Here’s my to-do list after installing a fresh Ubuntu 13.04. Some of them are probably very personal and you won’t need them, yet it might give an idea.

gedit

First of all I edit the settings of gedit.

Edit -> Preferences
View tab : Check “Display line numbers”, “Enable text wrapping”, “Highlight current line” and “Highlight matching brackets”
Editor tab : Set the tab width to 4 and check “Insert spaces instead of tabs” and “Enable automatic indentation”

Geany

Next, I install and personalize Geany. I’ve discussed the necessary steps before on this post.

Vim

Unfortunately the VI that is shipped with Ubuntu is buggy. I usually replace it with VIM.

$ sudo apt-get install vim

After this, I update the vimrc file to personalize. I’ve talked about it in this post.

Sublime Text Editor

This is another very well designed text editor. I like installing and personalising it. You can find methods to install it in this post. I prefer using Sublime Text 3, and then using the following settings in the configuration file.

    "tab_size": 4,
    "use_tab_stops": true,
    "detect_indentation": true,
    "auto_indent": true,
    "smart_indent": true,
    "highlight_line": false,
    "draw_white_space": "all",

SSH

First of all I install the ssh server.

$ sudo apt-get install openssh-server

After this, I simply “ssh localhost” in order to get the ~/.ssh folder created.
After this, I copy my id_rsa and id_rsa.pub files into this folder.
Then,
$ chmod 700 ~/.ssh/id_rsa
$ chmod 664 ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

If you want, maybe it’s a good idea to change your default ssh server port.
Edit /etc/ssh/sshd_config and change the line below

# What ports, IPs and protocols we listen for
Port 22

If you change the port, you’ll have to restart the ssh server.$ sudo /etc/init.d/ssh restart

After these, I install the PAC-Manager from it’s website : http://sourceforge.net/projects/pacmanager/

Then simply import my old PAC connections.

Browsers and Dropbox

Well, the title speaks for itself. I usually get Chrome, Opera and Dropbox right after the installation.

Aptitude Installations

Downloading GIMP, Restricted-Extras, VLC are usually critical.

$ sudo apt-get install gimp ubuntu-restricted-extras vlc

Getting ffmpeg, avconv, and java plugins is a good idea.

$ sudo apt-get install ffmpeg libav-tools libavformat-extra-53 libavcodex-extra-53 icedtea-7-plugin openjdk-7-jre

Using the right-click menu on nautilus to open a terminal in that folder is very useful.

$ sudo apt-get install nautilus-open-terminal

Below are for the fundamental tools for network geeks.

$ sudo apt-get install nmap mtr filezilla

For monitoring a lot of things, atop is very useful.

$ sudo apt-get install atop

As an astronomer, I use numpy and pyfits for scientific computing a lot.

$ sudo apt-get install python-pyfits python-numpy

If you’re using Skype, it won’t be visible in the system tray, to fix this, install the following package. (discussed here)

$ sudo apt-get install sni-qt:i386

Adjusting rc.local

In order to automatically turn on Numlock at boot, and (on my laptop) remember the brightness setting, I edit the /etc/rc.local file accordingly. The brightness thing is because, my Ubuntu boots with minimum brightness on laptop. Also to turn on automatically, you need to install the numlockx package.

$ sudo apt-get install numlockx

Add these lines to the /etc/rc.local file:

# Numlock enable
[ -x /usr/bin/numlockx ] && numlockx on

#Auto set brightness (change the value "12" for your system)
echo 12 > /sys/class/backlight/acpi_video0/brightness

exit 0

Show Date in Panel

It is good to see the date in the top right corner of the screen at all times.

Click on the clock and follow Time & Date Settings… -> Clock tab -> Check “Date and month” below the “In the clock, show” section.

Import Filters for Thunderbird

Using this addon, you can import your “exported” filters for Thunderbird.

Privacy Settings

I usually edit the privacy settings of the Unity Dash so that it won’t record activity on my multimedia files.

Just type “privacy” to the dash and run the settings. On the “Files” tab, select the type of files you don’t want to be recorded.

Install Google Calendar Indicator

This was discussed in a blog post, if you use Google Calendar, then it’s a good idea to integrate it with your Ubuntu. Check it out here.

Disabling the ALT Key for HUD

Some programs use the ALT key and since the HUDS want to access it, things can get messed up. That’s why I usually disable the hotkey. It was discussed here before. Simply click on the System Settings… Go to “Keyboard -> Shortcuts” select “Key to show the HUD and hit “Backspace” if you want it disabled.

Shortcut for minimizing Windows

While disabling the ALT key for HUD, it’s a good idea to also add the minimization shortcut. While at “Keyboard -> Shortcuts” go to “Windows” and add the key combination you like. I usually prefer “Ctrl +Alt + 0”

Disable Recursive Searching in Nautilus as you Type

For me, this is the most annoying updates of Nautilus. When I want to search for something, recursively, I can either use “find” or “locate” or simply hit “search”. Locating files easily in a folder with nautilus is something I use a lot, that’s why this patch is very handy. Follow the instructions in the link below if you don’t like that feature either.

http://www.webupd8.org/2013/09/how-to-disable-recursive-search-in.html