Ubuntu 24.04 - first startup configs

Assumes LVM encrypted installation.

First actions

• Start with a normal update cycle.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
sudo apt autoclean
sudo apt autoremove

• Install some key utilities.

sudo apt install htop bashtop numix-gtk-theme numix-icon-theme \
                 numix-icon-theme-circle gnome-tweaks screen \
                 git inkscape gimp vlc lyx zsh \
                 net-tools stress lm-sensors cifs-utils alien \
                 openssh-server libffi-dev \
                 gnome-shell-extension-manager \
                 ubuntu-restricted-extras dconf-editor

Appearance

• Change system theme to “Dark” in Settings > Appearance.
• Change wallpaper.

• Open the tweaks application and, under “Appearance”, select the “Numix-circle” icons.

  • NOTE: opening Settings > Appearance at any point after this will undo the icons selection.
• Enable night light in Ubuntu’s Display settings.
• Change desktop background. This can be done via tweaks.
• Customize desktop settings.

Technical

• Update swap by creating a new swapfile of 32 GB with the following commands. Assuming the current swap file is located at swap.img.

swapoff -v /swap.img
fallocate -l 32G /swap.img
mkswap /swap.img
swapon /swap.img

• If new build, check temperature behaviours with stress and sensors
  (or bashtop with temperature option turned on).

• Add external network drives to sudo nano /etc/fstab, and then mount them with sudo mount -a.

  • Good to add option x-systemd.automount to avoid stalling or crashing at boot.

Third-party software

• Install third party softwares

  • VSC: installation page
    • Sync VSC account.
  • 1Password: download page

• Install appimagelauncher: repo

Terminal

• Install wez terminal: docs page

  • Switch default terminal to wezterm with update-alternatives --config x-terminal-emulator.
  • Create ~/.wezterm.lua. Example: .wezterm.lua

• Install OhMyZsh: installation page

  • Add powerlevel10k theme: repo
• 1Password CLI: docs page

• Install GitHub Client: brew install gh (installation page)

  • Integrate with 1Password: docs page
• Install brew: brew homepage
• Install bat: sudo apt install bat (repo) Then add the alias to .zprofile: echo "alias bat=batcat" | tee -a ~/.zprofile
• Install fd (repo)
• Install dust via brew install dust

sudo apt install fd-find
mkdir -p ~/.local/bin
ln -s $(which fdfind) ~/.local/bin/fd
echo "PATH=~/.local/bin:$PATH" | tee -a ~/.zprofile