Installing Linux: An Overview.
Installing Linux is fairly straight forward, some would say it's easier than installing MS Windows, but then most people never ever go through an install process on MS Windows, and those that do are usually fairly knowledgeable. Most people purchase a computer pre-installed with MS Windows, so for them installing any operating system will be fraught.
The installation process on each distribution is slightly different, and the process ranges from fairly difficult (Debian) to quite easy (Ubuntu - including Kubuntu and Xubuntu - and PCLinuxOS, for example).
The basic process consists of the following steps:
Download an ISO image from the Distributor, or from one of the download sites, such as Distro Watch.com or LinuxLinks.com for example.
Burn the iso image to a CD or (if you have the bandwidth and the time to download an ISO image) a DVD, thankfully most Linux Distributions come in CD size.
Alternatively you could purchase a CD or DVD from a Distributor or from one of the sites that sell Linux Distributions on a CD, such as OSDisc.com. Or you could contact Ubuntu and receive a free copy of the Ubuntu Linux distribution on a CD in the mail.
Once you have a copy of the Linux distribution, you intend to install, on a CD, you can proceed to the next step.
In general most Linux Distributions will install without issues on most modern computer hardware. There are exceptions, but there are also exceptions for MS Windows as well, but hardware is rarely an issue for the majority of Windows users as they are never in the situation where they will be installing a fresh copy of MS Window on to an arbitrary computer. The problem is invariably that the manufacturer of the hardware has not [yet] created Linux Boot drivers for their shiny new hardware, and they never intend to to - in which case the Linux community will be forced to reverse engineer the device and create Linux drivers, this is becoming quite rare these days, but it is still occasionally an issue if the computer is very recent.
Hardware that can occasionally be problematic:
- WiFi devices
- High end Video cards
- WinModems (devices where software emulates hardware)
- USB broadband Modems
That said, I personally have not experienced any problems installing Linux on a wide range of hardware, including the latest DELL desktops with high end ATI video cards that are MS Vista certified.
I am assuming that you already have a copy of MS Windows installed on your computer, and that you want to create a seperate partition(s) on to which you will install your Linux distribution. This is known as Dual Booting, and is the more difficult option. The easy option is to simply replace your current operating system with Linux.
With you computer running, insert your Linux install CD - the one you burned from an iso image, or purchased, or obtained for free from Ubuntu, or a friend - into the CD drive.
Reboot your computer (Start -> Shut Down -> Reboot)
Assuming that your Boot sequence setting in the BIOS has enabled the CD Drive as your first boot drive, the computer will begin it's boot sequence from the CD.
The basic process from here is you will be asked to select the language you intend to use on your desktop.
You will be presented with the License agreement (in the language you chose), this is basically the GNU/GPL (there may be other free licences included) plus information about the bits owned by the distributor, such as logos and trademarks. Once you accept this license, the install continues.
You will be asked to confirm your keyboard layout. If you are English (or American English) speaking, your keyboard layout could be one of a number of choices. For example I'm Australian so my language, from the first question, is Australian English, my keyboard layout is US English (the $ currency symbol).
You may be asked your time zone, on some distributions this comes later. You may also be asked to set up your networking, this may be as simple as confirming that you are using Dynamic network address assignment (where your Modem or Router assigns the relevant address details to the computer) or as complicated as manually assigning the relevant address details. On some distributions this may come later in the process.
You will be asked how you want to install the system:
- Take over the entire hard disk (this option will reformat the hard disk and install the Linux OS in place of what ever system you currently have.
- Use existing partitions (if you have already installed a Linux system, this option will find the Linux partitions and replace an existing Linux sytem). It will prompt you if it finds none and ask if you want to replace the current Windows system.
- Manually Partition the Hard drive (this is the option you must use if you want to create a dual boot system)
Once you have decided how you wish to proceed (at this point I am assuming that all necessary work has been done to install the Linux system), you can continue with the install.
On some distributions you will be asked to select which groups of software, other than the operating system, you want installed. There is a large number of applications that can be installed with any Linux system. On other distributions you won't be asked, the system will simply install a set of the most common applications (quite a large number of very useful applications in fact)
Once you proceed from this point, you should go make yourself a cup of tea or a coffee, or put your feet up for about 20 to 40 minutes as there is nothing to be done until all of the software is installed.
Once the software is installed the system will ask you to remove the Disk and reboot. Some distributions will require some additional setting up at this point. On some distributions this is the point at which you set your time zone, set your Video card parameters, and your screen resolution (it only sound technical), and set your network connection. On those distributions the next thing you will be asked to do is remove the disk and reboot.
Once the computer reboots you will boot into a fully functional Linux system. You will find that most (90% +) of the applications you want to use are already installed. Linux: An overview of Linux Security >>>
