Since I frequently break my Linux installs by poking and prodding at different things, I've decided it's time to create a script that can take an out-of-the-box Ubuntu installation and set it up to my liking. Currently, if I run this script on a fresh install of ubuntu, it works, and the memory usage comes out at an average of 105 mb.

ubuntu-15.04-customized-setup.sh

#!/bin/bash
# !WARNING! This script does extreme things to Unity. In fact it annihilates it. If you wish to 
# run this script, please just give it a once over before you do so. This way, you'll understand 
# what it is actually doing and may be prepared for the results.

# A script to setup Ubuntu the way I like it.

# Also its advisable to start this from a seperate tty. Ya know, because this script breaks things :)

# Update Repositories and install new versions of current packages
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

# Get some of the tools needed to do other things down the road
sudo apt-get install curl vim imagemagick alsa-utils lsb-release scrot htop flashplugin-installer
wget http://github.com/downloads/djmelik/archey/archey-0.2.8.deb
sudo dpkg -i archey-0.2.8.deb 

# I don't like Unity. It's gotten better since I first used it a few years ago, but it still isnt
# exactly my cup of tea. So I'm gonna get rid of it.

# When tested on a VM the two lines below broke apt-get and possibly some other things. We'll Try something else
#sudo apt-get remove unity unity-asset-pool unity-control-center unity-control-center-signon \
#unity-gtk-module-common unity-lens* unity-services unity-settings-daemon unity-webapps* unity-voice-service

# Heres why you might want to use a different tty
sudo service lightdm stop

sudo apt-get autoremove --purge unity unity-common unity-services unity-lens-\* unity-scope-\* unity-webapps-\* \
gnome-control-center-unity hud libunity-core-6\* libunity-misc4 libunity-webapps\* appmenu-gtk appmenu-gtk3 appmenu-qt\* \
overlay-scrollbar\* activity-log-manager-control-center firefox-globalmenu thunderbird-globalmenu libufe-xidgetter0 \
xul-ext-unity xul-ext-webaccounts webaccounts-extension-common xul-ext-websites-integration gnome-control-center \
gnome-session

# For some reason grub freaks out around here and asks for you to reselect the HDD it uses. needs investigation.
# Since were awesome and are using Awesome, and display managers are
# for the weak, well just get rid of that little login manager called lightdm.
sudo apt-get purge lightdm

# Install Awesome Window Manager latest
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:klaus-vormweg/awesome
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install awesome

# setup basic directories for Awesome
cp -r /etc/xdg/awesome/ ~/.config/
cp -r /usr/share/awesome/ ~/.config

# Install copycat-killer's repos
cd ~/.config/awesome
git clone https://github.com/copycat-killer/awesome-copycats.git
git clone https://github.com/copycat-killer/lain.git

cd ~/.config/awesome
mv awesome-copycats/* .
cp rc.lua.multicolor rc.lua
cd
cp -r ~/.config/awesome/awesome-copycats/themes ~/.config/awesome/

# from here the user needs to choose which theme and rc.lua she wishes to use :)
# Thanks to copycat-killer @ https://github.com/copycat-killer for creating such amazing repos.

# bash is ok, but zsh is better :D
wget https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/raw/master/tools/install.sh -O - | zsh
chsh -s `which zsh`

# Since we no longer have a login manager, and even with one things won't work correctly, we'll have to 
# manipulate some things to get awesome to start at login
#cp /etc/skel/.bash_profile ~/.bash_profile

#cat > bash_profile-text-to-be-appended << EOF
#[[ -z $DISPLAY && $XDG_VTNR -eq 1 ]] && exec startx
#EOF

#cat bash_profile-text-to-be-appended >> ~/.bash_profile
#rm bash_profile-text-to-be-appended

# now x needs to know to run Awesome WM when startx is issued
cd
cat > .xinitrc << EOF
if [ -d /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d ] ; then
    for f in /etc/X11/xinit/xinitrc.d/?* ; do
        [ -x "$f" ] && . "$f"
    done
    unset f
fi

[[ -f ~/.Xresources ]] && xrdb -merge ~/.Xresources

# twm &
# xclock -geometry 50x50-1+1 &
# xterm -geometry 80x50+494+51 &
# xterm -geometry 80x20+494-0 &
# exec xterm -geometry 80x66+0+0 -name login

xscreensaver &
xsetroot -cursor_name left_ptr &
exec awesome
EOF

# Now well make our x terminals less ugly
cd
cat > ~/.Xresources << EOF
! vim: set filetype=xdefaults :
*foreground: #D7D0C7
*background: #151515

!black
! *color0:     #AF875F
! *color8:     #AF875F
*color0:     #101010
*color8:     #404040
!red
*color1:     #E84F4F
*color9:     #D23D3D
!green
*color2:     #B8D68C
*color10:    #A0CF5D
!yellow
*color3:     #E1AA5D
*color11:    #F39D21
!blue
*color4:     #7DC1CF
*color12:    #4E9FB1
!magenta
*color5:     #9B64FB
*color13:    #8542FF
!cyan
*color6:     #6D878D
*color14:    #42717B
!white
*color7:     #dddddd
*color15:    #dddddd

URxvt*borderColor:        #151515
URxvt*colorBD:            #ffffff
URxvt*cursorColor:        #ff8939
URxvt*cursorColor2:       #151515
EOF

wget -q -O - https://apt.mopidy.com/mopidy.gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get install ncmpcpp
sudo cat > ~/etc/apt/sources.list.d/mopidy.list << EOF
# Mopidy APT archive
deb http://apt.mopidy.com/ stable main contrib non-free
deb-src http://apt.mopidy.com/ stable main contrib non-free
EOF

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mopidy irssi

# we could either reboot or do this the hard way. I elect for just rebooting.
sudo reboot