UbuntuHandbook

How to Install Latest Pinta in Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.04 via PPA

Last updated: August 4, 2013

As you may know, Pinta is a Paint.NET-like image drawing and editing program which is free and open-source. It is lighter and simpler than popular open-source image editor GIMP.

Pinta is available in Ubuntu Softare Center by default, but it’s a little old. In this tutorial I’ll show you how to install the latest stable and development version of Pinta in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.10 Quantal, 12.04 Precise and Linux Mint via PPA repository.

To get started, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands:

To install the latest development version, run following 3 commands one by one in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pinta-maintainers/pinta-daily

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install pinta

To install the latest stable version (support Ubuntu 12.10, 12.04, 11.10), run below commands instead:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pinta-maintainers/pinta-stable

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install pinta

In Howtos install pinta in ubuntu, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10

Install / Setup Google Authenticator in Ubuntu 13.04, 12.04

Last updated: August 4, 2013

This simple tutorial is going to show you how to install and setup Google Authenticator to secure your Ubuntu SSH remote login by two-factor authentication.

Google provides this application for various smartphone platforms. With it, you can secure your account by logging in with a frequently-changing authentication code. So far, I’m using this in WordPress Login, Ubuntu Server SSH Login, Linode VPS Login. As I know, Google Authenticator also works on Amazon Web Services, App.net, Dropbox, and more.

Install Google Authenticator in Ubuntu:

Since Ubuntu 12.04 Precise, the Google Authenticator PAM module is available in the universe repository by default. Just open Ubuntu Software Center, search for and install libpam-google-authenticator package

Once installed, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. Run below command to create a key and display a QR code which you can scan using the smartphone app. The emergency codes can be used when you don’t have your phone.

google-authenticator

To enable two-step authentication for SSH login, add the line “auth required pam_google_authenticator.so” (witout quotes) into /etc/pam.d/sshd. To do so, run below command in terminal:

sudo sh -c 'echo "auth required pam_google_authenticator.so" >> /etc/pam.d/sshd'

Also add the line “ChallengeResponseAuthentication yes” (without quotes) to /etc/ssh/sshd_config, you can do it by running below command:

sudo sh -c 'echo "ChallengeResponseAuthentication yes" >> /etc/ssh/sshd_config'

Finally restart SSH service on Ubuntu:

sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart

In Ubuntu Server google authenticator in ubuntu, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10

Songbird Discontinued, Nightingale is Recommended

Last updated: May 20, 2024

UPDATE 2024: Nightingale is also discontinued! Try Clementine Music Player which is available in Ubuntu Software / App Center.

Here I’m going to tell you that the popular Songbird Music Player project has been discontinued. For those who are looking for an alternative, check out Nightingale which is built upon Songbird.

Eric Wittman announced on the Songbird blog, “Unfortunately, the company has found ourselves unable to fund further business operations and as of June 28, 2013 all of Songbird’s operations and associated services will be discontinued.”

Songbird is a music player originally released in early 2006 with the stated mission “to incubate Songbird, the first Web player, to catalyze and champion a diverse, open Media Web”. On June 3, 2010, official Linux support for Songbird was dropped.

While thanking the users, investors, partners, developers of Songbird, Eric Wittman openly recommends the open source desktop media player Nightingale as an alternative.

To access the open source for the Songbird Desktop player, you can go here:

~~http://getsongbird.com/desktop/index.php?download=source~~ (Domain expired)

Nightingale is an open source media player based on Songbird and focused on Linux. It has a beautiful interface with a wide range of supported audio formats, all with multi-platform support!

Nightingale is available for downloading at: getnightingale.com/all-versions.php

For Ubuntu 13.04, 12.04, 12.10 and Linux Mint 13, 14, 15 users, run below commands in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to install nightingale from PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nightingaleteam/nightingale-release

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nightingale

In News nightingale, songbird, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04

How to install Cisco VPN client on Ubuntu 13.04, 13.10

Last updated: August 3, 2013

This tutorial shows you how to install Cisco VPN on Ubuntu 13.04 Raring or 13.10 Saucy. You don’t have to do anything special to install Cisco VPN client, because network manager supports Cisco IPSec VPNs after installed the vpnc plugin.

To get started, search for and install network-manager-vpnc package from Ubuntu Software Center. It installs the Cisco-compatible VPN client as well as the plugin for network manager.

Once installed, you can follow below steps to setup Cisco VPN for Ubuntu:

1.) Move your cursor to right-top corner system tray area, click on Network Manager icon and choose VPN Connections -> Configure VPN

2.) In next window, click on Add button to add a new connection and then choose Cisco Compatible VPN (vpnc) from the drop-down menu.

3.) Click on Create and you’re able to type in your Cisco VPN details in next window. After all, check off “Use this connection only for resources on its network” otherwise your traffic significantly slowed down

In Unity install Cisco VPN ubuntu, setup Cisco VPN ubuntu, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10

Typhoon: Best Free Weather Widget for Ubuntu 13.04

Last updated: August 3, 2013

Want to display weather on Ubuntu Desktop? Well, the best choice should be Typhoon since Stormcloud is not available in Ubuntu 13.04 due to dependency problem.

Typhoon is a free and open-source weather application, which displays a HTC-like weather widget on your Ubuntu desktop. It uses Yahoo! weather service

Typhoon is a fork of discontinued Stormcloud 1.1 with some changes. It excludes the multiple locations feature because no one can live in more than one places in a specific time except electrons! It also removes ‘chameleonic background’ as it would make the app resource hungry.

Install Typhoon in Ubuntu:

To install this weather app for Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise, 12.10 Quantal and Linux Mint users. Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands to add the Typhoon ppa:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/typhoon

Then update package lists and install it via:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install typhoon

Once installed, open it from Unity Dash and enjoy!

Typhoon project homepage: https://launchpad.net/typhoon

In App Review tyhpoon, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10, weather app for ubuntu

How to Install Sigil Epub Editor For Ubuntu via PPA

Last updated: December 1, 2014

This simple tutorial shows you how to install Sigil WYSIWYG epub editor on Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise via Sigil PPA repository.

Sigil is a free and open-source EPUB ebook editor. It runs on Linux, Windows and Mac with full EPUB 2 spec and UTF-16 support.

Multiple Views: Book View, Code View and Preview View
WYSIWYG editing in Book View
Complete control over directly editing EPUB syntax in Code View
Table of Contents generator with multi-level heading support
Metadata editor with full support for all possible metadata entries (more than 200) with full descriptions for each
User interface translated into many languages
Spell checking with default and user configurable dictionaries
Full Regular Expression (PCRE) support for Find & Replace
Supports import of EPUB and HTML files, images, and style sheets,
Documents can be validated for EPUB compliance with the integrated FlightCrew EPUB validator
Embedded HTML Tidy: all imported files have their formatting corrected, and your editing can be optionally cleaned

Install Sigil Epub Editor:

There is only a personal Sigil PPA for Ubuntu users. Now supports Ubuntu 14.10 and Ubuntu 14.04. ~~Supports Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 12.10.~~ Use it at your own risk!

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands to add the ppa:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:sunab/sigil-release

For Ubuntu 12.10, Ubuntu 12.04, you’ll need the Ubuntu SDK PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-sdk-team/ppa

After adding the ppa repository, you’re able to install the editor via below commands:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install sigil

In Howtos epub editor for ubuntu, sigil epub editor, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04

Connect to Ubuntu 13.04 From Windows 7 via RDP Protocol

Last updated: August 1, 2013

Here I’ll show you how to connect to Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail from Windows 7 via Remote Desktop Connection. All you need to do is install xRDP server in Ubuntu, then use Windows RDP to connect to Ubuntu without any configuration.

xRDP is a rdesktop project which uses the Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) to make it easy to connect Ubuntu from remote client especially not having to log into Ubuntu first.

xRDP is available in the universe repository, just search for and install it from Ubuntu Software Center.

Or you can install it via below command in terminal:

sudo apt-get install xrdp

After that, open Windows 7’s Remote Desktop Connection and type in Ubuntu hoastname or IP address.

Then type in Ubuntu username and password to login to xrdp:

You’re done. Enjoy!

In Howtos rdp, Ubuntu 13.04, ubuntu rdp, ubuntu remote desktop connection

Install Facebook Messenger App in Ubuntu 13.10, 13.04, 12.04

Last updated: August 1, 2013

This simple tutorial shows you how to install Facebook Messenger App in Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy, 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise and 12.10 Quantal via PPA repository.

As you may know, Facebook Messenger is an instant messaging service and software application which provides text and voice communication. Integrated with Facebook’s web-based Chat feature and built on the open-source MQTT protocol.

Here’s a Linux clone of Facebook Messenger for Windows. It gives you a chat sidebar, chat popup windows, and notification toasts outside of the browser. Ubuntu users can install it from a PPA created by Webupd8Team.

To get started installing this app, press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8

Then update your package lists and install:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install fbmessenger

Project Homepage:https://github.com/oconnor663/linuxmessenger

In Ubuntu Server facebook messenger, facebook messenger ubuntu, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10

How to Properly Enable 3D Desktop Cube in Ubuntu 13.04

Last updated: July 31, 2013

This simple tutorial shows you how to properly enable the 3D Desktop Cube effect in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring Ringtail.

Note that you need a video card that can render this and to have the drivers correctly installed.

1.) Ubuntu 13.04 by default has only one workspace, so first we need to enable multi workspaces to get started. To do so, go to Unity Dash -> Appearance -> Behavior tab. Check the box which says ‘Enable workspaces’

2.) Then installed required packages which allows you to configure Unity desktop effects. Search for and install compizconfig-settings-manager, compiz-plugins, compiz-plugins-extra from Ubuntu Software Center. Or you can run below command in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) to install these packages:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-plugins compiz-plugins-extra

3.) Open CompizConfig Settings Manager from Unity Dash Home. Let’s do some settings via this tool.

4.) Go to Preferences in left bar.

5.) Under Plugin List tab, uncheck “Automatic plugin sorting” and accept the warning that will appear after trying to disable it.

From the Disable Plugins List, Enable the following plugins: cube, rotate
From the Enable Plugins List, Disable the following plugins: wall

6.) Go back from the Preferences menu to the Main Compiz Menu and select General Options -> Desktop Size tab and change the Horizontal Virtual Size to 4, and Vertical size to 1.

You can also add background, top and bottom colors for the cube from Desktop Cube configuration window.

Now you can press down Ctrl+Alt, and drag your mouse to see the magic!

(Optinal) To revert back to default, press Ctrl+Alt+T to open terminal. When it opens, run below commands:

dconf reset -f /org/compiz/; setsid unity

Done!

In Unity 3D desktop cube, enable desktop cube ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.04

How to Install Jitsi Video Chat and Add Its Repository in Ubuntu

Last updated: July 30, 2013

This simple tutorial will show you how to install the Jitsi Video Calls and Chat & add its repository in Ubuntu 13.04 Raring, 12.04 Precise and 12.10 Quantal.

As you may know, Jitsi is an audio/video Internet phone and instant messenger written in Java. It supports some of the most popular instant messaging and telephony protocols such as SIP, Jabber/XMPP (and hence Facebook and Google Talk), AIM, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo! Messenger.

Install Jitsi:

The official download page provides the latest Deb installer for Ubuntu users

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on your keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run below command to download it:

For 32-bit system:

wget https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi/debian/jitsi_2.2-latest_i386.deb

For 64-bit system:

wget https://download.jitsi.org/jitsi/debian/jitsi_2.2-latest_amd64.deb

Both 32-bit & 64-bit run below command to install the Deb:

sudo dpkg -i jitsi_2.2-latest_*.deb

It installs Jitsi as well as adds its repository to your system so that you’ll receive updates when a new release comes out.

In Howtos install Jitsi in Ubuntu, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.04, Ubuntu 13.10

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