- Installation Type
- Erase disk and install
- Advanced > use LVM
- Erase disk and install
# get list of new/upgradeable packages
sudo apt update
# search for package
sudo apt search cairo-dock
# install
sudo apt install cairo-dock
# remove package
sudo apt remove cairo-dock
# remove packages matching pattern
sudo apt remove 'cairo-dock*'- Install GPU driver (restart)
- Install language packs
- Edit > Software Sources
- Official Repositories (click on URLs to scan for new sources)
Select OK, after you've changed your mirrors, and it'll update data.
Mirrors Main (una): http://mintmirror.math.washington.edu/linuxmint-repo Base (focal): http://mirror.uoregon.edu/ubunut/
- PPA: Add, Edit, or Remove them here
- Additional Repositories: Add, Edit, or Remove them here
- New version of Update Manager may install
- Review the list of updates, and Install Updates
Right-click > Customize
- Use the sliders on the bottom and side to change how icons are spaced. I usually reset both to zero, and do one tick over for the bottom, and two for the right slider.
Default font: Ubuntu Regular 12
Desktop font: Ubuntu Bold 12
Document font: Sans Regular 12
Monospace font: Monospace Regular 12
Window title font: Ubuntu Medium 12
Text scaling factor: 1.2
Themes
Window borders: Mint-Y
Icons: Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua
Controls: Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua
Mouse Pointer: DMZ-White
Desktop: Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua
- Set Picture
- Change Name
Activate
- User Applet
- Panel Launchers
- Workspace switcher
Type of display: Simple buttons Scroll wheel behavior: Disabled
Download and activate
- QRedshift
- Num Lock/Caps Lock indicator with notifications
- CinnVIIStarkMenu
- Menu
Menu layout: MATE-Menu (check) Show bookmarks and places - Panel
(check) Use a custom icon and label Icon: linuxmint-logo-simple-symbolic Text: Menu (check) Use menu animations - Sidebar
Quit buttons layout: Horizontal (check) Separator below user acount info box - Web Search
(un-check) all items
- Menu
Enable top left: Show the desktop
Alt-Tab
Alt-Tab switcher style: Coverflow (3D)
Toggle to disable
Manage partition sizes, and what disks are mounted
Shortcuts (where you set up custom key commands)
Touchpad
Click actions: Use multiple fingers for right and middle click
(uncheck) Reverse scrolling direction
(check) Horizontal scrolling
Custom Acceleration: Roughly 65%
Power
Turn off the screen when inactive for: 15 minutes
Sounds (set effect sounds and volume)
Applications (if an App isn't sending/reciving audio, check in here)
List or upload system specs
Choose what GPU driver to use
Appearance
Icon theme: Mint-Y-Dark-Aqua
Users
(check) Allow guest sessions
Users (add, edit, delete)
Picture: set to custom image
Name: change display name (doesn't change actual username)
(check) Use a custom date format: %b. %e 【%a.】【%l: %M %p】
Preferences
- Views
View new folders using: List View (uncheck) Sort favorites before other files Default Zoom Level: (change all to) 66% Tree View Defaults: (uncheck) Show only folders - Behavior
(check) Click on a file's name twice to rename it (check) Automatically close the device's tab, pane, or window when a divice is unmounted or ejected - Display
(check) Show advanced permissions in the file property dialog - Toolbar
(check) Refresh (check) Open in Terminal (check) New folder (check) Show Thumbnails - Context Menus
# Selection (check) Make Link (check) Copy to (check) Move to
Preferences
- Views
(check) Allow folder to be expanded - Behavior
(check) Show actoin to create symbolic links Executable Text Files: Ask what to do
echo "${USER} ALL = NOPASSWD: ALL" | (sudo EDITOR='tee -a' visudo)Via Software Manager (or apt install)
aegisub # subtitle editor
backintime-qt # backup/snapshot system
cairo-dock # dock
cairo-dock-gnome-integration-plug-in # needed for things like the trash
chromium # browser
flameshot # screenshots
git # version control
grub-customizer # easily change and compile grub config
handbrake # GUI for ffmpeg video transcoding
inkscape # vector drawing
kid3-qt # audio tag editor
meld # diff gui
mkvtoolnix-gui # GUI for 'mkvmerge', 'mkvinfo', and 'mkvpropedit'
obs-studio (non-flatpak) # record video/audio streams
okular # document viewers (PDFs and other)
peek # capture specific parts of screen, and can output '.apng', '.gif', '.mp4', and '.webm'
plasma-sdk # mainly for Cuttlefish (an icon viewer)
sddm # different GDM than default lightdm
sddm-theme-breeze # clean centered theme with avatar
soundconverter # convert audio files
tilix # terminal
ttf-mscorefonts-installer # Microsoft fonts
vlc # multimedia player
wireshark # (meta-package) network traffic sniffer
xclip # copy from CLI to clipboard
xserver-xorg-input-synaptics # enables smooth/inertial/kinetic scroll (requires reboot)
zsh # shell
## Optional ##############################################
figlet # generate text banners for CLI
lolcat # add rainbow colors to text in CLI
- If you want to install extra fonts for
figlet, go to http://www.jave.de/figlet/fonts/overview.html, and download the fonts you want to use. Then use the-d(directory), and-f(font) flags to specify where your custom font files are, and which font to render with.
Via Flatpak (search for packages with flatpak search <PACKAGE>, like flatpak search org.gimp.GIMP.Plugin)
| Software | Package | Description |
|---|---|---|
| GIMP | org.gimp.GIMP |
Image editor |
| G'MIC | org.gimp.GIMP.Plugin.GMic |
A large set of filters |
| Kdenlive | org.kde.kdenlive |
Video editor |
| LiquidRescale | org.gimp.GIMP.Plugin.LiquidRescale |
Scale an image, but don't scale selected items |
| Resynthesizer | org.gimp.GIMP.Plugin.Resynthesizer |
Content-aware removal of selected items |
Via .deb files
Via .appimage files (after download, make executable, and run)
| Software | Download URL |
|---|---|
| Krita | https://download.kde.org/stable/krita/5.0.2/krita-5.0.2-x86_64.appimage |
Via .zip files
| Software | Download URL |
|---|---|
| btop | https://github.com/aristocratos/btop/releases |
| godot | https://godotengine.org/download/linux |
| jmkvpropedit | https://github.com/BrunoReX/jmkvpropedit/releases (btop-x86_64-linux-musl.tbz |
| ) |
Via CLI
#######
# bat #
#######
sudo apt install bat
sudo ln -s $(which batcat) /usr/bin/bat
##########
# docker #
##########
sudo apt update
sudo apt install apt-transport-https ca-certificates curl gnupg lsb-release
curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu focal stable"
sudo apt update
apt-cache policy docker-ce
sudo apt install docker-ce
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
# verify install
systemctl is-enabled docker
systemctl status docker
##################
# docker-compose #
##################
curl -s https://api.github.com/repos/docker/compose/releases/latest | grep browser_download_url | grep docker-compose-linux-x86_64 | cut -d '"' -f 4 | wget -qi -
chmod +x docker-compose-linux-x86_64
sudo mv docker-compose-linux-x86_64 /usr/local/bin/docker-compose
##########
# lutris #
##########
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:lutris-team/lutris
sudo apt update
sudo apt install lutris
######################
# 'n' NodeJS manager #
######################
# https://github.com/tj/n#third-party-installers
curl -L https://git.io/n-install | bash
########
# qemu #
########
sudo apt install qemu-kvm libvirt-daemon-system libvirt-clients bridge-utils virt-manager
sudo adduser $USER libvirt && sudo adduser $USER kvm && sudo adduser $USER libvirt-qemu
#########
# Unity #
#########
# add repo
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb https://hub.unity3d.com/linux/repos/deb stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/unityhub.list'
# add signing key
wget -qO - https://hub.unity3d.com/linux/keys/public | sudo apt-key add -
# install
sudo apt update && sudo apt install unityhub- Open
Grub Customizer - Go to General Settings
- Boot default entry after:
1 second
- Boot default entry after:
- Once you're done making changes, click the
Savebutton
There's a known issue where the timeout doesn't always work and defaults to 30s no matter what. To fix that run
sudo sed -i "/recordfail_broken=/{s/1/0/}" /etc/grub.d/00_header
sudo update-grub- Once installed, switch to it with
sudo dpkg-reconfigure sddmand choosesddm - Themes are located in
/usr/share/sddm/themes/.- You can test the theme via
sddm-greeter --test-mode --theme /usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze. If there are errors, pick a different theme.
- You can test the theme via
- Print current config
sddm --example-config - To change a theme
sudo mkdir -p /usr/lib/sddm/sddm.conf.d sudo vim /usr/lib/sddm/sddm.conf.d/10-custom.conf
[General] Numlock=on [Theme] Current=breeze - The backgrounds for a theme are set in
/usr/share/sddm/themes/<THEME>/theme.confon thebackground=line.- Generally themes point to the global wallpapers so an image can be displayed for any user. Those wallpapers are in
/usr/share/wallpapers. - To more easily view all wallpapers I open that directory with a file mananger, and do a search for
screenshot.jpg, then I can just browse through the results, and find the path for the wallpaper I want. Below are some of the wallpapers I currently like./usr/share/wallpapers/Floral Ulyssa/contents/images/5184x3456.jpg /usr/share/wallpapers/Georgia Uma/contents/images/4288x2848.jpg /usr/share/wallpapers/Pearl Una/contents/images/5472x3078.jpg /usr/share/wallpapers/Winter Ball Una/contents/images/3394x2587.jpg - Once you have a wallpaper you like, just update the
theme.conf'sbackgroundline, and you'll see the new image after a reboot. Note that you'll see your User wallpaper on the lock screen. An example of my Breeze theme config is:
Since the[General] showlogo=hidden logo=/usr/share/sddm/themes/breeze/default-logo.svg type=image color=#1d99f3 fontSize=10 background=/usr/share/wallpapers/Pearl Una/contents/images/5472x3078.jpg needsFullUserModel=falsetheme.conffile appears to be generated, when the theme is updated (via install) your custom changes may be wiped out.
- Generally themes point to the global wallpapers so an image can be displayed for any user. Those wallpapers are in
I was using notepadqq but it suddenly started taking a very long time to open.
Xed comes default with Mint, but it requires a little customization.
- Download theme styles from https://github.com/trusktr/gedit-color-schemes
- There are a few places where styles could possibly go. Run
ls -la /usr/share/gtksourceview-*/styles, and take note of the folders that have astyles.rngfile. For each one of those folders, you'll need to create a.localversion where you'll dump the custom styles.# currently these folders match the above criteria mkdir -p .local/share/gtksourceview-3.0/styles mkdir -p .local/share/gtksourceview-4/styles - Now you can copy the contents of the repo's
gtksourceview-3.0/stylesfolder over to the new folders.
- There are a few places where styles could possibly go. Run
- Open a file with
Xed(Text Editor)- Go to Edit > Preferences
- Editor
(check) Display line numbers (check) Display overview map (check) Display right margin (set to 80) (check) Highlight the current line (check) Highlight matching brackets Tab width: 2 (check) Automatic indentation (un-check) Allow mouse wheel scrolling to change tabs - Theme: Twilight
- Editor
- Go to Edit > Preferences
sudo tar xf ~/Downloads/btop.tbz -C /usr/local bin/btopTo have it start on boot
CTRL+SPACE,start, chooseStartup Applications- Add > Choose Applications > pick Cairo-Dock
In order to add launchers for Flatpak items:
- Find the App under
/var/lib/flatpak/<APP> - Looks like Flatpak creates symlinks of the current version (which is a folder named with a long hash). An example path for a launcher would be
org.gimp.GIMP/current/active/export/share/applications/<LAUNCHER> - The icon will likely be a question mark so there are a couple options to correct that:
- Use a system icon (use Cuttlefish to find the name)
gimp - Use a hardcoded path
/var/lib/flatpak/app/org.gimp.GIMP/current/active/export/share/icons/hicolor/256x256/apps/org.gimp.GIMP.png
- Use a system icon (use Cuttlefish to find the name)
Some apps, like system binaries may not have an icon either, so I created a folder in ~/Pictures/app-icons to house custom icons.
- Cuttlefish: (use 240x240) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Breezeicons-apps-48-cuttlefish.svg
To fully install the downloaded version
- Extract the zipped folder
- Then move everything over
mkdir -p ~/Software/Blender mv ~/Downloads/blender-3.0.1-linux-x64 ~/Software/Blender/v3.0.1
- Update the
ExecandIconentries in~/Software/Blender/v3.0.1/blender.desktop-Exec=blender %f -Icon=blender +Exec=/home/<USER>/Software/Blender/v3.0.1/blender %f +Icon=/home/<USER>/Software/Blender/v3.0.1/blender.svg
- Make files searchable/runnable
sudo ln -s ~/Software/Blender/v3.0.1/blender.desktop /usr/share/applications/ sudo ln -s ~/Software/Blender/v3.0.1/blender /usr/local/bin/
- Extract the binary into
~/bin/godot/<VERSION>/- Rename the binary to
godot
- Rename the binary to
- Run
touch ~/.local/share/applications/godot.desktop && chmod +x ~/.local/share/applications/godot.desktop- Add this (change
<USER>to your username)[Desktop Entry] Type=Application Name=Godot GenericName=Game Editor Comment=Game editor Icon=godot Exec=/home/<USER>/bin/godot/v3.4.4/godot %U Terminal=false StartupNotify=false Path=/home/<USER>/bin/godot/v3.4.4
- Add this (change
Preferences
- General
Theme: Side Doish (check) Startup on login Activate: <ALT>space
Install oh-my-zsh, plugins, and my custom theme
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://gist.githubusercontent.com/the0neWhoKnocks/364277866665192a088f8356bf8472fd/raw/set-up-zsh.sh)"Once the install is done
- Update your terminal's font to use the newly installed
Fantasque - Update the color scheme to the one in
~/.oh-my-zsh/custom/themes/zsh-theme-boom/colors.sh. Normally just sourcing that file should work, but some terminals will override with their own colors.
Preferences
- Global
(check) Save and restore window state (check) Automatically copy text to clipboard when selecting - Appearance
Theme variant: Dark - Shortcuts
[Terminal] Paste: Ctrl+V - Profiles > Default
- General
(check) Custom font: FantasqueSansMono NF Regular 16 - Color
(updated colors to match my zsh theme) (uncheck) Use theme colors for foreground/background Unfocused dim: 50%
- General
Get rid of start error
sudo ln -s /etc/profile.d/vte-2.91.sh /etc/profile.d/vte.sh- Download the
zipfile - Extract it to
~/Software/jmkvpropedit - Run
chmod +x ~/Software/jmkvpropedit/JMkvpropedit.jar - You'll have to create a custom Launcher so you can more easily run it.
- In cairo-dock
- Create a custom launcher
Launcher's name: JMKVPropEdit Image's name or path: mkv-gui Command to launch on click: java -jar ~/Software/jmkvpropedit/JMkvpropedit.jar
- Create a custom launcher
- In cairo-dock
- If the files are on a Network, they need to be writeable by anyone.
- After the initial install, a reboot may be required to run
virshcommands withoutsudo. - Verify things are running correctly with
# list VMs - should be empty virsh -c qemu:///system list # make sure virtualization daemon is running systemctl status libvirtd.service - Start up virt-manager. If you run your quick launcher and type
virt, an entry forVirtual Machine Managershould come up. Run it.- Go to
Edit > Preferences[General] [X] Enable system tray icon
- Go to
There was a noticeable boot time (like 30s everytime it was opened). Came across this post which led me to this post that outlines this fix.
- Run this code
sudo apt install qt5-style-kvantum qt5-style-kvantum-themes sudo sh -c "echo 'export QT_STYLE_OVERRIDE=kvantum' >> /etc/environment" - Log out and back in again. Now it should open within a second.
To make things easier to work with since I'm used to Photoshop, I installed PhotoGIMP.
- Download from https://github.com/Diolinux/PhotoGIMP/archive/refs/tags/1.0.zip
- Make sure that GIMP has run at least once, and currently isn't running.
- Open up
~/.config/GIMP - Rename the folder
2.10to2.10.bak - When you open the
.zipfile, there's some extranious stuff in there that doesn't matter. Here's the only folder I neededPhotoGIMP-1.0/.var/app/ort.gimp.GIMP/config/GIMP/2.10. Just extract the2.10folder next to the2.10.bakfolder. - Run GIMP and you should have a Photoshop-esque env.
Plugins:
- G'MIC: Had to install the
gimp-gmicpackage since installing from the repo failed with Python errors.
I couldn't find a built-in way of batch processing files, but either Linux or one of my tools installs ImageMagick so I can run something like this
###
# mogrify edits files in place
###
# convert all 'png' files in the current folder to a 'jpg'
mogrify -format jpg ./*.png
# resize png to either 1000 width or 562 height
mogrify -resize 1000x562 thumb.png
###
# convert allows for creating a uniquely named file
###
# resize png to exact width and height, and convert to a jpg (changing the output extension forces use of jpg encoder)
convert "thumb.png" -resize 1000x562! "thumb.jpg"To fix error on start of sniffing
sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/dumpcapI prefer to save my passwords locally only, and noticed that I wasn't able to Edit/Delete them anymore when going to chrome://settings/passwords. Turns out it's a known common issue, and the fix is this:
- Go to chrome://flags/#skip-undecryptable-passwords
- Change the
skip-undecryptable-passwordstoEnabled, and restart Chrome
This isn't something I use often, more for random development. Adding installation notes that I stumbled through.
- This is what's suggested on the Kodi site
but this installs an older version, not the current version of 19
sudo apt install software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:team-xbmc/ppa sudo apt install kodi
- Direct downloads of .deb files from source:
- https://launchpad.net/~team-xbmc/+archive/ubuntu/ppa/+packages?field.name_filter=kodi&field.status_filter=superseded&field.series_filter= (Bionic is LTS)
- https://launchpad.net/~team-xbmc/+archive/ubuntu/xbmc-nightly/+packages?field.name_filter=&field.status_filter=superseded&field.series_filter= (Jammy is LTS)
- Also didn't work because 19 wasn't published, but 20 was... but I wanted 19 to test on.
- Ended up having to find an alternative .deb download site since launchpad.net didn't have any deb's for Kodi 19. Found https://pkgs.org/download/kodi, and it looks like Mint versions match up to Ubuntu versions. I'm running Mint 20, so I downloaded the deb for Ubuntu 20 (Focal).
- clicked the link https://ubuntu.pkgs.org/20.04/kodi-amd64/kodi_19.4+git20220304.1555-e12e66e019-0~focal_all.deb.html
- Scrolled down to the
Binary Packagesection, copied and pasted the URL which started the download - Once downloaded I ran the below while I was in the Downloads dir
sudo dpkg -i kodi_19.4+git20220304.1555-e12e66e019-0_focal_all.deb # fix missing deps sudo dpkg --configure -a # correct deps and configure packages sudo apt-get -f install # finish install sudo dpkg -i kodi_19.4+git20220304.1555-e12e66e019-0_focal_all.deb
- If the need arise, you can uninstall with
sudo apt remove 'kodi*'
- Log in to your Epic account and go to Account > Connections
- Connect GitHub
- Select the Publishing EULA
- Go to https://github.com/EpicGames/UnrealEngine, you may have to Accept Invitation (notice banner at top of page) in order to see the UnrealEngine repo.
- While on the
releasebranch, choose Code > Download ZIP. I add the latest version number at the end of the zip name so I know what I'm running. - Extract the zip's contents to
~/Software/Unreal Engine/<VERSION>
- While on the
- Build
cd ~/Software/Unreal Engine/<VERSION> # bootstrap ./Setup.sh # set up project files ./GenerateProjectFiles.sh # build the binary make
- Run
~/Software/Unreal Engine/<VERSION>/Engine/Binaries/Linux/UE4Editor
- Troubleshooting
- May need to run this stuff https://unrealcommunity.wiki/building-on-linux-qr8t0si2
sudo apt install git build-essential clang-3.8 libglew-dev libcheese8 libcheese-gtk25 libclutter-gst-3.0-0 libcogl20 libclutter-gtk-1.0-0 libclutter-1.0-0 xserver-xorg-input-all # Now that Clang is installed; Mint users should also make a Symlink for clang & clang++: sudo ln -s /usr/bin/clang-3.8 /usr/bin/clang sudo ln -s /usr/bin/clang++-3.8 /usr/bin/clang++
- May need to run this stuff https://unrealcommunity.wiki/building-on-linux-qr8t0si2
Open up the default file manager
- File > Connecto to Server...
Server: <IP> Type: Windows share Folder: /<PATH> Domain name: <WORKGROUP> (or the group you have set up on your network) User name: <USERNAME> Password: <PASSWORD> - Once mounted, you can create a Bookmark of the mount, so after a reboot, you can quickly re-mount a location
The CA trust store is generated by update-ca-certificates and is available at the following locations:
# As a single file (PEM bundle)
/etc/ssl/certs/ca-certificates.crt
# As an OpenSSL compatible certificate directory
/etc/ssl/certsAdd a cert
sudo apt-get install -y ca-certificates
sudo cp <CERT_NAME>.crt /usr/local/share/ca-certificates
sudo update-ca-certificatesTroubleshooting
- In some cases, changes don't take effect right away and a restart may be required.
- In some cases a restart doesn't work, for example Browsers sometimes have their own certificate area where you have to manually add a cert. For example, in Chrome you can go to Settings > search for
cert> click Security > click Manage Certificates > go to Authorities and add your cert.
- Paths
~/.config/chromium ~/.config/google-chrome - Profiles: If you're logged in, it'll be in a
Profile <#>folder. If you don't log in, it'll be in theDefaultfolder. - In order to restore the profile, you'll want to back up the
Local Statefile. It's a JSON file with some current profile info in it.
Paths
~/.config/gtk-3.0/bookmarks
~/.config/nemo
~/.local/share/nemo
Path
~/.local/share/keyrings
There's an Import option in the Passwords & Keys dialog. If that doesn't work, copying over the backed up files should work after a logout/login, or reboot.
Some changes may require rebooting Cinnamon. You do that with CTRL+ALT+ESC.
It stops working when I switch to the Nvidia driver. I ended up having to download an Applet which actually gives me control over color temp (blue light filter) and brightness. I tried a bunch of things, but qredshift was the only thing that worked.
There are a couple ways to install it:
- You can download it from https://cinnamon-spices.linuxmint.com/applets/view/313, and follow the install instructions
- Or, right-click the bottom bar > Applets > Download > Search for
Qredshift, and install it.
Just enable it, and set Day Settings to
Temperature: 4500
Brightness: 70
If you want to reset a setting, just right-click a slider in the applet
sudo dmidecode --type bios
# all system info
sudo dmidecode | lessFiles are located at
/etc/localtime (timezone data)
/etc/timezone (plain text)
Use file to get file info. Helpful in determining if a file can be read as text or binary.
> file --mime /usr/share/zoneinfo/America/Los_Angeles | grep -oE ': (.*)'
# : application/octet-stream; charset=binary
> file --mime ~/.zshrc | grep -oE ': (.*)'
# : text/plain; charset=us-ascii