Llegó la versión 3.4 de Calibre con grandes novedades

La famosa aplicación Calibre, que está disponible para varios sistemas operativos, entre ellos GNU/Linux, es una de las más conocidas y con más funcionalidades de entre las que existen para la gestión de ebooks. No solo te permite tener acceso a tus ebooks, estén en el formato que estén. También permite gestionarlos y convertirlos entre formatos, entre otras muchas opciones. Soporta numerosos formatos, entre ellos los más conocidos PDF y EPUB. Lo cierto es que yo lo uso mucho para transformar entre formatos, ya sea de uno en uno o por lotes de libros.
Se hecha en falta algo de mejora en el rendimiento, ciertamente, aunque bueno, ahora con la llegada de esta nueva versión Calibre 3.4 que tiene algunas mejoras, tendré que evaluar si ha cambiado en algo al respecto. Como sabes, entre las funcionalidades también estaba la de poder importar y exportar libros desde los lectores de libros electrónicos más importantes del mercado. Con la llegada de la nueva versión estable de esta app de código abierto, se pretende mejorar algunas de las cuestiones que había por pulir en versiones previas.

Desde la versión 3.3 de Calibre se ha mejorado la interfaz como han dicho los desarrolladores. Además se han corregido algunos bugs que se producían de forma frecuente. Por si eso fuese poco, los desarrolladores se han preocupado también de otros detalles y funcionalidades, como la de añadir un nuevo método de exportar libros a tu equipo. En el editor hay ahora una nueva función para seleccionar ficheros a exportar y permite de una forma sencilla navegar y seleccionar todo lo que queremos agregar.
Otras mejoras también pasan por la inclusión de mejoras respecto a los idiomas, etc. Los bugs corregidos y las mejoras en el código harán que el programa funcione algo mejor con esta nuevo lanzamiento. Algunos usuarios reportaron algunos problemas desde el último lanzamiento y eso es en lo que se ha trabajado para que no estuviesen presentes en la actual versión…

How to correctly format the USB stick in Linux Mint

It sometimes happens that the USB drive does not work because it is not formatted properly. To me this has happened several times and I'm always in this case I use a program called GParted to format the USB. 

GParted is present in the Linux Mint software Manager, where you can install it or run the following command in terminal to install:

Terminal

Shekin@mylinuxmintpc~$

sudo apt-get install gparted

Insert your flash drive into the port on the computer and open the program GParted.

Now right click on the string with the USB stick, and on the shortcut menu, select Unmount:

Once your flash drive unmount, again right click on the line and now in the context menu to Format and select fat32 format:

I recommend fat32 format due too many media players can only read this format, in addition, if you plan to make this bootable USB flash drive that is fat32 mandatory

Now you need to apply all our previous actions:

Your pen drive is formatted correctly.

In addition in Linux Mint has a utility called USB stick formatter:

I do not use, because several times after it had to re-format the drive in gParted. Use at your own discretion.

Linux Mint: how to upgrade quickly and safely to Mint 18.2 Sonya

Contents

1. 1 Upgrade from 18.x to 18.2: by means of Update Manager (recommended)
2. 2 Upgrade from 18.1 to 18.2: by means of the terminal (emergency measure)
3. 3 From 17.x to 18.2: before you start: is it wise to upgrade at all, yet?
4. 4 From 17.x to 18.2: a clean upgrade is best, so avoid the upgrade option
5. 5 Optimal situation (most common): no separate home partition
   1. 5.1 Backup your important files
   2. 5.2 The rest is easy
6. 6 Separate home partition (less common)
   1. 6.1 Backup your important files
   2. 6.2 Install the new Mint
7. 7 Complete your new Mint

The method for upgrading 18.x to 18.2, is different from the method for upgrading 17.x to 18.2.

In the column on the left you can find the method for upgrading within the 18 series (18.1 to 18.2) and in the column on the right you find the way to upgrade from 17.x to 18.2.

Upgrade from 18.x to 18.2: by means of Update Manager (recommended)

1. An in-place upgrade of 18.1 to 18.2 is easy and safe, because they have the same codebase: Ubuntu 16.04. The main and recommended upgrade method within the 18 series, is by means of Update Manager. This feature in Update Manager usually becomes available shortly (within weeks) after the official release of a new Mint version. For 18.2 it's already there.

This is how it works:

a. First of all it's probably best to disable the screensaver, so that it won't make a nuisance of itself during the upgrade process.

b. Launch Update Manager and apply all available updates, so that you're sure that you've got the latest version of Update Manager.

c. In the panel of Update Manager you click Edit and then:
Upgrade to "Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya".

d. Then a wizard presents itself, that gives you some information.

After the last step, the installation begins. Wait patiently; sometimes it looks as if nothing happens, but that's just seemingly so. So just wait.

e. After completion of the upgrade you have to reboot your computer.

Note: during the upgrade you won't get a kernel upgrade to the recommended kernel for Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya. There's a reason for that, because that's no problem: it's quite alright to continue to use your current older kernel in 18.2.

f. In the Grub bootloader menu, your Mint may still be called 18 or 18.1, and not 18.2. This is harmless. But if you wish to change the menu items into 18.2, proceed like this:

- Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

- Use copy/paste to transfer the following green line into the terminal:

sudo update-grub

Press Enter. Note that your password remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show, this is normal.

You're done. Enjoy the beautiful Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya!

Didn't the upgrade succeed? Then try upgrading by means of the terminal, as described below (item 2).

Upgrade from 18.1 to 18.2: by means of the terminal (emergency measure)

2. Sometimes upgrading by means of Update Manager doesn't succeed, for unclear reasons. Even in cases when the official upgrade feature has already been made available.

In that case you can do the upgrade as follows, by means of the terminal:

a. Launch a terminal window.
(You can launch a terminal window like this: *Click*)

b. In your sources list, replace the Serena source by the Sonya source. For that, use copy/paste to transfer this line into the terminal (it's one line):

sudo sed -i 's/serena/sonya/g' /etc/apt/sources.list.d/official-package-repositories.list

Press Enter. Note that your password remains entirely invisible, not even dots will show when you type it, this is normal.

c. Then you update the packages list, like this:

sudo apt-get update

d. Then you perform the actual upgrade, in this way:

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

This may take a while.

e. When it's done: reboot your computer. You're done!

Note: unlike upgrading by Update Manager, this terminal upgrade will also install the recommended kernel for Linux Mint 18.2 Sonya.

If your hardware doesn't run well on that kernel, you can simply boot from the former kernel (it's still there, hidden under "Advanced options" in the Grub bootloader menu) and remove the latest kernel. You can easily remove a kernel by clicking View - Linux kernels in the panel of Update Manager.