Tag: setup

Configure daily update checks

If you would like to be notified of available updates the day they become available, open the Software & Updates application and set the following options:

Are you unable to get a list of updates?

You may run into the following error message when checking for updates for the first time:

Unable to get list of updates:
Failed to update metadata for lvfs: checksum failure: failed to verify data, expected yJcztsgVmmvtkn9na5YyQVdyqFNIXlzYUgrACKX

Run the following command to fix the issue:

$ fwupdmgr --force refresh

Enable unattended upgrades

If you would like to enable the automatic and unattended downloading and installation of security upgrades, run the follwoing command:

$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure unattended-upgrades

Configuring unattended-upgrades

Automatically download and install stable updates? Yes

Install TLP

If you have installed Debian 11 on a laptop, consider installing TLP to further optimise battery life.

$ sudo apt-get install tlp

Enable Network Manager to manage all interfaces

Network manager detects and configures network interfaces to automatically connect your system to available networks. By default, however, it will only recongnise network interfaces not declared in /etc/network/interfaces.

Use the following command to open /etc/network/interfaces:

$ sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

Delete or comment out any configuration details for the primary network interface.

Use the following command to open /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf:

$ sudo nano /etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf

Make the following change:

[ifupdown]
managed=true

Restart NetworkManager with the following command:

$ sudo service NetworkManager restart

Install Syncthing for continuous file synchronisation

Syncthing reliably synchronises files between two or more computers. Its usefulness cannot be overestimated. Add the release key with the following command:

$ sudo curl -s -o /usr/share/keyrings/syncthing-archive-keyring.gpg https://syncthing.net/release-key.gpg

Add the syncthing repository with the following command:

$ sudo echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/syncthing-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.syncthing.net/ syncthing stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/syncthing.list

Install syncthing on your system with the following command:

$ sudo -- bash -c 'apt update && apt install syncthing'

Enable syncthing for the local user bullseye:

$ sudo -- bash -c 'systemctl enable syncthing@bullseye.service && systemctl start syncthing@bullseye.service && systemctl status syncthing@bullseye.service'

Access the Syncthing configuration page by using your browser to navigate to the following address:

https://localhost:8384

Use the following command to enable port forwarding on your local machine:

$ sudo ufw allow syncthing

Install neofetch

Neofetch is a command-line tool that displays information about your system next to an operating system logo.

$ sudo apt-get install neofetch

If you would like neofetch to display every time you open a new terminal, open .bashrc with the following command:

$ nano ~/.bashrc

Add the following text at the end of the file:

# use Neofetch to display information about the system
if [ -f /usr/bin/neofetch ]; then
    clear && neofetch;
fi

Apply the changes with the following command:

$ source ~/.bashrc

Hide the snap directory

The snap directory in your home folder is not supposed to be accessed manually. Use the following command to hide it from view:

$ echo snap >> ~/.hidden

Hide the Desktop directory

The Desktop feature was disabled in GNOME 3.28. While this decision was not universally popular, developers pointed to the fact that, as an unmaintained feature, it stood the way of other improvements. Use the following command to hide the associated Desktop folder from view:

$ echo Desktop >> ~/.hidden

Install Virtual Machine Manager

If you would like run virtual machines from your desktop, start with the following command:

$ grep -E --color 'svm|vmx' /proc/cpuinfo

If the output shows svm or vmx in red, then the virtualization extensions are enabled and you are good to go.

Proceed to install virt-manager with the following command:

$ sudo apt-get install virt-manager libguestfs-tools python3-guestfs

With only members of the group libvirt allowed to run virt-manager, add the local user bullseye to the group:

$ sudo adduser bullseye libvirt

Install Google Chrome

Google Chrome is available neither as a snap nor flatpak. This ties in with what Martin Wimpress had to say in a recent episode of the LINUX Unplugged podcast.

If, after listening to Martin, you would still like to use Google Chrome, download the official Google Chrome for Linux installer with the following command:

$ wget -P ~/Downloads --show-progress https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

Install Google Chrome with the following command:

$ sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

When you launch Google Chrome for the first time, it will ask you to:

[ ] make Google Chrome the default browser
[ ] Automatically send usage statistics and crash reports to Google

OK

Disable both these options. If required, you can always re-enable them later.

With reference to Joey Sneddon and OMG!Ubuntu!