Moving to Open Source

Forget everything you know about downloading and installing software in windows and prepare yourself for a new experience. Well you don’t need to forget everything but it is a different experience.

I will explain it as I understand it:
The software in Ubuntu is based on packages, there is a huge catalog of the packages right here on your system, there are a few ways of accessing the packages and installing the software from these packages: The easy way, the less easy way, the even less easy way.

But before installing any software you should enable extra packages.
You can do it by going to: system -> Administration -> Software sources
The first tab is Ubuntu Software, I recommend you mark all options possible.
Here you can find more information about the meaning of the options.
Now you should go to “Updates” tab and mark the first 2 options on Ubuntu updates. This is to make sure that your system will be updated regularly.

The easy way installing software in Ubuntu:
when you click on “applications” on the top tool bar and go to add/remove. You will get a screen with a huge list of software packages just wanting you to install them on your system. The packages are arranged by categories, you should browse and install your favorite software.
One of the first programs on the list is 7-zip, you should try installing it as it is very useful in opening zip/rar files. You just click on the square to the left of the software name, and click apply changes.
Note: you will need to put in your system password in order to make these changes.

The less easy way installing software in Ubuntu:
Ubuntu has many many more software packages – about 22,841 and counting.
you can’t see all these via the application menu, in order to see all these packages you need to go to: System->Administration->Synaptic Package Manager
Here you can see a full list of all the packages – and it is Huge!. If you wish to install a certain software it is best to search for it via Synaptic.
When you right click on one of the packages you have the options of installing/uninstalling etc.

The even less easy way installing software in Ubuntu:
Sometimes you would like to download and install software directly, this can be done via the terminal. I haven’t gone into it yet because I didn’t need it yet (as I said I will go according to my needs), but you can read more about it here.

Now that we enabled extra software sources we can go on improving our experience through the system.

The next stage:
Improving the surfing experience by installing flash, Java and video & audio codecs.

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I am now windowless! I removed my Microsoft windows operating system and completely installed Ubuntu on my computer.

There are 2 ways to install Ubuntu on your computer:
1. Install Ubuntu on a partition and using your machine as a dual boot machine which means every time you restart your computer you can choose if you wish to work with windows or with Ubuntu.
2. Complete install which means you remove your previous operating system from your computer.

As I am a total person who goes into what he does until the end - I chose option number 2.

here are links to a few screen casts that will help you with the installation process:
installing Ubuntu part 1
installing Ubuntu part 2
Installing Ubuntu with windows dual boot

During The installation process I encountered one problem. One of the first surprises I found is that you can use Ubuntu from the live CD white it is installed on your hard drive, So I configured the internet connection as I explained on my previous post and started searching for a solution. It was quite easy to find one.

The Problem: Ubuntu installation froze at 82%.

The solution: Disable the network icon on the top right on the screen (the icon which looks like 2 screens)

To disable it you need to right click on the icon and then choose enable networking, and then you will get a little red X near the icon.

The installation will go smoothly from there, just follow the instructions on the screen.

Now I have a Installed Ubuntu and I am ready to start diving into it.

There are many lists of things to do right after you have installed Ubuntu. Here is on good one

I decided to go according to my needs – when I will need to do something on my computer I will install the appropriate driver/accessories/software etc.

The first important thing to do after installing Ubuntu is: configure your internet connection. you should know how to do it by now as I recommended you check it out while using Ubuntu from a live CD.

Ubuntu uses The open source Firefox browser as its main internet browser ( I used it on windows and quite like it mostly thanks to all the wonderful add-ons it has). You can install other browsers.

The next stage: Configuring and updating the Ubuntu Software repositories, and then installing a whole lot of stuff on your computer, and when I say a whole lot I mean really a lot! of stuff to choose from.

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As Raseel mentioned in a comment to my previous post all modern Open Source Operating Systems have the option of trying them on a LiveCD. LiveCD means that you can burn the Operating System files on a cd, restart your computer and run the open source operating system from the CD without installing it and without deleting or touching your current operating system.

In order to see if I like using Ubuntu I will Download it and try running it from a LiveCD.

Getting Ubuntu:
A New Version of Ubuntu is released on April and on October every year. The versions are given numbers according to the year and month of release. The last release was on October 2007 so the version number will be 7.10 (7 for 2007, 10 for October). The next version will be 8.04 (you can figure it out yourself by now). But why deal with numbers if you call give each version a name. each version of Ubuntu is given a name. Version 7.10 is called Gutsy Gibbon, The next release will be called Hardy Heron (Don’t ask me why).

Ubuntu has versions that suit 32 bit and 64 bit computer architectures. If you want an operating system in another language other than English, don’t worry, Ubuntu supports multiple languages.

So stage number one: Downloading Ubuntu from here , Saving it to your hard drive, and then burning it onto a CD.

Here are a few video tutorials which might help you with the process:

Downloading and burning Ubuntu CD
Burning an Ubuntu CD using Nero
Burning an Ubuntu CD using Infra Recorder

There are many other video tutorials which I will probably link to on my next posts.

Ubuntu had very useful support documentation , you can try it out if you encounter problems, otherwise you can just Google your problems you will probably find a solution.

If you don’t want to start burning stuff you can always order a CD at minimal cost or even request a free cd.

After you have a CD with Ubuntu files on it, insert it in you computer CD/DVD player, and restart your computer. You will probably have to press a key so the computer will run from the CD, or even configure your BIOS in order to start from the CD.

OK Now I am ready to run Ubuntu for the first time from the LiveCD.

I have Ubuntu running from my CD, so I can try in out without affecting my current operating system.

Up until now it was quite easy

The next stage:
Trying out Ubuntu for the first time and writing down my first impressions. I will even Bring some screen shots in order to impress you as well.

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