An new release of Linux radio app Gradio is now available to download, and from reading its change-log it sounds like an update that’s worth tuning in for.
If you haven’t heard about the app before, you’re in for a treat.
Gradio lets you find and play public radio stations on Ubuntu. You don’t need to wrestle with .pls or .m3u files, you don’t need to set up scanning equipment or attach a DAB antennae, and, unlike some similar apps, you won’t need to copy and paste a URL into a box.
Instead, Gradio has a built-in ‘discover’ section (now with infinite scrolling) that lets you to sift through the thousands of radio stations listed on the community-based ‘Radio Browser‘ website. You can browse all available stations, see the most popular or most recently updated; plus filter by language, keyword or country, and more.
You can ‘star’ your favourite stations for easier access, too.
We’ve written about GTK desktop radio player Gradio a couple of times this year already, and in each release the streaming app has turned the dial to tune in on improvement after improvement.
Gradio 5.0 is no different. The release brings a number of interesting improvements to the fore, including:
- New grid/list view
- New right-click menu on stations (see gif)
- Background playback
- “Close-To-Tray-Icon” feature
- Improved ‘Discover’ section w/columns
- Ability to “Resume playback on startup”
- New settings dialog
- Additional preferences
- New sidebar
- Notifications for new songs
- Infinitive scrolling
- New connection popover
- Volume button now sits in the header bar
A new MPRIS backend means the the app should now play nice in the Ubuntu Sound Menu (and keep playing in the background).
A lower GTK dependency (GTK 3.14 instead of GTK 3.18) helps bring the app to even more desktops.
Install Gradio 5.0 on Ubuntu
There are a number of ways to install Gradio on Ubuntu. Pick whichever one suits your workflow best.
Gradio PPA
The official Gradio PPA provides the latest releases for Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and Ubuntu 16.10 users. To add the PPA first run:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:haecker-felix/gradio-daily
Followed by the following two commands to install it:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install gradio
Once completed, launch Gradio from the Unity dash (or equivalent application launcher).
Gradio Flatpak
Gradio 5.0 should, at some point, also be available to install using the universal Linux app distribution format (!) Flatpak. The project wiki will be updated with instructions to show you how to install the Gradio Flatpak.
Gradio Source
If you like to install your apps by hand, the old-fashioned way, you can find Gradio source code hosted on Github.
The app no longer uses cmake; you can install the app by running the autogen.sh script followed by make and then sudo make install.