Top 10 Most Popular Linux Distributions in Late 2016 - Early 2017

3 Great Linux Apps I Never Knew Existed

I’ve written about a lot of desktop Linux software in the nearly 8 years this site has been running. 
Apps, utilities, tools and clients for almost everything, from bling-laden music players to java monstrosities via photo editors and command line Twitter clients.
And yet even I have not heard of every app that’s out there.
Below, I share 3 Linux apps that I had not heard of until very, very recently (thanks, in large part, to our goad for stuff to write about).
I don’t claim that these are the greatest, most excellent, most indispensable apps you’ll ever see, but they all impressed me. None of them are brand-spankin’ new, but they’re are new to me. And who knows, maybe to you, too.

Ocenaudio – Audio Editor

 

Whether you’re recording your own bedroom podcast or fine-tuning some sound recordings for a video project, a decent audio editor is a must.
And when it comes to audio editing there is one open-source app that rises above the noise: Audacity.
But Ocenaduio, a cross-platform app, is lighter than Audacity, and arguably more approachable for casual use. It’s not as powerful as Audacity or Audour or any other editors of that ilk, but it’s still a capable tool with some great features.
So good that it’s used by YouTuber The Linux Gamer who uses the app to record and edit voice overs for his Linux gaming channel.
Ocenaudio lets you add and edit multiple audio files. It shows a large waveform which you can interact and edit directly.
Effects like compression, delay, and reverb, as well as plenty of others, are easy to use and configure. This helps you add a little more post production polish to your recordings.
Hit the link below to learn more about the app or give it a try yourself

Visit the Ocenaudio Website

Thanks Gardiner

Open DVD Producer

 

Burning DVDs — I remember when this was an essential task to ask of any desktop OS, Linux or otherwise. These days? Not so much (Ubuntu ditched disc-burning utility Brasero a few years back).
Open DVD Producer lets you create custom DVDs with interactive menus, chapters and sound.
The simple UI helps you assemble a simple DVD with menus. You can have a static or video background; you can add sound, buttons and tailor navigation.
It has a built-in encoder (no need to use an external app). This can convert a wide range of popular formats, including mp4. An interactive chapter tool lets you quickly add skippable marktwers to your videos.
You can learn more (and download a version for Ubuntu) from the project’s official website. Note that the installer doesn’t pull in all dependencies. To use the chapter marker you’ll need to install phonon-backend-vlc.

Visit the Open DVD Producer Website

Thanks Robert S.

Soundnode — Soundcloud Desktop App

 

Alongside Spotify SoundCloud is one of the streaming music services I use to discover new artists and listen to new  tracks.
Soundnode is the SoundCloud desktop app I’ve been itching for. It moulds the uniqueness of SoundCloud’s content into a more digestible desktop format.
Soundnode is built with NW.js, Angular.js and (naturally) the Soundcloud API. But don’t let that put you off. It’s more than a ‘web wrapper’.  It feels like a native application thanks to a keyboard shortcuts and a clean, navigable UI. It’s not perfect though. There’s no Ubuntu sound menu integration, and no way to upload to come
Better yet Soundnode is totally open source. If you want to help improve it, you can.
To learn more, and to try the app yourself, head over to the official project website, linked below.

Visit the Soundnode Website

Thanks dalekanium87

Source: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/11/3-amazing-linux-apps-i-never-knew-existedthree-awesome-linux-apps-id-never-heard?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+d0od+%28OMG%21+Ubuntu%21%29

FunYahoo++: New Yahoo Messenger Plugin For Pidgin / libpurple [PPA]

Yahoo retired its old Messenger protocol in favor of a new one, breaking compatibility with third-party applications, such as Pidgin, Empathy, and so on.

Eion Robb, the SkypeWeb and Hangouts developer, has created a replacement Yahoo prpl plugin, called FunYahoo++, that works with the new Yahoo Messenger protocol.

Note that I tested the plugin with Pidgin, but it should work with other instant messaging applications that support libpurple, like BitlBee or Empathy.

According to the plugin GitHub page, the new Yahoo Messenger protocol lacks quite a few features that were available with the old one, such as typing notifications, away / idle statuses, and bold / italic / underline formatting. Also, if you're previously used Yahoo Messenger, your old buddy list is no longer available. Since these are missing in the protocol itself, they cannot be added to FunYahoo++.

Furthermore, FunYahoo++ is pretty new and still needs work. For now it only supports basic features like sending/receiving messages and adding buddies. Two Factor Authentication is not yet supported.

Also, since both the plugin and the protocol are new, you'll encounter bugs. But if you want to use Yahoo Messenger in a desktop application on Linux, this seems to be the only way for now. The alternative is to use the web version.

If you cannot log in using the new FunYahoo++ plugin, you should try using the web version of Yahoo Messenger once, as that seems to initialize your account. Logging in using FunYahoo++ should then work.

You can report any bug you may find @ GitHub.

Install FunYahoo++ in Ubuntu or Linux Mint

To make it easier to install I uploaded FunYahoo++ to the main WebUpd8 PPA. To add the PPA in Ubuntu, Linux Mint and derivatives, and install the plugin, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
sudo apt update
sudo apt install purple-funyahoo-plusplus

If you don't want to add the PPA, you can download the deb from HERE.

For how to build the plugin from source or download Windows binaries, see the FunYahoo++ GitHub page.

After installing the plugin, select "Yahoo (2016)" from the "Add Account" protocol drop-down, as shown in the screenshot at the top of the article.

 

Source: http://www.webupd8.org/2016/10/funyahoo-new-yahoo-messenger-plugin-for.html

How to (Easily) Make a Bootable Ubuntu 16.10 USB

If you want to do a clean install of Ubuntu 16.10 when it lands next week, or install it on a different computer, then a bootable flash drive is the way to go.
That’s in my opinion of course, but computers are increasingly being sold without an optical disc drive, and besides: USB drives are re-writeable and reusable. It’s the green option, y’all!
We wrote a similar guide to this one back in April though, in that guide, we covered different solutions for each operating systems, Windows, macOS and Linux in turn.
This guide is more universal and, we think, much simpler. It shows how to make a bootable Ubuntu USB drive using an open-source, cross-platform image writer called Etcher.

Create a USB Installer On Any OS Using Etcher

Etcher is a free, open-source image writing tool created by Resin.io.
It is available for all major desktop operating systems: Windows, macOS and Linux. This makes it an ideal tool to recommend as the following steps will, more or less, be the same no-matter which operating system you are reading from!
And although plenty of other apps exist that do a similar job, we find Etcher the easiest tool to use to create a USB installer for Ubuntu.
1. Download the latest Etcher release from Etcher.io and install it (if required).
If you’re using Ubuntu (or another Linux distribution) you do not need to install the app. Once you’ve given it the relevant permissions you can double-click on the AppImage to run it.
2. Download the latest Ubuntu 16.10 image from the daily-live website.
Although this guide is written for Ubuntu 16.10 you can use any compatible .iso or .img file for any operating system, e.g., Android x86, Linux Mint, Fedora or Hannah Montana Linux.
3. Attach a 2GB (or larger) flash drive to your computer
Important: If you have any data on the flash drive be sure to back it up right now. Etcher will scrub the drive clean as part of the installer-making processor.
4. Launch/run Etcher on your desktop and click on the “Select image” button.

Locate your Linux .iso installer file. If you downloaded this through a website (e.g., Ubuntu.com) then it should be located in your ~/Downloads folder.
5. Click “Select Drive” and choose the your flash drive you connected earlier.

Etcher will automatically select an external drive with ample free space. If it doesn’t, click the ‘Connect a drive’ button to select a device.
If you have more than one external drive, SD card or USB stick attached make sure that you have selected the correct drive before proceeding.
6. Click “Flash image”

That’s it! Etcher takes care of the rest of the process. It will inform you when it’s done and tell you whether it succeeded or encountered an error.

To use the installer on a computer just remove it from your current PC and insert it in to the one you wish to install Ubuntu on. Then, reboot the device, remembering to select the USB as the boot drive if it’s required (usually set via the BIOS).

Source: http://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2016/10/make-bootable-ubuntu-1610-usb-install-drive-6-easy-steps

Desktop Gmail Client `WMail` 2.0.0 Stable Released

WMail is a free, open source desktop client for Gmail and Google Inbox, available for Linux, Windows, and Mac.

Author: Andrew | Posted: October 21, 2016 | Updated: October 21, 2016

The application is a wrapper for Gmail / Google Inbox with unlimited account support, on top of which it adds features such as native desktop notifications (notification bubble and sound), unread email counter in the tray, and more.

Compared to other such applications, like Franz or Rambox, which support many other services, WMail provides a lot more customization, including per-account settings, and it integrates more tightly with the desktop. For instance, both Franz and Rambox notify you about new emails, but they don't display the most recent emails in the indicator / tray menu, like WMail. 

Also, WMail provides native desktop notifications (Franz and Rambox suppose to support this as well, but at least for me, the notifications don't work for Gmail), and an unread email counter on the Unity launcher (which Rambox supports but Franz doesn't).

Therefore, WMail is more useful if you only need Gmail, especially if you use multiple Gmail accounts, however, alternatives like Franz or Rambox might be a better option if you use multiple services.

WMail settings and the Unity Launcher unread email badge counter

The latest WMail 2.0.0 stable includes quite a few interesting changes. For instance, on Linux, there's a new option to ignore GPU blacklist (Settings > Advanced), which should solve rendering issues, another new option for displaying the unread email count in the Unity launcher icon, and more.

Here's a list of the most interesting changes in WMail 2.0.0 (stable):

• Tray / AppIndicator changes:
• tray icon designer in the settings screen;
• option to change the background color of the tray icon;
• auto-theming of tray depending on OS theme;
• DPI Multiplier for tray icon for users with 4K monitors;
• changed tray menu to have submenus for each mailbox (see the first screenshot in this article);
• focus the WMail window when clicking on emails in the tray;
• User interface:
• unread count over app icon for Ubuntu users using Unity (General > Show app unread badge);
• removed excess top space from side-menu on Linux, Windows and when the toolbar is enabled;
• add option to set your own CSS and JavaScript on a per mailbox basis;
• detecting when you launch WMail in an offline state and showing a splash screen rather than a broken WMail;
• changed the layout of the settings screen to use the available screen space;
• support for 38+ dictionary languages;
• added Primary Inbox support for Gmail;
• added ignore-gpu-blacklist flag under advanced for Linux users having rendering issues;
• updated to Chrome 53, Electron 1.4.4 and React 15.3.2.

There are quite a few other changes and various bug fixes. For a complete list, see the application GitHub page.

Note that some of these changes were already available in WMail if you were using a prerelease, and not the stable version.

Download WMail

Download WMail (binaries available for Linux - deb and generic, Windows and Mac)

If you encounter bugs, report them @ GitHub.

Source: http://www.webupd8.org/2016/10/desktop-gmail-client-wmail-200-stable.html#more