Harry The Devops Guy

Set up A Basic HTTP File Server in Ubuntu 14.04

2017-04-03T02:19:00.000-07:00

As you’ve probably already noticed, Ubuntu shows Amazon ads in Unity Dash search results. Here is the quick guide how to disable it in Ubuntu.
First open System Setting on the Launcher, then click Security & Privacy.

Under Search tab, turn off “When searching in the dash: Include online search results”

Just so easy!

Upgrade to Xfce 4.12 in XUbuntu 14.04/Linux Mint 17

2017-04-03T00:44:00.003-07:00

Xfce team recently announced the Xfce Desktop 4.12, a new stable release that supersedes Xfce 4.10.
The new release comes after 2 years and 10 months of work and features:

Alt+Tab dialog with optional windows preview and a list mode (Settings Manager -> Window Manager Tweaks)
Xfce panel intelligently hide and GTK3 plugins support.
Better multi-monitor support.
Allow set different wallpapers for each workspace
previews for icons/themes in appearance window.
Xfsettingsd now supports libinput.
power and brightness indicator
Thunar improvements and more, see the release note.

How to Upgrade to XFCE 4.12:
For XUbuntu 14.04, Xubuntu 14.10, and Linux Mint 17 Xfce edition, XFCE 4.12 is available for upgrade in its official PPA.
Open terminal emulator and run below commands one by one to add the PPA, and upgrade your system including xfce4 desktop to latest:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/xfce-4.12  sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

You may also install the xfce4-power-manager package from Software Center to get the new indicator.

How to Install Faenza Icon Theme in Ubuntu 15.04

2017-04-03T00:44:00.002-07:00

This quick tutorial is going to show you how to install the popular Faenza Icons set in the next Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet.
Two ways: you can select install the icon set from either the source tarball or a .deb binary created by developer.

Install Faenza from source package

Installing Faenza icon theme from its source tarball is quite easy since the developer has made the INSTALL and UNINSTALL scripts into the package.
1. First download Faenza icons package from the link page:

Download Faenza Icon Package

2. Unpack the source package.
In this case (see below picture), result folder faenza-icon-theme_1.3 is extracted to the Downloads folder.

3. Now open terminal from the Dash/Menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to navigate to the shown folder in above picture:

cd ~/Downloads/faenza-icon-theme_1.3

For single use, run the INSTALL script via:

./INSTALL

For global use, run the INSTALL script via:

sudo ./INSTALL

Follow the output prompts until the installation complete.

Install Faenza from .deb binary

The icon theme was made into the developer’s PPA, but not updated with support for Ubuntu 14.04 and higher users. However, the old .deb binary still works in Ubuntu 15.04 (and it will work in future release since there’s no dependencies)
Download “faenza-icon-theme_1.3.1_all.deb” from the link below and click open it with Ubuntu Software Center and finally install the theme.

Download Faenza .deb binary from PPA page

NOTE: Once Faenza is properly installed, use Unity Tweak Tool, Gnome Tweak Tool, Ubuntu Tweak or other configuration tools to apply the theme.

See The Default Wallpaper in Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid

2017-04-03T00:44:00.001-07:00

The default desktop wallpaper for the upcoming Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet was announced today.
Will Cooke, the Ubuntu Desktop Engineering Manager at Canonical, today posted this purple wallpaper as the official Ubuntu 15.04 wallpaper.
Also there’s an alternative greyscale version:

Both wallpapers can be downloaded at bugs.launchpad.net (attachment)

Install BirdFont Font Editor 2.2.0 in Ubuntu

2017-04-03T00:44:00.000-07:00

BirdFont font editor reached the 2.2.0 release on 09 Mar 2015. Here’s the changes and how-to-install/upgrade instructions.
BirdFont is a free font editor that lets you create vector graphics and export TTF, EOT & SVG fonts.
It is developed by Johan Mattsson with a good number of people contributing translations and patches. The editor is written in Vala and has around 50 000 lines of code.
ChangeLog:

2.2.0:
- Customizable guides
- Bug fixes and many small UI improvements
2.1.0:
- A new spacing tab
- Improved Beziér editing
- Side bearing metrics in edit view
- Key bindings for zoom in and zoom out in kerning tab
- Bug fixes

How to Install/Upgrade Birdfont:

Birdfont is available in an unofficial PPA repository for Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 15.04, and Linux Mint 17.
To add the PPA and install birdfont:
Open Terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run below commands one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/birdfont  sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get install birdfont

Or you can download the binary packages directly from PPA web page.

Install Yarock Music Player 1.0.1 in Ubuntu/Linux Mint

2017-04-03T00:43:00.002-07:00

Yarock is Linux native music player written in C++ using Qt and Phonon multimedia framework. It’s designed to provide an easy and pretty music collection browser based on cover art.
Yarock player features:

Music collection database (SQLite 3)
Browse your local music collection based on cover art
Easy search and filter music collection
Manage favorites item (album, artist)
Play music directly from collection or playqueue
Simple Playqueue
Smart playlist generator
Support mp3,Ogg Vorbis,flac music files (depending on phonon backend)
Support load/save playlist file (m3u, pls, xspf)
Play radio stream (tunin, shoutcast, dirble, …)
Mp3Gain tag support for volume normalization
Cover art download
Last Fm scrobbler
Command line interface, Mpris interface
Clean and simple user interface
No GNOME or KDE dependancies

Screenshots:

Yarock player is under active development. The most recent release is version 1.0.1 which features:

BugFix : database issue
BugFix : fix song lenght update (#1393027)
BugFix : Jumbled Text in Settings Area (#1394508)
BugFix : minor ui presentation for filesystem view
BugFix : image for stream management
Change : add ascending order for filesystem view
Change : file dialog open user music folder by default if exists
Change : file dialog in settings -> open saved directory
Change : easiest first time user startup
Change : add saving position in browser view
Change : update and add translation

Install Yarock in Ubuntu / Linux Mint:

Sam Rog is maintaining a PPA that contains the most recent Yarock packages for Ubuntu 14.04 trusty, Ubuntu 14.10 utopic, Ubuntu 15.04 vivid and Linux Mint 17.
Since the repository contains lots of other software and libraries that might cause your system unstable, I’d recommend to download the installer directly from PPA ftp download page.
1. You may first check out your OS type, 32-bit(i386) or 64-bit(amd64), from System Settings > Details.
2. Select download the .deb package from this link.
select download ‘yarock_x.x.x~codename~x_OStype.deb’ that matches your OS. For example, 64-bit Ubuntu 14.04 & Linux Mint 17 use yarock_1.0.1~trusty~ppa1_amd64.deb
3. Once downloaded, open the package via Software Center or Gdebi and click install.

Install ‘GNOME 2’ MATE Desktop in Ubuntu 14.10, 14.04

2017-04-03T00:43:00.001-07:00

For Ubuntu users who prefer the classic Gnome 2 Desktop but not satisfied with Gnome Fallback session, MATE Desktop may be a good alternative.
The MATE Desktop Environment is the continuation of GNOME 2, which is under active development to add support for new technologies while preserving a traditional desktop experience.
MATE Desktop is available via the official repositories for various Linux distributions, including Arch Linux, Debian, Fedora, Gentoo, Linux Mint, openSUSE, Ubuntu 15.04. There’s also Ubuntu MATE, an official Ubuntu flavor, that uses MATE as the default desktop environment.

Install MATE in Ubuntu 14.04, 14.10:

MATE developers have create a few PPAs for current supported Ubuntu releases, including 14.04 Trusty and 14.10 Utopic.
For Ubuntu 14.04, open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run commands below one by one:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/ppa  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/trusty-mate  sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get upgrade  sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-mate-core ubuntu-mate-desktop

For Ubuntu 14.10, run below commands instead to add PPA and install MATE Desktop:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/ppa  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-mate-dev/utopic-mate  sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get upgrade  sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends ubuntu-mate-core ubuntu-mate-desktop

How to Install Strategy Game 0 A.D. Alpha 18 in Ubuntu

2017-04-03T00:43:00.000-07:00

Wildfire Games recently announced the eighteenth alpha version of its real-time strategy game 0 A.D. The code name is Rhododactylos.
The new release comes with some new features:

Nomad Game Mode: Players start with only some citizen soldiers and female citizens, and no civil center, and must build a base from scratch.
In-Game Technology Tree: Allows players to see which faction can research what technologies, when and for how many resources.
The default AI, Petra, now supports saved games.
Toggle groups of units between marching in formation and breaking formation.
New Seleucid buildings: The new buildings are the house, storehouse, farmstead, towers and temple. The Civic Center is a placeholder for now and will be updated before the Seleucids are finished.

There are also some performance improvements and other changes under the hood, see the release note for more.

Install 0 A.D. Alpha 18 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04 LTS, Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, and Linux Mint 13/17 can running below commands to install or upgrade this game from its PPA.
Open terminal from Menu/Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:wfg/0ad

Then update system cache and install the game:

sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get install 0ad 0ad-data

How to Speed up Application Search in the Unity Dash

2017-04-03T00:42:00.007-07:00

Running Ubuntu on an old laptop? Well, you may found that the Dash for searching files and installed applications is a little slow and heavy.
Here I’m going to show you how to speed up the Dash by disabling unwanted search results and doing a little tweak on graphics settings.

1. Disable undesired search results.

First, you may install Dconf Editor from Ubuntu Software Center.

Once installed, open dconf-Editor and then navigate to com > canonical > unity > dash. In the Scopes line remove the scopes you don’t use. I only use the Dash for searching installed applications, so it ended up looking like this:

[‘home.scope’, ‘applications.scope’]

Also in dconf-Editor window, navigate to com > canonical > unity > lenses. Remove unwanted values in always search, home-lens-default-view, home-lens-priority, and set remote-content-search to ‘none’. In my case it looks like:

Now open System Settings > Security & Privacy, you may:

disable recording and clear cache under File & Applications tab.
disable Amazon searching results under Search tab.

2. Reduce Graphic effects

After previous settings, your Unity Dash should be faster than before. If that is not enough, do below steps to reduce graphic effects on the Dash.
1. Search for and install compizconfig-settings-manager from Ubuntu Software Center.
2. Once installed, search for CCSM and launch it from the Dash. When it opens, find out Ubuntu Unity Plugin icon and click to go to its setting page.
Disable Dash blur effect by setting its value to no blur:

3. (Optional since below setting affects the whole system) In CCSM main window, click to go to OpenGL settings page and set value of Texture Filter to Fast.

Log out and back in. Enjoy!

Easily Eject/Close CD-Rom Tray in Ubuntu via Keyboard Shortcut

2017-04-03T00:42:00.006-07:00

Without pushing the physical eject button, here’s how to easily toggle (eject/close) your CD-Rom tray via keyboard shortcut or hotkey in Ubuntu.
In Ubuntu Linux, we can use eject command to eject CD-Rom tray, eject -t command to close, and eject -T to toggle (if open, close and if closed, open) CD-Rom tray.
For those who hate Linux command, toggle cd-rom tray using a hotkey is easier since Ubuntu provides a reserved Eject option in the keyboard settings utility.
To enable option and assign a keyboard shortcut:

Open System Settings from the Dash or Unity’s left Launcher.
When it opens, click on Keyboard icon and navigate to Shortcuts tab.
Select “Sound and Media” from the left pane, then you should see the Eject option in the bottom of right pane.
click to highlight it and assign a hotkey by pressing a key combination on your keyboard.

Finally press the shortcut key to eject, or close if device support, the CD-Rom tray.

How to Install MineCraft in Ubuntu 15.04

2017-04-03T00:42:00.005-07:00

This quick tutorial shows how to install Minecraft in Ubuntu 15.04 properly (i.e., create symbolic link and launcher), while minecraft website only provides a java archive for download.
Thanks to Cassidy James, an installer script has been made into PPA that automatically downloads the game archive from Mojang’s servers and installs it on your Ubuntu properly by adding a software launcher and creating a symbolic link. The game is installed against OpenJDK 7.
To get started:
Open terminal from the Dash, Application Menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run below command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:minecraft-installer-peeps/minecraft-installer

After that, you can either install Minecraft using Synaptic Package Manager after clicking Reload button, or run below commands one by one in terminal:

sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get install minecraft-installer

Once the installation done, you should be able launch the game from the Dash or Menu. Enjoy!

How to Install Google Earth in Ubuntu 15.04 64-bit

2017-04-03T00:42:00.004-07:00

Installing Google Earth in Ubuntu is quite easy because there are .deb packages available for download in Google website. All Ubuntu users have to do is grab a .deb package and install it via Ubuntu Software Center.
However, the 64-bit .deb package requires ia32-libs, while the package is not available in Ubuntu 15.04 repositories.
The correct way to install these ia32-libs required package in 64-bit Ubuntu is to simply install the 32-bit package as well as its 32-bit dependencies, that’s how multiarch works.

Install Google Earth 7 in Ubuntu 15.04:

1. Select download “32 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu)” from Google website, or at the link below:

Download Google Earth

2. For 32-bit user, just click the .deb package to open with Ubuntu Software Center and install it.
3. For 64-bit user, open terminal from the Dash, Application Menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run below command to install dependencies:

sudo apt-get install libfontconfig1:i386 libx11-6:i386 libxrender1:i386 libxext6:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libglu1-mesa:i386 libglib2.0-0:i386 libsm6:i386

4. In file browser, right-click on the 32-bit .deb package you downloaded in step 1 and choose “open with Ubuntu Software Center”. When it opens, click install Google Earth:

When done, you should be able to launch the software from the Dash. Enjoy!

How to Install Latest Mkvmerge GUI in Ubuntu

2017-04-03T00:42:00.003-07:00

MKVToolNix, is a set of tools (e.g. mkvmerge gui, mkvinfo) to create, alter and inspect Matroska files under Linux.
As both Matroska and MKVToolNix are under heavy development here’s how to install the latest release from its official repository and keep it up-to-date through Software Updater.
1. Add MKVToolNix repository
MKVToolNix repository so far supports Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Linux Mint 17, and Ubuntu 14.10.
To add it, open Software & Updates -> Other Software tab. Click on Add button and input below line in pop-up dialog:

deb http://www.bunkus.org/ubuntu/trusty/ ./

You may replace trusty with utopic or precise for Ubuntu 14.10 or 12.04.

2. Download and import the key
Open terminal from the Dash, Application Menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T. When it opens, run below command to get the keyring:

wget --no-check-certificate http://www.bunkus.org/gpg-pub-moritzbunkus.txt -O - | sudo apt-key add -

3. Install/Upgrade MKVToolNix:
Finally you can install the tool via Ubuntu Software Center and upgrade it as part of system updates through Software Updater:

That’s it. Enjoy!

Kodi (XBMC) 14.2 Released, Install it from PPA

2017-04-03T00:42:00.002-07:00

Kodi 14.2, the second and final point release of Kodi 14 Helix, formerly known as XBMC, was released today with various bug-fixes. The next will be Kodi 15 “Isengard”.
Changes in Kodi 14.2:

Fix: Application stopped responding on Windows
Fix: Gap-less playback on MP3
Fix: Playback of rtmp protocol
Fix: Scanning of newly added episodes
Fix: Fix multipath source scanning
Fix: Loading external subtitles in some cases
Fix: packaging of PIL module on Android. This fixes some script error when using weather add-on
Fix: Fix video playback on all platform after refresh rate change
Fix: Various bugs that were present in PVR add-ons.
Fix: Save weather location
Fix: Fix filtering of foreign add-ons
Fix: ftps handling
Fix: use LastWrite instead of ChangeTime for file system on Windows
Feature: Bump OSX SDK to 10.10

Install Kodi 14.2 in Ubuntu:

The new release has been made into Kodi’s official PPA, available for Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 12.04, Linux Mint 13/17.
To install it, open terminal from the Dash, Application Menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run below commands one by one to add PPA and install/upgrade the media center:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:team-xbmc/ppa  sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get install kodi

Once installed, log out and choose log-in with Kodi session, or launch Kodi from the Dash at next log-in.

How to Install Sublime Text 2 or 3 in Ubuntu 15.04

2017-04-03T00:42:00.001-07:00

Sublime Text is a cross-platform text and source code editor with a Python API. It is a sophisticated text editor for code, markup and prose. Its functionality is extendable with plugins. Most of the extending packages have free-software licenses and are community-built and maintained.
Sublime Text features:

“Goto Anything,” quick navigation to files, symbols, or lines
“Command palette” uses adaptive matching for quick keyboard invocation of arbitrary commands
Simultaneous editing: simultaneously make the same interactive changes to multiple selected areas
Python-based plugin API
Project-specific preferences
Extensive customizability via JSON settings files, including project-specific and platform-specific settings
Cross platform (Windows, OS X, Linux)
Compatible with many language grammars from Textmate.
proprietary software, may be downloaded and evaluated for free, however a license must be purchased for continued use.

Install Sublime Text 2 in Ubuntu:

Thanks to Webupd8 Team, an installer script has been made into PPA that automatically downloads Sublime Text 2 from its website and installs it and its launcher, docs on your Ubuntu.
To add the PPA, open terminal from Dash/Menu or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:webupd8team/sublime-text-2

After adding the PPA, you can install the text editor via Synaptic Package Manager (install it from Software Center) by doing below steps:

Launchpad Synaptic package manager and click Reload button.
Search sublime-text in the filter box.
right-click on sublime-text and select “mark for installation”.
finally click Apply button.

Once installed, launch the editor from the Dash/Menu.

Install Sublime Text 3 Beta in Ubuntu:

Similar to above instructions, run below command instead to add another PPA and finally install the editor via Synaptic package manager.

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:webupd8team/sublime-text-3

NOTE: you can only install one version of Sublime Text in your Ubuntu. To install version 3, you may first remove version 2 from Synaptic package manager.

How to Close Notifications on Click in Ubuntu 14.04, 14.10

2017-04-03T00:42:00.000-07:00

When a notification bubble pops up in Ubuntu Unity desktop, you have to wait a few seconds until it disappears automatically.
This tutorial is going to show you how to configure Unity’s notify-OSD, so that you can easily close the notification bubbles by simple mouse-clicking on them.
1. To get started, first install a graphical tool for configuring notify-OSD.
Open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run commands below one by one to install the tool from PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:amandeepgrewal/notifyosdconfig  sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get upgrade  sudo apt-get install notify-osd notifyosdconfig

For ubuntu 14.10, users need to run below command first:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:leolik/leolik

For users who don’t want to add PPA, grab .deb packages for both “notify-osd” and “notifyosdconfig” from the ppa page.
2. Restart the notification system by running below command in terminal:

sudo pkill nitify-osd

3. Launch NotifyOSD configuration tool from the Unity Dash:

4. When it opens, simply check the box where it says “Close on Click” and click Apply button.

As you see, the tool also allows you to edit notification location, timeout, bubble, text content etc.

Disable Guest Session in Ubuntu 15.04 Login Screen

2017-04-03T00:41:00.009-07:00

For personal computers you may want to disable or remove the guest session from the login screen in Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid Vervet. This can be easily done by adding a rule into the configuration file of LightDM display manager.
To get started:
1. Open Ubuntu Software Center, search for and install gksu, which allows to run graphical commands as root:

2. Open terminal from the Dash or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run below command:

gksu gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

When the file opens, add below lines if it’s empty or add the third line:

[SeatDefaults] greeter-session=unity-greeter allow-guest=false

so the file looks like:

Save the file and restart your computer to apply changes.

Install Spotify in Ubuntu 15.04 & Fix not launch issue

2017-04-03T00:41:00.008-07:00

This quick tutorial shows you how to install the Spotify client in Ubuntu 15.04 Vivid and fix the app does not launch issue due to miss library libgcrypt.so.11.
Install Spotify client:
1. Add Spotify’s official Linux repository by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free"

2 Get the secure key:

sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 94558F59

3. Refresh your system package cache via Software Updater, or by running below command:

sudo apt-get update

4. Finally install the client app through Synaptic, or by running command:

sudo apt-get install spotify-client spotify-client-qt

For Gnome-Shell, you may also install the “spotify-client-gnome-support” package:

sudo apt-get install spotify-client-gnome-support

Fix Spotify not launching issue:
Ubuntu 15.04 misses the libgcrypt11 package in its official repositories, so that Spotify won’t launch and you’ll get below error message if you start it from terminal:

spotify: error while loading shared libraries: libgcrypt.so.11: cannot open shared object file: No such file or directory

To fix the issue, just download and install the package from the repository of Ubuntu 14.04 LTS.

libgcrypt11 for 64-bit OS

libgcrypt11 for 32-bit OS

Don’t know your OS type? Check it out at top-right corner shutdown menu -> About This Computer.
Once downloaded, click the package to open with Ubuntu Software Center and install it. Finally launch Spotify client from the Dash/App Menu.

Install The Latest Shutter Screenshot Tool in Ubuntu

2017-04-03T00:41:00.007-07:00

Shutter is the best feature-rich screenshot program for Ubuntu Linux. With it, you can take a screenshot of a specific area, window, your whole screen, or even of a website – apply different effects to it, draw on it to highlight points, and then upload to an image hosting site, all within one window.
Shutter is a free, and open-source software available in Ubuntu Software Center. But Canonical does not provide updates for this software, while Shutter is still under active development.
So here’s how to install the latest release of this screenshot tool and keep it up-to-date by receiving future updates via Software Updater.
1. To get started, first add the official PPA repository into your system by running below command in terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:shutter/ppa

The PPA so far supports Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 15.04 and Linux Mint 13/17.
2. After adding the PPA, run below commands to refresh system cache and install Shutter:

sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get install shutter

And you can always upgrade Shutter through Software Updater once a new release is out!

Install Darktable 1.6.4 in Ubuntu 14.10/Linux Mint 17

2017-04-03T00:41:00.006-07:00

A new release of Darktable, an open source photo workflow software, was announced a few days ago with various improvements, new camera support and translation updates.
Darktable 1.6.4 changelog, according to the release note:
General improvements:

major rawspeed update
facebook exporter update (first authentication usability should be much better now)
first run opencl benchmark to prevent opencl auto-activation if GPU is obviously slower than CPU
lensfun cornercase fixes
some mask cornercase fixes
zonesystem now updates it’s gui when number of zones changes
spots iop updates
ui_last/gui_language should work more reliably now
internal lua updated from 5.2.3 to 5.2.4 (distro typically use their own version of lua)
gcc 5 should build now

Camera support:

Canon Digital Rebel (non-european 300D)
Nikon D5500 (experimental)
Olympus E-M5 Mark II (experimental)
Samsung NX500 (experimental)

White balance presets:

Sony A77 II
Fujifilm X-E2
Olympus E-M5 Mark II

Noise profiles:

Canon 7D Mark II

updated translations:German, French, Russian, Danish, Catalan, Japanese, Dutch.
How to Install/Upgrade Darktable in Ubuntu/Linux Mint:
For Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, and Linux Mint 17, the new release is available for upgrade in PPA repository.
1. Open terminal from the Dash, Menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add PPA:

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

2. After adding the PPA, you should be able to upgrade the software through Software Updater (or Update Manager):

Or you can run below commands one by one to install it from terminal:

sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get install darktable

That’s it. Enjoy!

Install Latest Qmmp Qt Music Player in Ubuntu 15.04

2017-04-03T00:41:00.005-07:00

Qmmp is an open-source qt-based music player with a Winamp-like user interface. It plays most common audio formats and supports XMMS and Winamp 2.x skins, mms, MPRIS, lyrics, CD playback, CUE sheet, etc.
Qmmp works on Windows and Linux. While Ubuntu repositories provide an old version, here’s how to install the latest Qmmp 0.8.4 and keep it up-to-date in Ubuntu 15.04, Ubuntu 14.04, and Linux Mint 17.
1. Open terminal from the Dash, Menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command to add PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:forkotov02/ppa

2. After that, run below commands one by one to refresh system cache and install latest Qmmp packages:

sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get install qmmp

Addition: once a new release is out in future, you should be able to upgrade it through Software Center (or Update manager).

Install Latest digiKam 4.9.0 in Ubuntu 14.04/Linux Mint 17

2017-04-03T00:41:00.004-07:00

digiKam, free and open-source image organizer and tag editor, has reached the 4.9.0 release. While Ubuntu repositories provide very old versions in Software Center, here is how to install/upgrade the latest release in Ubuntu 14.04 or Linux Mint 17 from PPA.
digiKam 4.9.0 is a bug-fix release that fixes below issues:

Crash while applying lensfun distortion correction
Face recognition makes digikam fill all the available memory (Qt SQlite plugin relevant)
Random crashes on OpenSUSE 13.1
Face Recognition memory allocation crash application
digiKam hangs after selecting folder with pictures
100% CPU – Hang for VERY long periods
Crash when applying auto lens correction (chromatic aberration)
The sideview containing the thumbnails is not updated after deleting a photo
Deselecting “Show tracks on map” crashes the dialog
read the release note for details.

Install/Upgrade digiKam in Ubuntu:

Philip Johnsson is maintaining a PPA repository with most recent digiKam packages for Ubuntu users. So far Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Linux Mint 17 are supported.
Note: There is small delay between new versions announced and available in the PPA, check out the PPA webpage.
1. To add the PPA, open terminal from the Dash, Menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:philip5/extra

2. After adding the PPA, upgrade the software through Software Updater, or by running below commands one by one in terminal:

sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get install digikam

Audacious 3.6.1 Fixes CD Playback and Crash Issue

2017-04-03T00:41:00.003-07:00

The first point release of Audacious Music Player 3.6 was released a few days ago with some important bug-fixes.
According to the release note, Audacious 3.6.1 fixed unable to play CD disk, and player crashes on song change if auto presets is enabled.
Also the new release fixed three other bugs include:

Plugins disabled after upgrading audacious
Winamp skin rendering issue in GTK2 version .
misbehavior of function VFSFile::fread(…)

Install / Upgrade to Audacious 3.6.1 in Ubuntu:

Webupd8 PPA is maintaining the most recent Audacious packages, and so far Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, Ubuntu 15.04 and Linux Mint 17 are supported. Check out the PPA page.
1. To add the PPA, open terminal from the Dash, Menu, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run command:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8

2. After adding the PPA, upgrade the music player through Software Updater (or Updater Manager).
Or run below commands one by one in terminal:

sudo apt-get update  sudo apt-get install audacious audacious-plugins

That’s it. Enjoy!

Install and Use Privacy Indicator in Ubuntu 15.04

2017-04-03T00:41:00.002-07:00

Privacy Indicator is a simple indicator applet on Unity panel system tray area that allows you to quickly change user’s privacy settings and clear caches.
As below picture shows, the indicator allows to enable and/or disable:

Amazon search results in the Unity Dash.
Record file and application usage.
Store HUD usage data.
Use Ubuntu GeoIP service.
Show current username in panel
show desktop shortcuts
Use default wallpaper.

It also allows to clear caches of recent files, Zeitgeist log, thumbnail, libdvdcss key (DVD player key), GVFS metadata.

Install Privacy Indicator in Ubuntu 15.04:

Select download the latest .deb packge, so far it’s “indicator-privacy_0.05_all.deb” from the link below:

Download Privacy Indicator DEB

Click open the package with Ubuntu Software Center and finally install the indicator applet. Once installed, start the applet from the Unity Dash. Enjoy!

How to Install The Latest GIMP Image Editor in Ubuntu 14.04/14.10

2017-04-03T00:41:00.001-07:00

GIMP, an open-source image editor, is a best Linux alternative to Adobe Photoshop. GIMP is available in Ubuntu Software Center, but Canonical doesn’t provide future updates for the software.
If you want the latest version of GIMP and always keep it up-to-date, you have to add a PPA repository in your system and below is how-to:
1. Open terminal from the Dash, Application, or by pressing Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard. When it opens, run below command to add PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp

So far, Ubuntu 12.04, Ubuntu 14.04, Ubuntu 14.10, and Linux Mint 13/17 are supported.
Thanks to otto-kesselgulasch, the guy promises to maintain the PPA with most recent packages as long as he lives.
2. After adding the PPA, open Software Updater (or Updater Manager) and you’ll receive GIMP updates afte checking for updates once a new version is out:

Or search for GIMP and install it in Ubuntu Software Center for the first time.