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.
- Starting with a Ubuntu minimal server install
- Internet access
- Home partition allows execution bit on filesystem
- Have
root/sudoaccess - Knowledge of environment variables, permissions and file structure
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 |
- Install Desktop
- Install Flatpak and GUI applications
- Install CLI tools
- Remove pre-installed packages
Because we will install Gnome Shell, GDM is required to get a lock screen.
sudo apt install --no-install-recommends -y gdm3
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;
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.
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. |
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
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
We will use flakpak to install GUI applications without root.
sudo apt install -y flatpakWe 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.flatpakrepoInstall 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
udevrules that must be added manually when using flatpak.
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
apt install -y zsh
Use zimfw for collaborative configuration.
apt install -y \
unzip tmux
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
sudoa apt remove --purge -y \
mdadm byobu screen
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
When installing graphics drivers, include the vulkan library to support the apps that use vulkan for rendering.
sudo apt install nvidia-driver-NNN libvulkan1