Making the move - installation

Eclectic Tech Carnival installation workshop outline and notes

The workshop is at basic level for women who want to migrate from Windows to Ubuntu Desktop. It will include:

• How to backup and check system information from your existing Windows installation
• Why Ubuntu?
• What are the different 'flavours' of Ubuntu and which one should I choose?
• Downloading, burning and running the Ubuntu live CD
• Simple clean graphical install of Ubuntu
• Cleaning up and re-partitioning HD for dual-boot installation with gparted tool
• Dual-boot installation of Ubuntu alongside existing Windows system
• Wubi installation on Windows

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Self-help notes

Preinstallation checklist:

• Backup your Windows data and settings
• Check that you have an Ubuntu CD and that it works. If you don't have a disk, you will find instructions on how to make an Ubuntu CD here.
• Check that your PC meets the system requirements for the version of Ubuntu you intend to install. Ubuntu system requirements. Xubuntu system requirements. If you've no idea what your system information is, there's a YouTube tutorial here
• Check that you have enough free space on the harddrive you are installing Ubuntu to (right-click on C: in Windows explorer -> properties
• Check that you have printed off any instructions you might need to refer to (unless you have another PC you can use to access them online)
• If you can run the Ubuntu live CD, check that you can connect to the internet OK using Ubuntu and that at least the basics are working
• Check that you have a list of your system hardware in case of problems
• Decide whether you're doing a clean install or dual-booting
• Take a deep breath . . .

Booting Ubuntu as a live demo:

1. Insert the Ubuntu CD
2. Restart the computer
3. Boot from the CD — different computers do this in different ways:
   • PCs built before 1998 don't boot from CD (you can still install Linux but not from a live CD)
   • Newer (XP and later) computers have a 'temporary boot menu' — press f12 as soon as the PC begins to boot and select 'CD' or 'IDE CDRom' (or similar) from the menu which appears (you might have to try a few times, it's easy to miss your chance)
   • On some PCs you may need to edit the BIOS — to do this, watch the screen as you turn on your PC and it will tell you which key to press to enter 'setup' or 'BIOS'. The key is often F12, F2, F8 or the 'delete' key. It should give you onscreen instructions (different computers have different BIOS setups so it's not possible to give overall instructions here) — if you're totally at sea, you might find this illustrated BIOS tutorial helpful
4. Ubuntu will boot into live mode. This means the Ubuntu operating system will run from CD and/or RAM without affecting your Windows installation at all. If you do not install Ubuntu, when you shut down the live demo and remove the Ubuntu disk, your computer will boot normally into Windows again.

Clean installation from live demo

This is by far the easiest option for a beginner as Ubuntu will automate the process and you will need minimal technical skills. Any reasonably experienced Windows user can do this easily.

• Boot from your Ubuntu CD
• Double-click on the 'install' icon on the desktop
• Follow Ubuntu's onscreen instructions (point-and-click) and always accept its recommendations if you're not sure
• Allow Ubuntu to partition your drive automatically (unless you feel confident enough to use the manual partitioning tool) — make sure you've backed up your data first!
• After you've installed Ubuntu, copy over your backups and import mailboxes, bookmarks, profiles etc from your backups.

Dual-boot installation

This is a bit harder than a clean install but Ubuntu makes it fairly easy. Follow LinuxDevCenter's excellent illustrated guide to a dual-boot installation of Ubuntu with pre-existing Windows installation

Installing Ubuntu so it will run from a USB stick

• You can install Ubuntu to a USB stick and store your changes and data to the stick. This will leave no trace of your session on the PC or laptop which you used. The PC will need to be capable of booting from USB (if it does not, see the instructions on editing the BIOS boot settings above).
• Installing to bootable USB on an encrypted partition is a bit trickier but this tutorial shows you the exact steps. If you're not sure you can do it without accidentally wiping your HD, make sure you understand what fdisk does beforehand.