Ubuntu for dummies
posted by: Vlad Akilov
Ubuntu is a popular distribution of linux operating system. It has just been updated from the old version Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), to the new 6.06 (Dapper Drake). I will give a reivew of the newer version, with many screenshots, and a tutorial of how to upgrade from the older version to the newer version of Ubuntu 6.06 or Dapper Drake.
Download the ISO and burn it
First you need to download the version, and it comes for free. The file is about 700mb, so if you don’t have broadband you should order the cd absolutely for free even shipping is included! Make sure you download the right version for you. For instance if you are using a microsoft windows OS you should most likely download the x86 version. If you have a Mac download the PowerPC version. After you downloaded it burn it to a disc as an image, and your all set with the cd.
Installation
To install you need to boot from the cd so that when you first boot it looks at your cd-rom drive first to check, so make sure you set it to boot from cd in the bios. The installstion process is fairly simple. If you are using a dual boot make sure you have a free partition for ubuntu. Installation takes only about 30 minutes to complete.
This version of ubuntu comes with gnome, which is a windows manager and comes with fancy graphical user interface (gui). If you want to use the KDE gui, you need to get Kubuntu, which is bundled with KDE rather than gnome. Ubuntu comes bundled with Firefox, and OpenOffice 2.02, bittorrent client, games, and much more useful tools.
The sleek-looking startup screen for your login.
First thing you should do once your all setup and running is update your system with the newest fixes, and updates. If its not automatically recognized, you can find the update manager manually by System>Administration>Update Mananger.
Installing programs - Automatix
The hardest thing do in Linux I think is installing new programs, because you need to use the terminal, similar to command prompt. Terminal can be found through Applications>Accessories>Terminal. For those of us who are not terminal savy, there is a great program that removes the whole process of the use of terminal. This program is called automatix, which has a whole bunch of programs that can be downloaded and install automatically. To install automatix just head over to this site:
More info on how to install automatix here.
Another alternative to automatix is easy ubuntu
You can also install many other programs that are preloaded into Ubuntu but aren’t installed during the initial installation, rather letting you determine which one you want and installing from a list a programs.
New Multimedia
This new version of Ubuntu comes with the much anticipated gstreamer 0.10 media framework, which can support many different types of media formats, it can also play dvd movies.
Screenshot of Totem below, for watching movies.
Listen to music or even podcasts with Rhythmbox
This new version of Ubuntu comes with some new graphical goodness, new icons/themes
The new logout screen
Upgrading
If you have the old version of Ubuntu 5.10 (Breezy Badger), you can upgrade to the newer version.
To perform the upgrade:
- Update your system to ensure that you have the latest version of Update Manager and associated packages. The necessary versions are available from the repository, breezy-updates which is enabled by default.
- Run the following command (either via ALT-F2 or a terminal):gksudo “update-manager -d”
–> picture tutorial of the upgrade
Useful Sites
ubuntuguide.org
ubuntuforums.org
LinuxForums.org
June 1st, 2006 at 2:35 pm
Ubuntu is the best Linux distro! I haven’t upgraded from breezy yet… I try to wait a few weeks in case kinks arise.
June 1st, 2006 at 9:56 pm
There are always fixes and updates to the bugs, and newer features are also updated quite frequently inside the update feature built into Ubuntu.
July 26th, 2006 at 12:30 am
hey if you would please edit this to point to http://www.getautomatix.com/
or this thread: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=190025
it will get you the most current install. Your current link is dead.
Awesome thread though, very informative.
July 26th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
beerorkid: Thanks for the links.
September 20th, 2006 at 8:03 pm
I suggest:
1. expanding this guide to include possible problems or error messages a newbie might encounter, and post solutions to those common problems.
2. Provide a downloadable PDF of the expanded guide so every newbie can download and print it easily, and share it with others. (HTML sometimes prints crappy - so let’s make a PDF for our new friends).
Anil
September 20th, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Anil: You have some good points, but at this time I just don’t have the time for that right now, there are plently of message boards on the ubuntu website, with many answers to lots of common problems.
July 22nd, 2008 at 6:49 pm
I am a new user to ubuntu & i installed it on my pc but it does’t have drivers for my ethernet. how can i get drivers for my ethernet?
hope you can help