jfeilbach

Ubuntu 24.04 server annoyances

snapd

Do a minimal install and select no additional packages to install. This will not install any snaps on your system. If you like snaps, skip this step and may god have mercy on your soul. When you run snap list you see something like this:

No snaps are installed yet. Try 'snap install hello-world'.

Ubuntu 24.04 LTS Gaming Setup

Gaming on Linux is very easy these days. You can install your OS, install Steam, install a game and hit "Play" and it should work. I use Ubuntu because I have been using it for so long and know both the distro and Gnome well. I made this mostly for myself. Maybe someone will find it useful. This small guide will not discuss the OS install and setup. You should be able to do that on your own. If you are new to Linux there are plenty of guides to help you. If you are running on a VM you are on your own.

More than anyone else, Valve has progressed the Linux gaming experience significantly. Both Nvidia and AMD have very good GPU drivers for Linux. This is especially true for AMD who contribute to the open source AMD driver directly. If you do not have a specific reason to get an Nvidia card get an AMD GPU for use in Linux. Rasterization performance is very good for AMD GPUs. Ray tracing is better with Nvidia graphics cards. Frame rates are generally better without the Windows ove

Usually this works for most people, but never does for me on Ubuntu.

curl -s 'https://raw.githubusercontent.com/zerotier/ZeroTierOne/main/doc/contact%40zerotier.com.gpg' | gpg --import && \ if z=$(curl -s 'https://install.zerotier.com/' | gpg); then echo "$z" | sudo bash; fi

The minimum compiler versions required are GCC/G++ 8.x or CLANG/CLANG++ 5.x.
Linux makefiles automatically detect and prefer clang/clang++ if present as it produces smaller and slightly faster binaries in most cases. You can override by supplying CC and CXX variables on the make command line.
Rust for x86_64 and ARM64 targets if SSO is enabled in the build.

Ubuntu desktop 24.04 Annoyances

This is a collection of annoyances that I have had to fix for myself while using the Ubuntu 24.04 desktop. Snaps are obviously the most annoying thing that Ubuntu does. Especially for Firefox. If you need to use smart cards or other tools with Firefox you may consider removing the snap version. I don't know the steps to completely remove snapd from a desktop system and retain all the functionality provided by those snap applications. I update this doc when I can remember.

Set vim as default editor

The Ubuntu install defaults to some weird text editor called nano. I have no idea how it works. I think it is new. You can change the default text editor.

sudo update-alternatives --config editor

You may need to install a more complete vim editor instead of the tiny vim that is installed by default.

Ubuntu 24.04 Firefox snap replacement

I need a proper Firefox installation and not the snap version. The snap version does not work properly with Smart Cards. Although it seems to be possible to get it to work with smart cards it is extremely difficult and I don't care to try and make it work. This is not a tutorial on how to get your PIV or CAC to work. Also snaps suck. Canonical will heopfully abandon snaps in the future.

Remove Snap Firefox

sudo snap disable firefox
sudo snap remove --purge firefox
error: cannot perform the following tasks:
- Remove data for snap "firefox" (1943) (unlinkat /var/snap/firefox/common/host-hunspell/en_ZA.dic: read-only file system)

	Computer Information:
	Manufacturer: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
	Model: ROG STRIX B550-F GAMING WIFI II
	Form Factor: Desktop
	No Touch Input Detected
	Processor Information:
	CPU Vendor: AuthenticAMD
	CPU Brand: AMD Ryzen 9 5900XT 16-Core Processor
	CPU Family: 0x19
	CPU Model: 0x21

	sudo apt install lm-sensors
	sudo apt install curl apt-transport-https
	curl -O "https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/coolercontrol/coolercontrol/setup.deb.sh" #add repo
	`or add the following lines to /etc/apt/sources.d/coolercontrol-coolercontrol.list`
	```
	deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/coolercontrol-coolercontrol-archive-keyring.gpg] https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/coolercontrol/coolercontrol/deb/ubuntu noble main
	deb-src [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/coolercontrol-coolercontrol-archive-keyring.gpg] https://dl.cloudsmith.io/public/coolercontrol/coolercontrol/deb/ubuntu noble main
	```
	Import GPG key
	```

	#!/bin/bash
	# only works if last added torrent
	# i could make this better but i don't care
	unset GREP_COLOR

	NC='\033[0m' # No color
	green='\033[0;32m' # Green
	white='\033[0;37m' # White
	red='\033[0;31m' # Red
	cyan='\e[0;36m' # Cyan

	#!/bin/bash
	# only needed on transmission-daemon < version 4
	key="<key>"
	host="localhost:9091"
	total=$(transmission-remote ${host} -l \| tail -n 2 \|head -n 1 \| awk '{ print $1 }')
	echo -e "Found ${total} torrents...\n"
	echo -e "Inserting ${key} ...\n"
	for i in $(seq 1 $total) ; do
	id=$(transmission-remote ${host} -t ${i} -it \| grep 'Tracker' \| head -n 1 \| awk '{ print $3 }')
	if [ "$id" = "https://example.com:443" ]; then

	export PS1="%{$(tput setaf 40)%}%n%{$(tput setaf 220)%}@%{$(tput setaf 214)%}%m %{$(tput setaf 33)%}%1~ %{$(tput sgr0)%}$ "
	export PS1="%{%F{40}%}%n%{%F{220}%}@%{%F{214}%}%m %{%F{33}%}%1~ %{%f%}$ "