Top Things To Do After Installing Ubuntu 14.10/14.04/13.10/13.04/12.10/12.04

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1. System Update

Before proceeding to upgrade, the first and important thing to do is update/upgrade software repositories and make sure your systems contains latest versions of all software.

• sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade

2. Desktop Environments

2.1 Cinnamon

Cinnamon is a GNOME 3 fork that allow you to have a panel at the bottom with a classic Menu, this is useful for people that want to use Ubuntu with a classic Bottom Menu.

Cinnamon latest version for Ubuntu 14.04 is not yet ported to the stable PPA, however we can install it using nightly builds which is not recommended for the production system.

If you want to install the most recent version of cinnamon, then follow the steps below.

• sudo apt-get install cinnamon

2.2 Gnome

To install GNOME 3 in Ubuntu 14.10, enter the following command:

• sudo apt-get install gnome-shell ubuntu-gnome-desktop

During installation, the installer will ask you to select the login manager of your choice (LightDM is the default Unity manager and GDM is the GNOME default — Both will work)

3. Multimedia

3.1 VLC Media Player

VLC is the best media player for Linux it play almost everything, it has many features that you can not find in any other media player, read this post if you want to know what VLC can do: 25 things you can do with VLC Media player!

You can install VLC from Ubuntu Software Center or via terminal by using the following command:

• sudo apt-get install vlc

Or install the most recent version 2.1.1 using the following PPA.

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:videolan/stable-daily
• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install vlc

3.2 Kodi

Kodi, formerly known as XBMC, is an award-winning free and open source (GPL) software media player and

entertainment

hub for digital media. XBMC is available for Linux, OS X, Windows, and the original Xbox. While XBMC functions very well as a standard media player application for your computer, it has been designed to be the perfect companion for your HTPC. Supporting an almost endless range of remote controls, and combined with its beautiful interface and powerful skinning engine, XBMC feels very natural to use from the couch and is the ideal solution for your home theater.

Open terminal and copy the following commands:

• sudo apt-get install xbmc

3.3 Openshot video editor

Openshot, the best existing actually for Linux. You can install Openshot from Ubuntu Software Center, but if you want to install the latest release, you can do that by adding the following repositories:

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa
• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install openshot openshot-doc

4. Install Common Codecs And Enable DVD playback

Perhaps, installing a few common codecs might give you better playback for your media files.

sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gxine libdvdread4 totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0 mpg321 gstreamer1.0-libav

To play encrypted DVDs, the libdvdcss2 package is essential. libdvdcss is a simple library designed for accessing DVDs like a block device without having to bother about the decryption.

• sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh

4.1 Enable Flash Support On Browsers

For Ubuntu 32 bit & 64 bit: To be able to watch some videos and see flash website in your browser (Firefox/Chrome), you need to install flash plugin, go to Ubuntu Software Center and search word “flash” and install it.

Alternatively enter the following command to install flash plugins.

• sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer

5. Torrent Softwares

Transmission bitTorrent client comes pre-installed with Ubuntu 14.10 by default. If you’re looking for some other torrent clients, you may try either one of the following.

5.1 uTorrent

uTorrent is a lightweight and efficient BitTorrent client for Linux, Windows OS and Mac OS. The installation of uTorrent in Linux is different from Windows and Mac OS. In Linux, uTorrent runs as a web server. You will access uTorrent from your browser. You should start the uTorrent server in order to access it from your browser.

Check my previous article to know more about uTorrent

• How to install uTorrent

5.2 Deluge

The Deluge application was designed to be a full-featured torrent client. Deluge uses libtorrent in its back-end and PyGTK for its user interface and is currently usable on POSIX-compliant operating systems. It is intended to bring a native, full-featured client to GTK desktop environments such as GNOME and Xfce. An official Windows port is also available.

Open terminal and type the following commands:

• sudo apt-get install deluge

6. Messengers

Here is the list of recommended Messengers for your system. Don’t install everything. Install one by one and pick up the right one for your requirement and delete the rest.

6.1 Pidgin

The best messenger client and 30 plugins, you can do voice and video chat with friends.

To install Pidgin, enter the following command:

• sudo apt-get install pidgin

6.2 aMSN

aMSN is a free windows Live Messenger clone. aMSN attempts to emulate the look and feel of Windows Live Messenger, and supports many of its features.

aMSN has many features which are not present in Windows Live Messenger. Users can set alarms, are able to see others who have removed them from their contact list, and are able to open many profiles at once. It is also very customizable, with extensions and themes available at the main site.

To install aMsn, enter the following command in your terminal.

• sudo apt-get install amsn

6.3 Skype

If you’re want to install Skype, check my post.

• How to install Skype

7. Gaming & Emulators

7.1 Steam

As you may know, Steam is an ultimate gaming platform developed by Valve corporation. Steam is available for GNU Linux, Mac OS X and Windows. Recently, Valve has developed and released SteamOS, a Linux based distribution built around Steam client. You can either download and install SteamOS on your system, or just download and install the steam client to play

games on your existing operating system.

To install Steam On Ubuntu 14.04, enter the following command:

• sudo apt-get install steam

Click Ok to continue. Accept the License agreement.Now, the steam will be installed on your system. Launch it either from Dash or Menu. At the first launch, Steam will check for updates and download and install them if updates available. After updating Steam, you can enter into steam and start playing games. If you don’t have an account, create it using the CREATE NEW ACCOUNT link.

7.2 Wine

Wine enables Linux, Mac, FreeBSD, and Solaris users to run Windows applications without a copy of Microsoft Windows. Wine is free software under constant development. Other platforms may benefit as well.

• sudo apt-get install wine

8. Extras & Miscellaneous

8.1 Install Archive Management Apps

Install the following packages will allow you to deal with almost all and any zip formated files.

• sudo apt-get install unace unrar zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils rar uudeview mpack arj cabextract file-roller

8.2 Y PPA Manager

Y PPA Manager is a GUI tool to easily add PPAs, search a package in all Launchpad PPAs, remove duplicate PPAs (only works with separate .list files), backup PPAs and other PPA-related tasks. Check out the Launchpad page for a complete features list.

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/y-ppa-manager
• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install y-ppa-manager

Y-PPA-Manager can be launched either from Dash or Menu.

8.3 Install Java

Java is fast, secure, and reliable programming and computing platform. There are lots of applications and websites that will not work unless you have Java installed, and more are created every day. To install java simply run the following command from your terminal.

• sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jdk

If you want to try oracle-java 7, try the following steps.

First you need to remove OpenJDK for this run the following command from your terminal:

• sudo apt-get purge openjdk*

Now you can install Java 7 by adding the following repository:

• sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
• sudo apt-get update
• sudo apt-get install oracle-java7-installer

To remove Java 7, run this in terminal:

• sudo apt-get remove oracle-java7-installer

8.4 FileZilla

Filezilla is one of the best ftp client for Linux.

Install it via command line:

• sudo apt-get install filezilla

8.5 Oracle VirtualBox

If you want to run another OS in a virtual machine, install Virtualbox.

For installation, follow the instructions in my post.

• How to install virtualbox

8.6 Cheese: Web Cam Software

Cheese uses your webcam to take photos and videos, applies fancy special effects and lets you share the fun with others. To install cheese on your Ubuntu desktop, enter the following command:

• sudo apt-get install cheese

8.7 digiKam

digiKam is an advanced digital photo management application for Linux, Windows, and Mac-OSX. It can be used by Photographers to view, manage, edit, enhance, organize, tag, and share photographs under Linux systems.

You can easily install it using command:

• sudo apt-get install digikam

8.8 Gimp

If you want to edit images daily on a professional level or just a hobbyist, GIMP comes in handy.

• sudo apt-get install gimp gimp-data gimp-plugin-registry gimp-data-extras

8.9 Install Compiz

To install Compiz use the following command:

• sudo apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-plugins

All the best ...