Taking a trip into the weird and wonderful world of Linux with the world's most popular distro isn't always the easiest of tasks, particularly if you're used to Windows' clean embrace.
This isn't helped by the fact that Ubuntu isn't as fully featured as it should be from the start.
Learn a bit about the OS, and get up and running with some interesting and helpful tools by following this guide.
1. Run essential updates
Any Linux installation worth its salt will alert you immediately to any changes that need to be made after installation, particularly if you've installed from a Live CD that might not be entirely up to date.
Ubuntu alerts you to this with an orange flash in its taskbar. Click on it, enter the administration password you set during installation and use the Update Manager to install the essentials. You'll also find it at 'System | Update Manager'.
2. Manually update packages
The auto-updater isn't the only way to get your system up to speed. The package manager – which deals with downloading, installing and configuring new programs – might need a little kick, however.
Open a terminal window (select it from the menu, or hit [Alt]+[F2] and type gnome-terminal), then type sudo apt-get update to ensure that Ubuntu's knowledge of packages is up to date.
3. Perform package upgrades
The next step is to turn your installed packages into the shiny new versions, which you can do using a slightly different command in the terminal window: apt-get upgrade.
Insert it (remembering to prefix it with sudo, which tells Ubuntu to perform the action as a super user) and apt-get will hammer through the list, marking and installing any packages that have fallen behind the times.
4. Upgrade the distribution
Apt is a monster of a tool. It can help you stay right on the cutting edge with little or no effort on your part.
Let's say, for example, you've had an Ubuntu installation running for a while, but you want to install the latest version of the OS. You need to do a full backup, burn a new disc, sit through a reinstallation process and cross your fingers, right? Wrong.
Type apt-get distupgrade to bring your installed distro in line with current standards automatically.
5. Manage repositories easily
Apt doesn't conjure packages out of thin air. It uses repositories – vast databases of software packages that ensure the latest versions of software are always easily available from (almost) one place.
To add more repositories, we recommend starting by installing a repository manger.
Type sudo wget http://mac4deb.googlepages.com/addrepo -O / usr/bin/addrepo into a terminal window to install addrepo, then sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/addrepo to set its permissions properly.
6. Add new repositories
Adding another source for software is easy; once you've installed addrepo, you can do it in the terminal by typing something along the lines of addrepo deb http://mirror2.ubuntulinux.nl/ lucid-seveas all.
If you find new repositories online, they will usually give you the right details to enter. You could also do it graphically by going to 'System | Administration | Software Sources | Third Party Software | Add'.
7. Check the package manager
Ubuntu's package management tools are, as you might have noticed, not restricted to the command line. Synaptic Package Manager is an excellent graphical interface for apt.
To open it, go to 'System | Administration | Synaptic Package Manager'. Part of the fun of repositories is hunting around them for interesting packages – feel free to have a poke about!
8. Install restricted extras
Ubuntu is free software, so many features are left out by default for licensing reasons. That doesn't stop you installing them yourself, though.
To get the Flash plug-in, support for MP3 and DVD playback, and standard TrueType fonts (among other things), search Synaptic Package Manager for 'ubuntu-restricted-extras' and install it. All the essentials are in that single package.
9. Get some games
Ubuntu's default selection of games is a little weak. There's a wealth of gaming gold on the default repositories, though.
Search for and check out the following: Tremulous, a decent first-person shooter; FlightGear, a seasoned and accurate flight sim; Gridwars, a flashy topdown retro shooter; and vDrift, a track-based racing simulator. All deserve a place on your hard drive.
10. Enable more tweaks
There's a single package that will open up a world of further customisation options, and that's ubuntu-tweak. You can download the DEB package installing a repository manger.
Type sudo wget http://mac4deb.googlepages.com/addrepo -O / usr/bin/addrepo into a terminal window to install addrepo, then sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/addrepo to set its permissions properly.
11. Set up Gnome-Do
Adding functionality to Ubuntu starts with Gnome-Do, which simplifies and speeds up searching for programs and files, or activating functions. Look in the package manager for 'gnome-do' (or install it using apt-get) to add it. You'll now find it in the Ubuntu menu.
12. Understand the panes
Get Gnome-Do running, then hit [Super]+[Space]. [Super] is the [Windows] key on a standard PC keyboard. The left-hand pane contains the item you're searching for, while the right-hand pane will eventually contain the action to be applied to it.
13. Try it out
We'll use Firefox as an example application for Gnome-Do. Start typing firefox and it should appear in the left window after a few letters – that's all you need to type. Now hit [Tab] to switch to the second pane, and start typing the action you wish to perform, such as Minimise or Close.
14. Use further features
The arrow keys are a satisfying way to navigate around Gnome-Do. Start typing in the first pane, then hit [down] to see all the possible options. Use [right] to expand folders or panels. Choose one, hit [Tab] and use the [down] arrow to select the action to perform on it.
15. Add more plug-ins
Gnome-Do can act on just about any software. Bring up the window with [Super]+[Space], click the little down arrow at the top-right corner and select Preferences. You can then add plug-ins for everything from Google tools and Twitter to music players such as RhythmBox.
16. Change your wallpaper
Ubuntu features some pretty – clearly Mac-inspired – purple desktop backgrounds, but no operating system is really yours until you've plastered a picture of your cat all over it. Right-click the desktop and choose 'Change Desktop Background' to load one in.
17. Switch window styles
You can change the look of your desktop's windows from the 'Appearance Preferences' window. Click the Theme tab, then click on a style to see how it will look. If you click 'Customise', you can combine elements from different themes.
18. Install hardware drivers
To get the most out of your Ubuntu desktop, you'll need the optimal drivers for your graphics card. They're not installed by default, but if you go to 'System | Administration | Hardware Drivers', you'll see your options. Select the latest driver, install it and restart.
19. Set up desktop effects
You'll get a fancier looking desktop if you switch on visual effects ('System | Preferences | Appearance | Visual Effects'). Install the 'compiz' settings application – search Synaptic for 'compizconfig' – and you'll have access to many more stylish tweaks.
20. Add a dock
There's a neat little desktop application, based on the code behind Gnome-Do (discussed elsewhere), that emulates the dock from Mac OS X. It's worth a try. Search Synaptic for 'docky', install it, and you'll be able to configure its minutest details by simply clicking the icon on the far left.
21. Play Windows videos
Type this into a terminal: sudo wget http://www.medibuntu. org/sources.list.d/$(lsb_ release -cs).list –outputdocument=/ etc/apt/ sources.list.d/medibuntu. list. Then run sudo apt-get install w32codecs to get the appropriate files.
22. Install VLC
You'll find VLC listed in Synaptic under a search for 'VLC'. Like most apps, it installs a number of other programs at the same time, which it needs in order to run. However, it doesn't install the Firefox plug-in – search for 'mozilla-plugin-vlc' to find it if you want media handled in your browser.
23. Set up Samba
Sharing files with Windows computers? You need Samba. Search for 'samba' within Synaptic, mark the packages 'samba' and 'system-config-samba' for installation and click 'Apply.' You can use the configuration app to set up permanently linked shares.
24. Mess with panels
Ubuntu's default layout is a mix of OS X and Windows. To fiddle with its panels, right-click an empty spot and select 'Properties'. You can also add or remove elements with the appropriate command. If you've installed Docky, you may need to shift at least one panel out of the way.
25. Unleash GIMP
There's one premier artistry app for Linux, and that's GIMP. If there were an award for 'most Photoshop features aped', it would win two of them. It doesn't come on a standard Ubuntu Live CD, but it deserves to, so grab it from Synaptic Package Manager and get doodling.
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First published in PC Plus Issue 300
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Your comments (2) Click to add a new comment
zeke123
November 9th 2010
2. You missed one.
Tell newbies that there is more than one flavour of Ubuntu. Not everyone likes chocolate or vanilla when they go to BaskinRobbins.
Free software is blessed with choice and that it VERY important when it comes to desktop environments.
Kubuntu is a must for people coming over from Windows because it has similar paradigms but it also looks and feels more familiar because Ubuntu uses GTK which looks `ẁeird` to many people.
Xubuntu is a must for old hardware (my P3 runs beautifully on it) and if you want to do some music or even just plug in a midi keyboard to play, then you are better off using Ubuntu Studio because audio is still a mess and getting JACK to work is a nightmare even when all you want to do is plug in a keyboard to play.
But the KDE vs GNOME thing is the most important thing.
I always have both running on my laptop and always offer the choice to friends and family but KDE wins more than 75% of the time when offered as a choice.
I put my folks on KDE4.2 and they never looked back and the desktop is both gorgeoaus and functional.
This is not a question of which I like (Im into E17 now) beacuse that is a personal question. I like vanilla, it doesnt make it better, just something that pleases my more. Personal taste. Choice.
The best desktop is the desktop that suits YOU, not me or someone else. And you have to also make people realize that defaults are just that. It doesnt mean you have to use them. Most people with weak eyesight hate their default settings for windows because they are too small. Thats the choice of UI queens who think that everything should be in 4pt fonts because its elegant. Whether its functional or not for some people is not their problem.
The first thing I show them is how to make their fonts bigger, how to change themes, change windowing managers and making taskbars bigger.
Your number 10 tweak takes for granted that people prefer the Mac paradigm.
Its not for you to decide for them.
Give them choice. Give them 2-3 different live CDs of different desktops (its useless to give them different distros with same DE since they are almost identical once you pass the cosmetic look).
If you start pimping your personal favorite then you are no different than Mac or Win which offer no choice. Its our way or the highway with them.
Considering the whole planet has used Windows at some point, I dont find our LUGs numbers for desktops chosen to be so strange. People like familiarity (im not a fan of skinning to make it look like Mac or Vista7 though) and thats important when making the jump.
But too many Linux advocates are unable to tame the fanboi in them (and Buntu users are very close to the Apple fanboi levels) and are afraid that their precious wont be picked if put in competition with another desktop or apps.
Our job is to make people switching confortable and to have enough distance where we allow newbies to make desktop choices that makes THEM happy.
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dyonas
November 7th 2010
1. Some of these I'd like to have known myself when first venturing into Ubuntu years ago. There is one thing that always annoyed me and that is the default Firefox address bar. When you click it in Windows the default selects all text but not in Linux and you need to tweak the about:config for that.
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