In the next article we are going to take a look at Blanket. This is an application to reproduce ambient noises, which claims to seek to increase user productivity, helping them to stay focused or relax until falling asleep.
This is a free, open source and very lightweight application that also works offline. It will allow us users enjoy the sounds that the application brings with it, and add our own custom sounds. We will also find the option to mix the sounds, if that is what interests us. As for its operation, users will only have to use the program's simple interface to configure the sounds we want to hear.
Blanket general characteristics
Currently this program is in the Blanket version 0.4.0, and in it we can find things like the following:
- In each sound we will find a volume slider that we can adjust to taste. These controls will allow us to mix various sounds to suit the user. In addition we will also find the possibility to add our own custom sounds.
- This latest version also adds the ability to start the app in the background at startup. With this feature, users can use the application without having to touch its user interface. This will begin to reproduce the last configuration of sounds that we used in it.
- We will have the possibility to use keyboard shortcuts to use the program.
- With respect to previous versions it has new icons to identify sounds. It also offers improvements for the sounds, the user interface and the performance of the program.
- It will give us the option of keep listening to the sounds after closing the program.
- They have also been added new translations and other bug fixes.
- In this version, the following available sounds can be found by default;
- Nature: rain, storm, wind, waves, stream, birds and summer night.
- Trip: train, ship and city.
- Interiors: cafeteria and fireplace.
- Noise: pink noise and white noise.
Install Blanket on Ubuntu
Ubuntu users can install this program from the official repository, or from FlatHub. Both options today install version 0.4.0. Neither of them offers the possibility of changing the theme of the program, although after trying both installation possibilities, they are shown with different colors from each other.
From PPA
To install this program from the PPA, we will first have to add it. To do this, we just need to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and run the command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apandada1/blanket
After updating the software available from the repositories, we can now proceed to install the application using the command in the same terminal:
sudo apt install blanket
Once the installation is complete, all that remains is find the program launcher on our computer and click to start it.
uninstall
To remove this application installed from the PPA, we can start with delete this repository of our team. To do this we only need to open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and execute the command in it:
sudo add-apt-repository -r ppa:apandada1/blanket
Now for delete the program, you just have to use this other command in the same terminal:
sudo apt remove blanket; sudo apt autoremove
Like Flatpak
First of all, to install this program as flatpak package, we must have this technology enabled in our equipment. If you use Ubuntu 20.04 and you still do not have it, you can continue The Guide that a colleague wrote a while ago on this blog.
Once you can install flatpak applications on your Ubuntu system, you can proceed with the installation of this program opening a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and executing the command in it:
flatpak install flathub com.rafaelmardojai.Blanket
When the installation is finished, we can run this program either looking for the launcher on our computer or executing this command in the terminal:
flatpak run com.rafaelmardojai.Blanket
uninstall
If you chose to install this program as a Flatpak package, you can remove it from your team opening a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T) and typing in it the command:
flatpak uninstall com.rafaelmardojai.Blanket
For more information about Blanket, users can consult the project GitHub page.