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I recently got sick and tired of my buggy/bloated Ubuntu install and decided to back up my files and re-install Xubuntu. The system was becomming sluggish and bloted due to me having to try out every app under the sun. I try out apps for two reasons: one is that I am looking for content to write about and I'm a little obssive compulsive about stuff. Why use one ftp program when I can try 3 or 4. Anyhow it wasn't untill I was looking at the fresh Xubuntu desktop that I realized how fast my pc was yet it felt naked without a million apps. So what I am going to do is cover the Post-Harddrive-Install Step from just after you log in. It's at this point in an Xubuntu setup that the system is at its' most useless kind of like a WinXP before you install Firefox and Thunderbird:) The end result will be a Xubuntu setup that has the latest updates, a few extra desktop tools and some personal customizations.

Right out of the box Xubuntu is pretty much ready for you to get to work. It has a CD/DVD Burner, a Word Processor, an Email client and all the other basic apps to get up and running. Even though it does have the basic productivity apps already installed you still want to do some hose keeping and tweaking.

Network
The first thing you need to do is be sure that the network is configured and working properly. There are a few ways to do this and the quickest lo-tech is just click on the Globe (ehich is Firefox) at the top of the screen and surf to a few sites. Or if you want a slightly more technical approach you can click on Applications-> System-> Networking and enter your password to get the network-admin UI. You should see a few items on the Connections tab and one should be labeled Ethernet Connection (don't worry about the wifi connection right now) and it should say it's active. If not double-click on it to open the properties dialog and try to enable the connection. If there is an issue the network-admin tool will instruct you on what to do. Ok now here's a hard-core Linux geeks way of checking the network connection, click Applications-> Terminal and type in ifconfig. You should then see some info come up about your network devices and one should be eth1 (or eth0) the second line should look like this:

The key here is the inet addr which is your IP Address. Now that your connected to the internet let's update Xubuntu.

Updating Xubuntu
The folks that brought us Ubuntu knew that they would be getting a lot of Windows users and they wanted to make them feel at home by having them update their system with the latest patches when they installed a new Ubuntu system. To update Xubuntu you don't even need to launch a browser. Instead you simply click Application-> System-> Update Manager and enter your password. A dialog box will pop up informing you about updates and such and then the main app will list all of the lates updates that pertain to your install. Go ahead and apply any updates that have been reccomended. Another way to do updates it to open a Terminal and type in:

Enter your password and then terminal will check your system and list all of the available updates. When it's done just hit y to apply the updates. Now that you systems up to date it's time let's add some extra software repositories.

Package Management
One of the things that has Ubuntu dominating the Linux world is their Package Management System. It will take me took long to explain how the package management system works and I would not do it justice so I will keep it simple. Xubuntu uses an app called the Synaptic Pacake Manager to handle all of the applications on your system, it's like the Add/Remove Programs on XP but it's 10 times better. One of the things with Synaptic is the ability to manage packages repositories to get app from which is the first thing we are going to do. Start by clicking on Applications-> System-> Synaptic Pacake Manager and enter your password. A dialog box will pop-up with info about Synaptic, click ok. Then click Settings-> Repositories and from here you can add or edit Installation Media, Internet Updates and authentication. On the Installation Media tab scroll down the list and enable the Community Maintained Binary items and click close. A dialog should pop-up indicating that it is refreshing the database but if not hit the relaod button to force a refresh. At this point we have the extra repositories loaded and we can now start getting to the fun stuff.

Xfce Goodies
Like I've said before Xubuntu comes with some basic apps but it's still a little to bare-bones and that's why we are going to add some Xfce power toys. Start by opening Applications-> System-> Synaptic Package Manager, click Search and type in xfce, give it a minute and when it's done scroll through the results to nearly the bottom and look for xfce-goodies. The xfce-goodies package contains some essential panel (task-bar) tools like a battery monitor, a network monitor and a date-time display just to name a few things. Click the box/star icon and select Mark for Installation, a dialog will pop-up indicating that it needs to add 3 other packages to install the xfce-goodies click ok and then on the tool bar click Apply. It will ask you to confirm the installation again and then it will go out to the Internet to download the packages and then install them. This will take a few minutes so be patient. Once this is done you won't see any new items in the Applications or settings menues because they are panel apps and not full applications. Which brings us to the next section of customizing the desktop.

Panel Configuration
Panels are the quilvlent of the task-bars and the panels can be a little finickey. On more than one occiasion I have tweaked them so much that they simply stopped appering one day. So please be careful whee moving things around because after all this is Linux and we live in a time of perpetual beta:)

I have come to enjoy the dual Panel system. I like the Sysyem Tray at the top of the desktop like a Mac and the App Tray at the bottom of the desktop like Windows. But what I don't like is 32x32 pixels. I ware glasses so everything is magnified slightly and 24x24 pixels works for me. To tweak your Panels start by Right-Clicking on eitehr one (but not on an applet or icon) and select Customize Panel, you'll be presented with the Panel Manager. You can then adjust the size of the icons, the position of the panels weather it be top, bottom, left or right side and even have them auto-hide for maximum screen area.

Now that we've got the xfce-goodies installed let's do someting with them. Start by Right-Clicking on the top Panel and select Add New Item and the Add Item UI opens with a list of applets that can be placed on the panel. Scroll down to the Network Monitor and drag and drop it on the top panel on the right-side, Right-Click on the Network Monitor -> Properties, in the device textbox enter eth1 (or eth0 depending on your network settings) and click ok. At fist it won't do anything so open up Firefox and surf around a bit. You should see the two bars kick into action and start flickering with traffic. Since I use a laptop I always add the Battery Monitor and for quick access to my drives I add the Device Monitor which lets me quickly acces a drive and see how much free space is available. My other favorite is the Quicklauncher which is the Linux version of the MS Task-Bar Qucik Launcher. Just drag and drop this on a panel and right click to set the properties. To add the file manager to the Quicklauncher just select an item and double-click the name. This shoud enable the edit mode and then type in thunar. Then double-click the icon to get a list of available icons.

Desktop Settings
Now that we've ventured into the productivity enhancmenst let's take a break and have a look at the Settings Manager. To access the Settings Manager click Application-> Settings-> Settings Manager and screen will pop-up with several rows of icons one for each setting. Before you go crazy setting this up it is important to note that there is no Apply button. If you change something like the fonr color on the desktop that setting will be saved when you close the window. Since evey person has their own taste in desktop looks I'll not go over all of the features and options availale.

File Management
The default file manager that comes with Xubuntu, Thunar is light-weight and stripped-down yet it has all the features you need to get thing done. The options and settings in Thunar are pretty basic but if your using Xubuntu then you're propbaly a minimalist and you'll appreciate the lack of bells and whistles. To open Thunar click Applications-> File Manager. Once it is opened you can change settings by clicking Edit-> Preferences (these settings can also be accesed via the Applic Pations-> Settings Manager). From the preferences you can adjust the main View of your files, the Side Pane, the Behavior of file clicking and how folder permissions are distributed. There is another un-advertirsized feature of Thunar and that is the Custom Actions like adding a file shred script to the Context Menu which you can read here: Wired HowTo Guide Linux Style.
I am working on a list of Custom Actions so chaeck back soon.

Thunar also supports plugins which differ from Custom Actions because plugins are mini-app that run inside Thunar. So far the only one available via public repositories (Synaptic) is the archive plugin which allows you to manage archives in Thunar. But there are a few more Plugins on the Thunar site.

Firefox the Ultimate Killer App
Firefox kicks @$$!! But out of the box FF lacks a few essintial tools to be the killer app that it is. Fisrt you'll want to get a few of plugins for Flash, Java, Acrobat and Qucik time here: Common Plugins for Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Suite. Then you'll need the Google Toolbar for Firefox.

If you haven't tried Writely yet then you must. I am using it right now and I love it. Having the power of a desktop Word Processor insie your browser which is another reason I love FF.