Martin Thoma A blog about Code, the Web and Cyberculture

Install and configure computer

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Contents

When I reinstall my computer, I usually do the following steps:

  1. Copy all data to an external HDD
  2. Save configuration:
    • Write down all WLAN configurations (possibly with screenshots; NOT ONLY PASSWORDS!)
    • .ssh and GPG keys
    • Filezilla configurations
  3. Write down all programs that I use.
    1. Export configuration of those programs.
  4. Wait a week or a month and see if something is missing in the lists from above.
  5. Drop the old system and install a new one

Operating System

I like to install the latest Ubuntu long term support version (LTS) with the MATE desktop environment: Download link

Ubuntu is an operating system and one of many flavors of Linux. Those flavors are called distributions. It is one of the most popular distributions according to distrowatch.com, just behind MX Linux, Manjaro and Linux Mint.

Software I usually install

If possible, I will give the Debian package names in the following list:

  • sublime_text
  • LaTeX and scientific writing
    • jabref: A reference manager
    • gnuplot
    • pdf2svg
    • aspell and aspell-de
  • Google Chrome
  • Multimedia
    • vlc: A very good DVD player
    • OnlineTvRecorder and especially OTR-Verwaltung
    • avidemux wine mplayer
    • sudo add-apt-repository ppa:clipgrab-team && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install clipgrab
  • Graphics
  • Programming
    • zsh and Oh-my-zsh
    • General Tools: sudo apt-get install make curl wget tree htop vim direnv zsh sqlitebrowser meld diffpdf
    • Python: pyenv, pip install pip-tools black isort pre-commit
    • MySQL: sudo apt-get install mysql-server && sudo apt-get install phpmyadmin
    • VS Code
    • C/C++: sudo apt-get install gcc g++ cmake build-essential gdb
    • ruby ruby-sqlite3 ruby-mysql
    • PHP: apache2 php5 php5-mysql
    • JavaScript: sudo apt-get install nodejs npm
  • Themes
  • Work
  • Other
    • libreoffice
    • PDF: qpdf (1)
  • DRM-caused (I want to watch DVDs!)
    • ubuntu-restricted-extras libdvd-pkg libdvdread4 libdvdnav4, then run sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg
    • totem banshee mplayer rhythmbox

Configure

Set defaults

update-alternatives --config editor
update-alternatives --config x-www-browser

MATE

See issues/262:

mv ~/.config/gtk-3.0/bookmarks ~/.config/gtk-3.0/bookmarks-backup
ln -s ~/.gtk-bookmarks ~/.config/gtk-3.0/bookmarks

GUI

I like the old menu bar quite a lot. It opens instantly and is customizable:

Old menu bar
Old menu bar

You can get it back in MATE by doing a right-click on the menu. Then click on "add to panel":

Add to panel
Add to panel

After that, the following dialog will pop up. Choose "Menu Bar":

Add menu bar
Add menu bar

DRM-Stuff

sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
sudo regionset #use that with caution

dotfiles

See github.com/MartinThoma/dotfiles.

Data

Download / copy all data back from GitHub / external HDDs to my internal HDD.

Themes

Bigger sites:

And some specific ones: