The following are my notes on how I like to set up my Linux systems, specifically my primary laptop (Dell XPS 13). These are notes more for myself, for future reference. But others may find it useful for their systems as well. Part 1 covers the software I like to install for various purposes. Part 2 will cover configuration file changes, including for power and performance.
This is currently based on running KDE Neon. Other distros will be slightly different based on pre-installed packages and installation methods available.
Software Changes
Prerequisites
- Add Flathub as a remote repository for Flatpak:
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://dl.flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
- Install Git to allow for software retrieval from GitHub and others:
sudo apt install git
Desktop
- Install Latte Dock for a beautiful top bar:
sudo apt install latte-dock
- Install Yakuake to provide a quick access drop-down terminal:
sudo apt install yakuake
- Note: Add an entry in Auto Start to have it load on login.
- Install additional wallpapers:
sudo apt install plasma5-workspace-wallpapers
- Install Redshift to reduce eye strain:
sudo apt install redshift
- Note: Additionally, install the Redshift Control Plasma widget from the KDE Store.
- Install libinput-gestures and required packages to allow for touchpad gestures:
sudo apt install xdotool wmctrl libinput-tools
sudo gpasswd -a $USER input
mkdir ~/.bin
cd ~/.bin
git clone https://github.com/bulletmark/libinput-gestures
cd libinput-gestures
sudo ./libinput-gestures-setup install
libinput-gestures-setup autostart
Peripherals
- Install HP Linux Imaging and Printing with the full GUI package to provide networked printing and scanning capabilities for my printer:
sudo apt install hplip-gui
- Install Skanlite to provide a scanning application:
sudo apt install skanlite
Multimedia
- Install simplescreenrecorder to easily produce screencasts:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:maarten-baert/simplescreenrecorder
sudo apt update
sudo apt install simplescreenrecorder
- Install Peek to easily create screencast GIFs, useful for bug reporting and blog posts:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:peek-developers/stable
sudo apt update
sudo apt install peek
- Install screenkey and required packages to provide an on-screen display to keyboard input for screencasts:
sudo apt install slop python-gtk cairo fontawesome-fonts python2 python-gtk2 python-setuptools python-distutils-extra
cd ~/.bin
git clone https://github.com/wavexx/screenkey
cd screenkey
sudo ./setup.py install
- Install Kdenlive for video editing:
sudo apt install kdenlive
- Install Audacity for audio editing:
sudo apt install audacity
System Maintenance
- Install htop to improve process management:
sudo apt install htop
- Install neofetch for screenshot information display:
sudo apt install neofetch
- Install PowerTOP to provide power usage insight:
sudo apt install powertop
- Install TLP to provide laptop power management services:
sudo apt install tlp
- Install KBackup to provide a backup GUI:
sudo apt install kbackup
- Install Filelight to provide graphical insight into disk usage:
sudo apt install filelight
- Install KDE Partition Manager to easily adjust device partitions:
sudo apt install partitionmanager
Productivity
- Install the Fresh version of LibreOffice and the Breeze style for it:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
sudo apt update
sudo apt install libreoffice libreoffice-style-breeze
- Install Virtual Machine Manager to run VMs with QEMU/KVM:
sudo apt install virt-manager
sudo apt install virt-viewer
- Note:
virt-viewer
is the recommended client by thevirt-manager
team, especially for SPICE connections (which I use).
- Install Syncthing synchronization client:
curl -s https://syncthing.net/release-key.txt | sudo apt-key add -
echo "deb https://apt.syncthing.net/ syncthing stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/syncthing.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install syncthing
- Install Kate to provide additional text editing features over the included KWrite:
sudo apt install kate
- Install KRDC for Remote Desktop usage:
sudo apt install krdc
- Install Krita for basic image manipulation:
sudo apt install krita
- Install Kolourpaint for quick image annotation:
sudo apt install kolourpaint
Gaming
- Install Vulkan drivers for gaming:
sudo apt install mesa-vulkan-drivers
- Upgrade to the latest graphics drivers with the Oibaf PPA:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:oibaf/graphics-drivers
sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
- Install Steam from Flathub:
flatpak install flathub com.valvesoftware.Steam
- Note: This is required because of package incompatibilities with the Oibaf graphics driver upgrade. You can’t install the native Steam package via
apt
.
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Thanks a lot for this post
Even if it’s out of curiosity we ( users ) always love to peek inside other people’s systems.
Genuinely curious: how is Neon + Ukuu working for you ? how much time have you been using it this way ?
There’s been a fair degree of bashing on Ukuu on forums over the last year that i know of… and while i’ve never experienced the nightmares some people talk about was wondering if you ever run into any particular situation that required you to spend a significant amount of time fixing things the old fashioned way .
Coming from you this would be probably a much more interesting feedback.
Looking forward to part 2 already 🙂 , thanks agin for the initiative .
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A note for any readers: I know it sounds weird to run a mainline kernel on an LTS-based distro. I only track mainline since this is a new laptop (with NVMe), and the power savings patched in for that, and other laptop-centric issues in the latest releases are important to me. If this were a desktop machine, I probably wouldn’t bother.
That said, it’s been working great. Probably 6 months now with Ukuu, upgrading my kernel every minor release.
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I’ve installed the mainline kernel, reboot, but it’s still using 4.15. Do I need to upgrade grub?
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Did you use uvuu? It should for you.
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This comes just in the right moment.
For the first time I started to use a Linux distribution, Kubuntu specifically, on my main laptop.
After 7 months, I wanted to change to Neon to receive all newest features from KDE, and take care of the software I really want to install and use.
As mentioned in the first comment, it’s always good to know what other people are using, and better if it’s from a KDE Developer!.
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Interestingly, I already had most of these packages installed in my Antergos installation (it’s basically Arch Linux with a graphical installer, some defaults and an extra repo).
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Why not use more apps from Flathub (kdenlive, krita)?
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Keep in mind that when installing mainline kernel you lose all ubuntu and debian patches on top of it.
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