New to Ubuntu? Start here...

[ugm6hr]

Hi.

Welcome to Ubuntu and the Forums.

Finding your way around Ubuntu and the documentation for it can be a bit tricky. This thread will hopefully help point you towards reliable sources of information, and also tell you how to get the most out of these forums when a search doesn't reveal the answer.


Reading Material to get you started...

Ubuntu website (Canonical) (http://www.ubuntu.com/)
Official Ubuntu 8.04LTS documentation (https://help.ubuntu.com/)
Community documentation (searchable) (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/)
Psychocats Ubuntu guide (http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu)
ZabiGG's Newbie 101 (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=790485)
Comprehensive list of weblinks about Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=232059)
Ubuntu-centric Google Custom Search (http://www.google.com/coop/cse?cx=001461844748502826593:hh-ikmexth4)


Links for Specific Advice (posted below)

How to get and install Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5004671#post5004671)
Using Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5004723#post5004723)
Multimedia problems and Installing Codecs (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5004922#post5004922)
Installing Programs & Applications in Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5005069#post5005069)
Specific Hardware How-tos (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5004976#post5004976)
Doesn't work? Ask for help (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5005011#post5005011)
Books about Ubuntu / Linux (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5005069#post5005069)
User submitted links (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5006304#post5006304)
Ubuntu News & Blog sites (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5008928#post5008928)


If you've written a how-to or used another you found helpful, please tell us about it. :)

No requests for help here though!

In an attempt to keep this thread compact with helpful posts only, I have moved all responses, thank-you posts etc to a derivative thread.

Please post any future comments (or additional help) in the Beginner's Team sticky (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=848814).

[sharks]

On how to install anything on Ubuntu:
http://monkeyblog.org/ubuntu/installing/

Medibuntu repository:(Multimedia,Entertainment & Distractions In Ubuntu)
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Medibuntu

Compiz extra plugins:

http://forum.compiz-fusion.org/showthread.php?t=5303

Helpful Uubntu commands:
Privileges
sudo command - run command as root
sudo su - open a root shell
sudo su user - open a shell as user
sudo -k - forget sudo passwords
gksudo command - visual sudo dialog (GNOME)
kdesudo command - visual sudo dialog (KDE)
sudo visudo - edit /etc/sudoers
gksudo nautilus - root file manager (GNOME)
kdesudo konqueror - root file manager (KDE)
passwd - change your password


Display
sudo /etc/init.d/gdm restart - restart X (GNOME)
sudo /etc/init.d/kdm restart - restart X (KDE)
(file) /etc/X11/xorg.conf - display configuration
sudo dpkg-reconfigure -phigh xserver-xorg - reset X configuration
Ctrl+Alt+Bksp - restart X display if frozen
Ctrl+Alt+FN - switch to tty N
Ctrl+Alt+F7 - switch back to X display


System Services¹
start service - start job service (Upstart)
stop service - stop job service (Upstart)
status service - check if service is running (Upstart)
/etc/init.d/service start - start service (SysV)
/etc/init.d/service stop - stop service (SysV)
/etc/init.d/service status - check service (SysV)
/etc/init.d/service restart - restart service (SysV)
runlevel - get current runlevel
Package Management¹
apt-get update - refresh available updates
apt-get upgrade - upgrade all packages
apt-get dist-upgrade - upgrade Ubuntu version
apt-get install pkg - install pkg
apt-get remove pkg - uninstall pkg
apt-get autoremove - remove obsolete packages
apt-get -f install - try to fix broken packages
dpkg –configure -a - try to fix broken packages
dpkg -i pkg.deb - install file pkg.deb
(file) /etc/apt/sources.list - APT repository list
Network
ifconfig - show network information
iwconfig - show wireless information
sudo iwlist scan - scan for wireless networks
sudo /etc/init.d/networking restart - reset network
(file) /etc/network/interfaces - manual configuration
ifup interface - bring interface online
ifdown interface - disable interface
Special Packages
ubuntu-desktop - standard Ubuntu environment
kubuntu-desktop - KDE desktop
xubuntu-desktop - XFCE desktop
ubuntu-minimal - core Ubuntu utilities
ubuntu-standard - standard Ubuntu utilities
ubuntu-restricted-extras - non-free, but useful
kubuntu-restricted-extras - KDE of the above
xubuntu-restricted-extras - XFCE of the above
build-essential - packages used to compile programs
linux-image-generic - latest generic kernel image
linux-headers-generic - latest build headers
Firewall¹
ufw enable - turn on the firewall
ufw disable - turn off the firewall
ufw default allow - allow all connections by default
ufw default deny - drop all connections by default
ufw status - current status and rules
ufw allow port - allow traffic on port
ufw deny port - block port
ufw deny from ip - block ip adress
Application Names
nautilus - file manager (GNOME)
dolphin - file manager (KDE)
konqueror - web browser/filemanager (KDE)
kate - text editor (KDE)
gedit - text editor (GNOME)


System
Recovery - Type the phrase “REISUB” while
holding down Alt and SysRq (PrintScrn) with
about 1 second between each letter. Your system
will reboot.
lsb_release -a - get Ubuntu version
uname -r - get kernel version
uname -a - get all kernel information

If GRUB is corrupted :
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=224351

To know all commands in Terminal, press tab twice in terminal.


To read and write ntfs:
sudo aptitude install ntfs-config

[ugm6hr]

Official Ubuntu 8.04LTS Installation guide (https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/switching/installing.html)
Community guide to Installation (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation)
Switching from Windows (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/SwitchingToUbuntu/FromWindows)
Hermanzone Illustrated Dual-boot guide (http://users.bigpond.net.au/hermanzone/)
AI Common Sense approach to upgrading (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=644478)
Psychocats Getting Ubuntu CD (http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/iso)
How-to-forge guide to installation and setup of Ubuntu 8.04LTS (http://www.howtoforge.com/the-perfect-desktop-ubuntu-8.04-lts-hardy-heron)
Video of installation of Ubuntu on a whole hard drive (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=5272751)

[ugm6hr]

Official guide to Ubuntu 8.04LTS (https://help.ubuntu.com/)
Official guide to switch from Microsoft Windows to Ubuntu 8.04LTS (https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/switching/index.html)
Psychocats guide to finding Terminal (http://www.psychocats.net/ubuntu/terminal)
Mazza558 guide to using Terminal (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=714338)

[ugm6hr]

Official guide to Media (https://help.ubuntu.com/8.04/musicvideophotos/C/index.html)
Community guide to Proprietary formats (https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RestrictedFormats)
ubuntu-freak's comprehensive guide to all things multimedia (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=766683)

[ugm6hr]

Forestpixie & Starcraftman's Complete guide to program installation in Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=781352)
NikoPSK's guide to updating and installing in Ubuntu (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=644478)

[ugm6hr]

Use Ctrl+F to find key words if this list gets too long

ZabiGG's Hardware Links 101 (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=820667)
How to install Ubuntu on your HP Laptop (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=528618)
Atheros AR5007 (AR242x) wifi (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=800686)
Speedtouch 330 USB ADSL Modem (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=797804)

[ugm6hr]

How to use the forum (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=726219)
How to ask the question to get the right answer (http://ubuntucat.wordpress.com/2007/08/06/getting-the-best-help-on-linux-forums/)
Use Google to search in this Forum (http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aubuntuforums.org&btnG=Search&meta=) - just add the search term after the existing entry
Can't Connect to Internet / Wifi Problems (http://ubuntuforums.org/showpost.php?p=5024425&postcount=1)
ZabiGG's How-to search or ask for help (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=796449)

[ugm6hr]

The Official Ubuntu Book (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/The-Official-Ubuntu-Book/Benjamin-Mako-Hill/e/9780137151028)
Ubuntu for Non-Geeks (http://nostarch.com/ubuntu_3.htm)
A Practical Guide to Ubuntu Linux (http://www.sobell.com/UB1/index.html)

[ugm6hr]

Linux on Desktop blog (http://linuxondesktop.blogspot.com/2008/03/couple-of-ubuntulinux-tips.html)
UbuntuHQ How-TO index (http://www.ubuntuhq.com/wiki/index.php/Ubuntu_Howtos)
billgoldberg's Linux Owns blog (http://linuxowns.wordpress.com/)
ZabiGG's How-To's 101 (http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=820667)
Useful Ubuntu Links (http://www3.telus.net/lordfoul/pics/useful%20ubuntu%20links/useful%20unbuntu%20links.html)

[ugm6hr]

Tombuntu - Ubuntu News and Tips (http://tombuntu.com/)
Ubuntu Geek - Tips & How-Tos (http://www.ubuntugeek.com/)
Wortks With U - Ubuntu News & Blog (http://www.workswithu.com/)

[lswest]

</snip>

P.S.

Yes, ctrl+alt+backspace shuts down the X server, but annoyingly, it restarts it immediately afterward. For those wanting a command line to begin with, and then the option of choosing the desktop environment that they want afterward, do simply the following:


mv /etc/rc3.d/S30gdm /etc/rc3.d/K80gdm
mv /etc/rc3.d/S10xserver-xorg-input-wacom /etc/rc3.d/K80xserver-xorg-input-wacom


simply reverse (switch the two arguments around) the commands to make it start GNOME automatically again.

Actually, even more efficient in Ubuntu is just sudo /etc/init.d/gdm stop to turn it off and sudo /etc/init.d/gdm startto turn it back on.

*Edit* ah, sorry, you meant to enable/disable it on boot. That could be done the way you mentioned. Or you could do #!/bin/bash
/etc/init.d/gdm stop in a script (stop-gdm.sh) made executable with chmod a+x stop-gdm.sh moved to /etc/init.d/ with mv [path of stop-gdm.sh] /etc/init.d/stop-gdm.sh and then just update-rc.d stop-gdm.sh defaults (there may be an even easier way to do it), but that's a bit more complex (maybe too much for this thread, any mod is welcome to shorten this post/delete it if they find it out of place).

[confused57]

This may help anyone unfamiliar with partitioning:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=282018

Ubuntu Security:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=510812
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/UnsafeDefaults
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=671604

bodhi.zazen has written numerous comprehensive, helpful howto threads, in additition to the ones listed above, e.g. how to fstab:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=283131&highlight=fstab

[sharks]

I hope this will be helpful for newbies:

10 TIPS FOR U AFTER INSTALLING OR UPGRADING UBUNTU
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/04/25/10-tips-for-after-you-install-or-upgrade-ubuntu/

MAC OS X LIKE WIDGETS WITH SCREENLETS
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/03/17/os-x-like-widgets-with-screenlets-on-ubuntu-3rd-update/

Stop Wine From Beating Your Windows Apps With The Ugly Stick
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/01/04/stop-wine-from-beating-your-windows-apps-with-the-ugly-stick/

Revolutionary New Panel Now Available in Ubuntu 7.10
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2007/10/03/revolutionary-new-panel-now-available-in-ubuntu-710/

Ten Tips for KDE 4.0 Beginners
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/01/15/ten-tips-for-kde-40-beginners/

Toggle Compiz with Fusion-icon in Ubuntu 8.04
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/03/25/toggle-compiz-with-fusion-icon-in-ubuntu-804/

Animated Wallpaper with Compiz Fusion on Ubuntu
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2007/09/14/animated-wallpaper-with-compiz-fusion-on-ubuntu

Install Firefox 3 Beta 4 in Ubuntu with One Command
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/03/11/install-firefox-3-beta-4-in-ubuntu-with-one-command/

Five Steps to Install KDE 4.0 in Ubuntu 7.10
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2008/01/14/five-steps-to-install-kde-40-in-ubuntu-710/

Testing the Gnash Flash Player in Ubuntu 7.10
http://tombuntu.com/index.php/2007/10/02/testing-the-gnash-flash-player-in-ubuntu-710/

[ktechman]

I found this partitioning guide on the web and it gives schemes in a percentage format which I found very helpful.

Guide to Partitioning for Linux

In this guide I will take you through some of the tings you need to know when preparing a hard drive for Linux. Some of these things relate to performance, some to security. The first thing you should do before doing any hard drive work is to BACK UP ALL OF YOUR DATA. You've been warned.

Next thing to do is grab a pad and paper and something to drink (non-alcoholic as alcohol and partitioning doesn't mix) Partitioning is one of the lost arts of computer tuning. Let me give you some background on my experience.

First I have been able to load over 15 operating systems on the same hard drive before, all accessible from either the windows or the Linux boot managers. I have used programs like partition magic and such but I find that using the FDISK utility that comes with each operating system is just as effective and in most cases makes for far more stable a system. I have been working with hard drive geometry for over five years and during that time I have learned quite a few things. The first thing to learn is that you must do everything on paper first. "Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance" as my ex-wife's father used to say.... brilliant man.

Now if you're all set we can begin. I can;t use ASCII for this since the page doesn't parse spaces correctly.(hey admin... can you make a feature that lets us draw directly into posts?)

Step One: Visualize

Draw a rectangle about the width of the page about an inch high.

Now you have the form with which to begin molding your new drive partition system. If you have multiple drives draw boxes for them too. Don't worry about proportions as this is just to visualize what you are doing.

Step Two: Positional Planning and Taking Stock

Within the box you will need to divide it into separate compartments. Each of these will represent the partition you are creating and will list what types of partitions you are creating. Before you begin slashing up this space you have to plan for what you will be installing. Some people have Windows and Linux dual booted, some just use single OS's with removable hard drive kits, still others install many operating systems. This guide will focus on a Windows/Linux Dual boot configuration. If you are just doing one or the other you can refer to the charts at the end of the guide to help you determine what you need to do after reading this guide.

Hard drives work by spinning a disk and moving several arms across the surface to read and write from the surface of the disk. When your computer is off the arms are stowed away off of the surface of the disk. When it boots up the arms move to the edge of the disk and begin reading the first track at the edge... this track 0 and is also known as the MBR. Each track is divided into sectors and again into blocks. The important thing to remember is that like a record player the arm reads data from the outside in. the majority of the time a hard drive spends looking for data is in the process of moving the arm to the appropriate track. If you want to increase system performance you need to do whatever you can to limit the amount of real estate that arm needs to cover to get to any given information.... virtual memory and Linux swap spaces included. The system hits these constantly and as such you can find the arm constantly swinging back and forth across the disk surface... causing massive time loss in the long run. The solution is to place these areas of the hard drive as close to the core operating system as possible. In the old days space was limited so this was never a problem. Even today if you have a drive of less than 20 gigs you don't need to worry about it as you don't have the real estate to do anything about it. Now with hard drives fast approaching a half a terabyte... you have the room to tweak this often forgotten aspect.

Now we'll say for the sample of this guide you have a 100 gigabyte drive. The first thing you need to do is take an inventory of all of the software you plan to install. All of your games, all of your applications... for me that's less than 30 gigabytes. This will be your windows partition. Don;t figure in your music or photo collections or any other personal data... we'll get to that later. Just the amount of data space you need for all of your applications. IF you got the number add 10% to whatever it is and round it up to the nearest increment of 5. In my case I figure I needed 30 gigabytes... add the 10% to make it 33 gigs and then rounded up to a nice even 35 gigabytes. Go ahead and draw a line at about that point on your bar. Write in Windows and 35gb in the box (leave some room for additional info as we get to it)

Now we need to separate the windows virtual memory system from the system partition. If you have the luxury of a second hard drive you can put it on there but for now we'll assume you don't. This partition only needs to be a maximum of 2 gigabytes... draw a sliver in the space next to the first box and label it as the windows VM 2gb. You have already started to amplify the speed of your hard drive by more than 50% by cutting out half of the drive you need to search to find anything. That covers windows with 2 partitions, but what about Linux?

For Linux we need to set up many partitions.. most will be small and will b e located within an extended partition. Windows has to be in a primary partition and so does Linux's /boot file system. This isn't a problem as we have one primary left to work with. out of the 100 gigabytes we have about 63 left to play with. Linux in total will need no more than 5 gigabytes, 10 if you plan to go wild with many applications. It's no where's near the "bloat ware" that windows applications are. The first partition you will need to plan for is the core of the Linux OS... the Root. All things come form root and everything in Linux.. even hardware... is a file inside of root. You will need about 4 gigabytes for the root file system... more if you really plan to do some heavy work. I use 10gb to be on the safe side. Add in this space to your bar and label it Linux root 10gb. Now we only have one more partition left we can actually make as a primary, but several left to make. The rest of the drive will be an extended partition. Write that in and draw a new bar to represent that space. In this example I have 53 gigabytes left of real estate in the extended partition. For logical dives we will need a swap drive, a temp drive a variable drive, a home drive, and a place to save files from both windows and Linux. As with windows you will only ever need 2 gigs of swap space so draw that sliver in first. Label it accordingly as a Linux Swap 2gb. The Linux swap is similar to the windows Virtual memory page file in that it's a place for the system to store data that is in the middle of being processed but cannot fit into main memory. Unlike Windows however Linux MUST have a swap space. It is a requirement for the system to even operate, even if you have enough memory for the system to never use it. Now that we have the root and swap planned out let's begin with the rest.

The temporary and Variable /tmp and /var paths in Linux respectively are separate for security reasons. These locations are publicly writable and having them in with the rest of the operating system can cause a denial of service attack. Additionally any user can write to their home directory so you also want that separate from the rest of the root file system as possible. If the root file system's partition should ever become completely full the system will crash and most likely be lost. Keeping these areas separate will save you a lot of headache in the long run and is much safer than simply setting software disk quotas. Temp can be as small as as 500 megabytes but I like to give some breathing room for large applications to write to so I use 5 gigabytes for both of the /tmp and /var file systems. This will only bring our total remaining to 41 so it's not a big hit at all. If you plan on running a web server or FTP server the files will be stored in /var... along with system logs and such. If you plan on accessing and using these features then give it some more room as you see fit. draw and label those partitions in accordingly. when you are done you only have the /home area and the shared areas left. if you plan on transferring a lot of files between the two systems then make the shared area larger. If you plan to do most of your work in Linux and don't need a large area... make the home area bigger. I tend to allow 10 gigs for home and the rest to shared. this leaves us with a 31 gigabyte partition to make into a shared space. For the sake of simplicity I make the home a little bigger to bring the shared space under the 30 gigabyte FAT32 limit. Linux has a history of disliking NTFS so it should be avoided whenever possible.

Step 3: Partition Away

Now that the plan is settled go ahead and create your first two partitions using The windows setup and get that OS installed. Once the system is installed you can refer to my guide on windows virtual memory to move it to the second partition. For simplicity you may wish to hide this partition in windows by using the drive manager to assign no drive letter or path to it. This will effectively remove it from 2000/2003/XP's my computer and prevent you from accidentally writing to it. Once that's done it's on to Linux.

Once you start up the Linux installer you will be bombarded with a bunch of stuff that is difficult to understand at first. There are plenty of how-to's on the net on using the Linux FDisk program or the partition manager that comes in such distributions as red hat or whatnot. Just avoid changing the first two partitions and go through creating your other partitions. Most Linux installers will give you the option of installing certain file systems to certain partitions. Go ahead and do that when you are prompted. If no option is given then you may have to do it manually, which is beyond the scope of this guide. Finish the Linux install, and set up windows in the Linux Boot manager.(usually Grub or Lilo) There are also how-to's on setting this up available in almost every Linux distro's help files. When you get back into windows start up the drive manager and add in the shared partition into the remaining unallocated space at the end of the extended partition. If it shows the whole thing as unallocated you will have to exit there and do it from the Linux FDisk. Either way make this partition Fat 32 and add it to the Linux FSTAB file (once again there are how-to's on this on the net)

That's it. Below I will detail showing some different setups for different situations that work for me. If the system is a solo Linux system it will also include a /boot to keep the boot files separate. I'll use percentages of total disk space to denote the sizes of the partitions. Note that there are minimums for each area of Linux and you may have to adjust your partition sizes accordingly. It's not an exact science so feel free to experiment.

Format:
Partition Type - Usage - File system - Approx. Size

Windows / Linux dual boot
-------------------------

PRIMARY - Windows - NTFS - 30%
PRIMARY - Windows Paging - NTFS - 2%
PRIMARY - Linux / - EXT3 - 10%
EXTENDED
LOGICAL - Linux Swap - Linux SWAP - 2%
LOGICAL - Linux /TMP - EXT3 - 5%
LOGICAL - Linux /VAR - EXT3 - 5%
LOGICAL - Linux /HOME - EXT3 - 26%
LOGICAL - WIN/LIN Shared - FAT32 - 30%

Linux Solo System
-----------------

PRIMARY - Linux /Boot - EXT3 - 2% (200mb is fine)
PRIMARY - Linux / - EXT3 - 10% (3gb minimum in most cases)
PRIMARY - Linux SWAP - Linux SWAP - 2%
EXTENDED
LOGICAL - Linux /TMP - EXT3 - 5%
LOGICAL - Linux /VAR - EXT3 - 10%
LOGICAL - Linux /HOME - EXT3 - 71%

Windows / Linux Dual boot.. Multiple Hard Drives
----------------------------------------------

Hard Drive 1 (/dev/hda for Linux IDE drives)

PRIMARY - Windows - NTFS - 50%
PRIMARY - Linux / - EXT3 - 48%
PRIMARY - Linux SWAP - Linux SWAP - 2%

Hard Drive 2 (/dev/hdb for Linux IDE drives)

PRIMARY - Windows Paging - NTFS 2%
PRIMARY - Linux SWAP - Linux SWAP - 2%
PRIMARY - WIN/LIN Shared - FAT32 - 30%
EXTENDED
LOGICAL - Linux /TMP - 5%
LOGICAL - Linux /VAR - 10%
LOGICAL - Linux /HOME - 51%

(note: While more than one space for virtual memory can improve windows performance it isn't usually worth it. On the other hand having 2 Linux swap spaces on separate drives will greatly enhance the efficiency of the system.)

Once again these are general IDEAS and you can customize these to suit whatever needs you have. There is no magical scheme that will work for everyone... this is only a guide to get you going on discovering what works for you.

I hope this guide helps you plan your system and helps you understand that software planning is just as important as hardware planning.
__________________

Thanks to "Kittani" on Overclockers.net for this well thought out resource

[PoopyTheJ]

I had to do a user manual for something for class and I chose to do one on Ubuntu, in specific installing Ubuntu. This manual was written for the absolute Ubuntu newb to make it as easy as possible to switch to or install Ubuntu in a dual boot configuration. It is written for the windows audience just finding out about Ubuntu and no extreme technical knowledge is required, in fact it's probably best if it's used for those with limited technical knowledge as it's written to be as basic and simple as possible. I'm posting it here in the hopes that someone will find it useful and will take all suggestions for improvements and revisions and keep it as up to date as possible. I'll take full responsibility for updating this post in particular though if anyone wants to use it in any way they are completely free to do so. I'm not claiming any sort of ownership or anything so feel free to download, link to distribute or modify to your hearts content, I'd like some credit for the original work, but I won;t cry if it's not given ;)

Manual follows...
...
...
...

A. Introduction

This manual is designed to enable you to install the Ubuntu Linux Distribution at your home desktop computer. This manual will cover obtaining and/or creating your Ubuntu installation CD-ROM and the subsequent steps necessary to install it on your personal computer. Ubuntu Linux is a Linux operating system designed for ease of use and with the object of enabling computer users to switch to it from another operating system easily. Ubuntu Linux is software released under the GNU/GPL meaning it is free from copyright restrictions on reproduction, distribution and modification. Ubuntu comes in a number of different variations from Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu as well as smaller spin-off distributions. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses and will appeal to different audiences. Ubuntu is the standard version of Ubuntu offering good graphics quality and ease of use. Kubuntu uses the KDE user interface and tends to be a bit heavier on system resources, meaning it is important to have a more powerful system to run it as effectively as a distribution lighter on graphics flair. Xubuntu uses the xfce interface and tends to be the lightest on system resources and is a very good option for older machines or machines without a decent video card. Ubuntu, Kubuntu and Xubuntu are trademarks of Canonical Ltd.




B. What You Will Need
An Internet connection (preferably broadband) for downloading the Ubuntu ISO Images
CD Writer
Blank CD-ROM
Working Computer

1. Pre-Installation Steps
The first step in installing Ubuntu is to download or acquire an Ubuntu installation CD. The Installation Cd's come in a couple of options for users of Ubuntu. Some users will be using Ubuntu as a Server, for serving up web pages, email, databases or files. Ubuntu has a server edition or a desktop edition available for users. Also each Ubuntu edition comes in a Live CD or a text based installer. The Live CD will run a copy of the Operating system from your CD-ROM without making any changes to your system. This allows a user to try-out Ubuntu without risk of overwriting or otherwise damaging their system. The text based installer is generally used for people who have difficulty installing from the Live CD due to graphic driver issues. If you have a broadband internet connection you can download an ISO image of the Ubuntu installation media. An ISO file is an image file which is used to burn, or write the information to CD.
You can download the ISO image file from http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download. The current version of Ubuntu is Version 8.04 “Hardy Heron”. For this installation manual we will be covering installation of the Desktop Edition of the operating system. If you do not have a broadband connection you can still get an Ubuntu installation CD for free. Simply request the installation CD at https://shipit.ubuntu.com/, you will be shipped a CD to be used for installation for free. The CD may take up to ten weeks to arrive though so if you have a broadband connection it's usually better, and faster to simply download and burn an ISO file.

1a. Burning an ISO File
If you are using a Windows based operating system currently you will need to have a CD burning program like Nero or Roxio installed to burn an ISO file. A great open source and free alternative to the proprietary CD writing applications mentioned above is InfraRecorder available from http://infrarecorder.sourceforge.net/. Microsoft Windows does not by default include support for burning ISO files. Refer to the instructions provided by the software manufacturer for instructions on burning an ISO image file to CD-ROM.

Installation
Now that you have a CD-Rom with your operating system burned and ready we can begin installation of the operating system. Depending on your system and hardware components you may have the most luck in installation with the text based installer, though for most the Live CD will work just fine. For now we will assume that you are using the Live CD for installation, please see Appendix A for installation instructions using the text based installer.
Insert the CD-ROM with Ubuntu into the CD-ROM drive of your computer and reboot the machine. Many machines are set to search out the CD-ROM drive first when booting to look for boot media. However if you have changed the system BIOS or your BIOS is not set to default to CD-ROM as first boot device you will need to change this. Most motherboard and BIOS manufacturers default to the “Del” key at boot to enter the system BIOS. If your computer is manufactured by a major manufacturer like Dell, HP or Compaq though the options for entering the BIOS will be different. Please refer to your motherboard manual or computer manual for instructions on changing the boot settings for your computer.
Once you have setup your PC to boot from CD and started the computer your Ubuntu CD should boot up to a screen with a number of different choices available. The first choice is “Try Ubuntu without changes to your computer”, this option should be used for those who are comfortable with a GUI screen for trying out Ubuntu directly from the CD. In this way a user can become comfortable with the Ubuntu layout and look. However for our purposes we will want to “Install Ubuntu” which is the second choice in the list. The rest of the options are for troubleshooting or simply bypassing the installation media altogether. If you have errors while attempting to install Ubuntu the third and fourth options enable you to “Check CD for errors” or “Test Memory”, both of these are the most common cause of errors in installation. If you run into errors during installation it is usually a good idea to run these tests first before any other troubleshooting steps.
Once we have chosen the “Install Ubuntu” option we will be given a pop-up windows stating “Starting Linux Kernel” allow this to load and move on to the next screen which will show you a loading bar underneath the Ubuntu logo, depending on the speed of your machine this can take a few minutes to proceed to the next step. The next three screens you see will enable you to pick language, location and then keyboard layout. Unless you have a very unique keyboard layout or are outside the US and using a different language than English simply choose the default settings for keyboard. After this you will have the option on how to partition your hard drive. For those seeking to dual-boot with a Microsoft Windows operating system please see the section titled “Keeping Windows” for instructions. If you wish to replace your current operating system completely with Ubuntu you can choose the Guided installation option and simply choose use entire disk. This will format your hard drive with a main Linux partition with all files and a small, usually under 2 Gigabyte, swap partition. The swap partition acts like windows virtual memory, keeping temporary files on the swap drive when not being stored in RAM.
After you have chosen how to partition your drive you will be given the option to setup a user account to log-on to your Ubuntu installation after installing. You should choose a username you want to use and then a password which is easily remembered. In order to choose a secure password the password should not be a word which can be found in a dictionary and should contain numbers or special symbols. These types of passwords are almost impossible to guess for an unauthorized user and provide very good protection against password cracking software. After you have chosen a username and password click next and you will be offered a summary of your installation choices, if anything appears incorrect simply click back and return to the section required to fix the error otherwise, click next and Ubuntu will begin installing. While Ubuntu is installing you will see a progress bar moving across the screen, after the installation has completed you will be offered with a screen showing “Installation Complete”, simply click the restart now, remove the installation media when instructed and your new Ubuntu installation will boot to the login screen. Enter the username at the prompt, then hit enter, this will change the prompt so you can enter your password, do so and hit enter again and Ubuntu will load your desktop. Congratulations on your Ubuntu install, enjoy!




Installation – Keeping Windows

Installing Ubuntu with a Windows installation can lead to data loss! Always backup important data before attempting to install Ubuntu with Windows!

There are two options for keeping your windows installation, if you have one hard drive and windows takes up the entire hard drive then you should choose the Guided – Resize Partition option to install Ubuntu. This is not without some risk and you should back-up all important files before proceeding. Also of importance when resizing a partition it's usually a good idea to defragment the drive as thoroughly as possible first, this will limit the chances of data loss due to the resizing. Ubuntu has the ability to attempt to resize an existing partition, this should not be attempted prior to backing-up all files! If your windows installation does not take up the entire hard drive then you can choose the Guided-Use Free Space option, or the manual option. If you choose the Guided-Use Free Space option Ubuntu will install to the first available free space on the drive, overwriting the windows boot-loader with grub, a text based boot loader which will load before any Os when you boot the computer and you'll be able to choose the OS you wish to boot into. If you choose the Manual installation option you will need to manually choose a free partition or drive to install Ubuntu, in this case Ubuntu will also overwrite the existing Windows boot-loader and replace it with Grub.

One further option for installing Ubuntu while keeping Windows is using Wubi to install Ubuntu. Wubi will install Ubuntu within Windows as a single folder, similiar to installing a windows application. This is a simple and easy way to get a full featured Ubuntu installation without having to change any windows items. To install using Wubi simply insert the Ubuntu CD into your CD drive while in windows. The Pop-up sceen will offer three options,
Demo and full install,
Install inside Windows
Learn More
To install using Wubi simply click the Install inside windows option and a simple screen will pop-up asking where you want to install Ubuntu, be sure to choose a large enough partition, how much space to use, what language to use, a user name and password. After that click install and wubi will install Ubuntu. When you reboot the Windows boot loader will now offer you the choice to boot into windows or Ubuntu. Simply choose Ubuntu and enjoy!



FAQ
Why Linux?
Linux is a free and Open-Source operating system distributed under the GPLv3 license. What this means is that you are free to use, copy, distribute, and modify the operating system in any way you wish so long as any derivative works are also released under the GPLv3. Linux is a powerful and customizable OS, with all of the functionality of Microsoft Windows and none of the cost, Most Linux distributions come with many additional software components already installed. Ubuntu comes with Mozilla Firefox, an open source browser, OpenOffice and open source Office suite, Gimp an open source image editing program and many other programs as well. Compare this to Windows and you'll see a benefit right away!
Can I use my Windows programs with Linux?
The short answer is no, probably. However there is an application called Wine which enables many windows programs to run with Ubuntu. Wine is technically not an emulator, but will install a "fake" windows installation which can be used to install windows applications. The only way to know for sure if your program will work with Wine is to try it. Otherwise there are so many open source programs available for so many different needs your sure to find one that can replace the proprietary software you were previously accustomed to with windows.

Definitions
Hard Drive – The Hard Drive is the memory of your computer, storing programs and data for long term storage, your operating system and programs are stored on this media.
Ubuntu – Linux distribution using the gnome user interface and offering an alternative to closed source operating systems.
Kubuntu – Same as Ubuntu except uses KDE as the GUI
Xubuntu – Same as Ubuntu except uses the xfce GUI
GUI – Graphical User Interface, what you see and interact with on the computer screen
Partition – Section of a hard drive set aside for a certain use, there are many different partition types, from NTFS, to FAT 16, FAT32, ext3, ext2, etc.