FF-Multi-Converter: A Great Application for Linux/Ubuntu/Linux Mint

You may have heard and used multimedia converter application as audio/video files converter only. FF-Multi-Converter is an application that lets you convert audio/video files to various formats, documents to several formats and images to most used formats. isn't it great? This application is around for a while and you may or may not used it. The most recent version ported to Python3 and now supports most of the Linux distributions.

FF-Multi-Converter uses FFmpeg for audio/video files conversion, unoconv for documents coversion and ImageMagick utility for image conversion. The main goal of this application is to offer most popular multimedia types in one application and provide different conversion options for them easily through a fairly easy to use graphical interface, you will find this application very handy and useful. It is written using Python3 and PyQt5, released under GNU General Public License (GPL V3).

Features:

• Conversions for several file formats.
• Very easy to use interface.
• Access to common conversion options.
• Audio/video ffmpeg-presets management.
• Options for saving and naming files.
• Multilingual - over 20 languages.

Supported formats:

• Audio/Video formats:
• aac, ac3, afc, aiff, amr, asf, au, avi, dvd, flac, flv, mka, mkv, mmf, mov, mp3, mp4, mpg, ogg, ogv, psp, rm, spx, vob, wav, webm, wma, wmv
And any other format supported by ffmpeg.
• Image formats:
• bmp, cgm, dpx, emf, eps, fpx, gif, jbig, jng, jpeg, mrsid, p7, pdf, picon, png, ppm, psd, rad, tga, tif, webp, xpm
• Document file formats:
• doc -> odt, pdf
• html -> odt
• odp -> pdf, ppt
• ods -> pdf
• odt -> doc, html, pdf, rtf, sxw, txt, xml
• ppt -> odp
• rtf -> odt
• sdw -> odt
• sxw -> odt
• txt -> odt
• xls -> ods
• xml -> doc, odt, pdf

Available for Ubuntu 18.04 Bionic/18.10/16.04 Xenial/14.04 Trusty/Linux Mint 19/18/17/other Ubuntu derivatives
To install FFMultiConverter in Ubuntu/Linux Mint open Terminal (Press Ctrl+Alt+T) and copy the following commands in the Terminal:




Terminal Commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/apps

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install ffmulticonverter




To install in any Linux distribution, download latest FF-Multi-Converter and extract it. You need to install these dependencies (python3, pyqt5, ffmpeg, imagemagick, unoconv). Then use following command to install it from extracted folder.


Terminal Commands:

python3 setup.py install 

 
That's it

Source:  https://www.noobslab.com/2018/09/ff-multi-converter-great-application.html

WPS Office Update Now Available to Download for Ubuntu

An updated version of WPS Office for Linux is available to download for Ubuntu and other Linux distributions.

The popular China-based office suite (formerly known as Kingsoft Office) is not open source but it is free to download and to use.

A handful of features (including cloud backup) are only available to users with a premium or professional subscription/serial key, while other features (like a PDF reader) are exclusive to the iOS and Android apps.

This week saw an update to WPS Office 2016 for Linux released, which serves as the first major update to this particular office suite this year.

Among the changes and improvements on offer through this update:

• Custom quick access toolbar
• Manual directory function
• Support “text sort” and “table sort”
• Artistic page borders
• Ability to accept or reject format revisions
• Support for pivot charts
• The digital format supports the locale
• New “font preview” function
• Support batch delete remarks function

The appeal of WPS Office for Linux is that it looks similar to Microsoft Office

You can see a full list on the WPS Community download page, which we’ll get to in a second.

Worth a punt?

Like fellow free productivity software FreeOffice, SoftMaker Office, and LibreOffice, WPS Office boasts of its “compatibility with Microsoft Office document formats”.

But the real appeal of WPS Office for Linux over its rivals is that it looks similar to Microsoft Office.

Like, awfully similar:

WPS Office say their productivity suite has been installed 1.2 billion times across Windows, Linux, iOS and Android, with users swayed by its affordability, compatibility, and comparability to to Microsoft Office and its Microsoft PowerPoint, Excel and Word applications.

Popular though it is I should mention that WPS Office for Linux is in perpetual alpha — so if you plan to install WPS Office on your Ubuntu desktop do keep that caveat cautiously in mind.

Download WPS Office for Ubuntu

You can download WPS Office for Linux from the “WPS community” website link below, where installers are provided for both 32-bit and 64-bit Ubuntu.

Download WPS Office for Linux

For Windows builds head over to the official WPS website.





Source: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2018/09/wps-office-update-download-for-ubuntu

9 Good CD and DVD Burning Tools for Ubuntu/Linux

here is no dearth of good CD/DVD burning tools for Ubuntu. Brasero Disc Burner comes as default in Ubuntu and it is a good enough tool with almost all functionalities you expect from a basic CD/DVD burning application. But what really are the alternatives. Here is a quick listing of very good CD/DVD burning applications available for Linux(in no particular order). Read on.

K3B - KDE Burning Tool

K3B has been my favorite CD/DVD burning tool ever since I started using Ubuntu some 4 years ago. K3B is a Qt based application and it might look a bit out of place in Ubuntu GNOME desktop. But from a functionality point of view K3B is far ahead of all its competitors.

• Click Here to Install K3B in Ubuntu

• Those using other distros, visit K3B Download Page.

GnomeBaker Burning Tool

GnomeBaker is a free and open source CD/DVD authoring application for Linux. It is based on GNOME desktop environment. GnomeBaker comes equipped with functionalities like: Drag and drop to create data CDs (including drag and drop to and from the Nautilus file manager), Create audio CDs from existing WAV, MP3, FLAC, and Ogg files etc.

• Click Here to Install GNOME Baker in Ubuntu

• Those using other Linux distros, visit GNOME Baker download page.

Brasero Disc Burner

If you are an Ubuntu user, you don't need any introduction to Brasero Disc Burner since it comes as a default application in Ubuntu. Supports features like on-the-fly burning, multi-session, on-the-fly conversion of music playlists in all formats supported by GStreamer and so on. Brasero is my second favorite Burn tool available for Linux.

• Click Here to Install Brasero Disc Burner in Ubuntu if you are using an older version of Ubuntu which don't have Brasero pre installed ie.

• More information: Brasero Homepage

Xfburn for Linux

Xfburn is a tool to help burning CDs and DVDs. As the name indicates, Xfburn is better integrated with Xfce desktop though it can be used in any Linux desktop environment.

• Click here to install Xfburn in Ubuntu

• Those using other flavors of Linux, visit Xfburn Download Page.

Nero for Windows, Linux

Yes, Nero indeed has a Linux version of its popular CD/DVD burning application. Nero Linux 4 costs US $19.99 and there is a demo version also, available for free download.

• More Information and Download Links: Nero Linux 4

ImgBurn for Windows, Linux(under Wine)

Before getting excited, let me make it clear. ImgBurn is not an open source application and there is no official package for Linux as well. But ImgBurn is among the few applications which runs neatly under Wine and that is exactly why it is included in this official listing of Wine supported applications.

• Visit ImgBurn Homepage for more information.

SimpleBurn for Linux

SimpleBurn is a minimalistic application for burning and extracting CDs and DVDs. SimpleBurn was designed to have minimal dependencies. It uses GTK2 libs for the interface for burning it uses CDRTools (cdrecord, cdda2wav, mkisofs) or CDRKit (wodim, icedax, genisoimage).

• Installation in Ubuntu is a bit complicated since there are no DEB packages available AFAIK. You can compile and install SimpleBurn instead. Instructions here.

InfraRecorder for Windows

Although InfraRecorder does not belong to this list since it does not have a Linux version, it is a widely acclaimed open source CD/DVD burning tool for Microsoft Windows licensed under GNU General Public License. In 2007, CNET rated InfraRecorder the best free alternative to commercial DVD burning software.

• More information at InfraRecorder Homepage.

CDRDAO Command Line Tool

CDRDAO(CD recording Disk At Once) is an open source CD burner application for Windows, Mac and Linux. CDRDAO records audio or data CD-Rs in disk-at-once (DAO) mode based on a textual description of the CD contents. The CDRDAO application is run from the command line and has no graphical user interface. 

• More information at CDRDAO Homepage.

Hope you enjoyed the listing. Interested in more such listing of useful applications? Check out this collection of top bit-torrent applications and media-center applications for Linux as well.

Source: http://www.techdrivein.com/2011/03/9-good-cd-and-dvd-burning-tools-for.html

Xubuntu 16.04 LTS Stable, Fast, and Sleek

Xubuntu 16.04 LTS is my daily driver linux distribution. It will receive support from Ubuntu until April 2021. So there is 3 years of time left to enjoy constant kernel performance updates. My other favorite distro is ChaletOS 16.04, which is a similar build. Xubuntu only uses 1GB of memory and very little CPU. Some people are exploring using Android on the desktop. But this has proven a waste of time, since the applications and peripherals (hard drives, DVD, USB, monitors, sound cards, wi-fi devices,etc. ) are more extensive under linux. With so much of computing now based on the web browser, there is very little linux cannot perform perfectly. Most of the web's back-end servers already run linux because of their stability and lower cost. Xubuntu 16.04 already had the new upgraded Software Library.  I added the Mint Aqua xl_cheese theme, MacOS Icons, and Plank dock. Xubuntu has not changed its desktop features in many years. Some people move the task bar to the bottom to have it look similar to Windows. Highly recommended.

You can download Xubuntu here:
https://xubuntu.org/download

You can get the Mint Aqua xl_cheese theme here:
https://www.xfce-look.org/p/1241737/

Mac related wallpapers are available here:
http://wallpaperswide.com/mac-desktop-wallpapers.html