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


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## 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.

**<span style="color:#018914">Ubuntu</span>**

```shell
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
```

**<span style="color:#6003B6">CentOS</span>**

```shell
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 <span style="color:#018914">**Ubuntu**</span> but not on <span style="color:#6003B6">**CentOS**</span>. Nevertheless, we can install it subsequently via the <a href="https://fedoraproject.org/wiki/EPEL" target="_blank">Extra Packages for Enterprise Linux</a>.

**Add the EPEL repository:**

```shell
sudo dnf install epel-release
```

**Install and enable snapd:**

```shell
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:**

```shell
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`

 ```shell
sudo snap install code --classic
```

**Option 2:** Step by Step

**<span style="color:#018914">Ubuntu</span>**

**Repository and key:**

```code
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:**

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

**<span style="color:#6003B6">CentOS</span>**

**Repository and key:**

```code
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:**

```shell
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**

1. Upload Key : Shift + Alt + U
2. 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.

```shell
sudo snap install remmina
```

{{< image src="/img/posts/201912_development_desktop/CapturFiles-20200318_023735.jpg" caption="Figure I: Remmina - Remote Desktop Client" src-s="/img/posts/201912_development_desktop/CapturFiles-20200318_023735.jpg" class="center" >}}

## Content sharing

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.

{{< image src="/img/posts/201912_development_desktop/CapturFiles-20200318_113300.jpg" caption="Figure II: Activate Online Accounts" src-s="/img/posts/201912_development_desktop/CapturFiles-20200318_113300.jpg" class="center" >}}

### Dropbox for Linux

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

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

**<span style="color:#018914">Ubuntu</span>**

**Dropbox Headless:**

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

**Installing the Dropbox CLI:**

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

```code
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:**

```code
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:**

```shell
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
```

**Enable the new Dropbox service:**

```shell
sudo systemctl enable dropbox
```

**Start the service:**

```shell
sudo systemctl start dropbox
```

<span style="color:#6003B6">CentOS</span>

**Dropbox Headless:**

```shell
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:**

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

**Creating the systemd unit file:**

```shell
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:**

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

**Add users to be able to run Dropbox:**

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

**Reload system daemon:**

```shell
sudo systemctl daemon-reload
```

**Enable the new Dropbox service:**

```shell
sudo systemctl enable dropbox
```

**Start the service:**

```shell
sudo systemctl start dropbox
```

## Installing the Dropbox CLI

```shell
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`

 ```shell
sudo snap install docker
```

**Option 2:** Step by Step

**<span style="color:#018914">Ubuntu:</span>**

```code
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`.

**<span style="color:#6003B6">CentOS:</span>**

```shell
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.

```shell
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).

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

Unpack afterwards:

```shell
unzip tools.zip
```

{{< admonition note "Note:" true >}}
Installing the OVF Tool for **<span style="color:#6003B6">CentOS</span>** requires the installation of the *ncurses-compat-libs* package first.
{{< /admonition >}}

```shell
sudo dnf install ncurses-compat-libs
```

Make them executable and start the installation:

```shell
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
```

```shell
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.

**<span style="color:#018914">Ubuntu:</span>**

```shell
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
```

**<span style="color:#6003B6">CentOS:</span>**

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

---

**<center>Thanks for reading.</center>**

---

**Change Log:**

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