20 Essential Tips Every Ubuntu User Should Know
20 Essential Tips Every Ubuntu User Should Know
Posted 11/18/2009 at 6:30am
| by Will Kraft
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So you've read our Complete Beginner's Guide to Linux and have decided to adopt an open-source operating system--congratulations! But diving right into a new OS is daunting, even if it is as polished and stable as Ubuntu. That's OK though, because we're here to help. We've compiled a list of the 20 most important skills that every Ubuntu user should have. These tips, ranging from basic GUI manipulation to advanced system recovery, are essential to your Windows-free computing experience. Whether you've just installed Ubuntu for the first time or have been a Linux acolyte for years, you'll want to read our refresher. And if you have any tips you can't live without, we'd love to hear about them in the comments section!
Turn Your Audio Up to 11
The sound dialog menu has been a staple in every version of Ubuntu (and GNOME in general) for many years, but in 9.10 it has received a significant overhaul and no longer resembles a traditional mixer. Previously, the maximum volume of a system was determined by hardware and other factors and could not be easily exceeded on a system-wide level. This was sometimes a problem, since the maximum volume of a system could be well below what the hardware could actually deliver. In 9.10, the volume slider has been modified to boost audio up to roughly 150%, so it is now possible to compensate for any discrepancy. However, you should be careful with this feature—you could potentially damage your speakers if you exceed their limits. (Generally, the volume is too loud if there is distortion.)
Ubuntu 9.10 also features a new ability to choose between several different sound themes for various system events. This feature was present in older versions, but is greatly refined in 9.10.
Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts
Ubuntu offers extensive keyboard shortcut functionality, including support for some of the keys on multimedia keyboards. These are often detected and appropriately bound out of the box, so there is no need to assign them manually. Keyboard shortcuts are managed through the appropriately named entry in the Preferences sub-menu. To create a new keyboard shortcut combination, scroll down to the desired action in the list and click on the existing combination. When the current entry switches to “new shortcut...” press the new key combination you want to use for that action. To cancel the change, left-click on “new shortcut...”.
Control Your System Remotely with Nautilus
Ubuntu features a powerful file manager called Nautilus that is closely integrated into GNOME. This tool allows you to work with local files in an intuitive interface, but it also has remote-connection capabilities comparable to what can be found in an FTP client. In addition to regular FTP access, it provides a graphical interface for SSH-based remote access to other Linux/Unix systems and support for browsing shared folders on Windows systems on the network.
This functionality is accessed through the “Connect to Server” option in Ubuntu's Places menu. The dialog box allows you to select a protocol, location, user name, (and password, if necessary) and port number. Once you have established a connection, the remote server will be accessible through a folder and can be used and unmounted like any type of storage media.
Customize Your UI with Desktop Compositing
If you have a video card (or even an onboard video chipset) you can turn on various desktop effects with a utility called Compiz Fusion. (We covered Compiz Fusion in depth in a previous article.) Although it is possible to fine-tune the performance of these desktop effects with Compiz-Config Settings Manager (CCSM), Ubuntu also features a built-in interface with several preset functions. This is located on a tab called Visual effects in the Appearance dialog (reached through the Preferences sub-menu under System). There are three preset options: none, normal (a moderate level of effects), and Extra (massive levels of eye candy). If you use CCSM instead, none of the presets will be selected.
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Philips
November 09, 2011 at 8:46pm
This operating system is dynamic. Thank you for the details about it. It is terrific and with this post, I shall be more acquainted about it.
Philips
September 27, 2011 at 1:39pm
Ubuntu is an awesome application. The tips provided here are awesome. Many appreciates the post for sure.
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balaknair
December 08, 2009 at 11:55am
"(To view it again, run the “encryptfs-unwrap-passphrase” command.)"
The command should be
ecryptfs-unwrap-passphrase
arkarkwin
November 27, 2009 at 6:26am
Ubuntu Rocks and it makes my dream come true. I norally would go with dual booting or compeletly run Linux in Vista based machine but after getting myself a window 7 laptop and an upgrade for my Desktop, I just couldn't let window 7 go I don't want to dual boot on my Laptop because HP already partition 4 drives in single Hard Disk, but with Wubi, I don't have to. Good article, thanks you.
shamus53
November 23, 2009 at 1:00pm
The web is useless without flash. For instance the addictive game at http://gumbota33.mybrute.com is entirely flash based (though coded in open source HaXe). Installing the flash plugin for firefox should be on any list like this.
tweeve
November 17, 2009 at 10:11pm
there are some risks with installing with wubi. While it wont mess up your windows partiton. If something happans to the ntfs partiton or a bad windows crash I have seen it currupt the wubi partiton and completey mess up the ubuntu install. I lost 3 weeks of programing homework that way.
Ratso
November 17, 2009 at 9:56pm
Very good article! Often I read articles with titles like this and don't learn anything new, but your article was informative. A couple of other things that I found helpful were:
-- Accessing different terminals to shut down programs that have frozen (this happens sometimes with Firefox and some games to me). Use Alt Ctrl and any function key F1 through F7 (F7 being the default xwindows terminal). I log in and then use the "top" command from the command line to find the pid (process id number) of the frozen or run away application. After finding the number, type "kill -kill 2145" (where 2145 is an example pid). Then go back to terminal 7 with "Alt Ctrl F7" to find the troublesome application gone. This is sort of like using the task manager in MS Windows to kill an application or process.
-- VirtualBox. I can now run Windows XP (or any other version) from Ubuntu if there is some Microsoft App that I can't live without but I still want to have Ubuntu. I sometimes double check stuff I've saved in MS format in OpenOffice in a wordviewer on an XP virtual machine on VirtualBox. If you take snapshots after you update your XP virtual machine and you then get a virus, it takes one minute to restore your XP virtual machine, as opposed to hours to restore a normal (non virtual machine) XP install that is badly corrupted.
dirtvoyles
November 17, 2009 at 9:05pm
I get to be 'that guy'. I would have emailed this, but couldn't find an easy link.
On page three, I believe it should be 'ecryptfs-unwrap-passphrase' instead of 'encyrptfs-unwrap-passphrase'.
At least on Kubuntu that's what I use.
savage4naves
November 17, 2009 at 5:22pm
just installed ubuntu x64 on my pc via VMware...can't wait to use this linux guide!
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