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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.
Besides the availability of a device driver, some hardware also requires
so-called firmware or microcode
to be loaded into the device before it can become operational. This is most
common for network interface cards (especially wireless NICs), but for example
some USB devices and even some hard disk controllers also require firmware.
In most cases firmware is non-free according to the criteria used by the
Debian GNU/Linux project and thus cannot be included in the main distribution
or in the installation system. If the device driver itself is included in
the distribution and if Debian GNU/Linux legally can distribute the firmware,
it will often be available as a separate package from the non-free section
of the archive.
However, this does not mean that such hardware cannot be used during an
installation. Starting with Debian GNU/Linux 5.0, debian-installer supports loading
firmware files or packages containing firmware from a removable medium,
such as a floppy disk or USB stick.
See the section called "Loading Missing Firmware” for detailed information on how to
load firmware files or packages during the installation.
Ubuntu does not impose hardware requirements beyond the requirements
of the Linux kernel and the GNU tool-sets. Therefore, any
architecture or platform to which the Linux kernel, libc,
gcc, etc. have been ported, and for which an Ubuntu
port exists, can run Ubuntu.
Rather than attempting to describe all the different hardware
configurations which are supported for Intel x86, this section
contains general information and pointers to where additional
information can be found.
Supported Architectures
Ubuntu 10.10 supports three major architectures and several
variations of each architecture known as "flavors”.
Three other architectures (HP PA-RISC, Intel ia64, and IBM/Motorola PowerPC)
have unofficial ports.
For information on how to download Ubuntu from the Internet, see the
download web page.
The list of Ubuntu mirrors
contains a full set of official Ubuntu
mirrors, so you can easily find the nearest one.
Ubuntu can be upgraded after installation very easily. The
installation procedure will help set up the system so that you can
make those upgrades once installation is complete, if need be.
Linux is an operating system: a series of programs that let you
interact with your computer and run other programs.
An operating system consists of various fundamental programs which are
needed by your computer so that it can communicate and receive
instructions from users; read and write data to hard disks, tapes, and
printers; control the use of memory; and run other software. The most
important part of an operating system is the kernel. In a GNU/Linux
system, Linux is the kernel component. The rest of the system
consists of other programs, many of which were written by or for the
GNU Project. Because the Linux kernel alone does not form a working
operating system, we prefer to use the term "GNU/Linux”
to refer to systems that many people casually refer to as
"Linux”.
Linux is modelled on the Unix operating system. From the start, Linux
was designed to be a multi-tasking, multi-user system. These facts are
enough to make Linux different from other well-known operating
systems. However, Linux is even more different than you might
imagine. In contrast to other operating systems, nobody owns
Linux. Much of its development is done by unpaid volunteers.
Development of what later became GNU/Linux began in 1984, when the
Free Software Foundation
began development of a free Unix-like operating system called GNU.
The GNU Project has developed a
comprehensive set of free software
tools for use with Unix™ and Unix-like operating systems such as
Linux. These tools enable users to perform tasks ranging from the
mundane (such as copying or removing files from the system) to the
arcane (such as writing and compiling programs or doing sophisticated
editing in a variety of document formats).
While many groups and individuals have contributed to Linux, the
largest single contributor is still the Free Software Foundation,
which created not only most of the tools used in Linux, but also the
philosophy and the community that made Linux possible.
Debian is an all-volunteer organization dedicated to developing free
software and promoting the ideals of the Free Software community.
The Debian Project began in 1993, when Ian Murdock issued an open
invitation to software developers to contribute to a complete and
coherent software distribution based on the relatively new Linux
kernel. That relatively small band of dedicated enthusiasts,
originally funded by the
Free Software Foundation
and influenced by the
GNU
philosophy, has grown over the years into an organization of around
890 Debian Developers.
Debian Developers are involved in a variety of activities, including
Web
and FTP
site administration, graphic design, legal analysis of
software licenses, writing documentation, and, of course, maintaining
software packages.
In the interest of communicating our philosophy and attracting
developers who believe in the principles that Debian stands for, the
Debian Project has published a number of documents that outline our
values and serve as guides to what it means to be a Debian Developer:
The
Debian Social Contract is
a statement of Debian's commitments to the Free Software Community.
Anyone who agrees to abide to the Social Contract may become a
maintainer.
Any maintainer can introduce new software into Debian — provided
that the software meets our criteria for being free, and the package
follows our quality standards.
The
Debian Free Software Guidelines are a
clear and concise statement of Debian's criteria for free software.
The DFSG is a very influential document in the Free Software Movement,
and was the foundation of the
The Open Source Definition.
The
Debian Policy Manual is an
extensive specification of the Debian Project's standards of quality.
Debian developers are also involved in a number of other projects;
some specific to Debian, others involving some or all of the Linux
community. Some examples include:
The
Linux Standard Base
(LSB) is a project aimed at standardizing the basic GNU/Linux system,
which will enable third-party software and hardware developers to
easily design programs and device drivers for Linux-in-general, rather
than for a specific GNU/Linux distribution.
The
Filesystem Hierarchy Standard
(FHS) is an effort to standardize the layout of the Linux
file system. The FHS will allow software developers to concentrate
their efforts on designing programs, without having to worry about how
the package will be installed in different GNU/Linux distributions.
Debian Jr.
is an internal project, aimed at making sure Debian has something to
offer to our youngest users.
For more general information about Debian, see the
Debian FAQ.
Ubuntu is a complete desktop Linux operating system, freely available with
both community and professional support. The Ubuntu community is built on
the ideas enshrined in the Ubuntu Manifesto: that software should be
available free of charge, that software tools should be usable by people in
their local language and despite any disabilities, and that people should
have the freedom to customize and alter their software in whatever way they
see fit.
Ubuntu will always be free of charge, and there is no
extra fee for the "enterprise edition”, we make our very best
work available to everyone on the same Free terms.
Ubuntu includes the very best in translations and accessibility
infrastructure that the Free Software community has to offer, to
make Ubuntu usable by as many people as possible.
Ubuntu is shipped in stable and regular release cycles; a new
release will be shipped every six months. You can use the current
stable release or the current development release. A release will be
supported for 18 months.
Ubuntu is entirely committed to the principles of open source software
development; we encourage people to use open source software, improve it and
pass it on.
Ubuntu is suitable for both desktop and server use. The current Ubuntu
release supports Intel x86 (IBM-compatible PC), AMD64 (Hammer) and PowerPC
(Apple iBook and Powerbook, G4 and G5) architectures.
Ubuntu includes more than 1000 pieces of software, starting with the Linux
kernel version 2.6 and GNOME 2.30, and covering every standard desktop
application from word processing and spreadsheet applications to internet
access applications, web server software, email software, programming
languages and tools and of course several games.
![[Note]](https://help.ubuntu.com/10.10/libs/admon/note.png)
