Customizations

(Reference: the UbuntuGuide wiki)

Here are some customizations I do to my machines:

Aliases

alias bc='bc -l'
alias du='du -h --max-depth=1'
alias fup='sudo aptitude update;sudo aptitude full-upgrade'
alias ls='ls -FhlX --color=auto'
alias grep='grep --color=auto'

Speed-up

• change /etc/init.d/rc from CONCURRENCY=none to CONCURRENCY=shell
• change LOAD_LP_MODULE to “no” in /etc/default/cups and remove lp from /etc/modules
• add the machine’s hostname to 127.0.0.1 in /etc/hosts
• set MODULES=dep in /etc/initramfs-tools/initramfs.conf and run sudo update-initramfs -u

Clean-up

• remove mono-common evolution gnome-pilot gnome-orca brltty apmd gnome-mag
  
• (if possible, i.e. no restricted drivers) remove jockey-common linux-restricted-modules-generic linux-restricted-modules-common
• install localepurge
• every now and then, remove linux-image-xxx and linux-headers-xxx for older kernel versions
• every now and then, run sudo aptitude clean
• you can also try bleachbit, but use carefully

Enhancements & Tweaks

• install lm-sensors sensors-applet powertop bootchart nautilus-open-terminal nautilus-gksu nautilus-image-converter nautilus-wallpaper gvfs-bin
• change /etc/papersize to a4

Office use

• install ubuntu-restricted-extras ubuntu-tweak startupmanager msttcorefonts thunderbird vlc gparted
• add the medibuntu repositories and from there install  non-free-codecs skype

SDR use

• remove gnome-games gimp xsane ekiga pidgin tracker bluetooth bluez
  

Firefox Addons

• context search
• download statusbar
• firegpg
• flagbox
• google gears
• greasemonkey
• greek dictionary
• image zoom
• italian dictionary
• (menu editor)
• noscript
• (password exporter)
• stumbleupon
• xmarks

(I have added most of them to the collection I created)

Thunderbird addons

• contacts sidebar
• google contacts
• gmail imap account setup
• greek dictionary
• import-export tools
• italian dictionary
• moztraybiff

Pidgin plugins

• pidgin-facebookchat
• pidgin-plugin-pack
• pidgin-libnotify