Ubuntu has very quickly become one of the most popular versions of linux available on the Internet. It’s simplicity and easy availability makes it an excellent candidate for the first time linux user.
The purpose of this article is to give the first time linux user a step by step guide for installing Ubuntu on his/her home computer.
Getting Ubuntu
There are primarily two different ways to get Ubuntu so that you can install it on your computer.
Option 1 - CD’s in the Mail
This is probably the easiest way to get Ubuntu because it does not require extra skills and hardware. They will send it to you for free and even pay the shipping!
Simply go to the Ubuntu ShipIt website(thanks to Lilian for the update) and order as many copies of Ubuntu as you need. Please order only as many as you will use as these do cost the company that creates them. Also, ensure that you are ordering the right version for your computer (i.e. Mac, PC, 64-bit PC).
The down side to doing it this way is that it could take up to ten weeks before you get your disks. If you do not want to wait that long, please look at Option 2.
Option 2 - Download ISO from the Internet
If you have a broadband internet connection, a CD burner, and you are comfortable with burning ISO files, then you may want to download the ISO from the Internet. An ISO is simply the entire contents of a CD in one file. Once you have downloaded the ISO to your computer, you can then burn the ISO to a CD and you are ready to go.
Be aware that the ISO is a very large file. The present Ubuntu ISO is 697 MB. Even with broadband, this will take you several hours to download. Don’t even think about downloading the ISO if you have a dial-up connection. You could probably order the CD from Ubuntu and wait the ten weeks before your download finished!
To download the ISO, go to the Ubuntu download website and select a mirror download location. It is probably best that you choose either a location very close to you or a location where it is presently night. This way, you will probably find a location that has few hops (and thus few potential bottlenecks) or is not very busy.
Once you have clicked on your mirror location, find the file that you want to download. Be certain that you are downloading the correct version of the file because it can be very annoying to wait several hours and realize that you have the wrong file. The file naming convention works like this:
ubuntu-version number-version type-computer type.iso where
version number - This is the version of Ubuntu that you are downloading. As of the writing of this post, the current version is 6.06.1. This version is code named Dapper Drake.
version type - The version type indicates the type of job the version is intented for. Presently, the three version types are alternative, desktop and server.
computer type - There are different types of computers that people own. It is important that you select the ISO that works with your computer type. The four different computer types are:
- amd64 - This is for 64 bit processors manufactured by AMD. These are usually high end systems that most beginners will not be using.
- i386 - This is the most common system out there. Chances are, if you do not know what type of computer you are running and it is not a Mac, this is the type you should choose.
- powerpc - If you are running a Mac, this is the ISO for you. Unless it is the new Intel Mac. Then you will probably want the i386 version (but don’t quote me on it).
- sparc - These are high end workstations. Chances are, if you are just playing around with linux, you aren’t using a SPARC station.
If we put this all together, we will be able to determine the proper ISO to download. For example, if we have a typical Intel based computer which was running Windows in the past (i386) and we wanted to use Ubuntu as our regular everyday system (desktop) and we would like the current version (6.06.1), then we would download ubuntu-6.06.1-desktop-i386.iso. In fact, this is the most common version of Ubuntu and will probably be the version that you will want to download. But, if you download this version and it is the wrong one for your computer, don’t blame me!
Helpful Tip: When you download the ISO file, also download the MD5SUMS file as well. This will enable you to check if there were any problems with the downloaded ISO and ensure that the CD will probably work.
What About Bittorrent?
If you are familiar with bittorrent, you can download the torrent file for the ISO and use it instead of downloading directly from the website. The benefit of this is that you are not limited to the bandwidth available from the website and you help to take the load off distribution servers. You will need a bittorrent client such as µTorrent to download the ISO this way.
To Be Continued…
This should give you enough to work on for today. Check out Part 2 of this series where you will hear our hero say:
“Look! We’re running an operating system from the CD-ROM!”
I’ll see you then.
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October 25th, 2006 at 12:03 pm
Well, I have, for a few years now, been interested in using linux. However, in the past, I actually downloaded it and the other files to go with it. Despite some of the intructions I found in various places, I could not put the package together. My last attempt was Puppy Linux last year–a total disaster.
The fact that you provide us with an option of Ubuntu in a CD is enticing to someone like myself… It is taunting the thought of finding and burning the right ISO image. After my previous attempts, I think I rather wait. Thanks for the link.
Once I get my CD, I will try it out and shall keep you posted. By the way, I assume I would need to partition my C: drive perhaps? ie, have Windows XP and Linux in the same HD? or, can I just create a separate directory for Linux? that is why I found puppy linux so appealing…
Thanks and have a good one!
Lilian
October 25th, 2006 at 12:33 pm
Ooops!…. I forgot to mention that your link to Ubuntu shipping site does not work. Here is the link to request a free CD. One has to register firt… https://shipit.ubuntu.com/login
Lilian