Tag Archives: ubuntu

TODO after installing Ubuntu

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A few things that I had to do after installing Ubuntu.

  • Install CCSM, compiz config setting manager (package compizconfig-settings-manager)
  • Install extra compiz plugins (apt-get install compiz-plugins-extra)
  • In compiz / CCSM, do the following:
    • Enable window rules, define rule “maximize” as “class=Gnome-terminal” (gnome terminal always maximized, but not fullscreen)
    • In the “place windows” plugin, select “use output device with pointer” for the “multi output mode”. Plugin should be enabled to correctly place the guake window.
    • In the “window decorations” plugin, put “none” under “Decoration windows”. I want to have window shadows, but I only resize and move windows with alt-button1 and alt-button2. in 14.04, one has to modify the theme CSS files for the same purpose
    • In the scale plugin, set ctrl-alt-up to expose all windows; set ctrl-shift-up to expose windows on current desktop only. Bind “initiate window picker” to the bottom edge.
    • Disable desktop wall, enable cube and cube rotate instead.
    • Enable “workspace naming” plugin and update the number of workspaces.
    • In the expo plugin, enable “expo edge” — to “bottom right”. This allows to switch between the worskpaces with your mouse only (something I need when I am on the phone).
  • Change clock / date settings to show date and 24h clock
  • Install: vim guake inkscape encfs google-chrome indicator-multiload virtualbox xzgv gimp unrar mplayer stellarium screen gnumeric unison gcp [ssh (on the workstation)]
  • Install LaTeX: apt-get install texlive-base texlive-bibtex-extra pdfjam texlive-latex-extra
  • Add CRAN repository to the sources, in case of 14.04, “deb http://mirrors.softliste.de/cran/bin/linux/ubuntu trusty/”
    • Run apt-get update ; apt-get dist-upgrade ; apt-get install r-recommended r-base-dev ; apt-get build-dep rgl
    • Install the colorout package (not on CRAN officially except for the archives, but a great little tool)
    • From R prompt, install setwidth, mixOmics, randomForest, reshape2, rgl, beeswarm, pca3d, tagcloud, ellipse, testthat, XML, roxygen2 and a few others.
    • From R prompt, install the biocLite script and install bioconductor (biocLite()) and limma.
    • Use biocUpgrade() if necessary.
  • Make sudo run w/o a password: “%sudo ALL=(ALL:ALL) NOPASSWD: ALL”
  • On the laptop, install vpnc and copy the config files from my private settings folder in the home directory
  • Go to the “Privacy” setting and set “record activity” and “include online search results” to “off”.
  • Disabled apport: edit /etc/default/apport and stop it with “stop apport”.
  • Install Skype
  • Install Adobe Source Code Pro font (in home directory, necessary to only do once if you don’t format your home directory
  • The samba shares in the new Ubuntu versions are mounted in /run/users//gvfs/

13.04 is better than 12.04, in which compiz is as good as broken (scale plugin doesn’t work, crashes often, cube doesn’t work). However, I am plagued by these pesky “system problem detected” windows (therefore, I disapled apport). And google earth managed to completely freeze my computer, not even switching to text terminal or logging in via ssh was possible — had to press the button.

See also 30 things to do after installing Ubuntu 13.04

Update: 14.04 seems to be a nice update to 13.xx; I like such updates, a few polished corners, but nothing revolutionary.