If you’re used to using Windows or Mac OS, some things might be done a bit differently in Ubuntu, so hopefully some tips here will help you out. For total computer newbies, there should be enough here to get you more familiar with some of the things you can do with Ubuntu. For all concerned, Ubuntu is much more versatile and customisable than the commercial OSes, so some of the tricks in this blog should open your eyes to the true potential of this OS, and hopefully come in handy.
While you can go to the Essentials for Newbies section for all the tips and tricks that could be of help to newcomers to Ubuntu (and computers in general), on this page you’ll find links to some of the main things you might be looking for. They’ll cover basic things like desktop customisation and file management tips, through to important matters like getting full multimedia support (including DVD playback), package management basics, and some command-line tricks to get you used to the terminal.
If you just want a good checklist of things to do to a new system, check out Tweaking Ubuntu: Vital Additions & Customisations to Your New System. Otherwise, check out the tips below, especially if you’re new to Ubuntu and Linux in general.
Don’t forget to have a look through all the categories once you’ve done looking through these tips. And don’t forget to join the Ubuntu forums for any other concerns not dealt with here. All the best!
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Important Notice: Many of the following tips were written when Ubuntu was based on Gnome 2 (the original desktop environment in all versions through to 10.10, and the “Ubuntu Classic” login option as an alternative to the default “Unity” desktop in 11.04). Since then, Ubuntu‘s “Unity” has become the default desktop environment, and Gnome 3‘s “Shell” has replaced the “Classic” desktop. While this won’t matter in most cases, please look out for any warnings, especially if the tip has anything to do with customising the old Gnome 2 “Classic” desktop. This is especially important if you’re running “Unity“, but even with Gnome 3 “Classic” some guides could be a waste of time, or possibly cause issues (even more so with “Gnome Shell“).
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The Fundamentals
♦ How Do I Pronounce “Ubuntu”?
♦ What Do the Ubuntu Version Numbers Mean?
♦ How to Search for Answers to your Ubuntu Queries
♦ Look in the “System” Menu, THEN Look Elsewhere
Important Stuff
♦ Add the “Classic Desktop” and Gnome 3 Shell As Login Options
♦ How to Log into the Classic Desktop or Gnome Shell Instead of Unity
♦ Fix Missing Panel or Applications/Places/System Menus in Gnome “Classic”
Getting Started
♦ Recommended INTERNET Programs for Ubuntu Newbies
File Management
♦ Differences Between Hard Drives/Storage Devices in Ubuntu & Windows
♦ Get Familiar with Your Drives/Devices in Ubuntu
♦ How to Show Hidden Files in Ubuntu’s File Manager, Nautilus
♦ Find Out Size in Megabytes of a Folder (including Sub-Folders)
Package Management
♦ What is “Synaptic”, and How Do I Install Programs with it?
♦ Synaptic’s Quick Search: The Easy Way to Find Programs
♦ How to Install Programs via the Terminal
♦ How to Get More Software in Ubuntu
♦ How to Completely Uninstall Programs & Remove Configuration Files
♦ Installing 32-bit Programs on 64-bit Ubuntu
Multimedia Support
♦ Play DVDs & All Media Types with Ubuntu Restricted Extras
♦ Get Encrypted DVD Playback & More Restricted Codecs with Medibuntu
♦Install Flash Support for Firefox & Other Web Browsers in Ubuntu
♦ Install Adobe Flash Support on 64-bit Ubuntu Systems
Audio & Video
♦ How to Setup Internet Radio Stations in Rhythmbox Music Player
♦ How to Burn VIDEO_TS Folders to Playable DVDs in Ubuntu with K3b
Text & Graphics
♦ How to Restore Your Windows Fonts in Ubuntu
Command-Line/Terminal
♦ How to Execute Previous Terminal Commands Without Retyping Them
♦ What does “Open a Terminal in the Folder” mean?
♦ Run the Previous Command as Root
Desktop Environments
♦ Can I Run KDE Programs in Ubuntu’s Gnome?
♦ Can I Run Any Windows Programs in Ubuntu?
♦ Get Windows Explorer in Ubuntu with Thunar File Manager
♦ Can I have Kubuntu and Xubuntu in the Same System as Ubuntu?
Desktop Customisation
♦ How to Make a Command Launcher for your Gnome Panel
♦ How to Make a Desktop Launcher for a Command
♦ Make an EJECT Button for your Ubuntu Panel
♦ Add a Disc Tray CLOSE Button to your Ubuntu Panel
♦ How to Backup & Restore the Configuration of your Ubuntu Panel
Tweaking Ubuntu
♦ How to Enable & Customise Compiz-Fusion Desktop Effects
♦ Customise & Enhance Nautilus File Manager
♦ Change File Icon & Permissions, & Default Program for a File-Type
♦ Define Your Own File-Types in Ubuntu
♦ Assign Ctrl+Alt+Delete to Open the System Monitor
Problems & Solutions
♦ Program Crashing in Ubuntu? Here Are Some Tricks You Can Try
♦ Check Your Swap if Resources Hogged & Non-Stop Drive Activity
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Did this information make your day? Did it rescue you from hours of headache? Then please consider making a donation via PayPal, to buy me a donut, beer, or some fish’n’chips for my time and effort! Many thanks!
worked through the list. thx 4 sharing!
awesome blog…………….
wooooooooooooooow……….
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thnx a lot for such a superb blog……
No worries – glad you found it useful! There’s lots more cool tips and tricks throughout the other sections, and you can always subscribe to the blog and be notified of new posts as they arrive. I also specialise in things that go “wrong” after upgrades, which are often just settings reset to default values, or are otherwise easily corrected, and am among the first to put guides up (which is why subscribing is a good idea for those who don’t want to Google them after the fact). Cheers
Hi Genius. Just a short note to say thank you very much for creating this resource. It’s incredibly generous of you and I’ve already found it very useful. Best regards.
No worries – glad it’s appreciated!
Great sharing dude.. i am really helped to strengthening my migration from windohs :P.
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This was awesome thanks
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Hi Genius :-)
I would like to adjust the roll-out of ubuntu 12.04 systems. Where can I change the defaults for the gtk-bookmarks file that is generated upon first login? And I do not mean ~/.gtk-bookmarks, but something outside of the users homedir, because his homedir is empty upon first login. Any and all help is highly appreciated!. Kind regards, Jeroen.
OK, first off what do you mean by “change the defaults”? Add some bookmarks, or change order, or something else? Also, is there a reason for not just copying over a custom ~/.gtk-bookmarks into the new systems (I’m assuming you want more bookmarks than the default five)?
I would like to add some bookmarks to a freshly installed 12.04 system so that every new user upon first login would, besides the standaard bookmarks, also have some bookmarks to network shares and the like. Users are authenticated using AD so I could hack a profile.d or other loginscript but my gut tells me that Ubuntu probably has a hook for it somewhere :-)
Ah, I’m afraid you’re the genius on this one, as my network skills are pretty basic, and I know nothing of Active Directory. When I’ve set up systems for other people, I just copy over config files with useful settings, and in the case of gtk-bookmarks and the like, just replace my username with that of the user in question. I’ve done a fair bit of Googling, and I simply can’t see any mention of any other way to edit the bookmarks than via ~/.gtk-bookmarks (besides WYSIWYG methods). You might have to apply your hack or create a script, but I would start a thread on the Ubuntu Forums to see if someone can figure this one out. If you find the answer, feel free to come back and share it. All the best!
I can’t find the preferences window for Firefox in Ubunutu 12. I want to change my home page, set history length, etc. There are no menu items anywhere in Firefox – right clicking doesn’t give that option, there is no menu bar up top, nothing to suggest how to find this. Help!
OK, I was going to say unlike with Windows (Tools > Options) in Linux it’s Edit > Preferences. However, you don’t seem to have a menu bar, and I’m gathering you’re using the default Unity desktop. Can you right-click near the address bar or toolbar buttons and invoke the menu that lets you add the Menu Bar and various other toolbars? If so, which I’m guessing you should, add the Menu Bar and then go to Edit > Preferences. Hope that helps.
Just found your blog thru Pearltrees. My number 1 problem with Ubuntu is failure at update. Error near line 6 is not helpful, as is US archive failure check your internet connection. Will start my subscription and continue looking for answers. Thank you for your work!
Actually, that error message could be very insightful, as it is saying that line 6 of the software repositories sources list is what is halting the update process. Run gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list in the terminal (or via Alt+F2) to open the repos list, and at the beginning of line 6, comment it out (in other words add “## ” to the beginning, without the quotes, meaning the hash symbol [or 2] followed by a space). Save the file, then run sudo apt-get update, and all should be fine. Of course, if you get error messages for other lines, comment out those as well until all finally goes well. Of course, you could just delete offending lines, but the wiser choice is to just comment them out for now, as it does the same thing.
Also, if you notice the line you want to comment/delete looks to be one of the major repos for Ubuntu system updates, which it could well be since it is so close to the beginning of the list, as Ubuntu’s official ones generally are, you could run the Software Sources tool, and in the first tab, Ubuntu Software, next to Download from: choose another server. I’ve had to do this before when the one for Australia was playing up, and even when Main server was doing the same, and I could switch to Server for United States to fix it (there is also an option for Other… to chose another server). If you don’t know how to access that tool, you can just right-click the update notification icon in your top panel and choose Preferences to open it (it will appear as Software & Updates).
Helpful tip! PayPal link isn’t working, though, so, rain-checks on beer?
Thank you SOOOOO much for letting me know! I did of course test the button before spending HOURS updating my articles to include the button, but WordPress did one of its weirdo autoformat things on me, but I’ve figured it out, and have started re-editing my articles, and also added one to this “First Stop for Newbies” page. And I intend to earn my donations, so am currently writing some articles with awesome tips on using Unity, KDE and Gnome-Shell, so stay tuned (or *follow* the blog for updates). Many thanks once again, buddy!
can you help me? I installed ubuntu on windows 7. At the startup it gives me OS choice menu. I selected Ubuntu. It shows some diskerror cmd then goes on to the splash screen which says ubuntu is preparing for first startup. After that it stays there waiting for satan. When i pressed escape ki or alt+tab it took me to this black screen with some commands scribbled the last one was something related to updated with trigger activated written in brackets.
I installed ubuntu 5 years back and it didnt gave me any problem then.. dunno what happened now
also wanted to ask.. when i started the installer it asked me which version of ubuntu did i want to install. there were so many of that ! i just picked ubuntu !
OK, first off regarding the installer, I am not sure what you mean by many versions of Ubuntu since, for example, the 13.10 Live DVD will only install 13.10, and will only install the default desktop (Unity), not ask for your preference. The only thing like that I am aware of is the gear icon next to the username at the login screen, which gives various options for what desktop to log into (like “Ubuntu” means Unity).
As for running Ubuntu installed within Windows via wubi.exe, unfortunately I am the last person to ask, as I have no experience with it other than to advise people NOT to do that. As novel as that idea is, it was bound to cause issues, and has done so from the introduction of wubi.exe. However, many people are quite successful, even if they had to iron out boot issues first. What I strongly suggest is opening a thread at ubuntuforums.org, as there will probably be heaps of people who have had the same issue, and can offer advice. The only other advice I can offer is that if you really want to use Ubuntu, in the future install it properly in its own partition, via the Live DVD installer not within Windows, as you will rarely find issues with dual-boot systems once set up.