Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin final is almost out. The final release it scheduled to be out in the 26th of April 2012. After you actually get done with the installation, there would likely exist a heap of things you still need to take care of. This post will share some interesting insight and ideas about  what you can and should do after a successful installation.

If you have already a previous release of Ubuntu installed and you want to upgrade, then follow our step by step guide to upgrade to Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin.

Top things to do after installing Ubuntu 12.04 LTS Precise Pangolin

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Moving your profile data

• Install Firefox and Thunderbird in Linux.
• If you have any extension (add-on) installed that has platform-specific components in the profile, such as the Lightning calender for Thunderbird, you have to uninstall it first in your Windows profile. Once you have moved it to Linux, you can then reinstall the Linux version of that extension (in the case of Lightning, all your calendar data should be retained).
• Some extensions (such as IE Tab for Firefox) work only on Windows. It is recommended that you uninstall (or at least disable) any of them that is installed in your Windows profile before moving.
• Find your existing Firefox profile and Thunderbird profile.
• Copy the the contents of the Firefox profile over the profile in the ".mozilla/firefox" subdirectory in your home directory. Copy the contents of the Thunderbird profile over the profile in the ".thunderbird" subdirectory in your home directory. They are hidden subdirectories, you need to find an option in your file browser to display them. In both Gnome and KDE you can use "Show -> hidden files" to show directories that begin with a period. If you're dual-booting, many distributions provide read-only access to your NTFS partition in the file manager, you don't have to copy the profile to some type of removable media.
• Your package manager typically adds a menu command to run Firefox and Thunderbird when it installs them. For Ubuntu, it's at Applications -> Internet.

If the application doesn't start, type locate run-mozilla.sh in a terminal. It should return the directories that have that file, which also contain either the "firefox" or "thunderbird" shell scripts used to start the application. Type echo $PATH into a terminal and verify the directory is on the path.

If it starts but doesn't work correctly, try running in safe mode to temporarily disable any added extensions. While they normally also work under Linux you occasionally run into Gnome or KDE integration problems, or it might not be using a relative pathname to store its data. Exiting the application and deleting the extensions.rdf file in the profile also solves many problems (it will be recreated when you run the application).

You could have also used one of the other methods described in moving your profile to tell Firefox and Thunderbird where to look for the profile. For example, you might want to create a "profiles" directory that contains both your Firefox and Thunderbird profiles.

Moving from Windows to Linux

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This article is written for users who are moving from Windows to Linux and want to continue to use Mozilla applications. It can be used with any Linux distribution or window manager, but is somewhat Ubuntu-centric due to that distribution's popularity


Moving from Windows to Linux - MozillaZine Knowledge Base:

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No hidden costs, no lock-in

Ubuntu is used as a desktop operating system by thousands of businesses on millions of desktops around the world.

Looking to escape the cycle of endless Windows upgrades? Now, there's a real alternative. No licence fees. No subscription costs. With Ubuntu, you can scale your desktop infrastructure without scaling the expense.

And Ubuntu is naturally free of viruses, so there's no need for expensive anti-virus software, and you can save on all the costs of maintenance associated with malware on Windows.

Business as usual

Fast, easy and quick to deploy, switching to Ubuntu has never been easier

Ubuntu is so easy that users can complete their day-to-day office tasks quickly and efficiently. IT departments also benefit from seamless installation, simple remote management, virus-free computing and 24x7 support from Canonical.

Windows and Ubuntu: Happy together

• Run Ubuntu alongside your existing Windows systems
• Exchange files with Windows users and organisations

Make the switch!

Canonical can help you prioritise the areas of your business that will benefit the most, so you can see a faster return on your investment.

A release schedule you can depend on

Stay up-to-date with free and regular updates and upgrades

Every business is different. That's why we provide two upgrade paths.

Standard releases every six months help you stay up-to-date with the very latest technologies.

Long-term support (LTS) releases, supported for five years, are perfect if you're looking for more stability over a longer period of time.

Ubuntu: JUST DO IT!

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VERY cool article with possibly the most useful things UBUNTU can do for your friends still running Win!

You might not be ready to accept Linux as your desktop yet, but you can still use it to save your Windows PC—whether you need to reset passwords, recover deleted files, or scan for viruses, here’s how to do it.

What we’ll do today is walk you through some of the most useful ways that you can repair your Windows PC using an Ubuntu Live CD, but keep in mind that most of these tasks can be performed with any version of Linux.

The 10 Cleverest Ways to Use Linux to Fix Your Windows PC

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If you’ve recently installed Ubuntu on your system for the first time, you have probably been busy playing around with it as much as you can. Indeed, the popular Linux distribution is fun to mess with and work on, no matter what kind of user you are. However, you may be interested in controlling your system even more to get the absolute most out of it. Terminals have usually been the way to go for things like this, but on Ubuntu you have another choice: Ubuntu Tweak.

About Ubuntu Tweak

Ubuntu Tweak is a fantastic graphical tool to configure all sorts of things on your computer. You can configure lots of tweaks that apply to just your user account, deep admin settings, or run janitorial duties to make your system run more like a freshly installed one. Ubuntu Tweak has been mentioned a few times here at MakeUseOf before (if you’re curious, you can view those articles here, here, and here, among others), but Ubuntu Tweak has been completely redesigned from the ground up since the release of Ubuntu 11.10, so it’s worth taking another look.

Gain More Control Of Your Ubuntu System With Ubuntu Tweak

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Ubuntu 11.10 is important because of one major issue: Unity. When Ubuntu 11.04 arrived, the Unity shell interface for the GNOME desktop environment seemed to be a step backwards — at least on the Ubuntu front. It was buggy, based on dated libraries, and showed little promise.

But with the release of 11.10, things have taken a turn for better. Here are the 10 factors that I think have given Ubuntu a fresh impetus.

Ten factors that make Ubuntu 11.10 a hit

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