View source for User:Misterhaan/Ubuntu 24.04 Noble Numbat Setup

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 24.04 noble numbat on my laptop westinghouse.

= 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 <code>/etc/hosts</code> as root with <code>sudo gedit /etc/hosts</code> 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 setting.
# install nfs support with <code>sudo apt install nfs-common</code>
# edit <code>/etc/fstab</code> as root with <code>sudo gedit /etc/fstab</code> and add a line for each nfs share to mount, in this format: <code>server:/nfs_share /local/mount/point nfs noexec,noauto 0 0</code>
# create the local mount points for each share (the second column in fstab) with a command like <code>sudo mkdir /local/mount/point</code>
# create a new file as root in <code>/etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/</code> and enter the following code (make sure to put in your uuid and your actual mount points), then set its permissions to rwxr-xr-x with <code>chmod 755 /etc/NetworkManager/dispatcher.d/nfs-mount</code>: 

 #!/bin/bash
 SSID="your-wifi-ssid"
 INTERFACE=$1
 ACTION=$2
 ESSID=`iwconfig $INTERFACE | grep ESSID | cut -d":" -f2 | sed 's/^[^"]*"\|"[^"]*$//g'`
 
 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 <code>noauto</code> 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's not going to recognize the network 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 <code>sudo userdel tempadmin</code> to go back to just one 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. choose a custom resolution (i use 2560x1440 since that's the resolution of the monitor i have at work -- it has to be added to the list using the ... button before you can choose it), then switch to the advanced tab and change audio output mode to local to get both the speakers and microphone to work. 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.  under keyboard i clear 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).

== 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 <code>/usr/share/X11/xkb/symbols/pc</code> as root, and set the <code>key <CAPS></code> 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.

== enable dark mode ==
by default ubuntu cinnamon uses a dark theme, but doesn’t tell all apps they should do that too.  not sure why this isn't in system settings anywhere, but this tells gtk 4 applications such as the text editor that they should show a dark mode theme:

 gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface color-scheme prefer-dark

i had firefox open when i entered this command and it immediately switched!

== system settings ==
access system settings from the panel menu.  they're grouped into sections so i'm using those same groupings here.  if i don't list a settings option it's because i don't actually change anything in that one.

=== appearance ===
==== background ====
default background files are <code>/usr/share/backgrounds/</code>, so that's where i put my own backgrounds.  this isn't enough to make them automatically show in settings > background though, so use the add button (bottom left) to get that backgrounds directory added, then select it and a background.

==== effects ====
i have all the effects turned on, and set new windows and close windows to fly while leaving minimize traditional.

==== themes ====
it defaulted to a dark theme, so i change the application and icon themes to a dark yaru one with the accent color i want.  under settings i turn on icons for menus and buttons.

=== preferences ===
==== account details ====
similar to background files, i create <code>/usr/share/avatars/</code> to hold user avatars.  there are some default avatar choices but i haven't been able to find where those are stored.  click the use picture and choose browse for more pictures to select your preferred avatar.

==== applets ====
configure calendar to set custom date format to <code>%l:%M %p %a %b %-e  </code> (with two trailing spaces) to take up less space and use 12-hour time.  similarly set date format for tooltip to <code>%A, %B %e, %l:%M %p</code> to use 12-hour time.  select corner bar and click the minus button at the bottom to remove it.  configure menu to use a custom icon and label, then set icon to <code>/usr/share/cinnamon/icons/ubuntucinnamon-symbolic.png</code> and icon size to 28 to keep the same icon and clear the text so it doesn’t take up space.  also turn on menu animations.

==== date & time ====
turn off 24 hour clock and display seconds.

==== desktop ====
turn off all the desktop icons.

=== hardware ===
==== mouse and touchpad ====
under touchpad, i turn off reverse scrolling direction so that two-finger touchpad scroll works like moving the scroll bar not moving the content.

==== power management ====
change power button behavior to nothing.  my laptop's power button is placed where i can very easily hit it by accident when picking it up so i prefer that it ignores when that happens.

==== sound ====
one of the reasons i prefer linux on my laptop is the over-amplification setting.  go to the settings tab and slide the maximum volume all the way up to 150%, which is often handy running off built-in speakers.

=== administration ===
==== login window ====
i like to use my own  background for the login screen.  set that here and then turn off draw user background to have a login background all the time.  set the themes as close as i can to the themes i picked in themes.  under settings, change clock format to <code>%l:%M %p</code> for 12-hour format.

== firefox touch scroll zoom ==
while the touch screen makes most windows scroll, firefox selects text by default.  to make a lasting change edit <code>/etc/security/pam_env.conf</code> and add a line (i add it to the end) with <code>MOZ_USE_XINPUT2 DEFAULT=0       OVERRIDE=1</code>.  this should take effect on next login.

= remove software =
 sudo apt remove pidgin rhythmbox simple-scan
 sudo apt autoremove

= install software =
here's some software i find useful to add:

 sudo apt install puddletag  xsane

== steam ==

there’s a steam-installer in the repository but it fails to install.  looking for a solution i found someone claiming the apt package is a redirect to snap, and snap just doesn’t work well (maybe it’s not mature enough).  so instead, go to the steam website and download the installer from there.  it gave me a file named steam_latest.deb.  install it and dependencies with `sudo apt install ~/Downloads/steam_latest.deb` and then run steam to complete the installation and sign in to steam.

== visual studio code ==
visual studio code isn’t in the default apt repositories (it’s in snap but snap doesn’t update well), but downloading and installing the deb actually adds it to apt so it can keep updating.  note the filename will probably change to whichever version is current, so for the last two lines press the tab key to autocomplete after you’ve typed “code”:

 wget 'https://code.visualstudio.com/sha/download?build=stable&os=linux-deb-x64' --trust-server-names
 sudo dpkg -i code_1.83.1-1696982868_amd64.deb
 rm code_1.83.1-1696982868_amd64.deb

== zoom ==
the official way to install zoom on ubuntu is to download the deb and install that, but it won’t auto-update and i end up having to manually update before every time i use it.  instead, copy this into a script file (run <code>chmod +x install-zoom</code> assuming you’ve saved it as install-zoom) and run it:

 #!/usr/bin/env bash
 
 url=https://zoom.us/client/latest/zoom_amd64.deb
 debdir=/usr/local/zoomdebs
 aptconf=/etc/apt/apt.conf.d/100update_zoom
 sourcelist=/etc/apt/sources.list.d/zoomdebs.list
 
 sudo mkdir -p $debdir
 ( echo 'APT::Update::Pre-Invoke {"cd '$debdir' && wget -qN '$url' && apt-ftparchive packages . > Packages && apt-ftparchive release . > Release";};' | sudo tee $aptconf
   echo 'deb [trusted=yes lang=none] file:'$debdir' ./' | sudo tee $sourcelist
 ) >/dev/null
 
 sudo apt update
 sudo apt install zoom