Install Ubuntu Minimal - Other Possible Ways

[Paqman]

I live in India and use a 'Broadband' connection where I dial in with a username and password through the modem and the ethernet line. I guess I'm allotted a certain IP address each time I 'dial in'. So I tried this twice taking 2 courses from here.
a. I left the HTTP proxy field blank and proceeded. It didn't work.
b. I entered the data but I'm not certain of the data asked. I was asked for a 'user', 'pass', 'port' and another thing 'host' which I was not sure was to be substituted with something. I took the 'user' and 'pass' to be the username and password assigned to me by my ISP. I left the host as such. I looked around on the web and I found pages suggesting the 'port' was '8080' (although they weren't convincing). It didn't work this time either.
In both cases I got the same error as the first time saying that either my network configuration or my server was faulty.

Hmm, it's highly unlikely that you're using an HTTP proxy unless you configured one yourself, or you're connecting through someone else's network (workplace, university, etc). Leaving it blank is the normal thing to do.

I'm not sure what's going on with your connection. Normally with broadband (ADSL) the connection is "always on". Are you sure you've got broadband (ie: can you use the phone and the internet simultaneously?) If you're actually connecting to dialup I'm not sure how you could do that on the minimal install, as I've never used dialup on Ubuntu.

[waynefoutz]

if your a new user, installing the minimal cd can be pretty overwhelming. Even if you get the network problem solved, then what? What desktop environment do you plan to install? If you go the straight Ubuntu route, you'll end up with Gnome and Unity, and pretty much the same end product that you would have had if you installed from the standard cd.

If you are new, which I assume you are since you are posting in the "for beginners only" section, then I would go with a lighter variation of Ubuntu. Lubuntu, or Peppermint OS, would be a great choice for an ancient machine. Personally, I prefer Peppermint OS over Lubuntu, even though the default theme is pretty ugly. (It can be customized.) Either one will run on just about any system, even 10 year old PCs. If you have an older system than that, try looking at Puppy Linux, which will happily run on that 20 year old 486, though it's not as newbie friendly as an Ubuntu based distro.

[avnd]

@Paqman: The connection I have is not dial-up, mate (I can use my phone simultaneously). I guess broadband's on all the time in most parts of the world and that particular user has a constant IP all the time (?). But here we 'dial-in' each time and get a different IP assigned each time.

@waynefoutz: The biggest limitation for my install is the 128MB RAM I have. I'm planning to install LXDE. Apparently the graphic installer for Lubuntu needs more RAM than that. The Alternate install CD was giving me issues (I don't think it's even an official version). Plus, I have an even older system which will definitely need this minimal install, so I thought I'd try it with this system first.
I'm understanding more from the official documentations each day (I guess I'm competent enough to install a DE over a minimal install given good documentation), but I'm not sure if I've graduated out of the 'Beginner' tag.

Thank you for your replies, guys.

[waynefoutz]

@Paqman: The connection I have is not dial-up, mate (I can use my phone simultaneously). I guess broadband's on all the time in most parts of the world and that particular user has a constant IP all the time (?). But here we 'dial-in' each time and get a different IP assigned each time.

@waynefoutz: The biggest limitation for my install is the 128MB RAM I have. I'm planning to install LXDE. Apparently the graphic installer for Lubuntu needs more RAM than that. The Alternate install CD was giving me issues (I don't think it's even an official version). Plus, I have an even older system which will definitely need this minimal install, so I thought I'd try it with this system first.
I'm understanding more from the official documentations each day (I guess I'm competent enough to install a DE over a minimal install given good documentation), but I'm not sure if I've graduated out of the 'Beginner' tag.

Thank you for your replies, guys.

I wouldn't rule out installing Bohdi Linux on a system like that.
http://www.bodhilinux.com/system.php The Enlightenment window manager is not only fast, it's quite beautiful to look at as well. The minimum requirements are a 386 with 128 megs of ram. And, it's based off of Ubuntu 10.04.