Moving from Windows (10)to Linux (Ubuntu 19.10), a Quick Tips
Nov 3 · 4 min read

so i decided to making switch from windows to linux as my main daily driver desktop this year and in this post i am going to give some quick tips about what i did.
My goal is to use as much GUI tools available and Tweak UI so to make it as close as my windows machine with dark mode where ever possible,
I don’t want to be too much dependent on CLI utilities, just to explore how far we are in Linux Desktop ecosystem for non technical people.
Selecting right Linux Flavor for Desktop Environment.
- I choose to go with Ubuntu if you want to try Don’t look for any other distro, so far i tried couple of them and i found Ubuntu so far best available option for Linux Desktop environment specially when we are looking for vibrant community, long time support, package availability and stability and overall maturity.

- In 2020 though i prefer to try out ClearLinux as my daily driver once it gets matured. I am specially excited about it because its backed by Intel Corp with main goal is to improve Linux Desktop performance and its already surpassing bench marking currently, another reason is its debian based so all packages available for debain and ubuntu we can still take advantage in ClearLinux.
- However installing ClearLinux gave me hard time when i tried to install it on my Windows Ubuntu Dual Boot system so i thought to try it later.

Hardware Drivers
- Use Nvidia Official Drivers (Don’t use Open Source Version)

Desktop UI / UX
- Gnome (default shipped with Ubuntu)
- Gnome Tweaks Tool (sudo apt install gnome-tweak-tool)

- Set Yaru Dark Theme (Lets go dark and save battery and eyes)
- Install following Gnome extensions right from FireFox (Not Chrome)
- Dash To Panel — Move Default ubuntu side bar and top bar to bottom bar and combine them into single panel like windows (https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1160/dash-to-panel/)
- Arch Menu — not reqbut it gives me feeling like i am still using windows(https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1228/arc-menu/)

- Notification Center (https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/1526/notification-centerselenium-h/)
- More App Icon (https://extensions.gnome.org/extension/2159/application-view-columns/)

Internet / Networking
- Browser (Chrome & Firefox)
- Torrent Client (sudo apt install transmission)

- Skype (dont use default ubuntu comes with snap use deb version which dont have link option issue in FF)
- Slack
- VPN Client there is inbuilt VPN client but that didnt work for me somehow so i installed Cisco AnyConnect with sh script , but to see UI after installing run (sudo apt-get install libpangox-1.0–0)

Programming
- Text Editor — gEdit (Notepad, Notepad++ alternative)

- Code Editor — Visual Studio Code

- SFTP — Default file browser other location serve as SFTP client like Filezilla or WinScp use following syntax ssh://username@host:port/folder_path

- SSH — Default terminal act as SSH Client like Putty

- Database Client (DBaever)
- Docker (sudo snap install docker)
Tools
- Virtual Machine — Inbuilt Boxes

- Remote Desktop — Inbuilt Boxes supports it but didn’t work for me i had to install Remmina which works best (In security don’t forget to check RDP for windows RDP)

- Task Manager — In Built System Monitor

- Screenshot — ScreenCloud.net (pretty close to Jing)
Office Tool
- Libra Office (6.4 Alpha comes with even better UI)




- Document Viewer (PDF) — In built

