UBUNTU: The Linux Touch!

Ever since I have started using the computer system, my experience has always been with the Windows Operating system, owned and developed by the Microsoft Corporation. However, I decided this time around to change environment, to a different clime, so to say. Linux has always been in my mind, but the problem of not having a system of my own and the wherewithal (financially) to own a commercial distribution (like Fedora, Suse, Debian, etc) always discourage my will.

Luckily, I can now boast of a new HP Notebook with Vista pre-installed. And with the recent update of Ubuntu, a free, open source Linux distribution, I thought of switching without any hitches. There are reports (many of them) of incompatibility with Windows partition and booting processes. Nevertheless, I decided to take the risk to dual-boot.

Ubuntu is one of the free Linux distributions making the rounds now. Many are now dual-booting Vista with Ubuntu, at a less or free cost to their pause or hardware. The latest update is 7.10 and can be downloaded here. After downloading the CD/DVD images, you must burn it in order to make it a live bootable CD for your installation. But you must have a very fast Internet connection (broadband). The iso file is somewhere around 700MG. If don’t have a very fast Internet connection, then request for a live bootable CD for free from this site. What I did was to request for a live CD, and I received it after three weeks from the date I applied for it. It all depends on your location across the world.

For long I have been nursing the intention of using this distribution, and have been using the Ubuntu development/community website for my latest information. After receiving the free live CD, I obtained all the necessary information that can enable me to do that, easily, and started as follows:

1. I backup all my data into a 4GB DVD plate;
2. Ubuntu live CD does not come with any documentation a part from the little information at the back of the envelope. So I googled for all the necessary information required, and I have gotten much. Catch phrases like: “Dual-booting Ubuntu on Vista”, “Dual-booting Ubuntu on Windows” assisted me a lot;
3. I read through most of the tutorials, with a special attention on the comments sections, where I found most of the common errors some have gone through;
4. I boot up my system, and go to Computer Management (Start > Search > type Computer Management). I moved down to Disk Management on the left pane; double-clicked it, to view all my drives on the right pane;
5. I then shrink my drive C (right-click ‘C’, click shrink volume). A window popped up, showing the available space I can shrink from “C” drive (21G). I selected it, clicked “ok”, and the changes took place. A partition has now been created, where Ubuntu is going to lodge itself;
6. I then inserted my live CD into the DVD/CD ROM drive, and restart my system.
7. As expected, the system boot from the live CD, and there, I saw the Ubuntu logo, commanding me to press “enter”, in order to commence the process. I press “enter”;
8. At the initial stage, Ubuntu will install all the files onto your RAM and restart your system. So it did to me, and after restarting the system, I clicked on the Ubuntu logo on my desktop folder, and the real installation commenced;
9. I was asked the normal questions; your name, username, region/country, time zone, and the partition I intended to port Ubuntu, I selected the partition I created (it calls it unused volume). After all these, the entire files were installed and was told to eject my live CD, as the system will soon restart immediately. I did as instructed;
10. After a few tens of seconds, the system restarted, and there was I, in the world of Linux. Waoooooooo!!!;
11. I then move, according to the instructions on the manual I obtained online, to make a file copy of the GRUB file in case of any eventuality. I went straight to the terminal – Applications > Accessories > Terminal - (like the DOS Shell or Command Prompt in Windows), and type the following command:

sudo cp /boot/grub/menu.lst /boot/grub/menu.lst_bak

and hit the "enter" button from my keyboard. This makes a copy of the grub file available in case of any failure. Of course I was asked my password, which I produced and the changes effected.

12. I then proceed to type another set of command again, calling the grub file, in order to make some certain changes. To open the grub file in a text editor, I typed:

Sudo gedit /boot/grub/menu.lst

I hit enter and the grub file opened. I changed the system booting timeout from 10seconds to 15, and equally changed the booting sequence; instead of allowing Ubuntu, I let Vista be the default operating system, in the absence of any choice after the 15seconds timeout. I clicked "save changes", and exit. (You can find a comprehensive tutorial on how to do everything, with pictorials here)

From the experience I had installing and using Ubuntu, it seems the Ubuntu community has done a lot enhance this latest update. Because most of the problems users had with previous versions are no longer there, at all. One important feature of this free OS is that, you can share it with anybody, anywhere in the world. In fact, that has been the philosophy within the Linux circle. Knowledge, they say, must be free and useable at whatever circumstances. Ubuntu is very efficient, fast and boots within seconds. You can set the prestigious background or desktop effects. They remind me of the Windows Vista aero glass. There are equally office packages pre-installed. You have OpenOffice Word Processor, Spreadsheet, Presentation, Database and Graphics packages as you install Ubuntu. I always appreciate Ubuntu's power management, compare to Vista, which consumes all the power with its overwhelming graphics and absolute disk usage.

For now, I am still experimenting with Ubuntu, and if possible, will like to move to Debian, the main source of Ubuntu's strength. A lot has been said on the power of Linuux systems these days, and there is all indication that in the next decade and a half, Microsoft will find it very difficult to push aside the forceful power of Linux distributions in the home PC front.