These are just some notes I use to set up a new Ubuntu installation to get productive quickly. These notes are, on both 32- and 64-bit, mostly tested. If you find an error, please don't get too upset or be too surprised. Linux is a moving target as we all know.
More Info
http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Ubuntu:Lucid
http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-ubuntu-10.04-lucid-lynx
Multimedia and Video Howto
Music Howto
Set Up Repositories
Add Canonical Commercial Repository
Enable the Commercial Partners repo:
System -> Administration -> Software Sources -> Other Software -> select the partner repos
Update after modifying sources.list:
Click Reload
Medibuntu Repository (Multimedia, etc.)
sudo wget --output-document=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list \
http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_release -cs).list \
&& sudo apt-get --quiet update \
&& sudo apt-get --yes --quiet --allow-unauthenticated install medibuntu-keyring \
&& sudo apt-get --quiet update \
&& sudo update-apt-xapian-index
Update Ubuntu
sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade
Uninstall
sudo apt-get autoremove vim-tiny gnash gnash-common libflashsupport mozilla-plugin-gnash swfdec-mozilla \
flashplugin-nonfree libflashsupport nspluginwrapper indicator-messages
Installation
32-Bit
sudo apt-get install alsa-oss faac faad flashplugin-nonfree gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad \
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse \
gstreamer0.10-pitfdll libmp3lame0 non-free-codecs sun-java6-fonts sun-java6-jre sun-java6-plugin unrar \
vim-nox thunderbird lightning-extension keepassx xtightvncviewer ubuntu-restricted-extras acroread w32codecs \
ntp ntfs-config openoffice.org-java-common gnomebaker sound-theme-freedesktop
64-bit (not fully tested)
sudo apt-get install alsa-oss faac faad flashplugin-nonfree gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad \
gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse \
ia32-libs ia32-sun-java6-bin icedtea6-plugin libmp3lame0 non-free-codecs openjdk-6-jre unrar \
sound-theme-freedesktopsudo add-apt-repository ppa:ricotz/ppa && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install thunderbird
wget http://www.myscienceisbetter.info/flash-player/native-64bit-flash-installer.sh
sh ./native-64bit-flash-installer.sh
# Lightning and Google Calendar
wget http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/releases/1.0b2/contrib/linux-x86_64/gdata-provider.xpi
wget http://releases.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/calendar/lightning/releases/1.0b2/contrib/linux-x86_64/lightning.xpi
Install Options
- remmina (advanced remote desktop client for RDP, VNC and SFTP)
- tkmib (SNMP MIB browser)
- xinetd (super daemon - used for VMware Server and TFTP server)
- build-essential (compilers and tools)
- linux-headers-`uname -r` (kernel headers)
- lightning-extension (calendar add-on for Thunderbird)
- k3b (CD/DVD burning tool) (adds KDE libs)
- k9copy (CD/DVD copy tool) (adds KDE libs)
- lshw (hardware inventory)
- wireshark (network diagnostic tool)
- openvas-server, openvas-client (open source fork of nessus)
- nessusd, nessus (network diagnostics and scanning)
- kompozer (HTML editor)
- libdvdcss2 (DVD playback)
- sound-juicer, gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse (rip and encode audio CDs)
- lame, easytag, audacity (process music files, encode .mp3's)
- realplayer (media player)
- nfs-common (NFS client)
- xournal (PDF markup)
Firefox Addons
- Foxmarks
- FireFTP
- FlashBlock
- Firebug
Configuration
Sounds
Be sure to install the sound-theme-freedesktop package, then
System -> Preferences -> Sound
Choose the 'Default' theme to enable Empathy IM sounds.
Printers
Most directly connected printers are plug n' play and just work automatically.
Printers shared via cups on other Linux boxes also just appear magically and work:
System -> Administration -> Printing -> Server -> Settings -> Show printers shared by other...
Most print server devices, such as our Linksys 3-port unit support the LPR/LPD protocol. Historically, we use LPR/LPD instead of SMB protocol as there have been 'issues' using SMB in the past. You need to know the LPD queue names used by your print server. Linksys often uses 'L1', 'L2' and 'L3' (case sensitive).
System -> Administration -> Printing -> Add -> Network Printer -> LPR/LPD
Internal Printer Notes
The Lexmark C510 is on print server 'ps' on queue (port) 'L1' using the PPD (printer description) file from the Support folder. The Pan KX-2023 is on 'L2'. The Oki 520 is on 'L3'.
The network PDF printer is via SMB using a generic postscript driver.
PDF Printer
The default configuration since Ubuntu 8.10 is simpler than in the past. Just select Print -> To File -> PDF. You can print to postcsript files this way too.
NVidia Graphics Drivers
First, try System -> Administration -> Hardware Drivers.
Try all nVidia driver versions if the recommended one doesn't work properly.
Otherwise, and only as a last resort, you may need to download and install the drivers from nVidia. You probably shouldn't use this procedure unless you really have to:
Download the latest driver from the NVidia web site then log out and switch to a text-mode virtual console by hitting ctrl-alt-F1. Then enter the following commands:
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop
sudo sh ./NVIDIA-Linux-xxxx.run
If you have trouble because the xserver continues to use the 'nv' driver, edit the /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common file and add nv:
DISABLED_MODULES="nv"
Reboot.
Desktop
System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Fonts (Sub-Pixel Smoothing) -> Details (96dpi, Light Hinting) (try actual dpi of your monitor)
Gnome Terminal window placement
gnome-terminal --geometry=120x50+450+150
Panels (right-click, Properties) - 28 pixels
Startup Applications - Add Tomboy, Empathy and Firefox to start up automatically
Preferred Applications - Thunderbird, F-Spot
Screensaver - Lock screen
Nautilus Options
Launch nautilus - Select Edit -> Preferences.
Media - The default settings are good, but you can set your preferences for what happens when you plug in external media, cameras, etc. here.
Delete Context Option - Click on the behavior tab. Under the "Trash" section, select the option that reads "Include a Delete command that bypasses Trash"
Themes
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bisigi
sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install bisigi-themes
System -> Preferences -> Appearance -> Theme
Faxing
Viewer
If you have any trouble viewing fax files in the .tif format, try using the Evince viewer.
Network Faxing
See this page.
F-Spot Photo Manager
If you want to move your F-Spot photo database to a new computer or user home directory, you will normally only have to move the Photos folder plus the ~/.config/f-spot folder to the same locations in the new home directory.
Virtualization
After using VMware Server and Xen for several years, I switched to VirtualBox for personal workstation use. It's easier to install and use than VMware Server, nor does it require 64-bit host hardware. However, it doesn't perform as well as Xen for server use.
sudo vim /etc/apt/sources.list
Add this line:
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian lucid non-free
Then finish the installation and setup:
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-3.2 dkms
sudo usermod -G vboxusers -a yourusername
Then log out and back in to gain permissions to run VirtualBox.
Network configuration in VMs defaults to DHCP and NAT, which should give you Internet access and a 10.0.x.x IP address in your VM, but no access to the VM from the local network. It's easy to set the networking to 'bridged' in Network settings and restart VM.
Text Terminal
Here are a couple of tweaks for bash:
vim ~/.bashrc alias ll='ls -l'
alias la='ls -A'
alias l='ls -CF'
alias ls="BLOCK_SIZE=\'1 ls --color=auto"
export GREP_OPTIONS='--color=auto'
PS1='${debian_chroot:+($debian_chroot)}\[\033[00;36m\]\u\[\033[00m\]@\h:\[\033[05;33m\]\w\[\033[00m\] \$ '
export HISTCONTROL=ignoredups
Remote Access
SSH
sudo apt-get install openssh-server
RFB (VNC)
System -> Preferences -> Remote Desktop -> enable and enter password
Accessing Network (SMB) Shares
New Way
Nautilus -> File -> Connect to server -> Windows share
- Server Name
- Share Name
- User Name
- Add Bookmark (do this if you will connect to this server again)
- Bookmark Name
Old Way (needs testing with Lucid)
If the 'smbfs' package is not already installed, install it like this:
sudo apt-get install smbfs
Create a script that mounts your SMB shares at the mount point you specify in the script. I named mine 'mymounts' and I keep it in a ~/bin folder with the rest of my scripts. You could also just keep it on your desktop and forego the automatic execution below.
#!/bin/bash
# ~/bin/mymounts
# Store this file in your home directory with 700 perms as it contains SMB password
# Set variables here:
SMBSERVER=mysmbserver
SHARENAME1=myshare1
SHARENAME2=myshare2
SMBUSER=mysmbusername
SMBPASS=mysmbpassword
# End of variables
mkdir -p ~/mnt/$SHARENAME1
mkdir -p ~/mnt/$SHARENAME2
smbumount ~/mnt/$SHARENAME1 > /dev/null 2>&1
smbmount //$SMBSERVER/$SHARENAME1 ~/mnt/$SHARENAME1 -o username=$SMBUSER,password=$SMBPASS
smbumount ~/mnt/$SHARENAME2 > /dev/null 2>&1
smbmount //$SMBSERVER/$SHARENAME2 ~/mnt/$SHARENAME2 -o username=$SMBUSER,password=$SMBPASS
Make it executeable:
chmod +x ~/bin/mymounts
To make it run automatically when you log in:
System -> Preferences -> Sessions -> Startup -> Add
~/bin/mymounts
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
