Leo:Ubuntu config
This list gets updated as I remember or install new essentials for my Ubuntu environment. Older versions are also available for 18.04
A related list is my Ubuntu setup for a class
Private config
I have my private config in a SVN repository, so I can update my various workspaces. Some examples for stuff in my configuration:
- startup scripts: .bashrc and various dot-files
- aliases
- ~/bin - various custom scripts
- ~/lib - custom libraries
- icons
- work environment configurations, for example, custom menus in Nautilus
One could keep the configuration in Dropbox or similar cloud storage, but I choose not to because of security reasons.
Before setup, BACKUP!
Remember to back up your old machine before tearing it down or installing over:
- home directory
cp -prx /home/myuser /media/backup/home/myuser
- /etc
- /var
- machine ssh keys, if you want to preserve them (from /etc/ssh)
- possibly mount points to other disks (from /etc/fstab)
- mysql (and other) databases. May need to dump to files, or stop the server before backup. Also make sure you know the path to the database files, they may be somewhere else.
- NFS config for the server or client, if you have one
Ubuntu 18.04+ specific
Some things are gone or different since Ubuntu ~18.04. Here are the new solutions or workarounds.
If snap command is not found:
sudo apt install snapd
How to install pdftk (removed from apt sources)
sudo snap install pdftk
How to install blender
sudo snap install blender
Config
Power button to shutdown, no prompts
sudo gedit /etc/acpi/events/powerbtn
- Add # to comment the line:
# action=/etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh
- Add a new line:
action=/sbin/poweroff
- Save file
sudo acpid restart
Restore machine key
Backup the old (source) machine keys (before the teardown or reinstall) from /etc/ssh
, then copy to the target machine, same location. Modify the path below as needed.
cp -prx /etc/ssh /etc/ssh
System essentials
Communication, access
SSH server for remote access, subversion
sudo apt-get install openssh-server subversion git
Gnome 3 Desktop
Gnome 3 is default in Ubuntu 18+, however if it is not, you can add it like this:
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
For Ubuntu 18+ use gnome-tweaks to add the date to the time in the top bar
sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool gnome-tweaks
Gnome extensions management from the browser and gnome plugins:
- Install the GNOME Shell integration for your browser (e.g. Google Chrome).
- Install the host connector:
sudo apt-get install chrome-gnome-shell
Useful Gnome extensions:
Tweak tools
The latest Ubuntu-tweak is not in standard repos, so add the latest:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak
The other tweak tools:
sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager
Development environment
Editors and IDEs
sudo apt-get install mc geany texinfo
Install Sublime Text editor from https://www.sublimetext.com/docs/linux_repositories.html
- My Sublime_Text_cheat_sheet for useful and magic keyboard shortcuts.
Build and test tools
sudo apt-get install build-essential gcc gtkterm cmake
Java
sudo apt install default-jre
or for JDK:
sudo apt install default-jdk
Python
sudo apt-get install python python-pip python3-pip python3-numpy python3-matplotlib
Version control
sudo apt-get install git subversion rapidsvn meld
May also consider installing FreeFileSync for convenient file synchronization across directories or filesystems.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:freefilesync/ffs sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install freefilesync
Set up git
Set up your username and email from CLI:
git config --global user.name "myusername" git config --global user.email "myemail"
If you use HTTPS:// for github access and want to cache your credentials (remember password for one hour):
git config --global credential.helper cache git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=3600'
Alternatively, you can switch to ssh access URL and add your public key to github.
File transfer
sudo apt-get install gftp
Cloud storage
- Back up the dropbox files
- Download the latest deb from Dropbox
- Install this for key verification
sudo apt install python3-gpg
- Dropbox setup should start soon after reboot
Development for msp430
Install the toolchain for the msp430 tools
sudo apt-get install gcc-msp430 binutils-msp430 msp430-libc msp430mcu
You may need to add your user to dialout group to access serial/USB ports:
sudo usermod -a -G dialout <myuser>
Documents and Latex
Sublime text editor
wget -qO - https://download.sublimetext.com/sublimehq-pub.gpg | sudo apt-key add - sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https echo "deb https://download.sublimetext.com/ apt/stable/" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/sublime-text.list sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install sublime-text
Latex tools:
sudo apt-get install texlive texlive-latex-extra texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-publishers texinfo
PDF tools:
sudo apt-get install pdftk
Starting Ubuntu 18 pdftk is no more in the repositories. Do instead:
sudo snap install pdftk
Writing over PDF documents (filling forms, etc)
sudo apt-get install xournal
Media
Photos and graphics
sudo apt-get install gimp
Audio playback and edit
sudo apt-get install audacious audacity
Video playback and edit
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras flashplugin-installer mplayer vlc
To get DVDs playing nicely
sudo apt-get install libdvdread4 sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
Media centers: Kodi/XBMC is now in Ubuntu repository. But I prefer the newer team-xbmc/ppa
sudo apt-get install python-software-properties pkg-config software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install kodi
Common codecs:
sudo apt-get install gxine mencoder icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0 mpg321
Windows stuff
sudo apt-get install wine sudo apt install winetricks
Latest version of Wine
Alternative to Ubuntu repository you might want to get the latest from WineHQ:
wget -qO - https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/winehq.key | sudo apt-key add - sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ focal main' sudo apt update sudo apt install --install-recommends winehq-stable
Now check the installation and configure for the Windows 7 or 10 or the version you want
wine --version wine winecfg
Wineprefix
Create 32 bit wineprefix (as the default). I replaced the 64-bit one.
rm -rf .wine WINEPREFIX=~/.wine WINEARCH=win32 winecfg or(?) WINEPREFIX=~/.wine WINEARCH=win32 wineboot
Then install windows programms as desired.
- Irfaview
- MS Office
Alternatively, get a prefix from backup, for example, a ".wine" prefix with irfanview and office installed. Copy it instead of the default ".wine" prefix. Then add the following files, properly configured, possibly also from backup:
- .local/share/applications/mimeapps.list
- .local/share/applications/mimeinfo.cache
- .local/share/applications/irfanview.desktop
- .local/share/applications/MS_Excel.desktop
- .local/share/applications/MS_PowerPoint.desktop
- .local/share/applications/MS_WinWord.desktop
- .local/share/applications/wine-extension-doc.desktop
- .local/share/applications/wine-extension-docx.desktop
- .local/share/applications/wine-extension-ppt.desktop
- .local/share/applications/wine-extension-pptx.desktop
- .local/share/applications/wine-extension-xls.desktop
- .local/share/applications/wine-extension-xlsx.desktop
- .local/share/icons/* - icon files for the apps, as pointed to by the desktop files.
Acrobat Reader on Wine
Install via Snap
snap install acrordrdc snap connect acrordrdc:removable-media snap connect acrordrdc:cups-control
Install by hand via Wine
Install some prerequisites
winetricks atmlib winetricks riched20 winetricks wsh57 winetricks mspatcha
You may also want to get Windows fonts, from here:
Copy them to /usr/share/fonts and run:
sudo fc-cache -vf
Then get the Acrobat reader installer (from https://get.adobe.com/reader/otherversions ) and run it:
wine AdbeRdr11008_en_US.exe
Microsoft fonts
...so that MS documents look better.
sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts sudo fc-cache -fv
Lately I have been repeatedly getting annoying message that getting the fonts has failed:
- Failure to download extra data files
- The following packages requested additional data downloads after package installation,but the data could not be downloaded or could not be processed.
- ttf-mscorefonts-installer
- The download will be attempted again later, or you can try the download again now. Running this command requires an active Internet connection.
Here is how to fix this annoying message:
sudo apt-get remove --purge ttf-mscorefonts-installer sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras
Virtual Box
Get the latest VirtualBox for Linux here.
After that, restore your saved VirtualBox images. The location depends on your current version and setup, but here are a few usual suspects: ".VirtualBox", "VirtualBox VMs"
Secured Filesystem
Cloud file storage such as Dropbox is nice. Even nicer if it is encrypted. Here is how:
Install prerequisites
sudo apt-get install encfs libpam-mount sudo adduser <<yourusername>> fuse
For syncing you may want dvcs-autosync for syncing with your own servers:
sudo apt-get install dvcs-autosync
Set up the mount for secured filesystem
encfs path-to-mountpoint-dir path-to-storage-dir-for-encrypted-files
Enter the relevant parameters and the password (Same as for the logging in, if you want to auto-mount this at login). 'p' for paranoia parameters work, but 'x' for expert may yield better performance with the following options:
- ‘1’ to use the AES cipher algorithm
- ‘256’ for the key size
- ‘1024’ for the block size
- ‘1’ for block filename encoding
- ‘y’ for filename initialization vector chaining
- ‘n’ for per-file initialization vectors
- ‘n’ for block authentication code headers
- '0' for no random bytes to each block header
- ‘y’ for file-hole pass-through
Note, the mounted directory may not be able to use hard links to files due to chaining enabled.
Setup auto-mount at login
sudo gedit /etc/security/pam_mount.conf.xml
Look for the line:
<!-- Volume definitions -->
Add this new line below:
<volume user="<yourusername>" fstype="fuse" path="encfs#/home/<yourusername>/<encfs-storage-dir>" mountpoint="/home/<yourusername>/<encfs-mountpoint>" />
Credit for this goes to this site.
Alternative: Add encfs password to keyring
Put the EncFS password into the keyring:
python gkeyring.py --set -n "Dropbox Private" -p encfs=dropbox --keyring login > Password: <enter EncFS password here>
Mounting the EncFS folder with a Python script. Add this script to the list of start-up applications:
#!/usr/bin/python2.6 import os.path import subprocess import sys import gtk import gnomekeyring as gk # paths constants: PATH_ENCRYPTED = os.path.expanduser("~/Dropbox/Encrypted") PATH_DECRYPTED = os.path.expanduser("~/Private") # get the encfs-dropbox item: try: items = gk.find_items_sync(gk.ITEM_GENERIC_SECRET, {"encfs": "dropbox"}) item = items[0] # clean up your keyring if this list has multiple items except gk.NoMatchError: print("no entry in keyring") sys.exit(1) # run encfs: cmd = ["encfs", "-S", PATH_ENCRYPTED, PATH_DECRYPTED] p = subprocess.Popen(cmd, stdin=subprocess.PIPE) err = p.communicate(input="%s\n" % item.secret)[1] # either there is an error or we are done: if err: print(err) sys.exit(1)
Credit for this goes to this site
3D printing support
We have Ultimaper 3D printer in the lab, and need the "Cura" slicer software for it. This can be installed from github or the PPA, like this:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:thopiekar/cura sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install cura
SSD tweaks
These may become obsolete as the new OS versions take in account the SSD particularities automatically.
- Add noatime option for the partition on SSD in /etc/fstab
UUID=my-partition-key / ext4 noatime,errors=remount-ro 0 1
- Create /tmp in RAM by editing /etc/fstab
tmpfs /tmp tmpfs defaults,noatime,mode=1777 0 0
- Set the scheduler to deadline (as opposed to cfq) in grub
- Check for the options:
cat /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler
- Temporary change the scheduler
sudo su echo deadline > /sys/block/sda/queue/scheduler
- Move Firefox cache to /tmp/...
- open [about:config] in firefox
- create new string browser.cache.disk.parent_directory and set value to /tmp
- Check the read speed of your HD:
sudo hdparm -t /dev/sda
- Useful info and acknowledgements: four tweaks...