Ubuntu 24.04LTS Installation Quick Reference

Initial installation

• From https://releases.ubuntu.com/24.04/, download 64-bit PC (AMD64) desktop image, to Downloads/ubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso.
• Create a bootable USB drive:

  If drive contains data, unmount it: (e.g. umount /dev/sdb1):

  1. Application: Startup Disk Creator:
  2. Source: /home/ray/Downloads/ubuntu-24.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso
  3. To Use: /media/ray/2G-USB
  4. Make Startup Disk
• Copy files from existing system (see Configure — System files below for suggestions) into the writable partition on the USB.

• Do not enable any internet connection yet. (something breaks later on during the install).

  Use USB drive to install Ubuntu.

  I used the suggested defaults, including wiping the existing disk and having only one partition. It might be better to have a separate partition for user data though.

Device drivers

Install device drivers (e.g. for WiFi).

• Application: software and updates
• Select: additional drivers
• Select: install

Enable Wi-fi

• Application: settings
• Select: Wi-Fi

Terminal

• Start the Terminal application.
• Pin the icon to the dash.

Extra software

Get software that Ubuntu can't install by default for legal reasons.

• # apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras

System files

Update as necessary based on previous incarnation saved on the writable partition on the USB:

• /etc/passwd
• /etc/shadow
• /etc/hosts
• /etc/exports
• /etc/fstab
• /etc/ssh
• /var/mail
• /home

Sudo

Change sudo timeout (e.g. to 60 minutes):

• # visudo
• - Defaults env_reset
• + Defaults env_reset,timestamp_timeout=60

Tmp/Swap

If there is a lot of RAM available:

• Temporary Space

  • Put /tmp into RAM (it will be deleted at each reboot):

    • $ vi /etc/fstab
    • + tmpfs /tmp tmpfs rw,nosuid,nodev,noatime 0 0

• Swapping

  • Discourage swapping:

    • # vi /etc/sysctl.d/local.conf
    • + # Lots of memory, so don't wear out the SSD.
    • + vm.swappiness = 0

    Verify:

    • $ cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
    • 0

Grub

• Make the Grub output legible on a 4K screen. (This patch sometimes goes away without warning.)

  • # vi /etc/default/grub
  • - #GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480
  • + GRUB_GFXMODE=640x480

Desktop

• gnome-tweaks is a graphical interface for configuring the gnome desktop.

  • # apt install gnome-tweaks

• Focus windows without raising them.

  • Application: gnome-tweaks.
  • Windows: focus on hover.

• There's a lot of room available for the full clock. [???? How ????]

  • Application: gnome-tweaks.
  • Top Bar: weekday, date, seconds.

• Dock appearance. [??? How ???]

  • Application: settings.
  • Appearance: Dock: auto-hide, 42%, left.

• Not-in-use power settings. [??? How ???]

  • Application: settings.
  • Power: 15 min, Wi-Fi off, Bluetooth off.

• Turn down volume on obnoxious alert sound. [??? How ???]

  • Application: settings
  • →Sound
  • →System Sounds volume

• Add window borders (needed for white-on-black mode). [??? still needed ???]

  • # vi .config/gtk-4.0/gtk.css
  • + decoration { border: 2px solid gray; background: gray; }

• Remove Trash icon from dock. [??? How ???]

  • $ gsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-togsettings set org.gnome.shell.extensions.dash-to-dock show-trash 'false'

• Make dash icon click minimize all related windows.

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

Keyboard

• Make the pointless CapsLock key work as a Ctrl key.

  • # vi /etc/default/keyboard
  • + XKBOPTIONS="ctrl:nocaps"

• Make NumLock stay on at boot time. [??? doesn't work ???]

  • $ gsettings set org.gnome.settings-daemon.peripherals.keyboard numlock-state 'on'

• Set the compose key (for ~/.XCompose).

  • $ gnome-tweaks
  
  
  • Keyboard
  • Compose Key: Menu

Home

• Unused Features

  • Disable search database (resource intensive; I don't use it).

    • Settings.
    • Search.
    • Turn off service.

  • Disable fingerprint daemon.

    • # apt purge fprintd

  • To purge snapd:

    • # apt purge snapd
    • # rm -r /home/*/snap
    • 
      # echo '
      # Prevent repository packages from triggering the installation of snap,
      # Forbids snapd from being installed by APT by using Pin-Priority: -10
      Package: snapd
      Pin: release a=*
      Pin-Priority: -10
      ' | tee /etc/apt/preferences.d/nosnap.pref
    • 
      # diff /etc/environment{.orig,}
      1c1
      < PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:
      /usr/local/games:/snap/bin"
      ---
      > PATH="/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin:/usr/games:
      /usr/local/games"

• Personal Commands

  For UW/MFCF commands, copy:

  • align
  • decomment
  • lc
  from: Ray's program source into ~/bin/. Remove ".py" suffixes and in case of namespace conflict, rename as appropriate.

Packages

Fetch latest list of software packages, and then upgrade those that need it.

• # apt update
• # apt upgrade

Syslog

• cron

  Enable the crontab log.

  • # vi /etc/rsyslog.d/50-default.conf
  • < #cron.* /var/log/cron.log
  • > cron.* /var/log/cron.log

Mail server

The cron uses mail to deliver error messages, and complains about "No MTA" if there isn't one. [??? not needed ???]

• # apt install postfix mailutils

When the postfix installation asks, select local delivery only.

SSH Server

• # apt install openssh-server
• # ssh-keygen -b 4096 -t rsa
• # ssh-add
• # vi /etc/ssh/ssh_config.d/local.conf
• + ForwardX11Trusted yes
• Copy old ssh_host_* files

Filesystems

• Imports

  Find what is available from a server (NFS or SAMBA):

  • $ showmount --exports HOSTNAME
  • $ smbclient --list=HOSTNAME

• Media Sharing

  • # apt install rygel

  Settings → Sharing → Media → enable Media Sharing

• Automount

  If /net exists, references to /net/hostname/directory will automaticaly perform the NFS mount if it is available.

  If /cifs exists, references to /cifs/hostname/folder will automaticaly perform the Samba CIFS mount if it is available.

  • # apt install autofs
  • # vi /etc/auto.master
  • + /net -hosts
  • + /cifs /etc/auto.smb --timeout=300
  • # /etc/init.d/autofs reload

• Samba

  If Windows shares aren't being detected, StackExchange suggests adding this line:

  • # vi /etc/samba/smb.conf
  • + client max protocol = NT1

• NFS

  • NFS Server

    • # apt install nfs-kernel-server
    • # mkdir /export
    • # vi /etc/exports
    • + /export 192.168.1.0/24(rw,nohide,insecure,no_subtree_check,async)
    • # vi /etc/hosts.deny
    • + rpcbind mountd nfsd statd lockd rquotad : ALL
    • # vi /etc/hosts.allow
    • + rpcbind mountd nfsd statd lockd rquotad : 127.0.0.1, 192.168.0.10
    • # service nfs-kernel-server restart

  • NFS Client

    • # apt install nfs-common
    • # mount -t nfs -o proto-tcp,port=2049 192.168.0.10:/export/... /mnt/...
    • # vi /etc/fstab
    • + latitude-d830:/export/backups/ray-desktop /mnt/latitude-d830/backups nfs rw,auto,noatime,nfsvers=4 0 0

• SD Card

  • # apt install exfat-fuse exfat-utils
  • # apt install gparted

• Android

  • # apt install jmtpfs
  • $ jmtpfs ~/mnt/AngiePhone

Monitoring

• hardware

  • # lshw -c multimedia

• sensors

  • # apt install lm-sensors
  • # sensors-detect
  • # /etc/init.d/kmod start
  • $ sensors
  • iwlwifi-virtual-0
  • Adapter: Virtual device
  • temp1: N/A
  •  
  • coretemp-isa-0000
  • Adapter: ISA adapter
  • Package id 0: +46.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
  • Core 0: +46.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
  • Core 1: +45.0°C (high = +100.0°C, crit = +100.0°C)
  •  
  • pch_skylake-virtual-0
  • Adapter: Virtual device
  • temp1: +47.5°C

• ifconfig

  • # apt install net-tools

• dconf-editor

  • # apt install dconf-editor

• iostat

  • # apt install sysstat
  • $ iostat | grep -v "loop"
  • Linux 4.15.0-42-generic (ray-desktop) 2018-12-09 _x86_64_ (4 CPU)
  •  
  • avg-cpu: %user %nice %system %iowait %steal %idle
  • 3.54 0.01 0.90 0.18 0.00 95.36
  •  
  • Device tps kB_read/s kB_wrtn/s kB_read kB_wrtn
  • sda 5.73 20.54 211.40 1919230 19752713
  • sdb 0.04 0.21 0.47 19965 43800

• SSD

  • # apt install smartmontools
  • # smartctl --scan
  • # smartctl --all /dev/nvme0

Backups

• Rsync

  This method allows quick restores and version comparisons by standard CLI commands.

  Run this script once a day from the root crontab:

  • 45 23 * * * root /home/ray/Log/cron-root-night
  • (echo ">>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>" $(date)
  •   today=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)
  •   month=$(date +%Y-%m)
  •   # USB backups
  •   cd /media/ray/Backup-Ray
  •   rsync --archive --one-file-system --delete --backup --backup-dir="../../$today/etc" "/etc/" "mostrecent/etc/"
  •   rsync --archive --one-file-system --delete --backup --backup-dir="../../$today/home" --exclude=".config/google-chrome/" --exclude=".cache/" --exclude=".local/share/zeitgeist/" --exclude="Downloads/" "/home/" "mostrecent/home/"
  •   rsync --archive $today/ $month/
  •   echo "<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<" $(date)
  • ) &>>/home/ray/Log/root.out

  The available versions are easy to find:

  • $ ls -l {,*}/home/ray/.viminfo
  • -rw------- 1 ray ray 37633 Dec  7 22:38 2018-12-08/home/ray/.viminfo
  • -rw------- 1 ray ray 37462 Dec  8 18:56 2018-12-09/home/ray/.viminfo
  • -rw------- 1 ray ray 41202 Dec 10 08:15 2018-12-10/home/ray/.viminfo
  • -rw------- 1 ray ray 37700 Dec 10 15:26 2018-12-11/home/ray/.viminfo
  • -rw------- 1 ray ray 37700 Dec 10 15:26 2018-12/home/ray/.viminfo
  • -rw------- 1 ray ray 45492 Dec 11 16:46 mostrecent/home/ray/.viminfo
  • -rw------- 1 ray ray 45325 Dec 12 15:49 /home/ray/.viminfo

  The monthly consolidations (e.g. 2018-12) can be retained for a while, and the daily backups deleted as necessary after a few months.

Printing

• CUPS

  Jobs more than 3 hours old are automatically cleaned from print queues. Change the 10800 seconds default to 0 seconds to disable this feature. Allow other local network users to use the printer.

  • # vi /etc/cups/cupsd.conf
  • + MaxJobTime 0
  • - Listen localhost:631
  • + Port 631
  • - Browsing No
  • + Browsing Yes
  • /<Location
  • + Allow @LOCAL

  Set up daemons:

  • # apt install cups
  • # apt systemctl start cups
  • # apt systemctl enable cups
  • # apt install avahi-daemon
  • # apt systemctl start avahi-daemon
  • # apt systemctl enable avahi-daemon
  • # ufw allow 5353/udp

Scanning

• Scanner

  sane-utils is for a scanner. Version numbers might vary.

  • # apt install smbclient
  • # apt install sane-utils
  • # ln -s /usr/lib64/sane/libsane-brother3.so* /usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/sane/.
  • # vi /lib/udev/rules.d/60-libsane.rules
  • + # Brother scanners
  • + ATTRS{vendor}=="04f9", ENV{libsane.matched}="yes"

Events

To test input events and devices:

• # apt install evtest
• # evtest
• No device specified, trying to scan all of /dev/input/event*
• Available devices:
• /dev/input/event0: Sleep Button
• /dev/input/event1: Power Button
• /dev/input/event2: Power Button
• /dev/input/event3: Video Bus
• /dev/input/event4: Microsoft Microsoft 3-Button Mouse with IntelliEye(TM)
• /dev/input/event5: Das Keyboard
• /dev/input/event6: Das Keyboard
• /dev/input/event7: Dell Dell AC511 USB SoundBar
• ...
• Select the device event number [0-14]: 8
• Input driver version is 1.0.1
• Input device ID: bus 0x19 vendor 0x1283 product 0x0 version 0x0
• Input device name: "ITE8708 CIR transceiver"
• Supported events:
• Event type 0 (EV_SYN)
• Event type 1 (EV_KEY)
• ...
• Properties:
• Testing ... (interrupt to exit)

Infrared

To access the Consumer InfraRed sensor:

• # apt install ir-keytable
• $ ir-keytable --verbose --test

Programming

• Compilers

  • # apt install gcc

• Editors

  • # apt remove vim-tiny
  • # apt install vim
  • $ vi .vimrc
  • + if has("autocmd")
  • + filetype plugin indent on
  • + endif

• CLI

  • For the jot command:

    • # apt install athena-jot

  • For the urlencode command:

    • # apt install urlencode

  • For the jq command:

    • # apt install gridsite-clients

  • For the convert command (to allow editing PDFs):

    • # vi /etc/ImageMagick-6/policy.xml
    • Change: <policy domain="coder" rights="read/write" pattern="PDF" />

Web

• Lynx

  • # apt install lynx

• Chrome

  • # wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb .
  • # apt install ./google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

  • Extensions

    AdBlock

    Suppresses advertising.

    Copy as Markdown

    Converts URL to Markdown.

    Zhongwen: Chinese-English Dictionary

    Provides pop-ups for Chinese characters.