Following on with UBUNTU 6.06

In an earlier post, I discussed about UBUNTU 6.06 being released, and I did mention about what it is and what are the advantages of using UBUNTU over other OS. In this post, I will talk about how easy I found the install of UBUNTU 6.06 Beta, and what other variants of UBUNTU has to offer.

Installing an OS can never be easier than this. It is as easy as installing any other program on your computer. So, you can go ahead and insert the UBUNTU installer CD in any computer and restart the computer. When the computer starts, it will give you an option of starting (booting) in UBUNTU or the existing hard disk. Just choose UBUNTU. The new operating system will start i.e. CD will work as live CD.

On screen you will see the new OS, however it is not installed yet, and it is just working from CD (it will be slow since it's working through CD). You can go ahead and see where are the menus, how the menus look like, and start programs if you are interested. If you are connected to internet, you can start firefox (webbrowser) or GAIM (instant messenger).

Now you can click on an icon on the desktop which says install. When you click install, the installation procedure will start, and it will ask you questions, about your language, time zone, name, password etc. One you are done with that, it will ask you, if you want to install UBUNTU on harddrive by removing everything or partition the HD according to your wish. You can choose either one depending upon what you want.

The installer will show you the partitions of your hard drive graphically, and you will be able to do more partitions, resize existing partition upon your wish. Suppose you have a computer with 40 GB, and you want windows to have half of it and rest for UBUNTU, you can resize the windows (ntfs) partition and install UBUNTU in rest area. Click next, confirm and you are done. It should take 30-45 minutes to install on a reasonable computer. Once it's done, restart the computer and enjoy your new OS. If you have two OS (windows and UBUNTU), you will get a choice when starting your computer, where you can decide which OS you want.

Guide with screenshots.

Linux (and hence UBUNTU) is popular in two major flavors GNome (UBUNTU, and EDUBUNTU) and KDE (KUBUNTU). These are just different flavors and you can install either one, and get another easily when you want it.

I personally like EDUBUNTU, which is mostly GNome based. The theme is very cute, and is directed towards kids. The desktop background, icons everything looks very kiddish and nice :). It has lots and lots and lots of program for kids (you can get them in any flavor though, but they are in default with EDUBUNTU). It has many educational programs, language learning, typing skills, math skills, vocabulary building, GIS software, space program (where you can study the stars above your location), besides other programs. All of these are high quality, wonderful program built in numerous languages. And all of these are FREE.

UBUNTU is GNome based, which is very similar to EDUBUNTU and KUBUNTU is KDE based, which looks a lot like windows (sometimes mac) to me. You can use any program in any flavor though, although some are default programs for each flavor.

In a latter post, I will talk about how UBUNTU is relevant or not relevant to India.

Cheers
Anurag

Category: Technology

EDIT: Here is a link showing cheap EDUBUNTU installation in a grad school in Mexico