How to setup the perfect Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop
Now that you have Ubuntu 8.10 installed, we are going to add all the basic programs, codecs, and customizations that you may need on Ubuntu.
Services
Your new install probably has some services running that you don’t need. Let’s remove those to free up some system resources. To do this select System > Administration > Services. Unlock the services tab by entering your password. Then remove the services you do not need.
Startup Programs
Next lets disable the startup programs that you do not need by going to System > Preferences > Sessions.
Installing & Uninstalling Programs
Select Applications > Add/Remove to install any programs you may want, and uninstall any programs that you don’t.
System Updates
Now lets customize how your computer notifies you when there are updates. Select System > Software Sources.
Under the Ubuntu Software tab, you can enable or disable the main repositories for Ubuntu. One suggestion that I have is that you change which repository you are using. By default it will use the US Server (or possibly another countries server if you are located outside the US. We want our updates to be as fast as possible and Ubuntu provides a way for us to determine what the best repository server is for us. Where it says Download from: click the arrow. This will bring up a list: choose Other. A new window will pop up with a button on the right hand side that says “Select Best Server.” Click that button and Ubuntu will test the downloads from all the servers and determine which one is best for you. When it is done, the server that is best for you will be highlighted. Click Choose Server to close the window.
In the Third-Party Software tab you can enable or disable any repositories that are not official Ubuntu repositories.
The Updates tab allows you to choose which updates you want to be informed about, and how often you want Ubuntu to check for updates.
Medibuntu
To install all the “goodies” out there for Ubuntu, we need to make the Medibuntu repositories available. To do this, run the following two commands:
and
Install Restricted Codecs
Ubuntu does not ship with items such as flash, java, and some codecs due to licensing. Let’s enable the backports repository and install these items.
Locate the following lines and remove the # from the front of them:
# deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-backports main restricted universe multiverse
Now lets update your system and install the restricted codecs.
Speed up your system
Even though Ubuntu is fast on its own, wouldn’t you like to make it even faster? Lets install an application called Preload which will monitor what applications you run and then predict what you will run and fetch the binaries and their dependencies into memory for faster startup times. Say that you run Firefox, VLC, and GIMP every day, Preload will keep the libraries in your RAM to load these programs for you faster. This is similar to Windows SuperFetch.
Other Programs
Now lets install Adobe Acrobat Reader, Skype, Wine VLC, and Amarok.
Clean it all up
Now that we have finished installing everything, we need to go through and clean up the mess that was made. We do that by running:
sudo apt-get autoclean
The End
Now you have a fully customized full-featured Ubuntu 8.10 install. Enjoy!
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[...] Say that you run Firefox , VLC, and GIMP every day, Preload will keep the libraries in your RAM to load these programs for you faster. This is similar to Windows SuperFetch. sudo aptitude install preload. How to setup the perfect Ubutnu 8.10 Desktop [...]
For me, the two lines
# deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ hardy-backports main restricted universe multiverse
didn’t exist yet.
So they had to be added.
Additionally, these are the hardy backports. So I switched it to the intrepid ones:
# deb http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-backports main restricted universe multiverse
# deb-src http://archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ intrepid-backports main restricted universe multiverse
Thanks for the guide!
@SEEGORKESOLOT Thanks.. its been fixed
Many thanks for the article.
Can you explain a little more what the backports are all about? When i finished that part the update just deleted a few files, and didn’t add any.
FYI – I have had Ubuntu on for a while now, this is about my third version update so I already have most of this stuff installed, i just need to fix the repositories every time I upgrade. But I don’t remember anyone recommending backports before.
Thanks
@MR DANGER, You can get more information on backports here: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UbuntuBackports
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AptUrl
Thank you so very much! Excellent job!
Dude! You saved me hours of frustration! Having moved from Mandriva to Kubuntu, I found this incredibly useful in the transition. Many thanks!
Excellent, I’m new to Ubuntu… It’s a perfect site for me. I was wondering if someone has been able to install the last version of Elisa Media 0.5.18??
Hi,your guide is one of the best i have come across.Thank you for the time u have put into it.
I was wondering if you had a solution to gchat w/video to work ? dont really like skype. I have been able to install empathy, and view the webcam on my end, it just hasnt be able to make any connections to other clients, unless they are on gtalk, which doesnt support video… thanks
@ORRIN, I only use google chat on Pidgin, so I don’t have a clue about the video portion. Sorry..
thanks anyway, I personally hate pidgin, from what I have read seems like empathy might be the go to app to replace it in future releases. thanks for your great how to!
Hey thanks a bunch for this post. This is an excellent set of recommendations and I now include this procedure with every install that I do.
[...] USB Internet in UBUNTU Linux? Thanx. I am trying to download and install as per the guide: How to setup the perfect Ubuntu 8.10 Desktop | Chris Johnston These commands (download n install) are taking hours to complete. And my connection sometimes gets [...]
Best guide I’ve come across yet. Short and simple. Excellent Job!
I used chrisjohnston as a protocol (5 CPUs in 5 days) for installing Ubuntu 8.10 to spread Ubuntu in Appalachia. Thank you Chris! Two tips on Chris’s instructions for the novice like me: 1. On installing the restricted extras: When Java screen comes up for acceptance hit tab key to start acceptance questions. 2. After removing the # from the two backports in the sources.list you must hit “save” and then “close” to get back to the terminal prompt for the next step in Chris’s protocol.
What a life saver, I’ve just re-installed ubuntu 8.10 and forgot how to install java & the the likes, thx
ubuntu n00b so I got stuck when the java box pooped up. I was confused by it reading “configuring sun java etc” and then had “ok” at the bottom.
So I was like “ok” I’ll just sit here and wait, but then nothing happened…lol….then I accidentally closed the terminal and then got stuck with message when I tried again, “dpkg package was interupted…”
just type “sudo dpkg –configure -a”
and you’ll be back in bizness
thanks for this guide, I don’t quite understand what I’m doing but it’s kind of cool seeing all the numbers and inter workings of my computer.
So far I LOVE ubuntu.
How do I manually disable services permanently?
This guy lists things to optimize ubuntu but doesn’t fully explain how to do them.
http://www.techsopa.com/linux/optimizing-ubuntu-810-boot-speed/
thx!
It’s not “sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list”
sudo is for CLI-applications, use gksu for graphical applications.
The right command is:
gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list
If you are looking for a good MSN client with video and voice features try using amsn.
Also, if you are bold, try the ubuntu 9.04 alpha. works great for me. Especially fast when you manually configure the installer to make a ext4 filesystem partition.
These instuctions work for 9.04 with some mods. substitute JAUNTY for INTREPID.
eg:
sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/jaunty.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
This is probably one of the best HOW TO I have ever seen.
Thanks a lot for the time you have put into.
I’ve been using ubuntu for a while, but there’s some good tips I didn’t know about. Thanks!
Have people had good luck with wine under ubuntu?
By doing this do you need to open the add/remove application to actually install or does it directly install all the updated app?
Actually, it’s Medibuntu, not “Mediabuntu”…
@Robbert: It does not make it any different if you use sudo instead of gksu, gksu is a “graphical front-end” for sudo…
ubuntu n00b so I got stuck when the java box pooped up. I was confused by it reading “configuring sun java etc” and then had “ok” at the bottom.
So I was like “ok” I’ll just sit here and wait, but then nothing happened…lol….then I accidentally closed the terminal and then got stuck with message when I tried again, “dpkg package was interupted…”
just type “sudo dpkg –configure -a”
I typed it exactly and it now shows Error:Broken count>0
E:_cache->open() failed, please report.
I am really stuck what do i do?
i found help in irc
It is working now.
Am running the rest of the code now.
Thanks
you are the man thank you for doing this for both 8.10 and 9.04 thank you so much
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