The past week or so has served up a decent helping of Linux software updates.
So, rather than bore you with a buffet of individual posts, we roundup the latest Linux app releases in to a single, easily digestible one.
On the menu this week you’ll find updates to a well-seasoned image editor, a freshly ripened drawing tool, and a tasty lightweight music player.
BTW: we rely on you guys to help keep us up to date. If an app, tool or distro you love gets an update (however minor!) do let us know about it via our Tip Form, Twitter or e-mail.
DeaDBeeF 1.8.0 Released
After a gap of almost 3 years, a new version of open-source music player DeaDBeeF is now available to download.
The update comes with a major version bump, drops 32-bit support, and offers up an experimental build for Windows desktops.
A full list of changes can be found in the DeaDBeeF release announcement, but a few choice highlights include:
- Opus support
- ReplayGain Scanner
- Improved MP4 tag reading and writing
- Load embedded album art from MP4 files
- File Copy and File Move converter presets
DeaDBeeF is a lightweight music player, but also a versatile one. It can play almost any audio format, comes with a capable meta-tag reader/editor, audio converter, graphical equalizer, and features a customisable interface.
The app also supports additional plugins for advanced functionality, such as an MPRIS2 plugin for sound menu applet support.
You can download DeaDBeeF from the project’s SourceForge page or Github releases page:
An unofficial Ubuntu PPA also offers the latest release for Ubuntu & Linux Mint users. There’s also an (not-yet-updated) Snap package.
GIMP 2.10.10 Released
A major update to the world’s favourite open-source raster graphics editor The GIMP is now available to download.
GIMP 2.10.10 arrives with a number of notable feature upgrades and tool improvements, including:
- Line art detection in the Bucket Fill tool
- Sample Merged option in the Heal tool
- 32-bit per channel precision for parametric brushes
- Easier brush and pattern creation workflow
- Scale tool now scales from the center
- “Readjust” option in various transformation tools
- On-canvas layer selection using the
ALTkey - Quick colour picking using
CTRLkey - Faster saving/exporting
You can install the latest version of The GIMP from Flathub, the Flatpak app store:
If you’re running Ubuntu 16.04 LTS or above you may also be able to upgrade to GIMP 2.10.10 by adding Otto Kesselgulasch’s GIMP PPA to your software sources.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp
Note: at the time of writing Otto’s PPA has not been updated with the latest build. But as he’s usually pretty swift at making new builds available you may want to add the PPA now to get the update later.
OpenRazer 2.5.0 Released
OpenRazer is an open source driver and user-space tool to manage and configure select Razer peripherals on Linux distro like Ubuntu.
The latest release is OpenRazer 2.5.0. It adds support for the Razer Blade 15 (2018) Mercury and Stealth laptops, as well as a swathe of Razer gaming mice, including the Razer Abyssus 2000 and the Razer DeathAdder 3500.
The app also adds support for the Razer Huntsman Elite keyboard and Goliathus mouse mats.
You’ll find more info, as well details on how to install OpenRazer on your Linux system, via the project’s official Github page:
If that sounds like effort, you can also add the official OpenRazer PPA to your software sources:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openrazer/stable
sudo apt update && sudo apt install openrazer-meta
Once installed, you may need to reboot for the new drivers to take effect.
New App: Drawing
The first public release of a new, simple-to-use ‘Drawing‘ app is available on Flathub.
Developed by Romain “maoschanz” F. Ts., ‘Drawing’ is best described as a mix of Microsoft Paint and screenshot annotation tools like Flameshot.
The app allows you to quickly add text, callouts, and other shapes to images; crop, scale or rotate images; and export images to a range of popular formats.
Keep in mind that this app is not trying to compete with full-featured image editors like GIMP (see above). If you need advanced features, plugins or colour support look elsewhere; but for rough and ready editing it looks promising.
You can find source code for the app, and file bugs, on the project GitHub page, linked below: