Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Install Fresh Player Plugin In Ubuntu Via PPA (Pepper Flash Wrapper For Firefox)

| Date: May 29, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: firefox, flash, fresh plugin, google chrome, linux, ubuntu

Not so long ago I was telling you about Fresh Player Plugin, a new wrapper that's currently in alpha, which allows Linux users to use Pepper Flash (which is bundled with Google Chrome) in Firefox and other NPAPI-compatible web browsers.

Firefox Fresh Player Plugin

Well, in just over a week, Fresh Player Plugin evolved a lot and in my test, I actually didn't encounter any major issues: the sound works, video playback works with YouTube and other websites, full-screen videos work with multi-monitor setups, etc. So I've decided to upload Fresh Player Plugin to the main WebUpd8 PPA so you can test it easily and stay up to date with the latest code from GIT.

Suspicious TrueCrypt Announcement Declares The Tool Insecure, Development Stopped

| Date: May 29, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: linux, macosx, security, truecrypt, windows

TrueCrypt was an application which could be used to create virtual encrypted disks within a file or encrypt entire partitions or storage devices. I said "was" because Truecrypt's homepage started redirecting to its SourceForge page and a warning is displayed at the top of the page:

"WARNING: Using TrueCrypt is not secure as it may contain unfixed security issues

This page exists only to help migrate existing data encrypted by TrueCrypt.

The development of TrueCrypt was ended in 5/2014 after Microsoft terminated support of Windows XP. Windows 8/7/Vista and later offer integrated support for encrypted disks and virtual disk images. Such integrated support is also available on other platforms (click here for more information). You should migrate any data encrypted by TrueCrypt to encrypted disks or virtual disk images supported on your platform".

Sid Meier`s Civilization V Game Shows Real Signs Of Linux Support

| Date: May 28, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: civilization v, games, linux, steam, strategy

A recent Reddit submission points out that Sid Meier's Civilization V might be coming to Linux soon. 


Spice Up Your Linux Desktop With The Moka Project GTK / Icon Themes

| Date: May 27, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: customization, eyecandy, gnome shell, gtk3, linux, moka, themes, ubuntu

Many of you are probably already familiar with the Moka Project but, since I never covered it, and the project has evolved a lot recently, I though I'd write an article about it now.

Stark Ceru GTK theme / Faba Ceru icon theme in Unity (Ubuntu 14.04)

Moka started as a single icon theme but it has evolved into an entire project which includes multiple GTK and icon themes for the Linux desktop as well as icon themes for Android, all designed / developed by +Sam Hewitt.

Currently, the Moka Project consists of 3 beautiful GTK themes (Moka, Orchis and Stark) and 3 icon themes (Moka, Faba and Faba Colors) for Linux desktops, accompanied by a GNOME Shell and a Plank theme.

Leadwerks Game Engine Available In Ubuntu Software Center (Native Linux Game Development Software)

| Date: May 27, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: games, leadwerks, linux, ubuntu

Last year, Leadwerks Software ran a Kickstarter campaign to bring their game development software to Linux. The company raised $42,358 (of the $20,000 goal) so Leadwerks Game Engine is now available for Linux and starting today, you can buy it via Ubuntu Software Center.

Leadwerks Ubuntu Software Center

The Leadwerks Engine is a 3D game engine powered by OpenGL 4.0 which made its debut in 2008. The engine makes use of the Newton Game Dynamics SDK 2.0 for physics and OpenAL and EAX for sound and 3D sound effects.

Claws Mail 3.10 Released With Auto-Configuration Of Account Email Servers, Other Changes

| Date: May 26, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: email client, linux, ubuntu

Claws Mail 3.10 was released today with important new features such as auto-configuration of account email servers based on SRV records, so for instance if you enter a Gmail account, Claws Mail will automatically determine the connection details (ports, server names, security protocols, etc.).

The new release also includes proper certificate verification, an option to avoid saving drafts for emails that are to be sent encrypted, a new Libravatar plugin which displays user avatars from libravatar.org and more.

Claws Mail 3.10 Ubuntu

Try Fira Sans, A Free Font Family Commissioned By Mozilla

| Date: May 26, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: customization, firefox, fonts, linux, ubuntu

In 2013, the Mozilla Foundation commissioned Erik Spiekermann, a famous typographer, to work on a free, open source font family called Fira Sans (initially called Feura Sans).

Recently, the typeface was updated to version 3.1, getting 12 different weights (bringing the weights number to 16), all accompanied by italic styles, a huge character map and extensive language supports. There's also a monospaced variant: Fira Mono which includes 2 weights (regular and bold).

Pinta Image Editor 1.5 Released With New Features And More Than 90 Bug Fixes [PPA]

| Date: May 26, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: image editor, linux, pinta, ubuntu

After more than a year and a half, a new Pinta version was released yesterday, getting add-in support along with other new features and a huge list of bug fixes.

Pinta 1.5 image editor

Pinta is a drawing / image editor which was initially based on Paint.NET, available for Linux, Windows and Mac OS X, designed to serve as an alternative to more advanced applications like GIMP, for casual users. The application features drawing tools, unlimited layers and undo history, includes over 35 image effects and adjustments and can be configured to use a docked interface or multiple windows.

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings Game Available On Linux Via Steam

| Date: May 22, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: games, linux, steam, ubuntu

The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, is available starting today for Linux users, via Steam (and SteamOS, obviously).

The Witcher 2 Steam for Linux

Fix Aptana Studio 3 Crashing In Ubuntu 14.04 [Quick Tip]

| Date: May 22, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: aptana, fix, linux, tips n tricks, ubuntu

If Aptana Studio 3 crashes for you under Ubuntu 14.04, here's a quick fix you can apply to get it to work properly.

Google Chrome Stable (35) For Linux Updated With Aura UI Stack, Notification Center And App Launcher

| Date: May 21, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: browsers, google chrome, linux, ubuntu

Google Chrome stable for Linux was updated recently (version 35) with important changes: Aura is now used for the user interface (replacing GTK2) and also, a Notification Center and App Launcher were added though the latter is not enabled by default.

Google Chrome stable Aura linux

Spotify For Linux Gets A Refreshed User Interface, Other Changes

| Date: May 20, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: linux, music, music player, Spotify, ubuntu

Spotify is a music streaming service that comes with native clients for Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux as well as mobile devices such as iOS, Android, BlackBerry, etc. 

The service is available in quite a few countries, including US, UK, Sweden, Spain, Portugal, Norway, Netherlands and more - see the Spotify Geographic availability @ Wikipedia.

Spotify 0.9.10 linux

The native Spotify Linux client was updated to version 0.9.10 recently, which introduces a new darker theme, refreshed typography and rounded iconography. There are also some Linux-specific changes:

SopCast App TV-Maxe 0.10 Released, Adds Option To Bypass Blocked Ports, More

| Date: May 20, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: linux, live tv, tv online, tv-maxe sopcast, ubuntu

TV-Maxe is an application that allows you to watch TV online via different streams, such as SopCast (but not only). The application features HTTP / infrared remote control support, multiple playback backends (GStreamer, VLC and MPlayer), schedule manager and more.

tv-maxe 0.10 Ubuntu

TV-Maxe comes with two TV channel lists be default: an international list and a Romanian TV channel list, but more lists are available on its wiki (for Bulgaria, China, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Norway, Russia and Spain along with some unofficial lists for UK, France, Brazil, etc.). And of course, you can add custom channels as well.

Fresh Player Plugin: Pepper Flash Wrapper For Firefox And Other NPAPI-Compatible Browsers

| Date: May 20, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: firefox, flash, fresh plugin, google chrome, linux, ubuntu

Fresh Player Plugin is a new (alpha!) wrapper that allows Linux users to use Pepper Flash from Google Chrome in Firefox, Opera and other NPAPI-compatible browsers.

Install gThumb 3.3.2 in Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 / 14.10 Or Linux Mint 17 With Cinnamon Via PPA

| Date: May 19, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: cinnamon, gnome 3, gthumb, image viewer, linux, linux mint, photo manager, ubuntu, ubuntu gnome

gThumb is an image organizer/viewer that can export images to PicasaWeb, Facebook, Flickr or Photobucket, comes with some basic image editing features such as cropping, resizing, rotation, image enhancing, has video support, supports WebP images, can import images from digital camera and many other cool features.

gThumb 3.3.2 in Ubuntu 14.04 (under GNOME Shell)

Ubuntu 14.04 had gThumb 3.3.1 in its official repositories at some point but because starting with version 3.3.0, the application uses header bars (also known as client side decorations) and they don't work properly under Unity, gThumb was downgraded to version 3.2.7. And that's ok for Unity but how about Ubuntu GNOME and Linux Mint 17 (with Cinnamon 2.2.x) users?

Well, to make it easier to install, I've uploaded the latest gThumb 3.3.2 in the WebUpd8 gThumb PPA for Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 and Linux Mint 17 with Cinnamon users.

Download All The Ubuntu Community Wallpapers From Karmic To Trusty

| Date: May 19, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: eyecandy, ubuntu, wallpapers

Each Ubuntu release ships with 15-20 beautiful wallpapers created by the community. For every Ubuntu version starting with Karmic (9.10), there's a package that contains all these community wallpapers, which you can install in newer Ubuntu releases.

Ubuntu community wallpapers

By using the instructions below, you can install all the Ubuntu community wallpapers from Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala to Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander (138 wallpapers!), in the latest Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr.

If you don't use Ubuntu or you're using an older release, there's a download link at the end of the article which allows you to download all the wallpapers from Ubuntu Karmic Koala (9.10) to Trusty Tahr (14.04).

Free Ancient Warfare Game `0 A.D.` Alpha 16 Released

| Date: May 18, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: 0ad, games, linux, macosx, RTS, ubuntu, windows

Wildfire Games has released the sixteenth alpha version of 0 A.D., an open source, historical real-time strategy game which features excellent graphics and sound. The new alpha brings an improved AI, a new GUI along with big changes under the hood and more.

0 ad alpha 16

Betty Is Like Siri Or Google Now For The Command Line (Translates Plain English Into Commands)

| Date: May 15, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: bash, betty, cli, linux, macosx, ubuntu

Betty is like Siri or Google Now for the command line. Well, sort of. The tool translates plain English into commands: it displays the command it runs and obviously, the command output, in the terminal.

Betty isn't voice controlled so you still have to type your (plain English) commands but if you want, it can speak the command output.

Betty command line

Atom Text Editor Ubuntu PPA Update

| Date: May 15, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: atom, ide, linux, text editor, ubuntu

Today I've updated the Atom Ubuntu PPA with the latest Atom code from GitHub and, while the application still doesn't work on 32bit, there is some good news: Atom uses dynamic libraries now, so you might be able to use my builds in Linux distributions other than Ubuntu (Fedora, Debian etc.). The new version also comes with quite a few Linux bug fixes.

Atom text editor Ubuntu

Install Snakefire (Campfire Linux Client) In Ubuntu Via PPA

| Date: May 14, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: campfire, chat, development, linux, snakefire, ubuntu

Snakefire is a Qt Linux client for Campfire, a team collaboration tool with real time chat, popular among developers. 


Because there were no Ubuntu packages for Snakefire, WebUpd8 reader +Rael has created a PPA so you can easily install it and stay up to date with the latest releases.

Confirmed: Next 3 Linux Mint Releases Will Be Based On Ubuntu 14.04 LTS

| Date: May 14, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: distro, linux, linux mint

Linux Mint logo

A while back I was telling you that Linux Mint might use the same LTS base for Linux Mint 17 as well as the next 3 releases. Well, Clement Lefebvre, the Linux Mint Project Leader, announced today that the decision was made and indeed, the next 3 Linux Mint releases (and Linux Mint 17, obviously) will stick to the LTS base.

Quick Updates: Ubuntu Touch Emulator x86, Y PPA Manager, DockBarX Xfce Plugin

| Date: May 14, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: dockbarx, emulator, linux, ubuntu, Ubuntu Touch, xfce, y ppa manager

Ubuntu Touch Emulator


Ubuntu Emulator

The Ubuntu Touch Emulator package from the Phablet Tools PPA now has x86 support. The ARM instances are very slow but now by using the Phablet Tools PPA, you can create x86 Ubuntu Touch instances which should be much much faster. 

Pinguy OS 14.04 Released, See What`s New

| Date: May 13, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: distro, linux, pinguy os, ubuntu

After releasing the Mini ISO about 2 weeks ago, +Antoni has released PinguyOS 14.04 (full) recently, an Ubuntu (14.04) remaster that ships with many popular applications and tweaks.

Pinguy OS 14.04

How To Install GNOME 3.12 In Ubuntu GNOME 14.04 (Trusty Tahr)

| Date: May 13, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: gnome3, linux, ubuntu

GNOME 3.12 was released a while back but it wasn't included by default in Ubuntu 14.04, so here's how to install GNOME 3.12 in Ubuntu GNOME 14.04.

GNOME 3.12 Ubuntu 14.04

New Unreal Tournament Game Will Be Available For Linux, Free

| Date: May 09, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: fps, games, linux, unreal tournament

unreal tournament logo

After announcing Linux / SteamOS support for the latest Unreal Engine 4.1 about two weeks ago, a recent announcement posted on the Unreal Engine wiki mentions that the next Unreal Tournament game will be "not free to play, just free" and it will be available for Linux as well as Windows and Mac:

Install Atom Text Editor In Ubuntu Via PPA [32bit + 64bit]

| Date: May 08, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: atom, featured, ide, linux, text editor, ubuntu

Atom is an open source "hackable text editor for the 21st Century" developed by GitHub.

Atom text editor Linux

Until now, to use Atom in Ubuntu or Linux Mint you'd have to compile it but I like to make things easier for you so I've built it on my computer (Nodejs apps can't be built directly in Launchpad PPAs because they need to install external dependencies and Launchpad doesn't allow that) and uploaded it to a PPA, for Ubuntu and derivatives: Linux Mint, elementary OS, etc.

Update: initially, Atom could only be built on 64bit (on Linux), but it's now available for both 32bit and 64bit! 

Update 2: The Atom devs are now providing Atom 64bit DEB packages @ GitHub.

Update 3: There are now official Atom 64bit RPM packages available for download.

Pushbullet Indicator: Send Files, Links And Notes To Your Android or iOS Device From Your Ubuntu Desktop

| Date: May 07, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: android, appindicator, iOS, linux, ubuntu

Pushbullet is a service that lets you easily send files, links, notes, lists, etc. to your Android or iOS device from your desktop or the other way around. It can be used via Chrome / Firefox extensions and for Windows there's also a desktop app.


Because there was no Pushbullet application for Ubuntu, Lorenzo from atareao.es (you may already know some of his work: My Weather Indicator, Calendar Indicator, Touchpad Indicator, Nautilus/Nemo image tools, etc.) has created a Pushbullet AppIndicator for Ubuntu.

Ubuntu AppIndicator That Displays Bash Scripts Output On The Panel: Sysmonitor Indicator

| Date: May 07, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: appindicator, linux, tips n tricks, ubuntu

Sysmonitor Indicator is an Ubuntu AppIndicator that can display the CPU, memory, swap, filesystem and network usage as values on the panel. 

Furthermore, the AppIndicator comes with a very interesting feature: it can display the output of your own custom commands / bash scripts on the panel.

The AppIndicator wasn't updated in a long time and it was buggy, at least in Ubuntu 14.04, so fossfreedom forked it, fixed the bugs and uploaded Sysmonitor Indicator to a PPA. Update: the indicator also works in Ubuntu 16.04 and 16.10.

How To Delay Startup Applications In GNOME / Unity [Quick Tip]

| Date: May 07, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: gnome 3, linux, startup, tips n tricks, ubuntu, unity

Quick tip for GNOME/Unity users: If you want to add a delay to a startup application, the easiest way to do it is to add the "X-GNOME-Autostart-Delay" parameter  to the application autostart desktop file.


Pandora Linux Client `Pithos` 1.0 Released, Install It In Ubuntu 14.04

| Date: May 05, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: linux, music, music player, pandora, pithos, ubuntu

Pithos, a Pandora.com Linux client, was updated to version 1.0 recently. With this release, Pithos was ported to Python 3, GTK3 and GStreamer 1.0 but that's not all that's new - there are also some new features as well as a new app icon.
Pithos Pandora client for Ubuntu

Pandora is a music streaming and recommendation service that's only available in the United States, Australia and New Zealand. You can use it in any other country with an US proxy, VPN or a DNS service such as Unlocator (for free alternatives, see the comments).

XBMC 13.0 `Gotham` Released

| Date: May 05, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: android, linux, macosx, media center, ubuntu, windows, XBMC

XBMC Media Center 13.0 "Gotham" was released yesterday, bringing improvements across all platforms, such as hardware decoding on Android, proper PulseAudio support for Linux, improved settings, support for some 3D movie formats and more.

XBMC 13

Install Android Studio In Ubuntu Via PPA

| Date: May 01, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: android, android studio, ide, Java, jdk, linux, ubuntu

Android Studio Ubuntu

Update September 2, 2014: Canonical released Ubuntu Developer Tools Center which can be used to easily install Android Studio and Android SDK in Ubuntu. That's the official, supported method of installing Android Studio in Ubuntu now!

Google provides Android Studio for Linux as a simple archive which you must download, extract, create your own launcher and so on.

To makes things easier, +Paolo Rotolo has created an Android Studio PPA for Ubuntu and derivatives (Linux Mint, elementary OS and so on).

Ubuntu 12.10 End Of Life: May 16 2014

| Date: May 01, 2014 | View Comments | Tags: Quantal Quetzal, ubuntu

Quantal Quetzal

Ubuntu 12.10 (Quantal Quetzal) reaches end of life on May 16 2014.

License: (cc) BY-NC-SA WebUpd8 | Privacy