Ubuntu: 32 & 64-bit Installation Steps

About Ubuntu

Ubuntu is an entirely open source operating system built around the Linux kernel. The Ubuntu community is built around the ideals enshrined in the Ubuntu Philosophy: that software should be available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should have the freedom to customize and alter their software in whatever way they see fit. For those reasons:

• Ubuntu will always be free of charge, and there is no extra fee for the "enterprise edition", we make our very best work available to everyone on the same Free terms.
  

• Ubuntu includes the very best in translations and accessibility infrastructure that the free software community has to offer, to make Ubuntu usable for as many people as possible.
  

• Ubuntu is released regularly and predictably; a new release is made every six months. You can use the current stable release or the current development release. Each release is supported for at least 18 months.
  

• Ubuntu is entirely committed to the principles of open source software development; we encourage people to use open source software, improve it and pass it on.

Find out more at the Ubuntu website.

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Pre-Installation

What you need before installing:

• 32-bit system: http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.10/ubuntu-8.10-desktop-i386.iso
• 64-bit system: http://releases.ubuntu.com/8.10/ubuntu-8.10-desktop-amd64.iso

For older version on Ubuntu, click here

Burn the downloaded *.ISO to a CD & pop-in to your CD/DVD drive.

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Instructions for manual installation:

• Boot your computer with CD/DVD-rom boot.
• Select your language, timezone & keyboard layout.
• Select MANUAL for partitioning to create a new drive.

• Creating new partitions:

1. Partition 1: Select EXT2, select /BOOT, about 100MB is sufficient, select Primary & Beginning option.
2. Partition 2: Select EXT3, select ROOT (/), usually about 4-6GB depending on your hard disk. Create as Logical Volume.
3. Partition 3: Select SWAP, this depends on your total RAM. E.g.: If you have 2GB RAM, your SWAP partition is 2GB.
   
4. Partition 4: Select EXT3, select /HOME, create as Logical Volume.
5. Click Forward to proceed the partitioning & installation.
   

For Guided option, just follow the instruction on the screen. This option is also good if you want to have a dual-boot. E.g.: Windows & Ubuntu.

*Aside for 64-bit machine, installation steps are the same as 32-bit machine.

• To run 32-bit applications on a 64-bit machine, you require to install 32-bit library file.
• Go to: System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager, search for getlibs

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Customization & Add-ons:

A) Skype - Instant Messenging (Pidgin will be suitable for those who are using MSN, Y-Messenger, ICQ, etc)

• Open Terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal).
• Copy & paste these commands:

• sudo wget http://www.medibuntu.org/sources.list.d/hardy.list -O /etc/apt/sources.list.d/medibuntu.list

• sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install medibuntu-keyring && sudo apt-get update

• Open Synaptic Package Manager (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager)
• Search for skype and mark it for installation & apply.
  

B) VirtualBox (vbox) - this is to install other OS within Ubuntu.

• Open Synaptic Package Manager (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager)
• Search for virtualbox-2.0 and mark it for installation & apply.
  

C) To run Windows application on Ubuntu, Wine is the platform for it:

• Open Synaptic Package Manager (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager)
• Select wine & wine-gecko and mark it for installation & apply.
• After installation, do configure your Wine (Application > Wine > Configure Wine).
  
• Do select your Windows version to Windows XP.
  

D) Flash player - Just visit http://www.adobe.com & get the flash player.

E) Visual - to adjust effects in Ubuntu

• In synaptic, search for compiz & mark compiz setting manager. Mark it for installation & apply.
  
• To configure your visual effects, go to System > Preference > CompizConfig Settings Manager.
  

F) For themes & wallpaper, visit these few sites:

• http://gnome-look.org/
• http://www.madpotato.de/Wallpaper-Packs
• http://customize.org/wallpapers
  

TERMINAL COMMANDS (a need to know)

• ls = directory
  

• cd = change directory (also used to go up 1 directory)
• ls -l = list all files
• cd Example (type Exam then use TAB for autofill)
• mkdir - to create dictory

• when make a file, there are 2 things created: username & groupname

• drwxrwxrwx = d (dir) rwx (owner) rwx (group) rwx (others), if dash no access allowed.
• Change mode of command: sudo chmod (X can be 0 – 7)

• touch - updating folder time of access
• rm - remove folder
• sudo su
• sudo apt-get (type " sudo apt-get --help " to get the list of commands)
  

Troubleshooting:

• Graphics card driver error (ATI/Nvidia) - “sudo apt-get install envyng-gtk” (enter without the “ “ in Terminal)

  • http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=954666&highlight=clearing+boot

• For built-in graphics, go to System > Administration > Hardware Drivers.
  
• No sound - Mostly the sound driver is ALSA mixer, if still unsuccessful try the others.
  

* Well, so far I only encountered these two problem. If there's more I'll post up here :)

Helpful links:

• http://www.ubuntuforum.org.
• http://ubuntu-tutorials.com/
• http://packages.ubuntu.com/intrepid/
  

Thanks to Kenneth from K-Koncepts for conducting an Ubuntu class :)