A week or so ago I said I’d write a short tutorial on installing a couple of Linux distros on your computer and I’ve decided I’d just show you the various ways for Ubuntu, because the other distros are very similar to install and there’s tons of tutorials out there. Anyway on with the how-to. There are a couple of ways to install Ubuntu:

• Live CD from Canonical (or the manufacturer of your chosen distro. This option uses a Live CD made by Canonical, the makers of Ubuntu. This is by far the easiest way to install a distro.
• Live CD created by you. Slightly more difficult than option 1, with more room for error but not that hard.

Option 1 is by the easiest of them all. You just send off for a disk from Canonical (for Ubuntu), shove it in your CD drive on your computer/laptop, boot up and some options will come up. But before the options come up you must press F-, one of the F- keys along the top of your keyboard. This will depend on your machine, mine if F9. The computer will say, usually in the left hand bottom corner, something like ‘Boot options F5′ and you press that key, select the boot device (the CD) and away you go. You can choose to install the distro straight to your hard drive, or, and this is a very nifty, little idea, you can ‘try before you buy’. This involves booting up the disk and checking out the distro to make sure that everything works with your machine and that sort of stuff.

Option 2 is marginally harder than the above. What you will need is a blank CD, a CD creator drive, a CD burner program and of course the distro ISO. An ISO is basically the file that contains everything needed to run the OS on your computer. It is called an image and is usually around 650MB. You can find it by typing the distributions name into Google, bringing up their site and clicking on download. Right on to the creation. Start you CD burner program, such as Nero and click ‘create CD-ROM ISO’ or something along these lines. Then browse through to where you you saved the .iso file, for example Computer>Documents>Downloads, select it and click create. This will burn the disk and you just do the same as in option 1. It also gives you the option to test before you install it.

So good luck with the installation, and have fun with Linux.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux

distrowatch.com/

Disclaimer: I accept no responsibility for any part of this process going wrong or damaging your computers hardware or software. You use this tutorial at your own risk.

Visit my site http://alexworld12.blogspot.com for more information on this and many other related topics.

Author: Alex Davies
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Okay, so you have this old computer system hanging around and you’re not quite sure what to do with it. Maybe you’re a small company and you think disposing of it might be a waste yet the idea of paying an extraordinary amount of money in new software licensing isn’t appealing. Perhaps you’re an individual and you want to pass along your old laptop to one of your kids. Maybe you’re a non-profit and need to make use of every resource you have. Regardless, you have a very simple need: you want this computer functional so that it’s easy to use, can browse the Internet, edit common office documents, instant messaging, and can read email – and you don’t want to pay an arm and a leg to do it. Certainly it can’t be that hard to turn this old worthless machine into something useful again?

And in fact, it’s not. Here’s a practical approach to creating an Open Desktop using free solutions that you can download today from the Internet.

1. Operating System. Download Ubuntu Desktop Edition.

2. Internet Browser. Download Mozilla FireFox.

3. Productivity Application. Download OpenOffice.

4. Email Application. Download Mozilla ThunderBird.

5. Instant Messaging Application. Download Jabber.

A full 32-bit operating system, Ubuntu is quick and easy to install, performs better than Microsoft Windows ®, and you don’t need a degree in computer science to be able to use it. It comes with a familiar graphic user interface and a friendly wizard-driven setup process.

OpenOffice is a free productivity suite capable of handling word processing, spreadsheets, database, and presentation graphics, and is fully compatible with Microsoft Office ® documents.

Meanwhile, ThunderBird is a simple to use email client that has similar capabilities to Microsoft Outlook Express ®.

Mozilla FireFox and OpenOffice comes with Ubuntu so no extra downloading is necessary; you can get the latest versions by downloading them directly from their respective websites after installing Ubuntu.

Finally, Jabber is a cross-platform instant messaging solution. Use Jabber if you have multiple instant messaging accounts with the likes of Google Talk, Yahoo! IM, or MSN Messenger to bring all of that messaging into one place.

Through installing these applications in the order presented, you can turn that doorstop of a computer into something useful again. Bear in mind that the Open Desktop won’t be able to run some of your favorite Microsoft applications, but if you want something that connects to the Internet and performs some very rudimentary functions, this configuration is easy to implement. We’ll see you online!

Russell Mickler works a technology consultant in Battle Ground, WA, USA. With over fourteen years of experience, Mickler teaches for numerous colleges and universities. Mickler holds a CISSP, MCSE, and Masters’ Degree in Information Technology. His website can be found at http://www.micklerandassociates.com he can be contacted at mickler@micklerandassociates.com

Author: Russell Mickler
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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When it comes to security, versatility and stability, there is no better solution in information technology than open source. From operating systems to Web development to just about any common application, the open-source revolution finally has taken hold.

Businesses have started to truly understand the benefits of opting for open source, not only to save money, but also for the peace of mind it brings to their IT environment.

The term “open source” has a variety of meanings in the IT world. It is used to describe initiatives and collaborations ranging from software projects to enterprise environments with source code that is accessible to anyone. It stands as perhaps the ultimate example of the process of continuous improvement by encouraging everyone to make it better – and share how they did it.

Many open-source-based solutions like RedHat, Ubuntu and Suse are becoming down-right mainstream, drawing offers for proprietary partnerships from hardware giants like Dell, HP and IBM. So far, each has maintained its autonomy and reiterated its commitment to furthering “the movement” rather than its bottom line.

The issue of support no longer keeps businesses from buying in to open-source technology either. Most are fully supported, either through packages by their distributors, as in the case of RedHat and Suse, or via the well-rounded Internet network.

Open-source now is possible – and pragmatic – for every new Web development project. By using LAMP – that’s Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP – an open-source solution can be created that is versatile and secure.

Author: Aaron Wittersheim
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The Linux operating system has experienced huge growth in the past few years. With excellent stability. flexibility and the free price tag. People are realizing that Linux is a great alternative. Just like Windows, users would have to learn how to use Linux. Linux developers have taken note, and have come up with several ways to allow people to try Linux without getting rid of your Windows installation. Here are a couple of ways you can get a taste of what Linux has to offer.

Live CD
Linux distributions like Ubuntu offer a feature called Live CD. Live CD allows you to boot off of the install CD instead of your hard drive. All you have to do is burn the CD, keep it in your CD drive when booting your computer and press the option to boot from CD. Now each computer is different so consult your PC manufacture for instructions to boot from CD. Once booted you will be able to use almost all of the functionality of the Linux distribution that you have on CD without impacting your Windows installation. There are two drawbacks: You cannot save your settings once you turn off your computer and the operating system tends to run slow because CD drives access data slower than hard drives. If you like what you see you can install to your hard drive from the live CD. Get more on Ubuntu’s website.

Wubi
Wubi is great. What Wubi does is creates a virtual hard drive in one folder stored on your Windows partition. Then Wubi gives you the option to boot into Windows or Linux upon booting by changing your boot record. Installation is easy. Just download the install file. Select the install path and what install of Ubuntu you would like. That’s it. Once complete you will have the option to boot into Linux or Windows. If you want to remove Linux just go to add/remove programs and uninstall Wubi. That’s it. No mess. There is a small risk of damage to your boot record but I have never seen it. Check out Wubi by doing a Google search.

Virtualbox
Virtualbox is really cool. Virtualbox is a piece of software that you can install in Windows and Linux that will allow you to emulate another operating system while running another. For example, if you use Windows you can install Virtualbox and install Ubuntu then run Ubuntu in a small window or full screen while being able to use everything in Windows. I hope that makes sense. The only drawback Virtualbox has is it runs slow because it has to share system resources with your host operating system. So you won’t be playing any games while running Virtualbox. If you want just learn this is a great solution. Once you are done you can close up Virtualbox to free up system resources. For more information check out VirtualBox’s website.

That’s it! You have three free ways to get your feet wet with Linux. If you like Linux give it an install as your main operating system. There are too many things to explore with Linux to fit in one article. I recommend trying out Ubuntu.

Author: Mike Man
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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