Due to a computer error I'm not going to discus, I now have Windows 10 only, and it looks like it's going to stay that way. However, all the times I had to reinstall eOS caused me to keep a set of instructions on how to do the most basic customization tasks. I don't see a way to attach a file, so the whole thing is pasted in below in hopes that it helps someone else.
The instructions were sometimes wrong or didn't work for me. All of the steps are numbered, so the best thing to do is to read an entire numbered step to make sure I didn't add any notes to the bottom of that step, then do it.
Also, my username is unknowable so it's sometimes in the help file as part of a command. If you see unknowable in a command line example, exchange unknowable for your username.
ACTUAL HELP FILE BELOW:
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1. SETUP AND INSTALL
To install, use Etcher to install the elementary OS Live iso onto a thumb drive. Fully defrag the drive you're going to install to. Create at least 3 partitions: your root partition only needs to be 20GB really. 30GB would be enormous. You'll need a partition for /boot/efi/ but this only needs to be like 500MB. Finally, you'll need a large amount of space for your home directory, where everything will get installed to.
Yes, you can do the normal install. It will wipe the drive you choose and use most of the available space for your home directory, which can be encrypted by using the LUKS filesystem, and that's the only way to do it.
SETUP NOTES: As of eOS 6, I can't get the Custom install to work at all. It starts the install then gives an error, always the same error at the same place no matter what drive you install from or to. I eventually chose Normal install, which created two small boot partitions and the rest of the drive space for /. This does allow you to LUKS encrypt the root directory, but of course leaving the boot partitions unencrypted.
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2, INSTALL WIFI
Read "!wifi help - READ THIS!!.txt".
EDITOR'S NOTE: I had tons of issues installing my Netgear A6100 USB wifi adapter, and created its own help file. It's not posted here for brevity reasons.
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3. INSTALL Synaptic Package Manager:
sudo apt-get install synaptic
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4. RUN plymouth
Plymouth by itself is already installed, but you still need to (maybe download) and install Plymouth Manager:
plymouth-manager_1.5.0-1_all.deb
https://launchpad.net/plymouth-manager/+download
This is a Debian package and it has broken dependencies (pythongtk-2.0). It will not build, so no Plymouth.
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5. INSTALL grub-customizer
Open Synaptic and install grub-customizer. Run and setup, then reboot and continue:
GRUB-customizer looks in the wrong place for boot info. It should be looking in /boot/efi/EFI/ubuntu/grub/grub.conf for the actual grub.conf or to /etc/grub.d for the config files that build the grub.conf.
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6. RUN THESE COMMANDS
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras
sudo apt install libavcodec-extra
sudo apt install libdvd-pkg
sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg
sudo apt install gimp
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
sudo apt install gdebi - for installing .deb files
sudo apt-get autoclean - for cleaning up after installing
sudo apt-get clean - for cleaning up the cache
sudo apt-get autoremove - cleans up dependencies
flatpaks are configured on eOS install, but go to flathub.org and setup
install any flatpak from there and it will grab the repository
in the AppCenter.
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7. ADD ZOOM EFFECT TO PLANK - DESTROYS PLANK DOCKLETS
go to https://launchpad.net/plank
download the source at the bottom, then choose the orig.tar.xz file - that's the source. Then extract it. You'll have to get file-roller from Synaptic. Then you can open a terminal in the folder you extracted to and build plank's dependencies:
sudo apt build-dep plank
then compile:
sudo ./configure
make
It's common to see lots of warnings and red text during the make.
sudo make install
sudo apt install --reinstall plank libplank*
sudo nano /usr/share/plank/themes/Default/dock.theme
That will open the default dock.theme for editing. Just add to the bottom:
#Zoom
ZoomEnabled=true
ZoomPercent=180
Then press Ctrl-O > Enter to save and Ctrl-X to exit nano.
cat /usr/share/plank/themes/Default/dock.theme
to see the changes you made to the file. Reboot, then login and go to the Applications menu and search for
plank --preferences
This will show you prefs for Plank, as well as the new zoom function at the bottom.
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8. INSTALL PLANK THEME
Rename 'Lumi Cool' to LumiCool then copy the LumiCool folder to /usr/share/plank/themes/ like this:
unknowable@Elite8300:/usr/share/plank/themes$ sudo mkdir LumiCool
[sudo] password for unknowable:
unknowable@Elite8300:/usr/share/plank/themes$ cd LumiCool/
unknowable@Elite8300:/usr/share/plank/themes/LumiCool$ sudo cp '/media/unknowable/2_TB/!everything else/System tools/linux/System tools/Plank (dock) themes/Lumi Cool/'*.* ./
unknowable@Elite8300:/usr/share/plank/themes/LumiCool$ plank --preferences
Copy the theme you like to ~/.local/share/themes/<THEME NAME>/gtk-3.0/
Install the theme you like, then add the icon pack to that theme. Copy the icons to ~/.icons/<THEME NAME>/
Install the theme you like, then add the cursor pack to that theme. Copy the weed cursors to ~/.icons/<THEME NAME>/cursors/
See the following page for more info on setting up the cursors:
https://askubuntu.com/questions/823656/where-are-cursor-icons-stored-on-ubuntu-16-04
The cursors are indeed installed in the /usr/share/icons folder. User specific cursor themes can be installed in ~/.local/share/icons folder although for elementary OS use, follow the first direction: copy the weed cursors to ~/.icons/<THEME NAME>/cursors/ .
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9. INSTALL PANTHEON TWEAKS
Setup software-properties-common and allow installation from PPA's:
sudo apt install software-properties-common
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:philip.scott/pantheon-tweaks
sudo apt install pantheon-tweaks
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10. ADD ICONS TO THE SYSTEM TRAY - NEVER WORKED :(
THIS NEVER WORKED FOR ME, SO REMOVED :(
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11. CHANGE BACKGROUND ON LOGIN SCREEN
First you have to install git and ImageMagick:
sudo apt install git imagemagick-6.q16
Next you have to install dependencies:
sudo apt build-dep io.elementary.greeter
Next, set your wallpaper's filetype to png, rename it to texture.png, and move it to ~/Pictures/
Clone the github repository:
sudo git clone https://github.com/Blackmanx/elementaryOS-lockscreen-bgreplacer bgreplacer
cd bgreplacer
execute the bash script:
chmod +x *.sh
sudo /home/unknowable/bgreplacer/background.sh
If you prefer your login wallpaper to be blurry instead of clear, run:
sudo /home/unknowable/bgreplacer/background-blur.sh
Restart to make the change take effect.
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12. INSTALL GNOME TASK MANAGER (Usage)
sudo apt install gnome-usage
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13. FIX SUSPEND ISSUE IN eOS
sudo apt install pm-utils
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14. INSTALL GNOME DISK UTILITY
The Gnome Disk Utility (aka "Disks") allows you to work with drives and partitions directly. To install it:
sudo apt install gnome-disk-utility
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15. INSTALL INDICATOR STICKYNOTES
EDITOR'S NOTE: I never got this functioning properly because it usually didn't show in the system tray. Ended up uninstalling. _________________________________________________________________________________________
16. INSTALL DIGIKAM PHOTO MANAGER
sudo apt install digikam
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17. ADD FOLDERS TO PLANK
https://askubuntu.com/questions/1306476/how-creation-of-folders-inside-of-plank-be-done-in-ubuntu-20-04-lts-while-retain
To create application launcher groups in Plank Dock, create folders somewhere on your system for each group you want to create, e.g. "Games", "Office", ... Then populate each of these folders with the .desktop launchers of the programs you want to include.
You can find most .desktop files of your applications in the folder /usr/share/applications. Those from applications installed as a snap are in /var/lib/snapd/desktop/applications/. If you're still having issues finding the *.desktop files, just navigate to root and search for *.desktop. That will search the entire file system for .desktop apps. You can edit those .desktop files to change the icon of the program, then copy those files to the folders you created.
Finally, drag the folders to Plank to add it to the dock. Clicking it will reveal a list of the applications that you can launch.
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18. INSTALL NEMO FILE MANAGER
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/nemo
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nemo file-roller
sudo apt-get install nemo nemo-fileroller - SEEMS UNNECESSARY AFTER THE PREVIOUS LINE
EDITOR'S NOTE: Still never got it properly using this. Got it from Synaptic much later, so you may still need to add the repository.
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19. USING dd TO INSTALL AN ISO TO USB (TUTORIAL FROM FIREFOX):
Plug in the USB flash drive and determine the device it's mounted on with the command:
sudo fdisk -l
This time around it was /dev/sdd for me, so I'll use that as my example.
Unmount the device:
umount /dev/sdd
The next step is to copy the iso. This will take several minutes if you have an iso file that is a few GB in size. Copy to the device not partition (i.e., copy to sdc not sdc1) as shown below:
sudo dd if='/home/USERNAME/!everything else/System tools/Windows 7 Ultimate - SP1 - X64/Win_7_ultimate_sp1_x64.iso' of=/dev/sdd bs=4M
Perform final steps :
sync
When you're ready to take out the drive, do this:
sudo eject /dev/sdd
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20. INSTALL HIDDEN STARTUP APPS
sudo sed -i 's/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g' /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop
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21. INSTALL DCONF EDITOR
sudo apt-get install dconf-editor
For those coming from windows that want a simple reply, dconf is the gnome equivalent to the windows registry... a big binary tree where any program can store and share their configuration.
They first migrated from the traditional unix configs (one text files for each app, each with their own format) to a standard tree of XML files, managed by gconf. In recent times, as almost no one edited those XML files directly and the performance problems of reading and parsing MANY files, they migrated to a binary format by migrating from gconf to dconf.
Unlike windows registry, dconf should have all config entries listed, even if they are set to the default values. So there are no hidden entries, you can change then or reset then to default easily.
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22. INSTALL XCURSORGEN AND GURSORMAKER TO CONVERT .ANI TO X11 CURSORS
sudo apt-get install x11-apps
The .deb file is located in ~/!everything else/System tools/linux/System tools/gursormaker*.deb
See more on #25.
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23. INSTALL DEB (tabbed text editor)
EDITOR'S NOTE: It turned out that I preferred Atom over deb, so this instruction is pointless and it was removed.
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24. INSTALL ICON PACKS
In Home folder
- Make folder .icons in your home folder
- Download the tar file and extract it
- In terminal run command ~$ gtk-update-icon-cache ~/.icons/namefile (ex : Bloom-Green)
In Root folder
- Download the tar file and extract it
- Copy paste in /usr/share/icons (can use GUI via file manager as Root or command line)
- In terminal run command ~$ sudo gtk-update-icon-cache /usr/share/icons/namefile (ex : Bloom-Green)
You can then go to System Settings: Tweaks: Appearance (default open) and change your icons to Bloom-Green
https://palko-drawing.deviantart.com/art/Black-18-01-14-725497336
Open the file manager to root and search for "*.desktop" (without the quotes). That will pull up a list of every program link on the computer. Although they are changed back to default on upgrade, you can edit the .desktop files in a text editor. Search for "Icon=" (without the quotes) and change it to a .png or .sfv file. The full filename must be included on the Icon line in the .desktop file. Here's a list of what has already been changed:
FILENAME CHANGE MADE
Calculator Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/Calculator.png
Calendar Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/calendar_420_-_2_-_dark.png
Firefox Web Browser Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/Firefox.png
VLC Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/VLC media player.ico
Terminal (io.elementary.terminal.desktop) Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/command prompt.png
PCSX2 Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/PS2_black_logo.png
PCSXR Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/PSX_02.png
snes9x Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/SNES_gamepad.png
MAME Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/Games.png - flatpak, icon on Plank Subdocks only
WOEUSB Icon=/home/unknowable/!everything else/Cursors and icons/drive_USB_thumbdrive.png
The rest of the icons can be changed in System Settings -> Tweaks -> Appearance.
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25. INSTALL CURSORS
Easiest way is to take what's already done and use that. Copy "/home/unknowable/!everything else/System tools/linux/System tools/Cursors/Matrix Green with weed/" to /home/unknowable/.icons so you will now have a folder at /home/unknowable/.icons/Matrix Green with weed/ and it will have one folder in it named cursors along with "fileindex.theme". The folder should have a pack of cursors already setup. After you copy the folder, go to System Settings -> Tweaks -> Appearance (selected by default) -> change the dropdown for Cursor to say "Matrix Green with weed", then close Settings. If you want to make a cursor set from scratch, you can start from what's listed in ~/!everything else/Cursors and icons/weed cursors for linux/ and use the following to create a complete set of weed cursors:
GursorMaker:
http://gursormaker.sourceforge.net
http://gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Gursor+Maker?content=34031
Cursor Create:
https://github.com/isaacrobinson2000/CursorCreate/releases
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26. INSTALL PCSXR, MAME, PCSX2,Snes9x (or bsnes), AND DOLPHIN (wii emu for Dragon's Lair)
MAME and PCSXR can be installed using Synaptic. To install PCSX2, the following page has full instructions, just scroll down to Ubuntu:
https://github.com/PCSX2/pcsx2/wiki/Installing-on-Linux
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
NOTES BELOW IN ONLINE INSTRUCTIONS WERE NOT NECESSARY FOR ME
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Add the multiverse package repository. Uncomment lines looking like this, where trusty is replaced by your Ubuntu version
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty multiverse
deb http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates multiverse
deb-src http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ trusty-updates multiverse
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NOTES ABOVE IN ONLINE INSTRUCTIONS WERE NOT NECESSARY FOR ME
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gregory-hainaut/pcsx2.official.ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pcsx2
To install Snes9x first add flatpaks (even though you've already got flatpaks, you must do it for this flatpak):
sudo flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Now get the flatpak and install:
sudo wget https://flathub.org/repo/appstream/com.snes9x.Snes9x.flatpakref
sudo flatpak install com.snes9x.Snes9x.flatpakref
INSTALLING BSNES
First install flatpak if you haven't already by now:
sudo apt install flatpak
The Flatpak plugin for the Software app makes it possible to install apps without needing the command line. To install, run:
sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-flatpak
Add the flatpak repository:
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
Then install the flatpak:
flatpak install flathub dev.bsnes.bsnes
And finally run it:
flatpak run dev.bsnes.bsnes
Don't forget, you can copy the .desktop link to the Games subfolder inside /Plank Subdocks.
DOLPHIN
Add the PPA:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:dolphin-emu/ppa
sudo apt-get update --allow-unauthenticated --allow-insecure-repositories
sudo apt install dolphin-emu
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27. CONVERT BIN TO ISO USING iat COMMANDS
sudo apt-get install iat
iat [source_file].bin [target_file].iso
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28. INSTALL UNETBOOTIN:
EDITOR'S NOTE: UNETBOOTIN will only mount Linux iso's. Also, it will only run from a sudo command line, and it wouldn't even search for USB drives. It found root when I chose Hard Drive to install to, but it never found any USB drives. Looks like dd is the way to go - see #19.
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29. INSTALL MKV CODEC
sudo apt-get -y install mkvtoolnix mkvtoolnix-gui
After doing the above, VLC will still only try loading the audio (apparently) if you open ann MKV file from the file manager. You would have to add it to the playlist, then play it from there. That worked fine for me.
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30. FORCE UPDATES FROM UNSIGNED REPOSITORIES
You can set options in your sources.list located at /etc/apt/sources.list. Just add [trusted=yes] right after the word deb in the sources.list:
deb [trusted=yes] http://www.deb-multimedia.org jessie main
The trusted option is what turns off the GPG check. The easiest way to do that is this:
cd /etc/apt/
sudo nano sources.list
After you've edited the file, hit Ctrl-O then Enter to save the file and Ctrl-X to exit nano. You'll also need to edit anything missed in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/*.list. If that gives you any issues, you can do the following:
sudo apt-get update --allow-unauthenticated --allow-insecure-repositories
I'm still getting the following after using the above command:
E: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/dolphin-emu/ppa/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/binary-amd64/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1560:8008::19 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/gregory-hainaut/pcsx2.official.ppa/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1560:8008::19 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/versable/elementary-update/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1560:8008::19 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/atom/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1560:8008::19 80]
E: Failed to fetch http://ppa.launchpad.net/webupd8team/nemo/ubuntu/dists/focal/main/binary-i386/Packages 404 Not Found [IP: 2001:67c:1560:8008::19 80]
E: Some index files failed to download. They have been ignored, or old ones used instead.
Also you can add the a flag in the desired repository entry in the sources.list like this:
deb [allow-insecure=yes] http://www.deb-multimedia.org jessie main
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31. BACK UP AND RESTORE THE HOME DIRECTORY ONLY:
You can use the following command in a terminal to back up the home directory:
sudo tar -cvf /media/unknowable/BACKUP/backup.tar /home/unknowable
**Proper naming is crucial here take your time.
This file will contain all the content of /home, and can be stored on for instance a USB disk.
Once you have reinstalled 20.04 you can restore this with
sudo -i
cd /home/
tar --exclude=.cache -xvf /media/unknowable/BACKUP/backup.tar
In addition you may have to restore ownership of your home directory.
sudo chown -R unknowable.unknowable /home/unknowable
If you make a separate partition for /home (or you already have this) you can simply re-install 20.04, and use the old /home.
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32. AUTOMOUNT DRIVES
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmswUaf96ZA
/dev/sdb2 c:\ /media/unknowable/6E02767002763D61
/dev/sdc1 3TB /media/unknowable/BACKUP
/dev/sde1 2TB /media/unknowable/2TB
df -h lists all available MOUNTED drives
lsblk -o NAME,HCTL,SIZE,MOUNTPOINT lists all drives with sizes and mountpoints
sudo partprobe /dev/sdc1 not sure what this does. Use the drive you're trying to mount, never seemed necessary later
mkdir ~/3TB make a directory for the new mountpoint
sudo mount /dev/sdc1 ./3TB mount the drive
df -h run this again to make sure it mounted properly
sudo blkid to get the UID of the drive - copy it to the clipboard
sudo nano /etc/fstab edit this file to automount
ADD A SCRIPT FILE WITH THE FOLLOWING, THEN ADD TO STARTUP:
sudo chown -R unknowable:unknowable /home/unknowable/3TB
sudo chmod -R a+rwX /mnt/data
mount /dev/sde1 next:
/dev/sde1: LABEL="2TB" UUID="b12e7f86-9cb8-48be-a8a1-9971134da949" TYPE="ext4" PARTUUID="0000bdfc-01"
IN /etc/fstab SHOULD BE:
UUID=b12e7f86-9cb8-48be-a8a1-9971134da949 /home/unknowable/2TB ext4 defaults,nofail 0 1
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33. REMOVE CONFIRMATION QUESTION ON SHUTDOWN
You can disable the confirmation dialog like this:
gsettings set org.gnome.SessionManager logout-prompt false
This should cause the system to immediately reboot instead of shutting down. If you want to revert the change, you can restore the original setting by changing false to true:
gsettings set org.gnome.SessionManager logout-prompt true
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34. AFTER ADDING MS WINDOWS, REBUILD OR REINSTALL GRUB, THEN EDIT GRUB.CFG
Sorry, no direct info on rebuilding grub. Check Firefox bookmarks for info on this.
To edit the correct grub.cfg, open a terminal to /boot/grub and run:
sudo nano ./grub.cfg
There you can change the grub entries' titles and the default timeout. When you're done hit Ctrl-O, Enter, Ctrl-X to save and exit.
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35. seems like that's it. Install everything, including:
NEMO File Manager
Firefox
Transmission
VLC Media Player - to get version 4 (with dark mode,) add daily PPA's:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:videolan/master-daily
sudo apt-get update --allow-unauthenticated --allow-insecure-repositories
run Synaptic and choose Mark All Upgrades, then open VLC and adjust prefs
Audacious - can use Winamp skins. Copy existing skins to /usr/share/audacious/Skins/
Atom - (tabbed text editor) - sudo snap install atom --classic
KDE Partition Manager
Synaptic Package Manager - see #3
Rainlendar
Gdebi Package Manager
GIMP
plank --preferences
handbrake
Openshot Video Editor
Easystroke - mouse gestures in X11
Irfanview - sudo snap install irfanview
