A how-to install guide for Linux programs

Debian

     sudo apt install emacs post-el org-mode markdown-mode hunspell hunspell-en_CA hunspell-en_US

Arch

    sudo pacman -S emacs hunspell hunspell-en_CA hunspell-en_US

Emacs configuration lives in a plain text file: .emacs

There are many .emacs files you can use, but you can start with mine in my github templates dotfiles folder. You can open the .emacs file in Emacs and have a read through. Do not get too worried about what the code says, but the comments (lines starting with ";") will tell you what the parts do.

There are several things that you need to configure to have it working, but the following lines in your .emacs file will change the default behaviour.

Lose the startup screen and bracket matching:

(inhibit-startup-screen t)
(show-paren-mode t)

To set-up spellcheck with Canadian English and load the flyspell spell checker:

(setq ispell-program-name (executable-find "hunspell")
      ispell-dictionary "en_CA")
;;LOAD FLYSPELL FOR EVERYTHING WRITING

(autoload 'flyspell-mode "flyspell" "On-the-fly spelling checker." t)

(dolist (hook '(text-mode-hook))
      (add-hook hook (lambda () (flyspell-mode 1))))

(dolist (hook '(org-mode-hook))
      (add-hook hook (lambda () (flyspell-mode 1))))

(dolist (hook '(latex-mode-hook))
      (add-hook hook (lambda () (flyspell-mode 1))))

(dolist (hook '(markdown-mode-hook))
      (add-hook hook (lambda () (flyspell-mode 1)))

Turn on Word Wrap

(global-visual-line-mode t)

Unfill commands are useful when dealing with text that has line breaks in weird places. This code copied from places on the internet so long ago I cannot properly cite them.

M-x unfill-region and M-x unfill-paragraph are extremely useful when editing something someone else sent you that has weird line breaks.

;;UNFILL DAMNIT!
(defun unfill-region (begin end)
  "Remove all linebreaks in a region but leave paragraphs, 
  indented text (quotes,code) and lines starting with an asterix (lists) intakt."
  (interactive "r")
  (replace-regexp "\\([^\n]\\)\n\\([^ *\n]\\)" "\\1 \\2" nil begin end))

;;MORE UNFILL
;Stefan Monnier <foo at acm.org>. It is the opposite of 
;fill-paragraph. Takes a multi-line paragraph and makes 
;it into a single line of text.
(defun unfill-paragraph ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((fill-column (point-max)))
    (fill-paragraph nil)))

Org-mode is one of the reasons so many people go through the process of learning Emacs in the first place. It is an extremely powerful organizational tool with some added benefits for normal users too.

However, the best part of org-mode is to use it as your default writing mode and use the powerful list and header editing features to make any writing easier. Write in org-mode and use the export features to export to html, document, and PDF formats.

Make Org-mode the default mode:

;;SET MAJOR MODE TO ORG
;; This sets Org-Mode as your main mode and sets Org cammands
(setq default-major-mode 'org-mode)
(global-set-key "\C-cl" 'org-store-link)
     (global-set-key "\C-ca" 'org-agenda)
     (global-set-key "\C-cc" 'org-capture)
     (global-set-key "\C-cb" 'org-iswitchb)

Other things that are extremely useful in Emacs for people who just love to write and be efficient users

• Writeroom-mode is a beautiful thing. Install using

M-x package-install <enter>
writeroom-mode

• M-c (capitalize the first letter of the next word); M-l (make the next word all lower-case) make correcting strange capitalization errors easier. M-u is also useful (capitalize the entire next word) especially if you have remapped the Capslock key.
• Learn to use macros. They are fun and unbelievably useful.

Debian

sudo apt install gnupg2
gpg --full-generate-key
gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG

Arch

sudo pacman -S gnupg2
gpg --full-generate-key
gpg --list-secret-keys --keyid-format LONG

Make it easy on yourself and install Keys.pub to manage your keys:

• https://keys.pub/

Debian

sudo apt install git ssh

Arch

sudo pacman -S git ssh

Git takes some time to figure out how to use properly, but the commands a basic user needs are:

git init
git clone <git repository>
git pull
git add .
git commit -a -m "Messge about what you changed"
git push

Magit, the git program in Emacs, is the key to using git effectively.

In emacs,

M-x package-install <enter>
magit <enter>

Add the following into .emacs file:

;; Magit Key Binding
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x g") 'magit-status)

In an initialized git repository the following commands will allow you to push changes:

C-x g
press 's' to stage the chages
press 'c' then 'c' again to commit the changes
edit the file that opens by adding your commit message to the top of the file and remove the '#' infront of the files you want to commit changes to.
C-c C-c
press 'P' (captial 'p') to push your change to the git repository.

For using Magit to use password less push and pull from repositories you have passowordless access to using a key file:

Create ssh key file:

ssh-keygen <enter>

Copy output from cat .ssh/repofile_rsa.pub to git server (usually under the settings in github.com, gitlab.com, gogs, gitea).

Launch ssh-agent and add the key file:

eval `ssh-agent`
ssh-add .ssh/repokeyfil_rsa

Make ssh-agent launches, add the following to your .bashrc file

## ssh-agent command 

if ! pgrep -u "$USER" ssh-agent > /dev/null; then
    ssh-agent > "$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/ssh-agent.env"
fi
if [[ ! "$SSH_AUTH_SOCK" ]]; then
    eval "$(<"$XDG_RUNTIME_DIR/ssh-agent.env")"
fi

Install keychain-environment and ssh-agency so Magit knows where to look for your active ssh keys

M-x package-install <enter>
ssh-agency <enter>
M-x package-install <enter>
keychain-environment <enter>

Magit should do passwordless git clone, push, pull after you do ssh-add .ssh/keyfile_rsa in a bash terminal.

Debian

sudo apt install pass xclip

Arch

sudo pacman -S pass xclip

Bash completion makes it easier to find what you are looking for in pass, so add this to your .bashrc file:

complete -o filenames -F _pass pass

On a server you have ssh access to, you can make your pass file a git repository and sync it across devices with the following commands. See pass manual pages for full command list.

pass git init
pass git remote add origin kexec.com:pass-store
pass git pull
pass git push

On a different computer you can clone the password store git files and then push and pull to the remote server any local or remote changes.

Debian

sudo apt install fonts-linuxlibertine

Arch

sudo pacman -S ttf-linux-libertine

Debian

sudo apt install texlive-full

Arch

sudo pacman -S texlive-bin texlive-core texlive-fontsextra texlive-formatsextra texlive-pstricks

For your org-mode header to make your PDFs look nice, try:

#+LATEX_CLASS_OPTIONS: [twoside]
#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage[margin=1in,bottom=1in,top=1in]{geometry} 
#+LATEX_HEADER: \setlength{\headheight}{14pt}

#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{xcolor} \definecolor{MSBlue}{rgb}{.204,.353,.541} \definecolor{MSLightBlue}{rgb}{.31,.506,.741}


#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{titlesec}

#+LATEX_HEADER: \newcommand*{\justifyheading}{\raggedright}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \titleformat*{\section}{\huge\bfseries\justifyheading\sffamily\color{MSBlue}}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \titleformat*{\subsection}{\Large\bfseries\justifyheading\sffamily\color{MSBlue}}


#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage[T1]{fontenc}
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{mathpazo} 
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{pdfpages}
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \linespread{1.15}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{bookman}
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage[scaled]{helvet}
#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{courier}

#+LATEX_HEADER: \renewcommand{\familydefault}{\rmdefault}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage[latin9]{inputenc}

#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{enumitem} \setlist[itemize]{noitemsep, nolistsep} \setlist[enumerate]{noitemsep, nolistsep}

#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage[activate={true,nocompatibility},final,tracking=true,kerning=true,spacing=true,factor=1100,stretch=10,shrink=10]{microtype} \microtypecontext{spacing=nonfrench}

#+LaTeX_HEADER: \usepackage{color}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{hyperref}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \hypersetup{colorlinks = true, linkcolor=MSBlue}

#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{fancyhdr} \renewcommand{\headrulewidth}{0pt}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \pagestyle{fancy} 
#+LATEX_HEADER: \fancyhf{}

#+LATEX_HEADER: \fancyhead[LE]{{\fontsize{10}{12} {\sffamily \bfseries{\leftmark}}}\\\dotfill} \fancyhead[RO]{{\fontsize{10}{12} {\sffamily \bfseries{\rightmark}}}\\\dotfill} \fancyfoot[C] {{\fontsize{10}{12} {\sffamily \bfseries{\thepage}}}}

# #+LATEX_HEADER: \pagestyle{fancy} \pagestyle{fancyplain} \fancyhf{} \lhead{  {\sffamily \bfseries{\fancyplain{}{\nouppercase{\leftmark}} }} \rhead{ \fancyplain{}{\today} } \cfoot{ \fancyplain{}{\thepage} }

#+LATEX_HEADER: \newcommand*{\justifyheading}{\raggedright}



#+LATEX_HEADER: \usepackage{parskip}
#+LATEX_HEADER: \setlength{\parindent}{0in}

Debian

sudo apt install tmux

Arch

sudo pacman -S tmux

Use this configuration file to make tmux work well and look good and put it as ~/.tmux.conf:

https://github.com/gpakosz/.tmux

Debian

sudo apt install fzf

Arch

sudo pacman -S fzf

Debian

sudo apt install pandoc

Arch

sudo pacman -S pandoc

Used most frequently as:

pandoc infile.org -f org -t docx -o outfile.docx
pandoc infile.md -o outfile.docx
pandoc infile.docx -t gfm -o outfile.md # gfm is github flavour of markdown

Debian

sudo apt install mupdf zathura

Arch

sudo pacman -S mupdf zathura-pdf-poppler

• mupdf is just a viewer. Set it as a default viewer for large PDFs you want to view quickly. The '+' and '-' signs zoom.
• Zathura has several features for viewing, copying from the PDF, resizing (+,-,a,s), search ('/'), dual page view (d), rotating (r), moving up and down incrementally (k,j), and going into presentation mode (F5). It is a perfect viewer for part of your LaTeX work process and presentations.

Debian

sudo apt install sakura xterm

Arch

sudo pacman -S termite xterm

• Sakura can be configured by left left-clicking on the window and changing the settings. The last settings used are saved.
• Termite is set-up through editing the configuration file ~/.config/termite/config

For ssh to work properly, makes sure that you include this in the termite config file:

export TERM=xterm-color

uxterm (and xterm) use .Xresources as their config file.

!xterm config -----------

XTerm*renderFont: true
Xterm*saveLines: 4096

!URxvt*font: -*-helvetica-medium-r-normal-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*

XTerm*faceName: Inconsolata
XTerm*boldFont: Inconsolata

XTerm.vt100.geometry: 80x32
XTerm.termName: xterm-256color

XTerm*faceSize: 20

UXTerm*faceName: Inconsolata
UXTerm*boldFont: Inconsolata

UXTerm.vt100.geometry: 80x32
UXTerm.termName: xterm-256color
UXTerm*faceSize: 20

! double-click to select whole URLs :D
xterm*charClass: 33:48,36-47:48,58-59:48,61:48,63-64:48,95:48,126:48


*VT100*translations: #override Shift <Btn1Up>: exec-formatted("firefox '%t'", PRIMARY)

xterm*boldMode: true
xterm*loginShell: true
XTerm.VT100.geometry: 80x24
xterm*saveLines: 2000
xterm*termName: xterm-color
xterm*eightBitInput: false
xterm*foreground: rgb:a8/a8/a8
xterm*background: rgb:00/00/00
xterm*color0: rgb:00/00/00
xterm*color1: rgb:a8/00/00
xterm*color2: rgb:00/a8/00
xterm*color3: rgb:a8/54/00
xterm*color4: rgb:00/00/a8
xterm*color5: rgb:a8/00/a8
xterm*color6: rgb:00/a8/a8
xterm*color7: rgb:a8/a8/a8
xterm*color8: rgb:54/54/54
xterm*color9: rgb:fc/54/54
xterm*color10: rgb:54/fc/54
xterm*color11: rgb:fc/fc/54
xterm*color12: rgb:54/54/fc
xterm*color13: rgb:fc/54/fc
xterm*color14: rgb:54/fc/fc
xterm*color15: rgb:fc/fc/fc
XTerm*VT100.translations: #override <Btn1Up>: select-end(PRIMARY, CLIPBOARD, CUT_BUFFER0)
XTerm*on3Clicks: regex [[:alpha:]]+://([[:alnum:]!#+,./=?@_~-]|(%[[:xdigit:]][[:xdigit:]]))+
XTerm*metaSendsEscape: true

Debian

Arch

Install mutt-ics

pipx install mutt_ics

Setting-up mutt can be done many ways.

• https://github.com/LukeSmithxyz/mutt-wizard
• or just copy someone else .metric to get it how you want

Once you have your .muttrc set-up, try the following additions/changes. The '#' indicate comments

# see plain text first, but also see plaing text of the html emails

alternative_order text/plain text/enriched text/html
auto_view text/html

# use ics viewer for calendars

auto_view text/calendar application/ics


# Use '<esc> o' to covert an org-mode coded email into html to send
 
macro compose \eo "F pandoc -f org -t html \ny^T^Utext/html; charset=us-ascii\n"

# Use '<esc> m' to convert an email written in markdown into an html email to send

macro compose \em "F pandoc -f markdown -t html \ny^T^Utext/html; charset=us-ascii\n"
set wait_key=no

# Use urlscan to view urls in your email and launch firefox 

macro index,pager \cb "<pipe-message> urlscan<Enter>" "call urlscan to extract URLs out of a message"
macro attach,compose \cb "<pipe-entry> urlscan<Enter>" "call urlscan to extract URLs out of a message"

And the following .mailcap file:

text/html; w3m -I %{charset} -T text/html; copiousoutput;
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document; cat %s|/usr/bin/docx2txt; copiousoutput
application/msword ; antiword %s ; copiousoutput
text/plain; emacsclient %s ; copiousoutput
text/calendar; /home/m6s78/.local/bin/mutt-ics; copiousoutput
application/ics; /home/m6s78/.local/bin/mutt-ics; copiousoutput 
text/pdf; pdftotext %s -; copiousoutput; needsterminal; description="Adobe PDF Doc"
application/pdf; pdftotext %s -; copiousoutput; needsterminal; description="Adobe PDF Doc"

Debian

wget https://github.com/antonycourtney/tad/releases/download/v0.9.0/tad_0.9.0_amd64.deb
sudo dpkg -i tad_0.9.0_amd64.deb

Arch

git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/tad-bin.git
cd tad-bin
makepkg -si

Debian

sudo apt install sqlitebrowser # note that this may be an old version.

Ubuntu

sudo add-apt-repository -y ppa:linuxgndu/sqlitebrowser
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install sqlitebrowser

Arch

sudo pacman -S sqlitebrowser

Little configuration is needed with Ubuntu as it works on most computers out of the box.

Installing i3wm and using that as your default window manager will make things better for you.

sudo apt install i3 i3blocks i3lock i3status

There are many flavours of Manjaro, but the i3 window manager install is my favourite. But, I can deal with an Xfce4 install with an i3 interface. They all work extremely well if you want an Arch-style flavour for a laptop and you don't want to spend hours getting it up and running.

Arch linux is the best. Good luck with the install process, it takes some time and you have to follow the steps, but when it is done you have a very streamlined system.

The Arch Wiki is the best how-to place for Arch (and other linux distributions) on the internet. It will provide all the steps necessary to install Arch on pretty much anything.