Installed Ubuntu 14.04 Trusty Tahr, What next?

Are you a hug Ubuntu fan? Are you one of those who keep on waiting for the latest Ubunutu release? Well, i am one of you guys then. I ran the betas of Trusty Tahr on my system and had been eagerly waiting for the final release. Now, that its already out amoung us, its out on our systems too. Now, that you have installed Trusty, what next?

Well, here is what i did. Here are the first 10 applications i installed as soon as i put Trusty on my laptop.

• everpad

Evernote is one of the best note-taking tools available out there. It comes in different forms, you can install it on windows, use it through web, use it through your android device and now it has come to linux as well in the form of everpad. If you have already been using evernote for quite a while, you have a way to sync all your notes to and fro your ubuntu 14.04.

To install everpad in ubuntu 14.04,

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nvbn-rm/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install everpad

• vlc media player 2.2.X

vlc is an open-source multimedia player capable of supporting audios and videos of numerous formats. It keeps getting better with each update as now it has started providing plugins and extensions that provide additional functionality. You can download the addons here

 
To install vlc media player in ubuntu 14.04,

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:videolan/master-daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install vlc

• mozilla firefox 29

Mozilla firefox 29 has been released with all new looks and a lot of improved functionalities. The looks now actually resemble a lot to chrome.

As of now, firefox 29 can be installed using the tar ball. The tar ball is downloadable from the offical source

Follow these steps further:

Extract the archive: tar -xvf firefox-29.0.tar.bz2
Remove the older firefox: sudo rm -r /opt/firefox

Note: Make sure you back up the bookmarks, passwords and history before removing the older firefox or simply rename it to firefox-bak.

Move the extracted firefox to /opt : mv firefox /opt
create a soft link for the new firefox: sudo ln -s /opt/firefox/firefox /usr/bin/firefox

Now, you can easily launch the newer version of firefox with earlier shortcut.

• Shutter

Shutter is an awesome ubuntu/linux app that allows you to take screenshot in the shape you want, edit them and upload to any ftp server or other publically hosted websites like dropbox,imagebanana,imgur,etc.

 

To install shutter in ubuntu 14.04,

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install shutter

You will definitely find it better than the default app screenshot.

• synaptic package manager

synaptic is a graphical package management tool for apt. It provides all the features as apt-get command line utility like install, update, upgrade, remove, downgrade single/multiple packages.

To install synaptic in ubuntu 14.04,

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install synaptic

It is a must have app for you if you don'd find the terminal much user friendly. Don't like synaptic, go for software center.

• ubuntu tweak, folder color

ubuntu tweak is an application that allows you to customise various aspects of your ubuntu os. It provides many useful desktop and system options that the default desktop environment doesn't provide.


You can install it simply through deb or source package which is available at the official source. And if you want to do it through the command line:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:tualatrix/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-tweak

One another interesting tweaking application is folder color. To install it on Ubuntu 14.04, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:costales/folder-color
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install folder-color

With folder color, you can easily change the color of the folder icon.

• indicator-stickynotes

This app is an awesome replacement for sticky notes app in winodws. It comes with a great interface and allows you to change colours for the stickys, you can as well lock any particular sticky once you are done with the note which prevents the accidental editing or deleting of the note.

To install indicator-stickynotes on Ubuntu 14.04,

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:umang/indicator-stickynotes
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install indicator-stickynotes

Just note down anything quick with this amazing app.

• steam

Steam is an ultimate gaming platform with over 2000 games of every category. It allows you to play online, offline, solo and even in the multiplayer modes. It has a user base of over 40 mn and is supported on multiple platforms. The minimum requirement to run Steam games is Ubuntu 12.04 or higher Ubuntu version with at least 2.8 GHz dual-core processor, minimum 2GBs of RAM. You'll also need nVidia GeForce 8500/9600GT or an ATI/AMD Radeon HD 2500/3600 or better graphic card with their latest drivers along with the newest version of Flash player and OpenGL 2.1.

Steam can be easily installed through debian pakage which can be downloaded from the official source.

sudo dpkg -i steam.deb

• viber

Viber is a multi purpose app that allows you to make VOIP calls, send text messages, pictures and even large files like videos. It requires working internet connection to function either on mobile, laptops or any other device. It is supported almost on all the platforms like android, windows, linux, ios, blackberry, etc. Very recently, it has come to Ubuntu and believe me it works as good as it does on any other platform.

The only requirement to install it on Ubuntu 14.04 is that you should already be running it on any of your mobile device as it requires a mobile number for registration. It can be easily installed using the debian package which can be downloaded from the official source.

sudo dpkg -i viber.deb

When you install it on Ubuntu, it generates a code on your mobile number you register with and the installation can't be completed without the code.

• ubuntu-restricted extras

ubuntu-restricted extras is basically a group of some packages which enable multiple addon functionalities which default applications in ubuntu are unable to provide.

It enables the support for mp3 playback and decoding, support for various other audio formats through gstreamer plugins. It also pulls in support for microsoft fonts, flash plugin, dvd playback, LAME (to create compressed audio files).

To install ubuntu-restricted-extras in Ubuntu 14.04,

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

Try all of them, you won't regret an app. Make your Ubuntu even more Ubuntier!