I made a script that configures Ubuntu (mainly its GNOME) the way I like it. I also made it work in Debian and Fedora.

https://github.com/Tsu-gu/tsubuntu

It doesn't do any crazy ricing, as I mostly focused on usability tweaks and automatic installation of my must-have extensions. (Tiling, clipboard manager, dash to dock, desktop icons)

Most notable tweaks include:

  • clicking on a running app minimizes it
  • clicking on a group of apps brings up their previews
  • adds minimize, maximize buttons to windows
  • installs flatpak, adds flathub
  • install flatpak and snap plugins into gnome-software (doesn't work on Fedora)
  • installs snap
  • installs mtp-tools and gvfs-backends on Debian to be able to transfer files from a connected phone
  • adds right click > New File
  • Super + Shift + S brings up the area screenshot
  • Super + E opens the file manager
  • Ctrl + Alt + T opens the terminal

(Those already configured on Ubuntu don't get configured again, obviously.)

I also recorded a short showcase to prove that it works without errors https://youtu.be/xf739ivb9hg

61 points · 15 comments · view on lemmy.world

15 Comments

tsugu@slrpnk.net · 14 pts · 1y (9 replies)

inb4 snap bad, they are bash scripts. Anyone can delete any command they don't like.

boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net · 7 pts · 1y (8 replies)

On Ubuntu, do you also remove the Snap store and install gnome-software?

Do you add the PPAs for updated flatpak version and dependencies like bubblewrap?

tsugu@slrpnk.net · 6 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Nope, I don't touch the snap-store on Ubuntus (to be fair I don't install any snap plugins for gnome software center on Debian/Fedora either). As for flatpak, it's installed via apt from the regular repos. I didn't even know there was an up to date PPA.

I know about this but that's meant for 18.04 and earlier.

Edit: these are good suggestions tho. Something to work on to improve it even more.

boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 1y

I am not sure what distros those PPAs are for, may really just be for old versions.

tsugu@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 1y (5 replies)

I added sudo apt install gnome-software-plugin-snap gnome-software-plugin-flatpak gnome-software Looks like Fedora does not have gnome-software-plugin-snap or gnome-software-plugin-flatpak in its repos.

boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 1y (4 replies)

On Fedora is is likely just named differently ;) it for sure has at least Flatpak support.

Background is that flatpak is used directly, not through packagekit.

Have a look at packages.fedoraproject.org

tsugu@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 1y (3 replies)

I checked and Fedora dropped support for the snap plugin. https://discussion.fedoraproject.org/t/enable-snap-in-gnome-software/76134

These are also the only packages related to gnome-software:

Related Packages

    gnome-software-devel
    gnome-software-fedora-langpacks
    gnome-software-rpm-ostree

From what I remember, their gnome-software already has flatpak support. So all that will be missing is the GUI snap support. Could've been worse.

boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 1y (2 replies)

Interesting, thanks for the research!

Snaps are unsandboxed on Systems without AppArmor so they are not a useful cross platform technology anyways.

tsugu@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 1y (1 reply)

Yeah, that sucks. I would still want it if I were to use Fedora, as an option.

boredsquirrel@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 1y

Yup but people dont care to maintain it. It was barely maintained for a longer time

hasnep@lemmy.ml · 4 pts · 1y (1 reply)

I don't mean to be that guy, but if you like your desktop a certain way and want to easily configure it you might want to look into Nix and home-manager, it's difficult to get started but once you have a config that works it lets you set up your whole OS and desktop and lots of apps.

tsugu@slrpnk.net · 13 pts · 1y

I don't wish to learn Nix. I'm perfectly fine with Debian/Ubuntu/Fedora. When a new version comes out, all I have to do is change the versions of the extensions according to the new Gnome version.

BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y (2 replies)

Not that it would eliminate every shell command but you should learn Ansible. This is what's it's built for.

tsugu@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 1y (1 reply)

I was recommended this https://flathub.org/apps/io.github.vikdevelop.SaveDesktop Seems very user friendly and can do everything except for installing software.

BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 1y

Interesting project. Thanks for the share. Just saying Ansible is a more "general purpose" tool, almost a programming language, to configure most anything, not just desktop environments.