# main-desktop **Ubuntu 26.04 LTS** on my desktop (Ryzen 7 9800X3D, RTX 5090, 49" 5120x1440), installed from a custom ISO that wipes the drive and sets the whole machine up without being watched. This replaces the Bazzite/BlueBuild image that used to live here — that version is still in the git history. | File | What it is | |---|---| | [scripts/build-iso.sh](scripts/build-iso.sh) | Builds the install ISO: stock Ubuntu desktop ISO + this repo + the autoinstall config | | [iso/user-data.in](iso/user-data.in) | The autoinstall config — which disk to wipe, the user, the driver and codec choices | | [scripts/setup.sh](scripts/setup.sh) | Installs everything (drivers, Docker, Steam, Flatpaks, mounts). Runs itself on first boot; also runnable by hand on a stock Ubuntu install | | [scripts/firstboot.sh](scripts/firstboot.sh) | The one-shot first-boot wrapper that calls setup.sh | | [flatpaks.txt](flatpaks.txt) | The app list | Copying files over and signing in to apps are deliberately **not** automated — I do those by hand. ## Why leave Bazzite The read-only base made ordinary things into projects. VS Code had to be layered with rpm-ostree, Node and .NET came from Homebrew, and Claude desktop ran inside an Ubuntu distrobox because it only ships for Ubuntu/Debian. On Ubuntu, each of those is an `apt install`. ## 1. Build the ISO ```bash scripts/build-iso.sh ``` It asks for the login password to bake in, downloads the Ubuntu 26.04.1 desktop ISO if `build/` doesn't have it (~6 GB, resumable, checksum-verified), and writes `build/main-desktop-.iso`. The image surgery runs in a container, so the build machine needs nothing but podman — it works from Bazzite as-is. **The ISO holds your password hash, so treat the stick as private.** Write it to a USB stick — check the device name first, `lsblk` before you `dd`: ```bash sudo dd if=build/main-desktop-.iso of=/dev/sdX bs=4M status=progress oflag=direct conv=fsync ``` ## 2. Boot it and pick the last GRUB entry > **Install main-desktop UNATTENDED — ERASES the target disk** It is deliberately **not** the default entry: left alone, the stick boots into the ordinary Ubuntu installer, so an accidental boot can't wipe anything. The other entries are untouched. ### What keeps this from eating the wrong disk The autoinstall config matches **one disk by serial** — `S73VNU0Y101555E`, the 1 TB Samsung 990 PRO. The other NVMe in this machine (the 970 EVO Plus, "Data", serial `S6P7NS0X656465Z`, holding the second Steam library and the emulator files) never matches, and if no disk matches the installer stops instead of guessing. The same goes for any other machine you boot the stick on: it refuses rather than picking something. Verified by installing from this ISO in a VM with two virtual NVMe drives carrying exactly those two serials: the 990 PRO one came out partitioned (1 GB ESP + root) with Ubuntu on it, and the Data one was byte-for-byte identical afterwards, marker file and all. The whole install ran without a keypress and rebooted on its own. From there it runs on its own: partition, install Ubuntu desktop, install the NVIDIA driver and media codecs, then reboot. ## 3. First boot installs the apps A one-shot service runs [setup.sh](scripts/setup.sh) the first time the new system boots. It needs the network, takes a while (roughly 12 GB of Flatpaks), and logs to `/var/log/main-desktop-firstboot.log`: ```bash tail -f /var/log/main-desktop-firstboot.log ``` You can log in and use the machine while it works. It installs: - **Gaming:** Steam (plus `steam-devices` for controllers), Lutris, GameMode, MangoHud, and ProtonUp-Qt for Proton-GE. The Xbox Bluetooth fix (`disable_ertm`) carries over from Bazzite. - **Containers:** Docker CE from Docker's repo (not the snap), with `--gpus all` wired up through nvidia-container-toolkit. You're added to `docker` and `kvm`. - **Apps:** the 27 Flatpaks in [flatpaks.txt](flatpaks.txt), picked from the 42 that were on Bazzite. The rest sit commented out at the bottom of that file. Ubuntu's Firefox snap is removed in favour of the Flatpak. A systemd timer updates Flatpaks daily. - **Dev:** VS Code, Claude desktop (Anthropic's apt repo), Claude Code CLI, `build-essential` and cmake, and git credentials kept in the GNOME keyring. **No Node or .NET on the host** by choice — LudosData and landingPage build in Docker. To add them: `sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jdxcode/mise && sudo apt install mise dotnet-sdk-10.0`. - **Mounts:** the Data drive at **`/mnt/data`**. The server-marvin share is skipped on an unattended run; run setup.sh again by hand if you want it, and it'll ask for the credentials. The installer grants passwordless sudo for that one run; firstboot.sh takes it away again on its way out, whether setup.sh succeeded or not. ## 4. Then, by hand - **Log out and back in** — the `docker` and `kvm` groups need a fresh session. - **Steam:** sign in, then **Settings → Storage → Add drive → `/mnt/data/SteamLibrary`**. Those games need no redownload. - **Display:** Settings → Displays. The monitor does **5120x1440 @ 240 Hz**; Bazzite was running it at 120. Turn on variable refresh rate while you're there. - **PIA VPN:** the official Linux app works on Ubuntu (it couldn't on Bazzite's read-only `/usr`). Download the installer from PIA and run it. - **Gitea:** the first `git push` asks for your username and password once, then the GNOME keyring remembers it. KDE Wallet was doing that here. ### Moving files across by hand - **Flatpak app data** lives in `~/.var/app/`. Copying one app's folder across brings that app's logins, profile and settings with it — Firefox and Thunderbird profiles included. - **Steam saves** are in `~/.local/share/Steam/userdata` (Proton prefixes in `steamapps/compatdata`). Game files themselves redownload. - **FFXIV** is `~/.xlcore`, ~124 GB. Worth copying rather than re-fetching from Square's servers. - **ComfyUI:** copy the folder but not its `venv` — rebuild that with `python3 -m venv venv && venv/bin/pip install -r requirements.txt`. - **Don't copy** Fedora's `.bashrc`/`.bash_profile`, `~/.local/bin` (pip shims built against Fedora's Python), `~/.config/dconf` (KDE's settings database, which would overwrite GNOME's), or the KDE-generated `~/.config/gtk-3.0` and `gtk-4.0` themes. ## Check it worked ```bash nvidia-smi # RTX 5090, driver 595.x modinfo -F license nvidia # "Dual MIT/GPL" = open modules docker run --rm --gpus all nvidia/cuda:12.8.0-base-ubuntu24.04 nvidia-smi flatpak list --app | wc -l # 27 findmnt /mnt/data claude --version && code --version systemctl status main-desktop-firstboot # should be a completed one-shot, now disabled ``` Podman's `--device nvidia.com/gpu=all` needs a CDI spec. The toolkit normally generates one at boot; if Podman says the device is unknown, run `sudo nvidia-ctk cdi generate --output=/etc/cdi/nvidia.yaml`. ## Without the ISO Install Ubuntu 26.04 by hand (user **`ckoch`** — the first user gets UID 1000, which matches the file ownership on the Data drive), then: ```bash sudo apt install -y git git clone https://git.lazypugs.com/ckoch/main-desktop.git ~/Documents/git/main-desktop cd ~/Documents/git/main-desktop && scripts/setup.sh # safe to re-run ``` Reboot when it finishes, then `sudo flatpak update` once — Flatpak can only match its NVIDIA GL runtime to a driver that's already loaded, so apps render in software until that happens (the daily timer catches it about 10 minutes after boot anyway). The ISO route avoids this, because the driver is already installed before the apps are. ## Coming from Bazzite: what moved | Was | Now | |---|---| | `rpm-ostree` layering / `ujust` | `apt` | | Homebrew `node@24`, `dotnet` | Nothing on the host — those projects build in Docker | | Claude desktop in a distrobox | Native `claude-desktop` package | | Git password from KDE Wallet | GNOME keyring, via git's libsecret helper | | `/var/home/ckoch` | `/home/ckoch` | | `/run/media/ckoch/Data` | `/mnt/data` | | `/var/mnt/server-marvin-personal` | `/mnt/server-marvin-personal` | | Image updates + rollback | Software Updater / `sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade`; Flatpaks auto-update daily. No rollback by default; `sudo apt install timeshift` if you miss it | ## Maintenance - **Add or remove an app:** edit [flatpaks.txt](flatpaks.txt), then re-run `scripts/setup.sh` on the machine (or rebuild the ISO for the next install). Removing a line doesn't uninstall anything; `flatpak uninstall ` once by hand. - **New Ubuntu point release:** bump `UBUNTU_POINT` in [scripts/build-iso.sh](scripts/build-iso.sh) and rebuild. - **Next LTS (28.04):** Ubuntu offers the upgrade in Software Updater once 28.04.1 is out. The upgrader disables third-party repos (Docker, NVIDIA toolkit, and so on) — turn them back on in Software & Updates → Other Software afterwards. - The ISO's own "Check disc for defects" option will report mismatches, since the added files aren't in the stock `md5sum.txt`. That's expected and doesn't affect installing.