The Definitive Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Beginners Guide

#1

Learning a new system can be both frustrating and rewarding...I have decided to try to accomplish the latter, and learn to use the Ubuntu version of Linux...I want to share my experiences with others, as I am VERY new to Linux...Hopefully, when this is finished, we will have something awesome to share with others, and help them along the same path...First off, some links...

Get Ubuntu : http://www.ubuntu.com/download

It is worth noting that Linux is not Windows...It works and operates very differently...It is not unmanageable, but to the average user, know that you will not just plop down and continue work as normal...There are some subtle, but different changes...But with any open sources software, like Firefox, what you can do with it is only as limited as your imagination, or the next man's coding skills...If you're not at least somewhat technically savvy, you may just want to exit this post..! Some things will not be expressed at length, and certain terminology not explained...If you do not know what a command prompt is, you may have trouble, LOL...This is not to deter you from learning however, feel free to ask questions of myself as I get more familiar, or who.am.i, who will be helping me...There are also several other heads here that I am sure use linux and can help out...

Now..

The great thing about Ubuntu is that you can boot it from a CD, use it, and never make ANY changes to your system what so ever...For the most part, you should be able to do most of, if not all of the things we talk about in this guide without ever changing your system...Lets get to the first step, shall we..?

Booting/Installing Ubuntu

Once you reboot your PC to the live version of Ubuntu, you can browse around the OS and try to get a feel for things....For me, some of the inner workings were and still are a mystery, but I was able to get online, and do a few other things with no problem...My main objective for this guide and for using Linux is to get NORMAL...As I understand, some of the programs I use in Windows will NOT run in Linux...I am fine with that, as Linux has capable alternatives...You may encounter issues with drivers and things, especially for a newer machine...If so, I recommend that you check out the Ubuntu support forums, someone has likely posted a fix for your issue...Get registered..!

http://www.ubuntuforums.org/

Once I booted the live version, I was convinced that I wanted to install it, and thus experienced my first issue...After you double click the install icon on the Live version, you are presented with a quick 6 step install...The last step is to partition space for Ubuntu to use...I found that a little too confusring, and since I planned to dual boot XP and Ubuntu at least for a while, I opted to do 1 of 2 solutions that I found...If you don't want to dual boot, and or already have a partition installed, you can skip this...

Installation Alternatives

The first option is to create a partition in the free space on your PC...You can use the XP Disk Management to do that, but I use Paragon Partition Manger
http://www.ayhja.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=348&t=10509 ...You can create a partition that you want to dedicate to Ubuntu...A good size is about 8-10 GB...If you have a dedicated partion for Ubuntu, you can let it install on the partition and still use the live version while you're doing it (fucking hawt) which is a great feature all on its own...

The second option (and the one that I am using) is to install VMWare http://www.ayhja.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=348&t=10499 , and use it to create a partition for Ubuntu to use...Because I need a seamless transition between Windows and Ubuntu, this allows for that...So that is where I am now, I have Ubuntu installed, online, up and running on my VM...

The first thing I want to do is learn to install programs...Coming up soon w/examples and screenshots, and others that feel they want to contribute to this thread, please do...I am also going to index this thread for ease of use...

#2

I'll be posting my contribution to this, lol, yes with screenshots, this afternoon, once I get started on my Ubuntu 6.06 vs Vista Beta 2 review.. /:D" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt=":D" />
I hope to cover installing Automatix, teh Package Manager and XGL, so you can get all your favorite file formats, codecs, DVDs and other cool programs which should be default all working on Linux, install even MORE programs from a list of 16,000 free programs with a click of a button, and get those wicked 3D effects, better than Vista's..! /:D" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt=":D" />

And check out http://ubuntuguide.org/wiki/Dapper
EVERYTHING you need to know should/would be in there..

#3

does Enlightenment run on Ubuntu? If so do either of you have experience setting it up and installing it? It looks like a pretty sweet GUI/Window manager for linux with the desktop rendering being done in FPS similar to Vista which opens up some pretty good oportunities for eye candy.

#4

Quoting from the download page:
Debian GNU/Linux DEB Packages for 'stable', 'testing' and 'unstable'

That's a check..! /:D" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt=":D" />

However, I'd still suggest checking out XGL..
Look on Google Videos for some examples.. lol

#5

perhaps this can help:

http://www.ayhja.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=348&t=13034

#6

i have jumped on the (k)ubuntu and have been enjoying it so far.

package installation is MUCH easier than with slackware.

I am eagerly awaiting the part of this thread where it will outline how/where to get the codecs and stuff I need to view .avi, .wmv, and mpeg.

#7

Oh, and where Ja said "Get Ubuntu : http://www.ubuntu.com/download "

You can also get Ubuntu via ShipIt (https://shipit.ubuntu.com/), which allows you to order pressed Ubuntu CDs to be delivered to your door, anywhere in the world, completetly FREE..!

In reply to emanon:
For the codecs and other shit, http://www.getautomatix.com/wiki/index.php/Main_Page /:D" style="vertical-align:middle" emoid=":D" border="0" alt=":D" />
And yes, I LOOVE apt-get too, but on SuSE, I just can't have it.. lol
I use SMART as a replacement, which enables RPM, DEB, APT, ZENworks etc.. http://labix.org/smart

#8

thanks for the tip, I will check it out!

#9

I'm pretty keen to give Ubuntu a go. I'd like to see how it goes playing UT2004 and flavours of Quake. I'm just not at all interested in Windows "Fista" and its DRM "goodness".

#10

just wanted to report back that automatix has solved the problems I was having plus a couple I was not even aware of yet. When it was done it even made me a sandwhich, which I thought was a nice touch.

Ok, so the last part is an embellishment, but it is a sweet-ass little installer script for Kubuntu.

Thanks again for the pointer.