After about three hours of installing and configuring Ubuntu Linux and several third-party applications, I decided it'd be best to document the process in case I ever had to rebuild the system.

Perform the basic installation of Ubuntu 8.04, taking default partition options and rebooting upon request.

When my machine returned from its very first reboot, I was unable to log in. The system displayed the default background screen and wouldn't continue beyond that. I pressed <ctrl> + <alt> + <bksp> and restarted the X-window system. This yielded the same results. To fix this, I did the following:

1. Pressed <ctrl> + <alt> + <f2> to switch to a new terminal window

2. Logged in

3. Typed the following:

   1. sudo apt-get update

   2. sudo apt-get upgrade

   3. sudo reboot

The system returned from rebooting and allowed me to log in as expected.

Now the system is up and running with all the latest updates. Here are the steps I take to continue the configuration:

1. add terminal launcher to the panel

2. add synaptic launcher to the panel

3. Open a terminal window and type the following:

   sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse libdvdread3 totem-xine libxine1-ffmpeg alien aircrack-ng libpcap0.8-dev kismet wireshark xserver-xorg-dev kdebase-dev kdelibs4-dev build-essential ndiswrapper-utils-1.9 ndiswrapper-common linux-wlan-ng-firmware linux-wlan-ng libflash-swfplayer vlc vlc-plugin-* mozilla-plugin-vlc p7zip rar unrar libperl-dev php5-cli php5-dev php5-gd libgtk2.0-dev libglade2-dev cvs libssl-dev gcc-3.4

4. Type the following in a terminal window:

   sudo apt-get install sun-java6-plugin java-common odbcinst1debian1 sun-java6-bin sun-java6-jre unixodbc

    

5. Test Java and verify that it is working now: http://www.java.com/en/download/help/testvm.xml

6. Type the following in a terminal window:

   sudo apt-get install amarok

7. Type the following in a terminal window:

   sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

   Flash Player should work now

   Unfortunately, Shockwave Player does not

8. Type the following in a terminal window:

   sudo apt-get install dvb-utils dvbstream xine-ui mplayer libglib2.0-data libglib2.0-dev libglib2-ruby1.8 libglib2-ruby

9. Install the AdBlock FireFox extension

10. Set the FireFox homepage to http://www.google.com

11. Make the following FireFox setting changes:

    Privacy tab, Check [x] Always clear my private data when I close Firefox
    Under Settings, Check [x] Cookies, [x] Offline Website Data
    
    

12. Security Tab, Uncheck [_] Remember passwords for sites

13. Set log in/log out sounds to "No sound"

14. Disable the system beep

15. Type the following in a terminal window:
    
    sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/install-css.sh
    
    

    You should be able to:
    
    

     

    • Play DVDs
    • Play mp3s
    • Visit Flash-enabled sites
    • Visit Java-enabled sites
      

 Enjoy!