ubuntu linux server setup: file, web, tv, and gaming

the steps i went through when i installed ubuntu linux 14.04 on my “server” hecubus, which formerly ran fedora. hecubus features software raid1 through mdadm, two levels of backups using tar, cron, rsync, and cryptsetup, file sharing through samba and nfs, lamp web serving with apache, mysql, and php, tv recording with mythtv and schedulesdirect, and a minecraft game server. setup for ubuntu server as well as these other packages are detailed. mythtv setup includes setting up a hauppage hvr 2250 card. sections of this guide can be skipped for setting up servers without those features.