Essential and strongly recommended things to do directly after a Kubuntu 24.04 LTS installation

[Schwarzer Kater]

• I always perform (and strongly recommend) the following 6 (7) steps directly after any Kubuntu (24.04) desktop installation - this usually takes under 5-10 minutes (including reboot):

To do so --> open the Konsole terminal emulator from your --> Application Launcher --> System.
Due to preventing typing errors, please copy and paste the following commands one by one into Konsole - e.g. with your mouse or with "[Ctrl] [c]" and "[Ctrl] [Shift] [v]" - and execute them with [Return]. Double-check that you did not miss a letter or two.
Everything in grey behind a single "⦁" is a whole command and has to be copied as a whole - even if it is longer than one line.

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1. Please correct a possible installation bug for ext4 file systems in the /etc/fstab file first
( = replace the "discard" option, because a systemd timer for fstrim is already running) !

To not do both is recommended by e.g. Red Hat and the ArchWiki (and openSUSE, Debian or Ubuntu's main distribution also do not do it) !
Furthermore Red Hat and SUSE (openSUSE) also recommend in general to use a timer/fstrim instead of the "discard" option (and Fedora, Debian or Ubuntu's main distribution also use fstrim.timer instead) - except for special cases.
If you are unlucky, using the "discard" option in /etc/fstab may decrease the SSD's lifetime and can lead to performance degradation.

In case you don't know whether you chose the ext4 file system during installation the chance you did is quite high as it is the default for Kubuntu 24.04 LTS.
And if you didn't choose ext4 the following two commands won't do anything (except making a backup of your /etc/fstab file).
If the bug has been corrected in the meantime, neither the following sed command a. nor b. will do anything at all either.

• sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.orig (this makes a backup of your /etc/fstab file first)
• a. sudo sed -i '/ext4/ s/discard/defaults/' /etc/fstab (this replaces the wrong options with the right ones)

I would even suggest to additionally use the "noatime" option, if you don't need the information about when you have accessed (= opened or read) a file or folder, because this makes using old HDDs a tiny little bit faster and reduces write actions (and therefore wear) on SSDs.
So instead of the last command (a.) then you can

• b. alternatively sudo sed -i '/ext4/ s/discard/defaults,noatime/' /etc/fstab (this replaces the wrong options with the right ones)

For safety reasons don't use the sed commands of step 1. in any other context than a fresh Kubuntu 24.04 LTS installation! Instead check and modify your /etc/fstab file by hand if need be - and back it up first.

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2. Reduce swappiness for desktop installations like it is suggested for *Ubuntu and like e.g. TUXEDO OS also does it
( = the system will use the physical memory modules longer and use the swap file or partition later).

If you are curious you can check the setting with sudo sysctl vm.swappiness now and then again after step 6. (7.) and the reboot.

• echo -e "# Reduce swappiness for desktop installation (default = 60)\nvm.swappiness=10" | sudo tee /etc/sysctl.d/99-sysswappiness.conf (this writes the modified value to your system)

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3. Reduce systemd timeouts for desktop installations like KDE suggests for Plasma in their Distributions/Packaging Recommendations
( = the system will not "hang" for 90 seconds and longer from time to time when logging out, rebooting or shutting down).

I am reasonably conservative here and use 15 seconds, because on older machines it has seldom taken 10-13 seconds before certain services were able to gracefully quit by themselves (for example: KDE neon uses 15 seconds, TUXEDO OS and Garuda KDE use 10 seconds).

• sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/system.conf.d && echo -e "# Reduce timeout (default = 90s)\n\n[Manager]\nDefaultTimeoutStopSec=15s" | sudo tee /etc/systemd/system.conf.d/99-systemtimeout.conf (this writes the first modified value to your system)
• sudo mkdir -p /etc/systemd/user.conf.d && echo -e "# Reduce timeout (default = 90s)\n\n[Manager]\nDefaultTimeoutStopSec=15s" | sudo tee /etc/systemd/user.conf.d/99-usertimeout.conf (this writes the second modified value to your system)

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4.a) Change GRUB to show the boot menu for 1 second in single-boot systems
( = only Kubuntu is installed - this makes the boot menu much easier to access whenever you might need it).

• sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.orig (this makes a backup of your /etc/default/grub file first)
• sudo sed -i 's/^GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden/GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu/' /etc/default/grub (this writes the first modified value to your system)
• sudo sed -i 's/^GRUB_TIMEOUT=0/GRUB_TIMEOUT=1/' /etc/default/grub (this writes the second modified value to your system)
• sudo update-grub (this updates your GRUB boot loader with the new values)

OR

4.b) Change GRUB to show the boot menu with all installed systems for 5 seconds in multi-boot systems
( = Kubuntu and another Linux or/and Windows are installed - and be sure to absolutely disable Windows fast startup if you intend to access the "C:" drive from Linux).

• sudo cp /etc/default/grub /etc/default/grub.orig (this makes a backup of your /etc/default/grub file first)
• sudo sed -i 's/^GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=hidden/GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu/' /etc/default/grub (this writes the first modified value to your system)
• sudo sed -i 's/^GRUB_TIMEOUT=0/GRUB_TIMEOUT=5/' /etc/default/grub (this writes the second modified value to your system)
• sudo sed -i 's/^#GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false/GRUB_DISABLE_OS_PROBER=false/' /etc/default/grub (this writes the third modified value to your system)
• sudo update-grub (this updates your GRUB boot loader with the new values)

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5. Update your system and your programs for the first time
(this is generally one of the first things you should do after installing any operating system).

• sudo snap refresh && sudo systemctl daemon-reload (this updates the Snaps - not necessary if you chose the "Minimal Installation" option)
• sudo apt update && sudo apt full-upgrade (this updates all of your installation except for the Snaps)
• sudo apt autopurge && sudo apt autoclean (this removes possible remains of the installation process)

In case this is not a fresh Kubuntu 24.04 LTS installation, be careful with the autopurge in step 5. and thoroughly read and understand the output in Konsole !

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6. Install fundamental missing software like

• multimedia codecs etc.
• Microsoft Web and replacement fonts
• exFAT utilities (the file system you should use to e.g. share USB sticks between Linux, Windows and macOS).

You can select with [Tab] and confirm with [Return] in the following dialogues, select "Yes" to install.

• sudo apt install kubuntu-restricted-extras gstreamer1.0-vaapi libvdpau-va-gl1 rar fonts-crosextra-carlito fonts-crosextra-caladea exfatprogs (this installs all of the listed above)

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7. If you have a CD, DVD or Blu-ray drive, install the following to be able to play back video CDs, DVDs or Blu-rays.

You can select with [Tab] and confirm with [Return] in the following dialogues, select "Yes" to install.

• sudo apt install libdvd-pkg (this installs the video play back for optical media)
• sudo dpkg-reconfigure libdvd-pkg (this activates the video play back for optical media)

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• reboot and enjoy Kubuntu 24.04 LTS !

Now it is time to begin thinking about a backup strategy for your future user data, e.g. with Kup ( --> System Settings --> Backup) or with something more versatile like Back In Time (as in Kubuntu Focus) - or may it even only be regularly "by hand"…

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• Bonus - individual and potentially less important things to do:

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a. It is possible to remove Snap from Kubuntu 24.04 LTS and to use the "traditional" Firefox and Thunderbird additionally to or instead of the Snaps

• Script to get rid of Snap (like e.g. Linux Mint and TUXEDO OS do - can also block snapd in a "Minimal Installation")
• Script to install "traditional" Firefox (the way e.g. Debian suggests, installs as shown on Mozilla.org)
• Script to install "traditional" Thunderbird (installs as shown on Mozilla.org)

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b. Enable Flatpak
(e.g. to increase your pool of available programs).

• How to enable Flatpak in Kubuntu 24.04 LTS

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c. Enable password feedback for the command line interface
( = so you can see something like ***** instead of nothing when typing in your password in Konsole - like you can see it in e.g. Linux Mint and Garuda KDE).

• echo -e "# Enable password feedback\nDefaults pwfeedback" | sudo tee /etc/sudoers.d/pwfeedback (this writes the modified value to your system)
• sudo chmod 0440 /etc/sudoers.d/pwfeedback (this applies the correct permissions to the written file)

You will have to close Konsole and open it again to apply the change.

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d. Disable fast user switching
(e.g. for security or performance reasons in multi-user setups).

• echo -e "\n[KDE Action Restrictions] [\$i]\naction/switch_user=false\naction/start_new_session=false" | sudo tee -a /usr/share/kubuntu-default-settings/kf5-settings/kdeglobals (this writes the modified values to your system)

You will have to log out and in again or reboot to apply the change.

[Schwarzer Kater]

In the past 24 hours I have changed a lot of small layout bits (to hopefully increase readability…) and added some more explanations to the post.

I also hope it is now a little easier to understand for new-to-Linux users or users that never or rarely use the command line interface…

Have fun with Kubuntu 24.04 LTS !