Johan Kiviniemi’s series of tubes

My Ubuntu installation checklist

2008-12-14

1. Language packs

   Make sure the language packs are fully installed.

2. Fonts

   Switch to sharp font rendering.

3. Enable universe etc.

4. Enable Medibuntu

   % sudo wget -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list \
       http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/jaunty.list
   % sudo apt-get update; \
       sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring; \
       sudo apt-get update
   
   

5. Optionally install restricted stuff

   % sudo apt-get install non-free-codecs libdvdcss2

6. Install smart-notifier

   • % sudo apt-get install --no-install-recommends smart-notifier
   • Enable smartd in /etc/default/smartmontools

7. Install ntp support

   • % sudo apt-get install ntp
   • /etc/ntp.conf: server ntp.tdc.fi iburst
   • /etc/dhcp3/dhclient.conf: request ntp-servers

8. Make sure the HDD isn’t doing constant load cycles

   Bug #59695

   To verify the load cycle rate, run sudo smartctl -A /dev/sda | grep Load_Cycle_Count twice with a delay of, say, an hour.

   On various Thinkpads the fix seems to be to enable laptop-mode in /etc/default/acpi-support, and to set the following in /etc/laptop-mode/laptop-mode.conf:

   CONTROL_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT=1
   
   LM_BATT_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=60
   LM_AC_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=7200
   NOLM_HD_IDLE_TIMEOUT_SECONDS=7200
   
   CONTROL_HD_POWERMGMT=1
   
   BATT_HD_POWERMGMT=128
   LM_AC_HD_POWERMGMT=254
   NOLM_AC_HD_POWERMGMT=254
   
   

9. Make the on-startup partition checks less frequent

   % sudo tune2fs -c 0 -i 180d /dev/...

   When the HDD breaks down, I’ll just consult the backups.

10. Make the on-startup partition check repair errors without asking

    It’s not as if I’d choose “no” when it asks about it.

    /etc/default/rcS: FSCKFIX=yes

11. Add Tampere, Finland to the Gnome clock/calendar/weather applet.

12. Switch Totem to the xine backend

    % sudo apt-get install totem-xine totem-gstreamer-

    ...as long as DVD menus are broken with the gstreamer backend