6 Things to do after Installing Ubuntu 16.04

If you have upgraded yourself to Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus, these 6 things to do after installing Ubuntu will get you a smoother experience with the most used Linux distribution. Ubuntu has eased out the Linux experience with a nice UI along the command line strength (Linux Mint, too). But for a newbie user who has just migrated from Windows still has some tasks left to set things up properly. These are not mandatory things otherwise they would have come with the installation itself but are highly suggested in order to leverage the complete experience of Ubuntu 16.04.

Let's see the 6 things to do after installing Ubuntu 16.04 Xenial Xerus.

1. Install Ubuntu Restricted Extras.

The Ubuntu Restricted Extras contains the media codecs and fonts for Ubuntu. Chances are that you already have installed it while Installing Ubuntu 16.04 but if you missed it, you need to install it download media codecs in order to play media files. The package contains MP3 and other audio codecs to play various codec software, adobe flash plugin, LAME - software to create compressed audio files and software to install the Microsoft web fonts. Downloading and installing Ubuntu Restricted Extras is a one step process. Open terminal (Press Ctrl + Alt + T), and type in the following command to install Restricted Extras in Ubuntu. 

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras

You can read more about Ubuntu Restricted Extras here. 

2. Install Linux graphics driver.

To install graphics driver, navigate to Unity Dash > Software & updates > Additional Drivers. 

It will list the available proprietary drivers available to download. Install them.

3. Update your system.

While installing Ubuntu, you are asked if you want to download updates too along with the installation. Even if you select yes, there are still some left which you will need to update as soon as you login to your system for the first time. 

Type in the following command in terminal to update.

sudo apt-get update 

and press Enter. 

Additionally, open Ubuntu Dash and open Software Update Launcher. It will check for updates and ask you to download and install now. Just follow the instructions there. 

4. Installing all the necessary software

The next step is to install all the necessary software for your Ubuntu System. Type in the following command in Terminal,

sudo apt-get install synaptic vlc gimp gimp-data gimp-plugin-registry gimp-data-extras y-ppa-manager bleachbit openjdk-7-jre oracle-java8-installer flashplugin-installer unace unrar zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils rar uudeview mpack arj cabextract file-roller libxine1-ffmpeg mencoder flac faac faad sox ffmpeg2theora libmpeg2-4 uudeview libmpeg3-1 mpeg3-utils mpegdemux liba52-dev mpeg2dec vorbis-tools id3v2 mpg321 mpg123 libflac++6 totem-mozilla icedax lame libmad0 libjpeg-progs libdvdcss2 libdvdread4 libdvdnav4 libswscale-extra-2 ubuntu-restricted-extras ubuntu-wallpapers*

and this will install the many of the day to dya softwares like synaptic package manager, vlc media player, photo editor, cleaning utility, java emulator, java installer, flash plugin, unrar, unzip, wallpapers and others. [thanks to http://howtoubuntu.org/]

5. Enable partner repositories

These repositories are third party licensed repositories and do not come under GPL license. You need to enable the partner repositories in order to download and install softwares like Flash and Skype. 

To enable partner repositories, go to Ubuntu Dash > Software & Updates > Other softwares, and check all the boxes there. 

6. Install Unity Tweak Tool 

There is a Unity Tweak Tool that will allow you to configure, tweak and mess around with Unity desktop. It's a setting manager for Unity desktop, providing user with a fast, simple and easy to use interface to access many useful and little known features. To install Unity tweak tool, open terminal and type in the following command:

sudo apt install unity-tweak-tool

Or, you can download it from the software center and install it. 

These 6 things to do after installing Ubuntu 16.04 will improve your Ubuntu experience by many folds. I hope you follow them after each Ubuntu Installations.