i use ubuntu cinnamon linux as my main operating system on my laptop. since the laptop came with windows 10 (which i upgraded to windows 11), i keep that around so i can choose windows on startup when i need one of the manufacturer’s utilities. these instructions are what i did when i installed ubuntu cinnamon 25.10 questing quokka on my laptop westinghouse. i started with ubuntu cinnamon desktop (minimized) so there’s less to uninstall. i do install third-party graphics and wifi as well as additional media formats. as an upgrade i choose to erase my previous ubuntu and install over that, but there’s also an install alongside option for the initial setup keeping windows around. i don’t use file encryption because i keep my important files on a server instead.

connections to other systems

most of what i use my laptop for is connecting to other systems, including my home file shares. i set those up first so i have access to my files and the ability to connect to my home desktop and work computer right away.

home server nfs shares

i have command-line ubuntu installed on a different computer at home that stores my files, so my laptop should mount its shares when i’m on my home network. i can’t just do a normal mount because if i travel with my laptop, my home server isn’t available and i have to wait for those connections to time out before it will finish booting. still, the first couple steps are the same as mounting the shares from a desktop:

edit /etc/hosts as root with sudo gedit /etc/hosts and add a line mapping the lan ip of the server to its name. follow the format of the line that has 127.0.0.1 localhost. saving this change makes sure the laptop can resolve the name of the server, which usually doesn’t work without this step.
install nfs support with sudo apt install nfs-common
edit /etc/fstab as root with sudo gedit /etc/fstab and add a line for each nfs share to mount, in this format: server:/nfs_share /local/mount/point nfs noexec,noauto 0 0
create the local mount points for each share (the second column in fstab) with a command like sudo mkdir /local/mount/point
create a new file as root in /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/ and enter the following code (make sure to put in your ssid and your actual mount points), then set its permissions to rwxr-xr-x with chmod 755 /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/nfs-mount:

#!/bin/bash
SSID="your-wifi-ssid"
INTERFACE=$1
ACTION=$2
ESSID=`nmcli -t -f active,ssid dev wifi | egrep '^yes' | cut -d: -f2`

if [ "$SSID" == "$ESSID" ] && [ "$ACTION" == "up" ]; then
	mount /local/mount/point/one
	mount /local/mount/point/two
fi

the network shares should be mounted whenever connecting to the wifi SSID. the noauto in fstab tells the system not to attempt to mount those shares on startup, so it doesn’t have to wait for that to fail when they’re not available. the NetworkManager script makes sure to mount them once connected to the correct wifi, but if you’re going to connect to your network with a cable it won’t see the ssid and you’ll need to issue the mount commands manually.

change user id

ubuntu uses 1000 as the id for the user it creates, but i have a different id on my server and they need to match up for nfs to know who i am. you can’t change your user id while you’re logged in, so i’ll create another admin account temporarily and use that. do that and set a password with the following:

sudo useradd -G adm,sudo -m -s /bin/bash tempadmin
sudo passwd tempadmin

now log out and you should be able to log back in as tempadmin with the password you just set, though it may be necessary to restart if it tells you your original user is in use by a process. run the following command to change your user id and update automounting:

sudo usermod -u [new_ID] [username]
sudo setfacl -m "u:[username]:r-x" /media/
sudo setfacl -x "u:1000" /media/

now we just need to get rid of tempadmin, so log out and log back in as your actual user. run sudo userdel tempadmin to go back to just one user. again, restart seems to be necessary as logging out doesn’t end all processes for the user.

remote control

remmina is back in the default install as of 23.10 and works great to connect to my home desktop using vnc (i use tightvnc server on windows 11 there). it is simple to install it though if it wasn’t there for you:

sudo apt install remmina

i create two connections for my home desktop -- one that uses my lan ip and another that uses the subdomain i keep mapped to my internet ip. both use remmina vnc plugin for the protocol and specify [ip]:[port] or [subdomain]:[port] since i use a custom vnc port. username can be left blank, and user password can save my connection password. setting the password means if someone else got access to my laptop they could also access my desktop, so be sure to weigh the convenience against security for your situation.

i connect to my work computer over rdp, which i also do through remmina. create a new connection leaving the protocol on the default of RDP - Remote Desktop Protocol and set the server, username, password, and domain for the connection. switch to the advanced tab and change audio output mode to local to get both the speakers and microphone to work. toward the bottom, you might need to check the box to ignore certificates because when i installed this version it still wouldn’t trust my work computer’s certificate after it asked me about it and i said to trust it. save the connection. on the first connection (we’ll need to set up and connect to vpn first), it asks to accept a certificate for the machine.

in remmina preferences i turn off the setting that prevents screenshots from entering clipboard. then under applet, check the box to start in tray upon user login (if it’s not already checked). under keyboard i remove the host key since i commonly use the right control key for normal keyboard shortcuts, and i don’t really need to give up another key for remmina shortcuts i don’t remember anyway. under rdp, map the caps lock key to insert by entering 0x3a=0x52 for keyboard scancode remapping (needs to be done separately from mapping it locally because rdp doesn’t care about local mappings even when i check the box to use client keyboard mapping).

work vpn

my job provides cisco anyconnect vpn for me to connect remotely, but thankfully it’s compatible with openconnect which is *much* easier to use and integrates with the network manager built into ubuntu. install openconnect, its network manager integration, and its editor (gnome is the name of the desktop environment ubuntu uses, even for cinnamon):

sudo apt install openconnect network-manager-openconnect network-manager-openconnect-gnome

now go to the network icon in the panel (lower right, probably looks like wifi), click it, and choose "Network Connections." add a new connection using the plus button in the lower left of that window, and choose "Cisco AnyConnect or OpenConnect (OpenConnect)" from under the VPN heading. give it a name (i use the company name) and enter the vpn server as the gateway (something like vpn.example.com). the vpn protocol should already be set to "cisco anyconnect or openconnect" from the earlier choice. save the connection.

now, just under the list of available SSIDs in the network menu it will show "VPN Connections" with a toggle next to it. select this to connect. the first time you do this it will prompt for username and password, which you can tell it to remember so it's even easier next time. the window stays open for me until i confirm that it's me connecting through the authenticator app on my phone — my only real problem with this system is that it doesn't tell me i need to do that if i'm only looking at my laptop . . . but anyconnect doesn't either. disconnect by toggling VPN Connections back to off.

configuration

map caps lock key as insert

to remap capslock to insert for the entire machine, edit /usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/pc as root, and set the key <CAPS> line to:

key <CAPS> {[  Insert  ]};

this takes effect on your next login. it doesn’t apply to rdp connections in remmina though, so be sure to also follow the instructions from earlier for mapping it there too.