A simple guide to set up Ubuntu, specially written for dual booting alongside Windows.
After a fresh install of Ubuntu, I find myself doing much to make myself feel at home. Crack open a Mountain Dew and follow these steps to set up Ubuntu in one sitting.
To get easy access to the terminal, visit System -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts and add something like Ctrl+Alt+T to the Run a Terminal action.
To automatically mount the Windows partition, set up pysdm with the instructions here. To be able to install the application, you’ll need to ensure that most every software source you can check is checked in System -> Administration -> Software Sources and that it has reloaded everything. Now, following those instructions will easily allow access to all your infamous “My Documents” files on startup.
To set up your custom Compiz settings, install the simple-ccsm and compizconfig-settings-manager packages via Synaptic Package Manager or the crazy command line. Next, enable custom visual effects in System -> Preferences -> Appearance. And finally, have at it in System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager.
To install some fonts, do this: sudo apt-get install msttcorefonts (and see here for more about that). Also remember any other fonts you want to install go in the /home/you/.fonts/ directory.
Finish it up by customizing your panels and launchers and font preferences to make it all your own.
