5 Useful Tricks for Ubuntu Power Users
Power users are the oft-adored geeks that everyone else looks up to; they do things that are seemingly complicated, they know what a proxy is, and they may or may not tweak with their neighbors unprotected wifi. Many desire to enter the Fraternity of Power Users, but few know where to start. If you’re a power user coming from a different operating system and want to get a foothold in Ubuntu, or if you’re an accomplished Ubuntu user looking to streamline your efficiency and workflow, these five tricks will take you to the next level.
Save App Instance
Let’s say that you have a dozen documents and spreadsheets open, as well as chat, a calculator, and a few other handy apps, when suddenly you need to leave your workstation. You’re left with two options: log out and have all of your programs close, or leave the station up and risk having your work messed with. The solution? Set Ubuntu to automatically restart any open applications from their last instance when you log back in.
To enable this useful feature, navigate to System > Preferences > Startup Applications. In the options tab, check the box next to ‘Automatically remember running applications....’ Save your work, then log out and log back in; the applications should restart from their previous point.
TIP: This depends on the version of Ubuntu you’re running. It works on mine, but mine is only one of many Ubuntu releases.
Edit Nautilus
Wouldn’t it be awesome to right-click on a file and see a list of options for things you commonly perform to those specific file types? For example, if you’re frequently converting videos to FLV so they can be uploaded online, or you like to convert your mp3 files into OGG Vorbis, you can edit Nautilus and add a menu option to run this process via whatever application you prefer, and you can do it so that the option only appears for the file type you choose (ie, the video-to-FLV will only appear on non-FLV videos).
There are a number of ways to do this, including some ready-to-implement extensions and actions, but the simplest method may be making your own. To do this, navigate to iSystem - Preferences - Nautilus Actions /i (if you don’t see it listed, run isudo apt-get install nautilus-actions/i first). From this small window you can either add a new action, delete an action, import an action that someone else has already created, or export an action you create so that other users can enjoy them as well.
Under the ‘label’ field, enter the name you want to appear on the Nautilus menu. You can add a tooltip, which will show a little menu if you hover the mouse over the icon, and in the last field you can add an icon. Though the first three fields are optional, the last two are not. In the ‘path’ field, enter the path of the application you want to perform the action. In the parameters, enter the line command that will be executed. In the next tab over (labeled ‘conditions’), specify the file types you would like this action to apply to using this method: *.mp3. This will make it so that whatever action you just created or imported will only be available when right-clicking on MP3 audio files.
TIP: If you can’t figure out where the application you want to use is located (and we don’t blame you, it can be complicated), open the Terminal and type i whereis application/i, substituting iapplication/i for the name of the actual program.
Learn Bash
If you don’t use the Terminal, it is time to start. This wonderful-yet-misunderstood box with a blinking cursor is your portal to the inner-workings of your system, to the logs that let you peer into your system’s mind, and the best way to make tweaks tailored to your needs.
Bash is the system of commands used from within the shell, and allows users to run (literally) hundreds of commands and processes that will make your life easier. If you’ve never used bash scripts, you should start with the most common commands, which vary based on what you use the system for.
Here’s a short list of some of the neat things you will can do with bash:
Date : this command will display the complete date and time.
Find : The find command can be used in addition to other bash commands to find certain file types, or files with certain names.
Whoami : If you’re uncertain about what kind of user the system is running as, entering whoami will show you.
These scripts might seem simplistic, but they are the most basic examples. As you learn to use scripts efficiently, the things you can do with them are nearly unlimited.
Run as Root
This suggestion will have undoubtedly made some toes curl, as the inherent danger is doing so is not worth the benefits of running as root…for some people. Whether you’re willing to run as root depends on a couple things, namely: what you’re doing on the machine; what your security level is; whether or not you’re online. If your machine is not connected to the Internet, the dangers of running as root are reduced, as most individuals invite (using the word loosely) hackers to their machine via unsafe Internet habits. In addition, if the machine isn’t used for sensitive activities, you run a firewall at the router-level, and you’re using an anti-virus application, the odds of being attacked are minimal.
So what are the benefits of running as root if there’s risks? Not having to type sudo su every time you’re going to do something a bit risky in the Terminal. This might not seem like a big thing, but when you’ve typed ‘sudo su’ for the hundredth time in a day, you’ll understand.
Separate Home Partition
There are two reasons to have a separate home partition in Ubuntu: there’s a new Ubuntu release every six months, and even if you don’t update, a separate partition makes it easy to reinstall the OS. If your home folder is located in the same partition as the rest of your install, reloading the machine or updating (except via the update manager) will cause you to not only lose your data (backup, backup!), but also all your settings. If you’ve spent precious hours creating Nautilus actions, tweaking folders, and hiding pr0n in random app packets, you’ll understand why this step how this step will make your life easier.
Creating a home folder in a separate partition isn’t particularly difficult, but it is too long to detail in this article. If you’re looking to do this, check out this awesome tutorial to learn how: http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/separatehome
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