A Linux Development Desktop with VMware Horizon - Part II: Applications

Robert Guske included in End User Computing Platforms

2020-02-27 1500 words 8 minutes

Contents

Applications

In this section I´m going to list a couple of applications which I´m using for my desktop and how you can easily install them from your shell. Of course, it´s not a must and it´s up to you which of them you´d like to install.

Google Chrome

https://www.google.com/chrome/

Firefox is pre-installed on Ubuntu as well as on CentOS but I´m for years now with Chrome and I´m still satisfied.

Ubuntu

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wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb -P ~/Downloads
sudo dpkg -i ~/Downloads/google-chrome-stable_current_amd64.deb

CentOS

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wget https://dl.google.com/linux/direct/google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm -P ~/Downloads
sudo yum install ~/Downloads/google-chrome-stable_current_x86_64.rpm

Snap (package manager)

https://snapcraft.io/docs

This package manager is pre-installed and ready for use on Ubuntu but not on CentOS. Nevertheless, we can install it subsequently via the Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux.

Add the EPEL repository:

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sudo dnf install epel-release

Install and enable snapd:

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sudo yum install snapd
sudo systemctl enable --now snapd.socket
sudo ln -s /var/lib/snapd/snap /snap

The command line interface snap is ready for use:

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snap --help

The snap command lets you install, configure, refresh and remove snaps.
Snaps are packages that work across many different Linux distributions,
enabling secure delivery and operation of the latest apps and utilities.

Commands can be classified as follows:

 Basics: find, info, install, list, remove
...more: refresh, revert, switch, disable, enable
History: changes, tasks, abort, watch
Daemons: services, start, stop, restart, logs
Commands: alias, aliases, unalias, prefer
Configuration: get, set, unset, wait
Account: login, logout, whoami
Permissions: connections, interface, connect, disconnect
Snapshots: saved, save, check-snapshot, restore, forget
Other: version, warnings, okay, ack, known, model, create-cohort
Development: run, pack, try, download, prepare-image

Visual Studio Code (VSCode)

https://code.visualstudio.com/

VSCode is a powerful open source cross-platform editor and definetely one of my absolute favorite tools so far and indispensable for our desktop.

Option 1: Installation via snap

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sudo snap install code --classic

Option 2: Step by Step

Ubuntu

Repository and key:

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curl https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc | gpg --dearmor > packages.microsoft.gpg
sudo install -o root -g root -m 644 packages.microsoft.gpg /usr/share/keyrings/
sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=amd64 signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/packages.microsoft.gpg] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'

Install:

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sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https && sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install code

CentOS

Repository and key:

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sudo rpm --import https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc
sudo sh -c 'echo -e "[code]\nname=Visual Studio Code\nbaseurl=https://packages.microsoft.com/yumrepos/vscode\nenabled=1\ngpgcheck=1\ngpgkey=https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc" > /etc/yum.repos.d/vscode.repo'

Install:

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sudo dnf check-update
sudo dnf install code

[Extension] VSCode Settings sync

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Shan.code-settings-sync

VSCode has a REALLY rich extensibility model which gives you everything you need to work even more efficiently and faster. It´ll not be possible to avoid that more and more extensions and other niceties are added to your installation and as of today it´s not possible to have everything consistent across different systems or platforms through an Online-Account like you have e.g. for Google Chrome.

Thus I´d like to recommend using the VSCode Settings sync extension for it. It uses your GitHub account (required) token and Gist, to give you the ability to upload as well as download your settings, snippets, themes and so forth.

Just search for the extension at the marketplace, install it, select LOGIN WITH GITHUB (get redirected) and follow the instructions. Since you´ve created your Gist-ID you´re ready to go to upload as well as to download your settings.

Shortcuts

Upload Key : Shift + Alt + U
Download Key : Shift + Alt + D

(on macOS: Shift + Option + U / Shift + Option + D)

Set VSCode as default editor for Git

Open your terminal and execut: git config --global core.editor “code --wait”

Source: https://git-scm.com/book/en/v2/Customizing-Git-Git-Configuration

Remmina

https://remmina.org/

Remmina is a Remote Desktop Client which supports multiple network protocols like e.g. RDP, VNC, SPICE, NX, XDMCP and SSH.

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sudo snap install remmina

/img/posts/201912_development_desktop/CapturFiles-20200318_023735.jpg — Figure I: Remmina - Remote Desktop Client

I was looking for a workspace where I can share content, mainly files like scripts or specification-files (.yml, .json) across platforms. It´s possible by default to activate Online Accounts (Figure II) like e.g. Google or Nextcloud in both distributions through the System Settings.

/img/posts/201912_development_desktop/CapturFiles-20200318_113300.jpg — Figure II: Activate Online Accounts

Dropbox for Linux

https://www.dropbox.com/en/install-linux

I decided to try Dropbox due to the availability of an already existing account.

Ubuntu

Dropbox Headless:

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cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64" | tar xzf -

Installing the Dropbox CLI:

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sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/dropbox "https://www.dropbox.com/download?dl=packages/dropbox.py"
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/dropbox

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dropbox --help

Dropbox command-line interface

commands:

autostart    automatically start Dropbox at login
exclude      ignores/excludes a directory from syncing
filestatus   get current sync status of one or more files
help         provide help
lansync      enables or disables LAN sync
ls           list directory contents with current sync status
proxy        set proxy settings for Dropbox
puburl       get public url of a file in your Dropbox's public folder
running      return whether Dropbox is running
sharelink    get a shared link for a file in your Dropbox
start        start dropboxd
status       get current status of the dropboxd
stop         stop dropboxd
throttle     set bandwidth limits for Dropbox
update       download latest version of Dropbox
version      print version information for Dropbox

Enable Dropbox to start automatically after every reboot:

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sudo vim /etc/systemd/system/dropbox.service

[Unit]
Description=Dropbox Service
After=network.target

[Service]
ExecStart=/bin/sh -c '/usr/local/bin/dropbox start'
ExecStop=/bin/sh -c '/usr/local/bin/dropbox stop'
PIDFile=${HOME}/.dropbox/dropbox.pid
User=jarvis
Group=jarvis
Type=forking
Restart=on-failure
RestartSec=5
StartLimitInterval=60s
StartLimitBurst=3

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

Reload system daemon:

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sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Enable the new Dropbox service:

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sudo systemctl enable dropbox

Start the service:

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sudo systemctl start dropbox

CentOS

Dropbox Headless:

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cd ~ && wget -O - "https://www.dropbox.com/download?plat=lnx.x86_64" | tar xzf -
sudo mkdir -p /opt/dropbox
sudo cp -r .dropbox-dist/* /opt/dropbox

By executing /opt/dropbox/dropboxd you should be forwarded to the Dropbox homepage where you have to login to authenticate the connection request. After this, quite the running Dropbox on your terminal with ctrl + c.

Creating the init.d file:

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sudo curl -o /etc/init.d/dropbox https://gist.githubusercontent.com/thisismitch/6293d3f7f5fa37ca6eab/raw/2b326bf77368cbe5d01af21c623cd4dd75528c3d/dropbox

Creating the systemd unit file:

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sudo curl -o /etc/systemd/system/dropbox.service https://gist.githubusercontent.com/thisismitch/6293d3f7f5fa37ca6eab/raw/99947e2ef986492fecbe1b7bfbaa303fefc42a62/dropbox.service

Set the appropriate permissions for the newly created files:

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sudo chmod +x /etc/systemd/system/dropbox.service /etc/init.d/dropbox

Add users to be able to run Dropbox:

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sudo vim /etc/sysconfig/dropbox
DROPBOX_USERS="rguske"

Reload system daemon:

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sudo systemctl daemon-reload

Enable the new Dropbox service:

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sudo systemctl enable dropbox

Start the service:

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sudo systemctl start dropbox

Installing the Dropbox CLI

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sudo wget -O /usr/local/bin/dropbox "https://www.dropbox.com/download?dl=packages/dropbox.py"
sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/dropbox

Docker Engine - Community

Another must!

Option 1: Installation via snap

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sudo snap install docker

Option 2: Step by Step

Ubuntu:

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sudo apt -y install \
    ca-certificates \
    curl \
    gnupg \
    lsb-release

 curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg

echo \
  "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/docker-archive-keyring.gpg] https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(lsb_release -cs) stable" | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

sudo apt  update

sudo apt -y install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io

Manage Docker as a non-root user

The usergroup docker should be created after the installation. If not, run:

sudo groupadd docker

Add your $USER to the group by executing sudo usermod -aG docker $USER.

CentOS:

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sudo yum install -y yum-utils \
  device-mapper-persistent-data \
  lvm2

sudo dnf install https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/7/x86_64/stable/Packages/containerd.io-1.2.6-3.3.el7.x86_64.rpm

sudo yum-config-manager \
   --add-repo \
   https://download.docker.com/linux/centos/docker-ce.repo

sudo yum install docker-ce docker-ce-cli

sudo systemctl enable --now docker

systemctl status docker.service

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

After adding your user to the docker group, you have to logout and login first, so that your group membership is re-evaluated.

Docker Compose

https://docs.docker.com/compose/

A tool for deploying multi-container applications which services are specified in a YAML file.

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sudo curl -L "https://github.com/docker/compose/releases/download/1.25.3/docker-compose-$(uname -s)-$(uname -m)" -o /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

sudo chmod +x /usr/local/bin/docker-compose

VMware Remote Console

Download: https://www.vmware.com/go/download-vmrc

VMware OVF Tool

Download: https://code.vmware.com/web/tool/4.3.0/ovf

These two binaries were downloaded locally (to my Notebook) first, then got packed into a zip archive and copied via scp to my desktop(s).

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scp ~/Downloads/tools.zip jarvis@devdesk-centos:/home/jarvis/Downloads

Unpack afterwards:

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unzip tools.zip

Note:

Installing the OVF Tool for CentOS requires the installation of the ncurses-compat-libs package first.

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sudo dnf install ncurses-compat-libs

Make them executable and start the installation:

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chmod +x VMware-ovftool-4.3.0-14746126-lin.x86_64.bundle
sudo ./VMware-ovftool-4.3.0-14746126-lin.x86_64.bundle --console --required --eulas-agreed

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chmod +x VMware-Remote-Console-11.0.0-15201582.x86_64.bundle
sudo ./VMware-Remote-Console-11.0.0-15201582.x86_64.bundle --console --required --eulas-agreed

Enpass

https://www.enpass.io/

A secure vault which is available for all mobile and desktop platforms.

Ubuntu:

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sudo -i
echo "deb https://apt.enpass.io/ stable main" > \/etc/apt/sources.list.d/enpass.list
wget -O - https://apt.enpass.io/keys/enpass-linux.key | apt-key add -
exit
sudo apt update && sudo apt install enpass

CentOS:

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cd /etc/yum.repos.d/
sudo wget https://yum.enpass.io/enpass-yum.repo
sudo yum install enpass
cd ~

Thanks for reading.

Change Log:

[2020-03-18]: Added Snap (package manager); Remmina (Remote Desktop Client); Section “Content sharing”; Dropbox client

Contents

A Linux Development Desktop with VMware Horizon - Part II: Applications

Applications

Google Chrome

Snap (package manager)

Visual Studio Code (VSCode)

[Extension] VSCode Settings sync

Remmina

Content sharing

Dropbox for Linux

Installing the Dropbox CLI

Docker Engine - Community

Docker Compose

VMware Remote Console

VMware OVF Tool

Enpass