[To do] Top things to do after installing Elementary OS | Luna

Top things to do after installing Elementary OS | Luna

¿De qué está hablando? Versión en español

Not running Elementary OS? Check my previous post for Ubuntu 13.04

Planning to install Elementary OS? This post explains how to do it with partitions (it's more secure and very useful) 

So I installed Elementary OS, 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 Elementary OS is to update your packages. To do this, you will need to search for the "Update Manager" in the application list.

It will atomically check for updates, after all the packages are updated you can click in "Install Updates"

Or you could launch a Terminal and put the following command:

sudo apt-get update && 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 may need to 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 "System Settings" go to the "Additional Driver"button  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 "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 Elementary OS

Don't forget about setting up your privacy. If you don't want to share information, go to "System Settings", then "Privacy" and turn off/on what you want.

I don't like the Desktop, show me something else

I don't recommend you to install another Desktop Environment because the meta packages are just too big and some unnecessary packages are installed.

Here is an example when I tried to install gnome-panel: (unity-lens???? mmm no thanks)

You can customize the desktop by going to "System Settings" > "Desktop". You can set different stuff like hot corners or the theme of the dock. Make sure you check that out before you try to change anything else.

Also the interest behind Elementary OS it's the modified Gnome desktop.

Internet

Google Chrome or Chromium: if you don't like Midori 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

Firefox and Thunderbird

If you want to install Firefox instead of Midori, just install it with:

sudo apt-get install firefox

Also if you want to change from Geary you can install Thunderbird with:

sudo apt-get install thunderbird

Transmission

If you want to download some files from the Internet using a Bit Torrent client there is one I really like: 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.

sudo apt-get install transmission

There are many options for Linux, like KTorrent, Deluge...

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 non-free-codecs libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0

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 libdvdcss2 && 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.
Go to the Download Page of Clementine and choose the latest version for Ubuntu and the architecture that you use (in my case Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit). Then from a Terminal try to install it, you will run into some errors of dependencies, but just use the second command to solve this, and you are good to go.

sudo dpkg -i clementine_1.1.1~quantal_amd64.deb

sudo apt-get install -f

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

Just heard Steam came for Linux?

That's right boy, Steam launched its client for Linux a few months ago and it looks pretty awesome.
If you want to install it the easiest way is from the Software Center:

It will give the option to "Buy..." it, but it is actually free to just follow the procedure and you will be able to play your favorite games.

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 Elementary you have to install the independent packages  as seen at the beginning of this blog.

sudo apt-get install skype

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 Linux is that they have powerfull backup managers. You can setup your backups to put them in the Cloud or in a FTP server or simply put it in a hard drive.

In Luna you can install Deja-Dup (the default backup manager for Ubuntu). You can check other options like rsync, or Back In Time.

sudo apt-get install deja-dup

Some tools and indicators for your system

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.

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~precise_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

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[To do] Things to do after installing ArchLinux

Things to do after installing ArchLinux

My main system is running Arch for the moment and I am loving it.

I decided to make this post a little different from the previous ones, because if you have installed Arch you have a good knowledge of Linux.

If you plan to install Arch

The installation of ArchLinux is not an easy thing. You can check this two guides that I followed to have an idea of what you will need to do.

Beginners' Guide - ArchWiki

Build a Killer Customized Arch Linux Installation - LifeHacker

You may want to try it in a different machine because you may not be able to make everything run the first try.

Why would I want to install Arch?

Random motivation meme

The idea behind Arch is to have a lightweight distribution that receives always the latests updates. So you will always run the latests kernels and the latests versions of everything.

Many users like ArchLinux because you do almost everything from scratch. You create your partitions and choose your filesystem, you enable your network...

I have been an Ubuntu user since I started using Linux, I have tried other distros but I wasn't fully satisfied with them. With Arch it has been different because I feel like I own the OS. I build it the way I like it and that feels actually great.

My desktop in Arch

Installing software, adding packages, using the Wiki

The two tutorials that I mentioned will allow you to install a very basic installation. But let's be honest the only thing you need to get everything you want, is a Terminal emulator.

In ArchLinux you will have to install new software using pacman it's very easy actually.

If you want to install something you only need to run

sudo pacman -S <package_name>

If you want to search for a package

sudo pacman -Ss <package_name>

If you want to remove a package

sudo pacman -R <package_name>

And if you want to update your system

sudo pacman -Syu

What I recommend you to do before starting installing everything that you want is to enable multilib repositories.

Go ahead and edit the pacman configuration file in /etc/pacman.conf

Uncomment the lines

[multilib]
Include = /etc/pacman.d/mirrorlist

The ArchWiki is your best friend while you are using Arch. If you want some information about how to install a package you can search information in the ArchWiki about Bumblebee for example, it will tell you how to install it and test it.

What is great about the ArchWiki is that it applies most of the time for Linux in general. It's a great source of documentation.

If you want a list of software you may want to install, you can check my posts about Top Things to Do for any distro.

For Ubuntu 13.04 for example:

Top things to do after installing Ubuntu 13.04

Using the AUR

If you don't find the program that you want in the repositories the easiest way to install what you want is to download a tarball from the Arch User Repositories (AUR) build the package and install it using pacman. It sounds very complicated but you get used to doing this.

The really first time you do this you need to install basic development tools:

sudo pacman -S base-devel

First search for the package that you want in the AUR website and download the tarball. Then you need to extract it:

tar xvf <the_tarball>.tar.gz

Go to the extracted directory and run makepkg, the -s option is used to install dependencies

makepkg -s

This will build the package and create a .tar.xz and the last step is to install that build with pacman

sudo pacman -U <the_build>.tar.xz

Some notes about problems I have encountered

I use a Broadcom Wireless device and I have to use the broadcom-wl package from the AUR. My interface gets renamed from time to time and NetworkManager isn't able to connect. I haven't figured out what is causing the problem yet. :(

EDIT (02/09/13): My problem with Network Manager and with the weird interface name was caused by a systemd service. In the wiki it tells you to enable dhcpd service if you don't have a network connection. I had to do it and that basically caused my wireless interface to have weird names like "eth0".
If you have that problem you need to disable dhcpd with

sudo systemctl disable dhcpd.service

If you enabled or installed another service, in my case netctl make sure you uninstall it in order to use Network Manager.

Then simply start Network Manager with:

sudo systemctl enable NetworkManager
sudo systemctl start NetworkManager

If you need a 3G connection install Modem Manager and enable it:

sudo systemctl enable ModemManager
sudo systemctl start ModemManager

Looking good Arch

When I was trying to install Steam I had a gpg signature problem what solved my problem was running the following commands:

sudo pacman-key --refresh-keys
sudo gpg --homedir /etc/pacman.d/gnupg --edit-key 182ADEA0 enable quit

Make sure you check the ArchWiki post about Steam. You may need some libraries , I needed the package lib32-intel-dri in order to fix performance issues.

If you use Bumblebee I recommend you to launch steam with primusrun:

primusrun steam

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[Tutorial] ¿Qué hacer luego de instalar Linux Mint 15?

¿Qué hacer luego de instalar Linux Mint 15?

What is he talking about? English version

No usan Linux Mint? Pueden ver mi post anterior para Ubuntu 13.04

¿Están planeando instalar Linux Mint? Aquí pueden ver como hacerlo con particiones (más seguro y práctico!)

Instalé Linux Mint, ¿y ahora qué hago?

Bueno en este post les mostraré las cosas que les recomiendo instalar/hacer para que su máquina funcione sin problemas en Linux Mint.

Les recomiendo que usen el terminal excepto en algunos casos precisos en los que les diré que vayan al "Update Manager" por ejemplo.

Actualizar los paquetes e instalar todas las actualizaciones

Definitivamente lo que uno debe hacer apenas instala Linux Mint es actualizar los paquetes e instalar las actualizaciones. Para eso vamos a buscar el "Update Manager" en la lista de programas.

Este programa va a buscar automáticamente todas las actualizaciones y luego podrán instalarlas. Así mismo les muestra el grado de importancia de cada actualización.

O también podemos lanzar un Terminal y ejecutamos el comando siguiente:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

Para la primera instalación esto puede tomar bastante tiempo.

Si tienen un SSD les recomiendo que se den una vuelta por el tutorial que hice para mejorar el rendimiento de los SSDs en Linux.
 

Instalar los drivers propietarios

Si su computador utiliza alguna carta gráfica nVidia o una connexión inalámbrica propietaria deben instalar los drivers primero para que estos componentes funcionen bien. En el caso de la connexión inalámbrica, deberán conectarse utilizando Ethernet o algo parecido.

Después de buscar el "Driver Manager" lancen esta aplicación y elijan los drivers que quieran activar. Necesitarán reiniciar su computador para que los cambios tengan efecto.

Aumentar más paquetes para instalar programas propietarios

Linux Mint viene con la mayoría de paquetes propietarios en todos sus repositorios. Si quieren instalar librerías para leer MP3, DVDs, o para instalar software desarrollado por Microsoft, como Skype, no necesitan hacer nada extra. En Ubuntu no es el caso.

Pueden ver los repositorios en "Software Sources", así mismo pueden gestionar los PPAs que hayan aumentado.

Medibuntu

Por razones legales Linux Mint a lo mejor no puede incluir algunos codecs, fonts, programas directamente. Para eso hay que habilitar los paquetes de Medibuntu. Para eso vamos a usar este comando:

sudo -E 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

Y así tendremos acceso a todos los paquetes propietarios que tal vez necesitemos luego en nuestro computador.

sudo apt-get install app-install-data-medibuntu apport-hooks-medibuntu

No me gusta Cinnamon, quiero probar otra cosa

Si se cansaron de Cinnamon pueden intentar otros escritorios. Aquí les mostraré algunas opciones.


Gnome 3: el equipo de Gnome recientemente lanzó la versión 3.8 que al parecer está muy interesante.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

KDE 4: el equipo de KDE recientemente lanzó la versión 4.10.3, está muy bien este escritorio, lo usé durante algún tiempo y la fluidez es increíble.

sudo apt-get install kde-full

MATE: es como una variante de Gnome 2, desde que Gnome dejó el proyecto de Gnome 2, pero mejorada. Muy interesante igual y simpática.

sudo apt-get install mate-desktop

Hay algunos otros escritorios que se pueden utilizar pero que personalmente no he utilizado mucho. Algunos ejemplos son: XFCE, LXDE, Awesome, Xmonad... entre otros.
 

Internet

Google Chrome o Chromium:
si no les gusta utilizar Firefox pueden instalar Google Chrome yendo a la página de descargas de Google para descargarlo.
Una vez que lo hicieron deben usar este comando (desde la carpeta en la que se guardó el archivo) :

sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

o simplemente abrir la carpeta en la que se guardó y darle doble click al .deb que se descargó.

Para instalar Chromium:

sudo apt-get install chromium-browser


Transmission

Si quieren descargar archivos desde Internet usando Bit Torrent, hay un cliente que está instalado en Linux Mint. Transmission es ligero y hará exactamente su propósito: descargar torrents. Tiene algunas opciones y configuraciones que pueden cambiar.

Hay otras opciones en Linux, como KTorrent, Deluge...

Geary

Si quieren instalar otro cliente mail pienso que una buena opción es Geary. He aquí a qué se parece:

Para instalarlo:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install geary

Multimedia

Hay algunos programas interesantes para reproducir archivos multimedia, ya sea audio, vídeo. Pero antes que nada asegurémonos de que tenemos los codecs adecuados (es muy probable que algunos ya estén instalados):

sudo apt-get install non-free-codecs libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0

Un problema muy frecuente que se lee en los foros, es la reproducción de DVDs. Como los DVDs utilizan un sistema de seguridad, hay que instalar una biblioteca especial y ejecutar un archivo de configuración:


sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2 && sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh

VLC

Un gran reproductor multimedia es VLC, básicamente lee TODO y cuando digo TODO es en serio.

sudo apt-get install vlc

 Clementine

Si no son muy fans de Rhythmbox como yo o les hacen faltas algunas funcionalidades como un ecualizador o un poco más de personalización, Clementine es una gran opción.
Para instalar este reproductor deben ir a la página de descargas y escojer la versión más reciente (en este caso Ubuntu 12.10 64-bit). Luego intentan instalar el reproductor. Si tienen problemas de dependencias usen el segundo comando.

sudo dpkg -i clementine_1.1.1~quantal_amd64.deb

sudo apt-get install -f

GIMP

Si les gusta la fotografía y no quieren invertir un montón de dinero en Photoshop, pueden intentar GIMP. Yo lo uso todos los días y tienen un montón de funcionalidades.

Solo usen el comando siguiente:

sudo apt-get install gimp

Si quieren editar archivos RAW necesitarán este paquete extra:

sudo apt-get install gimp-ufraw

Esto permetirá a GIMP editar el archivo RAW una vez que lo ha importado.


Inkscape

Si uds. hacen un poco de diseño un gran programa muy fácil de usar es Inkscape. He aquí un ejemplo de lo que hice un domingo sin deberes.

sudo apt-get install inkscape

OpenShot

Si quieren hacer un poco de edición vídeo en Linux, creo que la mejor opción por ahora es OpenShot.

sudo apt-get install openshot

Se acaban de enterar que Steam ahora también está en Linux?

Así Steam lanzó su cliente para Linux hace algunos meses ya y está bastante interesante.

Si quieren instalarlo la mejor manera es bajar el .deb de la página de Steam.
Luego van a usar el comando siguiente:

sudo dpkg -i steam_latest.deb

Les va a dar algunos errores de dependencias. Van a corregir esos problemas con:

sudo apt-get install -f

Luego Steam se va a abrir y se actualizará.

He aquí una imagen, se ve bastante bien si me preguntan.

Messenger

Pidgin

Si como yo han tenido algunos problemas con Empathy otra alternativa es Pidgin, igual soporta muchos protocolos como MSN, Facebook, Google Talk...

sudo apt-get install pidgin

Skype

Para instalar Skype solo van a tener que usar el comando siguiente. (Ahora está en version 4.2)

sudo apt-get install skype

Cloud and backup

Dropbox

La mayoría de gente utiliza cuentas en el cloud para sus archivos y poder tenerlos disponibles cuando sea. Hay que ir a la página de descargas de Dropbox y de nuevo usar un comando como este (desde donde esté el archivo):

sudo dpkg -i dropbox_1.6.0_amd64.deb

Backups


Algo que me encanta de Linux Mint es que tiene su propio programa para poder respaldar todos los datos importantes que queremos, ya sea en una cuenta de Ubuntu One, en un servidor FTP o en un disco duro externo.

Buscamos en las aplicaciones "Backup" y luego podemos configurar los respaldores como queramos

Algunas herramientas e indicadores para su sistema

Jupiter

Una herramienta muy práctica para poder ahorrar energía y que indica el estado del computador.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/jupiter
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install jupiter

Archive Management Apps

Si bajan muchos datos de Internet y deben descomprimirlos o comprimirlos con mucha frecuencia, he aquí una lista de paquetes que les van a ser muy útiles.

sudo apt-get install unace unrar zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils rar
 

Nota: Si instalan los paquetes rar, unrar van a poder leer comics en formato .cbr directamente con Evince.

Necesito algunos programas de Windows

Wine

Si necesitan instalar algunos programas de Windows porque simplemente no hay alguna alternativa en el mundo libre pueden usar el emulador Wine. No todo va a servir y yo no he intentado mucho con este emulador pero sé que se pueden hacer muchas cosas como instalar Microsoft Office.

sudo apt-get install wine



Virtual Box

Si Wine no funciona pueden optar por crear una máquina virtual e instalar el programa en ella. El problema es que hay que tener un ISO de Windows.
Descargan el paquete desde el sitio de Oracle y de nuevo (con el nombre del paquete que corresponde y desde la carpeta en la que está el archivo):

sudo dpkg -i virtualbox-4.2_4.2.10-84104~Ubuntu~raring_amd64.deb

Programación (o "maldición porqué no compila")

Para la gente que usa su máquina para programar he aquí una lista de lo que pueden querer instalar para programar tranquilamente:

Essentials

Primero hay que instalar los paquetes neceserios para poder compilar, entre esos hay gcc
sudo apt-get install build-essential

¿gcc está muy viejo?

Clang es un compilador muy interesante para programas en C y en C++, tiene la misma sintaxis que gcc. Muestra los errores que cometimos donde están exactamente.

sudo apt-get install clang

Geany

Un editor simpático que reconoce algunos lenguajes de programación.

sudo apt-get install geany

Eclipse

Para programar en Java lo único que hay que hacer (porque va a instalar Java al mismo tiempo) es instalar Eclipse.

sudo apt-get install eclipse

OpenGL

Si planean programar usando OpenGL van a tener que instalar el paquete freeglut primero:

sudo apt-get install freeglut3-dev

Limpiando todo lo que ya no vamos a necesitar

Después de que hayan instalado todo lo que hayan querido, utilicen estos comandos para limpiar paquetes y desinstalar todo lo que ya no van a necesitar:

sudo apt-get autoremove
sudo apt-get autoclean

Ahora sí todo debería estar a su gusto. ¡Disfruten su nueva instalación!

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