Installing Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala (on the Desktop)

2009/11/06 by Paulo Pereira

~/categories/Linux #Linux #Ubuntu #Ubuntu 9.10 #Karmic Koala

After installing Ubuntu 9.10, codename Karmic Koala, in my laptop it’s time for the desktop.

I’m also doing a clean install because I want to use ext4 as my filesystem and I’m gonna lose the Windows partitions. Yes, 100% Ubuntu.

It’s possible to convert ext3 to ext4, but I prefer a clean install.

I will be the using the 32 bit desktop cd (ubuntu-9.10-desktop-i386.iso).

Before you start

Running the live cd

Hardware to check (during the live cd session)

Hard Drive Partition Layout

I will keep my storage area as an ext3 filesystem.

/dev/sda
 /dev/sda1      ext4      /                        15360 MB          -- primary
 /dev/sda5      ext4     /home              20480  MB          -- extended
 /dev/sda6      swap                               2048 MB          -- extended
 /dev/sda7      ext3     /storage/pool   40960 MB          -- extended

Post-install: Wired Network

I had to manually configure my IP because I don’t have DHCP activated in my router.

Internet is on!

Post-install: Graphics Card

I had a warning about an available proprietary driver. Just had to activate it. Ubuntu downloaded and installed the driver. Pretty simple.

Restart needed. After rebooting my screen resolution was perfect.

Post-install: Updates

Update Manager warned me about 36 available updates. Just letting it go…

Post-install: File System

Besides the / and /home partitions, only root have permissions to write in every other partitions. In my case /storage.

So, we have to add permissions to our user:

sudo chown -R youruser:youruser /storage
sudo chmod -R 755 /storage

Click here for more info.

I also have more disks/partition on my system that weren’t formated during the install. I need to go to /etc/fstab in order to mount the partitions were I want.

sudo vol_id -u /dev/sda2
sudo mkdir /storage
sudo gedit /etc/fstab
UUID=ad02cb4e-f9cf-491a-b661-d96ed2c456be /storage ext3 relatime 0 2

Post-install: Multimedia

References: Complete Streaming, Multimedia & Video How-to and Medibuntu

sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add - && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get purge flashplugin-nonfree && \
sudo mkdir /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree && \
sudo cp -f ~/Desktop/libflashplayer.so \
 /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/ && \
sudo nspluginwrapper -i \
 /usr/lib/flashplugin-nonfree/libflashplayer.so && \
sudo ln -sf /usr/lib/nspluginwrapper/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so \
 /etc/alternatives/firefox-flashplugin && \
sudo ln -sf /etc/alternatives/firefox-flashplugin \
 /usr/lib/firefox-addons/plugins/flashplayer-alternative.so && \
sudo rm -f /usr/lib/firefox/plugins/npwrapper.libflashplayer.so
sudo apt-get remove gnash gnash-common libflash-mozplugin \
 libflashsupport mozilla-plugin-gnash swfdec-mozilla && \
sudo apt-get install alsa-oss faac faad flashplugin-nonfree \
 gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad \
 gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly \
 gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse ia32-libs icedtea-gcjwebplugin \
 liblame0 non-free-codecs openjdk-6-jre unrar
sudo apt-get remove kaffeine-mozilla mozilla-helix-player \
 mozilla-mplayer mozilla-plugin-vlc totem-mozilla xine-plugin && \
sudo apt-get install gnome-mplayer gecko-mediaplayer
sudo apt-get install libdvdcss2 libdvdread3 libdvdnav4 build-essential debhelper fakeroot regionset
sudo regionset

Check the reference link, because it as many other things you’ll want.

This time I only add the Medibuntu repositorie. Ubuntu as been installing codecs on the go as I need them.

Post-install: Preferences and Look and Feel

Here’s some things I changed right away:

Post-install: SAMBA Server

Also check this post.

Post-install: LAMP Server

To install Apache, MySQL and PHP, check here.

Post-install: Software Sources

deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ karmic free non-free
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/do-core/ppa/ubuntu karmic main
deb http://linux.dropbox.com/ubuntu karmic main
deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian jaunty non-free

Post-install: extra software

List of extra installation software installed:

Post-install: Tomboy

After installing Dropbox I synchronised my Tomboy notes. Simple, simple. I have to try the new Ubuntu One Tomboy syncing though.