Prereqs:
- Two thumb drives, at least 4GB
- A Dell Inspiron 13" 7386. It may be labeled as a 7000-series 2-in-1. If you're not sure of the model number, check your purchase materials, or in the OEM-installed Windows open the Dell Service application.
Optional prereqs:
- A second computer, for displaying things like manuals, instructions, and for burning bootable drives. You can do this project without it; it's just not really recommended by me.
- Print off the service manual.
- Print off this list.
- Generate the following:
- device admin password
- device system boot password
- device Secure Boot password
- user account password
- computer hostname
- encryption passphrase for drive
Process: 0. Back up anything you care about from this machine. We'll be wiping the drive.
- Create a bootable Ubuntu 19.10 stick
- Following the links in SwiftOnSecurity's Windows Security from the Ground Up, prepare a Windows bootable media drive, as a backup.
- Test both bootable drives by booting into them.
- Realize you don't know how to boot a bootable USB drive on this machine.
- Shut off the machine
- Insert a drive
- Press the combination fingerprint reader and power button
- Spam the
F12
key as soon as the Dell logo appears - Choose the USB drive when you see the BIOS menu. If you do not see the BIOS menu, but instead boot into the already-installed OS, you'll need to try again from step 1.
- Test both bootable drives. When they work, proceed to the next step.
- From Windows, disable "Fast startup". The reasoning for this is detailed at Ask Ubuntu
- Get back to the
F12
boot menu and find the "Boot settings" option. Enter it.- In Settings > General > Boot Sequence, remove any "Legacy External Devices" option. Leave enabled any UEFI USB disks you see, and don't touch anything else there.
- In Settings > System Configuration > SATA Operation, change the SATA Operation setting to "AHCI". The reasoning for this is detailed at Ask Ubuntu
- In Settings > Security > UEFI Capsule Firmware Updates, check the box to "Enable UEFI Capsule Firmware Updates"
- In Settings > Secure Boot > Secure Boot Enable, check the box to "Secure Boot Enable"
- As a personal preference: In Settings > POST Behavior > Fn Lock, check the box for "FN Lock". The key combination to toggle Fn Lock will now be enabled:
Fn + Esc
will swap the function of the Function Key row between the labels printed on the upper and lower halves of the keys. - In Settings > POST Behavior > Fastboot, set this to "Thorough", but I'm not sure if I should set this to "Auto" later.
- In Settings > Maintenance > Service Tag, copy your service tag information down onto a sheet of paper somewhere.
- You may also want to set an admin/setup password (controls boot menus, access to bios settings) and a system password (required at boot)
- Save the changes to the BIOS settings.
- Exit the BIOS settings manager
- Boot into your Ubuntu thumb drive. If you set a system password, you'll need that when the computer turns on. If you set an admin/setup password, you'll need that to boot off the thumb drive.
- Connect to a local wireless network.
- Begin the Ubuntu install process.
- Check the box to download updates while installing.
- Check the box to enable third-party drivers. You will be prompted to set a Secure Boot password to manage these.
- Check the box to encrypt the new Ubuntu install for security.
- Reboot into Ubuntu.
- Install software updates
sudo apt-get install gnome-tweaks
- Install https://gitlab.com/cunidev/gestures for three- and four-finger gestures.
- three-finger swipe up to show the Activities switcher:
dbus-send --session --type=method_call --dest=org.gnome.Shell /org/gnome/Shell org.gnome.Shell.Eval string:'Main.overview.show();'
- three-finger swipe down to dismiss it:
dbus-send --session --type=method_call --dest=org.gnome.Shell /org/gnome/Shell org.gnome.Shell.Eval string:'Main.overview.hide();'
- three-finger swipe up to show the Activities switcher:
- Configure Firefox:
- Enable experimental client-side drawing for Firefox: https://www.omgubuntu.co.uk/2017/11/firefox-nightly-adds-csd-option
- Do this to enable touch scrolling: https://askubuntu.com/questions/853910/ubuntu-16-and-touchscreen-scrolling-in-firefox/994483#994483
- Disable the snapshot sound from
gnome-screenshot
by making a custom sound theme: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/93368/how-can-i-disable-the-shutter-sound-of-gnome-screenshot/202545#202545
- research getting all mouse buttons supported
- update to 20.04 when it's released
- pick a note-taking app
- pick a drawing app
Links: