Minor LinuxMint Annoyances

After a fresh install of Linux Mint 10 there's always 3 things that annoy the hell out of me:

1. Upgrade Firefox to version 4
2. Remove the Motherfreaking Mint customised Google searchbar and replace with standard one
3. Remove cow and quotes from Terminal

Now, thanks to the sites listed at the bottom of this post theres a quick and easy solution to each issue:


1. Upgrade/Install Firefox 4

First add the Firefox PPA (Personal Package Archive) to your system with this command:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mozillateam/firefox-stable
You'll need to enter your password to authenticate, and apt will add the Firefox PPA for you.

Then you can either upgrade any software packages on your system that need upgrades (including Firefox):
sudo apt-get upgrade
or install Firefox 4:
sudo apt-get install firefox ubufox
(Ubufox is a Firefox extension that ships various tweaks and extensions.)


2. Remove the Linux Mint customised Google searchbar and replace with standard one

First, go to https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/3682
Install the addon and restart Firefox.

Next go to google (eg: http://www.google.com), right click in google search bar and select “add to search bar”.

Next left-click arrow at left side of firefox search combo and Select “manage search engine”, you should find Google at the bottom of the list. You'll need to move it to the top.

Finally, delete any search agents that you no longer want (eg: Bing)


3. Remove cow and quotes from Terminal

First you'll need to open the config file: /etc/bash.bashrc :
sudo gedit /etc/bash.bashrc

Next find the line (it's usually near the very bottom) similiar to
/usr/bin/mint-fortune
and comment it out:
#/usr/bin/mint-fortune

Finally, save the config file and restart the terminal.


Many thanks to the following sites:
http://www.jonathanmoeller.com/screed/?p=2754
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/337
http://blog.linuxmint.com/?p=142
http://community.linuxmint.com/tutorial/view/73