Setup new OS automatically

Install packages/applications from command prompt
Every once in a while we like to clean our OSs. But the problem doing that is the fear of loosing something you may need that you have not accounted for. If you are going to take a complete backup of your OS and restore it after the new installation, it defeats the cleanup purpose.

What I love to do is backup my data and then reinstall the OS, and through scripts install all the necessary s/w. This way if I miss any s/w I needed, I will know it in advance, and will add it to the list. No clutter in terms of adding garbage s/w.

In addition to the above, I love to try every upgrade that comes along with Mint, Cinnamon, Ubuntu (Unity), Kubuntu. In the process I sometimes mess up my local copy in the process. Hence I decided to put in a script that will automatically reinstall all the needed s/w. Remembering them is not going to help, writing them in a piece of paper is a joke. I save this command in the cloud. Everytime I install Ubuntu in my machine or for someone else, I just run these commands, sit back and relax, until these are done

First things first
Do an upgrade and update as soon as you install the OS. That's the first most important thing you need to do
sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo apt-get update

Install packages you need (I need all of this, if you don't need any of them, feel free to remove)
sudo apt-get install synaptic vlc p7zip-full gimp shutter chromium-browser bluefish wireshark vim calibre mono-complete idle3 idle3-tools eclipse smplayer cheese ruby1.9.3 mongodb monodevelop artha nemo-dropbox


Install Django
sudo apt-get install python-django python-django-doc python-mako python-openstack-auth django-ajax-selects django-filter django-tables python-django-app-plugins python3-dexml

Ruby for Rails
sudo apt-get install rubygems ruby-rails-3.2 rails3 rails-doc ruby-activesupport-3.2 ruby-activeresource-3.2 ruby-activemodel-3.2 ruby-actionpack-3.2 ruby-actionmailer-3.2

Install Aptana Studio for DJango, RoR
cd ~/Downloads
wget http://download.aptana.com/studio3/standalone/3.4.2/linux/Aptana_Studio_3_Setup_Linux_x86_3.4.2.zip
unzip Aptana_Studio_3_Setup_Linux_x86_3.4.2.zip
sudo mv ~/downloads/Aptana_studio_3 /etc/Aptna
sudo ln -s /etc/Aptana/AptanaStudio3 /bin/AptanaStudio

Install Cinnamon
sudo apt-get install cinnamon

Install Skype
sudo dpkg --add-architecture i386
sudo add-apt-repository "deb http://archive.canonical.com/ $(lsb_release -sc) partner"
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install skype

Installing applications manually
Sometimes few applications in LINUX do not come with nice installers .deb, .dpkg. You may have to either download and install them or they may not have any installation piece at all. Copy them over to a directory of your choice and use them. This is the most confusing part for LINUX beginners. Where should I move these applications and how do I make it accessible. There are a lot of ways to do that, I 'll share what I was told by my seniors, and it is up to you to handle things the way you want it

These are some applications you will need as a developer and they may or may not be available in the software center. Like
1. Sublime Text
2. Eclipse
3. JDK
4. ADT for Android development
5. Android SDK
6. Ruby

Each of these will have to be downloaded from http/ftp location. I download all of these and dump them in my Downloads directory
Then extract them into /opt/<<package name>>
Then identify, locate executable, create an alias in /usr/local/bin

Here is an example of the same

Install sublime text
cd ~/Download
wget http://c758482.r82.cf2.rackcdn.com/sublime-text_build-3047_i386.deb
sudo dpkg -i sublime-text_build-3047_i386.deb

Now that was easy, because it was an executable. How about library files, should we do the same. Not really
Take the case of JDK or Android SDK. In this case,
I download the files into ~/Download directory
Unzip them into /usr/local/lib directory

Download an install ADT (32-bit)
cd ~/Downloads
wget http://dl.google.com/android/adt/adt-bundle-linux-x86-20130522.zip
unzip adt-bundle-linux-x86-20130522.zip
sudo mv ./adt-bundle-linux-x86-20130522 /usr/local/lib
cd /usr/local/lib/adt-bundle-linux-x86-20130522/sdk
chmod -R 755 ./tools ./build-tools ./platforms ./platform-tools

Follow the same procedure for both JDK, Android SDK and others