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Archives For November 30, 1999

XBMC Media Center 13.1 Released, Install in Ubuntu via PPA

Last updated: June 7, 2014

XBMC 13.1

XBMC 13.1, the first bug-fix release of XBMC 13 Gotham, was finally announced after released two betas and a release candidate.

This 13.1 release contains only fixes compared to previous 13.0, and no new features. It can be safely installed on top of any previous XBMC releases.

  • Fix resume point of certain PVR items begin stale on playback.
  • Fix weirdness when certain TVs query XBMC’s UPnP server and it starts running a bunch of add-ons which cause popups on the XBMC machine.
  • Fix crash at exit while airplay is playing
  • Better recovery of VDPAU on errors.
  • Fixes for cropping of interlaced content using VDPAU.
  • Fix for FLAC tracks with large embedded images not playing.
  • Fix for crash if librtmp wasn’t available.
  • Fix for ffmpeg building on linux using later versions of librtmp.
  • Fix for broken m4a, mp4 playback with paplayer.
  • Fix for the hint text not being shown in editcontrols once unfocused.
  • Fix minor memory leak in PlayMedia builtin function.
  • Fix albumartist use in song smartplaylists.
  • Use unique client broadcast UID in the PVR api.

Install XBMC 13.1 in Ubuntu 14.04 / 13.10 / 12.04:

Important notice: 1. It’s always recommended to backup your current userdata before upgrading. 2. Due to changes related to the add-on system and skin improvement, certain plugins, scripts and skins may become incompatible when upgrading from XBMC 12.x.

To install or upgrade, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one:

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

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install xbmc
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Make A Photo Collage Easily in Ubuntu 14.04 with PhotoCollage

Last updated: June 6, 2014

This quick tutorial is going to show you a really simple photo collage maker application called PhotoCollage.

Although Ubuntu has fotowall in its repositories, PhotoCollage make things much easier.

PhotoCollage is a free and open source tool written in Python. It assembles the input photographs you give it to generate a big poster. Photos are arranged to fill the whole poster, however you can influence the algorithm to change the final layout. You can also set a custom border between photos, and save the generated image in the resolution you want.

Features:

  • generate random new layouts until one suits the user
  • choose border color and width
  • save high-resolution image
  • works even with a large number of photos (> 100)
  • integrates into the GNOME environment
  • available in English and French

Install PhotoCollage in Ubuntu:

The project is hosted on github.com, you can run below commands in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) one by one to get the code and install it:

git clone https://github.com/adrienverge/PhotoCollage.git

cd PhotoCollage

sudo python3 setup.py install

Thanks to dhor, the package is also available in his PPA for Ubuntu 14.04. Below commands will add the PPA and install PhotoCollage from that repository.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install photocollage
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Install Scribus 1.4.4 via PPA in Ubuntu 14.04 / 13.10 / 12.04

Last updated: June 7, 2014

The desktop publishing (DTP) application Scribus 1.4.4 was released a few days ago on May 29. The new release features exporting to PDF/X-1a, a standard popular with print-on-demand services.

The feature was backported from the development version 1.5 which is still in the making. After activated “color management tool” in Preferences, you’ll see the option in the drop-down box of Compatibility at next launch.

According to the announcement, Scribus 1.4.4 will likely be the last release in the 1.4.x branch, and the Scribus Team will from now on solely focus on the development of the next major version 1.6.

Most Important Changes:

  • PDF/X-1a export.
  • The Barcode plug-in has been updated to reflect the latest changes in the underlying Barcode Writer in Pure PostScript (BWIPP).
  • The Autoquote script has been rewritten and enhanced. It now provides more options and adds thin spaces to French texts where appropriate.
  • A script to align images in frames has been added.
  • Full support of the OpenICC Directory Proposal (http://www.oyranos.org/wiki/index.php?title=OpenIccDirectoryProposal).
  • The handling of transparencies in Photoshop-generated TIFF files has been improved.
  • Page borders can now act as guides (and thus be used for snapping of items).
  • The CMYK color palette created by the Newspaper Association of America (NAA) for newspaper advertisements has been integrated into Scribus.
  • A new color palette for professional geographers has been added.
  • Export to various bitmap formats has been re-enabled on Mac OS X.
  • Several issues related to the user interface and canvas display have been resolved.
  • Adjustments for Windows 8.x.
  • An issue with the spellchecker, resulting in a crash, has been resolved.
  • Documentation and translation updates and improvements.
  • More details, see the official release note.

Install Scribus 1.4.4:

Before writing this tutorial, there is no repository for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS users yet, so I made Scribus 1.4.4 into PPA (using Ubuntu’s default building rules).

To install it, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install scribus

Available for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10 and Ubuntu 12.04.

(Optional) To remove it and revert back to original version available in Ubuntu repository, run:

sudo apt-get install ppa-purge

sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Install Netflix Alternative ‘Popcorn Time’ in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: July 14, 2017

Popcorn Time, a free and open-source torrent streaming service, becomes stable since release 0.3.1

Popcorn Time allows you to watch movies, TV shows easily streaming from torrents, without any particular knowledge. It’s a good alternative if Netflix is not supported in your country.

Popcorn Time Currently used:

  • YIFY movie torrents API.
  • YifySubtitles for movie subtitles
  • OpenSubtitles for tv shows subtitles
  • Trakt.tv for movies metadata.
  • EZTV for TV Show torrents

The first stable version was release a few days ago with below features added:

  • mirror failback to yify subtitles.
  • icons and links to about dialog
  • methods to mark movie as watched
  • quality filter for movies
  • Advanced Settings with Connection, DHT, Tmp Folder options
  • Pressing ESC to closes modals
  • a help view for keyboard shortcuts. Press ?
  • Draggable subtitles. Move subtitles around the player
  • Drag and drop subtitles on the player to load a custom SRT file
  • Better init screen
  • Added Croatian, Thai and Vietnamese languages

Install Popcorn Time in Ubuntu 14.04:

Thanks to Webupd8 Team, a script has been made into the PPA to automatically download the Linux package from Popcorn Time website and install it on your Ubuntu. Currently, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 12.04 and Ubuntu 12.10 are supported.

To install it, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/popcorntime

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install popcorn-time

When the script starts, you’ll be asked to accept the licence.

Popcorn Time on github: https://github.com/popcorn-official/popcorn-app

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Install Google SketchUp Make 2014 in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: April 22, 2024

I’ve posted a tutorial about how to install Google SketchUp 2013 in Ubuntu 13.04, but it seems to be outdated. So I decide to write this how-to and hope it will help those who are trying to get Google SketchUp Make 2014 working in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS through wine.

UPDATE 2024: This tutorial is outdated! It does no longer work in current Ubuntu releases!

First of all, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one to install the latest development Wine 1.7 from its PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install wine1.7

Once wine is installed, config it by running:

winecfg

In “Wine Configuration” window, you may:

  • Change Windows Version to Windows 7 in the bottom of the Applications tab.
  • Under Libraries tab, select ‘Riched20’ library from the drop-down list and add it

Now download the Windows package of SketchUp EXE from the official link below:

Right-click on the EXE and select open it via Wine:

Follow the install wizard and finally you’ll get SketchUp installed with shortcut icons on your desktop.

Tips:

1. On my 64 bit Ubuntu 14.04, SketchUp 2014 hangs after choosing a template. This has been reported as a bug and seemed to be fixed in Wine 1.7.19. However, I still get this error.

The workaround is disable Ruby API by launching SketchUp via:

wine "C:\Program Files (x86)\SketchUp\SketchUp 2014\SketchUp.exe" "/DisableRubyAPI"

Or, in the Properties window of the desktop shortcut, add /DisableRubyAPI to the end of command area:

2. If sketch up doesn’t work because of a problem with a graphics card

1. Run below command to bring up Registry Editor:

wine regedit

2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER -> Software -> Google -> SketchUp version -> GLConfig -> Display

3. Change the value of HW_OK to 1 (so that it shows up as 0×00000001 (1)

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How to Install Nvidia Driver 337.25 in Ubuntu

Last updated: June 2, 2014

Nvidia 337.25 was released yesterday as the latest short lived branch version for Linux. The new driver brings lots of fixes and improvements and adds support for following GPUs:

  • GeForce GTX TITAN Z
  • GeForce GT 740
  • GeForce 830M
  • GeForce 840M
  • GeForce 845M
  • GeForce GTX 850M

For a complete list of changes, read the official announcement.

Install Nvidia Driver 337.25 in Ubuntu:

Below steps will teach you how to manually install the official .run package in Ubuntu:

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run commands below one by one to remove previous installed proprietary driver:

sudo apt-get purge nvidia*

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install nvidia-331-updates-dev

2. After restarted your computer, download the driver:

3. Switch to command console by pressing Ctrl+Alt+F1 (or F2 ~ F6) on keyboard and log in.

4. Kill the graphical session via:

sudo service lightdm stop

For Gnome GDM or Linux Mint MDM, you may replace lightdm with gdm or mdm in the command.

5. Give permission, start the installer and follow the on screen prompts.

chmod +x ~/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-*-337.25.run && sudo sh ~/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-*-337.25.run

Tips:You may keep the installer file so that you can remove this driver via below command if for some reason it does not work properly:

sudo sh ~/Downloads/NVIDIA-Linux-*-337.25.run --uninstall
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Install HDR Raw Exposure Merging App ‘HDRMerge’ in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: May 31, 2014

HDRMerge is an open source tool that makes merging raw images really simple. It fuses two or more raw images into a single raw with an extended dynamic range. It can import any raw image supported by LibRaw, and outputs a DNG 1.4 image with floating point data. The output raw is built from the less noisy pixels of the input, so that shadows maintain as much detail as possible.

To use this HDRMerge, source images must be made with the same camera. Once the input images are loaded, the interface presents you with a 100% preview of the result. The selected pixels from each input image are painted with a different color. You can then pan the result to inspect it.

This tool also offers a bottom toolbar that allows to remove ‘ghosts’ from the resulting image. Once the preview is satisfactory, the Save HDR option of the File menu generates the output DNG file.

Install HDRMerge in Ubuntu 14.04:

Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one to install from PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:dhor/myway

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install hdrmerge

Once installed, start the GUI via command:

hdrmerge

via: github page

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Drawing/Editing App Pinta 1.5 Released with Add-in Support

Last updated: May 29, 2014

Pinta, an open-source, bitmap image drawing and editing program inspired by Paint.NET, has reached release 1.5 with many new features, improvements. Add-in support is one of the great new features.

As you may know, Pinta is a bitmap image editor with many features typical of image editing software including drawing tools, image filters and color adjustment tools. It features unlimited undo history, unlimited Layers, and multiple language support.

Th latest Pinta 1.5 was released on May 24 which brings following new features and improvements:

  • Re-editable text
  • Mouse cursors now resize based on the active brush size.
  • The Move Selection and Move Selected tools can now rotate the selection using the right mouse button.
  • Added an Invert Selection command.
  • New or redesigned mouse cursors for every tool.
  • Improved OSX integration (file associations and improved dock integration)
  • Redesigned Windows installer, which automatically downloads and installs the correct version of GTK# and the .NET Framework if necessary
  • Improved JPEG Compression Dialog (remembers previous settings and has the OK button as the default control)
  • The Open File dialog now shows image previews for ORA files, as well as any file formats provided by add-ins.

User can now use the Add-in Manager (under the Add-ins menu) to browse and install add-ins.The developers are in the process of setting up a community add-in repository which will be included by default in future Pinta releases.

Also, there are a lot of bug-fixes. See the release note for details.

Install Pinta 1.5 in Ubuntu:

The latest release has been made into the official PPA for Ubuntu 14.10 Utopic, Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty LTS, Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy and Ubuntu 12.10 Quantal.

To install it, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal. When it opens, run the commands below one by one:

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

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install pinta

(Optional) To remove this app as well as the PPA repository, run:

sudo apt-get remove pinta

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

sudo apt-get update
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Install CopyQ Clipboard Manager 2.2 in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: May 26, 2014

 
CopyQ, an advanced clipboard manager with searchable and editable history, has reached release 2.2.0 which brings some new features, GUI improvements and bug fixes.

As you may know, CopyQ is a cross-platform clipboard manager with support for HTML, images, command line control and more. It runs on Linux, Windows and features:

  • Store text, HTML, images and any other custom format.
  • Customize tray menu.
  • Save items in new tabs.
  • Quickly browse through items (fast navigation, filtering with matched text highlighting).
  • Sort items, create new, remove, copy/paste to different tab.
  • Variety of system-wide shortcuts (e.g. show main window or tray, edit clipboard, copy next/previous item, paste as plain text).
  • Immediately paste to focused window from tray or main window.
  • Fully customizable appearance (colors, fonts, transparency).
  • Advanced command-line interface and scripting.
  • Ignore clipboard copied from some windows or containing some text.
  • Apply custom commands on selected items or automatically when new matching clipboard content is available.

The latest release CopyQ 2.2.0 brings below new features, improvements and bug fixes:

  • Custom system shortcuts for any user command
  • Drag’n’drop items to tabs
  • Options to set position and maximum size for notifications
  • Option to open windows on same desktop
  • Weblate service for translations (https://hosted.weblate.org/projects/copyq/master/)
  • Commands input and output is UTF-8 only (this fixes encoding issues on Windows)
  • Scripting engine improvements
  • Various GUI improvements and fixes
  • Fix main window position in various X11 window managers
  • Fix crashing with Oxygen GUI style
  • Fix storing images from clipboard on Windows
  • Various GUI improvements and fixes

How to install:

Check out your system type 32 bit (i386) or 64 bit (amd64) by going to System Settings -> Details. Then download and install the package from:

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