After first installing Ubuntu, I had to install all of the tools and programs that I normally use. Last time, I just used the Ubuntu Software Center to search and find all of the tools that I wanted install. This time, I decided to use the command line and apt-get. You could still search by the package name if you want to use the GUI.
Here are the packages that I installed:
sudo apt-get install shutter grsync alacarte \
compizconfig-settings-manager network-manager-vpnc-gnome \
network-manager-openconnect virtualbox-qt linux-source \
linux-headers-generic xiphos filezilla openjdk-7-jdk \
icedtea-netx-common openjdk-6-jdk vim-gnome \
playonlinux p7zip-full gimp inkscape dia mplayer \
kdenlive openshot cheese
- shutter: used to take screenshots
- grsync: great for copying large amounts of data and files
- alacarte (Main Menu): creates shortcuts for programs that don’t automatically install one
- compizconfig-settings-manager
- network-manager-vpnc-gnome: VPN connectivity
- network-manager-openconnect: VPN connectivity
- network-manager-openvpn: VPN connectivity
- virtualbox-qt: Virtual Machine tool
- linux-source: required for installing things such as Virtual Box and NVidia drivers
- linux-headers-generic: required for installing things such as Virtual Box and NVidia drivers
- xiphos: Bible tool
- filezilla: use to connect to my website and copy files
- openjdk-7-jdk: Java
- openjdk-6-jdk: Java
- icedtea-netx-common: Java web browser plugin
- vim-gnome: Graphical Vi text editor
- playonlinux: Easy tool for installing Windows software on Wine; I use it to install Microsoft Office
- p7zip-full: compression tool; recommended by Play on Linux
- gimp: for editing Photos
- inkscape: for editing Vector drawings
- dia: for drawing diagrams
- mplayer: plays sound files from the command-line
- kdenlive
- openshot: for creating videos
- cheese: for recording video from the webcam; great for testing webcam drivers
These are the directories that I restored from my backup. There is probably more personal things in here than I should include, but I was hoping it might give you ideas of things you might want to make sure that you backup. To do the restore, I used grsync. You can read more about that on my previous install.
- ~/Documents: This is where I put all my document files
- ~/Pictures: I have Shotwell pointed at this directory, so it contains all the pictures from my cell phone and digital camera
- ~/MIS: I keep my work files in a different directory
- ~/app: This has all of my programming stuff (“application development”)
- ~/VirtualBox VMs: These are the virtual computers
- ~/.config/google-chrome: The settings for Chrome (extensions, bookmarks, etc)
- ~/.gnome2/keyrings: My saved passwords
- ~/.Skype: Skype history
- ~/.remmina: The settings for my remote connections
- ~/.ssh: The keys for my remote ssh connectinos
- ~/.shotwell: The settings and thumbnails for my photos
- ~/.sword: The downloaded Bible files for Xiphos (and the underlying Sword library)
- ~/.VirtualBox: The settings for my virtual machines
- ~/.filezilla: The settings for my FTP connections
- ~/.sqldeveloper: The connection settings for SQL developer
Settings
In shutter, I changed the folder where it stores the screenshots. I created a new folder called “screenshots” in my home directory. Then, using the edit > preferences menu, I changed it to store the shots in that new folder. I did not have to make the tweak to get the notification icon to show. On the Behavior tab, I also checked “Start Shutter at login” and “Hide window on first launch”. For screenshots, see my older post.
Note: For some reason, the setting for the screenshots folder doesn’t seem to be working. I need to research why.
Chrome
For Chrome, I downloaded the deb package from Google’s website: https://www.google.com/chrome. I did get this warning when I installed it from Software Center:
The details read:
Lintian check results for /home/skp/Downloads/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb: E: google-chrome-stable: file-in-etc-not-marked-as-conffile etc/cron.daily/google-chrome
OS Settings
I like to turn off the suspend when you close the lid:
I also added my online accounts…
I also set the default Browser on the All Settings > Defaults. Note though that the interfaces that integrate Web Apps such as GMail only work with Firefox.
Skype
I just downloaded Skype directly from Skype’s website. In the Software Sources, I checked these two options:
Then, I ran:
sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install skype
GMail
While visiting my GMail account in Firefox, I received this prompt to install a GMail tool:
Virtual Box
I did run into this error message during the install:
Setting up virtualbox-dkms (4.1.18-dfsg-1ubuntu1.1) ... Loading new virtualbox-4.1.18 DKMS files... First Installation: checking all kernels... Building only for 3.5.0-18-generic Module build for the currently running kernel was skipped since the kernel source for this kernel does not seem to be installed. * Stopping VirtualBox kernel modules [ OK ] * Starting VirtualBox kernel modules * No suitable module for running kernel found [fail] invoke-rc.d: initscript virtualbox, action "restart" failed.
The reason was that I needed the package linux-headers-generic installed. I added that to the install list above, reinstalled virtualbox, and everything worked like a charm!
Notes: I still need to figure out why the NAT won’t work. I have had to set all of my virtual machines to use the Bind network setting.
Java
I followed WebUpd8’s directions.
I was able to install SQL Developer by downloading the zip file from Oracle. I basically follow my old post. This time it did not ask me about the Java Home to use probably because I restored my ~/.sqldeveloper directory from my back up.