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By far the easiest way to install Ubuntu is from an
Official Ubuntu CD-ROM.
You may download the CD-ROM image from an Ubuntu mirror and make
your own CD, if you have a fast network connection and a CD burner.
If you have an Ubuntu CD and CDs are
bootable on your machine, you can skip right to
Chapter 5, Booting the Installation System; much effort has been expended to ensure
the files most people need are there on the CD.
If your machine doesn't support CD booting, but you do have a CD,
you can use an alternative strategy such as
hard disk,usb stick,net boot,
or manually loading the kernel from the CD to initially boot the
system installer. The files you need for booting by another means are
also on the CD; the Ubuntu network archive and CD folder organization
are identical. So when archive file paths are given below for
particular files you need for booting, look for those files in the
same directories and subdirectories on your CD.
Once the installer is booted, it will be able to obtain all the other
files it needs from the CD.
If you don't have a CD, then you will need to download the
installer system files and place them on the
hard disk orusb stick ora connected computer
so they can be used to boot the installer.
Pre-Installation Hardware and Operating System Setup
This section will walk you through pre-installation hardware setup, if
any, that you will need to do prior to installing Ubuntu. Generally,
this involves checking and possibly changing firmware settings for
your system. The "firmware” is the core software used by the
hardware; it is most critically invoked during the bootstrap process
(after power-up). Known hardware issues affecting the reliability of
Ubuntu on your system are also highlighted.
Invoking the BIOS Set-Up Menu
BIOS provides the basic functions needed to boot your machine to allow
your operating system to access your hardware. Your system probably
provides a BIOS setup menu, which is used to configure the BIOS.
Before installing, you must ensure that your BIOS
is set up correctly; not doing so can lead to intermittent crashes or
an inability to install Ubuntu.
The rest of this section is lifted from the
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/pc-hardware-faq/part1/, answering the question, "How do I
enter the CMOS configuration menu?”. How you access the BIOS (or
"CMOS”) configuration menu depends on who wrote your BIOS
software:
Partitioning your disk simply refers to the act of breaking up your
disk into sections. Each section is then independent of the others.javascript://
It's roughly equivalent to putting up walls inside a house; if you add
furniture to one room it doesn't affect any other room.
If you already have an operating system on your system
(Windows 9x, Windows NT/2000/XP, OS/2, MacOS, Solaris, FreeBSD, …)
and want to stick Linux on the same disk, you will need to repartition
the disk. Ubuntu requires its own hard disk partitions. It cannot be
installed on Windows or MacOS partitions. It may be able to share some
partitions with other Linux systems, but that's not covered here. At
the very least you will need a dedicated partition for the Ubuntu
root.
You can find information about your current partition setup by using
a partitioning tool for your current operating system, such as fdisk or PartitionMagic. Partitioning tools always
provide a way to show existing partitions without making changes.
In general, changing a partition with a file system already on
it will destroy any information there. Thus you should always make
backups before doing any repartitioning. Using the analogy of the
house, you would probably want to move all the furniture out of the
way before moving a wall or you risk destroying it.
If your computer has more than one hard disk, you may want to dedicate
one of the hard disks completely to Ubuntu. If so, you don't need to
partition that disk before booting the installation system; the
installer's included partitioning program can handle the job nicely.
If your machine has only one hard disk, and you would like to
completely replace the current operating system with Ubuntu,
you also can wait to partition as part of the installation process
(the section called "Partitioning and Mount Point Selection”), after you have booted the
installation system. However this only works if you plan to boot the
installer system from tapes, CD-ROM or files on a connected machine.
Consider: if you boot from files placed on the hard disk, and then
partition that same hard disk within the installation system, thus
erasing the boot files, you'd better hope the installation is
successful the first time around. At the least in this case, you
should have some alternate means of reviving your machine like the
original system's installation tapes or CDs.
If your machine already has multiple partitions, and enough space can
be provided by deleting and replacing one or more of them, then you
too can wait and use the Ubuntu installer's partitioning program. You
should still read through the material below, because there may be
special circumstances like the order of the existing partitions within
the partition map, that force you to partition before installing
anyway.
If your machine has a FAT or NTFS filesystem, as used by DOS and Windows,
you can wait and use Ubuntu installer's partitioning program to
resize the filesystem.
Once you have gathered information about your computer's hardware,
check that your hardware will let you do the type of installation
that you want to do.
Depending on your needs, you might manage with less than some of the
recommended hardware listed in the table below. However, most users
risk being frustrated if they ignore these suggestions.
A Pentium 4, 1GHz system is the minimum recommended for a desktop
system.
Table 3.2. Recommended Minimum System Requirements
Install Type
RAM (minimal)
RAM (recommended)
Hard Drive
No desktop
64 megabytes
256 megabytes
1 gigabyte
With Desktop
64 megabytes
512 megabytes
5 gigabytes
The actual minimum memory requirements are a lot less then the numbers
listed in this table. Depending on the architecture, it is possible to
install Ubuntu with as little as 20MB (for s390) to 48MB (for i386 and
amd64). The same goes for the disk space requirements, especially if you
pick and choose which applications to install; see
the section called "Disk Space Needed” for additional information on disk
space requirements.
In many cases, the installer will be able to automatically detect your
hardware. But to be prepared, we do recommend familiarizing
yourself with your hardware before the install.
Hardware information can be gathered from:
The manuals that come with each piece of hardware.
The BIOS setup screens of your computer. You can view these screens
when you start your computer by pressing a combination of keys. Check
your manual for the combination. Often, it is the Delete key.
The cases and boxes for each piece of hardware.
The System window in the Windows Control Panel.
System commands or tools in another operating system, including file
manager displays. This source is especially useful for information
about RAM and hard drive memory.
Your system administrator or Internet Service Provider. These
sources can tell you the settings you need to set up your
networking and e-mail.
Before you start, make sure to back up every file that is now on your
system. If this is the first time a non-native operating system has
been installed on your computer, it's quite likely you will need to
re-partition your disk to make room for Ubuntu. Anytime you
partition your disk, you run a risk of losing everything on the
disk, no matter what program you use to do it. The programs used in
installation are quite reliable and most have seen years of use; but
they are also quite powerful and a false move can cost you. Even after
backing up, be careful and think about your answers and actions. Two
minutes of thinking can save hours of unnecessary work.
If you are creating a multi-boot system, make sure that you have the
distribution media of any other present operating systems on hand.
Especially if you repartition your boot drive, you might find that you
have to reinstall your operating system's boot loader, or in many
cases the whole operating system itself and all files on the affected
partitions.
First, just a note about re-installations. With Ubuntu, a
circumstance that will require a complete re-installation of your
system is very rare; perhaps mechanical failure of the hard disk would
be the most common case.
Many common operating systems may require a complete installation to
be performed when critical failures take place or for upgrades to new
OS versions. Even if a completely new installation isn't required,
often the programs you use must be re-installed to operate properly in
the new OS.
Under Ubuntu, it is much more likely that your OS can be repaired
rather than replaced if things go wrong. Upgrades never require a
wholesale installation; you can always upgrade in-place. And the
programs are almost always compatible with successive OS releases. If
a new program version requires newer supporting software, the Ubuntu
packaging system ensures that all the necessary software is
automatically identified and installed. The point is, much effort has
been put into avoiding the need for re-installation, so think of it as
your very last option. The installer is not
designed to re-install over an existing system.
Here's a road map for the steps you will take during the installation
process.
Back up any existing data or documents on the hard disk where you
plan to install.
Gather information about your computer and any needed documentation,
before starting the installation.
Create partitionable space for Ubuntu on your hard disk.
Locate and/or download the installer software and any specialized
driver files your machine requires (except Ubuntu CD users).
Set up boot tapes/floppies/USB sticks, or place boot files (most Ubuntu
CD users can boot from one of the CDs).
Boot the installation system.
Select the installation language.
Activate the ethernet network connection, if available.
Create and mount the partitions on which Ubuntu will be installed.
Watch the automatic download/install/setup of the
base system.
Install a boot loader
which can start up Ubuntu and/or your existing system.
Load the newly installed system for the first time.
You must have at least 44MB of memory and 500MB
of hard disk space to perform a normal installation. Note that these are
fairly minimal numbers. For more realistic figures, see
the section called "Meeting Minimum Hardware Requirements”.
Installation on systems with less memory or disk space available may be possible but is only advised for
experienced users.
This section will help you determine which different media types you can use to
install Ubuntu. For example, if you have a floppy disk drive on your machine,
it can be used to install Ubuntu. There is a whole chapter devoted to media,
Chapter 4, Obtaining System Installation Media, which lists the advantages and
disadvantages of each media type. You may want to refer back to this page once
you reach that section.
CD-ROM/DVD-ROM
Whenever you see "CD-ROM” in this manual, it applies to both
CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs, because both technologies are really
the same from the operating system's point of view, except for some very
old nonstandard CD-ROM drives which are neither SCSI nor IDE/ATAPI.
CD-ROM based installation is supported for some architectures.
On machines which support bootable CD-ROMs, you should be able to do a
completely
floppy-less
installation. Even if your system doesn't
support booting from a CD-ROM, you can use the CD-ROM in conjunction
with the other techniques to install your system, once you've booted
up by other means; see Chapter 5, Booting the Installation System.
SCSI, SATA and IDE/ATAPI CD-ROMs are supported. The Linux CD-ROM HOWTO contains in-depth information
on using CD-ROMs with Linux.
USB CD-ROM drives are also supported, as are FireWire devices that
are supported by the ohci1394 and sbp2 drivers.
Hard Disk
Booting the installation system directly from a hard disk is another option
for many architectures. This will require some other operating system
to load the installer onto the hard disk.
USB Memory Stick
Many Ubuntu boxes need their floppy and/or CD-ROM drives only for
setting up the system and for rescue purposes. If you operate some
servers, you will probably already have thought about omitting those
drives and using an USB memory stick for installing and (when
necessary) for recovering the system. This is also useful for small
systems which have no room for unnecessary drives.
There are several vendors, who ship systems with Debian or other
distributions of GNU/Linux
pre-installed. You might pay more
for the privilege, but it does buy a level of peace of mind, since you can
be sure that the hardware is well-supported by GNU/Linux.
If you do have to buy a machine with Windows bundled, carefully read
the software license that comes with Windows; you may be able to
reject the license and obtain a rebate from your vendor. Searching
the Internet for "windows refund” may get you some useful
information to help with that.
Whether or not you are purchasing a system with Linux bundled, or even
a used system, it is still important to check that your hardware is
supported by the Linux kernel. Check if your hardware is listed in
the references found above. Let your salesperson (if any) know that
you're shopping for a Linux system. Support Linux-friendly hardware
vendors.
Avoid Proprietary or Closed Hardware
Some hardware manufacturers simply won't tell us how to write drivers
for their hardware. Others won't allow us access to the documentation
without a non-disclosure agreement that would prevent us from
releasing the Linux source code.
Since we haven't been granted access to the documentation on these
devices, they simply won't work under Linux. You can help by asking
the manufacturers of such hardware to release the documentation. If
enough people ask, they will realize that the free software community
is an important market.