Hands on: Making Ubuntu even easier

How to use the automated options in Ubuntu, and a quick look at Kubuntu

In this article, we expand on a previous article that examined the update of a fresh Ubuntu Dapper Drake installation to make it more desktop and multimedia-friendly, by looking at the automated options.

In addition, we take a closer look at Ubuntu’s KDE offspring, Kubuntu.

Adding extra packages yourself is good for getting your hands dirty and learning more about the operating system, but it’s not suitable or desirable for everyone.

Unfortunately, the standard installation, while entirely usable, does mean extra work for most of us, largely due to proprietary licences and US software patents.

System builders could do this work for you on a pre-installed system, but most people will be installing Ubuntu themselves from CD.

To help with this post-install configuration, two projects can automate the procedure.

It’s important to understand that neither of these is supported by Ubuntu, and they are provided entirely as third-party utilities.

Easy Ubuntu
Easy Ubuntu is the simplest of the two options. It provides a friendly tabbed GUI, where you can tick whatever you want and let the utility do the rest.

Easy Ubuntu will install the multimedia codecs (including those of Windows), add DVD playback support, install binary Nvidia or ATI graphics drivers and add Flash and Java plug-ins for Mozilla Firefox.

Click on the Easy Ubuntu link above for a full list of features. Download and install the software by following the instructions on the website.

Easy Ubuntu is a good way to set up some of the most commonly required add-ons without much impact to the overall operating system.

Its simple, user-friendly GUI makes it attractive to those who want to set up things quickly and not worry about the details.

Automatix
Automatix is a script-based utility that offers more options than Easy Ubuntu, but has a less friendly GUI front end.

Capabilities include those offered by Easy Ubuntu, as well as including many third-party applications, such as Acrobat Reader, Frostwire (a Limewire clone), Azureus Bittorrent client, Google Earth and VLC.

Automatix can be installed by adding a new repository, which will keep the script version up to date through the normal update procedure.

Click on the Automatix link above and read the website before installing, as details and features change almost daily.

With many more capabilities, the impact on the system is much greater, and for that reason might be suitable to more experienced Ubuntu users.

These two options are ideal for many, but may cause problems with later upgrades. It is possibly best to do the tasks manually.

Kubuntu
Ubuntu comes in another official version with KDE as the desktop instead of Gnome.

The packages are all from the same repositories: imagine a vast pool of software where one selection of packages creates Ubuntu and another Kubuntu.

Because of this, it is possible to install KDE onto Ubuntu without any difficulty.

In fact, it may be easier for beginners to install Ubuntu, and then install the KDE desktop afterwards.

A convenient meta-package is provided that will download and install all the applications found on a standard Kubuntu installation with one simple command.

To do this, open a terminal window and at the prompt run:
$ sudo apt-get installkubuntu-desktop

This command will produce a long list of packages and a request for confirmation.

The only non-automated part of the process is to decide whether to use the Gnome login manager (gdm) or KDE’s (kdm), where a request box appears asking you to choose.

The main advantages of installing KDE this way is that you benefit from the m ore polished and user-friendly applications found in Ubuntu.

It’s much easier, for example, to add the Universe and Multiverse repositories from Ubuntu than Kubuntu, and Synaptic (the Ubuntu software manager) is much friendlier than Kubuntu’s Adept.

The downside is that you will have two full desktops installed (which can be a good or bad thing, depending on your usage), and having more applications leads to cluttered menus.

Installing Kubuntu from CD is just as easy as Ubuntu. Just download the appropriate CD image. The desktop CD offers a GUI-based install program, just like Ubuntu.

Post installation
A similar set of tasks apply to Kubuntu as with Ubuntu. If you have followed the steps recommended in a previous article on Ubuntu – mentioned above – and have installed Kubuntu on top with apt-get, nothing more needs to be done.

A fresh Kubuntu installation will need the steps done in a slightly different way.

The first thing to do is add the Universe and Multiverse repositories. Unless you specifically know you don’t need these, always perform this step on any Ubuntu setup.

Ubuntu automates the addition of these repositories if you choose to install any application (such as the Xine Codecs) with the Add/Remove Applications utility.

Kubuntu’s version of the application unfortunately does not.

It is possible to edit the /etc/apt/sources .list file through Adept or directly with any editor, and add ‘universe multiverse’ to any uncommented line. To do this run at a command promt:
$ sudo kwrite
/etc/apt/sources.list

A better option, however, is to create new entries in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/ for each of the repositories.

This takes a little longer but makes it much clearer which repositories are in use, and is the way Ubuntu handles the automated addition as described above.

To add the repositories this way, run at the command line:
$ sudo kwrite
/etc/apt/sources.list.d/dapper-universe.list

Add in the text shown at the end of this article – Code to create repositories – click save and exit. Repeat for dapper-universe.list and dapper-commercial.list.

The Commercial repository adds in some third-party commercial applications, such as the Opera web browser and Realplayer.

When the repository lists are changed, update the information in the usual way:
$ sudo apt-get update

KDE and Amarok updates
Kubuntu comes with KDE 3.5.2 and Amarok 1.3.

The Dapper release came too late to include the latest KDE 3.5.3 version or the improved Amarok 1.4 series.

The good news is that the Kubuntu project provides semi-official updates for both of these, and installing them involves adding a couple of new repositories.

I’d recommend installing the Amarok update, as support for Apple iPods and other mp3 players is better.

KDE 3.5.3 provides little in the way of extra features compared with 3.5.2, but does include many bug fixes and some performance enhancements. You can install both.

Check the Kubuntu website for instructions on how to add the repositories, either directly to /etc/apt/sources.list or as new files in /etc/apt/sources.list.d/. Both Easy Ubuntu and Automatix work on Kubuntu too.

Code to create repositories
Add the lines beginning ‘deb’ below to each of the files described.

For the file dapper-universe.list only:
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper universedeb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security universedeb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates universe

For the file dapper-multiverse.list only:
deb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper multiversedeb http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu dapper-security multiversedeb http://gb.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu/ dapper-updates multiverse

For the file dapper-commercial.list only:
deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu dapper-commercial main

Amarok 1.4:
deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/amarok-latest dapper main

KDE 3.5.3:
deb http://kubuntu.org/packages/kde-latest dapper main

Edgy Eft update
Dapper Drake was delayed in release, originally planned for April and coming out in June, thus taking its version number from 6.04 to 6.06.

The next version, Edgy Eft, was expected to appear in December, following the usual six-month release cycle.

However, with the Gnome project’s six-month cycle, the decision was made to bring forward Edgy’s release to be in line with Gnome’s, resulting in a much quicker October release.

Edgy’s version will therefore be 6.10, with the planned final release date of 26 October 2006 and the first beta on 28 September.

With only a four-month turnaround, Edgy won’t be quite as cutting-edge as originally planned. The timescale is too tight for significant changes.

However, major software updates will be provided, still making it an exciting release.

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