How to: Tips and Tricks

Simple Ubuntu install script

To customise and set Ubuntu's clean installation, add some programs You can create simple script which can do for example:

  • add favorite repositories and PPA
  • uninstall unnecessary software
  • install new programs
  • add network drives in fstab
  • run the VPN client
  • attach drives from fstab
  • do a few fix (umountcifs problem, turn off pc speaker and welcome sound)

Edit this script

Download and extract umountcifs script to your home directory. Then create a blank file and name it eg. ubuntu-install and edit it in your favorite editor.

touch ubuntu-install && gedit ubuntu-install

Or simply download ubuntu-install, extract it and open in editor.

Paste this code into it and edit it.

#!/bin/sh
# update & upgrade #
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
# add custom sources and PPA's #
sudo sh -c "echo '## PPA ###' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"
# ubuntuzilla
sudo apt-key adv --recv-keys --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com C1289A29
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://downloads.sourceforge.net/project/ubuntuzilla/mozilla/apt all main #Ubuntuzilla' >>/etc/apt/sources.list"
# vlc
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:c-korn/vlc
# getdeb
wget -q -O- http://archive.getdeb.net/getdeb-archive.key | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c "echo 'deb http://archive.getdeb.net/ubuntu karmic-getdeb apps #getdeb' >> /etc/apt/sources.list"
# medibuntu
echo deb http://packages.medibuntu.org/ karmic free non-free | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list
wget -q http://packages.medibuntu.org/medibuntu-key.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -
# update & upgrade #
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
# REMOVE some unneeded apps #
sudo apt-get remove gnome-games gnome-games-common empathy
# INSTALL new apps #
sudo apt-get install smbfs nautilus-open-terminal vim mc openvpn geany smplayer minitube firefox-mozilla-build thunderbird-mozilla-build ubuntu-restricted-extras
# INSTALL deb files from directory #
sudo dpkg -i /home/yourname/directory/with/deb/files/*.deb
# make some directories needed by fstab #
sudo mkdir /media/remotemachine
sudo mkdir /media/ntfs
# create samba credential files #
sudo touch /etc/samba/cred
sudo sh -c "echo 'username=yourusername' >> /etc/samba/cred"
sudo sh -c "echo 'password=yourpassword' >> /etc/samba/cred"
sudo chmod 0600 /etc/samba/cred
# add new hosts #
sudo sh -c "echo '192.168.0.105 remotemachinename' >> /etc/hosts"
# add drives to fstab #
sudo sh -c "echo 'UUID=791957C576AE1E67 /media/ntfs ntfs umask=000,utf8 0 0' >> /etc/fstab"
sudo sh -c "echo '//remoteIP/remote-dir /media/remotemachine cifs credentials=/etc/samba/cred,noperm,uid=1000,gid=1000 0 0' >> /etc/fstab"
# fixing umountcifs problem in Ubuntu on restart and shutdown #
sudo cp /home/yourusername/path/to/the/script/umountcifs /etc/init.d/
sudo update-rc.d umountcifs stop 02 0 6
sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/umountcifs /etc/rc0.d/K01umountcifs
sudo ln -s /etc/init.d/umountcifs /etc/rc6.d/K01umountcifs
# copy OpenVPN certificates to /etc/openvpn #
sudo cp /home/yourusername/.install/vpn/* /etc/openvpn
sudo /etc/init.d/openvpn restart
# time needed to connect to the VPN server (30s with reserve) and mounting drives #
sleep 30 && sudo mount -a
# turn off pc speaker beeping #
echo "blacklist pcspkr" | sudo tee -a /etc/modprobe.d/blacklist
# turn off welcome sound #
sudo -u gdm gconftool-2 --set /desktop/gnome/sound/event_sounds --type bool false
# enabling cpufreq-applet CPU frequency scaling #
sudo chmod u+s /usr/bin/cpufreq-selector

Save the script and give it execute permission

chmod +x ubuntu-install

How to run this script?

Do not run it as sudo, because not every command in the script requires root privileges. Just type in terminal

./ubuntu-install

As you can see, it's not complicated. This method is not perfect, but enough to start. Sometime in the future, we will show even more sophisticated ways.

Download files

ubuntu-install.tar.gz
umountcifs.tar.gz