Not running 14.04? Check my previous posts for previous versions.
Planning to install Ubuntu? This post explains how to do it with partitions (it's more secure and very useful)
So I installed Ubuntu, what now?
In this post I will show the top things that I recommend you to do in order to make your computer run like a champ.
I strongly recommend the use of the (a) Terminal except in a few cases, like when you first update, you should update with the "Update Manager" because you'll have to install new kernel revisions.
Updating packages and upgrading
The first thing that you absolutely want to do, just after installing Ubuntu is to update your packages. To do this, you will need to search for the "Software Updater" in the application list.
Or you could launch a Terminal and put the following command:
$ sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo apt-get upgrade
The first time you do this it could take a lot of time.
Installing proprietary drivers
If your computer has a graphic card like nVidia or AMD or a wireless connexion you must install some drivers to make it work properly. If your wireless doesn't work you might want to install the driver using a wired connexion.
After searching for "Software & Updates" go to the "Additional Driver" tab and choose the driver that you want to activate. You need to restart your computer afterwards.
Enabling proprietary packages and installing proprietary software
If you want to install some proprietary packages like libraries to play MP3, or to install software developed by Microsoft, like Skype, you have to active some repositories in the "Software Sources". You open the "Ubuntu Software Center" and in the Menu "Edit" you open the "Software Sources" window
Then you click in tab "Other Software" and choose the option "Canonical Partners":
Privacy in Ubuntu
The dash now includes a lot of options. Look what you find useful and disable the rest so you don't get irrelevant results.
Don't forget about setting up your privacy if you're running 12.10 or a newer version, 14.04 in this case. If you don't want Unity to send your search to Amazon go to "System Settings", then "Security & Privacy" and turn off/on what you want.
I don't like Unity, show me something else
Many people don't like Unity for many reasons and prefer to change the desktop. Or maybe you just want to try something different.
Gnome 2: or "Oh I miss the old days". If you want to go back to Gnome 2 just type this command:
$ sudo apt-get install gnome-panel
Gnome 3: the Gnome team recently released version 3.12.1 which many people seem to like. I use it in my main machine under Arch and I have just get too used to it.
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
KDE 4: the KDE recently released version 4.12, this desktop is my second choice after Unity. I used it for a while and is fast, stable and the graphics with OpenGL are sick. With this command you're actually changing the flavor of your Ubuntu to add Kubuntu:
$ sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop
Cinnamon: it started as a fork of Gnome 2. Very interesting and pretty nice too. Version 2.0 recently came out and they are now an official Shell, all the dependencies from Gnome seem to be gone. So you can have Gnome and Cinnamon.
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gwendal-lebihan-dev/cinnamon-stable
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install cinnamon
There are many other options out there in the wild but I haven't given them a long try. Here are some examples: XFCE, LXDE, Awesome, Xmonad, MATE... among others.
I like Unity, but I want to tweak it a little bit
If, like me, you're just used to use Unity there are some programs that let you tweak this desktop
Ubuntu Tweak
Another tool very interesting to modify Unity is Ubuntu Tweak. To install it:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak
Internet
Google Chrome o Chromium: if you don't like Firefox you can install Google Chrome by going to their download page.
After you installed the right package for your distribution you can use this command (adapt it with the name of your package:
$ sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
or you could just open the folder where you save the file and double-click it. But the command line is more fun, let's admit it.
If you want to install Chromium instead:
$ sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
Transmission
If you want to download some files from the Internet using a Bit Torrent client there is one installed by default with Ubuntu. Transmission is a light-weight bit torrent client that will do just the job. You can set it up as you want but it doesn't have a lot of options.
There are many options for Linux, like KTorrent, Deluge...
Geary
If you want to install another client for your e-mail I think you could try to install Geary. Here is how it looks:
To install it:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install geary
Multimedia
There are some interesting programs to play multimedia, audio, video... But before doing some installation we want to make sure that we have the right codecs intalled.
$ sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0
Or if you just want everything without having to install all codecs use:
$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
A frequent problem you find in different forums is how to play DVDs in Ubuntu/Linux. DVDs use a special encryption protocol, you have to install a library for decryption, run this command that will install this library and execute a configuration file:
$ sudo apt-get install libdvdread4 && sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh
VLC
VLC is a great media player that can read EVERYTHING, and I really mean it.
$ sudo apt-get install vlc
Clementine
If you're looking for an alternative to Rhythmbox because you don't like or if you miss some functionalities like an equalizer or a little more personalization; Clementine is a great option.
$ sudo apt-get install clementine
GIMP
If you like photography and you don't want to spend a lot of money in Photoshop you can try out GIMP. I use it every day and it comes with a lot of functionalities.
Just run the following command:
$ sudo apt-get install gimp
If you want to edit RAW files from your camera you will need this extra package:
$ sudo apt-get install gimp-ufraw
This will let GIMP edit the RAW file after it imports it.
Inkscape
If you want to do some vector drawing Inkscape is a great piece of software, very easy to use. Here is an example I made in a free sunday.
$ sudo apt-get install inkscape
OpenShot
If you want to do some video editing in Linux, I think the best option right now could be OpenShot.
$ sudo apt-get install openshot
Steam in Linux is looking great!
I was surprised to see that Steam isn't in the Ubuntu Software Center anymore... Maybe I had to enable some packages or update the cache? But anyway... If you don't seem able to find it there just go to their website. Download the .deb and run this command:
$ sudo dpkg -i steam-latest.deb
Then you will see some errors appear because there are some missing packages. Solve this errors with:
$ sudo apt-get install -f
Next step is to try to launch steam. Some other packages will be missing but Steam is going to launch a Terminal asking for root permissions in order to install them. After you do this Steam will update and will launch. That wasn't so terrible was it? :)
This is how it looks, pretty sweet if you ask me:
Messenger
Pidgin
I have tried Empathy but I had some troubles with my MSN account. Pidgin is a great alternative and it supports many protocols, like MSN, Facebook, Google Talk...
$ sudo apt-get install pidgin
Skype
In order to install Skype in Ubuntu you have to install the independent packages as seen at the beginning of this blog.
$ sudo apt-get install skype
If you're using Skype and Unity give Skype Wrapper a try, it will integrate Skype to Unity. Here are some examples of what it will do:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:skype-wrapper/ppa
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install skype-wrapper
If you want to see the changes you need to Log out first.
Cloud and backup
Dropbox
Most people have a cloud account with some server. You can share files, make a backups in the cloud, or just have your files available from anywhere you want. You have to go to the download page and again you can run this command (adapting it to your distribution):
$ sudo dpkg -i dropbox_1.6.0_amd64.deb
Deja-dup
Something that I love about Ubuntu (and other distros) is that they have their own backup manager. You can setup your backups to put them in the Cloud or in a FTP server or simply put it in a hard drive.
You search in your applications for "Backup" and then you can configure
your backup as you like.
Some tools and indicators for your system
TLP
An interesting tool that allows you to save some energy of your laptop. I use it in all my laptops and haven't had any problems with them. I tried laptop-mode-tools too but I had some errors.
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw
Some other tools you may need are: smartmontools, ethtool.
If you are using a Thinkpad you will also need: tp-smapi-dkms and acpi-call-tools.
System indicator
This allows you to see many stats, like your processor performance, your network connexion, your RAM charge, I/O of your disk...
$ sudo apt-get install indicator-multiload
Another great tool is indicator-cpufreq:
To install it:
$ sudo apt-get install indicator-cpufreq
This tool will allow you to switch your CPU governor very easyly. You can reduce your battery consumption by changing it.
Archive Management Apps
If you frequently download files from the internet and you want to uncompress or compress here is a command that has everything you may want to install.
$ sudo apt-get install unace unrar zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils rar
Note: If you install the rar, unrar package you will be able to read comic books in .cbr format with Evince.
Wheater
There is an interesting indicator if you want to check the weather (although I have had some issues with it, when it works it's nice):
$ sudo apt-get install indicator-weather
I still need some Windows programs
Wine
If you need to install some Windows software that isn't available for Linux you can use Wine emulator. It is not going to work for everything but you can do a lot of stuff like installing Microsoft Office.
$ sudo apt-get install wine
Virtual Box
If Wine doesn't work you may want to create a virtual machine and install some programs in it. The problem is that you must have a Windows ISO.
Download the package from Oracle's site and again from the terminal (adapting it to your own):
$ sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-4.2_4.2.10-84104~Ubuntu~trusty_amd64.deb
Programming (a.k.a "Why don't you compile?")
For people who use their machine for writing code, here is a list that you use for installing some basic packages for programming:
Essentials
First of all you want to install some basic packages that allows you to compile, this packages include gcc for example
$ sudo apt-get install build-essential
¿gcc is too old school?
Clang is a great compiler for C and C++, it has the same syntax that gcc but it has a nice output:
$ sudo apt-get install clang
Geany
A simple IDE that recognizes some languages.
$ sudo apt-get install geany
Eclipse
For programming with Java the only thing that you need to do (because it will install Java at the same time) is install Eclipse.
$ sudo apt-get install eclipse
OpenGL
If you're planning to do some programming using OpenGL you must install the "freeglut" package:
$ sudo apt-get install freeglut3-dev
Cleaning everything that you wont use anymore
After you're done installing everything that you always wanted run this commands to clean your packages and to uninstall everything that you don't need anymore:
$ sudo apt-get autoremove
$ sudo apt-get autoclean
And you're good to go. Enjoy your new install!
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