Update: KDE Neon has been rebased on Ubuntu 18.04, see here for an updated post.
These days I really like using KDE Neon, it seems faster and more polished than Kubuntu, and since it is using Kubuntu 16.04 as a base, it has all the packages I need. These are some notes I made for myself for things I need to do after a fresh install. This is for KDE Neon based on 16.04.
Firstly, update the system:
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y dist-upgrade
sudo reboot
Install Google Chrome
wget -q -O - https://dl-ssl.google.com/linux/linux_signing_key.pub | sudo apt-key add -
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64] http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb/ stable main" >> /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list'
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install google-chrome-stable
sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/google.list*
Install Development Essentials
curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_8.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
sudo apt-get install git mysql-client mysql-server libmysqlclient-dev curl lzip lunzip plzip filezilla uget build-essential cmake automake autoconf libc6-i386 libncurses5:i386 libstdc++6:i386 lib32z1 libc6:i386 libbz2-1.0:i386 tree htop unace unrar zip unzip p7zip-full p7zip-rar sharutils rar uudeview mpack arj cabextract file-roller kate libqtwebkit4 vim yakuake
Apply Basic Customization
- Move the task bar panel to the right, increase the size a little
- Select Alternatives, and pick Application Dashboard
- Configure Desktops to use Desktop View
- Open System Settings
- Switch Desktop theme to Breeze Dark
- Desktop Behavior: 4 workspaces/2 rows, set nav. keys same as Ubuntu
- In Window Managment: Select Flip Switch for Task Switcher
- Pin shortcuts to the task bar panel
Multimedia and Graphics
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:openshot.developers/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kubuntu-restricted-extras ffmpeg winff mencoder libdvdread4 icedax tagtool easytag id3tool lame libmad0 mpg321 libavcodec-extra flac faac faad libdvd-pkg libaacs0 libbluray-bdj audacious audacity cherrytree youtube-dl freeglut3-dev mesa-common-dev inkscape gimp gimp-data gimp-plugin-registry gimp-data-extras sox ffmpeg2theora libmpeg2-4 mpeg3-utils mpegdemux liba52-dev mpeg2dec vorbis-tools id3v2 mpg123 libflac++6v5:i386 libflac++6v5 libjpeg-progs libdvdcss2 libdvdnav4 kdenlive openshot-qt amarok
Install Microsoft Fonts
Update: This has been fixed in recent releases, the fonts install fine. You can skip this step, I’ll keep it here for reference only.
The ttf-mscorefonts installer fails in the restricted extras package, so we’ll do it ourselves.
sudo apt-get remove ttf-mscorefonts-installer
wget http://ftp.de.debian.org/debian/pool/contrib/m/msttcorefonts/ttf-mscorefonts-installer_3.6_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i ttf-mscorefonts-installer_3.6_all.deb
Configure VLC and get Steam
mkdir ~/.config/aacs
curl http://vlc-aacs.whoknowsmy.name/files/KEYDB.cfg > ~/.config/aacs/KEYDB.cfg
sudo apt-get install steam
Additional Drivers
Update: Installing the driver manager doesn’t seem to work for me anymore. I typically use the ubuntu-drivers now from the terminal:
sudo ubuntu-drivers autoinstall
That should install the recommened proprietary drivers and you can skip to the next step. However if you are curious and want a list of available packages that can be installed type:
sudo ubuntu-drivers list
To see which packages are available for each device type:
sudo ubuntu-drivers devices
To install a specific package type:
sudo apt-get install package_name
When you’ve installed your drivers, reboot:
sudo reboot
You can skip to the next step (Ruby and Rvm), the following is for reference only (it used to work):
sudo apt install kubuntu-driver-manager
Open Driver Manager from the Application Dashboard and install the recommended drivers.
sudo reboot
Ruby and Rvm
(See here for more info on installing Rails)
You can determine the latest version of ruby from here.
gpg2 --keyserver hkp://keys.gnupg.net --recv-keys 409B6B1796C275462A1703113804BB82D39DC0E3
curl -L https://get.rvm.io | bash -s stable
Add the following line to the end of the ~/.bashrc file to source rvm, save the file, close the terminal and re-open it.
source $HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm
Install the rvm requirements remembering to enter your password when prompted:
rvm requirements --autolibs=enable
Then install the latest version of Ruby (at the time of writing it was 2.4.2):
rvm install 2.4.2
rvm use --default 2.4.2
ruby -v
Office Utils
Add the lastest libreoffice ppa, at the time of writing it was 5.4:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:libreoffice/libreoffice-5-4
Install libreoffice and kontact:
sudo apt update && sudo apt install libreoffice libreoffice-style-breeze kontact
Create Folders
Some personal folders I use to orgranize stuff.
mkdir ~/Apps
mkdir ~/Projects
mkdir ~/CodeLib
Install Other Software
As per the instructions for Ubuntu 16.04, install:
Clean up, check settings
sudo apt autoremove
flutter config --no-analytics
sudo usermod -a -G vboxusers $USER
~/.bashrc should contain something like this at the end:
export DOTNET_CLI_TELEMETRY_OPTOUT=1
export ANDROID_HOME=$HOME/Android/Sdk
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.rvm/bin:$HOME/Apps/flutter/bin:$ANDROID_HOME/tools:$ANDROID_HOME/platform-tools"
source $HOME/.rvm/scripts/rvm
Final Configuration
- Set email addresses in Kontact
- Install Flutter and Dart plugins in IntelliJ
- Configure the Windows/Delphi VM
Beyond Velocity 
Thanks! Very very detailed and useful information! Neon is amazing!
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You are most welcome. I need to update the instructions as KDE NEON keeps getting better, some older work arounds are no longer needed, and later versions of software (such as Libreoffice) are now available. The Android Emulator is so good now, I don’t use GenyMotion anymore. I think NEON will be based on Ubuntu Bionic shortly too. Yup, NEON is amazing!
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