Ubuntu Easy Setup Project / Blog: Recent posts

In this version I added the following options:
- Install Choqok, a client for Twitter and other services
- Install nvPY, a Simplenote client
- Reset home directory ownership to fix potential errors in some applications after official Ubuntu updates
- Select the default browser
- Remove parent lock in Firefox, to fix errors that may come up with firefox loading when clicking on a web address in another program... read more

I have removed release candidates 1 and 2 because there were some bug fixes in release candidate 3.

The following features have been added:

• Some improvements to the option for instaling USB connectivity software
• Laptop Mode Tools installaion for power management
• Unity Tweak Tool and Gnome Tweak Tool (option only is displayed if you have Unity or Gnome installed since they will not work in other desktops)
• Unity Privacy Indicator (option only is displayed if you have Unity installed)
• Wallpaper installation now works, now wallpapers from freakinmonsters.com are added to the ones downloaded and they are placed in the home Pictures directory

The only changes are some minor code cleanup before I start asking people to offer suggestions and one minor bug fix.

I just cleaned up the blog a bit and removed the stuff that is no longer relevant, just keeping milestones and more important updates.

I will be resuming work on this project tomorrow and will be focused on code clean ups in order to make the code itself look more attractive after which I will be making sure everything is still up to date. I will then start seeking advice from others on how to improve this project and continuing to check various web sites for ideas for changes and possible additions.

The first stable release candidate is available. That is stable as in I thoroughly checked every option for bugs and ran out of bugs to correct. Now it's your turn, feel free to try out this program and let me know if anything should be changed.

I will take a break for a few days but will be quick to respond to any requests or issue reports.

Program Completion: Still growing, will be considered mature only when I have finished going through the following online resources: Ubuntu forum how to section, Ububtu Geek, Ubuntu Handbook, Noobs Lab

Current process: Bug Checking

Process Details:

For each option:
- Reinstall Ubuntu, keeping just the home directory on a separate partition
- Select the option and choose to install it, a virgin installation is the best for checking for unmet dependencies
- Resolve all noticed bugs and unmet dependencies
- Open any programs related to the option (if it is a program installation or involves one)
- Toggle uninstallation on, select the same item, choose to uninstall it
- Check to see if uninstallation killed the program and removed it
- Resolve any uninstallation errors if they occur
- Lather, rinse, repeat for each option... read more

I found a typo that would prevent Transmageddon from being installed (if it is desired) so I fixed it and uploaded the file as it is right now. New items added are a couple of missing things needed for correct installation of newer versions of a couple of codecs, another item added to compilation software (I will have to create a menu for this one pretty soon), Tomahawk music streamer/player (Multimedia) and CopyQ clipboard history recorder (Office). I have not yet created an option to run CopyQ at startup but will do so in the near future. I also replaced the XBMC installation with KODI, its updated version.

I made some changes so all of the items that are not updated by typing sudo apt-get update (Desura, the DBGL frontend for DOSBox, some updated versions of codecs) download automatically, also added yasm to the installed codecs since it is needed for updating one codec properly.

I have fixed multiple bugs across the board, addressed bug reports and requests by the last reviewer, replaced Evolution with Thunderbird and Deja Dup with BackInTime and made backing up before performing selected tasks optional.

I replaced Deja Dupe with Back In Time as requested by a reviewer. I will focus on creating an option to toggle it on and off in the menu later. While I am at it I could do a couple of other things to the menu. For now, I better get some sleep. I look forward to getting more feedback in the near future. :)

GTK+5 is the latest version in the repository so I corrected things to reflect that.

There were a couple of bugs in addition to the reported issue, they should all be fixed now. I changed a couple of commands to ensure proper installation and then added an argument for the main installation loop to install GTK+4 before Desura. Let me know if any of the previous issues still exist.

I removed the getdeb and playdeb repositories because due to server issues they generate intermittent 404 errors and made the program back up and constantly maintain key files for preserving settings in login screens. This seems to be working on my end, please let me know if it is still not working on your end. I will continue with taking care of these error reports tomorrow.

I received a review and found it to be helpful because it mentioned bugs I was unaware of. I created tickets for the bugs to remind myself and will address them before continuing my audit. Thanks for the review.

I just added an alarm clock application to the list of desktop items this program installs and replaced the Evolution e-mail client with Thunderbird along with a few plugins for it that were in the repositories.

There was a deb file my program ran to add icons for accessing the online versions of MS Office apps through the web browser. This option was removed because the deb file stopped working. I will try adding it later after everything else is working...or not, I have other things to work on and will add that stuff in if there is room for it later.

This project should be considered to be in a beta state, I weeded out the more severe bugs but there are still some I will be fixing before this program reaches version 2.0. As such, there may or may not be some minor regressions as this project continues to develop but in the long run they should have little if any impact on the end user. Of course, you can always help by issuing bug tickets if anything about the program needs to be changed or there is a bug you noticed.

I decided to switch focus from finding things in forums to add to this project to doing an audit of this project in order to find and eliminate all bugs. This will take a couple of weeks to complete. I will do my best to upload the file each time I make any changes that correct bugs.

In this version I added a few GUI programs for system maintenance tasks, added a ton of plugins to the Pidgin installation and made a few small changes.

I also started mining ubuntugeek.com for information on what to modify in my project. picks up his pickaxe Hi ho, Hi ho, it's off to work I go...

Oh...and I am not sure if anything I added is useless or unnecessary so feel free to issue tickets or post in the forum to tell me if anything should be omitted. It all seems useful in the articles i am reading but some of them could contain outdated information.

I had to remove Conky from the installed items, there is an error after a recent update that disables it by causing a "can't find font" error. As such I will re-add it if a later update fixes this issue. As always, any versions involving fixes that resolve usability issues are immediately uploaded as the latest version.

I just posted a bug fix as the latest file, it involved removing an incomplete option I missed when updating last weekend.

I am a few hours late in updating but, well, better late than never.

Version 1.2 includes a couple of new options, updates for a few current options and plenty of bug and annoyance fixes. I also added compositing for most of the window managers that are interchangeable on compatible desktops so far.

I am going through the how to articles found at Ubuntu Forums (http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=100) to look for ideas on improving my work, of course suggestions from other people are always beneficial.... read more

I thought that having a feature that auto selected dependencies in the menu would be interesting. It worked but I came to realize it would be seen by people as an annoyance or a bug so it has been depreciated in favour of just enabling the dependencies when the user chooses to install the selected items.

NOW the bugs in the window manager changer portion are squashed.

I also altered the Docky install routine so the "restart if terminated when set to start automatically" daemon is optional since it can be annoying to some people and is only necessary if Docky crashes repeatedly without an error message.