Rafael Santos Blog

A collection of tech articles I have been writting over the years for my own future reference.

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Linux Mint Tweaks

Useful tweaks for linux distribution based on debian (ubuntu, mint, etc).

Turn on the firewall

It is turned off by default. Normally, you just need to search for firewall in your distribution menu.

Apt Install Essential

Essential apps

sudo apt install vim curl git vlc vlc-plugin-fluidsynth gimp htop virt-manager

flatpak install flathub com.brave.Browser

Apt Remove Bloat

sudo apt remove mono-runtime-common apt-xapian-index pidgin hexchat thunderbird gnote sticky

Do nothing when laptop lid is closed

Edit /etc/systemd/logind.conf and set HandleLidSwitch=ignore

cp /etc/systemd/logind.conf /etc/systemd/logind.conf.bk
echo 'HandleLidSwitch=ignore' >> /etc/systemd/logind.conf

Reduce grub timeout

If you are using grub for boot management (e.g.: when you have a dual boot) you may want to reduce the default timeout.

sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.bk
sudo vim /etc/default/grub
# Change the value of GRUB_TIMEOUT to 1
GRUB_TIMEOUT=1
sudo update-grub

Increase swap file size

https://arcolinux.com/how-to-increase-the-size-of-your-swapfile/

# Turn off all swap processes
sudo swapoff -a

# Resize the swap to 20Gb
sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/swapfile bs=1G count=20

# Make the file usable as swap
sudo mkswap /swapfile

# Check usage
free -m

Change swapping tendency

The tendency to swap 60 is a good value for servers. For normal home use a lower value is more adequate.

# Check current value
cat /proc/sys/vm/swappiness
# Backup current configuration
sudo cp /etc/sysctl.conf /etc/sysctl.conf.bk
sudo vim /etc/sysctl.conf

# Add the following line
# Reduce the swap tendency 
vm.swappiness = 1

Mount additional partitions at startup

If you have additional partitions you may want to mount them during startup. See more details at: What Is the Linux fstab File, and How Does It Work?

# List devices by UUID
sudo blkid

# Create a mount point
mkdir /home/YOUR_HOME_USER/files

# Add the partition in etc/fstab
# Mount extra HDD at startup
UUID=YOUR_UUID  /home/YOUR_HOME_USER/files  ext4  relatime,noexec  0  2
# Mount extra HDD at startup (alternative options)
LABEL=YOUR_LABEL /mnt/YOUR_DESIRED_FOLDER_NAME auto defaults,rw,user,x-gvfs-show,noauto 0 0

Enable Hibernate

Based on this excellent tutorial: https://forums.linuxmint.com/viewtopic.php?t=273202

Lookup for your swap partition:

cat /etc/fstab

Backup your grub config:

sudo cp /etc/default/grub.bk /etc/default/grub

Edit your grub config:

GRUB_CMDLINE_LINUX_DEFAULT="quiet splash resume=UUID=putYourSwapUUIDhere"

Update your grup:

sudo update-grub

Docker

Follow this guide if you are running Linux Mint: Install Docker on Linux Mint

Configure docker to run without sudo.

sudo groupadd docker
sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
newgrp docker 
docker run hello-world

Ghostty

See Ghostty Install

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/mkasberg/ghostty-ubuntu/HEAD/install.sh)"

Bash Improvements

Yazi

Download and instal .deb files: https://github.com/sxyazi/yazi/releases

Install extra options:

apt install ffmpeg 7zip jq poppler-utils fd-find ripgrep fzf zoxide imagemagick

Create a keyboard shortcut: .bashrc

# Change dir with yazi bound to ctrl+e
function cd-yazi() {
        local tmp="$(mktemp -t "yazi-cwd.XXXXXX")" cwd
        command yazi "$@" --cwd-file="$tmp"
        IFS= read -r -d '' cwd < "$tmp"
        rm -f -- "$tmp"

        # Insert at cursor position
        local final_path=$cwd
        local left=${READLINE_LINE:0:$READLINE_POINT}
        local right=${READLINE_LINE:$READLINE_POINT}
        READLINE_LINE="${left}${final_path}${right}"
        READLINE_POINT=$(( ${#left} + ${#final_path} ))
}
bind -x '"\C-e": cd-yazi'

Calendar

sudo apt install ncal
cp ~/.bashrc ~/.bashrc.bk
echo "alias cal='ncal -C3'" >> ~/.bashrc

Mix

.inputrc

# Ctrl-Delete: delete next word
"\e[3;5~": shell-kill-word

# Ctrl-Backspace: delete previous word
"\C-H": shell-backward-kill-word

NodeJS via Node Version Manager

Github official page: https://github.com/nvm-sh/nvm

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.38.0/install.sh | bash

# Need to exit and reopen the current terminal so the changes take effect
nvm install node
node -v
npm -v

Desktop Tweaks

Cinnamon

Turn off effects

Menu Button >> Preferences >> Effects
Turn everything [off]

Menu button >> Preferences >> System Settings >> General
Disable compositing for full-screen windows [off]

Menu button >> Preferences >> Window Tiling [off]

Keyboard Shortcuts

Export shortcuts:

dconf dump /org/cinnamon/desktop/keybindings/ > dconf-settings.conf

Import shortcuts:

dconf load /org/cinnamon/desktop/keybindings/ < dconf-settings.conf

My dconf-settings.conf

[/]
looking-glass-keybinding=@as []

[media-keys]
terminal=['<Super>t']

[wm]
maximize=@as []
maximize-horizontally=['<Super>h']
maximize-vertically=['<Super>y']
minimize=['<Super>comma']
move-to-side-e=['<Super>Right']
move-to-side-n=['<Super>Up']
move-to-side-s=['<Super>Down']
move-to-side-w=['<Super>Left']
move-to-workspace-left=['<Super>u']
move-to-workspace-right=['<Super>p']
push-tile-down=@as []
push-tile-left=@as []
push-tile-right=@as []
push-tile-up=@as []
switch-monitor=['XF86Display']
switch-to-workspace-left=['<Super>j']
switch-to-workspace-right=['<Super>semicolon']
toggle-maximized=['<Super>m']