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Setting Up a Fresh Ubuntu 21.04 Desktop as Personal Computer

Erika Heidi on May 02, 2021

I recently got a brand new personal laptop (hooray bonus!) and got a suggestion for a blog post about setting up my Ubuntu for personal use. It's b...
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Mohammed El-Afifi

For video and audio processing and recording, you can also try ffmpeg. It's simply... marvelous.

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Erika Heidi

Yes! I got it installed in the first apt command :D

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Mohammed El-Afifi

Sorry missed it, probably because I focused on the multimedia section and expected to see it there. ;)

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Hasindu Lanka

I like exploring new versions (even beta) frequently. So I made this repo where I can run ./install and wait until it install and configure everything I want.

github.com/HasinduLanka/FreshLinux
Just like what you did here 😸

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Georgey

Can someone really tell me,
Why Linux??
If it's that important, can you hook up some link for me to refer??

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ryan atkinson

It's open source, relatively easy to use and customize, and there are more opportunities to learn thru exploration. If you just want to use Microsoft & Apple consumer-focused software, then Linux is maybe not for you. But if you like to break & fix things to learn how they work, Ubuntu is the best! Also you can typically get away with a much slower (cheaper) computer that might not be able to run Windows.

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Vince Fulco (It / It's)

Permissioning and directory traversing just seems easier too.

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Venkatesh KL • Edited

If someone had asked me this question 2 years ago I would have given a straight forward answer startup time. It's back in those days when my 16gb, i5 processor powered laptop(with a brand new SSD) used to take atleast 3-5 minutes to boot up & be usable. I mean, the startup was slow & is there was a TTI(Time To Interactive) for OSes windows would go at last.

However my perspective has changed recently. I use Ubuntu as my daily driver as it's what we use at work. Recently I've noticed that startup time & reboot time of windows have come down significantly. So now my points to use any linux system for development would be as below

  1. Being able to install docker & nvm comfortably. I use them in a daily basis so, it's better if it's easy to install & use.
  2. Being as close to your production environment, Unless you're hosting your applications on windows servers.
  3. Being able to work on even a decently powered machine(Average processor + 4-8 gb of memory + hard disk drive).
  4. Finance budgets. I know this doesn't apply to big oraganizations as they purchase licences in bulk, but startups which are not having great baking may consider running with minimal finances. So the developer machine bay not be brand new MacBook at all.
  5. Personal comfort. I've been using Ubuntu for almost 5+ years in a row. So I'm more comfortable there so that's an obvious choice.

If at least 3/5 comes as a Yes, then go for a Linux machine.
Point 4 is very prominent though of others. If you have budget you'd obviously go for a MacBook, so you may not even reach this place. So chill out.

Cheers 👍

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Meir Gabay • Edited

WSL2 is quite a game-changer. I used Ubuntu about a year ago, and then I found WSL2, from that moment, I ditched Ubuntu and now I'm using Windows with WSL2.

If you're not developing anything, then Ubuntu (or "Linux") is probably something that you don't essentially need. But for developers ... Working on a UNIX system is quite basic and a must, that's why macOS is also great for development.

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ryan atkinson

Without fences & walls, you don't need Windows & Gates

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Nico Domino

Why Linux? Its simple - it makes computing fun again, the fact that you and only you own what you do on your computer is a great side-effect, but not the main attraction imo.

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Steve Klassen (They/Them)

Loved it! I've used tmux and now I have to try terminator. I'm a huge fan of easier.

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Farhan Hasin Chowdhury

That's a neat set-up. I would like to suggest four additional programs that may come in handy ―

  • tlp for laptop battery life optimization.
  • cpufreq for system monitoring and power management.
  • howdy for Windoes Hello style facial recognition.
  • libinput-gesture if you want multi finger action gesture with your touchpad.
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Roland Whitehead

You didn't mention dual booting. I have a number of Linux based machines which started as Windows based machines because you can't easily buy them without. I'm typing this on a "Ubuntu supporting" Dell laptop. Even so, the tech guys at Dell (at least this side of the Noordzee) don't quite get it and always want you to boot into Windows if you are reporting an issue. The on-site engineers don't care - in fact they usually get excited to see Linux running on a machine that they've just fixed and want to learn from you. So when you first install Ubuntu, always agree to the dual boot option - it doesn't need to be a big partition. I will then use KVM or VirtualBox (depending on the generation of machine) to run Windows on demand in a VM because, unless it's a dire issue, I reboot for no-one...

PS. Check out Tilix - gnunn1.github.io/tilix-web/

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Matt Curcio

Love Ubuntu based systems!
I have always wanted a comprehensive script that would take care of my favorites (long list) and EVEN do config files. Someday... ahhh.

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Kishan B

Did not know about terminator before. Thanks for sharing!

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Kishan B

In mac os i use home brew for all applicaiton installation (cli apps and gui apps).

In ubuntu i see apt and snap. Which one would you choose and when?

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Sharif

According to the official website, Ubuntu 21.04 End of Life is January 2022
Source: wiki.ubuntu.com/Releases