Quick start ubuntu 11.10

I bought a new laptop today (2011 10 28) and I thought it would document what I did to get it up and running like my desktop machine. Here are my notes.

Installing Ubuntu

Downloaded 32 bit Ubuntu 11.10 ISO from http:www.ubuntu.com and did a default install, selecting installing non Open Source packages. Updated to the latest version.

When I started Ubuntu 11.10 I met Unity - ugh - this is going to take some getting used to. I finally pinned terminal in my app launcher by picking "Dash home" (top icon in the left vertical panel), More Apps, Search "terminal", then when it shows up in the left panel, right mouse click and select "Keep in launcher".

sudo, my best friend

I don't want sudo to ask me for a password all the time, so I run:

sudo sh -c "echo '%admin ALL=(ALL) NOPASSWD:ALL' >> /etc/sudoers"

Capturing packages installed on desktop PC

I have been using the same desktop PC, with Ubuntu installed, for several years. The simple way to make sure my new laptop would have what I needed while on the road was to install the same packages I have installed on my desktop.

On my desktop I ran:

INSTALLED_PACKAGES=`aptitude search *  | grep ^i | cut -c5-36`
for PACKAGE in $INSTALLED_PACKAGES ; do echo sudo apt-get install $PACKAGE ; done > /tmp/get-packages.sh

To copy the /tmp/get-packages.sh, I connected from my laptop to my desktop opening my home directory (left panel, 2nd icon down, Home Foled) then entering into the Go->Location (from the application menu in the top part of the screen) and use ssh://contra-lx where my desktop PC DNS name is contra-lx.

I copied /tmp/get-packages.sh to the Desktop on my new laptop and ran:

sudo sh -x $HOME/Desktop/get-packages.sh