(Sunland Linux User Group)
1. Why Ubuntu Linux?
In one word, standardization: We standardized on Ubuntu for our club meetings. We did not do so because we claim it to be the best distro. We did it so everyone is working on the same system. Linux is daunting enough for beginners without adding the variations between distros to the confusion. (Once we learn to drive a Ford, switching to a Chevy should be easy.)
Here are the reasons we chose Ubuntu for our club:
· We had to start somewhere, and we had a promise of mentorship from Rick Fischer if we'd start with Ubuntu. We think having a mentor is terribly important--so this factor was overriding.
· Second, Ubuntu is totally free, and heavily supported by industry. Some of the other distros cost $50-60, and we thought we'd stick with free until we are knowledgeable enough to truly benefit from a commercial distro.
2. Pre-Installation Steps
What pre-installation steps you need to take depends on whether you are installing Ubuntu Linux as the only operating system on your computer, or if you are installing Ubuntu Linux as the second operating system (usually with Windows XP as the other). For the former installation, there are no pre-installation steps. Ubuntu will do all the necessary cleanup for you. The only exception is if you think you might want to uninstall Ubuntu at a later date, and reinstall Windows. If this is a possibility, then you should make a backup of your MBR (Master Boot Record). How to do this will be explained shortly.
The pre-installation steps necessary for a dual operating system installation are three:
1. Clean up your Windows XP file system by defragmenting your hard drive(s). (This is a Windows operation, and no instructions are provided here.)
2. Do a full backup of your Windows XP operating system and personal data. We strongly recommend that this backup be a drive image; that is a bit-by-bit mirror of the entire hard disk drive. (This is a Windows operation, and no instructions are provided here.)
3. Back up your MBR. Here are the instructions:
a. You need to have a way to restore your MBR in case you ever decide to uninstall Ubuntu Linux. There are different procedures depending on your computer's hardware configuration:
b. For Windows 95, 98, 2000, or XP, you can do this very easily if your computer has an internal floppy disk drive (external USB based floppy drives don't work for this). If your computer does have an A: drive (floppy), simply insert a blank floppy disk in the A: drive. Then open Windows Explorer and select the A: drive. Right click on the A: drive, and select "Format…" from the menu. In the Format menu, check the box that says "Create an MS-DOS Startup Disk." That's it. If you ever need to restore the MBR, you'll use this floppy disk to boot, and type the command "fdisk /MBR". This will restore your MBR.
c. If your computer does not have a floppy disk drive, then your restore will have to be done by means of a bootable CD. This is a more complex procedure:
d. Copy the small utility program MBRutil.exe to the root of your C: drive. (Get this utility program from one of the SVECC Linux users, or download it from PowerQuest's website; they provide it as a free utility.)
e. Open a DOS "Command Prompt" window and navigate to the C:\ directory.
f. Type in the command (without the quotes): "MBRutil /s=MBR.bak"
g. If you have done everything correctly, the program will say "MBR successfully saved to file MBR.bak", and you can see the file in your C:\ directory by using "Windows Explorer".
h. Copy the file MBR.bak to a USB flash drive, or CD, and label it "Master Boot Record Backup." Next, copy the program that made this file (MBRutil and also MBRutilD) to the same storage device. Be sure and keep this backup where you can find it.
i. Hopefully you can forget all about it. But if you ever destroy your MBR, you will be able to restore it using either "MBRutil.exe" or "MBRutilD.exe". If you need to do a restore, it will be because you MBR has been corrupted, and you cannot boot normally. Use a bootable floppy or bootable CD to boot up Free Dos or DOS, and issue the DOS command, which is "MBRutilD /r=MBR.bak".
(Backing up your MBR is critical if you are dual booting. The reason is this: Your Windows system uses a particular MBR, which you just backed up. Linux, however, uses a different boot system, called GRUB. Should you ever uninstall your Linux operating system, GRUB will no longer work, and you will need to reinstall your Windows MBR in order to get your computer to boot to Windows.)
3. Installation of Ubuntu Linux
Instructions for installing Ubuntu Linux as the only operating system on your PC are provided in Appendix A.
Instructions for installing Ubuntu Linux as the second of two operating system on your PC are provided in Appendix B.
4. GRUB Boot-Load Program
To change Grub: [Open Terminal] then type sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst You can then change boot order, or time delay, or how many kernel choices and kernel (safe mode) to select from.
5. Internet Networking
Built in:
Intel ProWireless 2200
PCI:
D-Link Air Plus PCI DWL-G510
Linksys WMP54G
PCMCIA:
D-Link Air Plus DWL-G630
D-Link Air Plus DWL-G650 (not every PC uses this card flawlessly)
Proxim Orinco Gold G
b. Mail Client Setup--POP and SMTP (Broadband for SVE residents):
Cox Internet (cable):
pop.west.cox.net
smtp.west.cox.net
Qwest (DSL):
pop.phnx.qwest.net
smtp.phnx.qwest.net
6. Intranet Networking
To do a
Linux equivalent of a Windows "Remote Desktop Connection"* to
another computer (Internet or Intranet), use "Applications --> Internet
--> Terminal Server Client". Then type in the IP address of the remote
computer, and go from there. (The Windows computer must allow remote
desktop connections for this to work.)
*How to use Samba to connect from your Linux PC to your Windows PC:*
Places --> Connect to Server
Service type: Windows share
Server: mof <you will use the host name of your Windows PC; mine's is "mof">
Share: c$ <if you want to look at the C: drive. Use d$ to look at D: drive.>
Folder: <you can leave blank>
User Name: marvin <use the name us use as your userid on your Windows PC>
Domain Name: <you can leave blank>
Name to use for connection: ltow
Select "Connect"
If it works as hoped, you will see a new folder on your desktop labeled
"ltow"; this is your Samba connection to your Windows PC.
To disconnect, right click on the folder and select "Unmount Volume".
7. Backups and Mirror Images
8. Security
9. System Rescue Tools
10. Installing New Applications (and Removing Them Too)
a. Adding New Icons to the Applications Menu:
Q: I just finished installing a new application program. Synaptic Package Manager said it was a successful install, and said an icon was placed in "Applications>Accessories>." So I go to the Applications Menu, and select Accessories, and the icon is not there. This "glitch" happens more often than it should. What should I do?
A: If you
installed the program using Synaptic Package Manager it is possible the Gnome
Panel just needs to be refreshed. To do this, open a terminal and type "killall
gnome-panel". The Gnome panels will die and restart and you probably will see
your new program icon in the menu list. But perhaps not. Almost certainly not
if you installed a application using the command:
apt-get install.
If not, you will have to add the icon to the Applications Menu manually. But first you need to find the program to be sure of its proper name. There are several ways to do this:
1. Open a terminal and type "sudo synaptic". Search for the program you just installed. Right click on it, and select the "installed files" tab to find the location of the program files.
2. Open a terminal and type "whereis nameofprogramyouinstalled .
3. Use the "Run Applications" utility. When you open the utility's window, click on the triangle in front of the sentence, "Show list of known applications", and you will get a list of all the installed programs.
Once you know the name of the program, select "Applications>System Tools>Applications Menu Editor".
1. Then select the submenu you want to put the new program's icon in.
2. Click on the "New Entry" button at the bottom of the window.
3. Type the name of the command on the "Command:" line.
4. Next, select the “No Icon” button. A smeg window opens, showing all the pixmaps available. Scroll down this menu until you find the program name you are looking for. In some cases, there will be multiple icons available for your new program. Pick one and select “Open”. If you don't like that icon, select another and try it. Once you find the one you like, press “OK”. Close the Menu Editor, and check to make sure your icon is installed in the Applications menu.
b: You can add a lot of valuable information to Synaptic Managers display window by opening Synaptic Manager, selecting settings/preferences/and [check] show package properties in main window.
11. Linux Commands
a. update database by [open terminal] 'type' updatedb
b. [open terminal] type slocate [filename] locates file in data base by name
12. Miscellaneous Tips, Tricks, and How To Information:
How to browse files/folders as root user in
Nautilus.
1. sudo gedit /usr/share/applications/Nautilus-root.desktop
2. Insert the following lines into the new file:
[Desktop Entry]
Name=File Browser (Root)
Comment=Browse the filesystem with the file manager
Exec=gksudo "nautilus --browser %U"
Icon=file-manager
Terminal=false
Type=Application
Categories=Application;System;
3. Save the edited file.
4. Refresh GNOME panel: killall gnome-panel
5. To browse files/folders as root user in Nautilus: Applications -> System
Tools -> File Browser (Root)
Using Floppy Drives with Ubuntu
a. Mount and Read a Floppy Disk On an Internal Drive: (first method)
To use a floppy disk, the disk must first be mounted.
1. Insert floppy disk in floppy drive
2. Open a terminal window
3. Type mount/media/floppy0
4. An icon should appear on your desktop, and the Places menu should show it as well
Before removing the floppy disk, first Unmount it.
1. Open a terminal window
2. Type Unmount/media/floppy0
b. Mount and Read a Floppy Disk On an Internal Drive: (second method)
Create two small shell scripts:
!/bin/bash
pmount /media/floppy
nautilus /media/floppy
and
umount /media/floppy
c. Mount and Read a Floppy Disk On an Internal Drive: (third method)
If you get the error message, "Cannot determine filesystem type and none was specified",
type dpkg-reconfigure fdutils
repeat the steps in 12. a.
d. You Want the Numlock Key to be on after boot up:
Use Synaptic Package Manager to install numlockx
e. Where are the Applications Packages Stored When New Applications Are Installed?
The software used to install all added programs is archived in var/cache/apt/archives. A very useful hint is to locate this file with Nautilus and then bookmark it for future reference.
f. How to Add Multiverse and Universe to Ubuntu repositories in Update Manager:
To install these two repositories type "Sudo aptitude install program_name".
g. How to find your computer's MAC address (also known as the hardware address):
Type ifconfig
h. How do I find my network name?
Type sudo iwlist wlan0 scan
sudo iwconfig wlan0 essid SSID (SSID=result of first command)
sudo dhclient wlan0
ping -c 1 svecc.com
i. To take screen shot of drop down menus:
Press Alt-F2
In the resulting run box type gnome-screenshot --delay 10
Click on run
Now open the dropdown menu. You have 10 seconds until the screen shot is taken.
j. Installing programs that are not included in Ubuntu's Synaptic Package Manager:
As you explore all the programs available for Linux, you will find some that are not in Ubuntu's Synaptic Package Manager lists. You will usually get these "extra" programs from the Internet in the form of tarballs. Almost all source programs come as tarballs. Tarballs, like ZIP files on Windows systems or StuffIt files on the Macintosh system, consist of a file or group of files that have been compressed into one space-saving archive file. Tarball files can be recognized by their file endings which are .tar, .tar.gz or .tar.bz2. (The latter two endings indicate that the .tar file has also been ZIPed.) Here is how to install a tarballed program:
Step 1, Untar (uncompress the tarball): tar zxvf filename.tar.gz
Step 2, Install: sudo apt-get install programname
Programs installed in this manner almost never self install an icon in your applications menu. This you will need to do manually (see instruction 10. a.)
13. Applications: Specific How To's (Not Installations)
a. Copy Your Address Book from Windows Outlook or Outlook Express to Thunderbird for Linux:
Install Thunderbird for Windows. During the install tell it to use all Outlook or Outlook Express information and settings. You can then export the address book from Thunderbird for Windows (as an ldif file) to a stick drive. Then reverse the process and import the address book file into Thunderbird for Linux.
b. File transfer requires gFTP be installed from Synaptic Manager
14. Windows Applications Running Under Ubuntu Linux
15. Websites We Find Useful:
http://www.unixguide.net/linux/linuxshortcuts.shtml
http://newbiedoc.berlios.de/wiki/Main_Page
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/FrontPage
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LifeWithUbuntu?highlight=%28java%29%7C%28runtime%29
http://www.winehq.com/site/docs/wineusr-guide/running
http://www.linuxrsp.ru/win-lin-soft/table-eng.html (Windows vs Linux)
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=138405 (Automatrix) (Instructions on installing a lot of useful tools in one step)
Download an Iso image of a bootable Live CD containing the Gparted HDD partitioner:
http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/gparted/gparted-livecd-0.2.2.iso?use_mirror=superb
Download the all purpose Hirens boot disk:
http://download.enet.com.cn/html/EN060752004052801.html - freedown
Boot Linux from a thumb drive:
http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/linux/library/l-fireboot.html?ca=dg
16. Books and Periodicals, and Member's Ratings of Them
Linux For Non-Geeks, by Rickford Grant (7/10)
How Linux Works, by Brian Ward (4/10)
Linux: Installation, Configuration, and Use, by Michael Kofler (3/10)
Linux Programmer's Reference, by Richard Peterson (NR)
Linux Pocket Guide, by Daniel J. Barrett (NR)
17. Problems Looking for Solutions:
a. Obtaining Printer drivers
b. Set up dial-up internet access
c. Set up dial-up email system
e. SSH doesn't seem to be fully working on my Intranet. I can SSH or SFTP from my Windows XP box into my Ubuntu Linux box, but I cannot go the reverse route.
f. Terminal Server Client works from my Ubuntu Linux box into my Windows XP box, but the windows equivalent, Remote Desktop Connection will not connect to my Ubuntu box.
g. How to make Linphone work.
h. My Netgear Mini Print server doesn't work with Ubuntu Linux.
i. Install of Partimage (a disk drive imaging utility) went okay, according to Synaptic Package Manager, but when I try to run it, I get an error message.
j. Commercial movies on DVD are encrypted. There is a way to unencrypt them so they can be watched on my PC. I have followed the instructions, but I get an error saying a component is missing.
18. Places Where You Can Get Linux Software:
FreshMeat.net | SourceForge.net--Two biggest Linux portals. You can find everything you want!!
LinuxApps.com | IceWalkers.com | Linux.Tucows.com--we like these catalogs.
Download.com / Linux | LinuxSoftware.org | FileWatcher.org | LinuxArchives.com--other catalogs.
Programs / packages / libraries search systems: RPMseek.org | Tuxfinder.com | RPMfind.net
19. Installed Programs:
The programs listed below are all found in Synaptic Manager they were looked at individually, and determined to be of present or future value. They were then marked to installation and then applied to Ubuntu by handling in this manner all necessary libraries and values were added automatically by Synaptic Manager
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LifeWithUbuntu?highlight=(with)|(life)|(ubuntu)
https://wiki.ubuntu.com/LifeWithUbuntu?highlight=(with)|(life)|(ubuntu)
jz/mof: ver 1.0
3/9/2006
HOW TO INSTALL UBUNTU LINUX,
(THE BREEZY BADGER VERSION),
AS A STAND-ALONE INSTALLATION
(NO MICROSOFT WINDOWS ON ANY PARTITION)
A full installation of Ubuntu Linux will take between 20 minutes and 2 1/2 hours, depending on the processor speed on your computer. A 1.8 GHz processor takes about 25 minutes. A 366 MHz. processor takes about 2 1/2 hours.
Before you start, make sure your computer is connected to whatever network devices you use. If you normally work from a LAN line, make sure it is connected and operating. If you also work with WLAN (wireless), make sure your WiFi adapter is installed and operational. The Linux install process will "self detect" your LAN and wireless hardware, and will self install it--which is a much easier process than trying to install these network devices later.
Make yourself a cup of coffee, and get ready to install the new operating system. It is unnecessary to erase the hard drive before the new installation. The Ubuntu installation process will do this for you.
So lets begin:
1. Start the installation by shutting your computer off. Once it is off, put the Ubuntu install CD (not the live CD) in your computer's CD drive. Then restart the computer.
2. One of two things will happen. The desired outcome is that your computer will start booting off of the CD, and you will see the computer preparing itself for the new operating system. The undesired outcome is that your computer will ignore the CD and start rebooting into Windows.
a.) In the former case, just relax for a few minutes and watch the CD unpack scores of little programs used for the new install.
b.) In the latter case; that is, if your computer reboots into Windows, it means your computer does not recognize how to boot from a CD. This problem is easily fixed: Shut your computer off again, and restarting it. Watch carefully, and one of the very early screens will give you an instruction like "Press F1 to enter Setup." Some computers request the F2 key. Others want the F8 key. Whatever key your computer instructs you to use to enter Setup, press it quickly. Most computers give you about 3 seconds to press the key before they go on and boot normally. If you miss it, just hold down your power key until the computer shuts off. Then restart it and try again.
c.) Once you are in Setup, select Startup, then Boot. Use the F5 and F6 keys to move your CD "up the boot order" until the CD is before your hard disk drive. Then press F10 to save your new setup.
d.) Your computer will now automatically reboot. It should now recognize the CD and boot from it. If it does not, you will need to call one of your SVECC Linux helpers for assistance.
3. Once your computer recognizes that it should boot from the CD and does so, just relax for a few minutes and watch the CD unpack scores of little programs used for the new install.
4. After the CD has unpacked a whole bunch of little programs that are used for installing Linux, it finally shows an option window, which asks you: "Do you want to install only the base system? If so then type server, then enter." We want to install everything, not just the base system. (Servers don't need all the graphical user interfaces; you, however, want them.) So just press enter to proceed on with the full install.
5. The next screen asks what language you want to use. If you speak English, then choose English. If not, chose your desired language.
6. The next screen asks what location you want to choose. Choose the United States, if that is where we live. Next you are queried as to what keyboard configuration you want. Choose American English if that is what you want.
7. Next, the install program starts examining your computer's hardware, and tries to identify the characteristics of your CD drive. This is all automatic, with no opportunity for intervention, so just relax and watch it work.
8. The next query comes after the install program has configured networking. If you have a wireless network adapter, and the install program successfully configures it, the install program will query you, asking if you want to install a WEP key. We advise that you do not apply a WEP key during the install. It is easily added later, and if you get it wrong here, it can mess up your installation. So just say no and continue without a WEP key.
9. Next is a query screen that asks for a host name (a name for your computer, to identify it on the network). You can name your computer anything you want, so long as it is all lowercase, and all one word. We chose the owners initials plus the version of Linux we are installing. The computer name we chose was ed-ubuntu. Whenever anyone sees this host name on the network, they will know it is named after the owner (Ed) and is running Ubuntu Linux. But you can name yours whatever you wish.
10. Next the install program asks if you want to partition the hard disk. Because you are going to use the entire disk for Linux--and you will not be dual booting with a Windows operating system--choose the second option which is to erase the entire hard drive. By choosing this option you allow the install program to set up the disk partitions exactly the way it wants to. This it does, and then it erases the entire disk in preparation for reformatting it for Linux.
11. At this point, the install program asks if it is okay to partition the hard drive with Partition 1 as the master and partition 5 is the swap file. Accept this as okay by answering yes.
12. After the partitioning is finished, it will take several minutes for the computer to load the Ubuntu-Linux installation. It will finally ask you to enter a time zone. We happen to be in Arizona--which has no daylight savings time--so it has its own special time zone, which we selected. You should select whatever time zone you live in.
13. The next query is for the full name of the user. You will want to enter your full name, just like you would on a business letter. As soon as you provide your full name, the computer will ask for your "user name." Your user name can be anything you want, so long as it is one word, and all lowercase. In our case we used the owner's first name, "ed" (all in lower case).
14. The next query is for your password. It can be anything you want, but it is wise to make it strong, by combining letters, both upper and lower case, and numbers, and special characters such as ?, or ! Passwords are case sensitive, so if you enter SnickerS-4u you must remember which two letters you capitalized; snickerS-4u will fail. Make sure you can remember the password you select. If you forget it, you will probably have to reinstall the operating system. You will be asked to enter your password a second time, just so the machine can make sure you didn't make a mistake when you entered the password the first time.
15. The machine will finally eject your installation CD. But the installation is far from finished. The Ubuntu-Linux installation is a two stage process; you just finished stage one. The computer will reboot itself, and start stage two of the install by itself. You can watch TV, read a book, take a bathroom break or whatever you want, because in stage two of the installation you will not be asked to provide any user input. The machine just does its own thing for several minutes to an hour or more, depending on the speed of your processor.
16. Before you make that cup of coffee, take a minute to record your new user name and password somewhere you will not forget. (But not on your computer.) We want to emphasize once again that if you don't do this step, you may have to reinstall the operating system if you forget either your user name or your password.
17. This completes your installation of the basic Ubuntu system, but there are two more minor steps: As soon as you have completed the basic installation, you should reboot. Once the computer is running again, the operating system will ask you if you want to install updates? Answer yes, and the computer will show you a list of updates available from the Ubuntu website. Accept these updates, and let the system self install them. That's it. You now have an up-to-date installation of Ubuntu Linux.
3/2/2006
ver 1.1
mof/elz
HOW TO INSTALL UBUNTU LINUX,
(BREEZY BADGER VERSION),
IN A DUAL-BOOT CONFIGURATION
(DUAL BOOTING WITH ANOTHER OPERATING SYSTEM)
A full installation of Ubuntu Linux in a "dual-boot" configuration will take between 30 minutes and 3 hours, depending on the processor speed of your computer. A 1.8 GHz processor takes about 45 minutes. A 366 MHz processor takes about 3 hours.
Before you start, make sure your computer is connected to whatever network devices you use, and that you are able to connect to the Internet. If you have a LAN line, make sure it is connected and operating. If you also work with WLAN (wireless), make sure your WiFi adapter is also installed and operational. We strongly recommend that you not skip this step, because the Linux install process will "self detect" your LAN and wireless hardware, and will self install it--which is a much easier process than trying to manually install these network devices later.
This installation presumes you already have another operating system, most likely Windows XP, on your computer, and you want to install Ubuntu Linux as a second operating system on this computer. This means you want a dual-boot configuration.
Make yourself a cup of coffee, and get ready to install the new operating system. So lets begin with some housekeeping:
1. You need to have a way to restore your MBR (Master Boot Record) in case you ever decide to uninstall Ubuntu Linux. There are different procedures depending on your computer's hardware configuration:
· For Windows 95, 98, 2000, or XP, you can do this very easily if your computer has an internal floppy disk drive (external USB based floppy drives don't work for this). If your computer does have an A: drive (floppy), simply insert a blank floppy disk in the A: drive. Then open Windows Explorer and select the A: drive. Right click on the A: drive, and select "Format…" from the menu. In the Format menu, check the box that says "Create an MS-DOS Startup Disk." That's it. If you ever need to restore the MBR, you'll use this floppy disk to boot, and type the command "fdisk /mbr". This will restore your MBR.
2. If your computer does not have a floppy disk drive, then your restore will have to be done by means of a bootable CD. This is a more complex procedure:
· Copy the small utility program MBRutil.exe to the root of your C: drive. (Get this utility program from one of the SVECC Linux users, or download it from PowerQuest's website; they provide it as a free utility.)
· Open a DOS "Command Prompt" window and navigate to the C:\ directory.
· Type in the command (without the quotes): "MBRutil /s=MBR.bak"
· If you have done everything correctly, the program will say "MBR successfully saved to file MBR.bak", and you can see the file in your C:\ directory by using "Windows Explorer".
· Copy the file MBR.bak to a USB flash drive, or CD, and label it "Master Boot Record Backup." Next, copy the program that made this file (MBRutil and also MBRutilD) to the same storage device. Be sure and keep this backup where you can find it.
· Hopefully you can forget all about it. But if you ever destroy your MBR, you will be able to restore it using either "MBRutil.exe" or "MBRutilD.exe". If you need to do a restore, it will be because you MBR has been corrupted, and you cannot boot normally. Use a bootable floppy or bootable CD to boot up Free Dos or DOS, and issue the DOS command, which is "MBRutilD /r=MBR.bak".
(Backing up your MBR is critical if you are dual booting. The reason is this: Your Windows system uses a particular MBR, which you just backed up. Linux, however, uses a different boot system, called GRUB. Should you ever uninstall your Linux operating system, GRUB will no longer work, and you will need to reinstall your Windows MBR in order to get your computer to boot to Windows.)
3. A very important next step is to back up your Windows operating system and data before the Ubuntu-Linux installation. This way, if you make a mistake and hit a wrong key at the wrong time you will be able to restore your Windows system and all its data. The likelihood of corrupting your old system is small if you take your time and pay attention. So it is not something to fear. But it can happen if you make a mistake. So if you have valuable data, don't play Russian Roulette with it. Back it up before you install Ubuntu Linux. We recommend doing a full drive image, using a mirroring program like Acronis TrueImage, or Norton Ghost, or Drive Image.
4. The next step is to re-partition your HDD (hard disk drive), using a Windows program called Partition Magic, to set the HDD up for the Linux installation. We recommend that you add three new partitions: one for the Linux OS (called the root "/" directory), one for your data (called the "/home" directory) and a third as a "swap" partition. The first should be no less than two Gigabytes in size. The swap partition needs to be no larger than one Gigabyte, and on machines with 512 Megabytes of RAM or more, the swap partition can be smaller, say 512 Megabytes. The /home directory can be whatever size you are willing to allocate to it. It potentially should be as large as your "My Documents" directory in Windows. (That is where you store all of your data in Windows isn't it?) Partition Magic will let you select the file system to install. Choose Linux Ext3 for the root (/) and /home partitions, and swap for the swap partition.
5. We've now finished housekeeping and are ready to start the Linux operating-system installation. Start the installation by opening your CD tray, and then shut your computer off with the CD tray still open. Once the computer is off, put the Ubuntu install CD (not the live CD) in your computer's CD drive. Then restart the computer.
6. One of two things will happen. The desired outcome is that your computer will start booting off of the CD, and you will see the computer preparing itself for the new operating system. (Don't worry, it will not overwrite your existing operating system.) The undesired outcome is that your computer will ignore the CD and start rebooting into Windows.
a. In the former case, just relax for a few minutes and watch the CD unpack scores of little programs used for the new install.
b. In the latter case; that is, if your computer reboots into Windows, it means your computer does not recognize how to boot from a CD. This problem is easily fixed: Shut your computer off again, and restarting it. Watch carefully, and one of the very early screens will give you an instruction like "Press F1 to enter Setup." Some computers request the F2 key. Others want the F8 key. Whatever key your computer instructs you to use to enter Setup, press it quickly. Most computers give you about 3 seconds to press the key before they go on and boot normally. If you miss it, just hold down your power key until the computer shuts off. Then restart it and try again.
c. Once you are in Setup, select Startup, then Boot. Use the F5 and F6 keys to move your CD "up the boot order" until the CD is before your hard disk drive. Then press F10 to save your new setup.
d. Your computer will now automatically reboot. It should now recognize the CD and boot from it. If it does not, you will need to call one of your SVECC Linux helpers for assistance.
7. Once your computer recognizes that it should boot from the CD and does so, just relax for a few minutes and watch the CD unpack scores of little programs used for the new install.
8. After the CD has unpacked a whole bunch of little programs that are used for installing Linux, it finally shows an option window, which asks you: "Do you want to install only the base system? If so then type server, then enter." We want to install everything, not just the base system. (Servers don't need all the graphical user interfaces; you, however, want them.) So just press enter to proceed on with the full install.
9. The next screen asks what language we want to use. If you speak English, then choose English. If not, chose your desired language.
10. The next screen asks what location you want to choose. Choose the United States, if that is where we live. Next you are queried as to what keyboard configuration you want. Choose American English if that is what you want.
11. Next, the install program starts examining your computer's hardware, and tries to identify the characteristics of your CD drive. This is all automatic, with no opportunity for intervention, so just relax and watch it work.
12. Another query may come up after the install program has configured networking. If you have a wireless network adapter, and the install program successfully configures it, the install program may query you, asking if you want to install a WEP key. We advise that if this query does come up you do not apply a WEP key during the install. It is easily added later, and if you get it wrong here, it can mess up your installation. So just say no and continue without a WEP key.
13. Next is a query screen that asks for a host name (a name for your computer, to identify it on the network). You can name your computer anything you want, so long as it is all lowercase, and all one word. We chose the owners initials plus the version of Linux we are installing. The computer name we chose was ed-ubuntu. Whenever anyone sees this host name on the network, they will know it is named after the owner (Ed) and is running Ubuntu Linux. But you can name yours whatever you wish.
14. Next the install program asks if you want to partition the hard disk. Because you are going to use only part of the disk for Linux--you will be dual booting with a Windows operating system--choose the last option which is to manually partition the hard drive. (We already partitioned the HDD using Partition Magic, but we need to take these steps to teach the Ubuntu-Linux installation what we want each partition to be.) By choosing this option we will manually set up the disk partitions exactly the way we want to.
15. At this point, the install program asks if it is okay to partition the hard drive with Partition 1 as the master (/) Partition 2 as /home and partition 3 is the swap partition. Accept this as okay by answering yes.
16. After the partitioning is finished, it will take several minutes for the computer to load the Ubuntu-Linux installation. It will finally ask you to enter a time zone. We happen to be in Arizona--which has no daylight savings time--so it has its own special time zone, which we selected. You should select whatever time zone you live in.
17. The next query is for the full name of the user. You will want to enter your full name, just like you would on a business letter. As soon as you provide your full name, the computer will ask for your "user name." Your user name can be anything you want, so long as it is one word, and all lowercase. In our case we used the owner's first name, "ed" (all in lower case).
18. The next query is for your password. It can be anything you want, but it is wise to make it strong, by combining letters, both upper and lower case, and numbers, and special characters such as ?, or ! Passwords are case sensitive, so if you enter SnickerS-4u you must remember which two letters you capitalized; snickerS-4u will fail. Make sure you can remember the password you select. If you forget it, you will probably have to reinstall the operating system. You will be asked to enter your password a second time, just so the machine can make sure you didn't make a mistake when you entered the password the first time.
19. The machine will finally eject your installation CD. But the installation is far from finished. The Ubuntu-Linux installation is a two stage process; you just finished stage one. The computer will reboot itself, and start stage two of the install by itself. You can watch TV, read a book, take a bathroom break or whatever you want, because in stage two of the installation you will usually not be asked to provide any user input. The machine just does its own thing for several minutes to an hour or more, depending on the speed of your processor. The one possible query is for you to input the proper screen resolution. Be sure to select one of the resolutions that the new operating system has starred. If none are starred, just select your normal screen resolution.
20. Before you make that cup of coffee, take a minute to record your new user name and password somewhere you will not forget. (But not on your computer.) We want to emphasize once again that if you don't do this step, you may have to reinstall the operating system if you forget either your user name or your password.
21. This completes your installation of the basic Ubuntu system, but there are two more minor steps: As soon as you have completed the basic installation, you should reboot. Once the computer is running again, the operating system will ask you if you want to install updates? Recheck to make sure your LAN cable is still connected. Then answer yes, and the computer will show you a list of updates available from the Ubuntu website. Accept these updates, and let the system self install them. That's it. You now have an up-to-date installation of Ubuntu Linux.
3/03/2006
ver 1.1
mof/elz/bj