My Linux Backpack

Marvin Trilles — Sun, 27 Dec 2020 16:37:35 +0000

(photo grabbed from internet)

I'm a MacOS guy for several years until my MBP died on me last year and haven't got a replacement for it. However, my 8 to 5 job revolves around Windows. Recently, Win10 has been working great for me. But, I always wanted a development environment that is different from what I use every day at work, change of scenery of some sort. So for 3 to 4 months I was reviewing the different flavors of Linux has to offer. Ubuntu has always got a soft spot for me, I have been on and off the platform since 2006. But the current interface has put me off. Either my system lags using it or I just need a more efficient OS. I'm not into games or the fancy graphics stuff anyway, I just need a reliable development machine. Eventually, I have decided to go with Xubuntu, an Ubuntu flavor utilizing a more resource friendly xfce interface. I never looked back since then.

Fast forward to now, I'm moving to the Focal Fossa 20.04 LTS release. I finally found time to migrate and wanted to start with a clean install. And with that, I have to re-install everything I needed. Been looking for a way to automate this process but for now I'll go the manual route.

What do I need ?

As I have mentioned, I just need my development tools available and ready to roll. Let me list them down:

The foundations

gcc
wget
curl
git

The dev kits

dotnet
python
ruby

Editors and others

vscode
oh my zsh
typora
azure cli
powershell core

Lets get down to business

First order of business is to get all the foundations setup. Without these, I cant seem to progress any further.

gcc - the GNU Compiler Collection that includes a lot of libraries for the basic languages in Linux (e.g. C , C++)

# check if you have gcc installed
$ gcc --version

# install if needed, this will include gcc, g++ and make
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install build-essential

# install the manual
$ sudo apt-get install manpages-dev

wget - this is a command-line utility for downloading files from the web. In most cases, if you will be install other packages later on, wget will come in handy.

# check if you have wget installed
$ wget --version

# install if needed
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install wget

curl - is a command-line utility for transferring data from or to a remote server and just like wget, you will be needing this later if you intend to install additional packages.

# check if you have curl installed
$ curl --version

# install if needed
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install curl

git - in this era of open source and gitlabs and githubs, you wont survive without git!

# check if you have git installed
$ git --version

# install if needed
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install git

Then we go to the programming languages I use.

dotnet - I am a developer that mostly used Microsoft technology ( dotNet, C#, VB.Net and many more) for my entire developers life. I have longed for using C# in Linux since the day of Mono 1.0. I am just glad with this new dotnet revolution embracing cross platform development.

Ubuntu support for .NET 5 can be found on this (page.)[https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/core/install/linux-ubuntu]

# check if you have dotnet installed
$ dotnet --version

# install here
# add the Microsoft package signing key to your list of trusted keys and # add the package repository
$ wget https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/20.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb -O packages-microsoft-prod.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb

# install the SDK
$ sudo apt-get update; \
  sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https && \
  sudo apt-get update && \
  sudo apt-get install -y dotnet-sdk-5.0

#install the runtime
$ sudo apt-get update; \
  sudo apt-get install -y apt-transport-https && \
  sudo apt-get update && \
  sudo apt-get install -y aspnetcore-runtime-5.0

python - Next to dotnet, python is my next go to language. Python usually comes out of the box with latest Xubuntu. But if you need to, see the steps below.

# check if you have python installed
$ python --version

# if you must
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install python3.8

ruby - Not for actual development purpose for now, I just need it for my blog. Trying out Jekyll as I move on from blogspot.

# check if you have ruby installed
$ ruby --version

# if you must
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install ruby-full

more? - Indeed! Rust and Golang to follow.

Now, we go to my tools.

vscode - My editor of choice. I used the Software app to install VSCode.
oh my zsh - I work with the terminal evernow and then, it is just fitting to use "oh my zsh" with "agnoster" as my cli.

# make sure zsh is installed
$ zsh --version

# install if you must
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt upgrade

$sudo apt install zsh

# install the needed powerline font
sudo apt-get install powerline fonts-powerline

# clone and install oh-my-zsh
$ sh -c "$(wget https://raw.github.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh -O -)"

# customize your theme, I use agnoster :)

typora - Again, for my blog!

$ wget -qO - https://typora.io/linux/public-key.asc | sudo apt-key add -

# add Typora's repository
$ sudo add-apt-repository 'deb https://typora.io/linux ./'
$ sudo apt-get update

# install typora
$ sudo apt-get install typora

azure cli - For my cloud works. Azure has been my choice, though, I have the option to use Alibaba Cloud as well.

$ curl -sL https://aka.ms/InstallAzureCLIDeb | sudo bash

powershell core - As I have mentioned before, I'm a MS guy, so.

$ wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/config/ubuntu/18.04/packages-microsoft-prod.deb
$ sudo dpkg -i packages-microsoft-prod.deb

sudo apt update
sudo apt -y install powershell

What's next?

For basic development work I can roll with the setup above. However, my list above is not complete. Obviously, docker is missing. For my machine, I chose not to install a database directly on the system. I will go with a cloud approach or a container. But for now, I'm all set.

How about you? Whats on your Linux backpack?

This article is also posted on my personal blog

DEV Community: Marvin Trilles

My Linux Backpack

What do I need ?

Lets get down to business

What's next?