Things to do after installing Elementary OS 0.4.1 (Loki)

When you start out with elementary OS there are a couple of useful things that you should do to have a better experience working with your system.

General

“Software & Updates” for Additional Drivers

The easiest way to install the proprietary NVidia Drivers (in Ubuntu) is to go to System Settings > Additional Drivers and then simply select the driver.

This option is not available in Elementary. However, by installing the package software-properties-gtk you can get the program.

sudo apt install -y software-properties-gtk

Now by clicking on Applications on the top right, and then type “Software & Updates” you can access the Settings.

Easy way to add PPA

With the command line tool add-apt-repository you have a quick way to add additional PPA’s. To get this tool you need to install the package

sudo apt-get install software-properties-common

MS Fonts

sudo apt-get install ttf-mscorefonts-installer

Add a Minimize Button to Windows

Some of the Elementary Windows do not have an easy way to minimize the window. With Elementary Tweaks, you can add a button to the windows.

Officially the elementary team does not encourage users to use the tweaking tool. It exposes switches to functionality that could mess up your system - use the tool with caution.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:philip.scott/elementary-tweaks
sudo apt install elementary-tweaks

Chromium Browser

sudo apt install chromium-browser
sudo apt remove epiphany-browser -y

Screenshot Tool

sudo apt remove screenshot-tool
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:shutter/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install -y shutter

Video Lan

sudo apt install -y vlc
sudo apt remove audience -y

Web Development Tools

Visual Studio Code

curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > microsoft.gpg
sudo mv microsoft.gpg /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'
sudo apt update
sudo apt install code

git

sudo apt install git

NodeJS

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

System Update

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

Remove Programs

sudo apt remove pantheon-mail -y
sudo apt remove maya-calendar -y
sudo apt autoremove

Other

Productivity

sudo apt install libreoffice
sudo apt install gimp inkscape shutter

Codecs

sudo apt-get install ubuntu-restricted-extras ffmpeg