Setting Up an Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 Install
This note was updated on 02 Jul, 2024 at 22:03.
For reference, I’m currently using an Intel NUC10i7FNH with 32 GB of RAM.
Operating system installation and the first five minutes
- When installing Ubuntu on a machine that uses Secure Boot, do not skip the key enrolment step on the initial reboot. I have accidentally pressed Continue without completing this step far too many times.
- After going through the welcome screen bumf, I tend to run the Software Updater and go through Settings. (I am cursed with being incapable of using any new thing unless I’ve thoroughly scoured its options and settings.)
- Set up and run the provisioning Ansible playbook available from my Ansible gubbins.
Post-Ansible checklist and tasks
While most of my machine provisioning is handled by Ansible, I haven’t managed to automate everything:
- Fix a bug in the Dash to Dock GNOME Shell extension that causes icons to take ages to update when you start with an empty dock by manually applying a fix available on GitHub to .
- Disable unnecessary Gnome animations by running
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface enable-animations falsein the command-line. - In Firefox: install the 1Password extension, change the default search engine to DuckDuckGo, and hide all the junk from the new tab screen. I also sign in to my Mozilla account to enable syncing gubbins.
- Set the font used in Gnome Terminal to Iosevka Term.
- Install JetBrains Toolbox and use it to install GoLand, DataGrip, and PhpStorm.
- Install Steam.
- Connect to any network drives.
- Set up Syncthing and Obsidian.
- Set up some Windows 10 VMs in VirtualBox for cross-browser testing and light Visual Studio usage.
- Microsoft provide evaluation development environment virtual machines that are perfect for how often I need to use Windows.
- Update the hosts file () to be able to access websites and other network services on the host.