Ubuntu Linux - Configuration

NOTE: These procedures are for a minimal GNOME single-boot hard drive installation of Ubuntu version 8.04 (Hardy Heron).

Minimal GNOME Installation

  1. After you install command line Ubuntu and boot up, you will find yourself in a command line environment.
  2. To update the Ubuntu installation, enter "sudo apt-get update".
  3. The command for downloading and installing a software package is "sudo apt-get install (app1) (app2) (app3) . . . . .
  4. The software programs you need to install for a minimal GNOME desktop environment are xorg, gdm, gnome-core, menu, and fast-user-switch-applet. Enter "sudo apt-get install xorg gdm gnome-core menu fast-user-switch-applet". xorg is the X-window system, gdm is the login manager, and gnome-core gives you the base GNOME desktop environment. If you don't have the menu package installed, the menu in the GUI may not update when you install programs. If you don't have fast-user-switch-applet, you won't get the reboot and shutdown options when you select Quit. Please note that the default installation of Ubuntu with GNOME is much more resource-hungry and requires more RAM and processor speed. The minimal installation I recommend provides enough functionality without bloat. There are other desktop and window managers that are more lightweight, but they require lots of tinkering to make them fully functional in Ubuntu. I believe that since most Ubuntu users and developers use GNOME, the Ubuntu system is geared towards GNOME and that those using other desktop/window managers get less support.
  5. Reboot by entering the command "sudo reboot". When you boot up again, you will get an error message about a missing theme. Don't worry about it, because it's purely cosmetic. When prompted, enter your username and password.
  6. To access the command line when you are in the GUI, go to Applications -> Accessories -> Terminal .

Adding Synaptic

  1. To install Synaptic (GUI software installer), open a command line window and enter "sudo apt-get install synaptic".
  2. To access Synaptic, go to System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager. Synaptic is better than apt-get when you don't recall the exact name of the package you are looking for or when you wish to see what's available.

Navigating the GNOME GUI

Wireless Internet

Comments

Some wireless cards work better with Linux than others. I have found the Linksys WUSB54GC to work right-out-of-the-box in both Ubuntu Linux and Puppy Linux. As a general rule, avoid wireless cards that use a Broadcom chipset, including the WPC54GS v1.1 and WPC54G ver. 3.1. In my experience, it is impossibly difficult to get the WPC54GS v1.1 or the WPC54G ver. 3.1 working properly. Over multiple Ubuntu installations, I didn't get exactly the same results. (Sometimes I could get the LINK light to come on with the "sudo modprobe -r bcm43xx && sudo modprobe bcm43xx" command, and sometimes I could not.) You will find in Ubuntu forums that numerous users (even experienced ones) have found these cards to be troublesome. There is no clear consensus on a reliable way to make them work. Even those who get one of these troublesome cards to work in one version of Ubuntu find that it stops working properly when they upgrade to a later version of Ubuntu. Save these troublesome cards for Windows computers, or sell them to a Windows user. If you live in a small rural town with no convenient WiFi hotspots, you have that much more reason to avoid a troublesome wireless card.

Please use WICD for connecting to the wireless Internet. I found Network Manager to be unreliable and difficult to use. WiFi Radar is easier to use but is also unreliable. (I installed it once and had no problems. I installed it another time and had no "Connect" button.) On the Ubuntu forums, you will find many users who are satisfied with WICD but had trouble with Network Manager and WiFi Radar.

Installation Procedure

  1. Go to a command line window and enter "sudo gedit /etc/apt/sources.list".
  2. At the end of the file, add the line "deb http://apt.wicd.net hardy extras". If you are not using the Hardy Heron version of Ubuntu, replace "hardy" with the appropriate name.
  3. Save and exit the file. You are now back in the command line window.
  4. Update the repository source list by entering "sudo apt-get update".
  5. Install WICD by entering "sudo apt-get install wicd".
  6. WICD is installed. If you are using one of the better wireless cards, all you have to do is plug it in and enter WICD.
  7. If no wireless network shows up in WICD, go to Preferences and add "wlan0" to the wireless interface.
  8. If your wireless card doesn't work right out-of-the-box, there are additionals steps needed to get it working. That said, there is a competitive market for wireless cards, and I recommend replacing a troublesome wireless card with one of the better ones. There are lists of Linux-compatible wireless cards on the web.

Recommended Software Packages

You can download these packages with either apt-get or Synaptic.