Here’s the much awaited list of things to do after installing Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
I’m sure you are excited about installing the brand new Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, a long-term support release which arrives after two years. This release brings some exciting updates, whereas a few “controversial” features as well.
In this list, we will talk about a few tweaks which might help you if you are planning to install it.
Table of Contents
Things to do after installing Ubuntu 24.04 LTS
Upgrade your Ubuntu
If you have already installed Ubuntu 24.04 LTS “Noble Numbat”, ensure it is up-to-date. Usually, there are a few packages to update after immediate installation. That said, launch a terminal window and run the following commands to get it updated.
sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade
Install another software manager
From the last release (Ubuntu 23.10) onwards, Ubuntu introduced us with their new App Center. In this release, it became the official application for managing software. But it has its limitation such as it can only show Snap apps and few selected Debian apps. You cannot configure it to retrieve other app store applications such as Flatpak apps from Flathub.
Thankfully, there are other apps available which can help you to close these limitations.
For the command line, you can use “gdebi”, which is a great program to install any Debian package. It’s powerful because it downloads all dependencies at runtime.
sudo apt install gdebi
Another great GUI-based application you can choose is Synaptic. It is one of the oldest applications to manage applications using its easy-to-use GUI. You can search, remove any software, as well as configure repositories as well.
sudo apt install synaptic
Remove Firefox Snap and install a deb version
By this time, you’re already familiar with Firefox being the Snap package for Ubuntu desktops. Now, for an average user, it may not differentiate much. But many users may not like the Snap package for several reasons. Although, Snap experience is improving every day, but many still prefer native deb packages.
Thanks to Mozilla, who recently introduced a dedicated PPA for installing Firefox stable.
To completely remove Firefox Snap, you can refer my guide on this page. This is the first step you should do. The follow the instructions on the same page for installing Firefox as deb or Flatpak package.
Also, I would like to point out that this is an optional step. If you are okay with Firefox Snap, you can skip this step.
Remove Thunderbird Snap and install a deb version
From this release onwards, Canonical also introduced Thunderbird email client as a Snap package published by themselves. You can also remove the thunderbird Snap using the below commands:
sudo snap remove thunderbird
cd ~/snap
rm -r thunderbird
After removing Thunderbird Snap, you can either install it as Flatpak via Flathub. Or, you can use the below PPA for installation.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/ppa
sudo apt install thunderbird
For installing Thunderbird as Flatpak, you can first set up your system as Flatpak and install it using the below command.
flatpak install flathub org.mozilla.Thunderbird
Remove Snap completely
This is an advanced tip, which is optional. If you want to declutter your Ubuntu installation from Snap completely, you can do it using the steps outlined in my guide. Although, for general users, it may not matter much. But you can still go ahead and remove Snap completely from Ubuntu.
Install Flatpak Support and Enable Flathub
The official Flathub repository has thousands of open-source applications, and it’s growing every day. No matter the arguments, Flatpaks are here to stay.
To enable Flatpak in Ubuntu 24.04 LTS, follow the below commands:
sudo apt install flatpak
flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo
reboot
Also, if you are keen to learn more about this process, read this nice guide, we published a while ago on how to install Flatpak apps from Flathub.
Review Privacy Settings
Here are a few privacy tips which you may want to do at the very beginning of your installation.
Ubuntu enables backend reporting of your usage by defaults and there are no UI settings to disable it. To disable backend reporting, you can open a terminal and run the below command.
sudo ubuntu-report -f send no
Furthermore, to ensure that location services are off, open settings. Then select Privacy and Security > Location. Turn off the Automation Device Location option. You can also verify which of the apps are using location services.
Explore GNOME 46
Ubuntu 24.04 LTS features the latest GNOME 46 desktop environment. You may want to briefly understand what it has to offer. GNOME 46 brings a revamped Files application which brings global search, integrated side panel and many performance improvements. You can feel the snappier desktop experience in overall Ubuntu, thanks to GNOME 46.
You can visit my detailed recap of the best features of GNOME 46.
Explore additional software
It’s important to ensure you can play all video and audio formats on your Ubuntu desktop. If you skipped the extra package installation during the setup, you could install them via the below commands.
sudo apt install ubuntu-restricted-extras
This should settle any video or audio playback problem on Ubuntu. Especially with GNOME Videos, which can’t play anything by default.
If you opted for the newly offered minimal install, you may want to install a few basic apps applicable for all use cases. Because, the minimal install only comes with a few basic apps.
Hence, here’s a quick list of generic apps which I think you can go ahead and install.
- GIMP – Advanced photo editor
- VLC – Media play that plays anything without the need for additional codecs
- Leafpad – A lightweight text editor (even lightweight from default gedit)
- Synaptic – A far better package manager
- Gradience – Change the look of GTK4/Adwaita apps and colours!
Command to install them:
sudo apt install -y gimp vlc leafpad synaptic
Prepare Backup
Make sure you prepare for backup from the beginning. We always feel the necessity for backup when we run into difficult situations. Please create system restore points after you install a fresh Ubuntu. It might take a few GBs of your disk space. But you will thank for this later when you run into issues.
The easiest way to do that is by using the app Timeshift.
Here are the commands you can run from the terminal to install. After installation, you can open and follow the on-screen instructions to set up a backup.
To install it from the stable repo (recommended):
sudo apt install timeshift
Bonus Tips
Explore cool GNOME Extensions
The GNOME 46 desktop in this release is sufficient with basic settings. However, if you want to further customize GNOME with blur effects, top bar items and quick settings, then you may try the following guides, which I prepared exclusively for separate components of the GNOME desktop.
- 20 best GNOME Extensions for everyone
- Best extensions for GNOME top bar
- Best extensions for GNOME quick settings
Configure TLP
You must take care of your laptop battery if you are a heavy laptop user. While no battery is everlasting, you can still take some steps to ensure it lasts longer. The TLP is one of the best programs available on Linux, which helps to do that automatically. All you need to do is install it using the following command and run.
sudo apt install tlp
As per the recommendation, always keep the battery strength between 50% to 80%. Don’t overcharge or let it discharge below 50%. Don’t keep it plugged into power continuously.
Install some great fonts
Fonts impact everything. It’s one of the small yet impactful settings. However, Ubuntu comes with a default “Ubuntu regular” font, which is also good.
But you can also go ahead and install some nice fonts from Ubuntu’s official repo. Here is some command to install them.
sudo apt install fonts-roboto fonts-cascadia-code fonts-firacode
After installation, you can change the font using the GNOME Tweak tool.
Closing Notes
This version of “things to do” is a little different, as you noticed. Unfortunately, a few tips are undoing the “changes” from Ubuntu to make life easier.
So, there you have it. A few basic steps to make your life easy with the newly released Ubuntu 24.04 LTS. I hope this helps and that you get to install & tweak your desktop with further customization. In the comment box, let me know your best after-install tips on Ubuntu.
