Introduction

In this guide I will show you 16 recommended things to do after a fresh installation of Ubuntu 16.04 (LTS). We all know that Ubuntu is one of the most popular Linux distribution among all Linux distros and one of my personal favorite. The best advantages of Ubuntu operating system is it’s completely user friendly, Customizable and easily understandable.

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Ubuntu 16.04 LTS workstation version has been proved as a best desktop version operating system and millions of people uses on their personal computers. We normally uses the personal computer for Learning, watching movies, listening music and so many other things. By keep that on mind here I bring 16 recommended things which you suppose to do after a fresh installation of Ubuntu 16.04. So let’s get started.

1. Change your Computer Name

As a first step you should change the name of your computer. Computer name is nothing but a identity of your computer. You can choose any name as your computer name. To change the computer name you have to run a command on terminal which I will show you below.

To check your current Hostname run the below command.

elinuxbook@helpdesk:~$ hostnamectl Static hostname: helpdesk ---> Current Hostname Icon name: computer-vm Chassis: vm Machine ID: 4f9998bc403741bfbc63d3b32aa21448 Boot ID: 81007bbbffc14e7bbba89b5dc1d146a7 Virtualization: vmware Operating System: Ubuntu 16.04.2 LTS Kernel: Linux 4.13.0-32-generic Architecture: x86-64

Now to change the Hostname you have to use the command hostnamectl. Refer the command below.

elinuxbook@helpdesk:~$ hostnamectl set-hostname mylaptop ---> Change Hostname

After execute the above command once reboot the system take effect.

2. Change Wallpaper of Ubuntu 16.04

You can choose any wallpaper for your Desktop. Follow the below step to change the wallpaper.

Right Click on Desktop and click on Change Desktop Background.

Here Select the wallpaper that you want to set as your Desktop Background.

3. Configure Network Settings (IP Address)

This is one of the mandatory setting. If you are getting IP Address automatically from DHCP server then you can leave this as optional but for manual IP configuration You can follow the below step.

Edit the /etc/network/interfaces configuration file and enter below shown lines (Highlighted in Red color)

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces # interfaces(5) file used by ifup(8) and ifdown(8) auto lo iface lo inet loopback auto ens33 iface ens33 inet static address 192.168.1.10 netmask 255.255.255.0 network 192.168.1.0 broadcast 192.168.1.255 gateway 192.168.1.1

Then restart the Networking service using below command to take effect.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ /etc/init.d/networking restart

4. Configure DNS client

Configuring DNS client address is quiet simple in Ubuntu 16.04. To do so you just have to edit the /etc/resolv.conf configuration file. So follow the below step.

Step : 1 Edit the /etc/resolv.conf file using your preferred text editor. Here I am using nano.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ nano /etc/resolv.conf

Step : 2 Then Enter your Name Server IP address provided by Internet Service Provider (ISP). Refer the snapshot below.

5. System Cleaner to keep the system clean (Recommended)

Having a System Cleaner on your system is always a good thing. We uses Internet on our system on daily basis for our work or for entertainment purpose. Internet stores unwanted Temp Internet files, Cookies and so many other things which will unnecessarily use your harddisk space and may make your system slow. To avoid such issue you can use the system cleaner application to clean all of them time to time.

We recommend you to install Bleachbit system cleaner utility. It’s an nice alternative to CCleaner. To install the same follow the below steps.

Step : 1 Click on below button to download the Bleachbit system cleaner utility package from it’s official website.

Click HERE to Download

Step : 2 After downloading the package follow the below command to install the same.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ dpkg -i bleachbit_1.12_all_ubuntu1604.deb

Follow the below Link for step by step installation steps :

6. Install Unity Tweak Tool

Unity Tweak Tool is useful to customize the Theme, Icon, Cursors, Fonts, Launcher and so many other things. Follow the below steps to install Unity Tweak Tool in Ubuntu 16.04.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install unity-tweak-tool

7. Install Theme & Icon for Ubuntu 16.04

You can change the theme of your newly installed Ubuntu operating system and install different themes for your icons to make it more attractive. I recommend your install Numix Theme & Numix Circle Icon theme. To install so follow the below steps.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:numix/ppa elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install numix-icon-theme-circle elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install numix-gtk-theme

For step by step Installation steps refer the below Link :

8. Install Media player for playing Movies & Music (Recommended)

Everyone loves to watch movies & listen music. For that you need a media player which supports all kind of video and audio formats. There are so many media players are available on internet but not all media player supports all formats. I would recommend you to install VLC media player. It’s an popular media player just because it supports all kind of media format. Hence It’s also referred as Universal Player. To install the VLC media player follow the below steps :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install vlc

For Redhat/CentOS :

[root@localhost ~]# yum -y install epel-release [root@localhost ~]# rpm -Uvh http://li.nux.ro/download/nux/dextop/el6/x86_64/nux-dextop-release-0-2.el6.nux.noarch.rpm [root@localhost ~]# yum -y install vlc

9. Install Image Viewer & Editor

Whenever we go for a trip or attends some function, our first priority is taking photos to keep that moment as a memory. To view all captured pics you needs to be install a Photo Viewer or a Photo editor on your system. In this case GIMP is one of the best application among all others. So follow the below steps to install GIMP Photo editor in Ubuntu 16.04

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install gimp

10. Install Social Media Application

Now a days everyone wants to be available on Social Media to stay connected with friends and families, share posts, images and so on. Twitter is one of the most popular and old social media platform and billions of people around the world using it. There is a app called Mikutter is a Twitter client. You can install it on your Ubuntu 16.04 operating system. So to install the same follow the below steps :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install mikutter

11. Install Cloud Storage Application

If you want access your Important data from anywhere and anytime securely the Cloud storage is for you. There are so many cloud storage applications are available on Internet. But we recommend you to install Dropbox. To install the same follow the below steps.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~/myapps$ wget https://linux.dropbox.com/packages/ubuntu/dropbox_2015.10.28_amd64.deb elinuxbook@ubuntu:~/myapps$ sudo apt-get update elinuxbook@ubuntu:~/myapps$ sudo dpkg -i dropbox_2015.10.28_amd64.deb

12. Install Wine for Microsoft Windows applications

This step is optional. But if you are fan of Microsoft Windows supported applications and want to install it on your Ubuntu 16.04 operating system then you have to install that through an application called Wine. Hence follow the below steps to install the same :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ wget https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/Release.key elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-key add Release.key elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-add-repository https://dl.winehq.org/wine-builds/ubuntu/ elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install --install-recommends winehq-stable

For step by step installation you can refer the below Link :

13. Install Java application (Recommended)

Today Java is available everywhere whether it’s website, application or something else. There are 99% of website’s we are surfing daily on Internet uses Java. Java based applications will not work on your system if you have not installed Java plugins and Java client application. So It’s an mandatory part. Hence to install the Java in Ubuntu 16.04 follow the below steps :

helpdesk@ubuntu:~$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/java helpdesk@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update helpdesk@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install oracle-java9-installer

14. Install CD/DVD burning application

To Burn data, Movies and something else you need a CD/DVD burning application to be installed on your system. As we all know that Nero Burning Tool is popular in this case. So follow the below steps to install Nero in Ubuntu 16.04.

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~/myapp$ wget http://ftp14.deu.nero.com/PUB/27a623704f263a21d060af280bfe5679/nerolinux-4.0.0.0b-x86_64.deb elinuxbook@ubuntu:~/myapp$ sudo dpkg -i nerolinux-4.0.0.0b-x86_64.deb

15. Install Skype

Skype is one of the best application and convenient way to Live chat with your friends and families. The installation steps shown below :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ wget https://repo.skype.com/latest/skypeforlinux-64.deb elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get update elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo dpkg -i skypeforlinux-64.deb

16. Install Google Chrome Web Browser (Recommended)

By-Default Ubuntu 16.04 LTS comes with Mozilla Firefox which is a nice browser. But Google Chrome is one of the best browser and you will feel more comfortable in Internet surfing with this application. It’s not a recommended one but you should give it a try. After all it’s an Google product. The installation steps are shown below :

elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get install libnss3-1d libxss1 libgconf2-4 libappindicator1 libindicator7 elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb elinuxbook@ubuntu:~$ sudo apt-get -f install

These are my 16 recommended things to do after installing Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. We are waiting for your feed back on this. If there is some thing you would like to recommend to add on this list send us on comment box below.

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