As of 14.04 Ubuntu no longer has ffmpeg in its default repositories. If you want to install it you'll have to add a new repo first.

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:mc3man/trusty-media

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade
sudo apt-get install ffmpeg

Step 1: Install Ubuntu

Step 2: Add a deploy user and optionally a user for yourself.

Assuming you're logged in as root add these users and login as "not root."

adduser deploy
adduser [yourname] #optionally
vim /etc/group
# add your users to the sudo group like so: 
  sudo:x:27:isaac,deploy
vim /etc/ssh/sshd_config
# add to file or if they exist set the flags to no.

Step 1: Install Ubuntu

Step 2: Add a deploy user

sudo adduser deploy

Step 3: Update and Install dependencies

Make sure that each line completes before running the next. Don't just copy the lines in all at once or it will use the beginning letters of one line as an answer to questions the first may ask.

sudo apt-get -y update && sudo apt-get -y upgrade

Its super easy to set up a server for php if you're running apache as your default web sever. However, I recently had to figure out the how to run php an Ubuntu server which has been set up for rails using nginx and passenger. One option is to run apache on a different port and then route that through nginx but this method requires a lot of memory. The solution I choose was to use php-fpm.

apt-get install php5-fpm

Despite our love for Ruby we sometimes find ourselves with clients who want to keep their Wordpress blog in conjunction with their shiny new Rails app. The most obvious way to do this is to run it on a different subdomain (blog.domain.com), but this presents an SEO problem because your blog which is often one of the most useful tools for attracting people is now on a different domain.

The Solution: