The really easy install Linux Guide

[lasher]

Install linux on your PC in easy manageable steps.

Heres a quick little guide for running Linux, namely UBUNTU 9.04 Desktop Edition on your P.C.

Now its not as hard as people make out, in fact this whole setup is going to take place without the need for one bit of linux knowledge. It really is that simple.

What you will need :

• A broadband connection.
  
• A blank C.D.
  
• A C.D. Writer.
  

and thats it.. oh and a little bit of your time.. not much though!

Here we look at what we can install on :

Recommended minimum requirements

Ubuntu should run reasonably well on a computer with the following minimum hardware specification. However, features such as visual effects may not run smoothly.

700 MHz x86 processor

384 MB of system memory (RAM)

8 GB of disk space

Graphics card capable of 1024x768 resolution

Sound card

A network or Internet connection

As you can see it doesn't require a powerhouse to run.

First up lets do some prep work.

Locate and install a ISO burner, one can be found here.

http://infrarecorder.org/?page_id=5

Then we navigate to Ubuntu's homepage

http://www.ubuntu.com/

Then select Desktop 9.04 at the top of the page.. Big Download button.. can't miss it

Select a site to download from and click download.

You are then presented with another window, select SAVE and stick the ISO file on your desktop for ease of use.

OK now we should have the Ubuntu ISO file and Infra recorder icons on our desktop.

Before burning a CD, it is highly recommended that you verify the md5 sum (hash) of the .ISO file. For instructions, please see HowToMD5SUM. Help located here.

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/HowToMD5SUM

We now need to burn the ISO onto a blank CD.

Theres a real easy to understand article located here

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BurningIsoHowto

essentially its navigate to Actions then Burn image. Select the Ubuntu ISO we just put on our desktop, and away we go.

OK now we have a Ubuntu CD , yey that was easy wasn't it?

Now make sure your PC is set to Boot from CD in your BIOS.

Restart your PC and Boot from our newly made CD.

In this article ill be making a triple boot rig with XP as my main operating system, Windows 7RC and Ubuntu 9.04.

Having restarted your PC , the Ubuntu installation screen will appear,

Now here's a choice if your worried about installing a new OS on your PC.

Install with no changes or do a full installation.

So i selected Full installation... after all wheres the fun in worrying?

Next few screens take us through language selection, time zone and keyboard options. Now i think we can all manage this so i wont go into depth, only to say if you have a broadband connection the online help facility is available to assist whilst installing.

Now then, we are at the stage where we select where the installation will take place. The partitioner will begin.

Ubuntu looks at your setup and determines where it will install itself.

The eagle eyed among you will notice Vista loader mentioned, this is due to the fact I'm running XP and Win7RC. The Ubuntu boot manager will run first allowing a multiple boot system... so don't worry your files are safe.

Moving on.

You are asked for a user name and password, some personal settings can be tweaked here.

Now the setup is ready to be installed.

Make yourself a cuppa but don't be long as this isn't a long drawn out affair.

Next Step.

See i bet your coffee is still hot!

Once the bar has reached 100% you are prompted to reboot your system,

the C.D. will automatically eject, press enter to begin.

You will then be presented with your new boot up screen.

Ubuntu will auto load if no other OS is selected.

Key in user name and password you selected during installation...

TA DA​

Here we have Ubuntu in all its glory!

No command lines, programming, arcane symbols etched on your PC and no chickens blood or voodoo dolls in sight.

No excuses now, Linux is really that easy to install and using it is a breeze.

Dual booting give the options to revert back to an operating system you are familiar with. I often like to delve into Linux and expand my knowledge from time to time and I'm amazed how great Ubuntu is.

Please note: I cant be held responsible if the installation wipes any data.. after all, we all back our PC's up don't we??

Hope you find this of some use.

 

[Youngie1337]

Great job! I haven't used Ubuntu for awhile, was great getting to know a new operating system. The things start off hard to get use to but after awhile it's great.

Nice +reps.

 

[Rastalovich]

Definitely - it would appear we've spent some time doing the same thing lol ^.~ It's a great guide that will have u surfing etc in no time whatsoever and as it looks, is as-simple, if not simpler, than installing windows.

Got a few questions that came up along the way:

I had a spare clean drive to go with the open-bench pc I threw together to try this. The disk being empty, and having experience of installing distros a long time ago, I was keen to be sure I had partitioned the drive to 8g at the end for swap and the balance ex2. (although unknown to me there's ex3 and others ??)

I'm curious whether these days a swap partition is a definite necessity ? And if u have... say 4g ram.. is the requirement the same as u would view the window's pagefile ?

Other than that, I'm still up in the air regarding drivers. The way back to where I can remember u needed to source files for ur particular computer and edit files to include them in ur install - of course many moons have passed since then, and the install such as above is a TOTALLY painless process. My thought remains tho, how do I know if the drivers installed automagically are both correct and up2d8 ?

 

[monkey7]

I've tried ubuntu, but the main problem was getting my wireless to work The network card I had back then just refused to work and the only thing I could find on google suggested using an ndiswrapper.

I should try this again sometime...

 

[lasher]

Just try the

"try Ubuntu without any changes to your computer" Option.

Try your devices

Its a "LIVE" Cd the one you make in the guide.

If everything works , reboot and install.

If not and i bet it does.. most things do apart from some obscure old kit..try searching for it.... if thats too much or you feel its awkward.... eject the Cd reboot back into windows .. insert CD into bin.. a Free open source OS ain't for you.

Remember we all have to update drivers , tweak settings on our preferred OS's .. Linux is no different.

Dual booting just gives an option to tinker.

I'm by no means a Linux fan.. to be totally honest I'm so used to XP I'm out of my comfort zone with any other.

As i prefer to develop my knowledge, i like to play with other OS's to see what they are like.

I know some people regard Linux distro's as the holy grail of operating systems and flame Microsoft at any given opportunity. ( Not me! )

I like MS and i like Linux.

With regards to the specific questions asked I'm afraid i can't give an educated answer. I'm sure someone more knowledgeable might step in though

 

[mrapoc]

Im currently contemplating getting rid of my Raid0 setup (i cant get ubuntu to raid it up) and then using it alongside windows 7

 

[nepas]

have you tried it with the new ext4 filesystem?the thing is crazy quick,power button to desktop in less than 20 seconds

 

[mrapoc]

ext4? phoar

i take it that isnt default then?

 

[Diablo]

Whenever I try to install a new OS, it just complains that there is not boot disk inserted after its installed. I insatll it on one of the spare disks I have...gah

 

[nathan]

Whenever I try to install a new OS, it just complains that there is not boot disk inserted after its installed. I insatll it on one of the spare disks I have...gah

you installing the boot loader too? likley grub?

 

[Diablo]

Got it by installing the server 08 with no other disks in! w00t

 

[Msm2]

Wow so quick

 

[Msm2]

Dual boot with Win7 installed in less than 15 mins.