KUBUNTU EXPRESS SETUP

This is a step-by-step guide, after Kubuntu has been installed, to make the OS more visually appealing and to add some practical functionality.

BACKUP IMPORTANT FILES

Create backups of critical files.

sudo -i
cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst.original
cp /etc/apt/sources.list /etc/apt/sources.list.original
cp /etc/X11/xorg.conf /etc/X11/xorg.conf.original
cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.original
cp /etc/pam.d/common-password /etc/pam.d/common-password.original
cp /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common.original
cp /etc/usplash.conf /etc/usplash.conf.original
cp /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh /etc/init.d/mountdevsubfs.sh.original
exit

IMPROVE DISK ACCESS

Improve disk performance (and disk life).

sudo sed -i 's/relatime/noatime/g' /etc/fstab

BOOT SCREEN

You can obtain grub bootsplash images from http://www.kde-look.org. Download an image to a folder called ~/Installation Files and execute the following, replacing <bootsplashimagename> with the name of your boot splash image.

sudo mkdir /boot/grub/images
sudo cp ~/Installation\ Files/<bootsplashimagename>.xpm.gz /boot/grub/images

Make changes to menu.lst.

kdesudo kate /boot/grub/menu.lst

Juste below the section ## ## End Default Options ##, you will see something like the following. Make a note of the value following the word root. In this example it is (hd0,5). This is the location of the linux kernel.

## ## End Default Options ##

title           Ubuntu 8.04.1, kernel 2.6.24-19-generic
root            (hd0,5)
kernel          /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.24-19-generic root=UUID=92034190-a1d1-4fa6-b68c-8c7dc9992200 ro quiet splash
initrd          /boot/initrd.img-2.6.24-19-generic
quiet

Add the following at the beginning of menu.lst. Be sure to make the following replacements:

1. Replace <bootsplashimagename> with the name of your boot splash image.

2. Replace (hd0,5) with the location of your linux kernel, noted above.

# Appearance
splashimage=(hd0,5)/boot/grub/images/<bootsplashimagename>.xpm.gz
foreground fffafa
background 4169e1
shade 0
viewport 6 3 76 23

Increase the time you have to select your operating system.

Replace:

• timeout         3

With:

• timeout         30

Comment out hiddenmenu so you are given options to select an operating system.

Replace:

• # Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
  hiddenmenu

With:

• # Hides the menu by default (press ESC to see the menu)
  # hiddenmenu

Save and close menu.lst.

PASSWORD

To allow passwords to be 3 characters long, execute the following.

kdesudo kate /etc/pam.d/common-password

Replace:

• password   required   pam_unix.so nullok obscure min=4 max=8 md5

With:

• password   required   pam_unix.so nullok min=3 max=8 md5

Save and close common-password.

INSTALL FONTS

The Liberation Fonts are similar to Microsoft's Times New Roman, Arial, and Courier New fonts. Red Hat released them under the GPL+exception license.

You can install these fonts using apt-get.

sudo apt-get install ttf-liberation

Install Microsoft True Type Core Fonts for the Web. These fonts include: Andale Mono, Arial Black, Arial, Comic Sans MS, Courier New, Georgia, Impact Times New Roman, Trebuchet, Verdana, and Webdings.

sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts

Alternatively, manually install Liberation Fonts from here. Download the fonts to a folder called ~/Installation Files and execute the following.

tar -xvpzf ~/Installation\ Files/liberation-fonts-ttf-3.tar.gz
sudo cp -r ~/liberation-fonts-0.2/ /usr/share/fonts/
sudo chmod -R a+r /usr/share/fonts
rm -r ~/liberation-fonts-0.2/

Also, if you have a licensed copy of some other commercial fonts, you can tar them and manually install them, as in the example below. (Be aware of licensing regulations regarding use of commercial fonts). Place the tar in a folder called ~/Installation Files and execute the following.

tar -xvpzf ~/Installation\ Files/microsoft-fonts.tar.gz
sudo cp -r ~/microsoft-fonts/ /usr/share/fonts/
sudo chmod -R a+r /usr/share/fonts
rm -r ~/microsoft-fonts/

SELECT FONTS

Configure the User's Fonts

Select system fonts and use font smoothing. Improve the appearance of GTK Applications, and use your default fonts in GTK Applications like Firefox.

sudo apt-get install gtk2-engines-qtcurve

Select: K | System Settings | General (tab) | Appearance | Fonts | Adjust All Fonts

• Change all fonts to Liberation Sans
• Change all font sizes to 9
• Change fixed width fonts to Monspace
• Change fixed width font size to 9
• Select: Use anti-aliasing | Enabled
• Select: Use anti-aliasing | Configure | Use sub-pixel Rendering: RGB; Hinting style: Full *

* Choose thehinting style that looks best on your screen.

Select: K | System Settings | General (tab) | Appearance | GTK Styles and Fonts

• Select: Use my KDE style in GTK applicaitons
• Select: Use my KDE fonts in GTK applicaitons

Disable Autohinting for Bold Fonts

kate ~/.fonts.conf

Add the following at the end of .fonts.conf (between the existing <fontconfig>...</fontconfig> tags).

<fontconfig>

 <!-- Disable autohint for bold fonts -->
 <match target="font" >
  <test compare="more" name="weight" >
   <const>medium</const>
  </test>
  <edit mode="assign" name="autohint" >
   <bool>false</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>

Configure the Root User's Fonts

Do the same settings for root, so kdesudo will show nice fonts. Also set the fonts anf font smoothing for KDM (The Login Screen).

kdesudo systemsettings

Select: K | System Settings| General (tab) | Appearance | Fonts | Adjust All Fonts

• Change all fonts to Liberation Sans
• Change all font sizes to 9
• Change fixed width fonts to Monspace
• Change fixed width font size to 9
• Select: Use anti-aliasing | Enabled
• Select: Use anti-aliasing | Configure | Use sub-pixel Rendering: RGB; Hinting style: Full *

* Choose thehinting style that looks best on your screen.

Select: K | System Settings | General (tab) | Appearance | GTK Styles and Fonts

• Select: Use my KDE style in GTK applicaitons
• Select: Use my KDE fonts in GTK applicaiton

Select: K | System Settings | Advanced (tab) | Login Manager | General

• Select: Use anti-aliasing for fonts

Disable Autohinting for Bold Fonts

kdesudo kate /root/.fonts.conf

Add the following at the end of .fonts.conf (between the existing <fontconfig>...</fontconfig> tags).

<fontconfig>

 <!-- Disable autohint for bold fonts -->
 <match target="font" >
  <test compare="more" name="weight" >
   <const>medium</const>
  </test>
  <edit mode="assign" name="autohint" >
   <bool>false</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>

Save and close /.fonts.conf.

Configure Fonts in Dolphin File Manager

Select: K | Utilities | File Manager | Settings | Configure Dolphin | View Modes

Select: Icons

• Font Family: Liberation Sans
• Font Size: 9

Select: Details

• Font Family: Liberation Sans
• Font Size: 9

Select: Previews

• Font Family: Liberation Sans
• Font Size: 9

Configure Fonts for Clock

Right click on the Clock in the bottom right of your desktop.

Select: Configure Clock

• Check: Date, Seconds, Day of week

• Time Font : Liberation Sans (leave the default font size)
• Date Font : Liberation Sans (leave the default font size)

USE GLOBAL FONT SMOOTHING (OPTIONAL)

The above font smoothing technique applies at a user level and must be done for each user. Optionally, you can set font smoothing globally, for all users.

The .fonts.conf in each user's home folder overrides the global settings. Unfortunately, each time a user accesses the K | System Settings | Appearance, a new .fonts.conf is automatically created (see bug 69085). Therefore, if you use this option, each user will have to manually delete their local .fonts.conf after every access of K | System Settings | Appearance.

To set font smoothing globally, execute the following.

sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig-config --force

Select:

• Font tuning method for screen: Autohinter
• Enable subpixel rendering for screen: Automatic
• Enable bitmapped fonts by default? No

Globally, Disable Autohinting for Bold Fonts

kdesudo kate /etc/fonts/local.conf

Add the following to local.conf.

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
 <!-- Disable autohint for bold fonts -->
 <match target="font" >
  <test compare="more" name="weight" >
   <const>medium</const>
  </test>
  <edit mode="assign" name="autohint" >
   <bool>false</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>

Save and close local.conf.

Delete Unnecessary ''.fonts.conf'' Files

Delete the .fonts.conf file in the home folder of each user.

rm ~/.fonts.conf

Delete the .fonts.conf file for the root user.

sudo rm /root/.fonts.conf

LOCALE SETTINGS

Select: K | System Settings | Regional & Language | Time & Date

• Time format: pH:MM:SS AMPM

• First day of the week: Sunday

Select: K | System Settings | Regional & Language | Other

• Paper format: US Letter
• Measure system: Imperial

Select: K | System Settings | Date & Time

• Set date and time automatically

Allow users to select their own image icon.

Select: K | System Settings | Advanced | Login Manager | Users

• User Image Source: User, Admin

USER PERSONAL SETTINGS

Select: K | System Settings | About Me

• Enter the user's Name

• Select the user's image icon

• Enter the user's EMmail address

FIREFOX

Install Firefox

sudo apt-get install firefox-3.0

Fix browser and tab display problems.

In the Firefox menu bar, click: Tools | Add-ons

In the Add-ons dialog, select: Get Add-ons

Click: Browse all Add-ons

Search for...

Install Kde4 + Firefox3 Theme

(You will have to register to download and install this theme).

Set Firefox as the default web browser.

Select: K | System Settings | Default Applications | Web Browser | firefox

View multimedia within your browser.

sudo apt-get install mozilla-mplayer

FLASH

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras

Install multimedia codecs.

sudo apt-get install libk3b2-extracodecs w64codecs mozilla-mplayer libvisual-0.4-plugins

(Note if you have a 32 bit processor, you should install w32codecs instead of w64codesc, above).

DVD

sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg libdvdread3 debhelper fakeroot build-essential
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh

OTHER SOFTWARE

sudo apt-get install kompare k9copy fslint k3b kdict
sudo apt-get install kolourpaint blender gimp

Software Development

sudo apt-get install netbeans
sudo apt-get install umbrello