Customizing Linux Mint for a student of science

I myself am a student of Pure Sciences stream, and know that it's critical to have a full-fledged working and studying environment on your desktop/laptop so as to help you get your job done. Here are what an installation of Ubuntu/Linux Mint/Any other distribution can help you in ways a typical Windows desktop can't:

• Linux is all about flexibility. You can curtomize it in any way you want. Just use your favourite Desktop Envoronment and you're ready to go.
• You get most of the stuffs for free, and that too, from trusted sources.
• Say goodbye to virus, spyware, malwares etc.
• Say no to crashes. In rare cases, even if crashes occur, you are certain to get your data back.
• Linux is robust, unlike windows. A weekly (or daily ;) ) reinstallation is certainly included in your routine, if you're Windows user, right? Not the same with Linux.
• Say goodbye to those antivirus companies. You don't need 'em here, kiddo.
• Most importatly, update everything in your system in a few steps.

If I continue with the list, I believe it'll take a hundred pages to just summarize the benefits of using Linux. So, here I am just going to focus on a few tips which can help you start using your Ubuntu/Mint installation perfectly for educational purposes.

Step 1: Remove the unused apps from your system

Not only do they take up space and slow down the system, they also make it harder to locate your required softwares. I suggest using Synaptic to remove every piece of software that you don't use. After removing them, be sure to clean up their configuration files and such. If you're a Mint user like me, I suggest running this script.

Step 2: Use a launcher and rely on your muscle memory
Sadly, many linux users don't harness the power of some handy launchers available to us by a single click. Some of these include Synapse, Kupfer and Gnome-Do. My favourite among the three is Kupfer. It's fast, feature-rich and smart. Install kupfer by this command
sudo apt-get install kupfer
And launch it first from the menu. Then, go to Kupfer-Preferences and set it to autostart everytime. Usually, the command to invoke it is Ctrl+Space. Just type the name of any program and it intelligently detects your choice. Press enter to start the app. This makes things faster.

Step 3: Some essential softwares

Here I recommend a few pieces of important softwares which can vastly increase your productivity.
1. Note-takers: Essential for every student. Use Zim, with it's Calendar Mode enabled. It can serve as a daily journal as well as your reliable note-taking assistant. The only problem is that, it doesn't yet synchronize with Evernote. For those who heavily rely on Evernote, use NixNote.
2. Lighter Office Suite: If you, like me, don't usually use Office applications such as Word, Calc etc., you can just remove OpenOffice, KOffice, Calligra or LibreOffice and install their lighters replacements. These are:

• AbiWord, for Word-processing
• GNumeric, for spreadsheet
• Ease, for presentations
• Glom, for databases

3. Use a dedicated calendar application. I suggest using Evolution, because while Thunderbird can be a decent replacement, it doesn't fully support integration with your clock and calendar applet. Synchronize your evolution calendar with your google calendar if you have one, and you have a decent Task manager.
4. Make a folder called 'Ebooks' inside your Documents folder. Be sure to store PDFs and other ebooks inside it, for faster and easier accessing. Evince, the default PDF reader, can be a good choice to reading ebooks, especially with its Dual Pages mode enabled. Maximize it with F11 key for easier reading.
5. Use a professional theme, that looks elegant and clean at the same time. Being a Gnome-Shell user myself, I can say that GnoMish Dark can be a good choice. Here's how my laptop looks like:

6. Some truly good educational softwares to be installed include:

• Kalzium, one of the best Periodic Tables I have seen so far
• Kig, for geometric constructions and drawings
• KmPlot, the best function plotter
• WxMaxima, if you're familiar with the language, it's good. Or else, noothing to worry about. It's a very decent Computer Algebra System that can just do your work.
• GoldenDict, which brings Wikipedia to your desk. The best thing is, keep the software running, highlight any word anywhere in the system and presshold Ctrl and hit D twice. The app smartly defines your choice. The Wordnet Offline dictionary can also be downloaded to use GoldenDict as an offline dictionary.
• Avogadro, the Molecular constructor. It can help you design and view a wide range of molecules, ranging from those of water to those of complex chemicals such as Citric acid.
• Stellarium, if you're into astronomy like me. :)
• Celestia, if you like to venture deep into space.
• StumbleUpon extension for your Chromium or Firefox browser. This is what is called Discovery Engine, which is basically a specialized search engine that can take you randomly to pages of your interest. Believe me, it's magic. Just make a free account, install the extension from within firefox or chromium, and select a few topics of your interest. And you're ready to go.
• LifeRea, a good feed reader. This can truly help you organize your feeds from your favourite sites. Some favourite feeds of mine include the ones from ScienceDaily, UniverseToday, PlanetGnome etc.

All of them can be installed right from the software centre.
7. Make yourself a speaking alarm clock to remind you about your studies and activities. Please read my previous posts to know the trick. Here


Please share with us if you know other nice improvements. :)