Preparing Ubuntu VM for screencasting

Prerequisites

This tutorial assumes you already have a working installation of VirtualBox. This tutorial assumes VirtualBox 5.2.16 and Ubuntu 18.04 Desktop.

Downloads

Download Ubuntu.

Create new VM

Open VirtualBox
Click New
Enter ubuntu-18.04-desktop next to Name
Select Linux next to Type
Select Ubuntu (64-bit) next to Version
Click Continue
Select 4096 MB under Memory size
Click Continue
Select Create a virtual hard disk now radio button
Click Create
Select VDI (VirtualBox Disk Image) under Hard disk file type
Click Continue
Select Dynamically allocated under Storage on physical hard disk
Click Continue
Enter 10.00 GB under File location and size
Click Create

Attach installation medium

Right-click ubuntu-18.04-desktop from list of virtual machines
Click Settings…
Click Storage
Click Empty under Controller: IDE
Click CD icon next to IDE Secondary Master
Click Choose Virtual Optical Disk File…
Select ubuntu-18.04-desktop-amd64.iso downloaded previously and click Open

Start new VM

Right-click ubuntu-18.04-desktop from list of virtual machines
Select Start and click Normal Start
Select English
Click Install Ubuntu
Select English (US) and English (US)
Click Continue
Select Normal installation radio button
Click Continue
Select Erase disk and install Ubuntu radio button
Click Install Now
Click Continue
Click Continue under Where are you?
Enter your name next to Your name
Enter a computer name next to Your computer’s name
Enter a user name next to Pick a username
Enter a password next to Choose a password and Confirm your password
Select Require my password to log in
Click Continue
Wait for a while…
Click Restart Now
Press Enter

Get rid of “What’s new in Ubuntu”

Log in
Under What’s new in Ubuntu, click Next
Click Next again
Select No, don’t send system info
Click Next
Click Done

Perform software updates

Open a terminal and run the following:

sudo apt-get -y update
sudo rm /var/lib/apt/lists/lock /var/cache/apt/archives/lock /var/lib/dpkg/lock
sudo apt-get -y upgrade
sudo apt-get -y install build-essential module-assistant

Install VM Additions

From Devices, click Insert Guest Additions CD image…
When prompted, click Run for VBox_GAs_5.2.16 CD
Enter password
Click Authenticate
When install completed, press Enter to close the window
From Devices, Optical Drives, click Remove disk from virtual drive
Click Force Unmount
Restart the VM
Right-click ubuntu-18.04-desktop from list of VMs
Click Settings…
Under General and Advanced, ensure Shared Clipboard is set to Bidirectional
Click OK

Set resolution and remove window chrome

From View, click Virtual Screen 1 and click Resize to 1280x720
From View, click Status Bar and uncheck Show Status Bar
From View, click Menu Bar and uncheck Show Menu Bar

Tidy up desktop

Remove unused icons from dock
Right-click Terminal in dock and click Add to Favorites
Click Activities and type hide top bar
Click on Hide Top Bar (GNOME Shell Extension)
Follow prompts
Click Install and Install to confirm
Click Extension Settings
Under Intellihide, toggle both Only hide panel when a window takes the space and Only when the active window takes the space into the “off” position
Open terminal and run sudo apt-get -y install gnome-tweak-tool
Launch Tweaks using gnome-tweaks &
Click Desktop and set Show Icons to “off”
Close Tweaks

Install Chrome

Open Firefox from dock
Go to https://chrome.google.com/ and follow instructions to install Chrome
Once installed, launch Chrome and add it to the dock by right-clicking and selecting Add to Favorites
Remove Firefox from dock

Install large-icon theme

Go https://www.gnome-look.org/content/show.php/Large+Mouse+Cursors?content=140787
Download 140787-LargeCursors.tar.bz

mkdir $HOME/.icons
cd $HOME/.icons
tar xvjf $HOME/Downloads/140787-LargeCursors.tar.bz2
gnome-tweaks &

Click on Appearance
Select Large Mouse Cursors next to Cursor

Install and configure key-mon

From a terminal:

sudo apt-get -y install key-mon
key-mon &

Configure it as follows:

Drag to bottom right-hand corner of screen
Right-click the window and click Settings…
Click Misc tab
Next to Themes select big-letters
Next to Keymap select us.kbd
Click Close

Configure it to run at startup:

gnome-session-properties &

Under Additional startup programs, click Add
Next to Name enter key-mon
Next to Command enter /usr/bin/key-mon
Click Add
Click Close
Log out and log back in

Disable screen lock

Click on Applications and click Settings
Click on Privacy
Click on Screen Lock
Toggle Automatic Screen Lock to Off
Toggle Show Notifications to Off

Disable screen blanking

Click on Applications and click Settings
Click on Power
Click on Blank screen
Select Never

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