Important, please read first!
This is an experimental build process, I cannot guarantee it will work for you and you should not use the following information on a live, working system unless you know what you are doing.
These instructions work with LinuxMint 18.3, other version may work, though version 19 as of now does not seem to have all of the software available. I am hoping that will change in time (or I can find work arounds).
Therefore I recommend you use a spare P.C. (or partition your H.D.D.) and install LinuxMint from scratch and then apply the following to that system before you decide to use it as your main system.
Also please note that my build process implements PPA's and as such is potentially slightly less secure than a standard/vanilla install of Linux Mint. I include these PPA's having satisfied myself that they seem as reliable and secure as can be expected under the circumstances. Proceed with your eyes open!
Having said all that, it should all work as expected and be fine. Please enjoy...
Build the system...
1)Install LinuxMint. At this point I have to assume that installing Linux is something you are comfortable with. I may at a later time include information on how you do this, though different P.C.s have different ways of accessing the boot manager and BIOS, it isn't straight fowards. Download from here (I am using version 18.3 with the Cinnamon desktop for this tutorial).
2)Remove unwanted applications. The following are app's that 'I' don't want on my system, your choices may differ, edit to your liking...
sudo apt-get remove --purge libzeitgeist* totem banshee transmission-gtk hexchat pidgin tomboy
3)Add KXStudio, Audacity, Inkscape and DVDstyler repositories (these either add software not available in the default repo's or provide more up to date versions)...
sudo apt-get install apt-transport-https software-properties-common wget
wget https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian/+archive/kxstudio/+files/kxstudio-repos_9.5.1~kxstudio3_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i kxstudio-repos_9.5.1~kxstudio3_all.deb
sudo apt-get install libglibmm-2.4-1v5
wget https://launchpad.net/~kxstudio-debian/+archive/kxstudio/+files/kxstudio-repos-gcc5_9.5.1~kxstudio3_all.deb
sudo dpkg -i kxstudio-repos-gcc5_9.5.1~kxstudio3_all.deb
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:inkscape.dev/stable
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/dvdstyler
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/audacity
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:scribus/ppa
4)Install Martin Wimpress's repository (mp3gain library)...
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:flexiondotorg/audio
sudo apt-get update
5)Install get-iplayer repo'...
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:jon-hedgerows/get-iplayer
6)Udate and upgrade the system...
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
7)Install all additional applications...
sudo apt-get install kxstudio-lv2-extensions kxstudio-meta-all kxstudio-meta-audio kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-collection kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-dssi kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-ladspa kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-lv2 kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-vamp kxstudio-meta-audio-plugins-vst alacarte alsamixergui audacity bleachbit docky dvdauthor dvgrab easytag flvstreamer gcolor2 gimp-plugin-registry gimp-plugin-registry gsfonts-x11 gshutdown gthumb gthumb-data hydrogen-drumkits imagemagick jackd2-firewire kdenlive krita ladspa-foo-plugins lame meterbridge normalize-audio patchage qjackctl rakarrack rhythmbox-mozilla scribus-ng scribus-template sound-juicer soundconverter synfig unetbootin winff xsynth-dssi youtube-dl wine lv2-c++-tools pulseaudio-module-jack swami gmidimonitor vlc-plugin-jack shotwell kdelibs-bin kdelibs5-data kdelibs5-plugins gxtuner ubiquity ubiquity-casper ubiquity-slideshow-mint ubiquity-frontend-gtk zynjacku musescore agave phatch argyll dispcalgui pencil subtitleeditor stopmotion deluge extlinux freewheeling cecilia freecad mixxx mixxx-data kazam chromium-browser gnome-clocks hugin rawtherapee lmms easymp3gain-qt mp3gain aacgain frei0r-plugins dvdstyler dconf-editor gparted whois zynaddsubfx-git gmic gimp-gmic gmic-zart bookletimposer inkscape get-iplayer sonic-visualiser
8)Edit limits.conf to avoid xruns in Ardour...
First become root by entering...
su
Enter your password upon prompt. Then enter the following five lines in one go...
cat /etc/security/limits.conf | echo "
@audio - rtprio 99
@audio - memlock unlimited
@audio - nice -10
" >> /etc/security/limits.conf
Now type...
exit
9)Add yourself to the audio group...
sudo usermod -a -G audio yourusername
10)Clean up...
sudo apt-get clean
sudo apt-get autoclean
sudo apt-get autoremove
11)Add links to Docky..
Goto Menu > Accessories > Docky
To add items to the dock, first open the application in question and then right click on the resulting icon in the dock and choose 'Pin to Dock'. Repeat for all applications you wish to have available in your dock.
Further...
You can choose the dark theme as I like to by going to 'Menu > Preferences > System Settings' and selecting 'Themes' and from there click on the images on the right and select 'Mint-Y-Dark' (except the Mouse Pointer which doesn't have that option).
You can also download the current LMStudio wallpaper here, (1080x1920px).
Change the Menu icon...
Download the icon from here and store it somewhere like your 'home' directory. Next, right click on the 'Menu' button and select 'Configure'. Then turn on 'Use a custom icon'. Below the 'Use a custom icon' switch you can select the icon you saved to your home dir'.
If you have any comments or questions, please contact me.
The above information including and the graphics are released under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license
You can also add the latest version of GIMP (which is very nice!) by running this command to install as a flatpack...
flatpak install flathub org.gimp.GIMP #source; http://www.ocsmag.com/2018/06/15/pimp-my-gimp-season-2-episode-10/