Install Elementary OS on Ubuntu Server with My Setup

A comprehensive guide to installing Elementary OS (Pantheon desktop) on Ubuntu Server 24.04, covering networking, gestures, Vietnamese IBus input, Nvidia drivers, Docker, Distrobox, and laptop battery optimization.

1. Pre-installation

• Ubuntu Server 24.04 ISO
• Stable Internet connection

2. Installation

2.1. Ubuntu Server

• Install Ubuntu Server 24.04 Minimal version
• Follow the install instructions

2.2. Elementary OS PPA

After booting into the Ubuntu terminal:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:elementary-os/stable
sudo apt update
sudo apt install elementary-desktop

Enter LightDM:

sudo service lightdm restart

3. Post-installation — Settings

3.1. Networking

ElementaryOS (like other distros) uses NetworkManager. To make netplan use it:

sudo nano /etc/netplan/50-cloud-init.yaml

network:
    ethernets: {}
    version: 2
    renderer: NetworkManager  # ← Add this line

sudo netplan apply

3.2. Multi-touch gestures

Touchegg is not installed by default:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:touchegg/stable
sudo apt install touchegg

Reboot, then customize in Settings → Mouse & Touchpad → Gestures.

Install Touche from AppCenter to customize gestures:

3.3. Disable network-wait service

Ubuntu Server waits for network before starting the desktop:

sudo systemctl disable systemd-networkd-wait-online.service
sudo systemctl mask systemd-networkd-wait-online.service

3.4. Pantheon-tweak

Install pantheon-tweak from Flatpak/AppCenter to customize desktop fonts:

3.5. IBus and Vietnamese input

Elementary OS has poor IBus integration compared to GNOME. Workaround:

1. Install your favorite engine (I chose Bamboo):

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:bamboo-engine/ibus-bamboo
sudo apt install ibus-bamboo

2. Go to Settings → Keyboard, ensure only English (US) layout:

3. In Input Method, add Bamboo and customize the shortcut:

4. Ensure Keyboard Layout is English (US):

5. Press Alt + Space to switch. However, Wingpanel (Pantheon's top panel) doesn't show a status indicator, so you can't tell which input method is active 😞

3.6. Nvidia Driver (optional)

Go to Settings → System → Driver to install:

4. Post-installation — System

4.1. SSD optimization

Daily TRIM, zswap, Firefox SSD wear reduction:

https://easylinuxtipsproject.blogspot.com/p/ssd.html#ID6

4.2. Increase swapfile

sudo swapoff /swap.img
sudo rm /swap.img
sudo fallocate -l 8G /swap.img
sudo chmod 600 /swap.img
sudo mkswap /swap.img
sudo swapon /swap.img

4.3. Clock sync for dual-booting Windows

timedatectl set-local-rtc 1

5. Post-installation — Apps

5.1. Pacstall

Pacstall is AUR for Ubuntu:

sudo bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://pacstall.dev/q/install)"
pacstall -I zen-browser-bin lm-studio-app osu-lazer-app fastfetch-git

5.2. Python virtualenv — uv (Astral)

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
uv venv
uv add <package-names>...

5.3. oh-my-zsh

sudo apt install git zsh zsh-autosuggestions
git clone https://github.com/zsh-users/zsh-autosuggestions \
  ${ZSH_CUSTOM:-~/.oh-my-zsh/custom}/plugins/zsh-autosuggestions
sh -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ohmyzsh/ohmyzsh/master/tools/install.sh)"

~/.zshrc config:

ZSH_THEME="candy-kali"
ZSH_CUSTOM=~/.zsh-custom
plugins=(git zsh-autosuggestions vscode)

if [ -d "$HOME/.local/bin" ] ; then
    PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"
fi

alias dockps='docker ps --format "{{.ID}}  {{.Names}}"'
docksh() { docker exec -it $1 $2; }

5.4. Docker and Distrobox

# Remove conflicting packages
for pkg in docker.io docker-doc docker-compose docker-compose-v2 podman-docker containerd runc; do
  sudo apt-get remove $pkg
done

# Install Docker
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo "${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}") stable" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin

Distrobox and Kali Linux:

curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/89luca89/distrobox/main/install | sudo sh
distrobox create --name kali --image docker.io/kalilinux/kali-rolling:latest
distrobox enter kali

5.5. Battery optimization

Powertop:

sudo apt install powertop

Create /etc/systemd/system/powertop.service:

[Unit]
Description=Powertop tunings

[Service]
Type=oneshot
RemainAfterExit=yes
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/powertop --auto-tune
ExecStartPost=/bin/sh -c 'for f in $(grep -l "Mouse" /sys/bus/usb/devices/*/product | sed "s/product/power\\/control/"); do echo on >| "$f"; done'

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Auto-CPU-freq:

git clone https://github.com/AdnanHodzic/auto-cpufreq.git
cd auto-cpufreq && sudo ./auto-cpufreq-installer
sudo auto-cpufreq-gtk
echo 'eval "$(_AUTO_CPUFREQ_COMPLETE=zsh_source auto-cpufreq)"' >> ~/.zshrc