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auntiepatricia
April 26th, 2011, 08:57 PM
i have downloaded the desk version of unbuntu on my mac, as it downloads well and my PC does not. i burned the ISO to CD. now i need to put it on the little PC i have. is this going to work? or is the mac download different from the PC download? will the disc be readable from the PC DVD reader?

i know this is a dumb question but i don't know how to interrupt the windows boot up so that it will boot from the CD. can someone tell me how to do that, step by step... key by key?

thanks.

uRock
April 26th, 2011, 09:08 PM
Welcome to Ubuntu Forums.

The disk should work fine with just about any machine as long as the ISO was burnt as a CD image as apposed to burning it as a data file.

Cheers,
uRock

coffeecat
April 26th, 2011, 09:09 PM
No problem downloading the ISO on a Mac. You can burn the ISO to a CD using the Mac Disk Utility (it sounds as though you have already) and it will boot just fine on a Windows PC.

For the second question you need to change the device boot order in the BIOS. You don't interrupt the Windows boot sequence - you need to get the CD booting long before the Windows boot loader is read. When you first switch on your PC, it may show a message saying something like, "Press <something> for setup." Something could be F2 or DEL or - er - something! :wink: Press whichever key is defined and you will enter the BIOS screen. Thereafter it should be straightforward to find the boot order and make the CD/DVD drive the first priority. Remember to save your settings (usually F10) before quitting the BIOS.

If there is no message on screen, your PC manual may tell you which key to use. What make/model do you have?

pricetech
April 26th, 2011, 09:11 PM
Pretty basic questions. Are you sure you want to try to learn a new OS with no more knowledge / experience than that ??

Anyway, depends upon the computer. Unless you are prompted when you first turn your computer on to press a particular key for a boot menu, then you're probably best to change the boot sequence in the BIOS to boot the optical drive first. If you're also not prompted with a key to press to access the BIOS, then I suggest you check the manufacturer's website for more information.

That's the BEST answer I can give and deliberately leaves out any speculation about what key it might be.

auntiepatricia
April 27th, 2011, 08:43 AM
thanks, everyone. i haven't used a PC for years - since i got a mac, so i just forgot everything... but i used to use DOS.

i bought this little tablet PC about 8 years ago and have never used it, so now i look forward to ubuntu.... i really hate to use the word hate, but i really do hate windows. :)

is there a way to slow down the booting so i can read which key it says to push? it seems to go by too fast for me to catch it.

i have ubuntu loaded on a thumb drive and a CD, but now the computer won't boot at all. i SO look forward to getting away from windows.

Dutch70
April 27th, 2011, 11:58 AM
If it's going by too fast, it's probably not telling you which key to push. See the advice above.

On my computer it's the "escape" key. I've heard others say it's either F9 or F12.

btw, for someone that doesn't like using the word "hate", you sure crammed it into one short sentence enough. :wink:

coffeecat
April 27th, 2011, 12:14 PM
What make/model do you have?


i bought this little tablet PC about 8 years ago

Yes, but what make/model do you have? :wink: With that we can do a bit of creative googling. It must be possible to find out what key to use to get into the BIOS. :)