Blender 3.5 Released! How to Install it in Ubuntu 20.04

Blender 3.5, the popular 3D creation software, was released few days ago. Here are the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu users.

The new release features 26 built-in hair assets, allows to drag and drop to use onto your setups. As well, it allows to do many actions on hair curves, such as generate, duplicate, deform, trim, rotate, roll up, and more.

It also added support for Vector Displacement Maps (VDM) brushes, new GPU-based 3D viewport compositor, many lights sampling for Cycles.

Other changes in Blender 3.5 include:

  • Use native Metal in macOS for 3D viewport.
  • New options and shortcuts for Pose Library.
  • New Ease operator in the Graph Editor
  • New Natural Drawing Speed timing mode in the Build modifier
  • Support for Importing and exporting USDZ files.

How to Install Blender 3.5 in Ubuntu

Option 1: Install Blender as Snap

For Ubuntu 20.04 and higher, it’s super easy to install the latest Blender package through the official Snap package.

Simply open Ubuntu Software, search for ‘Blender’ and click install it.

I’m not sure if Ubuntu software in 18.04 has added support for Snap, but user can just press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command to install the daemon & Blender as snap:

sudo apt install snapd && sudo snap install blender --classic

Option 2: Install Blender via the Linux tarball

Some users do not like the snap package that runs in sandbox. For choice, Blender website offers the portable Linux tarball:

And here’s a step by step guide shows how to create app shortcut for the portable package.

Blender is also available to install as Flatpak package. For those prefer the classic .deb package, there’s a third-party PPA, though not updated at the moment of writing.

Install & Try out Ubuntu’s New Fonts in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

The Ubuntu design team is working on new Ubuntu fonts and proposes to use as default in the upcoming Ubuntu 23.04.

For testing purpose, the team posted the .deb packages for the new fonts in this thread. User can try it out by installing in all current Ubuntu releases and report any issue in this page.

I’ve tried out the new fonts in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS. The text in system menu and application window becomes a bit thin and compact than before.

And, the document text in text editor looks enlarged, that I even doubted if the font size was changed mistakenly.

How to Install the New Fonts

First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run single command to download the 2 font packages:

wget https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fonts-ubuntu/0.862-0ubuntu2/+build/25677616/+files/fonts-ubuntu_0.862-0ubuntu2_all.deb https://launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/fonts-ubuntu/0.862-0ubuntu2/+build/25677616/+files/fonts-ubuntu-console_0.862-0ubuntu2_all.deb

Install wget via sudo apt install wget if it says command not found.

After downloaded the packages, use command to install them:

sudo dpkg -i fonts-ubuntu-console_0.862-0ubuntu2_all.deb fonts-ubuntu_0.862-0ubuntu2_all.deb

You can then remove the 2 packages in user home folder. And restart computer to apply changes after installation.

How to Restore original fonts

The stock fonts package version varies on different Ubuntu editions, so I would recommend to first install Synaptic package manager in Ubuntu Software.

Then, open “Synaptic” and do:

  1. Search and highlight “fonts-ubuntu” package.
  2. Go to menu “Package -> Force Version”.
  3. Select the old stock version from pop-up dialog, then click “Force Version” button.
  4. Finally, click “Apply”.
  5. Also, do the previous steps one by one for “fonts-ubuntu-console” package.

Also, restart computer to apply changes and done!

GPU-Accelerated Terminal Emulator ‘Alacritty’ 0.12.0 Released [How to Install]

The popular Alacritty terminal emulator got a new release few days ago. Here are the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu Linux.

Alacritty is a free open-source GPU-accelerated terminal emulator written in Rust programming language. It features Vi mode motion and selection via keyboard, Vi search/normal search, hints, etc.

The new 0.12.0 release features fractional scaling support on Wayland session via wp-fractional-scale protocol. It also added touchscreen input support for click, scroll, select, zoom actions.

Other changes include:

  • Support for horizontal scrolling in mouse mode and alternative scrolling modes
  • Support for running on GLES context
  • New window.resize_increments config option, which is disabled by default
  • New -T flag, short form for --title.
  • Always use sRGB color space on macOS.
  • Resize increments are now set on macOS and X11 to resize by cell sizes.
  • Proper hint about window transparency in Wayland and macOS.
  • Change window.decorations_theme_variant to use Dark, Light, and None values

They are as well various other changes and bug-fixes, see the Github releases page for details.

How to Install Alacritty terminal emulator in Ubuntu Linux

This app is not available in Ubuntu system repository until the next Ubuntu 23.04. User can install it via 2 methods: cargo package manager, or third-party Ubuntu PPA.

Option 1: Install Alacritty via cargo package manager

Cargo is the command line package manager for Rust, like Pip for Python. User can use the tool to install Alacritty terminal emulator in most Linux, though user needs to MANUALLY setup PATH variable and create shortcut icon.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run command to install cargo:

sudo apt install cargo

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Then, install Alacritty for current user only by running command:

cargo install alacritty

3. As mentioned, cargo package does not add PATH variable by default. You can verify by running $PATH command and see if “/home/USERNAME/.cargo/bin” present in the output.

To add it into user PATH, run command nano ~/.profile to edit user profile and add following lines:

if [ -d "$HOME/.cargo/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/.cargo/bin:$PATH"
fi

When done, press Ctrl+X, type y and hit Enter to save change! NOTE: user PATH changes take effect at next login.

4. The cargo package also does not create shortcut icons. Meaning you need to manually create one by running command:

nano ~/.local/share/applications/alacritty.desktop

Then paste following lines and save it:

[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
TryExec=alacritty
Exec=alacritty
Icon=Alacritty
Terminal=false
Categories=System;TerminalEmulator;

Name=Alacritty
GenericName=Terminal
Comment=A fast, cross-platform, OpenGL terminal emulator
StartupWMClass=Alacritty
Actions=New;

[Desktop Action New]
Name=New Terminal
Exec=alacritty

Finally, either use alacritty command or search for and launch it from start menu (or ‘Activities’ overview).

Option 2: Install Alacritty in Ubuntu via PPA

An Ubuntu PPA can be more easy to install the terminal emulator for beginners. Though, it seems to be unofficial.

NOTE: The PPA package at the moment includes Alacritty 0.13.0 development, though the package name marked as 0.12.0 stable.

So far the PPA supports for Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, Ubuntu 23.04 and their based systems.

1. First, open a terminal window and run command to add the Ubuntu PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:aslatter/ppa

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. Linux Mint and few Ubuntu based systems may need to manually update the package index, though it’s done automatically in Ubuntu since 20.04:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, install Alacritty terminal emulator via command:

sudo apt install alacritty

Once installed, search for and launch it from start menu or ‘Activities’ overview, or by running alacritty command.

Uninstall Alacritty terminal emulator

To remove the package installed via Cargo, open terminal and run command:

cargo uninstall alacritty

Also remove the shortcut icon if added via command:

rm ~/.local/share/applications/alacritty.desktop

For choice, you may also remove the Cargo package manager, though other apps installed through Cargo will also be removed:

sudo apt remove cargo

To remove the package installed from Ubuntu PPA, use command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove alacritty

Also remove the Ubuntu PPA via command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:aslatter/ppa

That’s all. Enjoy!

How to Install Budgie Desktop 10.7.1 in Ubuntu Budgie 22.04

This simple tutorial shows how to install the latest Budgie Desktop 10.7.1 in Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

Ubuntu Budgie is one of the official Ubuntu flavors features the Budgie desktop. While Ubuntu Budgie 22.04 ships with Budgie Desktop 10.6.1, the latest version has reached v10.7.1.

For those who want to get the latest features, but don’t want to upgrade to or install the upcoming Ubuntu 23.04. The developers team maintains an Ubuntu PPA contains the latest desktop packages  for Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

NOTE: The PPA is marked as unstable, though it’s working good in my case. Don’t use it in production machine!

1. First, search for and open “terminal” from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntubudgie-dev/backports-budgie-unstable

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. After adding the PPA, install all available package updates by running command in Ubuntu Budgie 22.04:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Ubuntu 22.04 and other flavors can also install this desktop environment by running command:

sudo apt install budgie-desktop-environment

How to restore:

To revert back to the original Budgie 10.6.1, open terminal and run command to install ppa-purge tool:

sudo apt install ppa-purge

Then, purge the PPA via the tool which also downgrade all install packages:

sudo ppa-purge ppa:ubuntubudgie-dev/backports-budgie-unstable

Finally, restart your computer and enjoy!

How to Install Latest Battle for Wesnoth 1.16.x via PPA in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

This simple tutorial is going to show beginners how to install the latest stable Battle for Wesnoth (so far 1.16.8) via PPA in Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Linux Mint 20/21.

The Battle for Wesnoth is an open source, turn-based strategy game features both single player and online multiplayer combat.

Ubuntu includes the game package in its system repository but always old. User can choose to install the official Flatpak package, by running 2 commands one by one in a terminal window.

sudo apt install flatpak
flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.wesnoth.Wesnoth.flatpakref

Though, it’s universal Linux package format that runs in sandbox.

For users who prefer the classic .deb package format, The Debian/Ubuntu Games Team maintains an Ubuntu PPA with the latest stable/devel release (1.16.x stable at the moment) of the game packages. Which, so far supports Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, and their derivatives.

1. First, either search for and open a terminal from start menu or press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal.

2. When terminal opens, paste the command below and hit Enter to add the PPA repository.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pkg-games/wesnoth-devel

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks for sudo authentication, and hit Enter to continue.

3. If a previous 1.16.x version of the game package was installed on your system, launch “Software Updater” (or Update Manager) to upgrade the game:

Or, run command in terminal to install/upgrade the game package:

sudo apt instatll wesnoth-1.16

NOTE: Linux Mint user may first run sudo apt update to refresh package index.

Once installed, search for and launch the game either from start menu or ‘Activities’ overview depends on your DE and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To download the game to the stock version available in system repository, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:pkg-games/wesnoth-devel

This command will install ppa-purge tool and purge the PPA, which also downgrade installed packages.

To simply uninstall the game package, use command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove wesnoth-1.16

Also remove the PPA, either via “Software & Updates” under Other Software tab in Ubuntu, or use “Software Sources” tool in Linux Mint, or run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:pkg-games/wesnoth-devel

That’s all. Enjoy!

RetroArch 1.15.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

RetroArch emulator released version 1.15.0 a few days ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 22.10, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04 and Ubuntu 18.04 via PPA.

The new 1.15.0 release feature steam support for macOS user, though macOS 10.13 or later is required. Also, it supports Apple’s native Gamepad protocol MFi, includes Vulkan video driver that is HDR capable for macOS users.

The new release also features Append Preset and Prepend Preset, allows to stack shader presets now on top of each other. Meaning user can mix various shader presets and then save it as a new preset.

Another big change is the alternative system to runahead – preemptive frames. Which, works by rerunning core logic to “rewrite history” before the current frame. Frames are only rerun when the controller state changes. Runahead is still available, and user can choose which one to use.

 

Other changes include:

  • Add support for system subdirs per core/database.
  • Restore cached video driver always on quit
  • Add keyboard recording support to BSV
  • Add checkpointing feature for replay recordings
  • PS3/PSL1GHT: Add RSX video driver
  • Add “Switch Icons” option
  • Add Run-Ahead data to on-screen statistics
  • See the release note for more details.

How to Install RetroArch 1.15.0 in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

RetroArch download page offers the downloads for all supported platforms.

For Ubuntu, Linux Mint based systems, the official PPA is a good choice, which so far support for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, and upcoming Ubuntu 23.04.

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

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libretro/stable

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. For the old Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint, user may need to manually refresh package cache by running command:

sudo apt update

3. Finally, either run command in terminal to install the emulator:

sudo apt install retroarch libretro-*

Or if an old version was installed, use Software Updater to update to v1.15.0.

After installing the software, search for and launch it from start menu or ‘Activities’ overview.

Then, use “Online Updater” menu option to update core libraries, assets, profiles, database, etc. And, use ‘Content Downloader’ option to grab free contents for selected core.

How to Remove RetroArch

To remove the software package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove retroarch libretro-*

Also remove the PPA repository, either by running the command below:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:libretro/stable

Or use “Software & Updates” utility by removing the source line under “Other Software” tab.

Scrcpy 2.0 is out! How to Install & Use this Android Remote Control App

The free open-source Android screen mirroring and remote control application, Scrcpy, released version 2.0 today!

The new release feature audio forwarding support! Meaning it’s not only mirroring your Android screen, but also sending the sound from Android to your PC speaker. The new feature supports Android 11 and higher. It’s enabled by default, though there’s --no-audio flag available to disable it.

Another big change in the release is that the device screen can now be encoded in H.265, or even AV1 if your device supports AV1 encoding.

The release also includes new --list-encoders option to list audio and video encoders available in the device, and --list-displays to list displays available on the device. For more about Scrcpy 2.0, see the official release note.

How to Install & Use Scrcpy in Ubuntu 22.04 to control your Android Phone Wirelessly or via USB cable

NOTE: This tutorial is tested and works in Ubuntu 22.04, though it should also work in all current Ubuntu releases.

Step 1. Prepare your Android device

To use the software, you need to first enable USB Debugging Mode in Android.

1. First, go to Settings in Android. Navigate to “About Phone”, and tap on “Build Number” several times (usually 7 times). It should prompt you something like “You are now in Developer Mode“.

TIP: there’s NO security issue or performance loss with developer mode enabled.

2. Then navigate to “Developer Options” in Settings menu or ‘Additional Settings’ sub-menu, and turn on the option for “USB Debugging“.

Step 2. Install adb

adb (Android Debug Bridge) package is also required for this software. Just press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal and run command to install it:

sudo apt install adb

Step 3. Install scrcpy

There are few ways to install scrcpy, choose either one that you prefer.

Option 1: .deb package from system repository

Scrcpy is available in Ubuntu system repository. It’s working good in my case, though a little bit old that lacks new features.

To install the package, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run command:

sudo apt install scrcpy

Option 2: Snap package in Ubuntu Software

The snap package in Ubuntu Software can be the easiest way to install the app, though it runs in sandbox.

The snap package at the moment is the last 1.25 version, though it will automatically update to v2.0 once maintainer updated the package.

Scrcpy Snap in Ubuntu Software

Option 3: Install Scrcpy from the source

If you can’t wait to use the latest release, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and run the command below one by one to install it from source:

  • First, run command to install dependency libraries:
    sudo apt install ffmpeg libsdl2-2.0-0 adb wget gcc git pkg-config meson ninja-build libsdl2-dev libavcodec-dev libavdevice-dev libavformat-dev libavutil-dev libswresample-dev libusb-1.0-0 libusb-1.0-0-dev
  • Then, clone the source code via command:
    git clone https://github.com/Genymobile/scrcpy
  • Finally, navigate to source folder and start the installer script:
    cd scrcpy && ./install_release.sh

    NOTE: After building process it may ask you to type user password for the permission to install files into system directories.

Step 4. Remote control your Android in Ubuntu

Now, connect your Android device into Ubuntu using USB cable. Then, click “Allow” in Android to confirm the “Allow USB Debugging” dialog.

1. First, open terminal (Ctrl+Alt+T) and start adb in your favorite mode:

  • To remote access via USB cable, run command:
    adb usb
  • To remote access using wireless network, run commands:
    adb tcpip 7676
    adb connect 192.168.0.150:7676

    Here, change port number 7676 and the Android’s IP address accordingly! When done successfully, you can then remove the USB cable.

2. If the previous step goes well without any error! You can now start scrcpy:

  • Run scrcpy command in terminal if you installed from system repository.
  • Launch it from start menu (or ‘Activities’ overview) if installed from source. For debugging purpose, use scrcpy(console).

That’s all. Your android screen should appear in the Ubuntu desktop after launching scrcpy. Enjoy!

Uninstall scrcpy

To remove the adb package, open terminal and run command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove adb

To remove Scrcpy installed as .deb package, use command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove scrcpy

For the snap package, just use Ubuntu Software again to remove it.

And, for the package installed from source, navigate to the source folder again in terminal window and run command to uninstall it:

sudo ninja -Cbuild-auto uninstall

Sweet Home 3D 7.1 Released, How to install it for Linux

The popular free interior design software Sweet Home 3D announced the 7.1 release a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu Linux.

Changes in Sweet Home 3D 7.1 include:

  • Added furniture description field in Sweet Home 3D and the Furniture Library Editor.
  • Added the description of a piece of furniture set in a SH3F file to the catalog furniture tool tip.
  • Updated Java 3D 1.6.2 to avoid corrupted 3D view and furniture icons with recent AMD Adrenalin driver versions under Windows.
  • Updated JOGL to version 2.4.0-rc-20221118 to fix a hanging issue in the furniture import wizard under macOS.
  • Ignored auto completion at initialization time of text fields.
  • Fixed handling of delete keys when catalog search text field has focus in the Sweet Home 3D JS Online.
  • Added Portuguese from Portugal translation as default Portuguese translation and made Portuguese translation of previous versions as Brazilian Portuguese translation.
  • Made JAR executable version of Sweet Home 3D, Furniture Library Editor and Textures Library Editor able to be launched with a double-click under Java version ≥ 16.
  • Fixed computed limit between joined walls of different thicknesses.
  • Updated Azul OpenJDK runtime bundled in Sweet Home 3D installer with Azul OpenJDK 11.0.18 under Windows 64 bit and Azul OpenJDK 15.0.10 under Mac OS X ≥ 10.9.
  • Other minor bugs fixes and enhancements.

How to Install Sweet Home 3D 7.1

The software offers official packages available to download in the link page below:

For Linux user, select download the “SweetHome3D-7.1-linux-x64.tgz” package. Then, extract and run the executable binary to launch it.

To create shortcut icons for Sweet Home 3D, so you can search for and launch it just like other installed applications, do:

1. First, open another file manager window, press Ctrl + H to show hidden folders, and then navigate to “.local” folder.

Create the bin sub-folder if not exist under “.local”, and navigate to that folder. Finally, drag and drop the extracted software folder into this directory.

2. Then, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. And run command to create an app shortcut file:

gedit ~/.local/share/applications/SweetHome3D.desktop

For Ubuntu 22.04+, replace gedit with gnome-text-editor in command. When file opens, paste the lines below:

[Desktop Entry]
Version=1.0
Name=Sweet Home 3D
GenericName=Interior 2D design application with 3D preview
GenericName[de]=Innenraumplaner
Comment=Interior design Java application for quickly choosing and placing furniture on a house 2D plan drawn by the end-user with a 3D preview
Exec=/home/USERNAME/.local/bin/SweetHome3D-7.1/SweetHome3D
Icon=/home/USERNAME/.local/bin/SweetHome3D-7.1/SweetHome3DIcon.png
StartupNotify=true
StartupWMClass=com-eteks-sweethome3d-SweetHome3D
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Graphics;2DGraphics;3DGraphics;
Keywords=interior;design;2D;3D;home;house;furniture;java;

As the picture shows, you have to replace the value of “Exec” and “Icon” lines. In file manager, navigate to the Sweet Home 3D folder under ‘.local/bin‘, you may then press Ctrl + L to highlight the folder path and then copy it into clipboard.

If you have done everything correctly, the app icon should appear in ‘Activities’ overview search result.

Uninstall:

To uninstall the package, simply remove the software folder under ‘.local/bin‘, as well as the .desktop file you created under ‘.local/share/applications’.

You can do the job either via File manager or by running the command below in terminal:

rm -R ~/.local/bin/SweetHome3D* ~/.local/share/applications/SweetHome3D.desktop

FFmpeg 6.0 Released! How to Install in Ubuntu 22.04 | 20.04

The popular FFmpeg multimedia library announced the new major 6.0 release yesterday. Here are the new features and how to install guide for Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, and Ubuntu 18.04.

FFmpeg 6.0, code name “Von Neumann”, features new decoders support, including Bonk, Micronas SC-4, APAC, ViewQuest VQC, RKA, Radiance, WavArc, CBD2 DPCM and a few ADPCM formats.

There are also QSV and NVenc AV1 encoding, VAAPI and QSV decoding and encoding for 10/12bit 422, 10/12bit 444 HEVC and VP9.

Other changes FFmpeg 6.0 include:

  • New audio and video filters, such as adrc, afdelaysrc, corr, showcwt, backgroundkey, a3dscope, ddagrab, ssim360, hstack_qsv, vstack_qsv and xstack_qsv filters
  • Radiance HDR image support
  • Add new mode to cropdetect filter to detect crop-area based on motion vectors and edges
  • WBMP (Wireless Application Protocol Bitmap) image format
  • LAF, SDNS demuxer
  • DTS to PTS reorder bsf
  • backgroundkey filter, showcwt multimedia filter
  • hstack_vaapi, vstack_vaapi and xstack_vaapi filters
  • MediaCodec decoder via NDKMediaCodec and encoder
  • oneVPL support for QSV
  • ffmpeg CLI new options: -stats_enc_pre[_fmt], -stats_enc_post[_fmt], -stats_mux_pre[_fmt]
  • media100 to mjpegb bsf
  • ffmpeg CLI new option: -fix_sub_duration_heartbeat
  • CrystalHD decoders deprecated
  • RKA, WavArc, XMD ADPCM, WADY DPCM decoder and demuxer
  • filtergraph syntax in ffmpeg CLI now supports passing file contents as option values

How to Install FFmpeg 6.0 via PPA in Ubuntu:

NOTE: Upgrade FFmpeg library in Ubuntu may break other apps and/or run into dependency issue. You must know how to restore. And don’t do it in production machine!

For current Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and even the old Ubuntu 16.04, there’s a PPA repository contains the package.

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open a terminal window. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg6

Type user password (no asterisk feedback) when it asks and hit Enter to continue.

2. As the PPA description said, you need also add another PPA for the dependency libraries:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

3. For the old Ubuntu 18.04 and earlier and Linux Mint, run command to update the system package index:

sudo apt update

4. Finally, run command to install all available package updates to upgrade FFmpeg to v6.0.

sudo apt full-upgrade

If you didn’t have an old FFmpeg version installed, also run sudo apt install ffmpeg.

5. After installation, run the command below in terminal to verify:

ffmpeg --version

How to Downgrade FFmpeg library:

In case you want to downgrade the FFmpeg library to the stock version available in system repository. Open terminal and run command:

sudo apt install ppa-purge && sudo ppa-purge ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg6

NOTE: Keep an eye on terminal output before answering yes to confirm! It MAY remove some other app packages.

Also remove the dependency PPA by running command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:savoury1/ffmpeg4

TIP: purging the PPA broke my GIMP image editor due to removal of gegl library. And re-installing the library runs into dependency issue, which is usually “something depends on package version = x.xx.x, but another version to be installed.”  To fix the issue, try using Synaptic package manager to search and highlight the key package and use “Package -> Force Version”.

KDE Plasma 5.27 Available to Install in (K)Ubuntu via PPA

The latest KDE Plasma Desktop 5.27 was released 2 weeks ago. (K)Ubuntu 22.10 based systems can now get it via KUbuntu Backport PPA.

And, KUbuntu 23.04 will ship with Plasma 5.27 by default. For (K)Ubuntu 22.04 LTS the package is still in experimental PPA for testing, it should be made into the backport extra PPA later.

Plasma 5.27 features a new tiling system to automatically resize and place app windows side by side in screen. User can enable it in “System Settings > Workspace Behavior > Desktop Effects“. Then use Shift + Drag to tile windows, and use Windows Logo key + T to configure the layout. See more about KDE Plasma 5.27.

New window tiling systm

1. Add the PPA

The new packages are made into KUbuntu Backports PPA for (K)Ubuntu 22.10.

First, search for and open terminal (Koncole) from start menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa/backports

Type user password when it asks while no asterisk feedback,and hit Enter to continue.

2. Update package cache

Adding PPA should automatically refresh the package cache now. But in case you’re trying this in a Ubuntu based system that does not do the update, run command in terminal to manually refresh cache:

sudo apt update

3. Install KDE Plasma 5.27

Finally, KUbuntu 22.10 user or Ubuntu Studio 22.10 (not tested) can upgrade to Plasma desktop 5.27 by running command below in terminal (koncole):

sudo apt full-upgrade

Non-KDE user may also install the desktop environment by running command:

sudo apt install kubuntu-desktop

However it’s better to write down all the packages it’s going to install, so you can uninstall them to restore your system easily.

After installation, restart your computer and verify by going to System Settings -> About this System.