Ubuntu desktop setup steps

Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS desktop setup steps for an AMD64 system:

Installation

• Insert installation CD. Follow simple options, installs, ejects CD, reboots. Then login.
• System -> Preferences -> sound -> sounds -> set all to "no sound", and untick "play system sounds", and on "system beep" tab untick all boxes.
• System -> Networking -> set up static IP address instead of dynamic IP address.
• reboot to get network changes to apply (theoretically this should not be necessary, but in practice it was, at least for me).
• reboot, install system updates. Then reboot once updates are installed.
• system -> hardware drivers -> enable the proprietary nvidia drivers.
• reboot to enable the proprietary drivers.

Firefox 3 configuration steps

Firefox configuration steps

Firefox Add-ons

Go Tools -> Add-ons -> Get Add-ons -> then search for and install these add-ons:

• Tax mix plus.
• ublock origin
• KeeFox. Use these Keefox configuration steps for Linux, e.g:

cd /usr/lib/keepass2/
sudo mv KeePassRPC.plgx KeePassRPC.plgx.old-`date`
Open https://github.com/kee-org/keepassrpc/releases/latest , replace the link below with whatever is latest KeePassRPC.plgx version:
sudo wget https://github.com/kee-org/keepassrpc/releases/download/v1.8.0/KeePassRPC.plgx
Close Firefox, close KeePass (note: MUST restart keepass as it compiles the add-on modules on restart), restart Firefox.

Note: if you then get an error on starting keepass that says "the plugin cannot be loaded a new Keepass version is required to open this file", then you need to update Keepass. The ones included with the distro can be out of date (e.g. 2.32 when 2.35 is available). For example, to update Ubuntu or Mint, use this PPA with the current version:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jtaylor/keepass
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Firefox Tweaks

• Don't want Firefox to close when pressing ctrl-w on the last tab: Tools -> tab mix plus options -> events -> tab closing -> tick "do not close window when closing last tab by hotkey".
• Tab mix plus -> Events -> New Tabs -> Tick "Open new tabs next to current one".
• Tab mix plus -> Events -> Tab Features -> Untick "Ctrl-Tab navigates tabs in most recently used order".
• Tab mix plus -> Display -> Tab Bar -> When tabs don't fit width: Multi-row; Set number of rows to 2 or 3.
• Stop animated GIFs in Firefox: about:config -> image.animation_mode -> change to "none"
• Firefox: Fix the stupid behavior of overwriting current tabs when opening new tabs: about:config -> browser.tabs.loadFolderAndReplace -> toggle to "true". [Have to re-apply this setting when upgrading Linux distro]
• To get autocomplete for the web address, go: about:config -> browser.urlbar.autoFill -> toggle to "true" -> restart FF.
• Stop the full screen mode-switch animation: about:config -> browser.fullscreen.animateUp -> change to "0".
• Perform a sync using Foxmarks wizard, and for the initial setup keep the bookmarks on the server, and overwrite those on this computer.
• File -> Page setup ... -> Paper size = "A4", and orientation = "Portrait".
• Edit -> Preferences -> Main tab -> tick to close the download window when all downloads are finished.
• Laptops only: Add a delay to the bookmark menu collapsing (only really useful on laptops when navigating with a trackpad or button, which tends to be fairly inaccurate) - about:config -> right-click -> New -> Integer -> name is: ui.submenuDelay -> value is: 800
• Prevent JavaScript from messing with browser window: Edit -> Preferences -> Content tab -> Advanced ... -> untick everything.
• Make the "Backspace" key be like pressing the "Back" button: about:config -> browser.backspace_action -> change to "0".
• Stop blocky graphics: View -> Zoom -> Tick "Zoom Text Only".
• About:config -> dom.max_script_run_time -> chnage from 10 to 20 to increase timeout on slow scripts.
• Set search bar to use Australian Google rather than US Google: Open this list of search plugins -> click "Google Australia - the web" -> tick the "Start using it straight away" box -> click "Ok".
• To make streetview work: Tools -> Addons -> Flash-block -> preferences -> whitelist -> add "maps.google.com.au" and "maps.google.com".
• Firefox 4, to limit excessive memory usage: about:config -> browser.sessionhistory.max_total_viewers -> set to "0".
• To stop old tabs using memory when the browser is restarted: Edit -> Preferences -> Tabs -> tick "Don't load tabs until selected". * If install noscript, then add a whitelisting for xmarks.com
• To increase mouse scroll speeed: About:config -> mousewheel.withnokey.sysnumlines -> toggle to false. Then make sure that mousewheel.withnokey.numlines is set to 6.

Installation of extra software

Go system -> admin -> synaptic package manager -> then Install the following:

• openarena + openarena-data
• inkscape
• hugin
• neverball
• dia
• googleearth-package
• miro
• k3b
• xchat
• extreme tux racer
• msttcorefonts
• audacious
• nmap
• filezilla
• neverball
• openoffice.org
• wireshark
• wine
• quanta
• powertop
• nautilus-open-terminal (adds ability to right click on a folder and get a command prompt there)
• php5-cli
• traceroute
• curl
• sshmenu-gnome

Uninstall unused bits of software

sudo aptitude remove --purge tomboy 

Configure "Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 Keyboard"

To get the back / forward keyboard keys working in Firefox, when using the "Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 Keyboard", go System -> Preferences -> Keyboard -> Layout -> click the model button -> Choose Microsoft -> set model to "Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro USB" -> click "close".

Install Skype

install Skype - Source of instructions.

sudo aptitude install ia32-libs
wget http://skype.com/go/getskype-linux-ubuntu
sudo aptitude install libqt4-core libqt4-gui qt4-qtconfig 
sudo dpkg --install --force-architecture --force-depends skype-debian*.deb

Install the Tahoma fonts

Source of instructions.

Once the msttcorefonts package is installed you will notice that Tahoma and Tahoma Bold is missing. You will need to extract Tahoma and Tahoma Bold from the zip file. Tahoma is used for Microsoft desktop, title bars and menu fonts so if you are trying to get that XP look you will need the Tahoma regular and Tahoma Bold fonts. Install Tahoma by doing the following in a terminal.

cd ~
wget http://www.stchman.com/tools/MS_fonts/tahoma.zip
sudo unzip -d /usr/share/fonts/truetype/msttcorefonts ~/tahoma.zip
sudo fc-cache -f -v
rm -f ~/tahoma.zip

Install Flash

Set up Flash for firefox, so that YouTube and the like can be viewed: Source of instructions.

sudo aptitude install nspluginwrapper flashplugin-nonfree lib32nss-mdns
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/nspluginwrapper/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/nspluginwrapper/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/firefox-3.0.1/plugins/

Install Google Earth

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
sudo aptitude update && sudo aptitude install medibuntu-keyring && sudo aptitude update
sudo aptitude install googleearth-4.3

Install Acrobat reader

To install acrobat reader, since Ubuntu's native PDF readers don't have shrink to fit when printing. :

sudo aptitude install acroread

(this uses medibuntu, from the Google Earth step above).

To change the default file handling for PDF's all I had to do was find a PDF, right click, select Properties, click the Open With tab and select Adobe Acrobat Reader from the options.

Enable Apport for crash bug reporting

Enable apport so that crash bugs will be reported:

sudo nano /etc/default/apport

change enabled from "0" to "1".

Remember layout on logout

To make the system remember running apps and window locations:

• System -> Preferences -> sessions -> session options -> tick "automatically remember running applications when logging out".

Configure open office to work in MS Office 2000 compatibility mode

Source of instructions.

• Start Open office writer -> tools -> options -> Load/Save -> general -> Always save as "Microsoft Word 97/2000/XP" (instead of "ODF text document").
• Then tools -> options -> open office writer -> compatibility -> tick "Use printer metrics for document formatting", tick "Do not add leading (extra space) between lines of text", and tick "Consider wrapping style when positioning objects". Then go: Use as Default -> Yes -> OK.