Ubuntu 14.04LTS

[spirit]

I've downloaded and installed it in VMware with 4GB of RAM and 4 i5 2500K cores. Runs really nice and I like Cairo Dock a lot! Tempted to install it on my Athlon 64 X2 box and dual boot with Windows 7 Ultimate.

Probably going to keep Windows 8.1 Enterprise on my desktop but when I buy my ThinkPad I may dual boot with Ubuntu. Not sure. But I'll keep it in VMware on my desktop for sure.

 

[DMGrier]

I've downloaded and installed it in VMware with 4GB of RAM and 4 i5 2500K cores. Runs really nice and I like Cairo Dock a lot! Tempted to install it on my Athlon 64 X2 box and dual boot with Windows 7 Ultimate.

Probably going to keep Windows 8.1 Enterprise on my desktop but when I buy my ThinkPad I may dual boot with Ubuntu. Not sure. But I'll keep it in VMware on my desktop for sure.

Should run good as my sons computer has the Turion 64 x2 and runs great under Xubuntu. When I had 12.04 installed on there is ran fine and supposedly Unity in 14.04 runs smoother.

 

[spirit]

Yeah I've noticed Unity on 14.04 is running smoother in VMware than Unity on 13.10 did.

Might try and install it on my Pentium E5300 actually. That's a faster CPU than the A64 X2 and my Pentium box has 2GBs more RAM (4GB vs 2GB).

 

[salvage-this]

Ok so I have had a few hours to mess with my install. Here are a few tips for those of you that are new to the system.

I installed some of the tools that are in this guide.

Calendar Indicator Applet
Unity Tweak Tool
Changed privacy settings for Unity
Compiz Config Settings Manager
Restricted extras and DVD Playback

On a laptop, I would install TLP and start tweaking it to your power needs. Use the CLI install from the first link. I added the link below for better understanding of the settings

http://askubuntu.com/questions/2854...-application-similar-to-jupiter/285681#285681

I also installed Pulse Audio Volume Control to manage my sound card. That is were you can enable 5.1/7.1 and adjust the levels of each speaker if some are balanced incorrectly.

*note* if the max audio volume is really quiet you should check the sound levels in alsamixer. I think the default is set to 60% even though your desktop volume is set to 100%

open a terminal (Ctrl + Alt + T)
alsamixer
Enter



press F6 to select the right sound settings and change the levels of each to what you need.

Hit Esc to return to the terminal

Chromium is loosing support for flash. So you can either use Pepper Flash that is in the first guide or just download and install the .deb file from Google. Same as you would in Windows.

Download Synaptic Package Manager. Makes working with specific packages easier than working in the terminal for some updates.

Themes can be a bit tricky, but here is the easy way to do it,

open your home folder and show hidden items (Ctrl + h) Make a folder called .themes

Download your favorite themes from here. I generally sort them by highest rating. They are better integrated into menus of different sizes and different than the standard applications.

Extract the files to the .themes folder and apply them with the Unity tweak tool. The appearance menu in the global settings will not find the extra themes. Extra icon packs work the same way.

In Libre Office you can set it to use the .docx format as default.

Tools -> Options -> Load/Save -> Uncheck "Warn when saving in format other than odf" -> Always save as Word 2007/2010/2013 XML

As an alternative you can try Kingsoft Office Free for Linux. It's still in Alpha but might be worth a shot.

I think that is about all I did for myself. I decided to go for more of a Mac themed run this time. I'll probably switch it up in a few months.

 

[DMGrier]

Thanks for the guide, pretty new all of it but did not know about how to attach google drive which is nice since I have been waiting on a google drive client.