Installing Ubuntu for the first time

[Dylan_Bennett]

I'm installing Ubantu 14.0.4.1 for the first time. I've been reading how custom OS like Ubuntu help maximize speed and battery life like the custom roms I play with on my Razr Maxx HD. I've read this is widely the most popular custom OS out there. I'm coming from Windows 8 and I don't know much about this rom. What's some of the most significant differences and similarities? Will I still be able to go back to Windows if I don't like it? Also is there a simple tutorial to install the most up to date Ubuntu? Thanks to any responses as I'm a new member to this forum.

[grahammechanical]

What you need to do is download an ISO image of Ubuntu and burn it to a DVD or USB memory stick and then you can run a Ubuntu live session without installing to the hard disk and then you can see for yourself.

As far as I can tell all computer operating systems do the same thing. They just do it differently in some places and they often look different. But not so completely different that a person with half a brain cannot work out how to do things.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-windows

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/install-ubuntu-desktop

Regards.

[Dylan_Bennett]

What you need to do is download an ISO image of Ubuntu and burn it to a DVD or USB memory stick and then you can run a Ubuntu live session without installing to the hard disk and then you can see for yourself.

As far as I can tell all computer operating systems do the same thing. They just do it differently in some places and they often look different. But not so completely different that a person with half a brain cannot work out how to do things.

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/burn-a-dvd-on-windows

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/create-a-usb-stick-on-windows

http://www.ubuntu.com/download/desktop/install-ubuntu-desktop

Regards.

So they don't have better speed or battery life? Also what's the highlights of this OS? Like what makes it better than the others.

[mastablasta]

I can't say about general battery life as that depends on how open the manufacturer's drivers are or hwo well they ar emade for Linux. I have old windows laptop that oculd manbage 2 hour with battery. linux increased that time to 3.

better speed? sure that is why Linux is used on super computers. on desktop it is usually faster than windows. uses less RAM, less CPU... for example certain window managers can work with 16 MB ram. windows needs minimum 2 GB ram to work normally, Ubuntu with some modification can work well with 256MB ram.

major highlight of the OS is that the source is open. you can modify it as much as you desire and you can reshare it. since many people work on it the patches are made fast. it's design comes form servers so from the start it is more secure than windows OS. since patches come in fast security holes are sometimes patched within hours, while in windows you will mostly be left unpatched until next update (every first Wednesday in month).

the OS is modular so you can run it as desktop or as server or as many other things (see Raspberry Pi projects for example).

read more about the OS in the Ubuntu manual and if you used windows also read: http://linux.oneandoneis2.org/LNW.htm
a bit dated but kind of still valid.

[mode7]

I highly recommend what grahammechanical said. The best way for you to see if you like it is to get a feel for it.

Running from a live CD will have no effect on your Windows installation. Use it for a bit to try out doing common desktop tasks like you normally do in Windows. Permanently installing to your hard drive *will* have an effect, though, and I highly recommend you read through the documentation when you get to that point. Always backup your data when doing any partition operations!

Now I also want you to understand (And this would be my first point in why I like Unix-like systems in general), that there are multiple desktop environments available. The environment is essentially the interface you are using when working on your computer.

So let's say you try out plain Ubuntu in a live session. Maybe you just can't stand the interface. I invite you to check out Kubuntu and Xubuntu (Amongst others!). You may feel more at-home in the KDE environment of Kubuntu or using XFCE in Xubuntu. LXDE in Lubuntu. Etc (I like Gnome Shell, personally :) )
You seem to know about Android roms. They all run off of the Linux kernel and a common base, right? Well you have Cyanogenmod, MIUI, etc. They have different interfaces on top, it's kind of like that!

Now besides the almost unlimited choice in what your desktop looks like, I also love Ubuntu (And other distros) because of the way Unix is designed in general. It's more of a technical thing. I just really feel more in-tune with the Unix-like concepts and design, when programming and administering a computer. That's just me.

As for speed and battery.. I'll be honest. It's an efficient system, but as for overall snappiness to things, it feels the same as Windows to me. Really, it's a 'results may vary' sort of deal. Ubuntu gets the desktop up and running faster than Windows for me, though.
Battery life will generally need you to adjust it from the defaults to see good results. On my main notebook, battery life is worse under Ubuntu, but I've never tweaked it or used laptop-tools and stuff like that because I'm actually rarely on battery for a long time.

[Dylan_Bennett]

I highly recommend what grahammechanical said. The best way for you to see if you like it is to get a feel for it.

Running from a live CD will have no effect on your Windows installation. Use it for a bit to try out doing common desktop tasks like you normally do in Windows. Permanently installing to your hard drive *will* have an effect, though, and I highly recommend you read through the documentation when you get to that point. Always backup your data when doing any partition operations!

Now I also want you to understand (And this would be my first point in why I like Unix-like systems in general), that there are multiple desktop environments available. The environment is essentially the interface you are using when working on your computer.

So let's say you try out plain Ubuntu in a live session. Maybe you just can't stand the interface. I invite you to check out Kubuntu and Xubuntu (Amongst others!). You may feel more at-home in the KDE environment of Kubuntu or using XFCE in Xubuntu. LXDE in Lubuntu. Etc (I like Gnome Shell, personally :) )
You seem to know about Android roms. They all run off of the Linux kernel and a common base, right? Well you have Cyanogenmod, MIUI, etc. They have different interfaces on top, it's kind of like that!

Now besides the almost unlimited choice in what your desktop looks like, I also love Ubuntu (And other distros) because of the way Unix is designed in general. It's more of a technical thing. I just really feel more in-tune with the Unix-like concepts and design, when programming and administering a computer. That's just me.

As for speed and battery.. I'll be honest. It's an efficient system, but as for overall snappiness to things, it feels the same as Windows to me. Really, it's a 'results may vary' sort of deal. Ubuntu gets the desktop up and running faster than Windows for me, though.
Battery life will generally need you to adjust it from the defaults to see good results. On my main notebook, battery life is worse under Ubuntu, but I've never tweaked it or used laptop-tools and stuff like that because I'm actually rarely on battery for a long time.
That's what I figured. I love having customized settings. I read this is a widely tweaked OS and I was hoping there's also a type of optimal settings type of thread to help with battery life and/or speed.

[Lars Noodén]

The biggest speed gains that you are likely to notice would come from trying some of the alternate Desktop Environments mentioned way above.

Or you could really pare down the system and skip the Desktop Environment completely and go with a bare Window Manager. The Oroborus window manager is said to take only 64kB of RAM. However, most bells and whistles will have to be added manually or may not available at all.

Enlightenment, Openbox and FVWM are three of the more common window manager options. The window managers are highly customizable though not necessarily via a GUI tool. But to see just how far they can be customized try looking at how plain regular fvwm is and then compare that to the customizations that come with the package fvwm-crystal.

[Dylan_Bennett]

The biggest speed gains that you are likely to notice would come from trying some of the alternate Desktop Environments mentioned way above.

Or you could really pare down the system and skip the Desktop Environment completely and go with a bare Window Manager. The Oroborus window manager is said to take only 64kB of RAM. However, most bells and whistles will have to be added manually or may not available at all.

Enlightenment, Openbox and FVWM are three of the more common window manager options. The window managers are highly customizable though not necessarily via a GUI tool. But to see just how far they can be customized try looking at how plain regular fvwm is and then compare that to the customizations that come with the package fvwm-crystal.
What's a window manager?

[Lars Noodén]

A window manager (http://xwinman.org/) is a component of the GUI. It controls the placement and appearance of graphical windows. That includes how you can resize the windows (grab a single corner or just anywhere), maximize, minimize and so on. It also determines the buttons on the windows and where they are.

It is one of the many swappable components in your system. It is on top of X but under the desktop environment (Unity, KDE, Xfce, etc), though it can run standalone without a desktop environment. The distro you install has chosen one window manager by default. Most people don't think about it, but you can swap in another one and use that. You can even alternate between several.

[mastablasta]

desktop environment has other stuff included such as system settings, network manager, file manager, themes etc. it the whole package. comparison: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_X_Window_System_desktop_environments

[Dylan_Bennett]

I highly recommend what grahammechanical said. The best way for you to see if you like it is to get a feel for it.

Running from a live CD will have no effect on your Windows installation. Use it for a bit to try out doing common desktop tasks like you normally do in Windows. Permanently installing to your hard drive *will* have an effect, though, and I highly recommend you read through the documentation when you get to that point. Always backup your data when doing any partition operations!

Now I also want you to understand (And this would be my first point in why I like Unix-like systems in general), that there are multiple desktop environments available. The environment is essentially the interface you are using when working on your computer.

So let's say you try out plain Ubuntu in a live session. Maybe you just can't stand the interface. I invite you to check out Kubuntu and Xubuntu (Amongst others!). You may feel more at-home in the KDE environment of Kubuntu or using XFCE in Xubuntu. LXDE in Lubuntu. Etc (I like Gnome Shell, personally :) )
You seem to know about Android roms. They all run off of the Linux kernel and a common base, right? Well you have Cyanogenmod, MIUI, etc. They have different interfaces on top, it's kind of like that!

Now besides the almost unlimited choice in what your desktop looks like, I also love Ubuntu (And other distros) because of the way Unix is designed in general. It's more of a technical thing. I just really feel more in-tune with the Unix-like concepts and design, when programming and administering a computer. That's just me.

As for speed and battery.. I'll be honest. It's an efficient system, but as for overall snappiness to things, it feels the same as Windows to me. Really, it's a 'results may vary' sort of deal. Ubuntu gets the desktop up and running faster than Windows for me, though.
Battery life will generally need you to adjust it from the defaults to see good results. On my main notebook, battery life is worse under Ubuntu, but I've never tweaked it or used laptop-tools and stuff like that because I'm actually rarely on battery for a long time.
Like custom Android roms is there any sort of back up system or partitions to back up before I install this OS?

[Dylan_Bennett]

Update on the installation. Tried restarting and wouldn't do nothing. Then I tried to download the help reboot and it gave me an error message. I thus tried to do the escape button at startup and set the correct startup order and still nothing. I'm becoming quite exasperated trying to get this. Can anyone help?

[mastablasta]

Like custom Android roms is there any sort of back up system or partitions to back up before I install this OS?
yes - clonezilla or redobackup will do fill disk backup image of your current OS install.


Update on the installation. Tried restarting and wouldn't do nothing. Then I tried to download the help reboot and it gave me an error message. I thus tried to do the escape button at startup and set the correct startup order and still nothing. I'm becoming quite exasperated trying to get this. Can anyone help?

how did you install it? did you get any error message during install?

Do you have the live session available? If so then boot into live disk (USB/DVD) and use the boot repair tool to create boot info summary. : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

post results of that script here so we can see what is happening on boot and how your disk is setup now.

[Dylan_Bennett]

yes - clonezilla or redobackup will do fill disk backup image of your current OS install.



how did you install it? did you get any error message during install?

Do you have the live session available? If so then boot into live disk (USB/DVD) and use the boot repair tool to create boot info summary. : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Boot-Repair

post results of that script here so we can see what is happening on boot and how your disk is setup now.
I didn't get anything but a black screen. I then turned it off and rebooted Windows. I tried to boot off the CD for a temp. time to see if I liked it and it took forever on a black screen so I turned it off via power button and powered Windows on.

[mastablasta]

create the boot info summary as it is otherwise impossible for us to know how you set up your OS install. contrary to popular belief people here do not have magic powers... :P


also you may want to try one of the boot options: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

eventhough it should be necessary if live session works good.


you may also give some system specs. here is how you do it easily in Linux: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1422475

since you have working windows install you can also use a free program called Speccy. it will give a nice report.: https://www.piriform.com/speccy

[Dylan_Bennett]

create the boot info summary as it is otherwise impossible for us to know how you set up your OS install. contrary to popular belief people here do not have magic powers... :P


also you may want to try one of the boot options: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

eventhough it should be necessary if live session works good.


you may also give some system specs. here is how you do it easily in Linux: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1422475

since you have working windows install you can also use a free program called Speccy. it will give a nice report.: https://www.piriform.com/speccy
I will when I get home. I just download the speccy and get a report and paste it on here?

[mastablasta]

I think it's pretty much like that. it's been a while since I installed. it so I am not sure if it has installer or just a zip file.

note that report is only for system specs.

[Dylan_Bennett]

I think it's pretty much like that. it's been a while since I installed. it so I am not sure if it has installer or just a zip file.

note that report is only for system specs.
O
Windows 8.1 64-bit

CPU
AMD A8-4500M 89 °C
Trinity 32nm Technology
RAM
3.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 807MHz (11-11-12-28)
Motherboard
Hewlett-Packard 1984 (Socket FT1) 41 °C
Graphics
Generic PnP Monitor (1600x900@60Hz)
768MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 7640G (HP) 40 °C
Storage
698GB TOSHIBA MQ01ABD075 SATA Disk Device (SATA) 30 °C
Optical Drives
hp DVD A DU8A5SH SATA CdRom Device
Audio
Realtek High Definition Audio

[Dylan_Bennett]

Anybody got any ideas?

[mastablasta]

this hardware should be well supported. Suggest you boot using boot options (try nomodeset) : https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BootOptions

if you get it search for drivers program or something like that and run it to install additional proprietary drivers. you can also do it via command line.: https://help.ubuntu.com/community/BinaryDriverHowto/AMD

if you manage to boot in it I still suggest you run the boot info script and post the results here. at the moment there is no way to know how you've setup your install since you have dual boot with windows and there is so many options that come with that (GPT, MBR; Secure, no secure...).