Top things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux 9.10 Karmic Koala

[pokerfan]

Some good stuff here.

Thursday, October 29, 2009
Top things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux 9.10 Karmic Koala
So you've just installed Ubuntu 9.10, the cute and cuddly Karmic Koala, but now you're confronted with a most pertinent question, "What do i do now?" Ubuntu is a very complete and full-featured Linux distribution, but no operating system can come with everything you want. There's much more fun to be had in what comes after installing the OS on your machine: now you get to set it up with all the best software it didn't already come with! This list of the top things to do immediately after installing your newly acquired copy of Ubuntu doubles as a general list of great software to try out and use, complete with links to any special instructions on how to set them up, Terminal commands for those who prefer a command-line interface (CLI), and when available, personal package archives (PPA), repositories to keep the applications at their newest version, not just the security updates provided for you by default. Repositories can be added easily by clicking the "Add..." button in the "Other Software" tab of Software Sources and entering the provided APT Line. Feel free to pick and choose; enjoy!
http://www.reddit.com/tb/9z2xk

[RoyGBiv]

1. A minor criticism ...

...not of you of course...

But first I want to make clear I think that's an excellent listing with some very clear explanations that points to some often under-used applications and services. Thank you for posting it. I learned about ScramDisk 4 Linux from this article, which I had never used before. I believe I will have to give it a test drive.

My mild criticism is that the author isn't up-front about what his purpose there is, which for people new to Linux or the FOSS world generally, could generate some confusion and bad vibes. Indeed, one aspect of his advice is precisely the kind of thing that turns off new users and sends them running screaming back to the Windoze world.

Mr. Piccirillo's underlying purpose is, I believe, to push toward a completely free (as in speech) Ubuntu experience, but he doesn't directly say it. (I kept hearing Stallman talking in my head as I was reading this and kept wondering when Torvalds was going to come along and start the fight.) That is an admirable goal, one I strongly support. Unfortunately, if one is to do this, one will be required to make certain sacrifices, and the user who does needs to be totally aware of that from the beginning.

Just a couple of examples:

He says people should at least try Gnash, which is trying to be a replacement for Adobe Flash. I agree that people should at least try it, but before they do so they should know that Gnash only "mostly" supports Flash 7 and barely supports Flash 8 and 9 features. I don't know that it supports any Flash 10 features. What that means is that most of the content that people actually want that requires Flash will be inaccessible with Gnash or at least won't play properly. It is not, imo, anything anyone who is not either a developer or determined software tester should use on an every-day system. It will drive you nuts.

Another example involves the section on composting. What he's really talking about here is the fact that to use the power of modern graphics cards from ATI and NVidia, one is going to have to use their proprietary drivers. You can use those cards without the drivers, but you're not going to get nearly the performance out of them.

Several purists have become annoyed with the major distributions for actually making installing these drivers as easy as it is now. I actually have a friend who is one of these. He refers to my system as that "impure bastard child" because it has a proprietary NVidia driver. Well, yes, I do because I actually want to use my computer for something besides EMACS.

I know that's not specifically what he is saying here, but there's some coded language in this that made my ears perk, e.g. referring to Compiz as "not standards compliant," the graphic effects as "superfluous."

Now having said that, he completely glossed over the legal issues with libdvdcss, which is fine with me, but it sorta got off his theme.

Anyway, I'll shut up now. Like I said, this is minor. The guide as a whole is very, very nice. I wanted to talk about it a bit because this is the kind of thing I've seen confuse people new to Linux.

[pokerfan]

2. I agree

I think the author was attempting to address new users while trying to head off criticism from the purity crowd. Still, all in all, I found it to be a nice roundup of a few tweaks and add-ons, some that had me stymied for a few days. Nothing major enough to post here and bother say, you with as I knew that I would be able to eventually figure it out.

For example, I had a devil of a time getting my NVidia drivers working so that I could use Gnome's advanced visual effects (wobbly windows). Now it's easy. Is it "pure" FOSS? I don't care. Like the majority of users, I just want the damned thing to work.

I went round and round trying to get my optical drive to play DVD's. Again, not a major deal but now it's easy, a couple of clicks. I understand the legal issues and why Canonical can't ship it but 99% of users just want to play a DVD that they either already own or one that they rented from Netflix.

And yeah, I'm still using Adobe Flash, FWIW. Yeah, if and when Gnash gets there, someone please let know. Again, I think the author was simply trying to head off criticism from the purists.

This being my third version of Ubuntu having started with 8.10 makes me a seasoned veteran (:)) and I've found that there are a few minor housekeeping things that I do following every upgrade and this article addresses the majority of them.

One thing I always do with Gnome is get rid of one of the panels (task bars) as two is overkill IMO. Two is fine for beginners I suppose but the two panels lasted about a day with me. I also get rid of the three Applications/Places/System drop down menus and replace them with the single Main Menu thereby freeing up panel space. I also set the Main Menu to be activated with the Windows key. :rofl:

The author recommended Pitivi and I'm going to give it try. I had been using Kdenlive but had never been completely happy with it. Perhaps because it's KDE and I'm running Gnome? Dunno. I don't do that much video editing.

Everyone has their own favorite apps. For example, I can't live without an http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orthodox_file_manager#Orthodox_file_managers">OFM so I always install http://www.nongnu.org/gcmd/">GnomeCommander. Nautilus is fine and I use it often but when I really need to manipulate and move files around I revert to my Norton Commander days.

Games: For me it's Gnu Backgammon, FooBilliards and Sauerbraten. I'm not that big of a gamer really, but those three always get added. http://www.stellarium.org/">Stellarium is an excellent planetarium program so that always gets added.

Still, it's definitely an article I will passing along to new users albeit with some of the caveats you mentioned.