Installing Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS

Ubuntu recently released 8.04.1 LTS, the first update to its current Linux version. Here are the few and easy steps to get it up and running on your computer.


(1) You will be presented with options upon boot up with the CD installer. Choose "Install Ubuntu" and proceed (other options allow you to try out Ubuntu without making changes to your system, check the CD for defects, test your RAM and opt out/boot normally with your hard disk).


(2) This will take you to the language selection screen. Choose your preferred language and click the Forward button (notice your working environment - this is the look and feel of the Ubuntu desktop!).


(3) The next screen is the country and time zone selection. You can either click the lit dots on the map or select your city in the drop down list. I'm from Manila, Philippines so you'll notice that's the value indicated in the screen shot. Click the Forward button when done.


(4) It's time to choose your keyboard layout. The default works with most configuration. You can test your selection by typing on the text box.


(5) The following screen is about disk configuration. If you are not concerned about disk partitions, then choose the "Guided - use entire disk" option. However, I recommend you choose "Manual" option as shown in the screen shot. I'll tell you why in the next step.


(6) This screen will only show up if you choose the manual option in the previous step. It allows you to partition your disk depending on intended usage. For a typical desktop environment, I recommend 3 disk slices as follows:

• Swap - a swap partition is used by Linux to extend your computer's RAM depending on the requirements of the applications you run or the state of your working environment. As a user, you don't know and you are not in control of the conditions when Linux will use swap to exchange data between your memory and swap space. You will however, notice significant performance slow down when swap space is used more often. I recommend a swap size that is twice the size of RAM e.g. 2GB swap for 1GB of memory.
• /home - this is the file system for user files: documents, music, pictures, video, etc. I suggest a separate and dedicated slice for user files so you are able to keep your files intact and avoid backup and restore tasks when you reinstall Linux or switch to another distribution. /home will probably take the biggest share of your hard disk. Allot enough space for your files and balance it out with the root file system (described in next bullet). For a 120GB hard disk, I recommend 100GB and split the remaining 20GB between swap and root file system.
  
• / - this is the root file system. It is the location where your Linux system will be installed. My current installation is less than 4GB, so allocating space around 20GB will be more than enough. You can use the extra space for additional applications. If you have a smaller disk, follow the guidelines provided with swap and /home to balance it out with the / file system.

A note on file system partitioning: for configurations other than desktop use e.g. web, FTP or database servers, use of more disks and other partitioning schemes may be more appropriate for optimal performance.


(7) The next step is about identifying yourself, your computer and assigning a password. If you don't want your name to be the same as your log in ID, make sure you change the value in the log in field (the installer copies what you type in the name to the log in field). The computer name is also pre-assigned with some of the values taken from your name. If you want a different name for your computer, please change this as well.


(8) You will then be taken to a screen where the settings you specified are presented to you for confirmation. This is the last step before Ubuntu starts installing and commits the changes to your computer. The "Advanced..." button is about boot configuration. You may keep the default settings - Ubuntu configures either a multi-boot setup (if other systems are detected) or a Linux-only configuration. Click Install to proceed.


(9) Installation commences and progress is reported. It took me about 20 minutes to complete the installation using a single CPU 1.8GHz machine with 1GB of RAM and SATA hard disk.


(10) You are now prompted to reboot your computer.


(11) Wholla! Welcome your newly installed Ubuntu 8.04.1 LTS Linux desktop!