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A new version of "What to do after installing Ubuntu? Run this script!" has been released. The script now has an actual name: "Ubuntu 10.04 Start".
For those who've used the first release of the script: since a few versions ago, you can select which applications to install and which tweaks to apply from this script so if there's something you don't like, all you have to do is not select it!
Instead of a changelog, I'm going to list all the features again:
For those who've used the first release of the script: since a few versions ago, you can select which applications to install and which tweaks to apply from this script so if there's something you don't like, all you have to do is not select it!
Instead of a changelog, I'm going to list all the features again:
- Adds extra repositories: Ubuntu restricted, extras, Medibuntu, Getdeb, Dropbox (only if you select to install Dropbox)
- Installs from repositories: The GIMP, Pidgin, WINE, Choose between the best 3 docks for Linux (Docky, Cairo Dock and Avant Window Navigator), Install Google Earth, Bisigi Themes, Community themes (and extra community themes), Chromium browser, Gnome Do, Guake, VLC media player, Mplayer, SMplayer, Thunderbird, Dropbox, Codecs (multimedia, java, flash), additional archives support, DVD support and fonts, Ubuntu Tweak, Deluge Torrent, CompizConfig Settings Manager, Development tools (from build-essential to Subversion, GIT and so on).
- Downloads and installs the following: Google Chrome browser (will download the build for 32 or 64 bit, depending on your Ubuntu version), official smiley themes for Pidgin (for all the protocols), the latest Flash Player for 64bit via Adobe's website, Skype (32 or 64bit, depending on your Ubuntu version).
- Tweaks:
- Move window buttons to the right (Karmic style)
- Change Update Manager behavior to the one in Jaunty
- Remove mounted drive icons from desktop
- Disable the GDM login sound
- Enable the icons in menus and buttons
- Disable the GDM login user list
- Remove the ubuntu-docs package (frees up 252MB)
- Change Gnome Calendar first day of the week from Sunday to Monday
- Downloads, installs and configure sharp fonts (starting with version 0.4.5: also installs sharp fonts for Firefox)
- Fix 'apt-get update' delay for Google repository
- Automatically mount NTFS drives on startup
- Move window buttons to the right (Karmic style)
- Option to reset any changes made by the tweaks (tweaks only!) (stating with version 0.4.5)
- Automatically accepts the JAVA and Google Earth license so you don't have to
- The Medibuntu server is currently down which made me develop a new feature: the script now tests the main Medibuntu server and 2 other mirrors and adds whichever of these 3 is working.
- Lots of checks to make sure you run the script proprely: will check if the script is ran as root, if Synaptic, apt-get, dpkg or Software Center is running and will ask you to close it before running the script, checks the internet connection to make sure you can actually install the packages, etc.
The new version also fixes lots of bugs from the previous version.
Update: I've updated this post with a new version which also comes with multiple language support:
- Czech - Translation submitted by clever fox
- German - Translation submitted by Sebastian
- French - Translation submitted by astromb
- Slovak - Translation submitted by enjoy
- Spanish - Translation submitted by Vicente. Also many thanks to CokiDVD and Ezequiel
- Italian translation by Lippol94 (http://lippolweblog.wordpress.com), Santiago (www.uielinux.org)
- Polish translation by buczyw. Also many thanks to Jacek
- Japanese translation by Yuya Saito (http://ubuntu.studiomohawk.com/)
- Dutch translation by Raoul
- Portuguese (PT) translation by FatGiant
- Malaysian translation by akmalhisyam (http://fossmalaya.com)
- Galician translation by Jose Basalo
- Turkish translation by bsod1 (http://www.osa1.net)
- Korean translation by J.Park
- Brazilian Portuguese translation by Benjamim and lau
- Catalan translation by Joan Padrosa
- Estonian translation by Magnus
- Simplified Chinese translation by Iven Day
- Bahasa Indonesia translation by antok
- Asturian translation by iñigo
- Romanian translation
- Slovenian translation by summerb0y
- Arabic translation by sub7ei
- Swedish language by Abhijit
- Traditional Chinese translation by Robert D. Wei
- Vietnamese translation by Duy Thang
- Urdu translation by Shoaib Mirza
- Danish translation: Lars S. Hansen
- Latvian translation by Linards Liepiņš (https://www.launchpad.net/~linards-liepins)
- Russian translation by XRain - http://xrain.pp.ru/
- Lithuanian translation by Edmundas Ciucko
Why would you want to use Ubuntu 10.04 Start?
The main purpose of this script is to speed up configuring Ubuntu 10.04 immediately after you've just installed it. This includes both installing popular applications and codecs as well as fixing some annoyances in Ubuntu 10.04.
You can search for each package in Synaptic or Ubuntu Software Center and manually install it. But then you'll also need to go to the Skype website and manually download and install it (Skype is no longer available in the Medibuntu repository), the same for Google Chrome, and so on. You can also use Ubuntu Tweak for some tweaks (but only a few of the tweaks in this script). But this script combines the most popular tweaks which are not available in a single application with installing common packages which almost everyone uses, so the time spent configuring Ubuntu 10.04 is decreased dramatically.
The script should also help new Ubuntu users since the script configures lots of things without any input from the user (such as automounting NTFS drives on startup and so on).
You can search for each package in Synaptic or Ubuntu Software Center and manually install it. But then you'll also need to go to the Skype website and manually download and install it (Skype is no longer available in the Medibuntu repository), the same for Google Chrome, and so on. You can also use Ubuntu Tweak for some tweaks (but only a few of the tweaks in this script). But this script combines the most popular tweaks which are not available in a single application with installing common packages which almost everyone uses, so the time spent configuring Ubuntu 10.04 is decreased dramatically.
The script should also help new Ubuntu users since the script configures lots of things without any input from the user (such as automounting NTFS drives on startup and so on).
Download and run the Ubuntu 10.04 Start script
Remember it's not recommended running a script without knowing exactly what it does, so I invite you to look at the code before running it.
Note: The script comes with no guarantees. Use at your own risk!
To install Zenity (required by the script), download and run the script, copy / paste the following commands in a terminal:
You can also manually download the latest version from https://launchpad.net/ubuntustart/+download
sudo apt-get install zenity
wget http://launchpad.net/ubuntustart/0.4.x/0.4.9/+download/ubuntu-10.04-start-0.4.9.13.tar.gz
tar -xvf ubuntu-10.04-start-0.4.9.13.tar.gz
cd ubuntu-10.04-start/
sudo ./ubuntu-10.04-scriptYou can also manually download the latest version from https://launchpad.net/ubuntustart/+download
A few explanations on the tweaks:
Move window buttons to the right (Karmic style) - will move the Metacity window buttons to the right side, in the following order: Minimize, Maximize, Close
Change Update Manager behavior to the one in Jaunty - Ubuntu 9.04 (and newer) introduced a change to the handling of package updates, launching update-manager directly instead of displaying a notification icon in the GNOME panel. Users will still be notified of security updates on a daily basis, but for updates that are not security-related, users will only be prompted once a week. This tweak makes the update-manager not pop-up, but always show the updates in the notification area.
Remove mounted drive icons from desktop - removes ntfs and usb drives from the desktop; usually when mounting a drive it shows up on the desktop
Disable the GDM login sound - all the sounds in Ubuntu can be turned off from a GUI except this one. This is the sound produced when the GDM login screen loads.
Enable the icons in menus and buttons - the icons in menus and buttons were removed in Gnome 2.28 (starting with Ubuntu Karmic). However, up until Lucid, users were able to enable these from the Appearence dialog preferences. This is no longer possible so use this tweak instead.
Disable the GDM login user list - in Lucid, the user list is displayed in the GDM login screen (which IMO is a security concern). This fix will make no user show up in this list, and for logging in you must enter your username and password manually.
Change Gnome Calendar first day of the week from Sunday to Monday tweak - Gnome Calendar comes with Sunday as the first day of the week. This tweak fixes this for non-US citizens.
Remove the ubuntu-docs package (frees up 252MB): removed the ubuntu-docs package to free up 252 MB of disk space.
Install and configure sharp fonts: info about this feature, here: http://www.webupd8.org/2009/09/ubuntu-debian-script-to-install-sharp.html
Fix 'apt-get update' delay for Google Chrome repository - when downloading Google Chrome .deb, it automatically adds the Google repository. The same goes for Picasa, etc. This repository has a known issue which cause "sudo apt-get update" to take a very long time to complete. This tweak fixes this issue.
Add additional repositories (GetDeb, Medibuntu etc.) - Adds the following repositories: Getdeb, Medibuntu, Ubuntu universe and multiverse and lucid partner.
Note: I am no expert at BASH, so the script code will look very unpolished to some. But it works :)
Translations
Want to help translate this script? We've set up a simple, plain text file which you can help translate. See THIS post.
Credits:
- andreineculau.com for original Pidgin icons
- Mongi Gazelle for the sharp fonts script (website down for a while, that's why I didn't put a link here)
- based on the idea of: http://czytelnia.ubuntu.pl/index.php/2009/11/03/skrypt-ulatwiajacy-konfiguracje-ubuntu-9-10-karmic-koala/, but Ubuntu Start is a completely re-written script with lots of new features.
