Ubuntu, drivers, fonts and update

As far as Ubuntu drivers is concerned, here is the info obtained from running the command: apt-cache show ubuntu-drivers-common

Description-en: Detect and install additional Ubuntu driver packages
 This package aggregates and abstracts Ubuntu specific logic and knowledge
 about third-party driver packages. It provides:
 .
  - a Python API for detecting driver packages for a particular piece of
    hardware or the whole system.
 .
  - an "ubuntu-drivers" command line tool to list or install driver packages
    (mostly for integration in installers).
 .
  - a PackageKit plugin for WhatProvides() for types MODALIAS and
    HARDWARE_DRIVER, to do the same queries as above through the PackageKit API
    (for using in non-distro specific GUIs). This works with aptdaemon's
    PackageKit compatibility layer (python3-aptdaemon.pkcompat) and with
    PackageKit's apt backend, but _not_ with the PackageKit aptcc backend.
 .
  - some NVidia specific support code to find the most appropriate driver
    version, as well as setting up the alternatives symlinks that the
    proprietary NVidia and FGLRX packages use.

Basically, the package contains no drivers. It can help for those who are running a GPU by Nvidia or AMD mostly and sometimes intel when stuff like intel microcode or intel opensource drivers are installed.

With that said, the linux kernel should have all the stuff you need for network and graphics.

If you have nvidia or ati graphics, you may want to install the correct proprietary driver for your card and this package will help detect which proprietary driver is best suited for your particular model.

Printer drivers depend on your particular printer model and in some rare cases need to be downloaded from the printer manufacturer.

Almost all network drivers are available with the linux kernel and only rare cases need to be installed or compiled from source.

As far as font rendering is concerned, I don't think so and a basic search supports this hypothesis.

Finally, I personally prefer apt-get but that is a matter of taste and preference. I prefer to run the following commands on a regular basis to keep my system up to date and do not rely on the automatic update features of any automatic update manager:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

and

sudo apt-get dist-upgrade

If you compiled any drivers from source code, you may need to recompile after running a dist-upgrade.

If you are not already aware, I suggest using the ubuntu mini.iso to install and you can use the following command to install a selected desktop after installation:

sudo tasksel

Do not select any of the "live" desktops from the list.

NOTE: because of a bug in tasksel, DO NOT use tasksel to uninstall packages. ONLY use tasksel to install.

It should be noted that this is not for a UEFI system and will install in legacy BIOS mode!

You can find the 64 bit mini.iso here.

You can find the 32 bit mini.iso here.

This will give you a very minimal install.

Click here for more info on the minimal install.

Also, as far as the install.sh script goes. You can replace the section under # First bunch of apps to install (lines 13-101)

apt-get install -y ubuntu-drivers-common ubuntu-docs libnm-gtk-common ubuntu-wallpapers ubuntu-wallpapers-xenial openssh-client evince evince-common lightdm antoconf automake x11-xserver-utils arandr pavucontrol dconf i3blocks lxappearance vim thunar gnome-system-monitor gnome-system-tools network-manager network-manager-gnome network-manager-openvpn network-manager-openvpn-gnome brasero gnome-bluetooth libbluetooth3 libgnome-bluetooth13 pulseaudio pulseaudio-module-bluetooth pulseaudio-module-x11 pulseaudio-utils pactl xbacklight feh gnome-icon-theme-full rofi compton gnome-terminal gedit git i3 i3-wm i3blocks i3lock i3status moka-icon-theme xserver-xorg-video-intel cups-common cups-core-drivers cups-daemon cups-filters-core-drivers printer-driver-brlaser printer-driver-c2esp printer-driver-foo2zjs printer-driver-foo2zjs-common printer-driver-gutenprint printer-driver-hpcups printer-driver-min12xxw printer-driver-pnm2ppa printer-driver-postscript-hp printer-driver-ptouch printer-driver-pxljr printer-driver-sag-gdi printer-driver-splix system-config-printer-common system-config-printer-gnome indicator-printers evince evince-common libssh-4 libnm-glib-vpn1 xfonts-base xfonts-encodings xfonts-scalable xfonts-utils libxfont1 libfont-afm-perl libfontconfig1 libfontembed1 libfontenc1 gnome-font-viewer fontconfig fontconfig-config dmz-cursor-theme libwayland-cursor0 libxcursor1 xcursor-themes mousetweaks update-inetd update-notifier update-notifier-common usb-creator-common usb-creator-gtk vim-common gnome-power-manager gnome-font-viewer wireless-tools

This will run as a single command instead. If you liked the list, you could always use backslashes to separate the packages to list them on individual lines.