If you are like 93% of Internet surfers out there, you are reading this article from a browser installed on your Windows machine, however I’m sure you have heard of that “other operating system”. You know the one which is really difficult? Yeah, that’s right, Linux. Well, it’s almost right, except for the part about “really difficult”. You may have seen screenshots, thought about trying it, already tried it, or just thought “hey, it’s a cool idea”. If you are any of these and curiosity just has you itching to give Linux a shot, or another shot, read on!
In this article I’ll show you how to get up and running on your current system in your very own Linux environment. I will be walking you through installing one of the most popular Linux distro for newbie Linux User Ubuntu.
Pre Installing Work
So before you read any further, hop on over to the the Ubuntu Linux download page and start downloading the CD image. Or if you have a DVD writer, then I will recommend you to download the Ubuntu DVD ISO image.
You may be wondering which download do you need. If you have an Intel or AMD processor, get the Intel x86 version. Avoid the 64 bit version, even if you have a 64 bit processor, it is not officially supported. Mac users will need the Power PC variation.
Now from Windows Xp/Vista go to, Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Computer Management>Disk Management.Now time to free up some space. A size of 6-10 GB should be plenty for Ubuntu installation. Since I only have 15 GB on my installation drive, I am going to allocate 6 GB, but if you have a bigger drive, assign more space just to be safe.
So make at least 6 GB unpartitioned space.
Look at my Disk Management Window.
Free up the space after Windows (C: ) drive and before any other secondary partition, here in the picture mine is Backup (D: )
or
Free up the space after all of your partition, here in the picture mine is Musics (F: )
Don’t worry, we will be setting up a dual boot so your Windows install is safe!
So you are downloading? Then lets talk.
Why Bother?
Good question. Why would you want to try Linux when you are a happy Windows user? Here are just a few reasons:
- It’s 100% free and always will be
- Thousands of applications are immediately available and 100% free
- No more virus, spyware, or malware hassles!
- You want to learn something new
- It’s cool
- Why not?
- It’s 100% free (did I mention that yet?)
Important Stuff to Know
Before we actually start the installation, it is important to make sure your expectations of Linux are set correctly. First and foremost: Linux is not Windows! You are going to have to use the command line sometimes and most likely do a little bit of troubleshooting. Please do not let this intimidate you, after using Linux for a short while you will become proficient and, with a little patience and persistence, eventually be just as comfortable with Linux as you are with Windows. I’ll even point you to some very helpful resources to get all the answers you need.
As you may know, Linux is “open source” software, meaning anyone, anywhere can take the code and edit it without restriction. This sounds great, and don’t get me wrong, it is, however because there is no commercial backing, there can be certain shortcomings. Some of these include device driver support and availability of software (especially games). Do not let this discourage you though, virtually all hardware has support for Linux and you are going to have thousands of applications available to you with just a few clicks of your mouse once we get you set up on Ubuntu. Sound good? Of course it does! Check you download progress!
The machine I will be referring in this article is an Intel Pentium 4 2.4 GHZ. The motherboard is an Intel D865GBF with 640 MB of memory. Additionally, I have a DVD RW drive and one 250 GB hard drive and one 80 GB hard drive, I has XP Professional SP2 already installed. Here is a basic rundown of what I will be covering in this article:
- Setting up Ubuntu Linux on a hard drive
- Answering a few post-new installation questions
- Familiarizing you with your Linux environment… using Windows terminology
- Pointing out some stuff you might want to try
Ahh, there’s nothing more exciting than a new operating system install. Nervous? Don’t be, this is going to be easy. Is your download done yet? Well, when it is, burn it to CD immediately and pick up this article from this point. I’ll even leave you a marker so this spot is easy to find.
HERE IS WHERE TO PICK UP
You have the Ubuntu install disc, so pop in your spare hard drive (if you do not know how to do this, open a quick thread to the Forums and you will have it done in no time, if I am online that time) and put the install disc in your CD drive and lets get started.
Hit enter when the boot screen appears and wait for it to load into memory.When the desktop is fully loaded, double click the Install icon.
Select your language
This is the first step of the installer, where you must select your native language (default is English). This language will be used for the installer and it will also be the default language for your Ubuntu Linux (when the installation is over). Click the Forward button after you have selected your language.
Where are you?
The second screen will feature a map of the Earth with little red dots, so you can select your city and country. Upon the current selection of your location, the time for the final system will adjust accordingly. You can also select your current location from the drop down list situated at the bottom of the window (recommended). Click the Forward button after you have selected your location.
Test your keyboard
On the third screen, you will be asked to select the keyboard layout that suits you best (default is U.S. English). You can also test your keyboard on the little text input field situated at the bottom of the window. Click the Forward button when you have finished with the keyboard configuration.
Hard disk partitioning
Hold on, don't leave yet! The hard disk partitioning is an easy task, so I am quite sure you will manage to handle it too. You have three options:
1. If you want to keep your existing operating system, select the first option: "Guided - resize the partition and use the freed space".
2. If you want to delete your existing operating system, select the second option: "Guided - use entire disk".
3. Manual is the third choice at this point, you can create or delete partition here.
Once you've reached a decision, click the Forward button.
Quote: | ||||
Before showing you the partitioning scheme I will be using for this setup, it is important to understand how the use of partitions differ between Windows and Linux. On a default Windows install, all your files are stored in a single block of space on your hard drive called a partition. To make things easy, Windows assigns a letter (usually C) to this partition. Linux does the exact same thing except it does not use letters. In fact, if you were to “explore” your Linux file structure, it would appear everything was stored on a single drive, even if you have several partitions or multiple hard drives “mounted” (more on this later). Enough talk, select the option to manually edit your partition table and let’s move on. | ||||
You should see your primary hard drive (sda) which has your Windows installation with all of its partitions listed. Additionally, you will see your empty hard drive space with the size of the drive listed followed by “FREE SPACE”.
Highlight “FREE SPACE”, press enter and then select the option to create partition. We are going to first create the “/” partition which is equivalent to the Windows C drive. All of your programs and libraries (libraries in Linux are similar to Windows DLL’s) will be stored on this “/” partition. By the way, "/" means "root". I am going to allocate 5 GB as "/" partition. After entering the size, select Primary as the partition type. Next you will be asked where to place the partition on the disk. Since “/” is our workhorse partition which will store all our crucial Linux operating system files, including the information we need to boot the system, it makes sense to place it at the beginning. At last you will be presented with a partition configuration screen. You will see the option to change the partition file system, but lets leave it with the Linux standard, ext3. Make sure the mount point is set to “/” and change the bootable flag to “on”… after all we do need to boot our system right? Select the option to be done with this partition and let’s move on to the next one.
You should now notice some of the free space has been allocated to your “/” partition. We still have one more partition to set up so select the remaining “FREE SPACE” and assign all of your remaining space to create our swap partition. The swap partition is used for temporary random storage in case your computer doesn’t have enough memory to store what programs demand. Additionally, if you hibernate your computer, all the contents of your memory are stored in the swap. Windows refers to this as “virtual memory”. The recommended amount to allocate for this is one and a half times your memory, so for me, I am going to make it 1024 MB. Make this a primary partition. At the configuration screen, change the partition to a swap area. Apply the changes.
Well, the hard part is now over.
Migration Assistant
This is the best part of the installer, as it will allow you to choose your existing Firefox bookmarks, wallpapers, Internet Explorer favorites, Yahoo Messenger or AOL Messenger contacts. If you don't have a Windows or other Ubuntu installation on your hard disk, then you will not see this screen so just click the Forward button to continue with the installation.
Who are you?
Here you must do exactly what the title of this step tells you to do. You must fill in some fields with your real name, the name you want to use to log in on your Ubuntu OS and the name of the computer (automatically generated). Once you have finished with this step, click the Forward button again (for the last time).
Are you really ready for Ubuntu?
If you have successfully arrived at this point, then you are definitely ready for your new Ubuntu operating system. So, what are you waiting for? Click the Install button NOW!
Completing Install
The Ubuntu 7.10 (Gusty Gibbon) operating system is installing.....
After approximately 8 minutes, a pop-up window will appear with two options:
1. Continue using the live CD
2. Restart now
You've probably clicked the "Restart now" button, because you were very excited to see your new Ubuntu operating system at work. Well then, enjoy using it!
Now if you are confusing, about any part of the article. Just ask me.
Linear Mode
