Publish first steps post

sblask · sblask · commit 66f3a79fcae5 · 2016-08-17T01:34:26.000+02:00
diff --git a/_posts/2016-08-17-my-first-steps-after-installing-xubuntu.markdown b/_posts/2016-08-17-my-first-steps-after-installing-xubuntu.markdown
@@ -0,0 +1,318 @@
+---
+title: My first steps after installing Xubuntu
+layout: post
+categories:
+    - blog
+    - tech
+---
+
+Every time a new Ubuntu version is released you see blog posts popping up about
+the first things to do after installing it and every time I read one of those
+it's mostly a waste of time to me. I guess I just have different requirements.
+So here is the list of things I do after installing Ubuntu. Xubuntu 16.04 that
+is in this case. First a few things that will be relevant for common users too,
+before getting to the geeky stuff.
+
+
+## Setup Supported Languages
+
+The dialog pops up into your face after the first boot, so why not do it right
+away. Otherwise you can find it under `Language Support`. You don't need to
+change the languages for menus and windows assuming you made the right choice
+during installation. However, you should install all the languages you could
+possibly care about as they are important for spell checking in Libre Office
+for example.
+
+
+## Setup Touchpad Properly
+
+Under `Mouse and Touchpad` you should either disable the touchpad altogether (I
+prefer using the pointing stick) or tick the `Disable touchpad while typing`
+box while reducing the delay (unless you have really slow fingers). This is to
+avoid having your mouse cursor jumping around or changin focus while you type.
+
+
+## Setup Window Panel
+
+It can be configured by doing a right click and then choosing `Panel` -> `Panel
+Preferences`. I prefer to have the panel at the bottom, to get it there you go
+to the `Display` tab, untick `lock`, drag the panel to the bottom of the screen
+and tick `lock` again.
+There are several things to do under the `Items` tab:
+
+ - First configure the window buttons. I disable `Switch windows using the
+   mouse wheel`, set `Sorting order` to `None` (the default order is weird and
+   like this I can drag and drop) and change the `Middle click action` to `Close
+   Window` (so it's the same thing as in Firefox)
+ - Add CPU Graph, configure it to not have a frame and make the background
+   color the same as the panel using the colour picker.
+ - Change the format of the clock to `%A %d %B, %H:%M:%S`
+
+## Setup External Hardware
+
+I have got a printer and a NAS both configured with static IPs.
+
+### NAS
+
+I mount the nfs shares of the NAS using autofs:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt-get install autofs
+sudo vi /etc/auto.master
+```
+
+Add the following line (`--ghost` creates empty directories for the shares):
+
+```
+/nas /etc/auto.nas --ghost
+```
+
+Then create /etc/auto.nas with the following content:
+
+```
+Documents    192.168.1.2:/data/Documents
+Music        192.168.1.2:/data/Music
+Pictures     192.168.1.2:/data/Pictures
+Transmission 192.168.1.2:/data/Transmission
+Videos       192.168.1.2:/data/Videos
+```
+
+And restart (reload does not bring up the ghost directories) the autofs
+service:
+
+```bash
+sudo /etc/init.d/autofs restart
+```
+
+Unfortunately there is a problem with the wireless that prevents it from
+locating local IPs for a few minutes after starting it (and thus access to the
+NAS fails) and I could not figure out why. However, disabling the wireless n
+protocol serves as a workaround:
+
+```bash
+sudo tee /etc/modprobe.d/iwlwifi-opt.conf <<< "options iwlwifi 11n_disable=1"
+# restart wireless
+sudo modprobe --remove iwlwifi
+sudo modprobe iwlwifi
+```
+
+### Printer
+
+Every time I tried to add a network printer through the dialogues, I was left
+with now printer installed and a broken package system which was quite hard to
+fix. Most likely culprit: `gutenprint` Luckily `Brother` provides a `Driver
+Install Tool` on their homepage. So I download it under http://www.brother.com
+-> Software Downloads -> Printers and do the following:
+
+```bash
+gunzip linux-brprinter-installer-2.0.0-1.gz
+sudo bash linux-brprinter-installer-2.0.0-1
+Input model name -> DCP-L2560DW
+```
+
+After confirming a few things and typing in the IP (192.168.1.3) printing and
+scanning (using `Simple Scan`) work like a charm. But for the best quality, you
+still need to change resolution to `HQ1200` under `Printer Properties` ->
+`Printer Options`
+
+### Bluetooth
+
+I listen to music over bluetooth and discovering and pairing of my receiver
+works without problems. However, connecting to it as audio sink generally fails
+with `Connection Failed: blueman.bluez.errors.DBusFailedError: Protocol not
+available...` Installing `pulseaudio-module-bluetooth` solves this problem.
+
+## Setup Keyboard Shortcuts
+
+ - Set preferred terminal emulator to `X Term` in `Preferred Applications`
+ - Add keyboard shortcuts for `xbacklight -dec 1` and `xbacklight -inc 1` (the
+   default hardware keys do not allow fine enough steps for backlight) and
+   install xbacklight `sudo apt-get install xbacklight`
+ - Change application for keyboard shortcut `Print Screen` to
+   `xfce4-screenshooter --fullscreen --save /home/sebastian/Desktop`
+ - Change keyboard shortcut for xfce4-popup-whiskermenu to `Super+X` (can't use
+   only `Super`, as shortcuts using `Super+something` will not work if you do)
+ - Change key for drag-and-drop of windows to `Super` in `Window Manager Tweaks`
+ - Change `Show Desktop` shortcut to `Super+D` in `Window Manager`
+
+## Install Useful Apps
+
+XnView and Skype have to be downloaded and installed manually all other are
+available through the package manager:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt-get install \
+    entr \
+    gmusicbrowser \
+    gnome-font-viewer \
+    gparted \
+    inkscape \
+    pdftk \
+    pinta \
+    puddletag \
+    silversearcher-ag \
+    texlive
+    tree \
+    usb-creator-gtk \
+    vlc \
+
+```
+
+## Uninstall Apps I Don't Use
+
+```bash
+sudo apt-get purge \
+    gnome-mines \
+    gnome-sudoku \
+    parole `# I prefer vlc and gmusicbrowser` \
+    pidgin \
+    ristretto `# I prefer xnview` \
+
+```
+
+## Enable support for watching HBO
+
+Unfortunately HBO does not use HTML5 and does use DRM, so all you see is a
+black screen when you try to watch Game of Thrones. However, there is a great
+[tutorial](https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2274467) of how to get
+around this problem. As pipelight kept on stealing focus on several websites, I
+found it necessary to enable it only for watching something and to disable it
+when done:
+
+```bash
+sudo pipelight-plugin --create-mozilla-plugins
+sudo pipelight-plugin --remove-mozilla-plugins
+```
+
+## Enable support for playing DVDs
+
+Playing DVDs won't work by default either and apparently there might be legal
+issues when doing something about it. So here is just a [link with more
+information](https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats/PlayingDVDs)
+
+## Setup Terminal Environment
+
+### Switch To ZSH
+
+```bash
+sudo apt-get install zsh
+chsh -s /usr/bin/zsh
+```
+
+Logout and login again
+
+### Install Dotfiles
+
+My dotfiles are on Github along with all my other public projects, so lets get
+all of them at the same time. First access has to be sorted, so either existing
+ssh keys (~/.ssh folder) need to be recovered or new ones generated and
+registered with Github
+(https://help.github.com/articles/generating-a-new-ssh-key-and-adding-it-to-the-ssh-agent/)
+Then the repositories can be cloned:
+
+```bash
+# a few things are required
+sudo apt-get install curl jq git subversion
+mkdir ~/Clones
+cd ~/Clones
+curl --silent https://api.github.com/users/sblask/repos \
+    | jq --raw-output ".[] | .ssh_url" \
+    | xargs -L 1 git clone
+cd ~/Clones/dotfiles
+# retrieves a few things that are not part of my dotfiles repository
+./clone.sh
+./install.py # a few folders have to be created manually, but install will tell you about them
+```
+
+Side note: I also have private repositories on Bibucket, they can be cloned
+like this:
+
+```bash
+echo "Bitbucket password:" \
+    && read -s password \
+    && curl --silent --user "sblask:${password}" https://api.bitbucket.org/2.0/repositories/sblask \
+    | jq --raw-output ".values | .[] | .links.clone | .[] | select(.name==\"ssh\") | .href" \
+    | xargs -L 1 git clone
+```
+
+There is a lot of stuff in the dotfiles, so a few more programs need to be
+installed that are either configured in the dotfiles or are required in some
+other ways:
+
+```bash
+sudo apt-get install \
+    baobab `# to analyze disk usage from Thunar context menu` \
+    compton \
+    devilspie2 \
+    maximus \
+    meld `# to compare files and directories from Thunar context menu` \
+    puddletag `# to edit mp3 tags from Thunar context menu` \
+    redshift \
+    tmux `# use `CTRL-B` + `I` to install the plugins` \
+    vim-gtk `# run BundleInstall the first time you run it to install all the plugins` \
+    xclip \
+
+```
+
+## Setup Programming Language Environments
+
+The following environments are mostly for programming, where it's important to
+avoid version conflicts between dependencies of different projects. They also
+help to keep your system clean. I think it's preferable to only install stuff
+system wide if it comes with the system package manager. But there is for
+example [Jekyll][jekyll] which I use for this blog that comes as a Ruby gem.
+Using [rvm][rvm] allows me to do `gem install jekyll` without installing it
+system wide.
+
+### Javascript/Node
+
+Really the easiest of the lot, all you need is the following which will also
+change you shell configuration file.
+
+```bash
+curl -L http://git.io/n-install | bash
+```
+
+### Ruby
+
+```bash
+gpg --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3
+curl -sSL https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable
+rvm list known
+rvm install 2.3.1 # the latest version from `list known`
+```
+
+Rvm has to be in your [PATH][rvm_path] and be [loaded][rvm_zsh] by your shell.
+
+[jekyll]:   http://jekyllrb.com/
+[rvm]:      https://rvm.io/
+[rvm_path]: https://github.com/sblask/dotfiles/blob/40cccd3fc918059e5da160151af2bde7ce73b515/zshrc.dotfile#L227
+[rvm_zsh]:  https://github.com/sblask/dotfiles/blob/40cccd3fc918059e5da160151af2bde7ce73b515/zshrc.dotfile#L406
+
+### Python
+
+There are certainly other ways to do this, but when the goal is to keep the
+system clean, I can even get away without installing virtualenv system wide:
+
+```bash
+cd /tmp
+# get the current virtualenv package
+curl https://pypi.python.org/pypi/virtualenv \
+    |  pup 'a[href]:contains("tar.gz") attr{href}' | xargs -L 1 wget
+
+# install virtualenv and virtualenvwrapper
+tar --extract --strip-components 1 --file *.tar.gz
+./virtualenv.py ~/opt/virtualenv
+~/opt/virtualenv/bin/pip install virtualenvwrapper
+
+```
+
+Now virtualenvwrapper can be loaded from your [shell
+configuration][virtualenvwrapper_zsh] which requires your
+[PATH][virtualenv_path] to contain the path to the virtualenv in `~/opt`.
+To make it even handier and to be able to easily handle the difference between
+Python 2 and 3, I've got [few aliases][virtualenvwrapper_aliases].
+
+[virtualenvwrapper_aliases]: https://github.com/sblask/dotfiles/blob/48d47a96aa174b92b808f5b3faff94e05b8bb5f0/zshrc.dotfile#L293
+[virtualenvwrapper_zsh]:     https://github.com/sblask/dotfiles/blob/40cccd3fc918059e5da160151af2bde7ce73b515/zshrc.dotfile#L233
+[virtualenv_path]:           https://github.com/sblask/dotfiles/blob/40cccd3fc918059e5da160151af2bde7ce73b515/zshrc.dotfile#L227
