Manuel Ignacio López Quintero

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Things to do just after installing Ubuntu or Debian

Just after installing Debian or Ubuntu, it is recommended to set up the operating system .

1. Enable sudo on your user account (if you use Debian)

1. Open a terminal and become superuser: su root. Enter the root password.
2. Now, install sudo: apt-get install sudo.
3. Add your user account to the group sudo: /sbin/addgroup username sudo. Where username is your user account.
4. Now, log out and then log in with the same user.
5. Finally, open a terminal and execute: sudo echo 'Hello, world!'.
6. Enter the user password. If all goes well, you'll see on screen Hello, world!.

2. Keep Debian or Ubuntu up to date

Open your terminal and execute: sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get dist-upgrade && sudo apt-get autoremove.

3. Install additional software

Execute this script to install additional GUI and CLI software for your Ubuntu or Debian.

3. Install non-free drivers

Run sudo lshw | grep UNCLAIMED to see the unclaimed drivers. Verify all the drivers have their product and vendor tags. The commands lspci, lsusb can help you.

For example, for my Wi-Fi I download and install the non-free Realtek firmware package and for my ATI graphic card I download and install the non-free driver.

4. Install non-free software

• Chrome (the free alternative is Chromium) (Chrome/Chromium fonts) (unlock keyring on startup).
• Dropbox (solve error about monitoring file system).
• VirtualBox and its Extension Pack (some dependencies are non-free).

5. Customize the look of your desktop

Install Murrine engine and their respective themes with the command:

To install icons for your user account copy the icon folder to ~/.icons/. For all users copy the icon folder to /usr/local/share/icons/ instead.

To install fonts for your user account copy the ttf fonts to ~/.fonts/. For all users copy the ttf fonts to /usr/local/share/fonts/ instead. Remember to install normal, bold, italic and bold italic fonts.

This is my configuration in Debian:

• Desktop Environment (DE): Xfce.
• Panel: 1 horizontal bottom panel (display) (items).
• GTK Theme: Numix (GTK Theme Color).
• Window Manager (WM): Numix.
• Fonts: Open Sans, Cousine, and Arimo.
• Icons: Numix Circle.

You can see an example screenshot of my Debian.

If you use Xfce, enable autologin.

Go to Settings, Workspaces and set 1 workspace.

Go to Settings, Window Manager Tweaks, Compositor and activate Enable display compositing to use hardware acceleration automatically in Xfce.

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