Installing Ubuntu - Linux
From TheBestCaseScenario
| ==Installing Ubuntu== | Basic Guide on installing Ubuntu including basic drivers. |
| This tutorial explains how to freshly install Linux (Ubuntu) |
Contents |
[edit] Intro
What is Linux exactly? Well, Linux isn't actually an OS. Linux is the kernel used by many different OSs that "make" it Linux. Linux was developed by Linus Torvalds as open-source (or OSS - Open Source Software) meaning it can be tinkered with, tweak, and generally screwed with to your hearts desire. This is great for people wanting a fully customized system, or a system optimized for their specific hardware. There are a bounty of Linux "distros" (distributions) that you can choose from, the most popular being Ubuntu, Fedora, Gentoo, Mandriva, and openSuSE. There are others that have been popular for a while like Debian, and others that are also just gaining popularity like Arch that are also excellent choices.
[edit] Finding a Distro
Like I said above, there are many distros to choose from. It can be a little overwhelming at first deciding on what exactly you want the system to do, how you want it to look, etc. There is a great site called DistroWatch that is a compilation for every Linux/UNIX distro out there with details on every one, and links to screenshots and download sites. You can browse the different distros if you'd like, but now I will also give my personal recommendations. I have worked most extensively with 3 distros, those being Ubuntu, Gentoo, and Fedora. Ubuntu is considered the "easiest" distro for people new to Linux, because most of the hard stuff (and fun stuff) is done for you. You can get away with not using the command line at all (the command line lets you do just about anything you want) and use it just how you would Windows. Gentoo is the exact opposite. Gentoo is installed all via command line, and after the install completes, you have a black screen with command prompt. You install everything else you want after, making this the best distro for a lightweight, or fully customized OS. It is considered Gentoo isn't for people new to Linux, but it's also a great way to learn and become familiar with Linux. Finally, Fedora is a lot like Ubuntu, meaning it's a very friendly distro, and has the most compatibility and software being developed by the Red Hat team.
[edit] Getting your distro
Getting your distro is pretty straight forward. Go to DistroWatch[1] and download it from there, or go to the homepage of it and download it from there. You'll download a .ISO image file that needs to be burned to either a CD or DVD as an image file. You will probably have an option to do this on your burning software, but they are all different. I use Deepburner, which as an option when starting to "Burn ISO Image" (or something like that). Choose that option on yours. Navigate to the image you saved to your drive, and start burning. It is recommended that you burn it at the lowest speed possible to avoid errors, but if you can't control the speed you'll usually be fine. Then, wait for it's done, grab the CD out of the drive, and label it .
[edit] Installing
This section will only cover normal Install. A normal install will just erase everything or install on a fresh hard drive. WARNING, this procedure will erase everything on your hard drive
once you have burnt your Ubuntu ISO to CD:
Step 1. Pop in the CD into the drive and reboot. If it isn't already set to do this, change the boot order in your BIOS to CD, then Hard Drive, then whatever you want. Let it boot into the CD, which will either have a desktop environment or straight installer.
Step 1.5. If it has a DE (desktop environment) play around with it. See how it is. It will behave very slowly, because it's running from a CD, but try some stuff out. Return here when you're finished
Step 2. Double click the Install icon. It will run through the installer. Pretty straight forward stuff, but I have included some pictures as well.
Step 3. We have now reached the partitioning stage. You have 2 options. Erase the entire disk, or partition yourself (what we will do). Click the circle to make the partitions manually and then Next.
Step 3a. First off if there is any partitons present, Delete them first unless they contain any data you wish to keep. We need to make a /boot partition. For this, click the gray space of your rectangle and then New. You'll be greeted with a new screen. Make the size of the partition 128MB, the filesystem ext2, and have it be a Primary partition.
Step 3b. We now need a linux-swap partition. Follow the steps above, but this time with 512MB, linux-swap as the filesystem, I am using 512MB, but generally it is accepted to set your SWAP partition to twice the size of your ram, IE: 1GB ram = 2GB SWAP, 512MB ram = 1GB SWAP, and Primary for the type.
Step 3c. "/" partition time. / means root, where everything gets installed. Same as above, but make this the remainder of the space, ext3 as the filesystem, and Primary for the type.
Step 4. Click Next, and have it Apply the Operations. Just let it do it's thing.
Step 5. Set the mountpoints. It will detect linux-swap and "/" for you, but you need to select the first partition you made and set it as /boot.
Step 6. Installation. Pretty easy here, click Install.
Now you're done! Let it do it's thing, reboot, and ta-da!
[edit] Choosing a DE
Choosing a DE (desktop enviroment) is really all preference. There are quite a few to choose from. The most popular here are Gnome, KDE, and Xfce. Like I said, picking one is all taste, so I recommend going to Gnome-Look.org, KDELook.org and Xfce-Look.org to find some themes or screenshots you like. You can then base your distro choice by DE too. After that, you can customize even more with a differnt WM (window manager). There are a bunch to choose from, like Openbox, Blackbox, Evilwm, FVWM, and more. Google is a good place to find more about those, because installation will vary based on the DE you have.
Ubuntu comes with Gnome installed as standard, but there are meny a spin off's from Ubuntu, these include:
- kubuntu - Ubuntu but with KDE
- XEbuntu - Ubuntu but with Xfce
- Linux Mint - Ubuntu but with a modified Gnome - Clessed as its own Distro
[edit] Using the Command Line
The command line is what makes Linux special (and to some scary). Think of it as DOS on steroids. It's in the same format and looks pretty similar, so if you know something about DOS then you'll be fine with the command line. Here's a list of the most useful commands I've found.
- su - su gives you total root access for as long as the terminal is open.
- sudo - sudo gives you root access for one command, but can also be longer if you continually type commands after it.
- cd - cd /directory/path will let you "jump" into the directory you specify.
- rm - rm /directory/file will delete a file, and rm -r /directory/ will remove a folder and it's contents.
WARNING: This cannot be undone. Be careful and double check your typing before pressing enter
- ls - ls /path/to/folder will show a list of all the files in the folder
[edit] Gnome only
- gedit - gedit /path/to/file.conf will open the file you specify so you can edit it.
- nautilus - nautilus /path/to/folder will open the folder that you specify.
[edit] KDE Only
- kate - kate /path/to/file will open the file for editing.
- konqueror - konqueror /path/to/folder will open the folder.
[edit] Installing Packages
Package installation varies for each distro. Ubuntu uses Aptitude for installing packages, while Gentoo uses Portage and Fedora uses Yum. You'll have to research each installer on your own because it's too lengthy for this, but there is one way that all distros have in common, and that's installing from source. There are really 4 steps to installing from source (for most applications; some use different methods of installing from source, and if that's the case, consult the package README for instructions). The steps go like this:
- cd /path/to/folder
- ./configure
- make
- make install
If there are no errors, then hooray! It's installed. If there are errors, consult the README again, or look through bug-reports or use Google to find a solution.
[edit] Multimedia
Linux ships with lack-luster multimedia support, but that's because it is free and open source, and it is some sort of copyright infringement. The easiest way I have found to get MP3 support and all that, is to use AmaroK and install the amarok-nonfree extras. To do this, open your terminal, and type:
- sudo apt-get install/yum install/emerge/whatever your packager uses amarok amarok-extras-nonfree
WARNING: In some countries this will violate the User GPL licence and is deemed illegal, if so then you are doing this on your own accord, and you should purchase a licence to play Media files such as MP3
AmaroK is a superb music program, and with the amarok-extras-nonfree package, you get MP3 support as well.
[edit] Wireless Networking
For most, wireless networking under Linux is a pain. I myself have decided to give up on it all together and just hardwire myself to the modem, but that doesn't mean you have to. For those who want to still use their wireless cards, but aren't supported out-of-the-box, you need the tool ndiswrapper. ndiswrapper uses certain files from your Windows driver install disk and "wraps" them around the hardware in a way that Linux can recognize. To use ndiswrapper though, you must first install it, meaning you need some way to connect to the internet. For a short time you need to be wired, but there are a few ways of getting around that. For Ubuntu users, I believe you can use the install CD. But I'm not here to talk about that, so Google "ubuntu install cd as repository" to find out how. Back to ndiswrapper. You need to install a package called ndiswrapper and ndiswrapper-utils. You can use whatever means you like, whether it be command line or package manager. Once both of those are installed, it's time to break out the Windows disk.
1. Put it in your drive. You'll be able to open the drive, and you'll see all sorts of files. If you have certain disks, you may have drivers for a few different cards on the same disk. Look at your adapter, find the name (ex. "Linksys WUSB54Gv4") and navigate to the folder called that on your CD.
2. Now, you need to copy the contents of that folder onto a folder on your hard drive. Pick an easy spot to remember (ex. "/home/username/wireless"). When you copy that contents, there will be a few types of files. The important one is the .inf file (but copy the rest too). That's what ndiswrapper will use to "wrap" the driver. Plug in your adapter.
3. Open up your terminal and type this.
- ndiswrapper - That will show you the interface and familiarize you with ndiswrapper (not necessary)
- ndiswrapper -i /path/to/file.inf - This command actually installs the driver. -i means *install, and the path to the .inf file is, well, the path to the .inf file.
- ndiswrapper -l - This will list the installed driver (if it installed) and list the hardware. *Hopefully it will say "Present" for the hardware.
- depmod -a - If there is no error, continue.
- modprobe ndiswrapper
Hopefully that will get you up and running. After completing these steps, you should be able to use the internet. If not, then, I wish I could help more, but that's all I know.
[edit] Nvidia 3D driver
3D drivers under Linux can be a pain sometimes. Nvidia is the best at making this easy, but it's still not a walk in the park. Here's how to do it (may vary from system to system):
1. Download the latest driver from the Nvidia website.
2. Log in with no GUI. There are several ways to do this: a. CTRL-ALT-F1 (sometimes F2-F6). Log in as root, and type "init 3". b. Type "3" at GRUB boot prompt.
3. Log in as root if you haven't already.
4. Run the driver you just downloaded. ex:
- sh driver-1.2.04.run
5. Edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file. Under devices, you should see the name of your card and then "nv" as the driver. Change "nv" to "nvidia".
6. Log out, restart X, and if you see the Nvidia splash screen, you know it worked.
[edit] ATI 3D driver
By default most distros including Ubuntu will use the open source 'ati' or 'radeon' driver for cards that manufactured by ATI. Some users however prefer the proprietary 'fglrx' driver for various reasons. I will cover install for ubuntu but the theory is the same for any linux.
There are 2 ways you can install proprietary fglrx drivers. The preferred way is to use the drivers provided via the Ubuntu repositories. More advanced users can also try the drivers from ati.com. The Ubuntu-provided ones are the safest bet, the ati.com ones however may be needed (eg: when you need hibernation).
Make sure the following things are true about your video card:
- It is a 'Radeon' card
- The model of the card is in the 9xxx series, 9500 or higher, or it is in the X series (e.g. X300), or it has TV-Out capability. The 'fglrx' driver does not support cards earlier than the 9500.
- The command lspci reveals a card with "ATI" in its name
- You need hardware-accelerated 3D support, or display refresh rates higher than 60 Hz. The open source drivers are fine for all other areas.
- Some basic knowledge of a Linux command line
Note that if you own an ATI card from the R400 series or below, you already have working 2D and may have accelerated 3D with the default drivers. These cards include:
- R400 series Xnnn (X800, X700, etc) (3D works)
- R300 series (9300+) (3D works)
- R200 and R100 series (9200 and below)
The TV-Out functionality may not work with the open source drivers; if you don't have TV-Out or don't want to use it, however, then you probably don't need to use fglrx.
Install from Ubuntu repositories (easier)
Step 1 Install linux-restricted-modules and restricted-manager provied in the restricted repositories:
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get install linux-restricted-modules-generic restricted-manager
Step 2 Open the restricted drivers manager included in 7.04 "System -> Administration -> Restricted Drivers Manager" and select "ATI accelerated graphics driver". This will hopefully enable fglrx in a painless way.
if that failed then try:
Install the driver provided by ati included in the repositories:
- sudo apt-get update
- sudo apt-get install xorg-driver-fglrx
You might also want to install a control panel for your graphic card. Please note that I do not recommend it, as it seems to be buggy, and generally doesnt work.
- sudo apt-get install fglrx-control
Make sure fglrx is not disabled:
- gksudo gedit /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common
Or in Kubuntu
- kdesu kate /etc/default/linux-restricted-modules-common.
Generate a new set of module dependencies so the fglrx driver starts properly:
- sudo depmod -a
You now have to configure xorg to use your graphic card. The aticonfig tool, provided with the driver, will do that for you:
- sudo aticonfig --initial
- sudo aticonfig --overlay-type=Xv
ATI are well known not to be able to provide correct drivers for their hardware so you will have to deactivate the composite extension in /etc/X11/xorg.conf , otherwise you will get a jerky video display:
- gksudo gedit /etc/X11/xorg.conf
Or if on Kubuntu:
- kdesu kate /etc/X11/xorg.conf
and add the following lines at the end of the file:
- Section "Extensions"
- Option "Composite" "disable"
- EndSection
After making all those modifications, your X server might not want to start again. Don't worry, you can still modify xorg.conf using
- nano sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.conf
To save changes press Ctrl-O and to quit press Ctrl-X. To start X again type
- startx
Save and restart xorg by pressing Ctrl Alt and Backspace simultaneously.
Confirm it worked, by issuing the "fglrxinfo" command:
- fglrxinfo
Or:
- glxinfo
fglrxinfo/glxinfo may not work properly for you via SSH and via the console when logged in as root.