Ok, all I have to say is, “I’m sorry”. I’ve been sitting on these install notes for almost a year. I’m currently writing this paragraph on my newly installed Garuda Linux on the first day of 2025. I’ve been using Ubuntu 24.04 for quite a long time, and I just can’t seem to get this article finished off and published.

I could come up with a lot of excuses, but the reality is that I have lost my focus on blogging. I’m getting pulled in too many other directions, and I haven’t had the time. Maybe I just haven’t made the time.

Excuses, you ask? Well, I could try to blame this on my mouse issues. These articles used to have “perfect installation” in the title, and this was far from it. To be fair, I don’t think any of it was Ubuntu’s fault or even the OS. I really don’t know who’s to blame, but boy, has it been frustrating. My mouse won’t click and drag reliably. Dragging a window across the screen or drawing a box in Inkscape just won’t work. I notice it constantly in screenshots. It’s hard to draw the area of the screen I want to shot, but then, when I try to draw a circle around something, I get multiple circles. It’s like it’s too tired to realize I was holding the button down the whole time.

Whose fault is it? I’ll never know. I tried all kinds of things. I blamed it initially on the dock because it only happens when the laptop is on the dock. Plugable was great help even though they don’t officially support Linux. They let me exchange the dock when I didn’t read the specs well enough to know that it was a DisplayLink dock. But, the Thunderbolt dock does the same thing. At one point, my laptop just stopped charging and died. I found out there was a Firmware issue and holding the power button for a long time actually resurrected it. That incident left me wondering if there’s not a driver issues with the Thunderbolt port. Then, just the other day, I decided to plug a different mouse in and that fixed it. I was pretty sure that I had tried this mouse without the dock, but that experimenting is still on going. I’ll have to update you.

This is probably what the feature image should have been. “Noble Numbat”:

Fix the tracker error

This is most annoying first impression. These tracker errors kept popping up, usually two at a time. I had to find a way to stop them.

To fix the problem, I ran the following command:

systemctl --user mask tracker-extract-3.service tracker-miner-fs-3.service tracker-miner-rss-3.service tracker-writeback-3.service tracker-xdg-portal-3.service tracker-miner-fs-control-3.service

References:

• Ubuntu Forums: tracker-extract-3 going nuts and I don’t know how to turn it off
• Ubuntu Bugs: tracker3 taking 100% CPU for a long time
• Arch Forums: tracker-extract crashes repeatedly

Going through the intro wizard

On first boot, this screen popped up:

This is the first I remember Ubuntu Pro getting advertised. It’s free for 5 machines, so I probably should take advantage, but I’m skipped for now.

I opted to share my system data to contribute back to Ubuntu.

It ended with this. I was surprised that it didn’t ask about connecting my accounts like Google, etc.

Passwords

AuthPass let’s me remember passwords. I installed it from the Software Center. In my last post, I said I was going to contribute back to it at some point, but that hasn’t happened yet. After install, there’s one more command to run:

snap connect authpass:password-manager-service

I did have a little issue with the font on the open dialog. It’s a problem that I’ve had before, but it’s worth noting.

I ran the following commands that I found here. I’m not sure the first two were necessary. The regular programs looked fine. My only issue was AuthPass.

rm -rf ~/.cache/fontconfig 
sudo fc-cache -r -v

This is the one that I think fixed my problem:

rm -rf ~/snap/authpass/common/.cache/fontconfig

The passwords I have on a cloud sync. I copied that over from my backup to use right away, and then I got the cloud syncing later.

I still notice the title has an issue. The title bar is mostly transparent, and you can’t tell where to click on it to move it.

Screenshots / Notes

I installed Flameshot from the command line. The Gnome Screenshot tool is really nice, but it lacks the ability to annotate. So, I’m switching to Flameshot.

sudo apt install flameshot

On past installations, I ran the commands to attached Flameshot to the print screen button. This time, I decided to follow the GUI directions from Flameshot’s docs. The keyboard shortcut settings are now located at: Settings > Keyboard > View and Customize Shortcuts

I pressed backspace to unset the “Take a screenshot interactively”. Then, I selected Custom Shortcuts at the bottom and defined Print Screen as “flameshot gui”.

I have been using X11 instead of Wayland, but periodically I tried Wayland. Flameshot doesn’t work by default with Wayland. I found an article mentioning that you need to install two packages to make it work:

sudo apt install xdg-desktop-portal-gnome \
                 xdg-desktop-portal

Shortcuts

I installed MenuLibre (Menu Editor) to be able to easily add items to the menu. Note: some of the shortcut files, I restored by copying them from ~/.local/share/applications.

sudo apt install menulibre

Note: For Gnome, it doesn’t matter what folder structure, I put the shortcuts into. But, if I get an app into the menu structure, then it will open up when I search for it from the Gnome interface.

Application Packaging Systems

In order to make some of the programs work, I need AppImage and flatpak. Here’s the instructions for AppImage:

cd ~/Downloads/
sudo apt install libfuse2
wget "https://github.com/AppImage/appimaged/releases/download/continuous/appimaged-x86_64.AppImage"
chmod a+x appimaged-x86_64.AppImage
./appimaged-x86_64.AppImage --install

And, for flatpak:

sudo apt install flatpak

I learned from the flathub website, that this plugin will enable the flatpaks to be installed from the Software Center:

sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak

Then, I added the flathub repository:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

Browsers

Ubuntu comes with Firefox, but I typically use Chrome as my daily driver. I do like a variety. I downloaded the apt packages from their websites:

• Google for Chrome
• Microsoft for Edge

Work Software

VMware Horizon / VMware View is the remote desktop that I use most at the moment. The website has a deb package that’s easy to install.

Teams is the next necessity. I’ve been using the unofficial Teams client, and I’m very thankful that it is kept up to date. It seems easier to keep up to date if I download and install it from GitHub. I went to the project page and installed version 1.4.30.

The last item on this list is PostMan. Previously, I downloaded it from their website, but this time, I found it in the App Center. So, instead, I just installed it from there.

Clouds

In the Settings app, there’s an Online Accounts section. I used that to connect Google. I’m still deciding on how many of these options make sense.

Insync is the other product that I use. I just downloaded it from their website. After launching, I was able to log in and select the folders to sync.

Networking

There’s not much to do here. I installed all the VPNs so they are easy to setup if needed.

sudo apt install vpnc \
    network-manager-vpnc \
    network-manager-openconnect \
    network-manager-openconnect-gnome \
    openconnect \
    network-manager-iodine \
    network-manager-openvpn \
    network-manager-strongswan \
    network-manager-openvpn-gnome  \
    network-manager-iodine-gnome \
    network-manager-vpnc-gnome

I added my custom host names to the hosts file (/etc/hosts).

Usually, Remina comes preinstalled, but this time I did a minimal configuratinon. So, I had to install it.

sudo apt install remmina

It just so happens, I am currently working on a connection that might use this www plugin:

sudo apt install remmina-plugin-www

Productivity

This is the first time that LibreOffice wasn’t pre-installed. I think it had to do with my choosing minimal on the install wizard. I like to add the repository anyway to keep it more up to date.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
sudo apt install libreoffice

I’ve had issues in the past with Xiphos, but it installed fine this time:

sudo apt install xiphos

Later on, at some point, xiphos quit launching for me. I’m not sure what changed, but some update seems to have broken it. I found a workaround was to launch it with this setting:

WEBKIT_DISABLE_DMABUF_RENDERER=1 xiphos

I intended on writing up a blog post and adding that variable setting into the menu with menu-edit, but I never got that done.

I had switched to Joplin for my note taking program. It’s still my main note program for anything needs to be shared. I installed it easily from snap. After installing, I used the Synchronize to go through the process to connect to the cloud.

snap install joplin-desktop

Logseq is the new note program that I am using. I like the way it links the notes together. A huge plus is that I can paste images into it too.

snap install logseq

After installing, I clicked on the “Add a graph” button on the title bar to restore the directory where it keeps the notes.

Zotero is sort of like a note app, although, it’s more of a research app. I followed these steps:

sudo apt install curl
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/retorquere/zotero-deb/master/install.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt update
sudo apt install zotero

Last productivity app: Xournal++. I installed that for annotating PDFs.

sudo apt install xournalpp

Settings and Utilities

Here are a couple of utilities that I like to have readily available:

sudo apt install p7zip-full p7zip-rar \
       synaptic \
       gnome-tweaks

Mission Center is a nice looking task manager that I learned about from OMG Ubuntu. With Flathub setup, I could just install with:

flatpak install flathub io.missioncenter.MissionCenter

I use BalenaEtcher for putting iso files on my thumb drives. I installed the AppImage from the website into my ~/bin directory.

I try to track the settings I do on a normal basis:

• In “System” > “Date & Time”, I changed the format to am/pm and selected “Week Day”
• In “System” > “Users”, I added my avatar and my finger prints
• At the bottom of “Power”, I checked “show Battery Percentage”
• On “Show Home Folder”, I unchecked “Show Home Folder”

The settings I change in the Tweaks application seem to decrease each install. I think they are slowly getting moved to the main Settings UI. The only thing left now is unchecking “Attach Modal Dialogs” under “Windows”.

Finally, Gnome Extensions. By restoring my Chrome profile, I had the extension installed. Then, I installed the OS side that makes it work. Note, that also installed the “Extensions” app that allows you to update and disable the extensions.

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

These are the extensions I installed:

• Caffeine: quick, easy way to keep it from going to sleep (Keep Awake wasn’t compatible)
• Bing Wallpaper: switches my wallpaper background daily
• Clipboard Indicator: keeps a clipboard history and allows me to go back to multiple clipboard items
• Sound and Input Device Chooser: not compatible (so, I’ll have to come back and keep checking)
• Compiz windows effect: adds a bit of bling with wobbly windows
• Burn My Windows: adds more bling with window transitions

Graphics and Video Programs

I like Inkscape for Vector drawing. Unfortunately, the apt version is horribly out of date. The apt package installed was 1.2, but on the website, you can download version 1.3.2. I downloaded the AppImage, made it executable and put it in my ~/bin directory.

For Gimp, I installed it from deb package.

sudo apt install gimp \
         gimp-data-extras gimp-plugin-registry

For the sound-related programs, I made these installations:

sudo apt install audacity \
           soundconverter \
           musescore3

For video-related programs, I installed these programs:

sudo apt install mplayer \
       vlc \
       kdenlive \
       yt-dlp

(I also installed fre:ac from the App Center)

OBS Studio is a little more involved. I try to keep it a little more up to date. Previously, I used to install the loopback device driver to use OBS output as a webcam. I found that’s no longer needed.

sudo apt install ffmpeg
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio
sudo apt install obs-studio

For 3D drawing and rendering, I use Blender. I’m using the snap version.

sudo snap install blender --classic

Finally, I want all of the codecs.

sudo apt install \
      libdvdnav4 \
      libdvd-pkg \
      gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad \
      gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly \
      ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg 

3D Printing

I haven’t done a lot of 3D printing, but some. I have been designing my prints with OpenScad:

snap install openscad

Next, I installed Cura for slicing the models. I downloaded the AppImage from the website and put it in my ~/bin directory. On the first start, I had to login during the intro wizard. I chose the Monoprice Select Mini V2 printer.

Programming Tools

These are just a few of my favorite programming utilities.

sudo apt install \
        vim-gtk3 \
        git \
        meld
mkdir ~/.vimtmp

Git needs a little configuration with these two commands:

git config --global user.name "my name"
git config --global user.email my.email@email.com

Flutter

Flutter is kind or more involved than other stuff. First, are a bunch of prerequisites:

sudo apt-get install clang cmake ninja-build pkg-config libgtk-3-dev

Then, I installed Flutter with snap:

sudo snap install flutter --classic
flutter doctor

This time, I noticed that Android Studio was in the App Center. I just installed the snap from there. After opening, I installed the Flutter and Dart plugins from the settings. Finally, I needed to install the command line tools component. That’s in Settings > Languages & Frameworks > Android Sdk > SDK Tools: “Android SDK Command-line Tools (latest)”.

VirtualBox

I have a few Virtual Machines that I run with VirtualBox. I downloaded the latest version from the website. I also downloaded the Extension Pack from the main downloads page.

I did run into a problem with dependencies:

The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 virtualbox-7.0 : Depends: libvpx7 (>= 1.10.0) but it is not installable
                  Recommends: libsdl-ttf2.0-0 but it is not going to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.

I did install the “recommends” package:

sudo apt install libsdl-ttf2.0-0

Still, the easiest fix was to install Virtualbox from the repositories instead of the website. I still installed the Extension Pack that I downloaded.

sudo apt install virtualbox

Wine

I installed Wine from the command line and restore my wineprefixes.

sudo apt install wine

When I tried to run my Peoplesoft App Designer, I got an error message about wine32 not being installed. I don’t quite understand it because App Designer should be 64-bit. Still I tried to follow the instructions:

sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo apt update
sudo apt install wine32:i386

Previously, I posted that I got a new computer and some of my thoughts on the new computer. Well, even though it came with Ubuntu (the older 22.04 release), I still had to set it up the way I like that. That means another Installation Notes article. Here’s everything I did to get it running like my old laptop.

Restoring Files

First thing to do is to copy all of files over from the old laptop. Here’s my list of things to copy.

• ~/.ssh: SSH connection setup
• ~/.cert: needed for my VPN
• ~/app: my programming files
• ~/Documents: As the name says, my documents
• ~/DigitalEagleServices: work-related files
• ~/Insync: I have a few files in here that help with setting things back up, otherwise Insync will restore them
• ~/.config/google-chrome: Actually, I skipped this one because I switched to Chromium
• ~/.remmina: setup for Remmina
• ~/.sword: All the Bibles and Commentaries for Xiphos
• ~/.vim: configuration for the gVim editor
• ~/.vimrc: main config file for gVim
• ~/.local/share/fonts: fonts that I have collected over the years
• /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections: VPN and Wifi connections
• .local/share/applications: I restored of few of the application shortcuts
• ~/bin: programs … this is automatically on the path
• ~/Zotero: data from the Zotero application, could also be in ~/snap/zotero-snap/common/Zotero
• ~/.config/obs-studio: OBS Studio configuration
• ~/OBS Setup: my support files for OBS like backgrounds, etc.
• ~/.config/Postman: Postman configuration

The SSH files need special permissions:

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/*
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys2
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/known_hosts
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/config
chmod 644 ~/.ssh/*.pub

Screenshots/Flameshot

Screenshots tend to be first on the list to install just so that I can document the install. I installed Flameshot for that.

sudo apt install flameshot

Then, I also like for the print screen button to trigger flameshot. So, I set that up as well with the following commands:

gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys screenshot '[]'
 gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys custom-keybindings "['/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/']"
 gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/ name 'flameshot'
 gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/ command '/usr/bin/flameshot gui'
 gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys.custom-keybinding:/org/gnome/settings-daemon/plugins/media-keys/custom-keybindings/custom0/ binding 'Print'

Password Manager/Authpass

The next thing is my password manager so that I can get into things. Authpass has been my favorite so far. I found there’s a new repository with the latest version. It’s published through Package Cloud. Unfortunately, that repository doesn’t work.

sudo apt install curl
curl -s https://packagecloud.io/install/repositories/authpass/authpass/script.deb.sh | sudo bash

I am assuming 20.04 isn’t supported, so I get this error message:

Err:8 https://packagecloud.io/authpass/authpass/ubuntu focal Release  
  404  Not Found [IP: 52.52.159.34 443]
Reading package lists... Done                   
E: The repository 'https://packagecloud.io/authpass/authpass/ubuntu focal Release' does not have a Release file.

Instead, the snap in the Software Store looks up to date, so I’m just going to go with that.

I did have to run this command afterward:

snap connect authpass:password-manager-service

Shortcuts

To start, I installed Menu Libre. That makes it easy to add shortcuts that go on the menu.

sudo apt install menulibre

I also selectively restored some of the shortcuts in the $HOME/.local/applications directory. The filenames for the Flutter applications are a bit finicky to get the icon displaying.

I did have a few of the “.desktop” shortcut files that would not show up in the menu. I finally found out that I had forgotten to copy the shell script that it was pointing to. I also found it wouldn’t show up when the icon that I had chosen wasn’t there. The bottom line is to not forget to restore all of the pieces.

Browser

I usually use Chrome as my daily driver for the browser, but this laptop came with Firefox and Chromium pre-installed. I decided to give Chromium a shot. The only problem is that it doesn’t seem to sync with my Google account as far as browser history and favorites, etc. So, I have to rebuild all of that.

One big setting that I was used to was that it would reopen all of my previous tabs. That’s probably a bad habit, but I’m sticking with it for now. The setting is under “On Startup”.

Work Software

My remote desktop tool is Vmware Horizon for a little bit longer. I downloaded the 64-bit Linux bundle from Vmware’s website. I installed it with these commands:

cd ~/Downloads/
sudo chmod +x VMware-Horizon-Client-2309.1-8.11.1-22775487.x64.deb
sudo apt install python3
sudo ./VMware-Horizon-Client-2309.1-8.11.1-22775487.x64.deb

Next, I need Teams for at least a little longer, too. Microsoft has retired their official client for a PWA. The “Teams for Linux” project encapsulates that PWA into a separate app. It’s a snap that you can either install from the Software Center or the command line.

sudo snap install teams

Finally, Postman is the last work-related app. I probably should put this under the programming section, but for now, it’s work related. I just downloaded it from the official download page.

cd ~/Downloads
tar -xzvf postman-linux-x64.tar.gz -C ~/bin

I restored my shortcut, but I had used MenuLibre previously to create the shortcut.

Clouds

I use both Dropbox and OneDrive. Dropbox is an easy download and install from the official download page. I downloaded the 14.04 – 22.04 version.

sudo apt install python3-gpg
sudo apt install ~/Downloads/dropbox_2020.03.04_amd64.deb

After a few minutes it pops up a wizard to go through. That downloads the proprietary binary and lets you authenticate to connect your account.

Next, Microsoft doesn’t have a OneDrive client for Linux. So, I’ve been using Insync. I downloaded the appropriate version from the Downloads page.

sudo apt install ~/Downloads/insync_3.8.4.50481-focal_amd64.deb

Networking

The Wifi worked out of the box. But, the VPNs I had to install. I just install them all so they were available if I needed them.

sudo apt install vpnc \
    network-manager-vpnc \
    network-manager-openconnect \
    network-manager-openconnect-gnome \
    openconnect \
    network-manager-iodine \
    network-manager-openvpn \
    network-manager-strongswan \
    network-manager-openvpn-gnome  \
    network-manager-iodine-gnome \
    network-manager-vpnc-gnome

Also, I added a few lines to the /etc/hosts file. There are a few machines that I connect to and don’t want to have to remember the IP Address.

Productivity

The current LibreOffice version installed is Version: 6.4.7.2. But, 7.5 (release notes) is listed as the current on the website. So, I installed the repository to get the latest. Then, I had to update.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
sudo apt dist-upgrade

I’ve been using Joplin for my notes. I installed it with:

snap install joplin-desktop

When I clicked Synchronize, it walked me through connecting it to where I saved it in the Cloud.

Next, I use Xiphos for my Bible App. The content I just restored by copying the .sword directory from my old laptop. I had to add a repository, so I installed the program with:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pkgcrosswire/ppa
sudo apt install xiphos

Finally, Zotero is my last productivity tool. I installed it with:

sudo apt install curl
curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/retorquere/zotero-deb/master/install.sh | sudo bash
sudo apt update
sudo apt install zotero

Application Packages

To be able to install different types of programs, I installed the AppImage support first.

cd ~/Downloads/
sudo apt install libfuse2
wget "https://github.com/AppImage/appimaged/releases/download/continuous/appimaged-x86_64.AppImage"
chmod a+x appimaged-x86_64.AppImage
./appimaged-x86_64.AppImage --install

Then, I installed Flatpak support next:

sudo apt install flatpak

Miscellaneous Settings and Utilities

Here are few tools that I like. 7zip, Synaptic, and Gnome Tweaks help with compression, package installs, and special settings changes. I installed all three with:

sudo apt install p7zip-full p7zip-rar \
       synaptic \
       gnome-tweaks

Balana Etcher is the last utility. I stuck with the App Image on their website, but I found instructions for installing from a deb package. Maybe I’ll try that next time.

Now, for the settings. In the main settings application, I set the format under Date & Time to AM/PM. I also added an avatar under the Users section.

This is new for this laptop, or at least I didn’t notice it on my last laptop. I found there was a place to add my fingerprint.

When I clicked on it, it gives me an option to add a new fingerprint.

After I selected which finger I was using, I was able to scan the fingerprint multiple times. It seemed to work fine.

After that, I opened up the Tweaks application (Gnome Tweaks). Under “Top Bar”, I enabled the Weekday and the Battery Percentage. Under “Windows”, I disabled Attach Modal Dialogs.

Gnome Extensions

I like customizing things and making it my own, so Gnome Extensions are a must. First, I installed the package that gives Chrome access to control them.

sudo apt install chrome-gnome-shell

Then, I installed this extension into Chromium.

Unfortunately, this only works for Chrome. Chromium is only offered as a snap package and doesn’t have access to do extensions. You’ll get this error message: “Although GNOME Shell integration extension is running, native host connector is not detected. Refer documentation for instructions about installing connector.”

My solution was to use Firefox. I tried to remove the Firefox snap and install the deb version. From the output, it seems this was already done. (Using the Brave browser was another solution I saw recommended, but I didn’t try that)

snap remove firefox
apt install firefox

Then, I installed this Firefox extension. Then, I got this error message: “Your native host connector do not support following APIs: v6. Probably you should upgrade native host connector or install plugins for missing APIs. Refer documentation for instructions.” It seemed to work in spite of that error message.

From what I read, it sounds like newer versions of Ubuntu have this mess all fixed with the Extension Manager program. I’ll have to try that on the next go around.

These are the extensions that I installed:

• Keep Awake: Let’s me keep the screen on when I’m at home and don’t want to worry about unlocking it after I walk away.
• Bing Wallpaper: updates the desktop background with a new picture every day
• Clipboard Indicator: keeps a list of copied text so that I can go back to it
• Notification Alert: Makes notifications stand out a little more
• Sound and Input Device Chooser: Makes it faster to choose which sound devices I use
• Compiz windows effect: just adds bling, makes the windows more fluid
• Burn My Windows: Another bling

Media Programs

I installed Inkscape, Xournal, and Gimp for working with drawings, PDFs, and photos.

sudo apt install xournal \
         gimp

Note: for now I kept with the deb package for Gimp, but the Downloads page mentions that flatpak is more up to date. I might try that next time.

Inkscape on the other hand did have a newer version. I went to the Downloads page and downloaded the AppImage. I just moved that to the bin directory.

To deal with sound-related tasks, I installed audacity, soundconverter, musescore3, and easytag.

sudo apt install audacity \
           soundconverter \
           musescore3 \
           easytag

I downloaded the Midas M32 application to control our sound board from the website. I had to search for “m32 edit” to find it. I downloaded the Linux version, and installed it with:

mkdir ~/bin/m32
tar -xzvf ~/Downloads/M32-Edit_LINUX_4.3.tar.gz -C ~/bin/m32/

Then, I used the Menu Editor to add a shortcut.

For my video endeavors, I installed mplayer, vlc, yt-dlp, obs-studio, blender, and kdenlive.

sudo apt install mplayer \
       vlc \
       kdenlive \
       yt-dlp

For OBS Studio, I added a repository to keep it up to date.

sudo apt install ffmpeg
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:obsproject/obs-studio
sudo apt install obs-studio

Then, I installed the loopback device so that I can use the OBS output on Teams.

sudo apt install -y v4l2loopback-dkms

I installed blender with the snap.

sudo snap install blender --classic

I installed all the codecs with:

sudo apt install \
      libdvdnav4 \
      libdvd-pkg \
      gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad \
      gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly \
      ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg 

Finally, for KdenLive, I downloaded the App Image from their website.

3D Printing

I installed OpenScad for designing things to print.

snap install openscad

Then, I downloaded Cura from the Downloads page and placed the App Image in my bin directory. At first, I downloaded the “Linux-Modern” version. But, there was a compiler or python mismatch, and it gave me this error:

[71893] Error loading Python lib '/tmp/.mount_UltiMaolbPAJ/libpython3.10.so.1.0': dlopen: /lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/libm.so.6: version `GLIBC_2.35' not found (required by /tmp/.mount_UltiMaolbPAJ/libpython3.10.so.1.0)

After I downloaded just the regular Linux 64-bit version, it worked fine. I was able to start it and go through the wizard. That made me sign into a Cura account and then pick my printer (Monoprice Select Mini V2)

Virtualization

I use Virtualbox. I normally just install it from apt, but version 6 is in the repositories. Version 7 is on the Download page. I downloaded the Ubuntu 20.04 option for version 7.0.6.

sudo apt install ~/Downloads/virtualbox-7.0_7.0.6-155176_Ubuntu_focal_amd64.deb

When I opened it, I went to File > Tools > Network Manager. I added a NAT Network and Host-only network.

Miscelleneous Programming Tools

Gvim came preinstalled,which surprised me, but it’s cool. I still needed to create my temporary directory for it. I installed git, git-cola, and meld.

sudo apt install \
        git-cola \
        meld
mkdir ~/.vimtmp

I configured git with:

git config --global user.name "my name"
git config --global user.email my.email@email.com

Flutter

I enjoy using the Flutter framework, so I installed it. First, I installed the dependencies:

sudo apt-get install clang cmake ninja-build pkg-config libgtk-3-dev

Then, I installed Flutter itself and ran the doctor.

sudo snap install flutter --classic
flutter doctor

Running Flutter doctor downloads the necessary binary.

Android studio is also required to download key parts of the SDK. I like to use it for the IDE anyway. I downloaded it from the bug button on the website. I extracted the tarball to the bin directory, and then I created a shortcut with Menu Editor to ~/bin/android-studio/bin/studio.sh

 tar -xzvf ~/Downloads/android-studio-2022.1.1.21-linux.tar.gz -C ~/bin

After installing and opening an existing project, I went to File > settings. Under Appearance & Behavior > System Settings > Android SDK, I installed the SDK Tools > Command line tools and the SDK Platforms > Android 13.0. In the plugins section, I installed the Flutter plugin (that also installed the Dart plugin)

I ran into another problem because I’m using Chromium instead of Chrome. Setting this environment variable worked fine:

export CHROME_EXECUTABLE=/snap/bin/chromium
flutter doctor

Since that worked, I added that export to the end of ~.bashrc

Finally, I ran the flutter doctor command to accept the licenses:

flutter doctor --android-licenses

I did notice this error when I tried to create the Virtual Device.

Docking Station

I’m still using my Dell Docking Station. I don’t like it because I think that this Display Link driver conflicts with Nvidia. But, I’m not ready to spend more money to replace it, so we’ll install it anyway and see how it goes. I downloaded the package from the Downloads page.

cd Downloads
unzip DisplayLink\ USB\ Graphics\ Software\ for\ Ubuntu5.6.1-EXE.zip
chmod +x displaylink-driver-5.6.1-59.184.run
sudo ./displaylink-driver-5.6.1-59.184.run

It did require a reboot before it worked. Then, it does work. I have two 4k screens running through the Dock, and I love the setup. The only problem is that if I try to run a video or a game like 0ad, it crashes after a short time. It momentarily resets back to the laptop screen and then tries to reload the two monitors possibly in a different order/configuration.

Wine

I usually reinstall my Windows programs, but this time I decided to try to restore them. I copied the wine prefixes (I had them setup in ~/.local/share/wineprefixes). Then, I installed wine:

sudo apt install wine

Then, I had to make the symbolic link to the c: drive in the dosdevices folder. That didn’t copy over right.

ln -s ../drive_c c: