Top Things to do after installing Ubuntu 16.04

To have a fully functional and smoothly running Ubuntu 16.04 Desktop users need to have some services application running before they start working with this fresh flavor of Ubuntu, although it depends upon nature of services for which system will be utilized, we have tried to figure out some of the common services which are required to run on every system.

Lets tell you top things to do after installing Ubuntu 16.04

Update your system

# apt-get update

1. Install flash player

Open terminal and run following command

# sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer

Download package from official website of Adobe click this link

Downlaod .tar.gz package of flash

# wget https://fpdownload.adobe.com/get/flashplayer/pdc/11.2.202.577/install_flash_player_11_linux.x86_64.tar.gz

Unzip folder

# tar -xvf install_flash_player_11_linux.x86_64.tar.gz

Copy libflashplayer.so file to  /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins

# cp libflashplayer.so /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/

Close browser and restart.

Open browser and verify

2. Install dropbox

Dropbox is cloud storage, which synchronize on all of your devices.Download package form official website

# wget https://linux.dropbox.com/packages/ubuntu/dropbox_2015.10.28_amd64.deb

Install package

# dpkg -i dropbox_2015.10.28_amd64.deb

Open Dropbox icon and install package

3. Install wine

wine is required to run windows compatible (.exe) application to Linux, it is a compatible layer which facilitate to run  windows applications.

If you are running a 64 bit system, first enable 32 bit architecture

# dpkg --add-architecture i386

Add repo

# add-apt-repository ppa:wine/wine-builds

Update system

# apt-get update

Install package

# sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-devel

After installation is complete, wine package icon will appear.

4. Install uGet Download Manager

Now, you have configured some important features in your system, let us have some decent download manager which can accelerate, manage multiple downloads on a single time,  uGet is perfect solution for that.

Add repo

# sudo add-apt-repository ppa:plushuang-tw/uget-stable

Update system and install package

# apt-get update

Install uGet

# apt-get install uget

5. Disable Guest login account

To assure security of your Ubuntu desktop it is  recommended to disable guest session login which does not require any password. You have to edit lightdm display manager file

Install following package

# apt-get install gksu

Open Terminal and run following

# gksu gedit /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf

Add following lines

 [SeatDefaults]
greeter-session=unity-greeter
allow-guest=false

Restart service

# sudo /etc/init.d/lightdm restart

Now logout and try to login guest session, it is gone!

6. Secure your passwords with Enpass Open source password management tool

Enpass is a Open Source tool used to secure and mange all of your critical passwords, ytou can manage and secure all of your critical password to your local system. It uses 256 bit AES encryption system to secure your information.

To install Enpass enter new repo

# echo "deb http://repo.sinew.in/ stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/enpass.list

Import key that is used to sign the release

 wget -O - http://repo.sinew.in/keys/enpass-linux.key | apt-key add -

Update packakge

# apt-get update

Download Enpass package

# apt-get install enpass

Give password

Configure all of your required password settings

 

7. Install VLC media Player

VLC media player is an opensource, cross platefrom multimedia player, and framework that plays most of the multimedia files. with Ubuntu 16.04 is is not installed by default so we have to install that package, update and install vlc.

# apt-get install vlc browser-plugin-vlc

8. Install midori Browser

Midori browser is very quick and fast browser, it comes with all of the latest features which make that application fast and secure.

Add repository to install that application

# sudo apt-add-repository ppa:midori/ppa

Update system and install browser

# apt-get update -qq && sudo apt-get install midori

9. Install Codeblocks

Codeblocks is very popular open source IDE for C, C++ development, codeblocks has provided repository for Ubuntu 16.04,  codeblocks comes with several plugins which can be added as and when required.

Install package

# pat-get install codeblocks

Open terminal and run codeblocks

# codeblocks

10. Install putty

To manage your server  you may need to have some remote login tool and putty is most easy to use and quick to deploy remote login application.

# apt-get install putty

 11. Change ssh default port

You secure your machine you must change ssh default port so that can avoid anonymous security theft.

Open ssh configuration file

# vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config

Change default 22 port so some another unique port.

# What ports, IPs and protocols we listen for
Port 989
# Use these options to restrict which interfaces/protocols sshd will bind to
#ListenAddress ::
#ListenAddress 0.0.0.0
Protocol 2
# HostKeys for protocol version 2
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_rsa_key
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_dsa_key
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ecdsa_key
HostKey /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key
#Privilege Separation is turned on for security
UsePrivilegeSeparation yes

Restart service

# /etc/init.d/ssh restart

Try to login with changed port

 $ sudo ssh -X -p 989 um@192.51.12.250

 

12. Edit /etc/hosts

Some times you do not have any FQDN in your network, in absence of name server you can map your ip address and a hostname.

Open and edit /etc/hosts

# vim /etc/hosts

Edit and provide ip address with hostname, put one more extra entry for some remote machine.Do similar setting in remote machine.

 Try to ssh login this machine using hostname.

 You can see, things are working.

13. Install filezilla

Filezilla is a open source ftp server and client open source application. It is easy to use cross platform. Very rich in features like tabbed user interface, ipv6 support, drag and drop, remote file search and editing, even you can save sessions. IT is a must have for any Linux user, install this applcaiton with apt-get.

# apt-get install filezilla

 

14. Install and configure  Geary Email Client

 Geary is one of the most popular  mail client application. It is a full feature HTML based mail client and support all of the famous email systems like Gmail, Ymail, Outlook etc.

To install Geary, add repo

# add-apt-repository ppa:yorba/ppa && apt-get update

Install

# apt-get install geary

15. Install LNAV -Log file navigator

Logfile navigator or lnav is very rich and advanced logging tool. all of the log contents are merged into a single view based on time stamps. It detects log message automatically while scanning log flies, it displays that matched or do not matches a single set of regular expressions. session information is saved automatically and restored when your viewing same set of files, filters applied, current location of files, everything is saved in session.

Installation

# apt-get install lnav

Start session

# lnav

Let us view logs from some specific part only

# lnav /var/log/apt/history.log

16. Install skype

To install skype with Ubuntu, open  software and updates, click other software and  select canonical partners checkbook to enable. update your system and install skype.

# apt-get update && apt-get install skype

 

This is all for now, soon we will more applications and services configurations with Ubuntu 16.04. Have Fun!!