Top Things To Do After Installing Luna

After elementary OS Luna has been officially released, a surge of new eOS users has arrived, and we are here to help. Everyone, including me, loves a "Top Things To Do After Installing..." list, so let's get you started.

UPDATE

After you have a freshly installed copy of elementary OS Luna at your hand, the first thing you should do is check for updates. You can either use the Update Manager by clicking on Applications (located on the top left corner) and looking for it there, or by opening your terminal (shortcut to open: CTRL + ALT + T) and typing:

sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade
Updating your system is always a good idea. Updates include bug fixes, security patches, and new features!

MIDORI AND FLASH

eOS comes with the awesome lightweight browser Midori (pronounce it “midoɺi”, with a Spanish/ Japanese “r”). To get Flash working for it, you'll need to install ndiswrapper and do some tweaking, but don't fret, it's easier than it sounds. Just open up your Terminal (CTRL + ALT + T) and type in:

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-installer nspluginwrapper
sudo nspluginwrapper -i /usr/lib/flashplugin-installer/libflashplayer.so
nspluginwrapper -v -a -n -i

Update: Lewis Goddard has created a script that fixes flash in Midori if the above does not work for you here. Just follow the instructions provided there.

That's it, Midori should run Flash now!

OTHER BROWSERS

If you prefer to use Firefox or Chromium, no problem!

Install Firefox
You can set up Firefox to fit in elementary OS perfectly as described here.

Like Chrome/Chromium? No Problem.

Install Chromium
Theme Chromium to fit into eOS as described here.

COMMUNITY PPA

Elementary Update has set up a community driven repository for third party applications, themes and more, all tailored to fit right into eOS. You can easily add the PPA to your system by opening your Terminal (CTRL + ALT + T) and typing:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:versable/elementary-update
sudo apt-get update
With the community PPA enabled you can now do the following.

ELEMENTARY TWEAKS

You might be familiar with Gnome Tweak Tool or Ubuntu Tweak. Well, for elementary OS we have elementary Tweaks. With elementary Tweaks you can easily change advanced settings that are otherwise hidden in elementary OS and more!

Install elementary Tweaks
Once installed, you'll be able to access it by opening the System Settings and clicking on Tweaks. There are even more options in Tweaks that you can unlock by reading on and following the instructions.

WINGPANEL SLIM

Wingpanel, the super sexy space-saving top panel of eOS, is great as it is, but you might want something even more space saving due to a small screen or your personal preference. +Heath Paddock has forked Wingpanel and coded the awesome Wingpanel Slim. It is customizable through elementary Tweaks once installed.

Install Wingpanel Slim
Once installed, open elementary Tweaks, activate Wingpanel Slim by hitting the switch, and customize it to your liking.

INDICATOR SYNAPSE

+Tom Beckmann, the developer behind Gala, elementary's Window Manager, has coded a search indicator based on Synapse.

Install Indicator Synapse
Once installed, log out and back in and you'll have a search icon in your panel. You can change the keyboard shortcut with elementary Tweaks!

APPS

There are also a bunch of elementary styled applications in the Community PPA. Here is a list of their package name and a short description:

• audience - A modern media player
• birdie-granite - Twitter client for elementary OS
• cable - IRC client for elementary OS
• etube - Youtube viewer for elementary OS
• feedler - Awesome RSS reader
• foto - A very simple image viewer
• gazette - Clock, news and weather for your desktop
• nuvolaplayer - cloud music integration

Install Third Party Apps

THEMES

Albeit the awesome default elementary theme, the community has created a slew of astonishing themes and icon themes too.

• elementary-blue-theme
• elementary-champagne-theme
• elementary-colors-theme
• elementary-dark-theme
• elementary-harvey-theme
• elementary-lion-theme
• elementary-matteblack-theme
• elementary-milk-theme
• elementary-plastico-theme
• elementary-whit-e-theme

Install Themes

ICON THEMES

The same goes for icon themes that have been customized to fit eOS, here is the available list:

• elementary-elfaenza-icons
• elementary-emod-icons
• elementary-enumix-utouch-icons
• elementary-nitrux-icons
• elementary-taprevival-icons

Install Icon Themes

OTHER THEMES

If you like the default elementary OS icon theme, you should install elementary-thirdparty-icons, which provides additional icons for thirdparty apps:

Install Icons for Thirdparty Apps
Additionally, you can install extra Plank (the Dock that elementary OS uses) themes:

Install Dock Themes
How about some awesome new wallpapers?

Install Wallpapers Collection

UPDATE YOUR KERNEL

Since elementary OS is based on Ubuntu 12.04, it uses a rather outdated kernel. If you have any hardware issues, you might be able to fix them by installing a backport of Ubuntu's 13.04 Kernel. Although some users report that newer kernels don't work well for them. Note: You can always revert.

Install Raring Generic Linux
Reboot and it should work! If booting fails, you can boot with your old kernel by holding down SHIFT during the boot process, you can now choose your old kernel, boot up, and remove the linux-generic-lts-raring package from Software Center.
That's it! You should be all set to customize elementary OS Luna to your needs.

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5 New Awesome Elementary Themes

Recently, Deviantart users kxmylo and rhoconlinux have been working hard on themes, specifically tailored to work with elementaryOS. We have added them to our Community PPA for your convenience. Let's have a look, shall we?

Blue

The Blue theme from kxmylo does not only bring a warm and friendly feeling to your desktop, it also comes with custom icons to polish this great theme. If you have the Community PPA enabled, simply install the theme with your Terminal:
sudo apt-get install elementary-blue-theme Use elementary Tweaks to change your theme and don't forget to use the Blue icon theme as well.

Colors

Another great theme from kxmylo is Colors. It playfully brings a colorful and beautiful palette to your elementaryOS desktop. Install it with:
sudo apt-get install elementary-colors-theme

Lion

The OSX inspired theme Lion from kxmylo brings a vibrant and polished look to your Desktop that is definitely worth checking out:
sudo apt-get install elementary-lion-theme

Champagne

This elementary based theme from rhoconlinux brings a nice alternative to the default elementaryOS theme. Get it with:
sudo apt-get install elementary-champagne-theme

Milk

The final and very professional theme Milk from rhoconlinux brightens up your desktop and brings a lot of features with it, such as Wingpanel Slim compatibility. Install it with:
sudo apt-get install elementary-milk-theme
Be sure to thank Camilo "kxmylo" Higuita and Rho Con Linux for their hard and awesome work!

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Top 5 elementary-Style 3rd-Party Apps

There are a plenty of 3rd party apps, which follow the elementary HIG (Human Interface Guidelines).

Here are some of our favorites.

Number 5: GWoffice

GWoffice is a Google Docs Client, made by +Tom Beckmann.

You can create a new document, spreadsheet or presentation, or you can open an existing one. You can also download your work and delete it. GWoffice will also show who can view the document: everyone, or just you?

You can also make tabs, just like in every other web browser.

To install open up the terminal and type in:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:tombeckmann/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install gwoffice

Number 4: Foto (album manager)

The Foto Album manager, written by Erasmo Marin, lets you, manage all your photos and create albums. Because it's still in development, it's not good at handling big files and it sometimes crashes.

To install it, type into the terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:erasmo-marin/foto-daily-builds
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install foto

Number 3: Agenda

Agenda is a little tiny app, which lets you make quick to-do lists. If you are done with them, you can click on the check box, and boom, the task is not there anymore.

To install it, type into the terminal:

sudo apt-add-repository ppa:agenda-developers/daily
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install agenda-tasks

Number 2: Eidete

Eidete is a super simple screen recording app, written by Tom Beckmann, which lets you record your whole desktop or just parts of it. The quality of the videos are fairly good.

To install it, type into the terminal:

sudo apt-get install eidete

Number 1: Birdie

Birdie is a super sexy Twitter-Client written by Ivo Nunes and Vasco Nunes. Daniel Fore and Mustapha Asbbar made the design. This Client can do everything you want a twitter-client to do:

• Tweeting (pictures are automatically uploaded to imgur)
• Replying
• Re-Tweeting
• Favoriting Tweets
• Showing your Mentions
• Showing your PM's
• Showing your profile
• Searching
• Picture display

apt-add-repository ppa:birdie-team/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install birdie

Want more 3rd-party apps? Check out this list.

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Top 5 Plank Themes

Plank's default Pantheon-theme in elementary really looks nice, but there are other awesome themes available.
Here are 5 of them.

Number 5: Default

Plank's Default theme is a nice, minimalist, grey-ish theme.

There's no download link available because it's included by default in elementary OS.

Number 4: HUD

The HUD theme is darker than the default theme. The glow underneath the applications is more visible, a nice feature.

Download it here.

Number 3: Transparent

The Transparent theme uses a tiny, tiny black space at the bottom of Plank. You can barely see it.

Download it here.

Number 2: Glass Pill

Glass Pill is a blue-ish theme for Plank, which takes up more space than the themes before and looks like, well... a glass pill.

Download it here.

Number 1: Darktheon

Darktheon is, as the name says, a darker version of the pantheon theme. It gives it a really nice style. The glow underneath the symbols is especially nice to look at.

Download it here. (Credit: Colton Allen)

Are there themes we missed that you think should have been in our top five? Leave them in the comments!

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