Leo:Ubuntu config

This list gets updated as I remember or install new essentials for my Ubuntu environment.

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.

Config

Power button to shutdown, no prompts

sudo gedit /etc/acpi/events/powerbtn

1. Add # to comment the line: # action=/etc/acpi/powerbtn.sh
2. Add a new line: action=/sbin/poweroff
3. Save file

sudo acpid restart

System essentials

Communication, access

SSH server for remote access, subversion

sudo apt-get install openssh-server subversion

Desktop alternative

Gnome 3 and others

sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

Tweak tools

sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool
sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Add Ubuntu-tweak

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

Development environment

Editors and IDEs

sudo apt-get install mc emacs-snapshot geany texinfo

Install Sublime Text editor from http://www.sublimetext.com/3

• My Sublime_Text_cheat_sheet for useful and magic keyboard shortcuts.

Build and test tools

sudo apt-get install build-essential gtkterm 

Version control

sudo apt-get install git subversion rapidsvn meld

May also consider installing FreeFileSync for convenient file synchronization across directories or filesystems.

Media

Photos and graphics

sudo apt-get install gimp

Video playback and edit

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras flashplugin-installer mplayer avidemux 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
sudo apt-get install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:team-xbmc/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install xbmc

Common codecs:

sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0 mpg321

Latex

sudo apt-get install texlive texlive-latex-extra texlive-xetex texlive-fonts-recommended texlive-publishers texinfo

Microsoft fonts

...so that MS documents look better.

sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts
sudo fc-cache -fv

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

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
• ‘y’ for file-hole pass-through

Note, the mounted directory may not be able to use hard links to files due to chaining enabled.

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...