Notes from my Linux Installations, and things I do after installation.
Format the drive: If you format a hard drive before installation, you may have to partition it using the Windows partition manager or the Linux partitioning tool GParted. Otherwise, you may receive the message that no partitions were found when installing Linux on the drive. For Linux operating systems, I find ExFat to be the most reliable partition format.
If you are getting the “Invalid Partition Table” message after installing Linux Mint Cinnamon, you may be able to boot after hitting return, but the message will recur at each bootup until you change from legacy boot to UEFI in BIOS. This is a common issue when installing Linux Mint Cinnamon on the old Dell E-series laptops, but is easily resolved by going to BIOS (F2) in startup, and then (1) switching from RAID to AHCI in SATA operation before you install Mint and (2) switching the boot option from Legacy to UEFI, which you can do before or after installation.
On some laptops with 8th-generation Intel processors, the screen fails to come back on after deep sleep. There are many suggestions on the web for solving the problem, none of which have worked for me. My Dell Latitude 5490 had this problem, but my Latitude 7400 and my Dell Precision 7550 with a 10th-generation processor work well.
Dual-booting with RAID: You may receive a notification during installation that Linux can’t be installed because RAID has to be turned off on your computer. BE VERY CAREFUL ABOUT THIS. If you disable RAID, dual-booting Windows will no longer operate unless you are an advanced user and know how to fix this.
GRUB, dual-booting Windows and Linux: GRUB (Grand Unified Bootloader) is the boot manager for most Linux installations. For Grub to work correctly if you are dual-booting, Windows should be installed before Linux. Otherwise, you will have to go into the BIOS to change the order of startup operating system disks.
GRUB, dual booting two Linux distros: GRUB operates differently on Fedora and Ubuntu, and after I updated GRUB in Fedora, I couldn’t open Kubuntu. My advice is to install only one operating system on a computer to avoid frustration. The exception is running Linux Mint Cinnamon and Kubuntu on the same laptop; both are based on Ubuntu and use the same GRUB command (sudo update-grub).
Connect to the internet. The installation flash drive will open the Linux distro (Mint or Ubuntu) on your screen. Before you click on install, connect to the internet to install updates during the installation. If, for some reason, you can’t connect, use an Ethernet cable.
Time: If you are dual-booting, the Windows day and time may have to be reset every time you switch back from Linux. To solve this, set Linux to local time: Copy/paste this command line into the terminal: timedatectl set-local-rtc 1
Second Monitor: Linux is not compatible wth DisplayPort. Use HDMI, VGA, or DVI to connect Linux to a second monitor. If Linux doesn’t detect the second display with those connections, type sudo systemctl restart display-manager in the terminal. The laptop screen will go dark for a few seconds, and then you will be asked to log in. The second monitor should work now.
Timeshift: Timeshift takes snapshots of your system. When you have a problem you can’t resolve, you can restore a previous copy of your installation to make the problem go away. Download this app if your distro doesn’t include it by default, and begin using it immediately.
Anti-virus: Install ClamUI in Discover. It provides a user-friendly graphical interface (GUI) for the ClamAV antivirus command-line tool. When you install ClamUI, it includes the Clam Antivirus program and the virus database. (A similar app, ClamTK, no longer works correctly.)
Amazon Prime Video and Netflix: Amazon states that HD video is not available on computers running Linux. Firefox is listed as a compatible browser, but Brave is not. I was able to watch Prime Video on Brave on a laptop running Kubuntu, and on Firefox on a laptop running Fedora KDE Plasma. You may have to do a Google search to find an answer.
KDE Wallet: This is an extra level of security that encrypts anything in the Wallet folder. It can interfere with sending printing jobs to wireless printers, and it seems to be unnecessary unless you have a high-risk situation. Open Kwalletmanager and disable it. You can install the manager with Discover if it’s not installed already.
Microsoft Fonts: LibreOffice comes with its own fonts, which may look identical to Microsoft fonts in a document you are opening. to install Microsoft fonts on your computer, you can use the terminal command sudo apt install ttf-mscorefonts-installer. The font installer will prompt to agree with the End User License Agreement (EULA). To click on “OK”, press the “Tab” key on your keyboard to navigate to the “OK” button, followed by pressing “Enter” to accept the agreement. For other instructions, go to https://linuxcapable.com/how-to-install-microsoft-fonts-on-debian-linux/.
Install Media Codecs: By default, Ubuntu doesn’t install codecs for copyrighted media files like MP3, although you are given that option when installing Kubuntu. To install the files afterward, you can install the files in the Konsole by using this command sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras. If you see a user agreement screen, use the tab key to agree or not agree, and hit enter.
Powerpoint: I recommend using OnlyOffice for opening and editing Powerpoint presentations. In LibreOffice, images and text may not properly fit the screen.
Add Flatpak to Discover: Kubuntu, like Ubuntu, comes with SNAPS. I recommend adding Flatpak to Discover. To do so, type the following commands in the Konsole:
- sudo apt update && sudo apt install flatpak plasma-discover-backend-flatpak kde-config-flatpak (enter your password). This installs Flatpak support in Discover.
- sudo flatpak remote-add –if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo (enter your password). This instructs Discover to download from the Flathub repository.
Using apt clean, apt autoclean, and apt autoremove: By default, Ubuntu deletes downloaded application packages, including their dependencies, after installation is completed, but if the installation is not completed, it keeps the files. It’s not necessary to use these similar Konsole commands, but they can be useful if you are running low on drive storage space. These commands do not remove the packages that have been installed. (Note: dselect, part of the front end of Debian systems, is a comprehensive method of accomplishing these objectives, and I’ll leave it to more experienced people to explain it.)
- Sudo apt clean removes file contents from the local package cache directory, especially when you want to remove packages that were interrupted during installation or upgrade.
- Sudo apt autoclean only removes obsolete versions of cache files when a newer version of the application is available.
- Sudo apt-get autoclean removes only packages that are not available in the repositories because a new version is available.
- Sudo apt autoremove removes all installed dependencies that are no longer needed.
- Sudo apt-get clean removes all contents of the archives directory except the lock file.
Updates and Upgrades
- sudo apt-get update updates packages in the Ubuntu package management system
- sudo apt-get upgrade upgrades packages
- sudo apt-get full-upgrade installs all the latest versions of all the installed programs
Mouse grabs and moves linked images and text. This is a very annoying problem when I am editing a WordPress page in Kubuntu. I use a mouse attached to my laptop, and when I move the cursor over an image it grabs the image with a hand and drags it all over the screen. A possible solution is to go to Settings – Windows Management – Windows Behavior and change the delay focus to the maximum (3000 ms). Also on the line Multiscreen behavior, unclick Active screen follows mouse. I will edit this if it works.
In previous KDE versions there was a setting to delay mouse grabbing in Workplace behavior, but it was removed in Kubuntu 24.04. If you are using X11, go to the Konsole terminal and type bash, then return. Then type kwriteconfig5 –file kdeglobals –group KDE –key StartDragDist 18. Restart Plasma and the problem should be fixed.
Historic Ipswich 