First Steps After Installing Ubuntu

1. System Update

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

2. Install Build Essentials

sudo apt install build-essential

This installs gcc, g++, make, and other tools needed for compiling software.

3. Python is Python3 & UV

Ubuntu ships with Python 3 but python points to python3 only after installing this package.

sudo apt install python-is-python3 python3-pip

Install uv — a fast Python package and project manager (replaces pip, venv, pip-tools, poetry):

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh

4. Install Zsh & Set as Default Shell

sudo apt install zsh
chsh -s $(which zsh)

Log out and back in (or reboot) for the change to take effect.

5. Install Starship Prompt

curl -sS https://starship.rs/install.sh | sh

Add this to the end of ~/.zshrc:

eval "$(starship init zsh)"

6. Starship Configuration

Create ~/.config/starship.toml:

# Inserts a blank line between shell prompts
add_newline = true

format = """
[┌╴](bold green)[$username㉿$hostname](bold blue)[\]](bold green)$os$time \
| $all[└─](green) $character\
"""

[character]
success_symbol = "💲"
error_symbol = "✗"

[username]
style_user = 'blue bold'
style_root = 'red bold'
format = '[$user]($style)'
disabled = false
show_always = true

[hostname]
ssh_only = false
format = '[$ssh_symbol](bold blue)[$hostname](bold blue)'
trim_at = '.companyname.com'
disabled = false

[os]
style = "bold green"
format = "on [$symbol$arch$name](style)"
disabled = false

[os.symbols]
Windows = "💠"
Linux = "🐧"

7. Git & SSH Setup

sudo apt install git

Then follow my post on SSH Keys for Git Authentication.