1. Get lightning fast and clever at the command line
You can use keyboard shortcuts and other command line tricks to make entering commands easier and faster. You might already know about the ‘tab’ key which completes partial commands and even file and directory names.
Here are some other keyboard shortcuts you can use within terminal:
Ctrl-aMove to the start of the line.Ctrl-eMove to the end of the line.Alt-] xMoves the cursor forward to the next occurrence of x.Alt-Ctrl-] xMoves the cursor backwards to the previous occurrence of x.Ctrl-uDelete from the cursor to the beginning of the line.Ctrl-kDelete from the cursor to the end of the line.Ctrl-wDelete from the cursor to the start of the word.Ctrl-yPastes text from the clipboard.Ctrl-lClear the screen leaving the current line at the top of the screen.Ctrl-x Ctrl-uUndo the last changes. Ctrl-_Alt-rUndo all changes to the line.Alt-Ctrl-eExpand command line.Ctrl-rIncremental reverse search of history.Alt-pNon-incremental reverse search of history.!!Execute last command in history!abcExecute last command in history beginning with abc!nExecute nth command in history^abc^xyzReplace first occurrence of abc with xyz in last command and execute itAlso don’t forget to check out 4 websites where you can learn cool command line tricks
2. Launch Ubuntu Linux Applications with keyboard
There are two ways you can achieve this:
Also check out these Ubuntu keyboard shortcuts you might not know about.
3. Start from wherever you left off
You can make Ubuntu remember the applications you had open when you last logged out, so that when you log back in again you’ll find all those applications running and you can resume right from where you left off.
To achieve this go to System > Preferences > Startup Applications, then go to the options tab and check "Automatically remember running applications when logging out"
4. Create a Separate Ubuntu Linux Home Partition
New versions of Ubuntu arrive every 6 months. Although you can upgrade to the latest version via the update manager, sometimes the upgrade doesn’t work as expected so some users like to do a fresh clean install.
The disadvantage with that of course is that you lose data you had in your home directory. To overcome this you can create a separate Home partition when you are installing Ubuntu, size it according to your requirements and then when you decide to install Ubuntu the next time, simply specify this partition as the Home partition (by choosing /home as the mount point).
All your files and data on the Home partition will be preserved even after a fresh install.
5. Update and Install Ubuntu Linux Software Without Internet Connection
There are lots of way to do this, the easiest of all is to use APTonCD. APTonCD allows you to create CDs and DVD’s containing all the packages you want, which you can then use to install software on computers without an internet connection.
Note that APTonCD requires you to have an internet connection (or downloaded packages) to create the installed media. However once the media is ready you don’t need an internet connection for any of the machines you want to install the software on. Insert the appropriate CD/DVD and use apt-get as you would normally.
6. Install new fonts, Microsoft fonts and improve font rendering
Ubuntu doesn’t offer many choices when it comes to the fonts. However you can easily install new fonts including those from Microsoft like Arial, Verdana, impact and many more. You can use different sites to find the kind of font you are looking for.
7. Use PPAs, Install latest versions of software
There are a lot of steps that a software has to go through before it becomes part of Ubuntu or becomes available through the Ubuntu repositories. While all those steps lend additional stability, it generally means that you don’t get the latest versions of all the software as soon as they are released.
If you like to stay on the cutting edge, you can search for Personal Package Archives for your favorite software on Launchpad and add those to your installation’s software sources. I briefly touched on PPAs and how to use them here. If that seems like too much work, you can also download the latest deb packages and install them by double clicking (you won’t get automatic updates for the software if you install it this way).
Remember you might get into an occasional trouble or two with the latest versions, but mostly it wouldn’t be catastrophic. You can always hop over to the Ubuntu Forums to get quick help.
8. Be the root
The root account is disabled by default on Ubuntu installations, mainly to prevent you from doing something you didn’t intend to do. However if you "promise to be careful" you can enable root account as follows:
You should now be able to login as root from the Login prompt. As an alternative you can use "sudo su" to provide your password and get root prompt.
9. Run Windows applications and games
Who wouldn’t like to play Counter Strike on Ubuntu (unless of course you are completely not into it) or perhaps even run Photoshop? Well it is very much possible and here is how to do it.
10. Shorten boot time with profiling
Ubuntu Linux devs have done a great job with the boot time, Jaunty is fast and Karmic is slotted to be even faster. There is however a bit more you can do by profiling your boot. Profiling lets Ubuntu make a list of all the files that are accessed during bootup, it then sorts the files according to how they are stored on your hard disk. So the next time the system is booted, the files would be read faster.
To profile boot you need to follow these steps
Note that while profiling, the system will boot slower this one time, the next time however you should see an improvement. Also keep in mind that all this is machine-dependent and also depends on the arrangement of files on your hard disk, so the difference you see might not be huge, or even nil in some cases.
11. Try out different Ubuntu Linux Desktop Environments and Desktop Managers
If you are looking for something different than the default Gnome interface, you should check out alternative desktop managers that you can use. If it is a complete Desktop Environment you are looking for, KDE4 has come a long way and is now impressively usable and fun. You can do a "sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop" to get KDE.
12. Create a media center or a media server
It would be great if you could easily browse and manage your huge collection of music, videos and pictures. Mesmerized by Windows Media Center’s slick interface? Wait till you see what all cool options you have to turn your Ubuntu system into a media center. You can even access your media collection on your phone, PSP or a different computer if you set up a media server on your Ubuntu machine.
13. Share Firefox profile data with Windows
Many people use Windows and Linux on the same machine. If you are one of them, there would have been times you couldn’t find that bookmark you created or password you stored when you were using Firefox from within Windows. Check out how you can share Firefox profile data across operating systems without syncing it over the web (works best if you have the same version of Firefox in both OS’s). For different computers you can of course use Weave.
14. Customize Nautilus to your liking
Nautilus is the default file manager on Ubuntu. While you may be content with what it does, there is lots more you can make it do. You canuse extensions to improve functionality and even add custom functionality to Nautilus
15. Compile your own Kernel
If you can’t find something to keep you busy for the weekend and you have your customization hat on, how about building a kernel to specifically meet your requirements? This is frankly more of a learning experience. Some might say that it enables you to use just the features and drivers you require, but if everything is working fine with the kernel supplied and you don’t have any interest in the Linux kernel, skip ahead this one is not for you.
If however you require some of the experimental features of the kernel, or need it to be compiled in some other special way we say you check out this guide within Ubuntu Documentation.
16. Change Usplash Screen and create a custom splash screen for GRUB
So you didn’t count the last one? Here is another one then. A Usplash screen is Ubuntu text and a logo with a progress bar that you see when you boot up Ubuntu.
If you would like to change that to something more interesting follow these steps. What better way to show your Linux fu than customizing the very first screen that appears? You can create a custom splash screen using one of your photos, GIMP and a little tweaking. Here is the how-to.
You can use keyboard shortcuts and other command line tricks to make entering commands easier and faster. You might already know about the ‘tab’ key which completes partial commands and even file and directory names.
Here are some other keyboard shortcuts you can use within terminal:
Ctrl-aMove to the start of the line.Ctrl-eMove to the end of the line.Alt-] xMoves the cursor forward to the next occurrence of x.Alt-Ctrl-] xMoves the cursor backwards to the previous occurrence of x.Ctrl-uDelete from the cursor to the beginning of the line.Ctrl-kDelete from the cursor to the end of the line.Ctrl-wDelete from the cursor to the start of the word.Ctrl-yPastes text from the clipboard.Ctrl-lClear the screen leaving the current line at the top of the screen.Ctrl-x Ctrl-uUndo the last changes. Ctrl-_Alt-rUndo all changes to the line.Alt-Ctrl-eExpand command line.Ctrl-rIncremental reverse search of history.Alt-pNon-incremental reverse search of history.!!Execute last command in history!abcExecute last command in history beginning with abc!nExecute nth command in history^abc^xyzReplace first occurrence of abc with xyz in last command and execute itAlso don’t forget to check out 4 websites where you can learn cool command line tricks
2. Launch Ubuntu Linux Applications with keyboard
There are two ways you can achieve this:
Also check out these Ubuntu keyboard shortcuts you might not know about.
3. Start from wherever you left off
You can make Ubuntu remember the applications you had open when you last logged out, so that when you log back in again you’ll find all those applications running and you can resume right from where you left off.
To achieve this go to System > Preferences > Startup Applications, then go to the options tab and check "Automatically remember running applications when logging out"
4. Create a Separate Ubuntu Linux Home Partition
New versions of Ubuntu arrive every 6 months. Although you can upgrade to the latest version via the update manager, sometimes the upgrade doesn’t work as expected so some users like to do a fresh clean install.
The disadvantage with that of course is that you lose data you had in your home directory. To overcome this you can create a separate Home partition when you are installing Ubuntu, size it according to your requirements and then when you decide to install Ubuntu the next time, simply specify this partition as the Home partition (by choosing /home as the mount point).
All your files and data on the Home partition will be preserved even after a fresh install.
5. Update and Install Ubuntu Linux Software Without Internet Connection
There are lots of way to do this, the easiest of all is to use APTonCD. APTonCD allows you to create CDs and DVD’s containing all the packages you want, which you can then use to install software on computers without an internet connection.
Note that APTonCD requires you to have an internet connection (or downloaded packages) to create the installed media. However once the media is ready you don’t need an internet connection for any of the machines you want to install the software on. Insert the appropriate CD/DVD and use apt-get as you would normally.
6. Install new fonts, Microsoft fonts and improve font rendering
Ubuntu doesn’t offer many choices when it comes to the fonts. However you can easily install new fonts including those from Microsoft like Arial, Verdana, impact and many more. You can use different sites to find the kind of font you are looking for.
7. Use PPAs, Install latest versions of software
There are a lot of steps that a software has to go through before it becomes part of Ubuntu or becomes available through the Ubuntu repositories. While all those steps lend additional stability, it generally means that you don’t get the latest versions of all the software as soon as they are released.
If you like to stay on the cutting edge, you can search for Personal Package Archives for your favorite software on Launchpad and add those to your installation’s software sources. I briefly touched on PPAs and how to use them here. If that seems like too much work, you can also download the latest deb packages and install them by double clicking (you won’t get automatic updates for the software if you install it this way).
Remember you might get into an occasional trouble or two with the latest versions, but mostly it wouldn’t be catastrophic. You can always hop over to the Ubuntu Forums to get quick help.
8. Be the root
The root account is disabled by default on Ubuntu installations, mainly to prevent you from doing something you didn’t intend to do. However if you "promise to be careful" you can enable root account as follows:
You should now be able to login as root from the Login prompt. As an alternative you can use "sudo su" to provide your password and get root prompt.
9. Run Windows applications and games
Who wouldn’t like to play Counter Strike on Ubuntu (unless of course you are completely not into it) or perhaps even run Photoshop? Well it is very much possible and here is how to do it.
10. Shorten boot time with profiling
Ubuntu Linux devs have done a great job with the boot time, Jaunty is fast and Karmic is slotted to be even faster. There is however a bit more you can do by profiling your boot. Profiling lets Ubuntu make a list of all the files that are accessed during bootup, it then sorts the files according to how they are stored on your hard disk. So the next time the system is booted, the files would be read faster.
To profile boot you need to follow these steps
Note that while profiling, the system will boot slower this one time, the next time however you should see an improvement. Also keep in mind that all this is machine-dependent and also depends on the arrangement of files on your hard disk, so the difference you see might not be huge, or even nil in some cases.
11. Try out different Ubuntu Linux Desktop Environments and Desktop Managers
If you are looking for something different than the default Gnome interface, you should check out alternative desktop managers that you can use. If it is a complete Desktop Environment you are looking for, KDE4 has come a long way and is now impressively usable and fun. You can do a "sudo apt-get install kubuntu-desktop" to get KDE.
12. Create a media center or a media server
It would be great if you could easily browse and manage your huge collection of music, videos and pictures. Mesmerized by Windows Media Center’s slick interface? Wait till you see what all cool options you have to turn your Ubuntu system into a media center. You can even access your media collection on your phone, PSP or a different computer if you set up a media server on your Ubuntu machine.
13. Share Firefox profile data with Windows
Many people use Windows and Linux on the same machine. If you are one of them, there would have been times you couldn’t find that bookmark you created or password you stored when you were using Firefox from within Windows. Check out how you can share Firefox profile data across operating systems without syncing it over the web (works best if you have the same version of Firefox in both OS’s). For different computers you can of course use Weave.
14. Customize Nautilus to your liking
Nautilus is the default file manager on Ubuntu. While you may be content with what it does, there is lots more you can make it do. You canuse extensions to improve functionality and even add custom functionality to Nautilus
15. Compile your own Kernel
If you can’t find something to keep you busy for the weekend and you have your customization hat on, how about building a kernel to specifically meet your requirements? This is frankly more of a learning experience. Some might say that it enables you to use just the features and drivers you require, but if everything is working fine with the kernel supplied and you don’t have any interest in the Linux kernel, skip ahead this one is not for you.
If however you require some of the experimental features of the kernel, or need it to be compiled in some other special way we say you check out this guide within Ubuntu Documentation.
16. Change Usplash Screen and create a custom splash screen for GRUB
So you didn’t count the last one? Here is another one then. A Usplash screen is Ubuntu text and a logo with a progress bar that you see when you boot up Ubuntu.
If you would like to change that to something more interesting follow these steps. What better way to show your Linux fu than customizing the very first screen that appears? You can create a custom splash screen using one of your photos, GIMP and a little tweaking. Here is the how-to.
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