal emulator by running command (replace kgx with yours terminal app):
gsettings set com.github.stunkymonkey.nautilus-open-any-terminal terminal "kgx"
Tip: You may also remove the built-in ‘Open in Terminal’ option by running command:
sudo apt remove nautilus-extension-gnome-terminal
Uninstall
To get rid of the context menu option, simply open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command to uninstall the python package:
This simple tutorial shows how to install brave browser via the new apt source policy in Ubuntu 24.04 & 22.04.
Due to security issue, Debian changed its policy for adding apt sources. Ubuntu is changing the rules too. Since Ubuntu 22.04, it uses more secure key files with digital signature for system repositories and PPAs.
Since Ubuntu 23.10, it now uses deb822 .sources file instead of the previous .list file for third-party repositories. And, the new source files include ‘Signed-by’ section to specify the key file.
Step 1: Install curl command line download tool
First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to install curl and apt-transport-https package:
sudo apt install apt-transport-https curl
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks.
Step 2: Download & Install the key
Then, run curl command to download the key file and save it into /usr/share/keyrings folder.
This can be done by running the single command below in terminal:
Replace gedit with gnome-text-editor for Ubuntu 24.04.
2. Then in the pop-up text editor window, paste following lines:
Types: deb
URIs: https://brave-browser-apt-release.s3.brave.com/
Suites: stable
Components: main
Architectures: amd64
Signed-By: /usr/share/keyrings/brave-browser-archive-keyring.gpg
As you see, the new source file is easy to read, but a bit hard to write for beginners. See this thread for more about it.
Step 4: Update cache & install Brave Browser
After saving the file in last step, you can now run commands below to refresh the system package cache:
sudo apt update
And, finally install the web browser via command:
sudo apt install brave-browser
You don’t have to run the command every time when a new release is out. Just launch “Software Updater”, newer release of the browser package will be available there along with system package updates.
Uninstall Brave:
To remove brave browser package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:
sudo apt remove --autoremove brave-browser
And remove the apt source repository by running command:
For developers who want to prepare their project for the latest Python releases, here’s how to install Python 3.12 in all current Ubuntu releases.
Python 3.12 finally goes stable. It features more flexible f-string parsing, Per-Interpreter GIL, new type annotation syntax for generic classes, support for the Linux perf profiler, and many performance improvements, but removed the distutils package and wstr from Unicode. See more about Python 3.12.
How to Install Python 3.12
Python is easy to install in Ubuntu by either using the popular Deadsnakes PPA or building from the source. Choose either one that you prefer.
Option 1: Install Python 3.12 from PPA
For Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and their derivatives such as Linux Mint 21, the Deadsnakes PPA has made the packages for all supported CPU architecture types: amd64, arm64/armhf, ppc64el, and s390x.
1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. Then paste the command below and hit run to add PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa
Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.
2. Ubuntu 20.04+ automatically refresh package cache while adding PPA. However, Linux Mint user may need to do this job manually by running command:
sudo apt update
3. Finally, run command to install Python 3.12:
sudo apt install python3.12
Option 2: Compile and install Python 3.12 from source
Don’t trust third-party repositories or you’re running Ubuntu 23.04 or Ubuntu 18.04? It’s easy to build Python from the source tarball.
1. First download the source tarball from its ftp download page:
Finally, run command to set default for /usr/bin/python executable if more then one available:
sudo update-alternatives --config python
Use pip installer for Python 3.12
Due to PEP 668, pip install does no longer work like before. The recommended way to use pip is create a virtual environment first, though there are few workarounds.
First run command to install the pyvenv binary:
sudo apt-get install python3.12-venv
Then, create a virtual environment by running command:
python3.12 -m venv ~/.venv/mypythonapp
This command will create a .venv hidden folder in your user home folder then create a virtual environment called mypythonapp (replace the name as you want).
Next, use the source command to get into that virtual environment:
source ~/.venv/mypythonapp/bin/activate
Finally, run pip command to install a python package.
Tips: Without running source command every time, you may optionally add that virtual environment into PATH, so it can be run in anywhere in terminal.
To do so, either run command below, which works for the terminal window only, or paste it into the end of .profile file (press Ctrl+H in user home to view it) and log-out and back in.
export PATH=$HOME/.venv/mypythonapp/bin:$PATH
Uninstall Python 3.12:
If you installed Python 3.12 using the PPA repository, simply open terminal and run command to remove it:
RedHat announced the release of Podman Desktop 1.0 general availability (GA) on Tuesday. Here’s how to install it in all current Ubuntu releases.
Podman Desktop is a container management tool. It provides a simple and user friendly user interface to easily create, manage, and deploy Podman, Docker, Lima, Openshift Local, Kind, etc containers and complex container configurations all in one place.
The app provides out-of-the-box Kubernetes environment based on Kind, allowing to create a multi-node Kubernetes cluster on local machine, and test applications without having to install and configure Kubernetes manually.
Other features include:
Install and run in Windows, macOS, and Linux
Keep Podman and other dependencies up to date
Manage multiple container engines at the same time.
The application is available to install in most Linux using Flatpak package. Fedora 38 & Linux Mint 21 can simply search for and install it from either Gnome Software or Software Manager.
For all current Ubuntu users, follow the steps below one by one to get it.
1. First, open terminal either by searching from ‘Activities’ overview or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard.
2. Then, run command to enable flatpak support.
sudo apt install flatpak
Ubuntu 18.04 user need to run the 2 sudo commands to add the Flatpak PPA first.
3. Finally, install Podman Desktop by running command:
The ‘Tab’ key bash auto-completion does not work for you? Here’s how to re-enable this feature in Ubuntu.
When typing in terminal/command console, user can press ‘Tab’ key to auto-complete command, options, file path & name. This feature is quite useful and available out-of-the-box for every user with home directory.
If you broke something done and the feature does no longer work, then this tutorial could help.
Step 1: Install bash-completion package
For Debian, Ubuntu, and most other Linux, this feature is implemented by bash-completion package files. So the first step is to make sure that package is installed on your system.
To do so, open terminal/command console and run command:
sudo apt install bash-completion
Step 2: Enable Bash Completion
For each user, there’s a .bashrc file in user home directory. The file runs automatically on every login, and it contains the rule to enable bash completion.
1. First, run command to edit the file:
nano ~/.bashrc
2. When the file opens, add the following lines or make sure the lines below exist:
if ! shopt -oq posix; then
if [ -f /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion ]; then
. /usr/share/bash-completion/bash_completion
elif [ -f /etc/bash_completion ]; then
. /etc/bash_completion
fi
fi
To save file, press Ctrl+X, type y and hit Enter.
You can alternatively edit the system wide config file:
sudo nano /etc/bash.bashrc
Then enable the corresponding lines (remove # at the beginning for each line), so it applies to all users at login.
After saving the change, it should work immediately in new terminal window or command console.
In addition
The default configuration files for bash completion is located in “/usr/share/bash-completion”. However, some Linux Distro or may be 3rd party program may add rules by creating files under “/etc/bash_completion.d/”.
So, if the feature does not work for a specific command, go check the config file under “/etc/bash_completion.d/”.
For Ubuntu 23.04, Fedora 38 and other Linux with Python 3.11 as default, Pithos 1.6.1 was released today to fix the plugin support!
Pithos is a simple free open-source GTK client for Pandora music & podcasts, writing in Python programming language.
The previous versions lack plugin support for the latest Linux Distributions due to Python 3.11. When you try to open the ‘Plugins’ tab in Preferences, it just shows a blank page.
If you start it from command line, it will output something look like:
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugin.py", line 147, in on_got_bus
plugin = plugins[name] = load_plugin(name, window, bus)
File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugin.py", line 101, in load_plugin
module = __import__('pithos.plugins.' + name)
File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugins/mpris.py", line 66, in
class PithosMprisService(DBusServiceObject):
File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugins/mpris.py", line 647, in PithosMprisService
@dbus_method(MEDIA_PLAYER2_IFACE)
File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugins/dbus_util/DBusServiceObject.py", line 138, in decorator
in_args = _create_arginfo_list(func, in_signature)
File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugins/dbus_util/DBusServiceObject.py", line 123, in _create_arginfo_list
arg_names = inspect.getargspec(func).args
To fix the issue, the new 1.6.1 was released. Which, also fixed the issue that very short songs are being labeled as advertisements.
Nothing else!
How to Install Pithos 1.6.1 in Ubuntu via PPA
For all current Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, Ubuntu 23.04, and their based systems, I’ve uploaded the app package into this PPA repository.
To add the PPA and install Pithos package, do:
First, press Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to add the PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps
Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.
Then, run command to fresh the package cache for old Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint:
sudo apt update
Finally, install or update the lightweight Pandora Radio client to listen online music:
sudo apt install pithos
As the application does not update frequently, you may also download & install the .deb package directly from this page.
For most Linux, Pithos is also available to install as Flatpak package runs in sandbox.
Uninstall Pithos
To remove the Ubuntu PPA, open terminal and run command:
Ubuntu now provides expanded security maintenance (esm) updates for the packages in main/universe repositories through “Ubuntu Pro” service.
With it, you can get 5 years more (total of 10 years) security updates support for Ubuntu LTS. Meaning Ubuntu 22.04 support until 2032, Ubuntu 20.04 support until 2030, and Ubuntu 18.04 support until 2028.
For Ubuntu Server or Desktop users that use apt upgrade to install updates, you’ll get following prompt in the output:
“Get more security updates through Ubuntu Pro with ‘esm-apps’ enabled: …”
In this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to get rid of this “esm-apps” prompt by:
either enable Ubuntu Pro security updates.
or skip the esm-apps updates and disable the command line prompt.
Option 1: Enable Ubuntu Pro Security Updates
For each user, Ubuntu Pro is free for up to 5 machines for personal use! Here’s how to enable it in both graphical and command line ways!
For Ubuntu Desktop
1. For Desktop users, first search for and launch “Software & Updates” tool from ‘Activities’ overview.
2. When it opens, navigate to “Ubuntu Pro” tab, and click on “Enable Ubuntu Pro” button. In the pop-up dialog will show you a short code.
For Ubuntu 18.04, run sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade command first if you don’t see the ‘Ubuntu Pro’ tab.
3. Next, in your web browser go to https://ubuntu.com/pro/attach. Login with your account (create for free if you don’t have one). Finally, enter the code you got in the last step, and then click “Submit”.
4. Finally, go back “Software & Updates” and click “Confirm” (see screenshot in step 2). When done, you’ll see the “Ubuntu Pro support is enabled” text in green. And, you can toggle the options to enable/disable ESM Infra, ESM apps, Kernel Livepatch as you want.
For Ubuntu Server (command line way)
For Server and those who prefer Linux command, this can be done by running a single command in console.
First, in web browser go to https://ubuntu.com/pro/dashboard. Log in with your account (create if you don’t have one), then copy or write down the key token.
Then, in terminal or command console, run:
sudo pro attach KEY_TOKEN_HERE
When done, it outputs the enabled and disabled services in terminal output. You can then run command to enable/disable your desired services:
Enable an Ubuntu Pro service.
sudo pro enable SERVICE_NAME
Disable access an Ubuntu Pro service.
sudo pro disable SERVICE_NAME
In the commands, replace SERVICE_NAME with one of esm-apps, esm-infra, livepatch, realtime-kernel.
To disable Ubuntu Pro, as well as all enabled services, run command:
sudo pro detach
Get Rid of “esm-apps” command line prompt without enabling Ubuntu Pro
