Post-installation of GNU/Linux in IIT KGP

This is just a tutorial/guide for myself because I need to install and reinstall Linux quite a few times. Some of the tips are for laptops only. They will be tagged with [Laptop].

I generally install Ubuntu Mate in all machines because it’s light and stable.

Network connectivity

Adding proxy

Edit the file /etc/profile and add the following lines

export http_proxy="http://172.16.2.30:8080"
export https_proxy="http://172.16.2.30:8080"
export ftp_proxy="http://172.16.2.30:8080"
export no_proxy="localhost,127.0.0.1,10.0.0.0/8,192.168.0.0/16"

Enabling proxy for apt

This is required for installing updates. Edit the file /etc/apt/apt.conf and add the following lines

Acquire::http::proxy "http://172.16.2.30:8080";
Acquire::https::proxy "http://172.16.2.30:8080";
Acquire::ftp::proxy "http://172.16.2.30:8080";

Note : The proxy of IIT-KGP has changed to http://172.16.2.30:8080. Earlier it was http://10.3.100.207:8080

Installing important tools

Install the following tools. However, these are not mandatory for everybody

1. openssh-server - For SSH’ing
2. screen - Terminal multiplexing
3. brightness-controller [Laptop] - Since latops don’t provide display temperature control
4. htop - For system status
5. vim - For VIM’ing

A simple one-liner for installing all of the above

sudo apt-get install openssh-server screen htop vim

Customizing the looks

The Arc theme and Oranchelo icon pack combo is perfect for me. You can try it out.

Note : The Numix Circle icon pack is also quite nice

Installing Arc theme

sudo -E add-apt-repository ppa:noobslab/themes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install arc-theme

Installing Oranchelo icon-pack

sudo -E add-apt-repository ppa:oranchelo/oranchelo-icon-theme
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install oranchelo-icon-theme

Installing Numix Circle icon-pack

sudo -E apt-add-repository ppa:numix/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install numix-icon-theme numix-icon-theme-circle

Note : I need to add -E everytime I need to add a PPA. I need to find out why. If somecan help me out, it would be very nice.

Miscellaneous Tasks

Disabling bluetooth

You may not want to do this if you use Bluetooth frequently. I have posted the one which worked for me here. Try out the other options mentioned here.

1. Edit the file at /etc/rc.local
2. Find the line exit 0, say it’s line 100
3. Before line 100, add the following line rfkill block bluetooth

Enabling static IP

1. Edit the following file /etc/network/interfaces
2. Find the primary network interface. It should be eth0 most of the time

3. Put the following text

   auto eth0
   iface eth0 inet static
       address 10.5.20.1
       netmask 255.255.255.0
       broadcast 10.5.20.255
       gateway 10.5.20.2
       dns-nameservers 10.5.18.80
   

4. Reboot the system (Restarting the NIC won’t do)

Changing name of network interface

1. Edit the file /etc/default/grub changing the line from
   • GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="" to
   • GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX="net.ifnames=0 biosdevname=0"
2. Update the grub sudo update-grub
3. Reboot your system sudo reboot

Disable sleep when laptop lid is closed [Laptop]

Check out the answers mentioned in the link over here. The answer which worked for me is as follows

• Edit the file /etc/systemd/logind.conf
• Find the line #HandleLidSwitch=suspend
• Set it to HandleLidSwitch=ignore if you don’t want anything to happen with a lid close
• Set it to HandleLidSwitch=lock if you want the screen get locked with a lid close

Enable wifi on startup before login [Laptop]

• Edit the file /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/<your AP name>
• Find the line starting with permission=
• Delete everthing in that line after the = sign