Ubuntu upgrade / reinstall notes

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UPGRADE

setup_linux.sh # it cascades into ubuntu for ya

18.04

Watch out, its default nvidia drivers are buggy and crashy.

I removed all nvidia drivers, booted into GNOME (the 18.04 default), told ubuntu to use nouveau on the "additional drivers" page, and removed /etc/X11/xorg.conf, before i3 would start up again.

SET UP A NEW PARTITION INSTALLATION

On occasion, I've had to set up a new partition from an existing partition on same machine. Ideally avoided but I've had to do a new install often on laptop, as OS X upgrades have been trashing bootability of my linux partitions and I haven't had time/skill to figure out why.

create the new partition
do the one-line ubuntu software installation (as well as the dev one-line)
do the mac-specific installs too - you'll need to mount /osx so you can get to isight firmware
copy entire home folder using: sudo rsync -aPside
install i3-gaps again (see above)
fix the trackpad settings again by putting this symlink in place: /etc/X11/xorg.conf.d/60-synaptics.conf
sudo unity-control-center, Software & Updates, Additional drivers, NVIDIA binary driver, reboot right away
keyboard, enable function keys (instead of media keys)