Exhaustive list of things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux 9.10

http://blog.thesilentnumber.me/2009/09/top-things-to-do-after-installing.html

by r11t • 17 years ago

114 26 17 years ago

blog.thesilentnumber.me

brutimus• 17 years ago

This is actually a pretty decent list. I use a good portion of them on most of my Ubuntu machines. Also a few apps I had never heard of: Universal Applets and the brain stuffs.

hristov3• 17 years ago

Good article. I have one note -- if you are using a 64 bit version and like to watch flash videos (i.e., youtube, hulu, etc.) do not turn up any desktop effects or visual effects. There is a bug that prevents you from pressing any buttons on flash videos if you have desktop effects on. It works fine with desktop effects off.

ardit332• 17 years ago

oh, this is the kind of stuff that turns so many people off from using linux as a desktop. I just need my OS to fricking work. No tinker this, tinker that, turn off my network interface before starting vmware, otherwise kde will crash... etc. et.c etc.

Linux is great for servers, where you usually have two apps, your server, and/or the database. Anything more complicated and it cries like a little baby.

And yes, servers are a lot simpler than desktops, and linux lost the battle for the desktop by a long shot.

I guess, it is doing well in mobile, but only after heavy modifications and hand holding (android, and kindle are based in a linux os).

I guess you get what you pay for.

Niten• 17 years ago

"I guess you get what you pay for."

Let me guess: you just bought Windows 7 and you're trying to persuade yourself that the ridiculous amount of money you put down for that piece of software was well spent. Not too far off the mark?

In any event, this is not a case of "getting what you pay for"; this is almost certainly a bug in Flash, not in the free software stack. In other words, I don't suppose you believe that Flash player works better on Windows because you paid for your copy of Flash player, do you? (On the other hand, I guess someone who would buy Microsoft Windows on the precept that "you get what you pay for" might just be foolish enough to shell out cash for Flash player, too.)

hristov3• 17 years ago

I do not agree with this. I dual boot linux and windows and I have had much better experience with Linux and groan when I have to boot up into Windows because I need some silly windows only software.

This is a minor issue that is probably due to a faulty flash installation provided by Adobe and is easily handled. Oh and by the way we are talking about running flash on a 64 bit platform which has been problematic for all OSs including OSX and Windows.

You tend to hear more about the Linux issues just because Linux has been far ahead of Windows and OSX in 64 bit support so Linux users ran up against the Adobe foot-dragging much earlier.

chrisbroadfoot2• 17 years ago

The only thing that turns people off from using Linux as a desktop OS is preconceived notions and behaviour from years of using Windows.

rjurney• 17 years ago

Linux is great for a desktop if you like to tinker. If you have time and inclination to tinker with your desktop OS.

If you don't like to tinker with your workstation, and you just want a good GUI and a bash prompt to get some fucking work done, using Ubuntu for a day will make you cry in frustration. You just waste so much time.

I've spent way too much time the last two weeks trying to get a second monitor to work through a DP port - no such support. It sucks. I plugged it in, the monitors are not detected, install some different drivers, still not work. Tinker tinker tinker. I go out and buy a cable adaptor, see if BOTH monitors on DP will matter... I buy the wrong cable. Crap. Back to the store, they don't have DP->DVI cables. Crap. Order one online. Wait for a few days. Try every possible combination of settings and ports - max resolution 1280 * 800. All told I think I've spent about 16 hours tinkering with my Ubuntu desktop for various minor problems that bugged me. I could have been working that time if I had a Mac desktop.

And don't even get me started on IntelliJ and Java in Gnome.

Some people actually enjoy debugging these issues - but me, I'd rather be working productively. I love Linux for servers, it is totally easy to use there. For desktops... unless you have strange dependencies, there is no valid reason not to just use OS X. PCs are only cheaper if the value of your time is zero. I tend to value my time slightly higher than zero.

sjs• 17 years ago

You can always run a 32-bit browser and sidestep the whole issue. I don't think many web apps need 64-bit for anything.

hristov3• 17 years ago

Good point. And to add to that, to the best of my knowledge all Windows and OSX users are forced to use 32 bit browsers in order to have a working flash anyways, so if you limit yourself to 32 bit browsers you will have no issues and you will be getting the same thing as the Windows and OSX people.

mquander• 17 years ago

I solved this problem on my box by installing the proprietary 64-bit alpha Adobe Flash plugin which is linked in the article; buttons worked and I haven't encountered problems yet.

wglb2• 17 years ago

Very good stuff, but he did forget to download latest sbcl source and compile it.

mahmud• 17 years ago

No compilation necessary is you don't need #+sb-threads.

wglb2• 17 years ago

Well, seems they are dropping that as a package anyway, and it is just easier to download the source and clbuild and go for it.

chrisbroadfoot2• 17 years ago

The most important thing is missing. Drink a tasty beverage.

known• 17 years ago

And install http://lxde.org/ if you like a light weight desktop.

Exhaustive list of things to do after installing Ubuntu Linux 9.10

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