Allegra and Rossa wiped and updated to Ubuntu 12.04.5 by me and Ericq; the following procedure was followed:

1) create "controls" user with uid=1001, gid=1001
2) setup network configuration (IP, Mask, Gateway, DNS), .bashrc, /etc/resolv.conf
3) add synaptic package manager (Ubuntu Software Center used by default)
4) add package nfs-common (and possibly libnfs1) to mount nfs volumes; mount nfs volume adding the line "chiara:/home/cds/       /cvs/cds/       nfs     rw,bg   0    0" in /etc/fstab
5) add package firmware-linux-nonfree, needed for graphics hardware recognition (ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro): due to kernel and xorg-server versions of 12.04.5, and because ATI dropped support for legacy cards in their proprietary driver fglrx the only solution is to keep Gallium drivers
6) add packages libmotif3 grace, needed by dataviewer
7) add repository from https://www.lsc-group.phys.uwm.edu/daswg/download/repositories.html (Debian Squeeze); install lcssoft-archive-keyring as first package or apt-get will complain
8) add package lscsoft-metaio libjpeg62, needed by diaggui/awggui (Ericq: used lalmetaio on rossa)
9) add packages python-numpy python-matplotlib python-scipy ipython
10) change ownership of /opt/ to controls:controls
11) add csh package
12) add t1-xfree86-nonfree ttf-xfree86-nonfree xfonts-75dpi xfonts-100dpi, needed by diaggui/awggui (needs reboot)
13) add openssh-server

Ubuntu creates the first user during installation with uid=1000 and gid=1000; if needed, they could be changed afterwards using a second user account and the following procedure (twice, if the second users gets the 1001 uid and gid):

sudo usermod -u <NEWUID> <LOGIN>   
sudo groupmod -g <NEWGID> <GROUP>
sudo find /home/ -user <OLDUID> -exec chown -h <NEWUID> {} \;
sudo find /home/ -group <OLDGID> -exec chgrp -h <NEWGID> {} \;
sudo usermod -g <NEWGID> <LOGIN>