Yesterday afternoon, and some of this morning, saw the installation of Ubuntu 8.4 onto a machine in the Refresh studio. We’ve had Ubuntu on a laptop, as a secondary operating system, for a while now, but this is the first machine to run Ubuntu as its primary operating system. Having worked with the system a bit here and there, and for a few hours today, I’ve seen the potential of using an Ubuntu system. Some feel uneasy about Ubuntu (and Linux in general) and feel that it is meant for “geeks” and computer-savvy folks only. This is not the case. I decided I’d put together a basic guide of what I did, how I did it and what I installed on the system once it was up and running.
1. Find a computer to run Ubuntu.
Ubuntu doesn’t require too much juice to run. A refurbished computer or an entry-level machine is good enough to run both Ubuntu and several third-party applications. The machine I’m using is a Celeron 2.4GHz with 218MB RAM, without a graphics card. Admittedly, it does run a bit sluggishly, but still, it does run.
2. Get Ubuntu.
This can be done in 3 ways:Â download the CD image, buy a CD, or request a free CD. We downloaded and burned the CD image to a disc, following the easy, step-by-step guide.
3. Install Ubuntu.
This part is super simple. Pop in the CD, boot up your machine, click “Install”, and follow the on-screen prompts. As we’re installing Ubuntu as a secondary operating system, select the “guided” option (to use the entire drive) when you get to the partition screen. Please note: YOU WILL LOSE ANY DATA THAT IS CURRENTLY ON THE HARD DRIVE! If you’re fine with this, venture on, brave knight. This step is different if you’re installing Ubuntu as a secondary operating system, which isn’t what we’re doing here… so let’s move on to step 4.
4. Check for updates.
Right. So you’re up and running. Awesome! Now it’s time to make sure our system is fully up to date. In the top right corner of the screen, you should see an icon with an exclamation point. Clicking this will open the update manager, allowing you to update the packages (mini applications, if you will) that make up Ubuntu. Ensuring that your system is up to date means that you will be able to support all of the latest applications and tweaks. Please note that updating, as well as downloading new applications via Ubuntu, requires an internet connection.
5. Have fun.
Ubuntu comes ready to use out of the box. Click around, open some applications and see what you can do. There are image editors, web browsers and music players, as well as games.
Congratulations! You now have Ubuntu up and running in your workplace. From here, you can tailor the system to your needs (I installed a few design and web development applications and Firefox extensions, for example).
For more information on Ubuntu and some useful help guides, check out ubuntu.com.
Update: Check out our next post for a few ideas on using Ubuntu.Â
Another crap article that tell you how to install Ubuntu and not actually how to “Introduce Ubuntu to your Workplace”…
@Boo. Thanks for your comment.
This article is part 01 in a series of articles discussing Ubuntu in the workplace. I didn’t feel it right to jump in head-first into working with Ubuntu without a short background on how to set it up.
Please see part 02 of this series for a more workplace-oriented article on Ubuntu.