After reading the live CD article, I think you must be interested in Linux. Live CDs are useful to try out linux, but as it runs from the CD, it isn’t as fast as a installed version. Also you can’t save any files to your harddisk.
So you think it is time to switch over to installed version of your favourite GNU/Linux. Here is a guide to do how…
I am going to write this guide with Ubuntu 5.10 (breezy) in mind and so you need to download the CD or order for free.
First stage
- Put the CD in your CDROM drive and boot off it (change your BIOS configuration)
- After the installer starts, press enter to start.
- Choose your language, country and keyboard layout. The installer detects some hardware.
- Now configure your network, if you are on one.
Partitioning the harddisk
This is the most important step and be careful as you can lose your data. Please take a backup of important data.
You have got two choices here
- Automatically partition an entire disk – will erase the harddisk and install only Ubuntu.
- Manually partition the disk. Resize your disk so that you get atleast 4GB for your root (/) partition and 256MB for your swap.
- After finishing with the partition, save it and the installer formats your disk.
- Then the base system is configured and then the packages are copied to the disk
Installing the boot loader
The bootloader is used to boot into many different operating systems by means of a menu. The installer automatically detects your OS and installs the GRUB loader.
After this, remove your disk and reboot.
Second stage
- After rebooting, you need to configure your timezone.
- Enter your full name, username and password. There is no root account in Ubuntu and there is a nice explanation for it.
- If you have not setup your network, then you can setup your PPP to have a dial-up account for internet.
- All the set of packages required for a basic desktop installation will be setup.
- Now you can login to the system with your username/password.
I have written this guide using the Installation guide from the Ubuntu wiki. Hope it was useful for newbies. You can also try this book Beginning Ubuntu Linux by Keir Thomas to know more about Ubuntu Linux.
If at all you encounter any problems, please feel free to post here. Also tell me how good I am at writing such articles?