Thursday, December 13, 2012

To Do List After installing Ubuntu 12.10 aka Quantal Quetzal Operating System

Ubuntu 12.10 Unity Desktop Environment
Ubuntu Classic Gnome 12.10 “Fallback” Desktop Environment
Ubuntu 12.10 Gnome 3 Desktop Environment
Supported until April 2014
Ubuntu is designed primarily for use on personal computers, although a server edition also exists. Ubuntu holds an estimated global usage of more than 12 million desktop users, making it the most popular desktop Linux distribution with about 50% of Linux desktop marketshare. As of 2012, according to online surveys, Ubuntu is the most popular Linux distribution on desktop/laptop personal computers, and most Ubuntu coverage focuses on its use in that market. However, it is also popular on servers and for cloud computing. No more viruses, no more spyware/malware, and Ubuntu OS is free.

Ubuntu is sponsored by the UK-based company Canonical Ltd. Canonical generates revenue by selling technical support and services related to Ubuntu, while the operating system itself is entirely free of charge.
Here is a nice user guide: “Ubuntu: An Absolute Beginners Guide“
For more specific information (recommended):
System requirements:
The system requirements vary among Ubuntu products. For the main Ubuntu desktop product, the official Ubuntu Documentation recommends a 1 GHz CPU speed or more with 512 megabytes of RAM and 5 gigabytes of hard drive space, or better. For less powerful computers, there are other Ubuntu distributions such as Lubuntu and Xubuntu.
Download Ubuntu 12.10:
Existing Ubuntu users can install Unetbootin (or use Startup Disc Creator) from the repositories, and use that application to migrate the above downloaded image to a USB Flash Drive or USB Thumb Drive and afterwards you can boot from your USB drive, or you can burn it to a disc with Brasero, or K3b, and boot from your CD/DVD drive instead. USB is much faster than CDs or DVDs when it comes to installation time, and less chance of data corruption.
Existing Mac users can use these instructions on how to install Ubuntu for the first time:http://help.ubuntu.com/community/MacBook
Existing Windows users can use these instructions on how to install Ubuntu for the first time if you are new to Ubuntu Linux. Avoid using Wubi. I recommend using a USB Flash Thumb Drive to install Ubuntu (Recommended):
Make sure you use the drop down tab and select Ubuntu 12.10 LTS. When you have your ubuntu.iso downloaded, and installed onto a USB Flash Thumb Drive, you will need to boot your computer from the USB Flash Drive. When you turn on your computer there should be an option at the bottom of your screen to allow you to change the boot order or you may need to select BIOS settings to boot from your USB port first, instead of your HDD. You can change it back to the default when you are done installing Ubuntu. You will need to have your newly created Ubuntu installation USB inserted in your USB port when the computer is booting up. If this is your first time using Ubuntu on your computer, please make sure that you thoroughly test everything with your Live Ubuntu USB drive to make sure everything still works on your computer before installing it to your hard drive.
Installation of Ubuntu OS:
Make sure you select and place checkmarks next to “Download updates while installing”, and “Install this third-party software” on the following screen. (Required)
It might be a good idea to hardwire your computer to your internet connection for greater download speed. You can either select to repartition your entire hard drive for Ubuntu, or you want to keep your existing Windows OS installation, and you can select a side-by-side installation.
If this is your first time using Ubuntu on your computer here is a quick example of how to use Terminal to install software using this to-do list guide (make sure to switch the video to HD)
Okay, if you rebooted your computer after installing and your computer fails to start correctly you can try to fix grub bootloader with the following program called Boot-Repair.
Boot-Repair is a simple tool to repair frequent boot issues you may encounter in Ubuntu like when you can’t boot Ubuntu after installing Windows or another Linux distribution, or when you can’t boot Windows after installing Ubuntu, or when GRUB is not displayed anymore, some upgrades breaks GRUB, etc.
Boot-Repair lets you fix these issues with a simple click, which (generally reinstall GRUB and) restores access to the operating systems you had installed before the issue. You need to boot from your live stick of Ubuntu again and then run these commands in Terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:yannubuntu/boot-repair && sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y boot-repair && boot-repair
Grub Customizer is a GUI configuration tool to allow users to change the Grub 2 settings without using the command line. The application allows the user to add, remove, freeze, rename and reorder boot menu items. It will also allow changes to the Grub 2 configuration settings such as background image and menu timeout. For long-time users familiar with StartUp-Manager, this application performs many of the same capabilities with additional options. It also makes convoluted guides such as my “Grub 2 Title Tweaks” unnecessary for all but the most devoted command-line enthusiasts!
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:danielrichter2007/grub-customizer
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install grub-customizer
But hopefully, if all went well, you should now be logged into your brand new Ubuntu 12.10 desktop at this point.
Ubuntu Classic Gnome 12.10 “Fallback” Desktop Environment
They have done a terrific job updating the Ubuntu Classic “Fallback” Desktop Environmentin Ubuntu 12.10 for those who don’t really like Unity, and still long for the original Gnome 2.* Desktop look and feel. To install Gnome Fallback session DE, you will need to install “gnome-session-fallback” package using Ubuntu Software Center, Synaptic Package Manager (which no longer comes installed by default either in 12.10). And Ubuntu Tweak, a long time helpful configuration tool for Ubuntu newbie users has been discontinued, and has been replaced with similar functioning apps like MyUnity, Unsettings, and YPPA Manager. However, the downside to using Fallback DE is that it will no longer to available after 12.* rolllouts, so if you want a feel like this desktop it is probably more prudent to switch to Xubuntu completely, just my recommendation there.
To install Classic Ubuntu “Fallback” Desktop Environment, open Terminal and copy and paste:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:gnome3-team/gnome3 
sudo apt-get update 
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell
sudo apt-get install gnome-session-fallback
sudo apt-get install indicator-applet-appmenu
sudo apt-get install gnome-tweak-tool
Then log out and select “GNOME Classic” at the LightDM login screen. You need to click on the the little-gear-looking-icon next to where you type your password to change your session to Ubuntu Classic “Fallback” session. And Gnome 3.x Desktop Themes can be added with gnome-tweak-tool.
After you are logged into your Ubuntu Classic session you can move the top bar to the bottom (like in the screen capture at the top of this article) by first clicking and holding the ALT key and dragging it down to the bottom of your screen.
XFCE Desktop Environment:
Xfce is a lightweight desktop environment for UNIX-like operating systems. It aims to be fast and low on system resources, while still being visually appealing and user friendly for old school users.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xubuntu-dev/xfce-4.10
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
How to install the Gnome 3 Desktop Environment (optional):
Express Post-Installation Python Script for Ubuntu 12.10
(Advanced Users Only)
This script will automatically install most of the basic requirements and recommendations found on this to-do list guide if you have Ubuntu 12.10 freshly installed on your computer, and if you have completely updated your system and rebooted your system.
It is recommended that you use a hardwired internet connection instead of WiFi before using this script.
Make sure to bookmark this web site first.
In terminal copy and paste:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo reboot
You can set up automatic unattended-upgrades pretty easily by typing this in a terminal:
sudo apt-get install unattended-upgrades
sudo dpkg-reconfigure unattended-upgrades
You can skip this python script file if you prefer to install everything manually instead.  It is experimental, so if you have any doubts about using a python script, you can move on to the following steps in this guide to install everything you want individually.
Estimated Time of Installation: 15-45 minutes depending on your bandwidth.
Download Post-Installation Python Script:
cd Desktop
wget http://debianhelp.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/ubuntu-1210-post-install1-tar-gz.doc
cp ubuntu-1210-post-install1-tar-gz.doc ubuntu-1210-post-install1-tar.gz
tar -xvf ubuntu-1210-post-install1-tar.gz
sudo chmod a+x ubuntu-12.10-postinstall.py
Now you need to choose which CPU architecture your Ubuntu OS is running. It will be either 32-bit or 64-bit Ubuntu.
Open terminal and copy and paste:
uname -m
If you get x86_64 GNU/Linux you’re running a 64 bit kernel. If you get something similar to i386/i486/i586/i686 you’re most probably running a 32 bit kernel.
For 32-bit Ubuntu 12.10:
sudo ./ubuntu-12.10-postinstall.py -c mycfg32.cfg
For 64-bit Ubuntu 12.10:
sudo ./ubuntu-12.10-postinstall.py -c mycfg64.cfg
Important: Keep in mind that it is going to take a while to install everything. Make some coffee. Watch some TV and relax while it does most of the work on this do-to list. Try to avoid using your computer until is it completely done. Make sure to reboot your computer and check for any further software updates after you reboot your system.
Special Note: You will still need to manually install your 3rd party proprietary drivers, software like Google Earth, and configure your UFW/GUFW firewall settings separately in the rest of this guide below after you are done using the above python script.
Enable Partner and Independent Repositories in Ubuntu Software Center (Prerequisite and Requirement) :
Open Ubuntu Software Center and select “Edit” and then select “Software Sources”:
Make sure both Canonical Partner repositories have check marks next to them and make sure it looks something like this and click close:
As long as those four now have check marks next to them you can click close. Open up your ‘Software Updater’ and click update. After it is done downloading and installing all of your updates then you can reboot your system. Repeat this step until no further updates are found – do not proceed until you are done here with this important step:
Now hopefully your system is completely updated, and no more updates are found.
Okay, in the rest of this guide we will be using Terminal to install software and add additional software repositories. You can find Terminal here:
Synaptic Package Manager - Alternative to the Ubuntu Software Center (optional)
This is a much more technical version of the Ubuntu Software center, if that is something you are looking for to install on your system.
To install Synaptic Package Manager copy and paste in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install synaptic
Gdebi Software Installer - Alternative to the Ubuntu Software Center (optional)
I’ve found that the software center can be at times very slow at installing packages manually. Sometimes I’m in a hurry and I don’t want to wait for it to install something I have downloaded from a third party vendor or whatever. Gdebi is great for installing 3rd party software *.deb packages very quickly.
To install Gdebi software installer copy and paste in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install gdebi
Here is how you use gdebi to install *deb packages with a right-click:
Video Drivers and Proprietary Drivers Check (Required):
Do a search for “software sources” and click on it.
Then click on the “Additional Drivers” tab.
If you see any drivers listed that aren’t installed yet on your system, make sure to select them and install each of them completely in the above window before proceeding. Make sure to let them download and install completely before doing anything else, and make sure to restart your computer so they will be completely enabled.
Screenshot from 2012-12-04 11:37:22
Run this in terminal to check your video driver and hopefully you have all “yes” listed:
/usr/lib/nux/unity_support_test -p
How to opt-out of pre-installed Amazon advertising (optional):
sudo apt-get remove unity-lens-shopping
Logout and LogBack then search for MUSIC again and it should look like this now:
And then to remove the Amazon launchers just right-click on them and select Unlock from Launcher like this:
How to change your privacy settings (optional):
Open up the Software Center and install “Activity Log Manager” if your system doesn’t come installed by default with Privacy options. Or you can cut and paste this in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install activity-log-manager-common activity-log-manager activity-log-manager-control-center
If you are using Ubuntu Classic session, it is located in System Settings.
Adding Medibuntu (Required)
Medibuntu repository provides all the playback and encoding capabilities that most Windows and Mac systems contain, but which Ubuntu’s creators decline to include by default in their systems, due to licensing restrictions and a lack of open-source code for those features. If you just want to get AAC playback, copyright DVDs playing, and newer versions of all the audio, video, and font files, load Medibuntu into your system. (Required)
Open your Terminal, copy and paste one line at a time:
wget -q "http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg" -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ $(lsb_release -sc) free non-free" 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install app-install-data-medibuntu apport-hooks-medibuntu
If you are running a 32-bit version of Ubuntu, copy and paste in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install w32codecs libdvdcss2
sudo apt-get install libdvdnav4
sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh
If you are running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu, copy and paste in Terminal:
sudo apt-get install w64codecs libdvdcss2
sudo apt-get install libdvdnav4
sudo apt-get install libdvdread4
sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/./install-css.sh
Samba is no longer installed by default apparently in Ubuntu 12.10 so if you need to share files over the local network you will need to install a few packages. Afterwards lookup “Personal File Sharing” and it should be ready to configure and run. And don’t forget to leave the proper port open when you configure GUFW/UFW firewall settings. After you install the packages listed here you will need to also power cycle/reboot your system.
How to Share Files over the Network:
sudo apt-get install samba system-config-samba cifs-utils

Auto Mount Windows NTFS Partition in Ubuntu 12.10
sudo apt-get install ntfs-config
sudo mkdir -p /etc/hal/fdi/policy
Now, launch ntfs-config from the Unity Dash Home. Click Advanced Configuration and check the partitions you want to auto-mount at start-up.
MyUnity is tweak tool for Ubuntu Unity Environment, It is really well designed and fully featured. You can find all tools for your Unity Desktop to customize your Unity.
Special Note: MyUnity is only available for 12.04 LTS because of an upgrade from gambas2 to gambas3 package in 12.10.  It should be available soon hopefully. Check back later.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:myunity/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install myunity
Unsettings is graphical configuration tool for Unity, Unsetting  allows you to change the themes for GTK, window manger, icons, cursors, switch off the global menu and the overlay scrollbars used in Unity, another nice feature is that Unsetting lets you to save your settings into and load from a text file (JSON format) so you can easily backup you settings or copy them to a different account.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:diesch/testing
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install unsettings
Uncomplicated Firewall (UFW & GUFW) (Recommended) is a firewall that is designed to be easy to use. It uses a command line interface consisting of a small number of simple commands, and uses iptables. iptables is already a very powerful tool by itself, but it’s syntax can get awkward at times and hard to figure out, so Ubuntu developers decided to make ufw (“The reason ufw was developed is that we wanted to create a server-level firewall utility that was a little bit more for `human beings`.”), which was to be simpler. Now, on the graphical side of things, Firestarter already existed. But why not make an even easier to use GUI for desktop `human beings`, powered by ufw?
This is where GUFW comes in.
Open your Terminal, copy and paste:
sudo apt-get install gufw
gufw
If you would like to simply use UFW from the command line, you can try any of these commands to make changes to your firewall.
To check your current settings:
sudo ufw status verbose
To add suggested firewall rules:
sudo ufw deny 5353/udp
sudo ufw deny 5900/tcp
sudo ufw deny 22
sudo ufw deny 25/tcp
sudo ufw deny 135,139,445/tcp
sudo ufw deny 137,138/udp
sudo ufw deny 110
sudo ufw deny 2049
sudo ufw deny 143
sudo ufw deny 21/tcp
Re-check your changes:
sudo ufw status verbose
Re-check enable (required):
sudo ufw enable
It will automatically load these settings from now on. If you need to access one of those ports temporarily, then you can open gufw and disable your firewall momentarily. Just don’t forget to re-enable it when you are done.
Here is a configuration script if you are running a server:
#!/bin/sh

# obtain server's IP address
SERVERIP=`hostname --all-ip-addresses | cut --fields 1 --delimiter " "`

# disable firewall
ufw disable

# reset all firewall rules
ufw reset

# set default rules: deny all incoming traffic, allow all outgoing traffic
ufw default deny incoming
ufw default allow outgoing

# open port for SSH
ufw allow OpenSSH

# open port for Webmin
ufw allow webmin

# open ports for Samba file sharing
ufw allow from 10.0.0.0/8 to $SERVERIP app Samba
ufw allow to 10.0.0.0/8 from $SERVERIP app Samba

# open ports for Transmission-Daemon
ufw allow 9091
ufw allow 20500:20599/tcp
ufw allow 20500:20599/udp

# open port for MySQL
ufw allow proto tcp from 10.0.0.0/8 to any port 3306

# open ports for Lighttpd
ufw allow “Lighttpd Full”

# open port for network time protocol (ntpd)
ufw allow ntp

# enable firewall
ufw enable

# list all firewall rules
ufw status verbose
For more information:
Anti-Virus (Optional)
Windows equivalent : AVG AntiVirus, NAV, TrendMicro, F-Prot, Kaspersky, …
Ubuntu equivalent : ClamAV, BitDefender
ClamAV is a free, cross-platform anti-virus software tool-kit able to detect many types of malicious software, including viruses. One of its main uses is on mail servers as a server-side email virus scanner. The application was developed for Unix and has third party versions available for AIX, BSD, HP-UX, Linux, Mac OS X, OpenVMS, OSF (Tru64) and Solaris. As of version 0.96 ClamAV builds and runs on Microsoft Windows. Both ClamAV and its updates are made available free of charge.
Open your Terminal, copy and paste:
sudo apt-get install clamav clamtk
BitDefender is an anti-virus software suite developed by Romania-based software company Softwin. It was launched in November 2001, and is currently in its thirteenth version. The 2011 version was launched in August 2010, and it includes several protection and performance enhancements as Search Advisor and Performance Optimizer. The thing I love about BitDefender is that it will run in the taskbar after start-up and has a resident shield that is always monitoring your system for any potential threats, not that viruses normally target Linux operating systems however.
First you need to get a free scanner key here via email. It should be good for one year.
Bookmark this page then copy and paste in Terminal one line at a time:
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://download.bitdefender.com/repos/deb/ bitdefender non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/bitdefender.list'
wget http://download.bitdefender.com/repos/deb/bd.key.asc
sudo apt-key add bd.key.asc
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install bitdefender-scanner-gui
Once completely installed then you will need to reboot your system.  And you will need to enter in the free scanner key you received via email by running Bitdefender.
Don’t forget to bookmark this page!
When you are ready to reboot just copy and paste:
sudo reboot
Before using the scanner it’s probably best to install the latest virus/malware signatures by clicking on the ‘Update’ button.
Special Note: Troubleshooting BitDefender Scanner Engine Crashing
Some users are reporting that BitDefender crashes right after the scanning engine is initialized. In order to fix this error you will need to copy and paste this into terminal:
sudo touch /opt/BitDefender-scanner/var/lib/scan/bdcore.so.linux-x86_64
sudo ln -fs /opt/BitDefender-scanner/var/lib/scan/bdcore.so.linux-x86_64 /opt/BitDefender-scanner/var/lib/scan/bdcore.so
sudo bdscan --update
As of April 2012 they still do not have this fixed in BitDefender for Linux yet. Hopefully someone will let them know by posting a message to their support forum? Thanks.
For further BitDefender support please visit:
Essential packages for running 32-bit applications in 64-bit Ubuntu OS (Required):
 sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
Special Note: If you are running 32-bit Ubuntu already then you won’t need ia32-libs.
Essential tools for compiling from sources (Required)
There are times when you need to compile software from sources, maybe because you need to compile the package with some specific option that is not enabled in the default package, or maybe the software application you wish to install isn’t available in any of your repositories. When you begin the installation process you will come to a window that will require you to accept the EULA to install, and you will need to click on your <Tab> key to select <OK> and press enter. (Here is a guide on how to compile software from source) and here are the required packages you need in order to compile sources in Ubuntu:
sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall cdbs devscripts dh-make fakeroot libxml-parser-perl check avahi-daemon
Multimedia (Required)
Windows equivalent : windows media player, real player, vlc, mplayer, media codecs
Ubuntu equivalent : vlc, mplayer, fluendo media codecs
Unfortunately, many audio and video formats won’t work “out of the box” with Ubuntu, or most Linux distros.
MPlayer is a movie player that plays most MPEG, VOB, AVI, OGG/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, FLI, RM, NuppelVideo, yuv4mpeg, FILM, RoQ, and PVA files. You can also use it to watch VCDs, SVCDs, DVDs, 3ivx, RealMedia, and DivX movies. It supports a wide range of output drivers including X11, XVideo, DGA, OpenGL, SVGAlib, fbdev, AAlib, DirectFB etc. There are also nice antialiased shaded subtitles and OSD.
VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player and multimedia framework capable of reading most audio and video formats as well as DVDs, Audio CDs VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a media converter or a server to stream in uni-cast or multi-cast in IPv4 or IPv6 on networks.
Open your Terminal, copy and paste:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:videolan/stable-daily 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc mplayer
SMPlayer intends to be a complete front-end for MPlayer, from basic features like playing videos, DVDs, and VCDs to more advanced features like support for MPlayer filters and more. One of the most interesting features of SMPlayer: it remembers the settings of all files you play. So you start to watch a movie but you have to leave. Don’t worry, when you open that movie again it will resume at the same point you left it, and with the same settings: audio track, subtitles, and volume. This is really great for watching DVD movies.
sudo apt-get install smplayer
FFMpeg is a complete and free Internet live audio and video broadcasting solution for Linux/Unix. It also includes a digital VCR. It can encode in real time in many formats including MPEG1 audio and video, MPEG4, h263, ac3, asf, avi, real, mjpeg, and flash.
Open your Terminal, copy and paste:
sudo apt-get install libxine1-ffmpeg gxine mencoder mpeg2dec vorbis-tools id3v2 mpg321 mpg123 libflac++6 ffmpeg totem-mozilla icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame nautilus-script-audio-convert libmad0 libjpeg-progs flac faac faad sox ffmpeg2theora libmpeg2-4 uudeview flac libmpeg3-1 mpeg3-utils mpegdemux liba52-0.7.4-dev libquicktime2
GStreamer is a pipeline-based multimedia framework written in the C programming language with the type system based on GObject. GStreamer allows a programmer to create a variety of media-handling components, including simple audio playback, audio and video playback, recording, streaming and editing. The pipeline design serves as a base to create many types of multimedia applications such as video editors, streaming media broadcasters and media players.
Open your Terminal, copy and paste (when you get to the EULA prompt press Tab key):
sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-fluendo-mp3 gstreamer0.10-gnonlin gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly totem-plugins-extra gstreamer-dbus-media-service gstreamer-tools ubuntu-restricted-extras ttf-mscorefonts-installer
Check and see if you can now view DVD movie discs on your computer. If not you may need to set the region key and you are usually allowed to do this only 5 times (only use if needed, and very optional):
sudo apt-get install regionset
sudo regionset
Or you can purchase the proprietary codecs from your Software Center:
Internet Web Browsers:
Here are some highly recommended add-ons for Firefox:
Adblock Plus (plugin) (Highly Recommended)
Adblock Plus (ABP) is a content-filtering extension for Mozilla Firefox (including Firefox for mobile) and Google Chrome web browsers. ABP, a forked version of Adblock, allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being downloaded and displayed. Very popular, and almost what I would consider to be a necessity, if you surf the Internet on a daily basis. Works great with sites like youtube.com and other similar web sites that bombard you with constant commercials. It will also allow you to import preconfigured blocklists to stop tracker web sites from monitoring your browser presence.
This extension allows you to export your saved passwords and disabled login hosts using XML or CSV files that can be imported later. Very helpful when needing to re-install Ubuntu onto a new system or migrating your data and personal information.
NetVideoHunter is a Firefox add-on (extension), and you can easily download videos and audio from almost all audio and video streaming web pages with two clicks. Tested and considered to be probably the best plugin out of all the other similar plugins available for this kind of task.
HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox and Chrome extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.
Spell checking plugin for Mozilla Firefox browser.
The Java Runtime Environment (OpenJDK) (Required) provides the libraries, the Java Virtual Machine, and other components to run applets and applications written in the Java programming language.
Copy and paste into your terminal:
sudo apt-get install openjdk-7-jre icedtea-7-plugin
Test your browser to make sure your Java is installed and working properly here:
Sun Java 8 JDK (Optional)
The above OpenJDK should be sufficient for most people.  If you know for a absolute fact that you will absolutely be needing the very latest Sun Java 8 JDK (not openjdk-7-jre above), for playing Minecraft, and other websites that -must- use Sun Java, copy and paste in your terminal (this will take some time to completely download):
sudo apt-get purge openjdk-7-jre icedtea-7-plugin
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oracle-java8-installer
Now to add Oracle Java 8 as an option in mozilla-javaplugin.so (It should already be available to the browsers as libnpjp2.so):
In 32bit Ubuntu:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so mozilla-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/i386/libnpjp2.so 1
In 64bit Ubuntu:
sudo update-alternatives --install /usr/lib/mozilla/plugins/libjavaplugin.so mozilla-javaplugin.so /usr/lib/jvm/java-8-oracle/jre/lib/amd64/libnpjp2.so 1
Then use “update-alternatives –config” commands to set what java that will be used.
(The “update-alternatives –config” commands below can also be done with the GUI-tool “galternatives” if it is installed on your system.)
sudo update-alternatives --config java
sudo update-alternatives --config javac
sudo update-alternatives --config javaws
sudo update-alternatives --config mozilla-javaplugin.so
sudo update-alternatives --config libnpjp2.so
My recommendation is always to use openjdk-7-jre from the Ubuntu repositories whenever you need to use Java, but if at this point you are still having trouble trying to install Java and geting Java to work correctly on your Ubuntu system, please visit the following web site for further support:
Flash Aid Plugin For Firefox (optional, in case your flash video playback has issues)
“Remove conflicting flash plugins from Ubuntu/Debian Linux systems, install the appropriate version according to system architecture and apply some tweaks to improve performance and fix common issues.”
Click ‘Add to Firefox’ to download and install it.
After installing the add-on and restarting Firefox, a new icon will be added to your Firefox browser Navigation Toolbar.
When clicking the toolbar icon, a menu pops up displaying the features available. Click the Flash Aid icon, and click next to complete the installation. Afterwards test your flash video playback ability by visiting youtube or some other flash video web site, to check your performance.
Your Ubuntu OS comes standard with the default Thunderbird email client pre-installed, and this is if you would like to install and upgrade to the next beta release currently in development.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/thunderbird-next
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install xul-ext-calendar-timezones xul-ext-lightning
To convert/import your MS Outlook PST files in Thunderbird:
sudo apt-get install readpst
readpst -r nameofyourPSTfilehereAlternative Graphical Web Browsers
Windows equivalent : Internet explorer, opera, google chrome
Ubuntu equivalent : Opera, Chromium, Google Chrome, Google Chrome Beta
Opera is a web browser and Internet suite developed by Opera Software. The browser handles common Internet-related tasks such as displaying web sites, sending and receiving e-mail messages, managing contacts, chatting on IRC, downloading files via BitTorrent, and reading web feeds.
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://deb.opera.com/opera/ stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/opera.list'
sudo sh -c 'wget -O - http://deb.opera.com/archive.key | apt-key add -'
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install opera
Chromium is the open source web browser project from which Google Chrome draws its source code. The project’s hourly Chromium snapshots appear essentially similar to the latest builds of Google Chrome aside from the omission of certain Google additions, most noticeable among them: Google’s branding, auto-update mechanism, click-through licensing terms, usage-tracking, a built-in PDF viewer and bundling of the Adobe Flash Player. Chromium uses the WebKit layout engine.
Special Note: The Chromium PPAs (Stable, Beta, Dev and Daily) haven’t been updated since Chromium 18 (send an email to the chromium development team to let them know they should update their software PPAs) but if you want to use the latest Chromium browser in Ubuntu, there are two new PPAs you can use, thanks to Alex Shkop. Google must have laid off whoever was in charge of their stable and dev PPA repositories for debian a long time ago since they are very outdated.
Daily Stable Chromium:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:a-v-shkop/chromium
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser chromium-browser-l10n
Daily Beta Chromium:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:a-v-shkop/chromium-dev
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install chromium-browser
Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. It uses its own flash plugin to play flash video/audio. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or “chrome”, of web browsers. As of June 2011, Chrome was the third most widely used browser with 20.65% worldwide usage share of web browsers, according to StatCounter.
wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable
or if you want the latest developmental version:
sudo apt-get install google-chrome-beta
Google Chrome Plugins:
Adblock Plus (plugin) (Recommended)
Adblock Plus (ABP) is a content-filtering extension for Google Chrome web browsers. ABP, a forked version of Adblock, allows users to prevent page elements, such as advertisements, from being downloaded and displayed. Very popular, and almost what I would consider to be a necessity, if you surf the Internet on a daily basis. Works great with sites like youtube.com and other similar web sites that bombard you with constant commercials. It will also allow you to import preconfigured blocklists to stop tracker web sites from monitoring your browser presence.
Access other computers or allow another user to access your computer securely over the Internet.
HTTPS Everywhere is a Firefox and Chrome extension that encrypts your communications with many major websites, making your browsing more secure.
Reditr is to Reddit what Tweetdeck is to Twitter. And now you can experience it under any GNU/Linux based system thanks to Google Chrome.
Google Talk is a browser plugin that lets you voice and video chat with friends and family from your browser. Install this plugin and logon to Gmail with your webcam and microphone attached to your computer, then initiate a chat with a friend or family member. It will try to connect to your webcam and enable video chat.
wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://dl.google.com/linux/talkplugin/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install google-talkplugin
Instant Retro (Ubuntu alternative to Instagram) is a nice web app that lets you upload your digital photos and add vintage effects to your pictures in a snap. No smart phone needed! No need to sign up, just upload your digital photos from your computer and get started. It has a number of options that add different effects to the photo. Some of the effects are Roll, Burned, Lens, Rounded and Fuji. There are also options like the ability to adjust curves, lighten center, desaturate, etc which can adjusted using the horizontal sliders. If you are looking for something like Instagram on Ubuntu Linux then InstantRetro is for you.
Adobe Reader is the free, trusted leader for reliably viewing and interacting with PDF documents across platforms and devices. Install the free Adobe Reader mobile app to work with PDF documents on your Android tablet or phone. Easily access, manage, and share a wide variety of PDF types, including PDF Portfolios, password-protected documents, fillable forms, and Adobe LiveCycle rights-managed PDF.
And if you are running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu 12.10 you will this:
 sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
To install Adobe Reader, in terminal, copy and paste:
wget http://ardownload.adobe.com/pub/adobe/reader/unix/9.x/9.5.1/enu/AdbeRdr9.5.1-1_i386linux_enu.deb
sudo dpkg -i AdbeRdr9*
How to change your Startup Application Manager settings on Ubuntu 12.10 (recommended) :
Starting with Ubuntu 12.10 the ‘Startup Applications’ manager now only displays a sub-set of applications to control at startup with the remaining applications being hidden. There are many applications running in the background by default in Ubuntu it only makes sense to disable the ones you don’t really need to have running all the time. To make the hidden applications visible in the manager, follow these steps:
Copy and paste the following command into Terminal:
sudo sed -i 's/NoDisplay=true/NoDisplay=false/g' /etc/xdg/autostart/*.desktop
Do a search for Startup Applications to add or remove/disable features at startup. There are probably several apps that are running at startup that you can safely remove if you know what you are doing, and will save you time during bootup.
Compiz (optional) has been updated, introducing a handy plugin, Workspace Naming, that, as its name clearly suggests, allows users to name workspaces with desired names, names that feature a high usability potential and numerous usecases, like for instance, naming a workspace text-only if in that workspace the user deals only with text files, and/or coding-only specific to a coding-oriented “desktop”. Its usage is as simple as navigating to CompizConfig Settings Manager–>Window Management–>check Workspace Naming and tweaking the provided functionalities (names, Display Time, Font Size, etc).
Copy and paste the following command into Terminal:
sudo apt-get install compiz compizconfig-settings-manager compiz-plugins
Archiver/ Packing software (Recommended)
Windows equivalent : winrar, zip, 7zip
Ubuntu equivalent : tar, unrar, p7zip, arj, unace
An archive format is the file format of an archive file. The archive format is determined by the file archiver. Some archive formats are well-defined by their authors and have become conventions supported by multiple vendors and/or open-source communities.
File Archiving:
sudo apt-get install unace rar unrar p7zip-rar p7zip zip unzip sharutils uudeview mpack lha arj cabextract file-roller

Auto Mount Windows NTFS Partition in Ubuntu 12.10
sudo apt-get install ntfs-config
sudo mkdir -p /etc/hal/fdi/policy
Now, launch ntfs-config from the Unity Dash Home. Click Advanced Configuration and check the partitions you want to auto-mount at start-up.
VOIP
Windows equivalent : Skype
Ubuntu equivalent : Skype, Jitsi, Brosix
Skype is a software application that allows users to make voice and video calls and chats over the Internet. Calls to other users within the Skype service are free, while calls to both traditional landline telephones and mobile phones can be made for a fee using a debit-based user account system. Skype has also become popular for its additional features which include instant messaging, file transfer, and video conferencing.
And if you are running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu 12.10 you will this:
 sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
To install Skype, in terminal, copy and paste:
sudo apt-get install skype
Or if you want the very latest version use:
Hardware acceleration and WebGL also feature in this release but are not turned on by default. Head into opera:config to enable it.
Other new features include:
  • Webcam support
  • Support for the Do Not Track header
  • CSS3 Animations and Transitions
  • Cross-Origin Resource Sharing (Cors) Support
  • Improved language support
Some webcams work perfect with Cheese and other webcam applications, but in Skype you may have a green screen, no picture at all or the picture is upside down!
If you have webcam issues with skype, fix this by doing this:
echo -e '#!/bin/bash n LD_PRELOAD=/usr/lib/i386-linux-gnu/libv4l/v4l1compat.so /usr/bin/skype' | sudo tee /usr/local/bin/skype
sudo chmod a+x /usr/local/bin/skype
If that doesn’t fix it trying downgrading your Ubuntu OS from 64-bit to 32-bit during the installation and then reinstall it. Yes, that means reinstalling your entire system from the beginning.
Map Viewing and Management
Google Earth allows you to travel the world through a virtual globe and view satellite imagery, maps, terrain, 3D buildings, and much more. With Google Earth’s rich, geographical content, you are able to experience a more realistic view of the world.
Software Prerequisite: Make sure you have all your media codecs installed listed at the beginning of this tutorial.
And if you are running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu 12.10:
 sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
Prerequisite (both 32-bit and 64-bit):
sudo apt-get install lsb-core
Select either: 32 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu) or 64 bit .deb (For Debian/Ubuntu)
GEdit
Essentially is it like notepad in MS Windows but with many many more features.
sudo apt-get install gedit gedit-plugins gedit-developer-plugins
Geany is a lightweight cross-platform GTK+ text editor based on Scintilla and including basic Integrated Development Environment (IDE) features. Among the supported programming languages are C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, PHP, HTML, LaTeX, CSS, Python, Perl, Ruby, Pascal, Haskell, Erlang, Vala and many others.
It was developed to provide a small and fast IDE, which has only a few dependencies from other packages. It supports many filetypes and has some nice features.
sudo apt-get install geany geany-plugins
LibreOffice (Recommended)
Windows equivalent : Microsoft Office Suite
Ubuntu equivalent : LibreOffice 3 Suite
LibreOffice is a free software office suite developed by The Document Foundation as a fork of OpenOffice.org. It is compatible with other major office suites, including Microsoft Office, and available on a variety of platforms. Its developers’ goal is to produce a vendor-independent office suite with ODF support and without any copyright assignment requirements. The name is a hybrid word with the first part Libre, which means free (as in freedom) in French and Spanish, and the English word Office.
LibreOffice comes preinstalled by default in Ubuntu usually, but you still want to double-check at this point that you have everything else installed that you probably will need, and that you have the latest updated version from the developers.
To install LibreOffice (and check for extra features):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libreoffice libreoffice-java-common libreoffice-math libreoffice-gnome libreoffice-java-common lo-menubar
How to install Grammar checking Plug-in for LibreOffice Writer:
To enable PDF import capability:
sudo apt-get install libreoffice-pdfimport
Special Note: If you would like the MS Windows OS or Apple Mac OS version of LibreOffice Suite for another computer you have at work or school – here is where you can find the link. And I definitely recommend using the torrent because the direct link doesn’t usually completely download for some unknown reason. https://www.libreoffice.org/download/
Graphical FTP clients
Windows equivalent : CuteFTP, SmartFTP, CoreFTP
Ubuntu equivalent : FileZilla
FileZilla is free, open source, cross-platform FTP/SFTP software, consisting of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Binaries are available for Windows, Linux, and Mac OS X. It supports FTP, SFTP, and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS). As of 18 April 2011, FileZilla Client was the 7th most popular download of all time from SourceForge.net.
This is great FTP client, very complete, in my opinion, and the best one around.
To install FileZilla in terminal:
sudo apt-get install filezilla filezilla-common
Access it through Applications → Internet → FileZilla FTP Client.
Development IDE
Windows equivalent : Dreamweaver
Ubuntu equivalent : Kompozer, Bluefish, Komodo
Komodo Edit inherits many features of the commercial Komodo IDE, such as a full range of supported languages (including Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl, SQL, Smarty, CSS, HTML and XML) and tri-platform support (Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows ). But if you are looking for an open-source editor I would also suggest Eclipse IDE in Ubuntu repositories.
Like Komodo IDE, Komodo Edit can edit remote files over FTP and supports user customization through plugins and macros. It was developed for programmers who need a multi-language editor with broad functionality, but not the features of an IDE, like debugging, DOM viewer, interactive shells, and source code control integration. However, independent implementations of some of these features are available in the free version through the plugin system as of January 2011.
Windows: Notepad++
In terminal, copy and paste:
wget http://download.activestate.com/Komodo/releases/6.1.3/Komodo-Edit-6.1.3-8844-linux-libcpp6-x86.tar.gz
tar xzvf Komodo-Edit-6.1.3-8844-linux-libcpp6-x86.tar.gz
cd Komodo-Edit-6.1.3-8844-linux-libcpp6-x86/
sudo ./install.sh
When prompted to specify the directory or folder to install into, type this command:
/opt/Komodo-Edit-6/
After installing, run this command in your terminal to complete the process.
export PATH="/opt/Komodo-Edit-6/bin:$PATH"
KompoZer is an open source WYSIWYG HTML editor based on a rewritten version of the now-discontinued Nvu editor. KompoZer is maintained as a community-driven fork and is a project on Sourceforge.
KompoZer’s WYSIWYG editing capabilities are one of the main attractions of the software. In addition, KompoZer allows direct code editing as well as a split code-graphic view:
sudo apt-get install kompozer
Access it through Applications → Internet → Kompozer
Bluefish is a free and open source advanced text editor with a variety of tools for programming in general and the development of dynamic websites. Bluefish supports development in (among others) HTML, XHTML, CSS, XML, PHP, C, C++, JavaScript, Java, Google Go, Vala, Ada, D, SQL, Perl, ColdFusion, JSP, Python, Ruby and shell. Bluefish is available for many platforms, including Linux, Solaris and Mac OS X, and Windows. Bluefish is developed in C/GTK+ and can be used integrated in GNOME or run independently. Bluefish fills the niche market between the plain text editors and the full swing IDE: Bluefish is relatively lightweight and easy to learn, while still providing many features of an integrated development environment to support both programming and the development of websites.
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://debian.wgdd.de/debian precise main restricted universe multiverse" 
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wgdd-archive-keyring
sudo apt-get install bluefish
Image Editors
Windows equivalent : Adobe Photoshop
Ubuntu equivalent : GIMP
GIMP
GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) is a free software raster graphics editor. It is primarily employed as an image retouching and editing tool and is freely available in versions tailored for most popular operating systems including Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X, and GNU/Linux. It has layering abilities like Photoshop.
In addition to detailed image retouching and free-form drawing, GIMP can accomplish essential image editing tasks such as resizing, editing, and cropping photos, photomontages combining multiple images, and converting between different image formats. GIMP can also be used to create basic animated images in the GIF format.
New additions in Gimp 2.8 are single window mode, on-canvas text editing, layers group, and to apply all changes to a layer grouping.
GIMP’s product vision is that GIMP is, or will become, a free software high-end graphics application for the editing and creation of original images, icons, graphical elements of web pages and art for user interface elements.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:otto-kesselgulasch/gimp
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gimp gimp-data gimp-data-extras
Access it through Applications → Graphics → GIMP Image Editor.
Download additional Script-Fu filters and tweaks:
Instructions on how to install Scripts that work in Gimp 2.8:
To install additional helpful plugins for Gimp try:
Photo Management
Windows equivalent: Aftershot Pro, Lightroom, Bridge, Photoshop Organizer
RAW file viewers/editors/plugins for SLR Digital Photography
Not the most intuitive program to use at first, Raw Therapee is a fairly feature rich and comprehensive RAW editor that’s compatible with Linux. At the time of writing, the team are working on a stable release of version 3.0, which is a major release for the project. Unidentified Flying RAW (or UFRaw for short) is a dedicated RAW image editor based on GTK+. It can be used as an application on its own or as a plugin for GIMP (simply open a RAW image in GIMP to be presented with the UFRaw editor window).
sudo apt-get install libraw-bin ufraw ufraw-batch and gimp-ufraw rawtherapee
Darktable is an open source photography workflow application and RAW developer. A virtual lighttable and darkroom for photographers. It manages your digital negatives in a database, lets you view them through a zoomable lighttable and enables you to develop raw images and enhance them. It focuses on the workflow to make it easier for the photographer to quickly handle the thousands of images a day of shooting can produce. It’s also one of the very few FOSS projects able to do tethered shooting.
sudo apt-get install darktable
Shotwell can import photos and videos from a digital camera directly. Shotwell automatically groups photos and videos by date, and supports tagging. Its image editing features allow users to rotate, crop, eliminate red eye, and adjust levels and color balance. It also features an auto “enhance” option that will attempt to guess appropriate levels for the image. Shotwell allows users to publish their images and videos to Facebook, Flickr, Picasa Web Albums, Piwigo, and YouTube.
sudo apt-get install shotwell
Picasa is free photo editing software from Google. For a free program, it allows you to do some great photo manipulation. Addtionally, Picasa links you directly to free online photo storage known as Picasa Web Albums to upload your digital pictures. It is no longer officially supported for Ubuntu by Google, but here are the last updated *.deb installation packages if you want to install Picasa on your Ubuntu operating system.
And if you are running a 64-bit version of Ubuntu 12.10 then you will also need:
 sudo apt-get install ia32-libs
For 32-bit Ubuntu copy and paste into Terminal:
wget http://packages.linuxmint.com//pool/import/p/picasa/picasa_3.0.5744-02_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i picasa_3.0.5744-02_i386.deb
For 64-bit Ubuntu copy and paste into Terminal:
wget http://packages.linuxmint.com//pool/import/p/picasa/picasa_3.0.5744-02_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i picasa_3.0.5744-02_amd64.deb
3D Graphics Applications
Windows equivalent : 3D Studio MAX, Google Sketch
Ubuntu equivalent : Blender
Blender
Blender’s features include 3D modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, rigging, water and smoke simulations, skinning, animating, rendering, particle and other simulations, video editing software, compositing, and the ability to create interactive 3D applications, video games, animated film, or visual effects.
More advanced tools include rigid, realistic body, fluid, cloth and softbody dynamics simulation, modifier-based modeling, character animation, a node-based material and compositing system, and embedded scripting in Python.
sudo apt-get install blender
Or you can get the latest developmental beta version:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:irie/blender
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install blender2.5
Calibre is a free and open source e-book computer software that organizes, saves and manages e-books, supporting a variety of formats. It also supports e-book syncing with a variety of popular e-book readers. calibre is cross-platform (programmed in Python and C) and is intended for the three main operating systems, Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.
Windows: “Kindle for PC” software
Calibre was originally called libprs500, but was renamed calibre (lower case ‘C’) in mid-2008. calibre is primarily an e-book cataloging program. It is designed around the concept of the logical book, where a single database entry corresponds with the same book in a variety of formats. calibre supports the following formats for cataloging: AZW, AZW1, CBR, CBZ, CHM, EPUB, FB2, HTML, IMP, LIT, LRF, LRX, MOBI, ODT, OEBZIP, OPF, PDB, PDF, PML, PMLZ, PRC, RAR, RB, RTF, SNB, TPZ, TXT and ZIP.
sudo apt-get install calibre
Also make sure to install better smaller fonts:
P2P Clients & Servers, File Sharing
Windows equivalent : Limewire, utorrent, Azureus, Emule, PeerGuardian
Ubuntu equivalent : Frostwire, Deluge, Azureus, Amule, Moblock/Mobloquer
BitTorrent is a peer-to-peer file sharing protocol used for distributing large amounts of data over the Internet. BitTorrent is one of the most common protocols for transferring large files, and it has been estimated that it accounted for roughly 43% to 70% of all Internet traffic (depending on geographical location) as of February 2009.
Frostwire
Windows equivalent: Limewire
FrostWire is a free, open source BitTorrent client, first released in September, 2004, as a fork of LimeWire. It was initially very similar to LimeWire in appearance and functionality, but developers added more features, such as BitTorrent support. In version Five, Gnutella support was dropped entirely, and now FrostWire only uses the BitTorrent network. Development of the program has been active since the program was first released in September 2004.
Install Frostwire:
Bittorrent Add-ons for Ubuntu:
Windows Equivalent: PeerGuardian (highly recommended for Bittorent users)
Ubuntu equivalent : PGL and PGLGUI
PeerGuardian Linux (pgl) is a privacy oriented firewall application. It blocks connections to and from hosts specified in huge blocklists (thousands or millions of IP ranges). Its origins lie in targeting aggressive IPs while you use P2P.
While you are installing PGL just accept the default settings for now. You can change them with PGLGUI after you are done installing everything.
To install PGL and PGLGUI in terminal (select the default settings by using the TAB key and pressing enter – there will be several prompts – just accept default settings and afterwards you can configure the blocklists):
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jre-phoenix/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install pgld pglcmd pglgui
Make sure to enable your blocklists you want and update PGLGUI after you get it completely installed:
The first thing most users will notice after installing PGL and have it running is that their Pidgin/Empathy/IMclientOfChoice/WebBrowser stops working. PGLGUI log will list the IP’s and info about the IP’s, so just whitelist them if need be with one mouse click.
It is really a very strong utility and will block pretty much everything until you tell it to do otherwise. But you only need to run this when you are seeding or downloading torrent files.
Deluge Client is a full-featured BitTorrent client for Linux, OS X, Unix and Windows. It uses libtorrent in it’s backend and features multiple user-interfaces including: GTK+, web and console. It has been designed using the client server model with a daemon process that handles all the bittorrent activity.
The Deluge daemon is able to run on headless machines with the user-interfaces being able to connect remotely from any platform.
sudo apt-get install deluge-torrent
Access it through Applications → Internet → Deluge Torrent.
Azureus Client: Uses Java to run, very complete but a bit heavy. And has a wide variety of add-ons to choose from too.
Vuze (formerly Azureus) is a P2P file sharing client using the bittorrent protocol. Search and download torrent files. Play, convert and transcode videos and music for playing on many devices such as PSP, TiVo, XBox, PS3, iTunes (iPhone, iPod, Apple TV).
sudo apt-get install azureus
Access it through Applications → Internet → Azureus.
µTorrent Server is a very tiny BitTorrent server, super fast and ultra light. µTorrent’s built for speed. That means ultra-efficient downloads of mega-sized files.
Go to µTorrent official site and download the Ubuntu installation package and use the following instructions to install µTorrent at:
Music / MP3 / OGG Players
Windows equivalent : iTunes, Winamp
Ubuntu equivalent : Amarok, Nuvola Player, Spotify
Amarok 2.5 “Earth Moving” was released on December 2011.
New features:
  • GPodder.net podcast synchronization.
  • Re-written USB Mass Storage support.
  • The Windows version of Amarok is now officially declared stable.
  • Many bugfixes to the iPod plugin, thanks to Matěj Laitl.
  • An integrated Amazon MP3 store. This major feature is the work of our web-entrepreneurs Sven and Justus.
sudo apt-get install amarok
Nuvola Player is an application that integrates cloud music services like Google Music, Grooveshark, Hype Machine, 8tracks, Pandora, Rdio and Amazon Cloud Player with your desktop. Using it, you’ll get desktop notifications, multimedia keys support, Mpris v2 (integration with Ubuntu Sound Menu or GNOME Shell Media Player extension) integration, Unity quicklists and more.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nuvola-player-builders/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nuvolaplayer
Spotify is a Swedish-founded, UK-headquartered DRM-based music streaming service offering streaming of selected music from a range of major and independent record labels, including Sony, EMI, Warner Music Group, and Universal.
Launched in October 2008 by Swedish startup Spotify AB, the service had approximately ten million users as of 15 September 2010; about 2.5 million of whom were paying members.The service is, as of November 2011, available in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States.
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys 94558F59
then
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list'
then
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install spotify-client-qt
TV-MAXE is an application which provides the ability to watch TV stations and listen radio via different streams, like SopCast. Currently it has a large number of channels.  I tested this in 12.10 and it is working great with about 50-70 percent of the channels functional, but that also depends on where you live.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:venerix/blug
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install tv-maxe
Netflix is an American provider of on-demand Internet streaming media in the United States, Canada, Latin America, the Caribbean, United Kingdom, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and flat rate DVD-by-mail in the United States. The company was established in 1997 and is headquartered in Los Gatos, California. It started its subscription-based digital distribution service in 1999 and by 2009 it was offering a collection of 100,000 titles on DVD and had surpassed 10 million subscribers. On February 25, 2007, Netflix announced the billionth DVD delivery. In April 2011, Netflix announced 23.6 million subscribers in the United States and over 26 million worldwide. By 2011, the total digital revenue for Netflix reached $1.5 billion. The new Netflix streaming media player takes advantage of Play Ready DRM, which is built into Silverlight codec, for the playback of protected content. According to Netflix, this had not been possible with previous technologies. The company also said that it has expanded the number of movies and television programs available through the “Watch Instantly” service. The paid service is roughly around $7.99 per month. Currently, you are allowed a 30-day trial to test the services.
If you have questions or need support please visit:
Download and install Netflix:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:ehoover/compholio
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install netflix-desktop
Hulu Desktop is a lean-back viewing experience for your personal computer. It features a sleek new look that’s optimized for use with standard Windows Media Center remote controls or Apple remote controls, allowing you to navigate Hulu’s entire library with just six buttons. For users without remotes, the application is keyboard and mouse-enabled. Hulu Desktop is a downloadable application and will work on PCs and Macs. It will initially launch as a beta product during which we plan to gather and incorporate user feedback to improve the service. The new version includes both bug fixes and also support for the new Hulu Plus subscription service.
You can download the deb installation package for your 32-bit or 64-bit version of Ubuntu 12.10 here:
After you have download it, you can double-click on the *.deb file and it should automatically install itself with your Ubuntu Software Center.
Special Note: There is a problem when you run the default HuluDesktop configuration in FullScreen mode on Linux. To fix this you must manually edit your .huluconfig file to match your current monitor display resolution.
Copy and paste in Terminal:
gedit .huludesktop
And change this:
[display]
fullscreen = FALSE
width = 1024
height = 576
pos_x = 164
pos v = 95
and change FALSE to TRUE for fullscreen and update width and height to your actual display resolution sizes. You can find your current monitor display resolution sizes in your System Settings under Hardware.
[display]
fullscreen = TRUE
width = 1280
height = 720
pos_x = 164
pos v = 95
And if someone would be nice enough to drop a message to the HuluDesktop support people to let them know they need to find a solution to this issue eventually, and you can post that over this way. Maybe a nice GUI monitor resolution configuration option within Huludesktop itself or even an auto detect function?:
Audacity is a cross-platform multitrack audio editor. It allows you to record sounds directly or to import files in various formats and convert audio files into many different audio file formats too. It features a few simple effects, all of the editing features you should need, and unlimited undo. This is the first and last GUI audio editor you will ever need on Ubuntu.
The GUI was built with wxWidgets and the audio I/O supports PulseAudio, OSS and ALSA under Linux.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:audacity-team/daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install audacity lame libmp3lame0
Jack Audio Connection Kit (Recommended if you do audio editting)
sudo apt-get jack jackd jackeq
Mixxx is a DJ tool that allows for the playback and mixing of digital music (MP3, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and Wave). Mixxx will run on the Linux, Mac OS X and Windows operating systems.
Mixxx has the ability to provide comprehensive support for any MIDI controller due to its scripting engine, and it ships with mappings for a number of popular controllers, a complete list of which can be found on the Hardware Compatibility page.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mixxx/mixxx
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install mixxx libportaudio2
Airtime an award-winning open source radio management software, has reached version 2.1, getting real-time show editing and live stream rebroadcasting.
Airtime 2.1 allows connecting remotely via tools such as Mixxx or Virtual DJ and the application will rebroadcast the stream either at a time you set or in the middle of the broadcast, using a nice transition.
Download Airtime (officially supports Ubuntu and Debian, but works on other Linux distributions too)
Ardour is a hard disk recorder and digital audio workstation application. It runs on Linux, Mac OS X and FreeBSD. Its primary author is Paul Davis, who is also responsible for the JACK Audio Connection Kit. Ardour’s intention is to provide digital audio workstation software suitable for professional use.
sudo apt-get install ardour
Traverso DAW (digital audio workstation) is an easy to use, open source multitrack audio recording and editing suite with a great user interface. You’ll find yourself doing more work in half the time thanks to the unique interface geared toward both the home user and profession musician; instead of endless menus and submenus, Traverso uses both the mouse and the keyboard together for precision and speed.
sudo apt-get install traverso
Linux Multimedia Studio (LMMS) is a free DAW (digital audio workstation) created for Linux & Windows. Although it has a rather steep learning curve, there are many tutorials and it includes several sample songs that you can learn from. Users learn the functions pretty quickly once they go through a few of the examples. LMMS come equipped with four different synthesizers. There is one that allows manipulation of samples by adding filters and a BitInvader plugin that is a wavetable synthesizer, allowing you to create a waveform for your sound. There is a guitar synthesizer and one with three oscillators.
sudo apt-get install lmms
Jokosher is a multi-track music editor. The interface uses familiar concepts to musicians rather than relying on their knowledge of multi-track recorders. Guitarists and other players who don’t want to spend the funds or the time to learn the ins and outs of multi-tracking will appreciate this software. The idea of Jokosher is to be able to ignore the software and be able to concentrate on your music.
sudo apt-get install jokosher
bristol is a vintage synthesiser software emulator suite. The application consists of an engine itself called bristol and a graphical user interface called  brighton. The graphical interface is a bitmap manipulation library to present the diverse synth devices such as potentiometers, buttons, sliders, patch cables and which generates the messages to  configure the synth emulator.
The engine is  an infrastructure that hosts the emulator code that couples together the different audio operators required to generate the  audio.  The  engine and GUI are started together with the start Bristol script which sets up the required environment for the two to connect together. It is not generally envisaged that bristol and brighton be started outside of the script however there are options to the script to only start one or the other. Bristol also has a command line interface that can be used rather than the GUI. Audio drivers are PCM/PCM plug or Jack. Midi drivers are either OSS/ALSA rawmidi interface, or ALSA SEQ. Multple GUIs can connect to the single audio engine, which then operates multitimbrally.
Currently the following synthesizers are emulated:
In Terminal copy and paste to install the GUI:
sudo apt-get install bristol monobristol
Special Note: You may need to type monobristol in terminal to start the GUI or you may need to create a launcher for it manually. Sometimes it is better to run it entirely from the command line too.
Amarok
Amarok’s tagline is “Rediscover Your Music”, and its development is based around this ideology. Amarok’s core features such as the unique “context browser”, integrated Wikipedia lookup and lyrics download help users to find new music, and to learn more about the music they have.
Windows equivalent : iTunes
Amarok also features integration with last.fm, giving users suggestions about what to listen to next and which artists may fit their mood, as well as with Magnatune integration, allowing no-cost full listening of all the music in their catalog, and DRM-free purchasing.
sudo apt-get install amarok amarok-common
Access it through Applications → Sound & Video → Amarok.
gtkpod
gtkpod is a graphical user interface for the Apple iPod for Unix-like systems, written using the GTK+ toolkit.
Windows equivalent : iTunes
This application allow you to connect to your ipod, shuffle, idohickeythingamabob so you can access your music, mp4s, and tranfer them, copy them, rename them, with Ubuntu or Debian systems. It’s all kinds of good stuff for apple media users.
sudo apt-get install gtkpod
OpenShot Video Editor is a free, open-source video editor for Linux licensed under the GPL version 3.0.OpenShot can take your videos, photos, and music files and help you create the film you have always dreamed of. Easily add sub-titles, transitions, and effects, and then export your film to DVD, YouTube, Vimeo, Xbox 360, and many other common formats.
OpenShot provides extensive editing and compositing features, and has been designed as a practical tool for working with high-definition video including HDV and AVCHD.
Copy and paste in Terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install openshot frei0r-plugins
Kazam is a simple screen recording program that will capture the content of your screen and record a video file that can be played by any video player that supports VP8/WebM video format. You are able to have a mic enabled and background soundtrack too.
Optionally you can record sound from any sound input device that is supported and visible by PulseAudio.
sudo apt-get install kazam
PlayOnLinux is Linux software which allows you to easily install and use numerous games and applications designed to run with Microsoft Windows OS.  PlayOnLinux brings a cost-free, accessible and efficient solution to running Windows software in Ubuntu Linux. It is recommend that new users check with the Wine App Database first to see if whatever Windows application or Windows program has been tested to work and perform well with Wine on Linux before attempting to use Wine to run whatever Windows software you are interested in running.
And be aware that the installation of PlayOnLinux can take some time because there is a problem with the font installation and eventually it will kickout a font error and then you can start using PlayOnLinux at that point. It is always recommended that you try to locate a native Linux application in the Ubuntu Software Center that is the equivalent to whatever Windows App or Windows program you need to run. And only use PlayOnLinux if no Linux equivalent exists already in the Ubuntu software repositories for free.
To install Wine in Ubuntu copy and paste into Terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install wine1.5
To install PlayOnLinux in Ubuntu copy and paste into Terminal:
sudo wget http://deb.playonlinux.com/playonlinux_precise.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/playonlinux.list
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys E0F72778C4676186
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install playonlinux
TeamViewer is a free for non-commercial use, software application for remote control, desktop sharing, and file transfer between computers, great for meetings, presentations, tech support and more. It runs on Windows, Mac OSX, Linux (even though it comes in a .deb or .rpm, it uses Wine which comes bundled with it) as well as Android or iPhone. You will need to modify GUFW firewall settings in order to connect if you have it enabled.
Windows: LogMeIn, GoToMeeting, MS RDC
Updated: June 10th 2012 (patch for 64-bit Ubuntu systems)
Citrix Systems Reciever ICAClient (w/Firefox Plug-in):
Citrix Receiver is a lightweight software client that allows access to virtual desktops and apps including Windows, Web or SaaS apps on any PC, Mac, netbook, tablet or smartphone. Works for both 32-bit and 64-bit version of Ubuntu. You need to download two deb packages to have it working correctly. You need the installation package for either 32-bit or 64-bit, and the supporting usb deb package, and then you will need to also install the USB support deb package as well. You will find both on the Linux download page on the following link:

http://www.citrix.com/downloads/citrix-receiver/receivers-by-platform/receiver-for-linux-121.html

And then copy the certificates to the proper directory:
sudo cp /usr/share/ca-certificates/mozilla/* /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts
Tutorial on how to install Citrix Receiver in Ubuntu:
Special Note: There is a error in the deb installation package that you download from Citrix. If you are running 64-bit Ubuntu 12.04 and trying to install Citrix the installation will FAIL. Here is how to resolve this problem with the installation package for 64-bit Ubuntu 12.04 LTS:
1. Install the .deb and let it fail using gdebi package installer.  Instructions for how to install gdebi are back the beginning of this To Do List guide at the top. Don’t use the Ubuntu Software Center because it crashes it.
2. Edit /var/lib/dpkg/info/icaclient.postinst
sudo gedit /var/lib/dpkg/info/icaclient.postinst
3. Replace the line that says
echo $Arch|grep "i[0-9]86" >/dev/null
with
echo $Arch|grep -E "i[0-9]86|x86_64" >/dev/null
4. Run dpkg –configure icaclient
sudo dpkg --configure icaclient
Restart Firefox so the plugin is installed correctly.
I really hope Citrix fixes this problem with their 64-bit installation deb package for Ubuntu 12.04 soon. And the other thing that is missing from the installation package is the certificates.
Make sure to always copy the certificates to the proper directory so Citrix can connect properly with your Citrix host:
sudo cp /usr/share/ca-certificates/mozilla/* /opt/Citrix/ICAClient/keystore/cacerts
Komodo Edit inherits many features of the commercial Komodo IDE, such as a full range of supported languages (including Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, Tcl, SQL, Smarty, CSS, HTML and XML) and tri-platform support (Linux, Mac OS X, and Windows ). But if you are looking for an open-source editor I would also suggest Eclipse IDE in Ubuntu repositories.
Like Komodo IDE, Komodo Edit can edit remote files over FTP and supports user customization through plugins and macros. It was developed for programmers who need a multi-language editor with broad functionality, but not the features of an IDE, like debugging, DOM viewer, interactive shells, and source code control integration. However, independent implementations of some of these features are available in the free version through the plugin system as of January 2011.
Windows: Notepad++
In terminal, copy and paste (for 64-bit systems):
wget http://downloads.activestate.com/Komodo/releases/7.0.2/Komodo-Edit-7.0.2-9923-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar xzvf Komodo-Edit-7.0.2-9923-linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd Komodo-Edit-7.0.2-9923-linux-x86_64/
sudo ./install.sh
When prompted to specify the directory or folder to install into, type this command:
/opt/Komodo-Edit-7/
After installing, run this command in your terminal to complete the process.
export PATH="/opt/Komodo-Edit-7/bin:$PATH"
Hard Disk Partition Manager
Windows equivalent : Norton Partition Magic
Ubuntu equivalent : GParted
GParted is a GTK+ front-end to GNU Parted and the official GNOME Partition Editor application.
It is used for creating, deleting, resizing, moving, checking and copying partitions, and the file systems on them. This is useful for creating space for new operating systems (works with Vista / Windows 7 System & Data partitions), reorganizing disk usage, copying data residing on hard disks and mirroring one partition with another (disk imaging). It is useful for tasks such as: creating space for new operating systems, restructuring disk space to separate user and operating system data, and copying partitions to enable upgrading to a larger hard disk drive. Your hard disk drive or USB flash drive can be subdivided into one or more partitions. GParted enables you to reorganize your disk partitions while preserving the contents of these partitions.
sudo apt-get install gparted
Oracle VM VirtualBox (formerly Sun VirtualBox, Sun xVM VirtualBox and innotek VirtualBox) is an x86 virtualization software package, created by software company Innotek GmbH, purchased in 2008 by Sun Microsystems, and now developed by Oracle Corporation as part of its family of virtualization products. Oracle VM VirtualBox is installed on Ubuntu as an application; this host application allows additional guest operating systems, each known as a Guest OS, to be loaded and run, each with its own virtual environment. For example, here we have installed Andriod 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich OS virtually inside of Virtualbox for App development purposes.
To install Oracle VM VirtualBox copy and paste into Terminal:
sudo echo "deb http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian $(lsb_release -sc) contrib" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/virtualbox.list
wget -q http://download.virtualbox.org/virtualbox/debian/oracle_vbox.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install virtualbox-4.2
Special Note: And if you are wondering if I could get Netflix app to actually install in the virtual andriod OS the answer is no. The DRM included with the android Netflix app will not work on android OS unless it is installed with matching hardware specifications (or?) installed physically on a real android device.  Maybe you can figure out how to emulate those hardware specifications in virtualbox configuration settings? I don’t know, but that is a hint if you are bored with nothing better to do and want to figure that out for yourselves.
Ubuntu Builder is a simple tool to build your own distribution. I just tested it today, and it works great. It allows to download, extract, customize in many ways and rebuild your ubuntu images. You can customize i386 and amd64 images.
So far it supports Ubuntu 12.10, 12.04, 11.10, and 10.04.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:f-muriana/ubuntu-builder
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-builder
For other releases, download and install the .deb package from this page.
Remastersys is a tool that can be used to do two things with your Ubuntu OS. It can make a full system backup including personal data to a live bootable CD/DVD/USB Flash device, that you can then use anywhere to reinstall the same customized system, and carry around with you on a USB Thumb Drive keychain.  Remastersys can also make a distributable copy you can share with friends that will not have any of your personal user data on it, and it will come with all of the software and plugins you have currently installed. This is real time-saver if you need to do several fresh installations of Ubuntu. You can even make your own customized version of Ubuntu and name it whatever you like, with your own choice of themes, fonts, wallpaper, apps, scripts, desktop environments (Gnome3, Openbox, XFCE, etc), software repositories, anything you can imagine. Or you can simply use Remastersys to backup everything on your computer, essentially cloning your existing user configuration files, settings, and Ubuntu OS packages, and then you can migrate that custom duplicate system *.ISO image onto a live DVD or USB Flash Drive to always have as a live bootable backup system, with your bookmarks, passwords, up to 4GB in size. After you boot up your duplicate Ubuntu keychain system, you will have an installation icon right on the desktop if you want to reinstall everything.  It is the same Ubiquity installer you used to install Ubuntu the first time too.
Notes: This app is near the end of my To-Do List on this web page and there is a good reason for that. Remastersys was tested in Ubuntu 11.* versions to work fine, but only use the “Backup” since “Dist” seems to have password issues during live bootup. Backup function works perfectly on previous versions up to Ubuntu 12.*. Remastersys on Ubuntu 12.* however seems to have issues that I can’t seem to figure out. Development is infrequent (not always updated or current) and what I would consider to be “flakey”, it isn’t being thoroughly tested with each new rollout of Ubuntu (I think the developer may be using pure Debian instead of Ubuntu for the last couple years now? Maybe lost interest in getting this working for Ubuntu users anymore? I don’t know.), otherwise it is a one-of-a-kind app for Ubuntu, if you can get it to function correctly, and if you have the patience to fix it yourself.
It was a great app a long time ago. Hopefully the maintainer will do further testing on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS and 12.10 someday eventually? If not, there is a new alternative to Remastersys called Relinux, and seems to be currently in the Alpha stages of testing, however I couldn’t get Relinux to work perfectly either. Sigh. If you have the time, this is great app if you want/need to make your own custom respins/remixes of Ubuntu/Debian OS.
To install Remastersys copy and paste in Terminal:
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://www.remastersys.com/ubuntu precise main"
wget -q "http://www.remastersys.com/ubuntu/remastersys.gpg.key" -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install remastersys remastersys-gui
Special Note: W: Failed to fetch http://www.remastersys.com/ubuntu/dists/precise/InRelease Unable to find expected entry ‘main/source/Sources’ in Release file (Wrong sources.list entry or malformed file) <— This is normal since the source doesn’t exist! No worries there. Just remove the source line in synaptic package manager instead so the error will stop showing during updates.
BleachBit (recommended) quickly frees disk space and tirelessly guards your privacy. Free cache, delete cookies, clear Internet history, shred temporary files, delete logs, and discard junk you didn’t know was there. Designed for Linux and Windows systems, it wipes clean 90 applications including Firefox, Internet Explorer, Adobe Flash, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari, and more. I highly recommend installing this on your system at some point, and making sure to have it automatically run at system login as a reminder. Even though Ubuntu doesn’t have issues with Viruses and Spyware, however your system can become slowly bogged down with tmp cache files in Mozilla Firefox and Chrome with heavy use, so it makes sense to run bleachbit periodically to speed up your system.
Windows equivalent : CCleaner
Beyond simply deleting files, BleachBit includes advanced features such as shredding files to prevent recovery, wiping free disk space to hide traces of files deleted by other applications, and vacuuming Firefox to make it faster. Better than free, BleachBit is open source. If you have a system that seems to be running slower than normal, it’s always a good idea to try running Bleachbit to see if it may resolve your performance issues that you may be experiencing. I personally recommend that heavy internet users run this at least once or twice a month.
sudo apt-get install bleachbit
sudo bleachbit
Bleachbit Tutorial:
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