Because I've received more than 50 emails about this, I though I'd make a post about it, to clear things up for everybody.
While Oracle Java 6 and 7 are not supported for quite a while, they were still available for download on Oracle's website until recently.
However, the binaries were removed about 10 days ago (?), so the Oracle Java (JDK) 6 and 7 installers available in the WebUpd8 Oracle Java PPA no longer work.
Oracle Java 6 and 7 are now only available for those with an Oracle Support account (which is not free), so I can't support this for the PPA packages.
From the Oracle Java
downloads page:
"Updates for Java SE 7 released after April 2015, and updates for Java SE 6 released after April 2013 are only available to Oracle Customers through My Oracle Support (requires support login).
Java SE Advanced offers users commercial features, access to critical bug fixes, security fixes, and general maintenance".
It's highly recommended you update to Oracle Java 8. Check out the following articles for how to install Oracle Java 8 in Ubuntu (or Linux Mint and derivatives) or Debian via PPA.
If you have an Oracle Support account and you really need Oracle JDK 6 or 7, you can get the installers from the WebUpd8 PPA to work by downloading the binaries and placing them in the following folder:
- /var/cache/oracle-jdk6-installer/ for JDK 6 (you'll need version 6u45)
- /var/cache/oracle-jdk7-installer/ for JDK 7 (you'll need version 7u80 for 32bit and 64bit or 7u60 for arm)
... and then install the
oracle-java6-installer or
oracle-java7-installer package.
Update: if you're looking for Oracle Java 17 (want to install it via PPA), see THIS for more info (it's available in a different PPA).
Posted on 16 September 2021 | 11:46 am
This is a quick guide for how to reflash
Fyme OS on Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition. Flyme is based on Android with some redesign along with extras. It doesn't ship with Google apps, but those are easily installable.
You can flash Flyme 5.1.12G or 6.1.0G (released recently), both based on Android 5.1. To see what's new in Flyme 6, check out
THIS page. Using the steps below, you should receive future Flyme OS updates automatically, so there's no need to reflash anything manually for any OS updates.
Flash Android (Flyme) On Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition)
Before proceeding, make sure your phone is charged. Also, like with any flashing procedure, this may brick your device, so use these instructions at your own risk! And finally, I should mention that I didn't yet try to perform a reverse procedure (install Ubuntu Touch back) so if you plan on doing this in the future, you'll have to figure out how to do it yourself. What you'll need
1.A. adb and
fastboot.
In Ubuntu,
adb and
fastboot are available in the official repositories. To install them, use the following commands:
sudo apt install adb fastboot
These can also be downloaded from
HERE (for Linux, Mac and Windows).
1.B. Flyme firmware (global version).
The Meizu MX4 global firmware is available to download from
HERE.
1.C.
recovery.img from Flyme OS.
This can be downloaded from
HERE or
HERE.
Place the firmware along with the recovery image in your home folder.
2. Enable Developer mode on your Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition (About phone > Developer mode).
3. You may encounter an error with
adb /
fastboot not detecting the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition device. To fix this, open the
~/.android/adb_usb.ini file with a text editor (if it doesn't exist, create the ".android" folder in your home directory, and a file called
adb_usb.ini inside this folder) and paste the following in this file:
0x2a45
... and save the file.
On Windows, this file is available under
C:\Users\<user name>\.android
4. Flash the recovery and Flyme OS
4.A. Connect the Meizu MX4 Ubuntu Edition device to your computer via USB (USB 2.0 is recommended because it looks like there might be issues with USB 3.0), then reboot in bootloader mode and flash the recovery:
adb reboot-bootloader
fastboot flash recovery recovery.img
(or enter the exact path to where you downloaded "recovery.img")
Note that the phone must be unlocked when doing this. Also, the first time you use adb, the phone will ask if you want to allow the connection - make sure you click "Accept"!
In theory, you should be able to reboot to bootloader by holding volume down + power buttons, and into recovery by holding volume up + power, but these didn't work for some reason on my device (I don't remember if only one of them or both), that's why I used commands instead in this article.
4.B. Next, power up the phone and after Ubuntu Touch boots, run the following command to reboot into recovery:
adb reboot recovery
From the recovery screen (which is in Chinese), you need to get to a screen which displays the "adb sideload" command at the bottom. You get to this by selecting the various options in the recovery screen, but unfortunately I forgot which one (and I didn't took a picture). So unfortunately I can't tell you exactly how to get there, but remember that "adb sideload" should be displayed at the bottom when you get to the right option.
Once you get to the screen I mentioned above, run the following command
adb sideload update.zip
(or enter the exact path to where you downloaded "update.zip")
On the next reboot, your Meizu MX4 should run Flyme instead of Ubuntu Touch.
Note that the first boot might take a long time!
Quick Flyme OS tips for new users
And finally, a couple of tips if you're new to Flyme OS.
Meizu MX4 has only 1 button, so to perform a "back" function, instead of using a dedicated button, you'll need to touch the Meizu MX4 button once.
To go to the home screen you'll have to swipe up on the Meizu MX4 button.
To install Google Play Store and other Google apps, you'll need the Meizu Google Apps Installer. This is available in the Meizu store, or you can grab an APK from
HERE.
Rooting the device is very easy. You'll need to create a Meizu account and log in to it on the Meizu MX4. Next, go to
Settings > Security > Root Permission and agree to the terms. That's it.
References:
Posted on 25 August 2017 | 9:53 am
Audacious 3.9 was released recently, bringing much-needed updates to the QT UI, along with various other enhancements.
 |
| Audacious GTK2 interface |
Audacious is a music player available for Linux and Windows, which ships with an extensive list of plugins, along with multiple interfaces: GTK2, GTK3, Qt5 and a Winamp2-like interface. Note that the builds from the main WebUpd8 PPA use the GTK2 and Qt5 interfaces.
As a side note, the GTK2 and GTK3 versions may be dropped in the future, when the Qt5 version is mature enough.
The application is developed with low resource use and high audio quality in mind. It ships with plugins such as global hotkeys, lyrics, MPRIS v2, Scrobbler, Spectrum Analyzer, effects such as Crystalizer, Voice Removal, Crossfade, Extra Stereo, and more. Its Winamp-like interface supports Winamp 2.x wsz skins.
Changes in Audacious 3.9 include:
- Qt user interface:
- the Audacious main window is more customizable thanks to the addition of a View menu (includes options to view/hide the main menu, info bar, info bar visualization, status bar as well as remaining time) and additional options in the application settings;
- configurable playlist columns;
- drag'n'drop support for playlist entries;
- improved playlist search bar: it's hidden until pressing Ctrl + F, and it matches results more intelligently;
- new controls for stream recording;
- integrated menu items and keyboard shortcuts for the Playlist Manager and Search Tool;
- a comments column can now be displayed in the playlist (and it supports sorting by it);
- improved Search Tool results formatting (bold, italics and capitals highlight different types of results);
- added support for directories in m3u playlists;
- added automatic switching between track and album ReplayGain modes when shuffle is enabled / disabled;
- various other enhancements and bug fixes.
A complete Audacious 3.9 list of changes can be found
HERE.
Here are screenshots with the Audacious 3.9 Winamp2-like and Qt interfaces:
Install the latest Audacious in Ubuntu or Linux Mint via PPA
To install / upgrade to the latest Audacious (version 3.9 at the time I'm writing this article) in Ubuntu 17.10, 17.04, 16.04 or 14.04 / Linux Mint 18.x or 17.x, and derivatives, by using the main WebUpd8 PPA, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt update
sudo apt install audacious
As a reminder, Ubuntu 16.10 (Yakkety Yak) has reached end of life, so Launchpad doesn't allow uploading new packages for it in any PPA.
For other Linux distributions and Windows, see the Audacious downloads page.
Posted on 22 August 2017 | 10:34 am
Nemo 3.4 (3.4.7 at the time I'm writing this article) without Cinnamon dependencies and with Unity patches is now available in the WebUpd8 Nemo 3 PPA, for Ubuntu 17.04 and 16.04.
While it comes with some Unity patches, this Nemo version should work with other desktop environments as well, like GNOME (Shell), etc.
Nemo was forked from the old Nautilus 3.4 (before it lost quite a few features) and is the default file manager of the Cinnamon desktop environment. It includes features that are no longer available in Nautilus, such as dual panes, configurable toolbar and much, much more.
Among the changes in Nemo 3.4 are:
- separate processes for Nemo and the desktop handling;
- a new desktop icon mode is available: desktop grid. This new mode allows changing the icon size (smaller, normal, larger) as well as the icon orientation (horizontal or vertical), sort by name, date, type or size, auto-arrange or manual layout, and align to grid;
- simpler date formats for the last modified column in list view;
- wildcard support in file searches;
- Firefox-like support for middle-click and Ctrl key in Nemo navigation buttons to open new tabs;
- you can now change the desktop font (font face and size). To do this, use Dconf Editor (under org > nemo > desktop > font);
- other improvements and bug fixes.
Note that the new desktop grid mode is set as default. If you want to use the old desktop layout, use Dconf Editor to enable it (go to org > nemo > desktop > use-desktop-grid and set it to false).
You can configure the spacing for the new desktop grid layout. You can do this using Dconf Editor, under org > nemo > desktop > horizontal-grid-adjust (or vertical-grid-adjust).
I also have to mention that if you set the layout to horizontal while using the new desktop grid, this will also affect the old desktop layout if you go back to it. I'm not sure if this is intended or it's a bug. Also, while using the old desktop layout with a horizontal icon orientation, there's a bug - when moving a file when moving a file or folder from one desktop to another, the file/folder continues to show up on the original desktop until that desktop is refreshed (e.g. using Ctrl + r).
Install Nemo 3.4 without Cinnamon dependencies and with Unity patches in Ubuntu 17.04 or 16.04
For how to install the latest Nemo 3.4 in Ubuntu 17.04 and 16.04 (and derivatives), see THIS article (it was initially posted for Nemo 3.2, but the PPA now provides Nemo 3.4).
Important: if you're upgrading from an older Nemo version and you had Nemo set to draw the desktop, you'll have to either logout/login or run "nemo-desktop" manually. This is only required once after updating - that's because the executable used to draw the desktop is now "nemo-desktop" instead of "nemo".
Posted on 11 August 2017 | 1:11 pm
After two years since the previous version, a new
YouTube-DL GUI (YouTube-DLG) version was made available for download recently. The new 0.4 version ships with a a new user interface, easier format and save path selection and more.
YouTube-DL GUI is, like its name suggests, a graphical user interface for the powerful command line tool youtube-dl, available for Linux and Windows. In case you're not familiar with
youtube-dl, this is a popular tool that allows downloading videos from YouTube and
around 1000 other websites.
YouTube-DL GUI features include:
- options to select the video and audio format;
- post-processing options such as: extract audio from video file, embed thumbnail in audio file, add metadata, select audio quality;
- can embed subtitles into the video file (mp4 only);
- configurable filename format for the downloaded audio/video file;
- supports authentication;
- allows using a proxy;
- can specify user agent and referrer;
- supports passing extra youtube-dl command line options.
YouTUbe-DL GUI automatically downloads (and updates) the
youtube-dl binary so you don't have to worry about having an old
youtube-dl that no longer works. By default, the binary is saved under the
~/.config/youtube-dlg directory.
For post-processing, the application uses FFmpeg, so you'll need this installed for some options, like merging DASH files, etc.
Changes in YouTube-DL GUI 0.4:
- new user interface;
- easier format selection (now available directly in the main UI, and not in the app settings);
- easier save path selection (now available directly in the main UI, and not in the app settings);
- added new options to move item in queue, pause, play, delete, pause, etc.;
- added new supported youtube-dl options: -v, --ignore-config, --hls-prefer-native, --no-mtime, etc.;
- added option for embedding thumbnails to audio files;
- support for new output templates;
- added generic video formats (3gp, mp4, webm, etc..);
- added dynamic format options: the "default" format option in the UI downloads the best available format ("best" option in youtube-dl), while setting the default format as well as enabling the 'Extract audio from video file' option will download the best audio ("bestaudio" option in youtube-dl) available;
- post-processing:
- calculate final size of post process files;
- extract final extension after merging process;
- extract final extension after recording process;
- bug fixes and various other changes.
For more information, see the YouTube-DL GUI
changelog.
Using the new YouTube-DL GUI is fairly easy. Simple enter the URL (or multiple URLs) in the "Enter URLs below" box, then click "Add". To start downloading, click the start button (cloud icon in the bottom right hand side corner of the app window).
Install YouTube-DL GUI in Ubuntu or Linux Mint
YouTube-DL GUI is available in the main WebUpd8 PPA, for Ubuntu 17.04 and 16.04 / Linux Mint 18.x. To add the PPA and install the application, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt update
sudo apt install youtube-dlg
If you don't want to add the PPA, you can grab the deb from
HERE. Important: you'll also need the
twodict package (new dependency), which is available
HERE.
The latest YouTube-DL GUI doesn't work in Ubuntu 14.04 because it requires wxPython 3 which is not available in the official Trusty repositories. The old version still works though.
For other Linux distributions and Windows, see the YouTube-DL GUI GitHub page.
Posted on 11 August 2017 | 9:05 am
Ambient Noise, or ANoise is a simple, lightweight application for playing ambient noises, such as waves, rain, fire, and so on, useful to help you stay focused and boost productivity, or fall asleep.
The application didn't work in Ubuntu 16.04 and newer until recently, when it was updated to GStreamer 1.0 and Python 3, along with some bug fixes.
ANoise runs directly in the Ubuntu Sound Menu, without a GUI. From there you can easily play various relaxing sounds such as rain, wind, forest, storm, fire, night, coffee shop, or sea.
Besides the Ubuntu Sound Menu, ANoise also supports the Media Player Indicator extension for GNOME Shell, as well as the Linux Mint (Cinnamon) Sound applet. Although for Linux Mint, note that the ambient noise icon is larger than it should be.
Here's ANoise running in GNOME Shell (with Media Player Indicator extension):
ANoise can also be used on desktop environments without Ubuntu Sound Menu / Media Player Indicator. In such cases, you can install the ANoise GUI:
Other ANoise features include:
- default sounds: rain, wind, storm, fire, forest, night, coffee shop and sea;
- it remembers your last played ambient noise between reboots;
- includes a sleep timer as well as an option to start automatically on system startup;
- unlike some websites that offer the same functionality, ANoise works without an Internet connection;
- supports custom sounds. You can copy extra ambient noises (ogg, mp3 or wav) into the ~/ANoise or ~/.ANoise folder and the application should be able to use them (you can also add a .png with the same name as the audio file to be used in the Ubuntu Sound Menu);
- extra ambient noise packs are available in its PPA.
Note: if the ANoise GUI package is not installed, to open the ANoise preferences you'll need to click on the ANoise entry in the Ubuntu Sound Menu.
Install ANoise in Ubuntu or Linux Mint
To add the Ambient Noise PPA and install the application in Ubuntu or Linux Mint, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:costales/anoise
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install anoise gir1.2-webkit-3.0
Note that the default ANoise sounds package is about 100 MiB in size!
Once installed, simply launch "Ambient Noise" from Dash / the menu, and control it from the Ubuntu Sound Menu / Media Player Indicator Extension / Cinnamon Sound applet.
For other desktop environments, you can install the ANoise GUI using the following command:
sudo apt install anoise-gui
For extra sounds, you install the ANoise community extensions, by using the following command:
sudo apt install anoise-community-extension1 anoise-community-extension2 anoise-community-extension3 anoise-community-extension4
Here's what they contain:
- anoise-community-extension1: river sound;
- anoise-community-extension2: old air conditioner, large boat, house fan, fountain, forest rain, fishing boat, dump truck idling and diesel motor sounds;
- anoise-community-extension3: white, pink, brown OSSL and brown noises;
- anoise-community-extension4: pinery wind, old dam waterfall, thunderstorm, stoney creek, rideau river, lake superior, lake huron, frogs, dinosaur drain and coon creek sounds.
For more about Ambient Noise, see its web page.
Posted on 14 June 2017 | 1:47 pm
The WinUSB fork we covered a while back was renamed to WoeUSB recently, while also seeing quite a few releases for the past few days.
WoeUSB / WinUSB is a tool that can be used to create a bootable Windows installer USB stick from an ISO or DVD. The application supports Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, as well Windows 10, and can be used either with a GUI or from the command line.
As for supported bootmodes, WoeUSB / WinUSB can create a bootable Windows USB installation stick using the following:
- Legacy / MBR-style / IBM PC compatible bootmode;
- Native UEFI booting is supported for Windows 7 and later images (with a limitation: only FAT filesystem can be used as the target filesystem).
Since it was forked from Colin Gille's
WinUSB, the application has seen a major code refactoring, bug fixes as well as some minor new features. The changes include:
- support for both wxWidgets 2 and 3;
- use pkexec instead of gksudo for privilege escalation;
- UEFI boot support;
- numerous bug fixes.
Some newer WoeUSB changes include:
- support customizing the --label of the newly created filesystem in --format mode;
- implement checking on target filesystem in --install mode;
- command line: check if target media is busy before continuing and bail out when the target partition is mounted;
- support Linux distributions that uses "grub2" as prefix name, such as Fedora;
- --install and --format installation options are deprecated in favor of --partition and --device, to be more clear what both options will do. The old options will still be available until WoeUSB v3.0;
- from now on, GRUB will pause when the ENTER key is used before starting to load Windows. This is useful if you want to see if there are errors in the GRUB loading stage.
Also, since the application name has changed, the executables have changed as well: "woeusbgui" for the GUI and "woeusb" for the command line tool.
You can see what's new in each new WoeUSB release (there were 13 new releases for the past 2 days) on
GitHub.
Despite the major code refactoring and numerous bug fixes, I still encountered an error using the WoeUSB GUI, which I also found in the original WinUSB. When the Windows USB stick is completed, WoeUSB displayed the following message: "Installation failed ! Exit code: 256". This
bug was closed on GitHub and it looks like it doesn't affect the actual Windows USB stick in any way.
In my test, I was able to install Windows 10 64bit in VirtualBox (on an Ubuntu 17.04 host) despite this error.
Install WoeUSB in Ubuntu or Linux Mint via PPA
WoeUSB is available in the main WebUpd8 PPA, for Ubuntu 17.04, 16.10, 16.04 or 14.04 / Linux Mint 18.x or 17.x. To add the PPA and install WoeUSB, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt update
sudo apt install woeusb
If you don't want to add the PPA, you can grab the latest WoeUSB deb from
HERE (you'll only need the "woeusb" deb; the "winusb" deb is there as a transitional dummy package, so those that had the old fork installed will receive the new WoeUSB package as an update).
For how to build WoeUSB from source, report bugs, etc., see its GitHub
page.
Posted on 14 June 2017 | 12:23 pm
MATE Dock Applet is a MATE panel applet that displays open windows / applications as icons. The latest 0.78 version includes 5 new types of indicators, a new option to add space between dock icons, and more.
Among the MATE Dock Applet features are pinning applications to the dock, display an indicator for running applications, supports activating applications using keyboard shortcuts, and more. The applet can even change the color of MATE panels to the dominant desktop wallpaper color.
Changes in MATE Dock Applet 0.78 include:
- 5 new types of running application indicators: circle, square, triangle, diamond and subway. For the GTK3 version of the applet (Ubuntu 16.10 and newer), the indicator color will use the current theme highlight color. Since that's not possible for GTK2, you can use the fallback color option to set this (see the MATE Dock Applet preferences, in the Misc tab);
- you can now set the spacing between dock icons. Supported values are 0-7 (Dock Preferences > Panel Options > App spacing);
- for windows requiring attention, you can now configure if a badge (exclamation mark) should be displayed on top of the icon instead of a blinking icon (Dock Preferences > Misc > Action when apps need attention).
Here are a few screenshots with some of these changes:
 |
| window requiring attention showing a badge (image via MATE Dock Applet release notes) |
 |
| "0" app spacing |
 |
| "7" app spacing |
 |
| New "Subway" running window indicator |
You can find more screenshots in the MATE Dock Applet 0.78
release notes.
Install MATE Dock Applet
MATE Dock Applet is available in the Ubuntu (MATE) repositories, but it's not the latest version. You can see the version available for each Ubuntu release
HERE. To install the version from the official Ubuntu MATE repositories, simply use the following command:
sudo apt install mate-dock-applet
Ubuntu MATE 17.04, 16.10, 16.04 or 14.04 users can install the latest MATE Dock Applet by using the WebUpd8 MATE PPA. Add the PPA and install the applet using the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/mate
sudo apt update
sudo apt install mate-dock-applet
Once installed, right click the MATE panel, select "Add to panel" and add the "Dock" applet.
To download the source, report bugs, etc., see the MATE Dock Applet GitHub
page.
Posted on 6 June 2017 | 10:37 am
Tilix (previously called Terminix) and Guake terminal emulators have had new releases recently, and are both available in PPA for Ubuntu / Linux Mint.
Tilix 1.5.8
Tilix is a GTK3 terminal emulator. The application allows splitting terminals both horizontally and vertically, which can easily be re-arranged using drag and drop.
Other features include a
Quake-like mode (the terminal appears at the top of the screen, and can be toggled on or off with a key), saving and loading groupped terminals, synchronized input and more.
- window state is now saved and restored between sessions (e.g. if a window is maximized when closed, it will be maximized when you launch Tilix again);
- sessions can be detached using drag and drop. They can also be re-attached to another Tilix window;
- sessions can now be reordered using drag and drop or by using Ctrl + Pg Up / Ctrl + Pg Dn;
- if Ctrl + C is assigned to copy shortcut, tilix is smart enough to only copy when text is selected otherwise normal interrupt is passed;
- added new variable for titles at session scope for active terminal title;
- added support for GTK active CSS style. This sould enable better styling of terminal titlebars;
- added support for VTE hyperlink functionality;
- bug fixes.
Update: the latest Tilix is now also available for Ubuntu 17.10 (patched to avoid PCRE2 issues).
To install Tilix in Ubuntu 16.04, 16.10, 17.04 and 17.10 / Linux Mint 18.x, you can use the WebUpd8 Tilix PPA. To add the PPA and install Tilix, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/terminix
sudo apt update
sudo apt install tilix
I didn't link directly to the Tilix deb because you'll need some extra dependencies from the PPA.
For how to install Tilix in other Linux distributions, bug reports, etc., see its
webpage.
Guake 0.8.9
Guake is a drop-down terminal emulator. While a GTK3 version is in development (currently in alpha), the stable Guake version is currently using GTK2.
The application slides down from the top of the key when a key is pressed and slides back up when using the same key. This functionality is inspired from consoles using in games such as Quake.
Quake features multi-monitor support, tabs, transparency, and is higly configurable.
Changes in Guake 0.8.9 include:
- a new option was added which allows running a script when the Guake window becomes visible (this is available on the "Hooks" tab);
- added an option for toggling 'resizer' visibility;
- tabs now share the full screen width;
- the 'Quick open' feature now also matches /home path;
- added "-l" command line option to get the tab label;
- fixed quick open not working with dash;
- Unity screen size fixes.
Guake 0.8.9 is available in the WebUpd8 Unstable / Backports PPA for Ubuntu 17.04, 16.10, 16.04, and 14.04 / Linux Mint 18.x and 17.x.
I used this PPA so it's easy to go back to the Guake version available in the official repositories in case you don't like the new version or it's buggy. The packages in this PPA are usually pretty stable, though some unstable packages may be added at times.
To add the PPA and install the latest Guake, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/unstable
sudo apt update
sudo apt install guake
If you don't want to add the PPA, you can download the Guake deb from
HERE (scroll down for the latest version).
To download the Guake source, report bugs, etc., see its
GitHub page.
Posted on 1 June 2017 | 11:39 am
Ubuntu 17.04 has been
released.
The new version brings updated applications and various under-the-hood improvements, along with bug fixes. As expected, Compiz and Unity have only received minor improvements and bug fixes.
On the other hand, Ubuntu 17.04 includes the GNOME 3.24 stack for the most part (GTK3 along with Totem, Disks, Calendar, and so on). There are some missing bits, but this is still pretty important, as Ubuntu didn't use the latest GNOME since around Ubuntu 11.10 / GNOME 3.2.
Unity and Compiz in Ubuntu 17.04
As you probably know, Ubuntu will switch to GNOME (Shell) by default
starting with Ubuntu 18.04 (to be released in April, 2018).
However, even before this announcement, Unity 7 was in maintenance mode, with the focus being Unity 8. It did receive some features, like the option to move the launcher to the bottom in Ubuntu 16.04, but only bug fixes for the most part.
Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) is no different. Both Unity and Compiz only had some minor changes and bug fixes, such as:
- keep the screen locked if autologin or nopasswdlogin is enabled;
- if scale-factor is not set, find and set right scale for HiDPI displays;
- dropped click scope from the default list of favourites;
- fixed lock screen not covering the entire desktop on HiDPI display with draw-user-backgrounds unchecked;
- fixed issue that made it impossible to exit screensaver if a menu or application grabs the screen;
- fixed bug preventing switching to the copy / move dialog;
- fixed bug that caused users to be asked to unlock the screen twice after closing the guest session;
- Compiz Move plugin: add options for only showing the window shape (outline, rectangle);
- Compiz: added option to disable blend in grid plugin.
Complete changelogs for
Unity and
Compiz.
I should also mention that while Mark Shuttleworth, the founder of Ubuntu and Canonical, has
recently said that Canonical is ending their "investment in Unity8", Ubuntu 17.04 ships with an experimental Unity 8 session by default, just like Ubuntu 16.10.
Here's a Unity 8 screenshot I took under Ubuntu 17.04 (by the way, Unity 8 now works in VirtualBox):
Defaults and other changes
Ubuntu 17.04 Zesty Zapus ships with GTK 3.24 and GNOME 3.24 applications for the most part.
Not all the bits were updated to version 3.24 though. The exceptions are Nautilus (3.20), Terminal (3.20), Gedit (3.22), Software (3.22) and Evolution (3.22).
Besides the applications mentioned above, Ubuntu 17.04 ships with Firefox 52.0.1, Thunderbird 45.8.0, LibreOffice 5.3.1, Transmission 2.92, Shotwell 0.22+git, Rhythmbox 3.4.1, Totem 3.24.0, GNOME Disks 3.24.0, GNOME Calendar 3.24, GNOME System Monitor 3.24 and Evince 3.24, on top of Unity 7.5.0 (+17.04.20170407) and Compiz 0.9.13.1 (+17.04.20170109).
Under the hood, Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus) ships with Xorg server 1.19.3, Mesa 17.0.3, Ubuntu Linux Kernel 4.10.0-19.21 based on the upstream 4.10 Linux Kernel, PulseAudio 10.0, and systemd 232.
Here's a quick list of changes in the Linux Kernel since the version used in the previous Ubuntu release (Linux 4.8 for Ubuntu 16.10):
- Linux 4.9 (more information: Kernel Newbies | Phoronix):
- AMDGPU virtual display support;
- better AMDGPU GPU reset support;
- shared data extents and copy-on-write support for XFS;
- support for new ARM machines, including Raspberry Pi Zero and LG Nexus 5;
- Linux 4.10 (more information: Kernel Newbies | Phoronix):
- initial Intel Graphics Virtualization Technology support;
- improved writeback management;
- Nouveau Boost support, which allows new graphics cards to go up to their "boost" frequencies, and not just the highest standard frequency;
- support for Intel Turbo Boost Max 3.0 and Intel Cache Allocation Technology.
Other changes in Ubuntu 17.04:
- Ubuntu now includes support for printing without printer-specific drivers. Among the supported printers are IPP Everywhere and Apple AirPrint printers, but also some PDF, Postscript, and PCL printers;
- the default DNS resolver is now systemd-resolved;
- for new installs, a swap file will be used instead of a swap partition;
- gconf is no longer installed by default;
- this release does not include 32bit powerpc.
Download Ubuntu 17.04 (Zesty Zapus)
Important: all non-LTS Ubuntu versions are only supported for 9 months. Ubuntu 17.04 will be supported until January 2018.
Official release notes and download links for the Ubuntu 17.04 desktop flavors:
Posted on 13 April 2017 | 5:06 pm
Pithos 1.3.0 was released recently and is now available in its official PPA, for Ubuntu 17.04, 16.10 and 16.04. The new version brings support for MPRIS playlist and tracklist interfaces, improved accessibility UI, and more.
Pithos is a
Pandora Radio (only available in Australia, New Zealand and the United States) client that supports Pandora features such as love / ban / tired, allows creating, editing and switching between stations, and more.
The application integrates tightly with the desktop, providing notifications, MPRIS v2 support (it integrates with the Ubuntu Sound Menu / GNOME Shell, etc. ), media keys, can inhibit the screensaver and so on.
Pithos 1.3.0 includes a complete MPRIS implementation thanks to the addition of playlist and tracklist MPRIS interfaces.
With the GNOME Shell
Media Player Indicator extension, Pithos exposes the current playlist and station list in the indicator (these need to be enabled in the extension settings):
This feature does not work with the Ubuntu Sound Menu due to an upstream bug.
Another change in Pithos 1.3.0 is the addition of a new plugin that allows controlling the systemd logging level (or completely disabling it) for Pithos. The logs since last reboot can be printed by running Pithos with the "--last-logs" command line argument.
Other changes in Pithos 1.3.0 include:
- added dynamic rating and cover icons based upon theme colors;
- added symbolic icon;
- added man page;
- improved handling playlist expiration;
- improved search in stations list;
- improved UI accessibility;
- improved libsecret support;
- removed libnotify dependency in favor of a custom notification implementation (the reason for this is that libnotify does blocking I/O);
- fixed disabling keybindings plugin when using keybinder;
- fixed notification icon trying to load on Wayland;
- fixed failure to reconnect on login expiration;
- fixed some plugins not being enabled by default;
- fixed handling error on MPRIS plugin failure.
Also, compared to the Pithos version available in the official Ubuntu / Linux Mint repositories (1.1.2 for Ubuntu 17.04 and 1.1.1 for Ubuntu 16.04 / Linux Mint 18), the application has received quite a few improvements, including a keyboard shortcuts window, more quality options, the password is now stored with libsecret, along with bug fixes.
The UI was also updated to use header bars and the stations dropdown now uses a popover.
Pithos currently has only 2 contributors and it could use more devs. If you can help, see its GitHub page.
Install Pithos in Ubuntu 17.04, 16.10 or 16.04 / Linux Mint 18.x
An older Pithos
version is available in the official Ubuntu repositories. To install it, simply use the following command:
sudo apt install pithos
Ubuntu 16.04, 16.10 or 17.04 / Linux Mint 18 users can install the latest Pithos by using its official PPA. To add the PPA and install Pithos, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pithos/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install pithos
If you don't want to add the PPA, you can grab the deb from
HERE.
For installing Pithos in other Linux distributions (including Flatpak), see the install section on its homepage.
Report any bugs you may want @ GitHub.
Posted on 13 April 2017 | 8:33 am
The
KDE Connect Indicator (fork) PPA maintainer is not available any more, and I was asked to create a new PPA.
Since I'm a KDE Connect Indicator user myself, I couldn't say no, so I created a
new KDE Connect Indicator PPA, which provides packages for Ubuntu 17.04, 16.10 and 16.04 / Linux Mint 18.x.
I didn't upload packages for Ubuntu 14.04 / Linux Mint 17.x because I couldn't build the latest KDE Connect for this Ubuntu version due to newer dependencies, and Ubuntu 14.04 has a pretty old KDE Connect version.
The KDE Connect Indicator (fork) developer is also looking for someone that can create and maintain Flatpack and Snap packages. If you can help, see
THIS bug report.
In case you're not familiar with KDE Connect Indicator, this is an indicator / tray for KDE Connect. Using KDE Connect, you can mirror Android notifications on the desktop, easily send and receive files from an Android device to your desktop (and the other way around), control desktop media players from Android, share the clipboard between your Android device and desktop, and more.
Install KDE Connect Indicator fork in Ubuntu or Linux Mint via new PPA
As a reminder, KDE Connect depends on quite a few KDE packages. You may want to save the KDE package list that's installed to make it easier to remove in the future, in case you want to remove them ("apt autoremove" won't remove all of them, at least in Ubuntu).
To add the new KDE Connect Indicator fork PPA and install the app in Ubuntu 17.04, 16.10 or 16.04 / Linux Mint 18.x, use the following commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/indicator-kdeconnect
sudo apt update
sudo apt install indicator-kdeconnect
You can also download the latest KDE Connect Indicator deb from
GitHub, but you won't receive updates through your system's update manager. For Ubuntu 16.04 and 16.10 / Linux Mint 18, you'll also need a newer KDE Connect version for the indicator to work. KDE Connect 1.0.3 is available for Ubuntu 16.04 / Linux Mint 18 and Ubuntu 16.10 in the PPA.
If you encounter bugs, report them @
GitHub.
Posted on 7 April 2017 | 10:56 am
Developed by Tony George, who's also behind other fairly popular applications such as Selene Media Converter, TimeShift backup tool, and more, Polo is only available for users who donate for now. The stable release will be available for all users, however, those who donate will get a few extra features.
Polo is a new file manager that aims at providing features that are missing from popular file managers. The application is currently in beta, and it lacks some feature, but it already looks very promising.
For example,
the developer wants to include built-in support for multiple cloud storage services like Dropbox, Google Drive and others, using
rclone as a backend.
Another feature that's missing in many graphical file managers is being able to browse archives as if they were folders. This is another feature that Polo should get before its first stable release. There should also be a built-in GUI for creating archives, similar to the one used by 7zip in Windows.
These two features are currently not available in Polo.
The current Polo beta 3 already includes quite a few interesting features though. The file manager supports tabs, along with multiple panes. You can use 2 panes, either vertical or horizontal, and even 4 panes:
There are context menu items to easily copy files or folders from one pane to another, as well as a middle toolbar that provides these, along with other options.
Another cool feature available in the Polo Beta 3 version I tested is session support. Polo remembers the last session and it reloads it the next time it runs. It restores not only open tabs and the pane layout, but also open directories.
The Polo toolbar and pathbar are highly configurable, allowing you to enable or disable various buttons:
You can also configure the toolbar to display large icons, show only labels, labels beside icons, and use a dark background.
 |
| Polo file properties - audio info |
 |
| Polo bookmarks |
Other Polo features worth mentioning:
- multiple views: list, icons, tiles and media;
- easily open folders as root (with pkexec support);
- extended details when replacing existing files;
- statusbar that displays the number of files, folders (including hidden), along with available disk space and a disk space indicator, and the filesystem type;
- bookmarks support (web browser-like: a star is displayed at the right of the pathbar);
- media view: when Polo detects you're browsing a folder containing photos or videos, it switches to a 256x256 size icon view to make it easier to browse through items;
- media info in the file properties dialog, which displays EXIF tags (such as exposure, iso, camera model and much more) and audio info (artist, album, track name, along with audio format, bit rate, etc.), PDF metadata, etc.
- tabs can be renamed;
- keyboard shortcuts;
- toolbar button and context menu to open current folder in a terminal.
Work in progress
Besides built-in cloud service and archive support, the developer also wants to add support for Nemo extensions in the future.
The audio preview feature that was available in Nautilus 2, which allowed hovering over audio files to preview them, might be implemented as well.
One feature that won't be implemented is desktop handling (drawing the wallpaper / desktop icons).
I should also mention that in its current state, Polo is not suitable for daily use.
While in my test, I only encountered two major bugs (very slow copying folders with a large number of files and the app crashes when entering a folder with a large number of images), there are a few major features that are missing, like support for drag'n'drop and trash, along with many missing bits and pieces (like type-ahead). And, of course, there are some bugs as well. But that's to be expected since Polo is beta software.
The next beta version is expected to be released on April 15 (initially it was April 8, but it was delayed).
Getting Polo file manager
Like I mentioned in the beginning of the article, Polo is currently only available for users who donate. The stable version will be available for all, with some extra features for donors.
Check out the Polo tag on Tony George's website for how to donate, along with more information about Polo, including completed and pending feature status.
Posted on 7 April 2017 | 10:19 am
Ubuntu 18.04 LTS will go back to using GNOME as the default desktop environment, instead of Unity.
In what comes as a big surprise for many, Mark Shuttleworh, the founder of Ubuntu and Canonical, explains on the Ubuntu Insights website that Canonical is ending their "investment in Unity8, the phone and convergence shell".
Existing LTS releases will continue to be maintained, so Unity 7 should still see some bug fixes in the future. However, with Ubuntu 18.04 LTS (to be released in April, 2018), the default desktop environment will be GNOME.
While Mark doesn't explicitly says "GNOME Shell", I assume that's what he means, especially since Unity 7 has been in maintenance mode for quite a few Ubuntu releases.
"I took the view that, if convergence was the future and we could deliver it as free software, that would be widely appreciated both in the free software community and in the technology industry, where there is substantial frustration with the existing, closed, alternatives available to manufacturers. I was wrong on both counts.
In the community, our efforts were seen fragmentation not innovation. And industry has not rallied to the possibility, instead taking a ‘better the devil you know’ approach to those form factors, or investing in home-grown platforms. What the Unity8 team has delivered so far is beautiful, usable and solid, but I respect that markets, and community, ultimately decide which products grow and which disappear".
- Mark Shuttleworth
Check out the complete article HERE.
What do you think?
Posted on 6 April 2017 | 11:24 am
Streamlink 0.5.0 was released yesterday, bringing support for streaming videos from Google Drive / Google Docs, along with other improvements.
Forked from
Livestreamer, which is no longer maintained, Streamlink is a command line tool (and API) that can be used to stream videos from various streaming services, such as Twitch, YouTube Live and many more, and play them using your favorite video player, be it VLC, mpv, and more.
It is is available for Linux, Windows, and Mac OS.
Changes in Streamlink 0.5.0 include:
- added support for streaming videos stored on Google Drive / Google Docs;
- added support for BBC iPlayer live and VOD, along with support for HLS streams;
- add support for Beam VOD and HLS streams for live;
- added support for camsoda.com;
- added new plugin: canlitv;
- added new plugin: garena;
- Aliez plugin now accepts any TLD;
- added support for avi/mov VOD streams for rtve;
- removed dead plugins such as blip.tv, gaminglive.tv, leon.tv, livestation.com and more.
Since our initial article about Streamlink, the tool has seen quite a few improvements, including support to use FFmpeg to mux separate video and audio streams, along with new plugins and much more.
Check out the Streamlink GitHub releases page for a complete changelog.
Using the Streamlink command line interface is very simple. Here's an example using a Google Drive video. The first thing you need to do is run Streamlink with the link you want to stream, to see the available streams:
streamlink https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0tRrdcY7CwJWGdVdHEyYWpfTTQ
This should list the available formats:
[cli][info] Found matching plugin googledrive for URL https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0tRrdcY7CwJWGdVdHEyYWpfTTQ
Available streams: 360p_alt, 480p_alt, 360p (worst), 480p, 720p, 1080p (best)
Next, simply add one of the available streams at the end of the command, and Streamlink will start streaming:
streamlink https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0tRrdcY7CwJWGdVdHEyYWpfTTQ 1080p
By default, Streamlink uses VLC to play the stream, but you can specify a different video player by using the "--player" argument, e.g. "--player mpv" to use
mpv instead.
For more about using the Streamlink command line interface, check out
THIS page.
Install Streamlink
Ubuntu / Linux Mint users can install Streamlink by using the main WebUpd8 PPA. To add the PPA and install Streamlink, use the following commands: sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt update
sudo apt install streamlink
I didn't add a direct deb download link because the PPA provides quite a few dependencies required to install Streamlink.
For how to install Streamlink in other Linux distributions, Windows or Mac OS, see THIS page.
Report any bugs you may find @
GitHub.
Posted on 5 April 2017 | 1:20 pm
