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A Beginners Guide on Things To Do After Installing Ubuntu.

Beginners Ubuntu

A Beginners Guide To Things To Do After Installing Ubuntu.

1. Check For Updates

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

2. Enable additional repositories for more software

Ubuntu has several repositories from where it provides software for your system. Enabling all these repositories will give you access to more software and proprietary drivers.

  • open Gnome Search Box and search for Software & Updates:

Under the Ubuntu Software tab, make sure you have checked all of the Main, Universe, Restricted and Multiverse repository checked.

Now move to the Other Software tab, check the option of Canonical Partners.

You’ll have to enter your password in order to update the software sources. Once it completes, you’ll find more applications to install in the Software Center.

3. Install All Missing / Additional Drivers

To install Additional or Missing Drivers on your Ubuntu 18.04 LTS dekstop,

  • Open Gnome Search Box search for Software & update.
  • Click on “Additional Drivers” Tab and follow the specific instructions provided on the screen.

4.Installing Complete Multimedia Support

In order to play media files like MP#, MPEG4, AVI etc, you’ll need to install media codecs. Ubuntu has them in their repository but doesn’t install it by default because of copyright issues in various countries.

sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

5. Improve Battery by installing TLP for Linux

sudo apt-get install tlp tlp-rdw

Once installed, run the command below to start it:

sudo tlp start

6. Enable ‘Minimize on Click’ for the Ubuntu Dock

I like to click on an app icon in the Dock to both restore, switch to and minimise it. This is the default behaviour in Windows.

But by default the Ubuntu Dock has this option turned off.default the Ubuntu Dock has this option turned off.

To enable minimise on click for the Ubuntu Dock, just run this command in the Terminal:

gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock click-action 'minimize'

7. Turn On Night Light

To enable Night light in the Ubuntu desktop, head over to. light.

  • Settings > Devices > Screen Display >Night Light.
  • Turn on the toggle switch for enabling Night light.

Additionally, you can also schedule the time for when Night Light sets in.

8. Cleaning

To remove the packages that failed to install completely,

sudo apt-get autoclean

Additionally, to remove the apt-cache,

 sudo apt-get clean

Finally, to remove the unwanted software dependencies,

 sudo apt-get autoremove

9. Disable Startup Applications from the gnome app list.

In the Startup Application Preferences, you can disable, add or remove the programs.

  • Open Gnome Search Box
  • Search for Startup Application
  • Here you can add/remove programs

10. Install GNOME Shell Extensions

GNOME Shell Extensions are a great way for GNOME desktop users to customize their user experience by configuring interface components like launching animations, window management.

The GNOME Shell Extensions mainly work as extensions for your web browsers, such as chrome or firefox. Installation is done with just a flick of a button. A must-have feature to have after installing Ubuntu.

GNOME Extensions website: https://extensions.gnome.org/

11. Change the look of your desktop with new themes and icons

allow you to customize your desktop environment the way you like.

sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool -y

12.Use Flatpak in Ubuntu 18.04 to get access to more applications

Flatpak is a universal packaging system from Fedora. Like Snap, you can install Flatpak packaged applications in various Linux distributions that support Flatpak.

Ubuntu 18.04 supports Flatpak by default. However, with a few tweaks, you can get Flatpak applications directly in Ubuntu Software Center. This will enable you to easily install additional applications like Viber etc which you won’t find in the default Ubuntu Software Center.

First, check if Flatpak support is enabled or not (minimal install option don’t have Flatpak:

sudo apt install flatpak

And then, install the Flatpak plugin for GNOME Software Center.

sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak

The last thing would be to add the Flathub repository that will give you access to all the applications available on Flathub website.

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

The only downside is that you’ll see multiple applications in Ubuntu software center. Flatpak applications are tagged with source dl.flathub.org and thus you can easily distinguish them.

13. Opt out of data collection in Ubuntu 18.04 (optional)

you can disable it by going to System Settings -> Privacy and then set the Problem Reporting to Manual or you can set it to never.

13. Customize the dock panel.

 gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock extend-height false
 gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock dock-position BOTTOM
 gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock transparency-mode FIXED
 gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock dash-max-icon-size 64
 gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock unity-backlit-items true

Tip #1: Use apt-fast instead of apt-get apt-fast is a shell script wrapper for apt-get and aptitude that can drastically improve APT download times by downloading packages with multiple connections per package.

The apt-fast package can be installed in all currently supported versions of Ubuntu by adding the apt-fast/stable PPA to your software sources and installing it using these commands.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:apt-fast/stable 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install apt-fast  
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