The Definitive Ubuntu 6.06 LTS Beginners Guide
Posted: Tue Jul 04, 2006 10:18 am
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...
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...