GNet Solutions » GNU/Linux Administration

Ubuntu is currently the most popular flavor of Linux, based heavily off of Debian. It has a huge community, lots of support from developers, and is a suitable platform for both workstation and server. With a Long-Term Support version every other major version, offering 5 years of support at no cost. This is a guide for setting up a development environment using an Ubuntu 14.04 derivative.

Start by opening a Terminal

Overview¶

A few applications are necessary for a functional developer computer complete with an office suite, web browser, media player, development tools, and few extra goodies. Here are a few, more to come:

Setup Third-Party PPA repositories¶

• Latest HandBrake PPA
  

  sudo apt-add-repository ppa:stebbins/handbrake-releases
  

• Android adb & fastboot PPA
  

  sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
  

• ownCloud Client repo
  

  wget http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/isv:ownCloud:desktop/xUbuntu_14.04/Release.key
  sudo apt-key add - < Release.key  
  sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://download.opensuse.org/repositories/isv:/ownCloud:/desktop/xUbuntu_14.04/ /' >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/owncloud-client.list" 
  

• Google Chome repo
  

  wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add - 
  sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'
  

Install the Applications¶

• Refresh the software manager cache:
  

  sudo apt-get update

The following command will install:

1. HandBrake: The ultimate video conversion program
2. VirtualBox w/ Guest Additions: Virtual computing software
3. LibreOffice: Office suite
4. Windows Network Browsing: For connecting to Windows shares
5. Firefox: Mozilla Web browser
6. Thunderbird: Mail client
7. Pidgin: Instant messaging client
8. Google Chrome: Google Chrome web browser
9. Chromium: Open Source Chrome web browser
10. BleachBit: Browser, mail, application cleaning application
11. GIMP: Image editing
12. Filezilla: FTP/SFTP Client
13. git: Source code management
14. KeePass2: Password management
15. VLC: Media player
16. Restricted codecs: Closed source audio and video codecs, i.e .mp3
17. Arduino: Arduino Integrated Development Environment
18. Fritzing: Prototyping software

• Install the packages:
  

  sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable virtualbox virtualbox-guest-additions-iso libreoffice truecrypt bleachbit nautilus-share samba firefox thunderbird pidgin pidgin-otr gimp gimp-data-extras gimp-help-en filezilla git keepass2 ubuntu-restricted-extras vlc chromium-browser android-tools-adb android-tools-fastboot arduino fritzing libqt4-sql-sqlite handbrake-gtk kdenlive k3b openshot nmap wireshark geany remmina calibre owncloud-client

Autostart Applications at Startup¶

• Create the autostart directory:
  

  mkdir ~/.config/autostart
  

• Create a link of the pidgin.desktop file to the autostart folder to autostart pidgin upon login:
  

  ln -s /usr/share/applications/pidgin.desktop ~/.config/autostart/pidgin.desktop