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Setting up Linux

Specifically, here we will install Ubuntu. Ubuntu is very stable and popular Linux operating system. Most of the packages are well supported and the community support is the best. Here I am installing the latest version of Ubuntu (20.04 LTS), and setting it up for everyday use. I am doing a minimal installation in oder to avoid some unwanted games and apps being installed. Try to use the command line tools as much as possible. Not all tasks can be done by graphical programs. Graphical programs certainly need more system resources, they have more dependencies, and therefore prone to have more bugs and security issues. I will use the minimal network boot ISO for installation.

Get the minimal ISO of Ubuntu 20.04 here. For newer versions, the minimal ISO images are no longer maintained, you may try server image instead.

During installation, I selected:

  • Text interface for installation
  • Default filesystem partition
  • No automatic updates
  • Ubuntu minimal desktop only

Once boot into the system, make sure everything is up to date:

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Install essentials:

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends \
  build-essential \
  git \
  vim \
  wget

Oh-my-bash: https://github.com/ohmybash/oh-my-bash

git clone https://github.com/ohmybash/oh-my-bash.git ~/.oh-my-bash

Append the following to your .bashrc:

export OSH=$HOME/.oh-my-bash
OSH_THEME="standard"
DISABLE_AUTO_UPDATE="true"

completions=(
  git
  composer
  ssh
)

aliases=(
  general
)

plugins=(
  git
  bashmarks
)

source $OSH/oh-my-bash.sh

Terminal size: 96 by 30 col. Text and background color: gray on black, Palette: solarized.

Installing fonts in Ubuntu/Debian​

You can get a nice collection of fonts by installing the powerline fonts:

sudo apt install fonts-powerline

You can also manually install fonts (either .ttf or .otf) by putting them in the following path, and rebuilding the font cache:

mkdir ~/.local/share/fonts
sudo fc-cache -f -v ~/.local/share/fonts

https://fonts.google.com has a large collection of awesome fonts. Choose to your liking.

If you are going to access your system remotely via SSH, install the SSH server.

sudo apt install openssh-server

Python packages​

Setting up Python development. It will depend on your needs though.

sudo apt install python3 python3-pip
pip3 install jupyterlab \
    numpy \
    scipy \
    matplotlib \
    bokeh \
    seaborn \
    pandas \
    geopandas \
    xlrd \
    openpyxl \
    virtualenv

Append following to your .bashrc:

export PATH="/home/<username>/.local/bin:$PATH"

Mkdocs​

pip3 install mkdocs mkdocs-material

Nodejs​

Your package manager might have older version of nodejs, in order install the current LTS version:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates curl gnupg
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/gpgkey/nodesource-repo.gpg.key | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg
NODE_MAJOR=20
echo "deb [signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/nodesource.gpg] https://deb.nodesource.com/node_$NODE_MAJOR.x nodistro main" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/nodesource.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install nodejs -y

Find more details here and here

Jekyll​

sudo apt install ruby-full build-essential zlib1g-dev
echo '# Install Ruby Gems to ~/gems' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export GEM_HOME="$HOME/gems"' >> ~/.zshrc
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/gems/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.zshrc
source ~/.zshrc
gem install jekyll bundler

Jekyll on CentOS or RHEL prerequisite:

sudo dnf install ruby ruby-devel
sudo dnf install gcc-c++

Dropbox​

cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64" | tar xzf -
~/.dropbox-dist/dropboxd

Proton VPN​

sudo apt install -y openvpn dialog python3-pip python3-setuptools
sudo pip3 install protonvpn-cli
sudo protonvpn init
protonvpn c -r
protonvpn c -f

-r or -f flags for connecting random and fastest servers, respectively.

Zsh​

You may try Z-shell (instead of BASH) with Oh My Zsh. It has tab auto completion, better history recall, and other cool features.

sudo apt install git
sudo apt install zsh
git clone https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh.git ~/.oh-my-zsh
cp ~/.oh-my-zsh/templates/zshrc.zsh-template ~/.zshrc
sudo chsh -s /bin/zsh
exec zsh
source ~/.zshrc

Go to ~/.zshrc and uncomment

export PATH=$HOME/bin:/usr/local/bin:$PATH

You may need to logout and log back in to take effect the full changes. These are some useful Oh My Zsh extensions:

  • zsh-syntax-highlighting
  • zsh-autosuggestions

Graphical apps​

  • Visual Studio Code
  • Standard Notes

Always backup your user files (documents you create, codes you write, important notes etc.) in a safe and secure place. You may encrypt your files and upload to a cloud service. You may keep another copy in an external drive.

Changing hostname​

Print the current name and other information with hostnamectl

hostnamectl --static set-hostname="ubuntu-work"
hostnamectl --pretty set-hostname="ubuntu-work"

You need to restart the system to take effect the changes.

Finding dependencies in apt​

apt-cache depends <package-name>

Installing snap on RHEL​

sudo dnf install https://dl.fedoraproject.org/pub/epel/epel-release-latest-8.noarch.rpm
sudo dnf upgrade
sudo dnf install snapd
sudo systemctl enable --now snapd.socket
sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap
sudo reboot