20 May 2019

This page attempts to capture the process of installling ubuntu on a SLAC desktop machine.

News

6/14/2019 - the 'old' comet (rhel6-64) is replaced with a fresh install of ubuntu 18.04.2

References relating to the building and configuration of a Ubuntu desktop machine at SLAC.

Downloading ubuntu and create a bootable dvd

These instructions assume one is running on an existing rhel6-64 machine.
(6/14/2019)

  1. At https://ubuntu.com, select "Ubuntu Desktop" LTS (Long-term support) which is currently v18.04.2
  2. Download.  The file should be ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso and is about 1.9 GB in size
  3. Insert a fresh DVD (4.7 GB) into the drive
  4. $ cdrecord -v -dev='/dev/scd0' ubuntu-18.04.2-desktop-amd64.iso
    If you are uncertain as to the proper device name, you may use the command "cdrecord --devices" to find out.

Install ubuntu

(6/14/2019)

  1. Boot from installation disc created above
  2. Select "Normal Install" (rather than "Minimal")
  3. Follow your nose...
  4. At some point, the installation script will assess the contents of your system disk.  There are several choices: automatic install (empty disk or overwrite anything that is already there); install along side whatever is already there; create your own partitions.  Select this last option.

  5. Now you will see a list of all the hard drives on the computer (typically only one).  Select "New Partition Table", and then manually add partitions from the table below.

    Mount pointSize (GB)Notes
    /boot2 
    /30 
    /home30 
    swap24(I selected 3x RAM, but need not be this large)
    /opt40 
    /tmp10 
    /var10 
    /scswork10 
    /usr/vice/cache5 
    /scratchall remaining 

  6. Define your local account.  NOTE: this should NOT be the same as your SLAC unix account userid.

  7. Allow the installation to proceed.  (~10 min)
  8. Reboot, remove the installation dvd, and log in!
  9. One of the first items will be the OS will want to download and install a hefty number of updates.  (~10 min)
  10. Begin the process of installing various packages (see next section)
dragon1@comet:~$ uname -a
Linux comet 4.18.0-21-generic #22~18.04.1-Ubuntu SMP Thu May 16 15:07:19 UTC 2019 x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

 

Installed software

In addition to the "Normal Installation" of ubuntu, the following packages have been installed.

PackageDate
Installed		ProcedureDescription 
curl6/14/2019sudo apt install curlfile transfer command 
go-chef6/14/2019curl http://yum.slac.stanford.edu/go-chef | sudo /bin/sh

This integrates a freshly installed OS into the SLAC family

Note: if you need to re-install the OS, then one must first "reset" chef with the following

curl yum/ungo-chef | sudo /bin/sh

 
chrome6/14/2019https://www.google.com/chromeFollow the download instructions for the debian/ubuntu build, which should automatically trigger the "Ubuntu Software" installer 
slack6/14/2019Ubuntu Software (app)Communication 
gtop6/14/2019Ubuntu Software (app)System monitor 
gir*6/14/2019sudo apt-get install gir1.2-gtop-2.0 gir1.2-networkmanager-1.0  gir1.2-clutter-1.0Dependency for 'system-monitor' shell extension (puts system performance plots in top bar) 
 6/14/2019   
     
     

 

Tweaks & Adjustments

AdjustmentPurpose
$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.session idle-delay 3600Increase screen blanking to 1 hour
  
  

 

Gotchas

None yet!

 

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