Updated as of 04 November 2025.

I recently bought a new laptop (Lenovo ThinkBook 14 G7+ ASP) to run Ubuntu Linux. So it is a good time to write a setup guide to get Ubuntu running smoothly. Although this guide is written for the Lenovo ThinkBook, most of the steps should work for other computer brands/models.

Whether you are new to Linux or use Linux professionally, this guide should serve as a useful reference.

Updated as of 31 August 2025.

Here are some recommended utility applications and quality-of-life tweaks from an occasional macOS user.

GPG is useful especially for signing commits on GitHub. It is a good idea to pre-emptively make backups of your GPG credentials, as extracting them from an unbootable system drive is not a straightforward process.

Backing up GPG

These steps should work on most, if not all, Linux distributions.

1. First, export your credentials

   gpg --export --export-options backup --output public.gpg
   gpg --export-secret-keys --export-options backup --output private.gpg
   gpg --export-ownertrust >> trust.gpg
   

2. Afterwards, copy these 3 files public.gpg private.gpg trust.gpg to somewhere safe (like an external drive or NAS).

3. You can import them on a new machine by running the following

   gpg --import public.gpg
   gpg --import private.gpg # Prompts you to type the passphrase that you used when you first created the GPG key.
   gpg --import-ownertrust trust.gpg
   

Tip: For GitHub users, if you need to sign commits using your existing GPG key on your new machine, here is the official guide.