These are the first few commands that I run after installing a Kubuntu system:
$ sudo vi /etc/apt/sources.list // Enable "partner" repository (for Sun Java)
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kubuntu-ppa // Latest stable KDE point release
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install linux-generic-pae linux-headers-generic-pae dkms firefox aptitude kolourpaint4 synaptic unrar rar wicd ttf-mscorefonts-installer qt4-qtconfig libdvdread4 vim-full ssh-server tightvncserver x11vnc vnc-java p7zip p7zip-full gucharmap filelight
$ sudo aptitude remove dragonplayer linux-generic linux-image-generic linux-headers-generic vim-tiny
$ sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread4/install-css.sh
$ sudo aptitude install python-software-properties ubuntu-restricted-extras livemedia-utils ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse libxine1-ffmpeg kmozillahelper automake1.9 intltool libtool cvs cmake build-essential libphonon-dev apt-file kdelibs5-dev vlc subversion python-gtkspell mercurial python-matplotlib unoconv mplayer recode tree pavucontrol whois bzr kchmviewer sun-java6-jre sun-java6-jdk pdftk nautilus digikam unclutter evince krename openssh-server mtr wine eog eog-plugins
$ sudo aptitude dist-upgrade
$ apt-file update
$ sudo /etc/init.d/vboxdrv setup
$ sudo update-alternatives --config java // use Sun Java
Some software is either not available from any repositories, or the repos are typically out of date. Here are links to the software that I usually download after a Kubuntu install.
PDF reader. Latest Reader Linux package
Flash cards application. Latest Anki Linux package
Ebook manager. Install with this simple one-liner:
$ sudo python -c "import urllib2; exec urllib2.urlopen('http://status.calibre-ebook.com/linux_installer').read(); main()"
Music manager. Latest Clementine Linux package
Photo manager. Latest Digikam Ubuntu package
Web browser. Latest Chrome Linux package and Chrome Beta Channel
3-D Earth globe. Latest Google Earth Linux package
Web broswer. Latest Opera Linux package
Background application that reminds the user to take periodical breaks from typing. Latest RSIBreak Ubuntu package
VOIP client. Latest Skype Linux package
Virtual machine. Latest VirtualBox Linux package and don't forget VM VirtualBox Extension Pack
Personal Wiki. Latest Zim Linux package
Date Published: 2011-01-08
Date Revised: 2011-01-17
Date Revised: 2011-01-28