Linux - Pop!_OS by System76. This is a well known hardware vendor. The system is a convenient custom Ubuntu.
Version: 20.10 or 20.04 LTS
- Easy to install. Recommended with disk encryption and as clean install.
- Pick the version with integrated NVIDIA drivers if you have a NVIDIA card Link: https://system76.com/pop
- For laptops POP OS allows switching between the integrated and the NVIDIA graphic to save power.
Installation along Windows is possible too. As the Windows ESP Partition is usually 100MB and this is too small for Pop I usually create a second ESP Partition and switch OS using the UEFI Boot menu. It is also possible to create a windows boot entry into the new ESP with the windows bcdboot.exe tool.
Start off with the basic updates:
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
The OS ships with GNOME. I recommend extending it with a few plugins.
Find more here: https://github.com/Kazhnuz/awesome-gnome
Like the MacOS task dock? https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/307/dash-to-dock/ https://micheleg.github.io/dash-to-dock/
Enables displaying of the current resource stats in realtime
Requires dependencies:
sudo apt install gir1.2-gtop-2.0 gir1.2-nm-1.0 gir1.2-clutter-1.0
https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/120/system-monitor/ https://github.com/paradoxxxzero/gnome-shell-system-monitor-applet
the gnome tweak tool allows further customisation of the GUI. Also used for extension management.
sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool
Well in that case use the tiling window manager i3 instead. It is really easy to install and can be selected in the user login mask. I will not cover that here. There are good tutorials out there how to set up i3, i3-lock and i3-status-bar.
Recently I tried awesomeWM as an alternative because Gnome froze sometimes and I wanted to be more productive with multiple workspaces per screen. This time I tried AwesomeWM. It is a really extensible window manager but I have not found good documentation yet. Try it yourself or go to i3. Both are good to check out.
Available via apt.
sudo apt install zsh
https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/wiki/Installing-ZSH
After install use the option that sets defaults to the conf file.
Open source plugin manager allowing for nice customisation of zsh with productivity increase. https://github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh I recommend using the robbyrussel theme and the git extension as a minimum. And to enable waiting dots for autocompletion. The rest is pretty good explained.
I also recommend adding usefull alias to the .zshrc script (Note it is not .bashrc anymore).
For example alias ll='ls -l'
I usually have a alias for cd into project repositories and these:
# enable color support of ls and also add handy aliases
if [ -x /usr/bin/dircolors ]; then
test -r ~/.dircolors && eval "$(dircolors -b ~/.dircolors)" || eval "$(dircolors -b)"
alias ls='ls --color=auto'
#alias dir='dir --color=auto'
#alias vdir='vdir --color=auto'
alias grep='grep --color=auto'
alias fgrep='fgrep --color=auto'
alias egrep='egrep --color=auto'
fi
# colored GCC warnings and errors
#export GCC_COLORS='error=01;31:warning=01;35:note=01;36:caret=01;32:locus=01:quote=01'
# some more ls aliases
alias ll='ls -alF'
alias la='ls -A'
alias l='ls -CF'
# Add an "alert" alias for long running commands. Use like so:
# sleep 10; alert
alias alert='notify-send --urgency=low -i "$([ $? = 0 ] && echo terminal || echo error)" "$(history|tail -n1|sed -e '\''s/^\s*[0-9]\+\s*//;s/[;&|]\s*alert$//'\'')"'
Enable ~/.inputrc for nice bash history up-arrows. This allows you to search through your history using the up and down arrows … i.e. type "cd /" and press the up arrow and you'll search through everything in your history that starts with "cd /". Create ~/.inputrc and fill it with this:
"\e[A": history-search-backward
"\e[B": history-search-forward
set show-all-if-ambiguous on
set completion-ignore-case onAs the default terminal is limited in features I really like a tiling terminal emulator even on a tiling WM like AwesomeWM.
Open source terminal emulator allowing to create new terminals in the same window and use them fullscreen.
https://gnunn1.github.io/tilix-web/
sudo apt install tilix
I like:
- Appearance->Window Style->Borderless
- Appearance->Theme variant->Dark
- Profiles->Default->Color->Color scheme->Linux
and of course use "UTF-8 Unicode" as encoding.
Both can be found in the Pop! Store.
Use this for basic text editing.
The tools made by JetBrain are really developer friendly. I could not work without them. They are perfectly integrated into linux and now offer a easy to use installer in the form of the JetBrains Toolbox.
https://www.jetbrains.com/de-de/toolbox-app/
Recommendation: Use the toolbox app to install all of the following tools
The only true Python IDE. Free community edition. Really nice free student programm.
Available via snaps or a toolbox app. Also possible with direct install but a bit tedious.
snap install [pycharm-professional|pycharm-community] --classic
-> snap install pycharm-professional--classic
The only true Javascript and HTML IDE for web developers.
Also available via toolbox app or snap / direct install.
In fact just another JetBrains product but free and from Google.
Also available via toolbox app or snap / direct install.
Android Studio requires some additional SDK. This is handled upon first start. Note that the SDK will take a lot of disk space over time (30GB+). I recommend installing the SDK onto a larger HDD.
You might need to add the Android SDK tools like adb or fastboot to your PATH.
# Android setup
export ANDROID_HOME=/home/jabb0/Android/Sdk # Replace with your SDK path
# add Android SDK platform tools to path
if [ -d "$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools" ] ; then
PATH="$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools:$PATH"
fiA very nice editor for markdown content https://www.typora.io/#linux
Personal note management system. Really boosts productivity to look up old knowledge. Allows to sync with online services such as nextcloud or other webDAV servers. Has end-to-end encryption based on a passphrase for your notes.
Works based on markdown and can use Typora as external editor.
Install Spotify via the Pop! Store
Pop OS ships out of the box with Firefox. I personally found it to be slow. So I am using chromium.
In case you want to watch Netflix and other DRM protected media you might want to use chrome. Not sure if this is required anymore. The install is again super easy via .deb package directly by google. The video quality is capped for most streaming services even when using chrome. This needs to be investigated.
I really recommend two must have plugins for chrome, chromium and firefox:
- uMatrix: A really powerful resource and script blocker. You do not want everybody to run javascript on your machine. Somehow can make your browser slower on pages that load a lot of scripts. Note that you can export your configuration.
- uBlock origin: Same author as uMatrix. A really resource friendly Ad Blocker. Because screw ads.
Having a proper SSH key is crucial for working with remote servers. Create one with a nice eliptic curve security and password protect them.
https://www.ssh.com/ssh/keygen
ssh-keygen -t ecdsa -b 521
Generating public/private ecdsa key pair. Enter file in which to save the key (/home/jabb0/.ssh/id_ecdsa):
You could also use rsa and end up with the known id_rsa ssh key. Ecdsa with 521 bits is overkill but why not.
Remember you can copy your public key to machines conveniently with ssh-copy-id
You can now copy the public key to gitlab, github and so on.
Create a configuration file .ssh/config for example if:
- You want to use different ssh keys or users for different hosts
- You want to tunnel your ssh traffic through a proxy server (e.g. when connecting to an internal compute cluster)
- You want a short alias for your servers to connect to
This config is picked up by every program that uses ssh on your system like git.
Per default python and python3 are installed. Keep in mind that the python packages are stored in different places for different versions, users or globally. I would recommend using a venv whenever possible. PyCharm helps with that a lot. virtualenvwrapper is the corresponding tooling for the shell.
I strongly recommend using NVM as version managment for node.js on linux. It is super convenient.
You might need to add the script to .zshrc manually
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" # This loads nvm bash_completion
Install latest node.js version
nvm install node # "node" is an alias for the latest version
If you need to use terraform I recommend using tfenv to manage different terraform versions. update-alternatives would be possible too. That is personal preference.
Install using the manual way because why would you install brew on a linux system?
https://github.com/tfutils/tfenv
Missing
Known from Windows as "Keepass2" we also want a key management tool. For linux it is called "KeepassXC". Again open source and compatible with the Keepass files.
It can be installed via the Pop store. If you want to be sure about the package origin and get the latest package use the official website as source.
Sync KeePass2 has plugins that allow to sync your file between devices. But KeepPassXC does not. Therefore you need to sync manually. Look into bitwarden as alternative. You could use a SSH server or a onecloud but also the public cloud to store your keyfile. I am not using this feature as I like to have some separation of concerns here too.
The real pros never touch their mouse again. Learn the shortcuts for moving windows and using workspaces. You can set them in the settings app. This is Linux, feel free to set whatever you like.
Note: This section is outdated. There is a package in the official repo for this. Not sure if this is the good one.
Installing docker is documented on the docker wiki
https://docs.docker.com/install/linux/docker-ce/ubuntu/
There exists also a easy to use script for the task:
Unfortunately, this script requires some tweaks if your current OS is not already supported. E.g. 19.10 might not be stable right now. In that case you need to follow the instructions in the wiki and use "disco" which stands for 19.04. instead. This is at the add-apt-repository section. Otherwise use the test channel instead.
But yeah. If you really wanted a stable and no bleeding edge system you should have used the Ubuntu 18.04 LTS version.
Per default a user is not allowed to execute docker commands. As they technically give him root privileges. If you still want to do so (instead of using sudo docker every time). Add your user to the docker usergroup:
sudo usermod -aG docker your-user
The azure (az command) and aws (aws command) CLI tooling installation is described here:
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/cli/azure/install-azure-cli-apt?view=azure-cli-latest
https://linuxhint.com/install_aws_cli_ubuntu/
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/cli/latest/userguide/install-cliv1.html
For backups I can really recommend borg it is a deduplicating backup software, open source and supports encryption.
I recommend writing a script to perform the backup. There are visual frontends too like: https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/pika-backup
https://borgbackup.readthedocs.io/en/stable/
The got to client here is thunderbird in my opinion. Or you use the CLI if you are brave.
In case you need to connect it to a company Exchange server use the next tool.
Is a local SMTP proxy for accessing a company Exchange server and allowing to use thunderbird instead of outlook.
Also supports for calendar integration.
http://davmail.sourceforge.net/
Ferdi is a tool used to have all your messenger services in a common place. Slack, telegram, whatsapp etc. Fork of Franz with more different features and free.
It can be installed via pop shop or https://getferdi.com/
Can be integrated with XMPP and therefore CISCO Jabber. Simple chat solution.
Yes. Microsoft teams is now available for Linux.
https://teams.microsoft.com/downloads
Gaming on Linux becomes more convenient now.
can be installed from the Pop Shop
Allows to control steam, steam for windows, native linux or wine games.
Can be installed from the Pop Shop.
Can be downloaded from the teamspeak webpage. I recommend unpacking into /opt/teamspeak3 and creating a desktop shortcut in ~/.local/share/applications/teamspeak.desktop with
[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=Teamspeak
Comment=Teamspeak 3 Client
Exec=/opt/teamspeak3/ts3client_runscript.sh
Terminal=false
Categories=Teamspeak;Gaming;Application
Icon=/opt/teamspeak3/icon.jpg
StartupWMClass=ts3client_linux_amd64
In case you got yourself a awesome LED ambilight for your monitor you can control it with the PRISMATIK tool. I recommend using the fork of psieg https://github.com/psieg/Lightpack/#build-instructions-for-linux. Compilation works like a charm. Note the udev part can be different now. Check for yourself
Just the UDEV rule for accessing the ttyUSB0 needs to be set in sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/01-ttyusb0.rules
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb-serial", TAG+="uaccess", GROUP="dailout", MODE="0666"
du -h --max-depth=1 | sort -hapt install oggz-tools
oggz-info file.ogg
apt install ffmpeg
ffprobe file.mp3
apt install hexedit
hexedit file
sudo !!
ctrl-k cut to end of line
ctrl-u cut all of the line
ctrl-w cut to beginning of line
ctrl-y paste what you just cut
less +F
ctrl-e this uses the current editor set via $EDITOR
alt-. use multiple times to search last commands
reset