Ceci est une ancienne révision du document !
This article covers my experience (so far) of Ubuntu 18.04 – including when I purchased a new Dell laptop at the end of 2019. Specification = Inspiron 15.6 inch model 3581, with 8GB RAM, Intel 7th Gen Core i3 Processor + Tray load DVD device. As you will see, my first introduction to Ubuntu 18.04 was quite drastic.
A bit of background.
For what seems like forever, I used an HP laptop running Windows Vista, not updating to 7, 8, or even Windows 10. When the hardware was getting very slow, my thoughts were ‘If I have to learn Windows 10, why not learn LINUX?’. After some investigation, I determined that Ubuntu looked to be the best for a home user to learn.
I purchased a Dell laptop in 2016 running Ubuntu 14.04, and started to understand that Ubuntu could be very useful. Due to my lack of Linux experience, I set up a Standard user account, without any password, to use on a day-to-day basis, without administration rights, so that I could not inadvertently issue disastrous commands.
In 2017, the laptop generated a fault that was fixed by Dell; on its return it had the new Ubuntu 16.04 installed. When Ubuntu 18.04 was released, I read up about it and thought that I could investigate it by booting the 18.04 version from a USB stick, as there was no DVD/CD device on my laptop.
After reviewing a number of web explanations of how to run from a USB stick, I attempted to make a bootable Ubuntu 18.04 USB stick. In the end, I had to use both the Ubuntu 16.04 and Windows Vista laptops to get a bootable USB stick. Finally, the Ubuntu 18.04 opened up on my Dell laptop screen. After my review, I then found that I could not get back to using my laptop in version 16.04, but, unfortunately, I could not update to 18.04 either. Something had gone wrong with the GRUB2 file, whatever that was, and whatever I tried I could not overcome the problem.
The boot up process was trying to use the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) and, due to my lack of understanding, I tried to find information from the web as well as purchasing ‘The Official Ubuntu Book’, but had to revert back to booting up using Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) and Master Boot Record (MBR).
So I waited until I could afford to purchase a new computer with Ubuntu 18.04 already installed.
Back to the new laptop and Ubuntu 18.04.
When the new Dell computer was delivered, the Ubuntu 18.04 software install process asked if a recovery disk was required – which I confirmed, thus the operating system setup started. Other requests asked for user account(s) to be set up – and I found that all accounts now have to have passwords, and the Guest account was no longer installed as part of the operating system.
After Ubuntu 18.04 was up and running, I wanted to check if there were any updates available / required and found that by opening ‘System Settings’, then looking under the heading ‘Details’, there was the option ‘Check for updates’. Over a few days, and on a number of occasions, I clicked on this option and was told my system was up-to-date – which I found strange!
Due to my previous experience with Ubuntu 18.04, I was interested in finding out how the hard disk had been configured. While trying to get my old 16.04 laptop to boot, I found GParted Partition Editor very useful, so tried to run it under 18.04.
Unfortunately I could not find it, so I looked on the web to be told that there were two ways to install GParted, either using ‘Ubuntu Software’ or using ‘sudo’ at the command prompt in a terminal window.
The ‘Ubuntu Software’ could not find GParted and the only way I could install it was to use ‘sudo’ commands at a Terminal prompt. The commands installed, checked, and started the GParted Partition Editor.
What also happened was that a window opened automatically stating that there were 18.04 Software Updates required. Why had the ‘Check for updates’ informed me that the system was up to date?
During the download of over 800MB of data, another window opened with the title of ‘What Do You Want To Do About Modified Configuration File GRUB = /tmp/grub.BcD6fzbae1 of configuration file /etc/default/grub is available, but the version installed currently has been locally modified’. (Aha, that file called GRUB again. Pls note I had not modified this or any other files). There were a number of options offered, the one that I clicked on was [Show a side-by-side difference between the versions]. The screen closed and I was expecting the two files to be displayed, but the software updates continued without any other warnings / options, etc. As expected, at the end of the updates, the system needed to be restarted.
After looking around the desktop of Ubuntu 18.04, I could not find anywhere to display the battery status on the menu bar as a percentage. So back on to the web.
I found that one needs to install GNOME Tweaks to be able to display the battery status on the top menu bar. The screens that are displayed when Ubuntu 18.04 is up and running are known as the desktop – which is controlled by the GNOME manager. Apparently there are a number of different desktops available for the Linux operating system.
To install GNOME Tweaks, we are back to using ‘sudo’ commands at a Terminal prompt.
In the fullness of time, I hope to understand why, after using the ‘sudo’ commands at a Terminal prompt to ‘install’ the GNOME Tweaks, one has to install the application a second time when trying to open the application with either the ‘Show Applications’ or ‘Supper’ key (a.k.a. Windows key).
I now appreciate that the operating system has to be rebooted to see new installed items listed under the Installed heading in Ubuntu Software. I also note that each user has to update their desktop environment.
My next tasks will be to install a few more of the applications that I have used in the past.