Linux Solutions

This guide will talk you through your first Ubuntu installation, hopefully teaching you everything you need to know to give Ubuntu a try without breaking or removing your existing Windows installation.
The guide uses Wubi to install Ubuntu, from Windows.
Ubuntu installation guide
If you’re planning on installing the latest version of Ubuntu (Intrepid Ibex 8.10) then there’s now no need to download Wubi installer. You can install Ubuntu straight from the CD inside Windows, and the install process takes care of automatically partitioning your hard drive for you.
1) Download the Ubuntu ISO and save to your desktop
2) Burn the ISO image to a blank CD using Roxio CD creator or similar:
3) Run the CD from “My Computer” - the CD should ask permission to run at which point you’ll see this option screen:
4) Select “install inside Windows” and follow the instructions. From this point, the screens are pretty much the same as Wubi installer. This process however uses the Grub Bootloader to start Ubuntu.
If you’ve got the space on your hard drive, go for 30gb or more for the installation size.
2) Now configure your installation using the simple settings options. You can specify the location of the Ubuntu installation on your Windows partition, the size of the Ubuntu installation, the Ubuntu flavour (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc), your preferred language, and a username and password for the Ubuntu system.
3) Click reboot now, and select “Ubuntu” on the startup screen. You now have a fully functional dual boot Windows / Ubuntu machine.
How to set up your wireless network
Next, we’re going to set up the wireless network. By now you should have correctly installed Ubuntu and after a restart and a login, you’ll see a desktop a little like this:
Remember before you do anything, you’ll need to connect your PC to a wireless network.
How to connect to your wireless network in Hardy Heron
Connecting to your wireless router so you can access the internet is pretty easy. Here are the steps:
1) In the top menu, click System>Administration>Network
2) The network settings dialogue will appear. Click “unlock” and key in your password. Now, highlight the wireless connection, and click the properties button on the right.
3) A dialog box will appear. Click “enable roaming mode” and click ok. Now close the network settings dialogue.
4) Next, you need to click the wireless logo in the top right hand of your screen. A small menu will appear. Click the wireless network you want to join and a dialogue box will appear
Just key in the WPA / security details of your wireless LAN and click connect. Ubuntu will connect to the network straight away
How to install a Nvidia display driver
This guide will show how to set up your Nvidia display driver, and how to instantly tweak the graphics performance of your new installation.
Nvidia drivers don’t seem to be open source like many other drivers for Ubuntu. All that means is that they don’t share their source code (closed source) in the way that Ubuntu developers need to be able to make things better, more usable and all that other stuff they like to do.
How to install your Nvidia driver
1) Go to System>Administration>Hardware drivers
2) Click on the “Enabled” check box and follow the instructions…
3) Eventually you’ll see this message. Time to restart your computer.
When you’ve restarted your machine, it’s time to start thinking about putting your new driver to good use. Let’s get the default visual effects set up correctly:
4) Go to System>Preferences>Appearance and select the “Visual effects” tab and select Extra
Your machine will instantly “feel” more responsive and you’ll notice the full use of your graphics card is being utilised. Try moving a window - fun, isn’t it! “Wobbly Windows” is a feature of Compiz and we’ll be looking at how tu use Compiz to create a desktop cube environment next.
How to install Compiz Fusion
Compiz is a seriously powerful extension to Gnome (basically the GUI for Linux). It’s been possible to create extra desktops in Ubuntu for a long time, but with Compiz you can switch between them via a three dimensional cube, which is actually very usable and seriously cool. Amaze your friends with Compiz by showing them your machine doing tricks like this:
Installing Compiz from hardy Heron is extremely easy. In fact, you already have it installed in Ubuntu Hardy. If you have an earlier version of Ubuntu, follow these instructions. If you have Hardy, read on…
Compiz is already installed but you need access to the advanced settings manager to activate the cube and cube rotation. You’re going to install a package called: compizconfig-settings-manager. Installing it in Hardy is easy -
1) Go to Synaptic Package Manager (System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager) and do a search for compizconfig-settings-manager. Check the install box and click apply.
2) if you go to System>Preferences you’ll see that a new menu item has appeared - “Advanced desktop effects settings”. Open the menu.
This is the compiz settings manager, the place where you activate all of the cool tricks. There are so many fiddly little settings to play with that it would be impossible to write about them all. There are however some really important ones to switch on that are worthy of note and will provide an important first step:
3) Under “Desktop” check “Desktop Cube”. There are lots of settings inside this module, but for the time being leave it checked
4) Underneath the desktop cube checkbox, check “Rotate Cube”.
If all goes well, then holding down CTRL>ALT and the right hand mouse button should instantly zoom you out and display a three dimensional desktop! Mouse around and it will spin up and down and from left to right.
When it comes to installing Ubuntu, there are so many useful snippets of information on blogs and guides all over the internet.
This guide will talk you through your first Ubuntu installation, hopefully teaching you everything you need to know to give Ubuntu a try without breaking or removing your existing Windows installation.
The guide uses Wubi to install Ubuntu, from Windows.
Ubuntu installation guide
If you’re planning on installing the latest version of Ubuntu (Intrepid Ibex 8.10) then there’s now no need to download Wubi installer. You can install Ubuntu straight from the CD inside Windows, and the install process takes care of automatically partitioning your hard drive for you.
1) Download the Ubuntu ISO and save to your desktop
2) Burn the ISO image to a blank CD using Roxio CD creator or similar:
3) Run the CD from “My Computer” - the CD should ask permission to run at which point you’ll see this option screen:
4) Select “install inside Windows” and follow the instructions. From this point, the screens are pretty much the same as Wubi installer. This process however uses the Grub Bootloader to start Ubuntu.
If you’ve got the space on your hard drive, go for 30gb or more for the installation size.
2) Now configure your installation using the simple settings options. You can specify the location of the Ubuntu installation on your Windows partition, the size of the Ubuntu installation, the Ubuntu flavour (Ubuntu, Kubuntu, Xubuntu, etc), your preferred language, and a username and password for the Ubuntu system.
3) Click reboot now, and select “Ubuntu” on the startup screen. You now have a fully functional dual boot Windows / Ubuntu machine.
How to set up your wireless network
Next, we’re going to set up the wireless network. By now you should have correctly installed Ubuntu and after a restart and a login, you’ll see a desktop a little like this:
Remember before you do anything, you’ll need to connect your PC to a wireless network.
How to connect to your wireless network in Hardy Heron
Connecting to your wireless router so you can access the internet is pretty easy. Here are the steps:
1) In the top menu, click System>Administration>Network
2) The network settings dialogue will appear. Click “unlock” and key in your password. Now, highlight the wireless connection, and click the properties button on the right.
3) A dialog box will appear. Click “enable roaming mode” and click ok. Now close the network settings dialogue.
4) Next, you need to click the wireless logo in the top right hand of your screen. A small menu will appear. Click the wireless network you want to join and a dialogue box will appear
Just key in the WPA / security details of your wireless LAN and click connect. Ubuntu will connect to the network straight away
How to install a Nvidia display driver
This guide will show how to set up your Nvidia display driver, and how to instantly tweak the graphics performance of your new installation.
Nvidia drivers don’t seem to be open source like many other drivers for Ubuntu. All that means is that they don’t share their source code (closed source) in the way that Ubuntu developers need to be able to make things better, more usable and all that other stuff they like to do.
How to install your Nvidia driver
1) Go to System>Administration>Hardware drivers
2) Click on the “Enabled” check box and follow the instructions…
3) Eventually you’ll see this message. Time to restart your computer.
When you’ve restarted your machine, it’s time to start thinking about putting your new driver to good use. Let’s get the default visual effects set up correctly:
4) Go to System>Preferences>Appearance and select the “Visual effects” tab and select Extra
Your machine will instantly “feel” more responsive and you’ll notice the full use of your graphics card is being utilised. Try moving a window - fun, isn’t it! “Wobbly Windows” is a feature of Compiz and we’ll be looking at how tu use Compiz to create a desktop cube environment next.
How to install Compiz Fusion
Compiz is a seriously powerful extension to Gnome (basically the GUI for Linux). It’s been possible to create extra desktops in Ubuntu for a long time, but with Compiz you can switch between them via a three dimensional cube, which is actually very usable and seriously cool. Amaze your friends with Compiz by showing them your machine doing tricks like this:
Installing Compiz from hardy Heron is extremely easy. In fact, you already have it installed in Ubuntu Hardy. If you have an earlier version of Ubuntu, follow these instructions. If you have Hardy, read on…
Compiz is already installed but you need access to the advanced settings manager to activate the cube and cube rotation. You’re going to install a package called: compizconfig-settings-manager. Installing it in Hardy is easy -
1) Go to Synaptic Package Manager (System>Administration>Synaptic Package Manager) and do a search for compizconfig-settings-manager. Check the install box and click apply.
2) if you go to System>Preferences you’ll see that a new menu item has appeared - “Advanced desktop effects settings”. Open the menu.
This is the compiz settings manager, the place where you activate all of the cool tricks. There are so many fiddly little settings to play with that it would be impossible to write about them all. There are however some really important ones to switch on that are worthy of note and will provide an important first step:
3) Under “Desktop” check “Desktop Cube”. There are lots of settings inside this module, but for the time being leave it checked
4) Underneath the desktop cube checkbox, check “Rotate Cube”.
If all goes well, then holding down CTRL>ALT and the right hand mouse button should instantly zoom you out and display a three dimensional desktop! Mouse around and it will spin up and down and from left to right.