2013 ~ GeeKnEt

Tweaks/Things to do after Install of Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy Salamander

Ubuntu 13.10 Saucy is just released today, Ubuntu team has done really great work there aren't much new features in this release but many current features and issues improved in 13.10 saucy. So we can say canonical focused on stability of Ubuntu desktop. Unity is much much faster, responsive and a lot of things added like smart scopes, anonymous dash searches and many more. After a lot of digging to this release I was wondering what tweaks should we do with this release and than it will be completely ready to use for us. So tweaks work has been done by me and brought for you, after applying these tweaks your desktop will be complete. All tweaks has been tested by NoobsLab, So if you encounter any problem feel free to ask us. Lets start tweaking to 13.10 ...

1: Tweak Tools:

Gnome Tweak Tool is well-known powerful tweak tool, With this tool you can manage your Ubuntu environment like: Change theme, icons, fonts, cursor and so on options.
Unity Tweak Tool is a configuration tool for the Unity Desktop, providing users access to features and configuration options not (obviously) accessible, and brings them all together in a polished & easy-to-use interface.

Install Tweak Tools with following command:

Terminal Commands:
sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool gnome-tweak-tool

Also Checkout Ubuntu Tweak

2: Synaptic and Compiz (CCSM) with extra plugins:

Synaptic is a graphical package management program for apt. It provides the same features as the apt-get command line utility with a GUI front-end based on Gtk+.
CCSM, short for CompizConfig Settings Manager, is a configuration tool for Compiz Fusion. It is used to configure the many plugins included in Compiz and Compiz Fusion, as well as the use of various profiles and intergrating better with existing desktop settings.

To install Synaptic Manager and CCSM enter following commands in Terminal:

Terminal Commands:
sudo apt-get install synaptic
sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-plugins-extra

Go to Dash and Search "CCSM" or "synaptic"

3: LightDM Tweaks

Remove White dots: If you want to remove white dots from login screen of Ubuntu 13.10.
Disable Remote Login and Guest account is enable by default in Ubuntu, It means anybody can login with guest account in your Ubuntu and remote to any computer.

To remove white dots, enter following commands in Terminal:

Terminal Commands:
sudo xhost +SI:localuser:lightdm
sudo su lightdm -s /bin/bash
gsettings set com.canonical.unity-greeter draw-grid false

To remove guest account open Terminal and enter following command:

Terminal Command:
echo allow-guest=false \| sudo tee -a /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-unity-greeter.conf

To remove Remote login open Terminal and enter following command:

Terminal Command:
echo greeter-show-remote-login=false \| sudo tee -a /etc/lightdm/lightdm.conf.d/50-unity-greeter.conf

Save and close file, Now Restart to see effect.

4: Improve Unity Performance, Remove Online Search Lenses:

If you don't like online searches in Unity, You can disable it from Settings -> Privacy then Turn off online search.

Alternatively you can remove online search lenses from Unity, Following commands will remove Music, Photos, and Video lenses and make Unity much responsive:

Terminal Commands:
sudo apt-get autoremove unity-lens-music unity-lens-photos unity-lens-video
gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Lenses disabled-scopes "['more_suggestions-amazon.scope', 'more_suggestions-u1ms.scope', 'more_suggestions-populartracks.scope', 'music-musicstore.scope', 'more_suggestions-ebay.scope', 'more_suggestions-ubuntushop.scope', 'more_suggestions-skimlinks.scope']"

5: Disable overlay Scrollbars:

You can disable overlay scrollbars, if you don't like that.

Enter following command in terminal to disable overlay scrollbar:

Terminal Command:
gsettings set com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode normal

If you want to get back overlay bar, enter following command:

Terminal Command:
gsettings reset com.canonical.desktop.interface scrollbar-mode

6: Show username on panel:

UserName is disabled by default in Ubuntu, So here is tweak you can enable it very easily.

Enter following command in terminal:

Terminal Command:
gsettings set com.canonical.indicator.session show-real-name-on-panel true

To remove name from panel, Enter following command:

Terminal Command:
gsettings set com.canonical.indicator.session show-real-name-on-panel false

7: Disable System Crash Reports:

If you are experiencing something crashes in your Ubuntu, and you don't like to be notify with reports. You can disable them easily.

Enter following commands to disable crash reports:

Terminal Command:
sudo gedit /etc/default/apport

Now text file will open, In the last line you will see "enabled=1" change it to "enabled=0". Save and close file.
Now enter following command in terminal to stop apport service:

Terminal Command:
sudo service apport stop

8: Firewall for Ubuntu:

Linux don't need Anti-virus but Firewall is important for any kind of Operating System. UFW is installed by default in Ubuntu but it is command line and disabled by default. You can install best firewall GUFW enable and manage it graphically.

Enter following command in terminal to install firewall:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install gufw

After installation open Dash and Search "GUFW" to configure it.

9: Move Minimize, Maximize, Close Buttons to Right:

If you are used to use these buttons on right side then this tweak is useful for you. You can move Minimize, Maximize, and Close buttons to the right side.

Enter following command to move buttons to right:

Terminal Command:
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences button-layout ':minimize,maximize,close'

10: Install tested drivers for your Hardware:

Ubuntu works perfect with latest hardware, It is better to use drivers offered by Ubuntu. You can choose best drivers for your hardware from additional driver and can enable/disable from there easily.
Open Dash and Search for "Software & Updates" Here you can find "Additional Drivers" in the last Tab.

11: Install Adobe Flash Plugin:

Flash player isn't available by default , So you can install flash player easily from Ubuntu repositories.

Open Terminal and enter following commands:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer

12: qBittorrent Torrent client:

The qBittorrent project aims to provide a Free Software alternative to µtorrent. An advanced and multi-platform BitTorrent client with a nice Qt4 user interface as well as a Web UI for remote control and an integrated search engine. qBittorrent aims to meet the needs of most users while using as little CPU and memory as possible.

Enter following command to install qBittorrent:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install qbittorrent

13: Integrate online accounts in Ubuntu

Ubuntu has Facebook, Google, Twitter, Yahoo, Hotmail and other accounts support. It offers you different features of your online account within Ubuntu desktop. Go to Settings > Online Accounts and configure accounts.

14: Plugins for Rhythmbox (Like Equalizer):

Rhythmbox is default Audio player in Ubuntu 13.10, You can install plugins for rhytmbox. Plugins are: Audio-read, Album-art-search, Countdown-playlist, plugin-cover-art-browser, Equalizer, Jump-to-Playing, Jump-to-Window, lyrics, micro-blogger, open-containing-foler, radio-browser, Random-album-player, Remember-the-rhythm, repeat-one-song, rhythm-web, send-first, small-window, stop-after, suspend, tab-guitar, tray-icon, web-menu, stream-ripper
Enter following commands to install plugins.

Terminal Commands:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fossfreedom/rhythmbox-plugins
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-complete

After installation open Rhythmbox and Go to "Edit" -> "Plugins" and enable plugins.

15: Install Restricted Extras:

There are some Restricted extras in Ubuntu which can't be install while installation of Ubuntu by default but you can install these Restricted extras by yourself. Restricted mp3 playback and decoding, support for various formats, fonts, java, flash plugin, lame, dvd playback.

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

16: Codecs and Enable DVD Playback:

If you are multimedia user and use Ubuntu for multimedia then these codecs are very useful for you. You can install them by single command.

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder libdvdread4 totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0 mpg321

Following command for Enable DVD Playback:

Terminal Command:
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh

17: Compression/Decompression tools:

You can compress and decompress 7z, zip, gzip, rar, xz, tar, bz2, xar, tar.gz, tar.bz, and many others.
Enter following command in terminal to install:

Terminal Command:
sudo apt-get install p7zip-rar p7zip-full unace unrar zip unzip sharutils rar uudeview mpack arj cabextract file-roller

18: Tools/Tweaks For Laptop Power Management

If you are using laptop then TLP and laptop mode tools are really important for your laptop battery and power consumption. These tools has ability to save battery life and some other features.
Enable laptop mode and other tweaks for laptops
Improve laptop power management with TLP