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Archives For November 30, 1999

SMPlayer 14.9 Released, Official PPA Is Ready For Ubuntu

Last updated: September 10, 2014

SMPlayer Ubuntu

The latest SMPlayer 14.9 has been released recently with Youtube playback fixed. The official PPA is ready for Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 14.04.

SMPlayer is a free and open-source GUI for MPlayer based on QT. It features audio and video filters & equalizer, multiple speed playback, configurable subtitles (Internet fetch), build-in Radio, TV, and Youtube browser support.

The new version 14.9 was released recently on September 7, 2014. According to the release note, the new release brings:

  • a new fix for Youtube playback
  • improved the option to search for subtitles
  • ability to shut down the computer after playback.

Install / Upgrade SMPlayer in Ubuntu:

The new release has been made into the PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04 and derivatives.

To add the PPA, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:rvm/smplayer

After that, update the system package lists and install the player:

sudo apt-get update; sudo apt-get install smplayer smtube smplayer-themes smplayer-skins

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Install UberWriter Free Word Processor in Ubuntu 14.04 via PPA

Last updated: September 7, 2014

This quick tutorial shows you how to install UberWriter, a free word processor for markdown, via the official PPA in Ubuntu 14.04.

UberWriter is free and open source word processor, text editor for Ubuntu with markdown support. It provides a very clean interface with out of box spellcheck.

The UI now is based on GTK3 with client-side decorations support. If offers Focus, Fullscreen, Dark, and preview mode and allows to search and replace texts.

Through pandoc, it is possible to export to PDF, HTML, ODT and even more formats through the Advanced Export option.

Watch the video to see it in action:

Install UberWriter in Ubuntu:

UberWriter is available in Ubuntu Software Center, but it costs $5.

For the latest release and receiving future updates, the developer offers a launchpad PPA for Ubuntu 14.04. The PPA also provides old versions for Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 12.04.

Press Ctrl+Alt+T to open the terminal. When it opens, paste the commands below and run one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:w-vollprecht/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install uberwriter

Above commands will add the developer’s PPA and install UberWriter in your system for free.

Note: UberWriter uses client-side decorations. The Unity integration is not entirely done yet. (Adwaita theme looks much better and inconsolata is missing in the dependencies.)

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How to Install The Latest AVRDude 6.1 in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: September 6, 2014

This quick tutorial shows you how to install the latest AVR Downloader/UploaDEr 6.1 in Ubuntu 14.04 while Software Center provides an old version.

AVRDUDE, stands for AVR Downloader/UploaDEr, is software for programming Atmel AVR Microcontrollers. It provides a command-line interface for all downloading and uploading features. Supports a wide range of programming hardware, from cheap ISP plugs that connect the AVR’s ISP interface directly to a computer’s parallel port or serial port. Supports Intel Hex, Motorola S-Record, and raw binary files for input and output.

The latest version 6.1 was released with below changes:

  • Atmel EDBG protocol support added (JTAGICE3, XplainedPro, Atmel-ICE)
  • Atmel DFU, using FLIP protocol version 1 (AT90USB and ATmega*U* devices), or version 2 (Xmega devices) support.
  • Atmel-ICE (ARM/AVR), JTAG, PDI, debugWIRE, ISP modi support.
  • Fixed:
    • AVRDUDE segfaults when writing eeprom
    • Typo fix in fuses report (for 6.1-svn-20130917)
    • verify errors for object size > 16 k on x32e5 due to typo in avrdude.conf
    • Elf file support (possibly) not working on 6.0.1 windows build
    • AT Mega2560 not correctly programmed with stk500(v1) ISP (solution patch)
    • OS X: Avrdude messes with the usb stack?
    • dfu.c missing include
    • DFU FLIPv2 programming support
  • (Some) programmers can take a list of USB PIDs now.

AVRDude 6.1 is available in a third-party repository for Ubuntu 14.04 LTS. To install it, run commands below one by one in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pmjdebruijn/avrdude-release

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install avrdude

Once installed, run man avrdude to get help or read the documents.

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Install Mega Cloud Storage Sync Client in Ubuntu Linux

Last updated: September 6, 2014

MEGA, a cloud storage and file hosting service, now provides an official sync client for Linux Desktop. So far, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 13.10, Ubuntu 12.10 and Nautilus integration are supported.

MEGA features that all files are encrypted client-side using the AES algorithm before they are uploaded. Since Mega does not know the encryption keys to uploaded files, they cannot decrypt and view the content. It provides 50 GB of storage space are available for free and up to 4 TB for paid accounts.

More about MEGA at wikipedia

Recently, MEGA has provided an official sync client for Linux desktops, available for Debian, Fedora, openSUSE, and Ubuntu.

The new client for Ubuntu, MEGAsync features:

  • an Unity indicator
  • Sync with MEGA folder in Nautilus browser with full drag & drop support
  • System notification support.
  • Select sync full or single folder of your MEGA account.
  • Select upload to MEGA via file folders’ context menu

MEGA client: Unity indicator & sync folder in Nautilus

MEGAsync status

Upload to MEGA via Context Menu

Download & Install MEGA sync client:

First you may check out your OS type, 32-bit or 64-bit via System Settings -> Details.

Go to the official page via the link below:

Navigate to Your OS edition -> OS Type: amd64 = 64-bit, i386 = 32-bit -> For Ubuntu download both .deb packages.

Select your OS type and click ‘Free Download for Linux’ and also MEGA Nautilus extension.

Finally double-click the package to open it with Ubuntu Software Center and click install, in below order:

  1. megasync_x.x.xx_amd64/i386.deb
  2. nautilus-megasync_x.x.xx_amd64/i386.deb

Once installed, open the client from Unity Dash. Follow the setup wizard to sign in or sign up and select sync full account or single folder.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Screenshot & Annotation Tool ‘HotShots’ 2.2.0 Released.

Last updated: September 4, 2014

HotShots, a screenshot and annotation tool, now is at version 2.2.0. PPA has updated for Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04 and derivatives.

Hotshots is a screenshot tool with some editing features. It is particularly suitable for writing documentation (as used in the following chapters) but you can use it to highlight some details on a map image or what ever you want.

Besides basic screen capturing and editing features, HotShots allows to send image directly to printer or to web services, such as FTP, imgur.com, imageshack.us, canardpc.com, freeimagehosting.net.

HotShots Main window and Unity indicator

HotShots Editor

HotShots is a good and lightweight alternative to Shutter except:

  • Undo/Redo buttons are grayed out.
  • Does not support Dropbox.

Install HotShots 2.2.0:

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install hotshots

If you don’t want to add the PPA, grab the .deb package directly from Launchpad Page.

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Firefox 32 Released, How to Upgrade it in Ubuntu 14.04 & 12.04

Last updated: September 3, 2014

Mozilla Firefox has just released version 32.0 with improved performances and a few fixes. Canonical has made this release into the updates & security repositories for Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 12.04.

The latest Firefox 32 brings was released on September 2, with faster HTTP caching and public key pinning support enabled.

Below are the detailed changes (via the official release note):

  • New HTTP cache provides improved performance including crash recovery
  • Integration of generational garbage collection
  • Public key pinning support enabled
  • Display the number of found items in the find toolbar
  • Easier back, forward, reload, and bookmarking through the context menu
  • View historical use information for logins stored in password manager
  • Lower Sorbian [dsb] locale added
  • Removed and turned off trust bit for some 1024-bit root certificates
  • Performance improvements to Password Manager and Add-on Manager
  • drawFocusIfNeeded enabled by default
  • CSS position:sticky enabled by default
  • mix-blend-mode enabled by default
  • Vibration API updated to latest W3C spec
  • box-decoration-break enabled by default
  • ECMAScript 6 built-in method Array#copyWithin implemented
  • New Array built-in: Array.from()
  • navigator.languages property and languagechange event implemented
  • CSS box-decoration-break replaces -moz-background-inline-policy
  • HiDPI support in Developer Tools UI
  • Inspector button moved to the top left
  • Hidden nodes displayed differently in the markup-view
  • New Web Audio Editor
  • Code completion and inline documentation added to Scratchpad
  • Mac OS X: fixed cmd-L does not open a new window when no window is available
  • Fixed text Rendering Issues on Windows 7 with Platform Update KB2670838 (MSIE 10 Prerequisite) or on Windows 8.1
  • Various security fixes

Upgrade to Firefox 32 in Ubuntu:

For Ubuntu, open Software Updater (or Update Manager for Ubuntu 12.04) from Unity dash. After checking for updates, you’ll see the latest Firefox available in the list.

You can also upgrade Firefox in Ubuntu and its derivatives using Synaptic Package Manager (available in Software Center) after clicked the Reload button.

That’s it. Enjoy!

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Get Back Normal Title Bars For Some Gnome Apps in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: September 2, 2014

In Ubuntu 14.04 and Ubuntu 14.10, some Gnome applications use client-side decorations which don’t work properly in the default Unity Desktop.

The applications with client-side decorations look broken in Unity and they are unresizable. Here are some examples:

Gnome Clock in Ubuntu 14.04

The Latest gthumb 3.3.2 (gthumb from Ubuntu repositories is old and does not use CSD)

gtk3-nocsd, a hack by one of the LXDE founders, is a small module used to disable the client side decoration of gtk+ 3. It works on most, but not all CSD applications.

After disabled client side decoration, above applications will look like:

Gnome Clock with CSD disabled (Picture was taken in Gnome-Shell)

gthumb with CSD disabled

How to Install & Use gtk3-nocsd

This module has been made into Webupd8 PPA, available for Ubuntu 14.10 and Ubuntu 14.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install gtk3-nocsd

To disable client side decoration, for gnome clock as example:

First run command to edit the application shortcut file, .desktop file under /usr/share/applications or .local/share/applications.

gksudo gedit /usr/share/applications/gnome-clocks.desktop

When the file opens, add env LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/gtk3-nocsd/gtk3-nocsd.so to the value of Exec as a parameter, so it looks like:

Save the file and done. Note that gtk3-nocsd does not work for gnome-tweak-tool, gnome-music, etc.

via: webupd8

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How to Remove The Login Sound in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: August 31, 2014

This short tutorial is going to show you how to disable / remove the login drumbeat sound in Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

The easiest way to get rid of this annoying sound is mute the volume via the top-right indicator icon when you’re at the login screen. It won’t affect the system volume after you logged in.

If don’t want to log out right away, you can toggle the login sound via a graphical tool called Ubuntu Tweak.

Download the Ubuntu Tweak (.deb package) from the link below and double-click to open it with Ubuntu Software Center and finally install it.

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-tweak/+download

Once installed, open Ubuntu Tweak and go to Tweaks -> Login Settings. You’ll see the switch to turn on/off ‘Play login sound’. (click the Unlock button before doing any changes)

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How to Edit Right-Click Menu Of Unity Launcher Icons in Ubuntu 14.04

Last updated: August 30, 2014

Quicklist, right-click context menu of application shortcuts in left panel of Ubuntu Unity, allows to quick access common tasks for those applications.

This tutorial will show you how to edit the quicklist in Ubuntu 14.04 with Ubuntu Tweak, a popular Ubuntu configuration tool.

There will be two simple examples: add your folder to Files’ (Home icon) context menu, add a bookmark to the righ-click menu of Google Chrome icon.

1. Install Ubuntu Tweak

Download the Deb package from the link below and click the package to open it with Ubuntu Software Center and finally click the install button to install Ubuntu Tweak in your system.

https://launchpad.net/ubuntu-tweak/+download

You can also install it from the developer’s PPA by running below commands one by one in terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

Once installed, open Ubuntu Tweak and navigate to Admins tab, you’ll see an option called QuickLists Editor.

NOTE that an application need to be locked to launcher before it can be edited via QuickLists Editor.

2. Add A Folder In The Quicklist of Home Folder

Go into QuickLists Editor in Ubuntu Tweak, and do:

  1. Choose Files in the left.
  2. Click the plus icon to add a new entry.
  3. Type in name and command. nautilus Games will open the Games folder in root of my user home.
  4. Click the save button.

Result (may need a restart to take place):

3. Quick Access bookmarks in Context Menu of Google Chrome icon:

Also in Quicklists Editor of Ubuntu Tweak, do:

  1. Select Google Chrome in the left
  2. Click the plus icon to add an entry
  3. Type in name and command. google-chrome https://ubuntuhandbook.org will open my blog in new tab.
  4. Click the save button.

Result (may need a restart to take place):

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BitTorrent Sync 1.4 Released, How to Install it in Ubuntu

Last updated: August 29, 2014

BitTorrent Sync, a p2p file syncing service, now has been updated to version 1.4 with new simplified UI and other new features.

BitTorrent Sync is a simple tool that applies p2p protocol for direct live folder sync with maximum security, network speed and storage capacity. It has native versions for Mac, Windows and Linux, as well as native NAS integration.

New in the latest 1.4:

  • New simplified UI
    UI was fully revised and now looks similar on all platforms. Also, UI was simplified significantly to make Sync use faster, convenient, and easy to use.
  • HTTPS links support
    HTTPS links are generated by Sync and shared with a remote peer to exchange Keys securely, using X.509 certificates
  • Proxy server support added
    Direct connection between peers is possible as long as one of the two peers is not behind a proxy
  • Finder / Explorer integration added
    Right-clicking on the folder in Explorer / Finder exposes “Share with BitTorrent Sync” item, which ads the folder to Sync and automatically generates a Key (Secret).
  • Moved folder support
    Sync tracks if synced folders move and automatically adjusts paths to keep the folder synced.
  • Sync performance optimization
    Improves data transfer speed, CPU consumption, peer discovery.
  • Numerous bug fixes reported by users in 1.3

Install BitTorrent Sync in Ubuntu:

The official packages are available for download at the link below, check your OS type (32-bit or 64-bit), download the appropriate package under the Linux section, and finally run the executable from the extracted folder.

Finally, you can access the web client in your Web Browser by visiting “http://localhost:8888/gui/”

BitTorrent Sync Desktop App with Indicator Applet:

If you want an easy way to deploy BitTorrent Sync on Ubuntu, there’s a desktop GUI with Unity indicator created by community. At the moment of writing this tutorial, it is at version 1.3.1. The latest 1.4 should be available soon.

THE SOFTWARE AND THE PACKAGES BELOW ARE UNOFFICIAL AND NOT THE WORK OF BITTORRENT® INC.

via

To install this unofficial ready to use server and desktop packages, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open the terminal, when it opens paste the commands below and run one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tuxpoldo/btsync

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install btsync-gui

If you want to install the gtk version without the indicator, run below instead:

sudo apt-get install btsync-gui-gtk

Above commands work for Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, and Ubuntu 12.04. Once you installed it, open the gui from Unity Dash and enjoy!

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