🆕 Clean & Minimal Ubuntu — Post-Install Setup Guide

Covers Ubuntu 24.04 LTS and Ubuntu 26.04 LTS. Differences between versions are clearly marked.

When installing Ubuntu, choose Default Selection (just the essentials — web browser and basic utilities).

💻 System Info & Useful Commands

# Check Ubuntu version
lsb_release -a
sudo dmidecode -s bios-version

# Display hostname and key system info
hostnamectl

# Show disk usage — sorted largest first
du -h -s * | sort -h -r
#If you want to delete everything under ~/.config/Code except User/settings.json, you can use find
find ~/.config/Code -mindepth 1 \
  ! -path ~/.config/Code/User \
  ! -path ~/.config/Code/User/settings.json \
  -delete

⭐ Update, Upgrade, Fixes & nala

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade
# combined
sudo apt update -y && sudo apt upgrade -y
# Useful apt helpers
apt search <keyword>
sudo apt --fix-broken install
sudo apt autoremove --purge
sudo apt autopurge

Install nala (better apt frontend)

sudo apt install nala

# Edit nala config for binary file sizes:
# Set to true for MiB, false for MB
sudo nano /etc/nala/nala.conf
filesize_binary = true

# or this single command
sudo sed -i '/^filesize_binary[[:space:]]*=/c\filesize_binary = true' /etc/nala/nala.conf

🔥 Purge Unnecessary Packages

Remove Ubuntu Report & Crash Popups

Ubuntu 24.04

sudo apt purge ubuntu-report apport apport-gtk

Ubuntu 26.04

sudo apt purge ubuntu-report apport apport-core-dump-handler apport-gtk

Ubuntu 24.04 / 26.04 — Remove Accessibility & Internationalization Packages (~390–437 MB)

# Accessibility tools (~117 MB)
sudo apt purge brltty orca gnome-accessibility-themes fonts-noto-cjk

# Optional language/input/speech packages. Blob errors, safe to ignore (~294 MB)
sudo apt purge speech-dispatcher* libpinyin* ibus* pocketsphinx* espeak* liblouis* hplip*

# Cleanup unused dependencies (~37 MB)
sudo apt autoremove --purge

🖨️ Remove Printing Support (~18–24 MB freed)

sudo apt purge 'cups*' 'foomatic*' \
  printer-driver-brlaser* \
  printer-driver-foo2zjs-common* \
  printer-driver-ptouch* \
  printer-driver-c2esp* \
  printer-driver-min12xxw* \
  printer-driver-sag-gdi*

sudo apt autoremove --purge

🧹 Remove Old Kernels

First, identify what's installed:

dpkg --list | grep -Ei 'linux-image|linux-headers|linux-tools|linux-modules|linux-hwe'

Then purge specific old versions (replace with actual package names):

sudo apt purge package1 package2 package3
sudo apt autopurge
sudo update-grub

🌐 Install Google Chrome

wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

🎴 Install Node.js

# Node.js 22.x LTS (stable)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_22.x | sudo bash -
# Node.js 24.x LTS (latest)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_24.x | sudo bash -
# Node.js 26.x LTS (latest)
curl -fsSL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_26.x | sudo bash -

sudo nala install -y nodejs

📦 Global NPM Packages

sudo npm install -g npm@latest corepack@latest npm-check-updates typescript pnpm@latest yarn vite
# bun will be 350++ MiB
sudo npm install -g bun
sudo npm config set allow-scripts=bun,yarn --location=user

# Check for outdated global packages
sudo npm outdated -g --depth=0

# Update all global packages
sudo npm update -g

📜 Git & SSH Setup

Recommended for single GitHub accounts. Multiple accounts require additional configuration.

Git Configuration

git config --global user.name "Your Name"
git config --global user.email "your.email@example.com"
git config --global color.ui auto
git config --global core.editor "code --wait"

SSH Setup

1. Check for Existing SSH Keys

ls -al ~/.ssh

If keys exist, skip to steps 3 and 6.

2. Generate a New SSH Key

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your.email@example.com"

3. Add Key to SSH Agent

eval "$(ssh-agent -s)"
ssh-add ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

4. Copy the Public Key

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub

Fix Permissions (if needed)

chmod 600 ~/.ssh/id_ed25519

5. Add SSH Key to GitHub

Paste the output of step 4 into GitHub → Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key.

6. Test the GitHub Connection

rm ~/.ssh/known_hosts
ssh-keyscan github.com >> ~/.ssh/known_hosts
ssh -T git@github.com

🆘 oh-my-posh Setup

Installation

sudo bash -c "$(curl -s https://ohmyposh.dev/install.sh)" -- -d /usr/bin

# Move themes to home directory
sudo mv /root/.cache/oh-my-posh/themes/ ~/.oh-my-posh && sudo chown -R "$USER:$USER" ~/.oh-my-posh

# Use the enclosed `.bashrc` — uncomment your preferred theme at the bottom, then refresh:
exec bash

💾 Export / Load GNOME Settings

# Reset GNOME folders
gsettings reset org.gnome.desktop.app-folders folder-children

# Reset ALL user-configured GNOME settings (destructive — use carefully)
dconf reset -f /

# Export full GNOME settings
dconf dump / > ubuntu2604.conf

# Load full GNOME settings
dconf load / < ubuntu2604.conf

# Export GNOME extension settings only
dconf dump /org/gnome/shell/extensions/ > aa-gnome-exts-settings.conf

# Load GNOME extension settings only
dconf load /org/gnome/shell/extensions/ < aa-gnome-exts-settings.conf

🛸 XTRADEB Packages

Unofficial Ubuntu packages maintained by xtradeb. Prefer chromium over ungoogled-chromium since extensions can be installed in it.

xtradeb PPA on Launchpad

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:xtradeb/apps -y
sudo nala update
sudo nala install yt-dlp parabolic calibre ungoogled-chromium chromium

✴️ Suggested & Optional Packages

# Essential Tools
sudo nala install curl git gnome-calendar gnome-shell-extension-manager gnome-tweaks nautilus-admin gedit gedit-plugins thunar 7zip

# Multimedia Plugins
sudo nala install gstreamer1.0-libav gstreamer1.0-plugins-bad gstreamer1.0-plugins-ugly libheif-plugin-libde265 gst-audio-thumbnailer  gst-video-thumbnailer

# Optional
sudo nala install adb fastboot foliate file-roller rar unrar synaptic
sudo nala install errands wike wordbook

Multimedia Ubuntu 24.04

sudo nala install amberol totem vlc loupe

Multimedia Ubuntu 26.04

sudo nala install gapless showtime clapper gnome-video-trimmer vlc

Dev packages for mise/ruby workflow

sudo nala install build-essential libssl-dev libreadline-dev pkg-config

qBittorrent

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:qbittorrent-team/qbittorrent-stable
sudo nala install qbittorrent

🪛 Useful

ubuntu-debullshit.sh

Purges snaps, installs flatpaks, restores vanilla GNOME |