Expanded Features and Changes

Welcome to my journey into the enhanced user experience of my new Ubuntu Linux OS remix. Today, I will be introducing you to some additional advanced features and modifications I made to further customize and optimize the operating system.

Additional New Features

ZSH with Oh-My-Zsh

In an effort to make your command line experience more efficient and pleasant, my remix now uses ZSH as the default shell, coupled with Oh-My-Zsh, an open-source, community-driven framework for managing your ZSH configuration. It does come with 2 plugins installed by default that I have setup as well.

Oh-My-Zsh comes with a lot of handy functions, helpers, plugins, and themes that will make your terminal work more enjoyable and productive.

$ echo $ZSH_THEME
jay

The theme that is installed by default is a theme that I modified from an exsiting theme

Chrony with Google Time Servers

Instead of the standard systemd-timesyncd, I switched to Chrony, a versatile and reliable time synchronization system. I configured Chrony to use Google’s time servers for accurate timekeeping and leap handling.

$ chronyc sources

OpenSSH Server

For secure remote administration and file transfers, I included the OpenSSH server package in our remix. It’s installed by default, so you’re ready to connect right out of the box.

$ systemctl status ssh

Flatpak

Flatpak is installed by default alongside Snapd, so you have the best of both worlds.

Packages

The following new applications are installed by default;

  • Obsidian via it being a flatpak
  • Terminator
  • Nala - A better package manager than apt etc
  • Gnome-tweaks
  • Numix-Circle-icons - Icons can be set to this via gnome-tweaks tool

A lot of default applications have been removed, so they can be either installed as a snap, flatpak or from the repos. depending on how you would prefer it, this also means you can get faster updates and better security if you use a Snap or Flatpak application. Not to mention less bloat is a good thing for resources as well as security.

Aliases

The following aliases are available as you user.

alias update='sudo nala upgrade -y; sudo nala autoremove -y; sudo nala clean; sudo snap refresh; flatpak update -y'
alias install='sudo nala install'
alias remove='sudo nala remove'
alias clean='history -c'
alias bye='systemctl poweroff'
alias grep='grep --color=auto'
alias fgrep='fgrep --color=auto'
alias egrep='egrep --color=auto'
alias diff='diff --color=auto'
alias ip='ip --color=auto'
alias ll='ls -alh'

Changes

Firewalld instead of UFW

I opted for Firewalld as the default firewall solution instead of UFW. Firewalld offers a dynamic, more feature-rich environment, and it’s enabled by default, ensuring your system’s security from the moment of installation.

$ sudo firewall-cmd --state

A Default .vimrc File

I am aware that every second spent on setting up your environment matters. That’s why I included a default .vimrc file with sane defaults. It gives you a solid starting point to personalize your Vim editor as per your needs.

$ cat ~/.vimrc

Systemd

DefaultTimeoutStopSec has been changed from the default 90s to now being 40s, so you will have faster system shutdowns.

Conclusion

These additions and modifications are part of what I wish Ubuntu had by default to make things be more modern and a better experience.

And remember, while I set these features as the default, one of the strengths of Linux is its flexibility. Feel free to explore, experiment and adjust your OS to fit your needs perfectly. Enjoy the journey!

Download

https://iso.cybermon.uk/ubuntu-23.04-desktop-remix-amd64.iso

https://iso.cybermon.uk/ubuntu-23.04-desktop-remix-amd64.md5