Setting Up Elementary Os Freya

I  upgraded my laptop to Freya, the latest version of Elementary OS, and wanted to go over the changes I made to customize my setup. You can grab the download from the Elementary OS website. If you need help installing it, there are a number of tutorials online.

After booting up the computer for the first time, it’s a good idea to run any updates before making changes. Open the terminal and run;

$ sudo apt-get update

$ sudo apt-get upgrade

Next, I install Firefox and uninstall Midori. Although Midori is a good browser, I am more comfortable in Firefox and have a number of add-ons I like using.

$ sudo apt-get install firefox

$ sudo apt-get remove midori*

Install Elementary Tweaks for Freya. If you used Luna, you are probably familiar with Elementary Tweaks. A nice little program that lets you make some visual changes to the desktop. In Freya, the program has been completely re-done and improved, so you’ll need to add a new repository and install.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mpstark/elementary-tweaks-daily $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install elementary-tweaks

Once Elementary Tweaks is installed. Go to Settings -> Tweaks.

Under Appearance, I  turned on Prefer Dark Theme.

Under Plank, I changed Icon Size to 42, hide mode to Auto hide, theme to transparent, and position to Left.

I liked the wallpaper I had on my old Luna installation, so I just re-installed them in Freya. $ sudo apt-get install elementary-wallpaper-extra

Sublime Text 3 is my go-to text editor and where most my work is done. It’s a must on any machine. There isn’t an official PPA, but the always helpful Web Updt8 Team has a solution.

$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:webupd8team/sublime-text-3 $ sudo apt-get update $ sudo apt-get install sublime-text-installer

Now for my graphics program. I have come to really like Krita.

$ sudo apt-get install krita

Lastly I wanted to include a couple keyboard shortcuts I use constantly.

Super + Space - Open the Application menu and lets you search for a program to launch.

Super + S - Opens the desktop and window switcher

One thing still missing, Wing-Panel-Slim. I used this on Elementary OS Luna. It made it possible to customize the top bar on the desktop. It’s not a huge concern, but a little tweak that made the desktop just a little more customized.

If you have anything to add to this initial setup, let me know in the comments.