Additional Software
NOTE (20160702) Most of the instructions here are for GalliumOS 1.0 and have not yet been tested for GalliumOS 2.0. Most will work without change, but some updates will probably be necessary. These will be updated soon, but please let us know if you run into any issues!
GalliumOS comes with a good selection of desktop and utility software, but there is a huge variety of additional options and alternatives.
GalliumOS can install any software packages built for Ubuntu, directly from the Canonical package servers.
There are also some frequently-requested applications that are not available from Canonical, or are more complicated to install. A few are listed here. Please add more!
Desktop
Google Chrome
curl -O https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb sudo apt install ./google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
Adobe Flash
Adobe Flash apps (and Twitch streams, etc) require Adobe Flash Player, which is not included by default in GalliumOS.
- Install adobe-flashplugin from Canonical's
partner
repository.
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ubuntu vivid partner" sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install adobe-flashplugin
- Confirm installation by entering
chrome://plugins
(Chromium) orabout:plugins
(Firefox) into the URL bar
The proprietary version of Google Chrome includes PepperFlash, and does not require an additional plugin.
- For GalliumOS 2.0: Process is still valid, but replace
vivid
withxenial
in theadd-apt-repository
command line.
Firefox Aurora (developer preview)
See https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-mozilla-daily/+archive/ubuntu/firefox-aurora
TeamViewer
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 curl -OL http://download.teamviewer.com/download/teamviewer_i386.deb sudo dpkg -i teamviewer_i386.deb
Google Drive integration
NOTE: Instructions need update for GalliumOS 2.0. Error reported when adding user to fuse
group.
- Install the software
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alessandro-strada/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install google-drive-ocamlfuse
- Next, add yourself to the Linux group fuse so you can mount Google Drive without root.
sudo usermod -a -G fuse <user_name> exec su -l $USER
- Run google-drive-ocamlfuse for first time setup.
google-drive-ocamlfuse
You'll get a browser window asking you to sign in to your Google account and if you want to give gdfuse OAuth2 Endpoint permission to access your Drive files. Hit Accept / Allow for any following dialog. Close the browser window.
- Next, create a directory where your Google Drive files will be mounted, preferably in your home directory, and mount Google Drive to that directory.
mkdir ~/googledrive google-drive-ocamlfuse ~/googledrive
You can check if Google Drive is mounted by performing:
mount
You can also check how much space you have left:
df
If you want to unmount, simply run
fusermount -u ~/googledrive
- To mount Google Drive at startup, set the following command to run at boot with Session and Startup.
google-drive-ocamlfuse -label default /home/<user>/googledrive
A word of warning, large files such as movies or large videos don't work too well with google-drive-ocamlfuse using default settings. Files are cached to ~/.gdfuse/default/cache. A config file can be found in the directory above that, with parameters to allow for streaming larger files, cache size, etc.. The streaming larger files parameter is perfect for large videos and movies. For more information, check out gdfuse on GitHub.
Adapted from: http://xmodulo.com/mount-google-drive-linux.html
Skype
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ $(lsb_release -sc) partner" sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install skype
Source: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Skype
See also: https://www.skype.com/en/download-skype/skype-for-linux/
Wine
Wine has been a source of frustration. These instructions are verified on a fresh install of 1.0beta2.
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntu-wine/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install wine1.8
Simple Screen Recorder
sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:maarten-baert/simplescreenrecorder sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install simplescreenrecorder
Spotify
sudo apt-key adv --keyserver hkp://keyserver.ubuntu.com:80 --recv-keys BBEBDCB318AD50EC6865090613B00F1FD2C19886 echo deb http://repository.spotify.com stable non-free | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/spotify.list sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install spotify-client
Source: https://www.spotify.com/us/download/linux/
Kodi Media Center
sudo apt-get install python-software-properties pkg-config software-properties-common sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:team-xbmc/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install kodi
Games
Steam
curl -O http://repo.steampowered.com/steam/archive/precise/steam_latest.deb sudo dpkg -i steam_latest.deb
Then launch Steam from the application launcher. Your user must be in the "sudo" group (if it is not, the dpkg command above will also fail), so that the installer can do all the things it needs to do.
Minecraft
sudo bash apt-get install default-jre curl -o /usr/local/bin/Minecraft.jar https://s3.amazonaws.com/Minecraft.Download/launcher/Minecraft.jar curl -o /usr/share/pixmaps/minecraft.png https://chrx.org/minecraft.png mkdir -p /usr/local/share/applications cat > /usr/local/share/applications/minecraft.desktop <<EOF [Desktop Entry] Type=Application Name=Minecraft Comment=Minecraft Exec=java -jar /usr/local/bin/Minecraft.jar Icon=/usr/share/pixmaps/minecraft.png Categories=Game; EOF
Utilities
grsync
Graphical lightweight version of rsync to back up data between drives
sudo apt-get install grsync
aptik
Backup APT sources/repository data
sudo apt-add-repository -y ppa:teejee2008/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install aptik
OpenVPN
Install the following two packages to get OpenVPN connectivity with your favorite VPN service.
sudo apt-get install openvpn network-manager-openvpn
caffeine-plus
Used to keep the screen awake with full screen applications such as full screen video.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8 sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install caffeine-plus
Source: Webupd8
Hardware Optimization
Battery Tuning
Powertop
Monitor process and device power consumption. Includes a handy auto-tune option which can be run at startup that helps to minimize power consumption. Powertop also provides a calibration option, which some people have reported issues with (locks up device?).
sudo apt-get install powertop sudo powertop
Powertop needs to be run every time the system boots. Expand for instructions:
Create /etc/systemd/system/powertop.service
with the following content:
[Unit] Description=Powertop tunings [Service] Type=oneshot ExecStart=/usr/bin/powertop --auto-tune [Install] WantedBy=multi-user.target
Then reboot.
TLP
Advanced power management tool that also provides a default configuration optimized for battery life for "install and forget it" benefits. TLP has reportedly provided some improvement to battery life. Your mileage may vary.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:linrunner/tlp sudo apt-get install tlp sudo tlp start
Miscellaneous
These have been discussed, but are not presently candidates for inclusion in the default installation. They might be of special interest, might have important caveats, or might be the unchosen of other options. Presented here for convenience.
Hardware temperature monitor
-
xfce4-sensors-plugin
from Ubuntu repositories. WARNING: Do not selecttachos
. It will crash your desktop.
Clipboard Manager
-
clipit
from Ubuntu repositories. Developer homepage is missing. Be conscious of the security implications of all clipboard managers.
Video Player
- https://mpv.io/ Lightweight, but very minimal UI
-
smplayer
from Ubuntu repositories. Lightweight.
Screen Recorder
-
kazam
from Ubuntu repositories. Alternative tosimplescreenrecorder
, above. See https://apps.ubuntu.com/cat/applications/kazam/ for more info.
Disk Usage/Performance Indicators
-
xfce4-goodies
from Ubuntu repositories includes a free space checker applet -
xfce4-diskperf-plugin
from Ubuntu repositories is a disk performance monitor applet, and shows usage as well