Linux Personal Setup

Introduction

This document provides the pacakges installed on a new linux configuration focused on clean, containerized desktop. I use a minimal Ubuntu server as a starting point. I install packages under my user when I can and use container technology to keep the underlying system free from pacakge bloat.

Assumptions

Starting with a Ubuntu minimal server install
Internet access
Home partition allows execution bit on filesystem
Have root/sudo access
Knowledge of environment variables, permissions and file structure

User Locations 101

A list of locations and paths to know about.

Item	Location	Notes
Fonts	`~/.local/share/fonts`	Use `fc-cache -f -v` to refresh font cache after you install new fonts
Desktop Themes	`~/.local/share/themes`	user installed themes path
User Binaries	`~/.local/opt` and `~/.local/bin`	Single binaries go into `bin` while others should go into `opt/${pacakge}` and package binaries symlinked to `bin`. Have your `PATH` pointed to `bin` only.
Flatpak	`~/.var/app/${package}`	Flatpak installed application with the `--user` option. Use `Flatseal` if you need to expose real paths to Flatpak apps if required.
Profile Settings	`~/.profile`	This is read on login by both `bash` and `zsh`
Loutout Settings	`~/.logout`	This is read on logout by both `bash` and `zsh`
Bash Profile Settings	`~/.bash_profile` and `~/.bash_login`	This is read on login by `bash`. Use `~/.profile` to simplify login process.
Bash Run Commands	`~/.bashrc`	read on new terminal session by `bash`
Zsh Run Commands	`~/.zshrc`	read on new terminal session by `zsh`

Overview

Install Desktop
Install Flatpak and GUI applications
Install CLI tools
Remove pre-installed packages

Desktop Manager

Because we will install Gnome Shell, GDM is required to get a lock screen.

sudo apt install --no-install-recommends -y gdm3

Desktop Environment

Gnome Shell

Install just the base Gnome Shell without all the extras.

sudo apt install -y --no-install-recommends gnome-shell gnome-control-center

Now install other packages to get a good basic desktop.

sudo apt install -y \
    gnome-session gnome-tweaks gnome-shell-extension-manager nautilus file-roller seahorse seahorse-natalius adwaita-icon-theme-full xserver-xorg-input-all

You may restart your PC at this point or just restart the gdm.service to trigger GDM. Since Gnome-Shell, nautilus is the "default" for tar archives. When opening an archive, it auto extracts to the current directory, which I personally find inconvenient. Change the default application for archives to File Roller (Archive Manager).

Edit ~/.config/mimeapps.list and add the following under [Added Associations]

application/x-compressed-tar=org.gnome.FileRoller.desktop;

Extensions

I do not recommend using the apt packages for gnome extensions, they are almost all broken and the useful ones are not even in the apt repositories. Either download extensions manually or use cyfrost or brunelli gnome extensions installer scripts.

Gnome Extension Website

Install Extensions to ~/.local/share/gnome-shell/externsions/${UUID}. The ${UUID} can be found in the extension's metadata.yml file.

You can get the version of Gnome Shell you are running with gnome-shell --version.

Extension	UUID	Notes
User themes		Allows user themes in in `~/.local/share/themes`.
Top indicator app		App notifications in top bar.
Dash to Dock		OSX like application dock.
Hide top bar		Allow top bar to hide.
Openweather		Weather in the top bar.
Screenshot tool		Screenshot via a top bar dropdown.
Sound Input & output device chooser		Switch audio devices right from top bar.
Bluetooth quick connect		Connect to bluetooth devices right from top bar.
Cast to tv		Allow Cast protocol. This requires `node`, See `nvm` install below to use user installed node. DO NOT follow the official instructions tell you to override an `apt` install with a `pip` install.
Cast to tv - desktop stream add-on		Add-on to allow you yo cast your desktop.

PipeWire

Removes pipewire-media-session and installs the complete PipeWire solution.

sudo apt install \
    libspa-0.2-bluetooth \
    pipewire-audio-client-libraries \
    bluez \
    wireplumber \
    pipewire-media-session- \

Enable the service

systemctl --user --now enable wireplumber.service

Network

sudo apt install network-manager network-manager-gnome

Set renderer in /etc/netplan/00-network-manager.yaml.

network:
  version: 2
  renderer: NetworkManager

Disable any other netplan configurations as needed, then apply the changes.

sudo netplan apply

Application Management

We will use flakpak to install GUI applications without root.

sudo apt install -y flatpak

Flatpak Repositories

We add both the stable and beta repositories

flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
flatpak --user remote-add --if-not-exists flathub-beta https://flathub.org/beta-repo/flathub-beta.flatpakrepo

Flatpak Applications

Install all applications with the --user option.

flatpak --user install ${REPO} ${APP_ID}

App	Repo	ID	Notes
Flatseal	`flathub`	`com.github.tchx84.Flatseal`	Permission control of flatkpak installed applications
BitWarden	`flathub`	`com.bitwarden.desktop`	Password Manager
Gnome Calcultor	`flathub`	`org.gnome.Calculator`	Standard calculator
GNU Octave	`flathub`	`org.octave.Octave`	Numerical computation (FOSS version of MATLAB)
LibreOffice	`flathub`	`org.libreoffice.LibreOffice`	Office suite
Firefox	`flathub`	`org.mozilla.firefox`	Internet Browser. You'll also need to install `org.freedesktop.Platform.ffmpeg-full` version for stable video playback.
VLC	`flathub`	`org.videolan.VLC`	Video Player
Rhythmbox	`flathub`	`org.gnome.Rhythmbox3`	Music Player. If you have network shared media, you'll want to whitelist access via Flatseal.
Krita	`flathub`	`org.kde.krita`	Photo Editor
Lutris	`flathub-beta`	`net.lutris.Lutris`	Gaming Frontend, note review the `documentation` for required dependancices that do not install with the package.
Steam	`flathub`	`com.valvesoftware.Steam`	Gaming distribution service
VS Code	`flathub`	`com.visualstudio.code`	Integrated Terminal Suppoer Language Extensions

For applications that need to access network shares, use Flatseal to permit access.
Steam requires additional udev rules that must be added manually when using flatpak.

CLI Tools

All CLI tools is to be installed in ~/.loca/opt or ~/.local/bin. Add bin to your PATH in ~/.profiles.

if [ -d ${HOME}/.local/bin ]; do
    PATH="${HOME}/.local/bin:${PATH}"
fi

ZSH

apt install -y zsh

Use zimfw for collaborative configuration.

Misc

apt install -y \
    unzip tmux

Remove Unneeded Packages

Snap

Personally, I believe Flatpak is a better application management tool. Since we don't want to use both Flatpak and Snap, we'll remove Snap.

First, we need to locate all the install packages installed with snap

snap list

Remove installed packages, noting that some packages are required by others, so a for loop wouldn't necessarily work.

sudo snap remove ${PACKAGE_NAME}

Finally, we remove snap.

sudo apt --purge -y snapd

Server tools typically not used on Desktops

sudoa apt remove --purge -y \
    mdadm byobu screen

Speed up startup

Don't wait on network to be up.

sudo systemctl disable NetworkManager-wait-online.service

Since we don't wait for network, we don't want to trigger the apt package checking.

sudo systemctl disable apt-daily.service
sudo systemctl disable apt-daily-upgrade.service
sudo systemctl disable apt-daily.timer
sudo systemctl disable apt-daily-upgrade.timer

nVidia Drivers

When installing graphics drivers, include the vulkan library to support the apps that use vulkan for rendering.

sudo apt install nvidia-driver-NNN libvulkan1

chanster / linux-config