How-To: Install Linux Risk Free, With No Formatting or Repartitioning Required
Posted 07/28/08 at 08:00:00 PM | by Justin Kerr
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Linux, for those who don’t already know, is a free and open source operating system, which you can find in dozens of different versions (known as distributions). The distribution you pick depends very much on your how you plan on using the OS, but for the purpose of this article we are going to assume you are looking for a desktop alternative to Windows. And as a full-featured Windows replacement, no other Linux distribution comes close to Ubuntu, which features a full suite of pre-loaded desktop applications and an easy to use installer. Fresh installs of Ubuntu will contain recent versions of the most popular open source applications including Open Office, Firefox 3, Gimp Image Editor, and several other multimedia tools and games.
The most recent release version of Ubuntu is 8.04.1 LTS (Long Term Support). This distribution is often referred to as “Hardy Heron” and went live in April 2008. It will remain current until the next iteration, billed “Intrepid Ibex”, launches in October. For reference, our previous Ubuntu install guide featured version 7.10, also known as Gusty Gibbon.
Ubuntu contains many unique and innovative qualities designed to make it less intimidating the average Windows user who may be looking for a change. One of these features is called Live CD. Once you have downloaded and burned a copy of the Live CD ISO, you will have the ability to launch a fully functional copy of the Ubuntu to test out driver compatibility and to sample the user interface, all without installing a single file to your PC. This guide will walk you through testing your hardware and installing a dual boot setup all without formatting or repartitioning your hard drive.
What you'll Need:
- A PC Running Windows XP or Vista
- A Backup of Your Data (Just a Precaution!)
- 45 Minutes
AND
Ubuntu Live CD ISO
Free, Direct or Bit Torrent
ISO Burning Software
Free, InfraRecorder
1. Use Your ISO Burning Software To Create A Live CD
To begin we must mount our newly acquired ISO file to a bootable CD. You can use either your existing CD burning software, or since we are in an open source frame of mind, a free alternative such as InfraRecorder. Once this is completed the CD should be moved to the bootable optical drive on your PC. We are now ready to restart our machine and begin the trial.
2. Try Ubuntu Without Any Change to Your Computer
As mentioned before, one of Ubuntu’s finest features is the ability to run the OS off the CD before you commit any additional time to an installation. Running the software “live” is made possible without permanent installation by placing all the necessary files into RAM instead of your hard disk. Incompatibilities are rare, but not even Microsoft has the ability to predict every system configuration. The odds are pretty good that if you have problems booting with the “Try Ubuntu” option, you will have problems with a full blown installation as well.
3. Test Your System For Compatibility
If all went well with the Live CD initialization, after a short boot sequence you should find yourself greeted by a fully functional desktop with which to experiment and test your hardware. To get a quick overview of native driver support you can click system, preferences, hardware information. This will give you a list of hardware detected on your PC similar to the Device Manager in Windows.
For a quick and easy way to verify basic compatibility, try using the built in utility located under system, administration, hardware testing. This will walk you step by step through compatibility checks on your video, audio, and input devices. If you manage to pass each stage of the test with without issue, you should have no trouble getting your hardware up and running after a permanent installation. So if you’re now ready to give Ubuntu a home in your system, and have 4GB of disk space to spare on your hard drive, go ahead and restart the computer and boot back into Windows to begin the installation.
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pretty much the only thing
Submitted by AndyYankee17 on Fri, 2008-12-19 12:12
pretty much the only thing in linux that conufses, and it's a big one, in compiling and installing programs, there seems to be no good tutorials on writing a build file
Time to broaden my horizens...
Submitted by DDTechGuy on Fri, 2008-08-22 16:31
Okay! Okay!
I'll try Linux (but if my head explodes from using the last little bit of space up...it's YOUR fault!)
Thanks for the simple, step-by-step article...seriously, I'll give it a try and report on my results.
DDTechGuy
quick question
Submitted by winmaster on Thu, 2008-08-14 09:50
If I download a virus in Ubuntu that was installed using Wubi, will it affect my Windows install?
Nope...
Submitted by Devo85x on Mon, 2008-12-15 19:13
It wont affect your windows install unless you are using wine and the person who wrote it put in code to check for that...
Submitted by AndyYankee17 on Thu, 2008-12-11 20:14
doubt it, the virus would have been written for linux, not windows. now if it's running in linux it may affect your files because your window files are accesible in linux
Submitted by EarthBoundMisfit on Thu, 2008-08-07 03:26
Registered Linux User #404122
Microsoft has encountered a critical system error and must now shut down. Better get Bill Gate$ on the phone for this one...
My current computer is a Hewlett Packard 2.8 ghz computer.
I dual boot with a Debian variant Sidux on one side...Windows XP on the other.
My pc comes equipped with onboard video memory...which you HAVE to keep activated in order to install linux on this computer. When installing...I have to dedicate at least 32 mb of video memory...even though I have a ATI Radeon X1300 graphics card installed.
You'll want to boot up in video safe mode....otherwise you'd have top hit ctrl/alt f2 or f3 and edit your xorg.conf file as suchsudo apt-get install nano
sudo nano /etc/X11/xorg.confscroll down the list until you see what driver is listed.
On my computer...it would list Driver="Intel810"
I change it to Driver="vesa".....hit ctrl O to save the change I just made....then ctrl X to exit.
Type exit to exit sudo....then type start x.
If the problem is in your video....your linux distro should boot.After your linux has booted...dtermine WHICHdriver you will need...and holler back.
Glenn Condrey
Do you have the right version?
Submitted by Justin.Kerr on Wed, 2008-08-06 09:09
Did you download 8.04 or an older version?
The Hardware testing tool is indeed where the guide says it is.
WHAT ?????
Submitted by ghot on Wed, 2008-08-06 06:05
page 1 step 3 of your' guide is...I believe incorrect...i dont remeber which one but one of those compatability checks is NOT there or NOT where you say it is...sorry but I don't remeber which one and since the internet didnt work running off the live CD I'm not going to try it again ...untill either the Ubuntu people or YOU get the story/functions correct.
Submitted by dcrail on Wed, 2008-07-30 14:45
For the live disc Unbuntu reqs are below
"System Requirements
Ubuntu is available for PC, 64-Bit PC and Intel based Mac
architectures. At least 256 MB of RAM is required to run the alternate
install CD (384MB of RAM is required to use the live CD based
installer). Install requires at least 4 GB of disk space."and with 256 MB of ram, you're out of luck for the Live cd.
You might try Kubuntu, you may have more luck , although probably not with the live cd.
It's system reqs are:
"Kubuntu is available for PC, 64-Bit and Mac architectures.
CDs require 700MB media. Desktop install requires at least 256MB of RAM and 3GB of available hard drive space."
It's has a smaller footprint, and uses KDE unstead of GNOME. I haven't tried it on hardware as old as yours, but, for what it's worth, I have heard second hand that it is more compatible.
Submitted by Rolandtan on Tue, 2008-07-29 21:05
I have a copy of Ubuntu 7.10 disc. Several attempts to install it on a very old Sony VAIO Notebook were not successful. I even tried to "test-drive" the software with the disc. The computer will try to read the files in the disc for a few minutes but then nothing happens. The computer has an Intel Pentium III 850 MHz processor and I have upgraded the RAM to 256 MHz.
Currently, I have Window XP installed on the computer. It is running fine, but a bit slow. Could the problem be due to insufficient RAM?
Can anybody please help or comment? Thanks.
Check if there is any damage
Submitted by StimpE on Fri, 2008-08-01 10:43
Check if there is any damage to the disc. If you keep having problems with it, you should download and burn a new ISO from http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download
Submitted by bf2gameplaya on Tue, 2008-07-29 19:12
I just installed Unbuntu 8.04.0.1 using the Live CD AMD64 version for my Opteron 185 NForce4/2GDDR/8800GTSG92+CRT/IntelNIC+Cable/USB DVD drive, with many USB devices.
Everything went smoothly using the version slightly older than the current one. Internet connection was configured properly and about 60 updates applied. I chose an additional 30-40 add-ons. Dual booting with XP is well done and partioning was scary, but managable as I am very familiar with disk management and I had upartitioned space available. I am impressed with the jouncy windows and fun visual effects, unexpected. FF3 is also snappy.
Yet I am stoned cold blocked like a rocket sled into a mountain of Jello trying to get my X-fi Elite Pro to work (Which works incredibly well in XP). I saw and downloaded Creatives beta Linux drivers, but I have no idea how or where to put the nested files (I'm still new to Linux's directory trees and commands) and how or when to "make" them or if I need any pre-requisite packages such as OSS, which is similarly opaque with installation routines.
I'm aware of all the drama surrounding PC audio right now but I want to know:
How do I get my X-fi (Elite Pro or not) to work with my otherwise so-far-so-good Unbuntu 8 installation? Don't tell me to read Creative's Linux Readme.txt, I did and it is useless seemingly purposely so.
MP3's
Submitted by MaximumUser3 on Tue, 2008-07-29 13:17
MP3's aren't really the issue being that their are now several codec solutions via ubuntu packages as well as a dozen or so players for both Gnome and Kde desktop styles. Plus several installable backends with the proper codecs included. What you have to worry about is WMA Lossless.....
Submitted by StimpE on Tue, 2008-08-05 00:38
Also, you can use the recommended VLC Media Player (which is available in the Synaptic Package Manager) to play your MP3's.
Only Mandriva worked for me...
Submitted by dwr50 on Tue, 2008-07-29 08:30
Out of the 12 live cd's I tried Mandriva 2008.1 Spring Edition live cd found my sound card and WiFi. This is the only live cd where everything worked from the live cd, so this is the version I chose to install. Best advice I can give is to try as many live cd's as you can and install the one that works on your computer.
Acer Aspire 5610z,Vista HP, No problems with Vista... so far, but I'm learning Linux, just in case.
Acer Aspire 5315-2153, $348 Walmart Special,Mandriva Linux 2008.1 Spring Edition
Fake RAID
Submitted by CrimsonKnight13 on Tue, 2008-07-29 07:41
Be warned... Ubuntu doesn't work well with fake RAID (aka NVRAID or SiLRAID). Even when installing with Wubi, it won't boot into Ubuntu on a fake RAID setup.
Submitted by PowerJunkie on Sat, 2008-08-02 19:52
So that's my problem. Yup, I've got nvidia raid 0 and this install didn't work at all. Happy to uninstall it through windows tho :)
Linux and Youtube
Submitted by Strongbad536 on Tue, 2008-07-29 03:16
So does anyone know how to fix the linux and youtube audio problem???
Complete the free Stamps.com offer for a free 360 Elite
Submitted by Justin.Kerr on Tue, 2008-07-29 19:22
I would boot into your Linux install and type "adobe flash test" into google. Make sure everything is okay at that end.
Aside from that try running the hardware test described under Step 3 to see if sound is working in general.
If you have motherboard audio + an aftermarket card, likely only your motherboard audio is supported out of the box and thus you might not have sound unless you move your speaker wire.
Submitted by Devo85x on Tue, 2008-07-29 11:12
What problem are you having? I can try to help if you tell me the exact problem
Submitted by Strongbad536 on Wed, 2008-07-30 03:29
Whenever I try to watch youtube or google videos, there is no audio only video, I have yet to find a solution. My soundcard is an audigy SE i think.
Submitted by Devo85x on Wed, 2008-08-06 15:13
Did you check the volume on youtube/google AND on your computer? i know sometimes ubuntu will turn the sound all the way down on one or the other
Submitted by Marsolin on Mon, 2008-07-28 20:40
I used the Wubi installer on my laptop at work and it went great. Being a work laptop I didn't want to repartition the drive, but having the ability to install Kubuntu like it's just another program made everything easier. No I can reboot into KDE4 whenever I can't take Windows anymore. Before Wubi I used VMware Player, but I just didn't have enough RAM and couldn't use 3D graphics. Having a native install now is great.
Chad
http://linuxappfinder.com
http://feedsanywhere.com
You don't need the cd to do
Submitted by nmanguy on Mon, 2008-07-28 19:33
You don't need the cd to do a WUBI install. Just get the Wubi EXE and run it, and wait a bit. It's usefull if you don't have the 700 MB iso yet, since it auto-downloads it for you.
Submitted by Justin.Kerr on Mon, 2008-07-28 19:49
Booting from a live CD gives you a chance to test drive the interface to decide if you want to even bother with an install. Additionally it allows you to run some basic compatibility checks on your hardware so you can quickly tell what challenges lie in your wake should you decide to try it out. You can download drivers in advance, etc. This guide is designed to be as user friendly as possible to those who may have never tried the OS.
