Installing Linux - part 2

Right, then a week ago I said I'd write the second part of my "Installing Linux" tutorial and I said I'd do it in a couple of days. Kinda turned out to be a week, so sorry about that, but, to borrow a cliché, better late than never! So down to business, if you haven't already check out the first part of this tutorial then do so, and then read this one. This part will explain how to complete options 3 and 4 of the installation process. Just to remind you those are:

1. USB drive containing distro. This means creating a flash disk with the distro for installation on it.
2. USB drive containing download trigger. Option 4 means making a USB with a file on it that will trigger the download of the whole OS. Worst option, very time consuming and not reliable.

Using a USB containing the distro involves either using a ready made drive eg - one from a magazine/ordered etc... or using one created by yourself. The method of using one that has been made already is easier and just follow the process of using a CD in the last part. Creating a USB drive yourself sounds hard, but trust me, it's insanely easy when you know what to do. Firstly you will need a USB drive with at least 1GB of space on it (don't worry, most, if not all, of these methods will leave data intact on the drive that was there previously) and a program to help you make the boot disk.
The most reliable method I have found is to use PenDrive Linux. Their programs almost always work and you're up and running in about half an hour. Just find the instructions you need, follow them (probably downloading a file) and you're done. The downside to PDL is that they have a limited number of distros that they have covered, but most of the main ones have instructions on there. Also there is room for error, not much, but one small part is from the command prompt, so it is possible to mess up and wipe your whole system - not good! But this is very hard to do unless you have bad eyesight or cannot read English. Other than that it's brilliant. The boot up part is the same and that's it!
The second method I know is to use UNetbootin to create a boot disk. This works most of the time but is not entirely reliable. Just download it, select the distro to install, select the drive to install to and click "create USB". Rinse and repeat. It also has a "create using .iso image", so you can make it using a pre-downloaded .iso. There is one thing about it - the fact that sometimes the thing messes up and doesn't install the OS properly and misses out some important files. This is the reason UNetbootin is not my first choice.
Lastly, you can use the Fedora Live USB creator. This only works for Fedora though and so is no use for anything else. Works great with Fedora!
And now, option 4 - using a drive containing a download trigger. This is by far the worst option a) because it is very slow and time consuming - can take up to 1¹/₂ hours to fully download b) needs an uninterrupted internet link - you will need a complete link for all this time. If, at any time, it is broken the download will stop and you will need to restart the whole process, although some distros allow you to resume after this. You can create one of these USB drives using UNetbootin. Just select the "netinstall" option when selecting the distro version. Like I have said over and over, this should only be used as a last resort as it really is slow and unstable.
Anyway though, good luck with these and enjoy your new OS.

Disclaimer: I accept no responsibility for any damage done to your computer, be it hardware or software related, caused as a result of following this tutorial. You do this at YOUR OWN RISK!

Installing Linux

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:

1. 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.
2. Live CD created by you. Slightly more difficult than option 1, with more room for error but not that hard.
3. USB drive containing distro. This means creating a flash disk with the distro for installation on it. (Will be covered in next post)
4. USB drive containing download trigger. Option 4 means making a USB with a file on it that will trigger the download of the whole OS. Worst option, very time consuming and not reliable. (Will be covered in next post)

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.
I will cover options 3 and 4 in a later post in a couple of days time.
DistroWatch
Live CD Info

Part 2 of the tutorial
Disclaimer: I accept no responsibility for any damage done to your computer, be it hardware or software related, caused as a result of following this tutorial. You do this at YOUR OWN RISK!

Introduction to Linux

What does the word Linux bring to mind? A struggling, nerd sitting at his computer hacking his way into the Pentagon or something free and therefore rubbish and hard to use? Or perhaps you have never heard of it. Well basically what Linux is (there's a bit of technical mumbo-jumbo but I'll attempt to simplify as much as possible) is a thing called kernel. A kernel is what the operating system, for example Windows or Mac OSX or Ubuntu, uses to perform all the mundane tasks, such as hardware management, networking and basically keeping the OS running. The Linux kernel is what Linux distros or distributions use to do the above. A distro is basically an operating system based on the Linux kernel. Examples include among others, OpenSUSE, Ubuntu and Fedora. This may seem complicated but it isn't if you use this analogy - the kernel is like the engine of a car, it keeps it running.
The operating system on top of this is like the dashboard and interior of the car, looking good and helping you drive. In case you're wondering the big penguin is the symbol for Linux - don't ask me why.
But isn't any Linux distro just for nerds who spend all their time on computers? I here you ask. Well no, sure there are distros that are insanely hard to use, but for the most part they are fairly easy to use. To name a couple Ubuntu and Fedora are some of the easiest OSs out there. Some argue they're easier to use than Windows. You'll have to judge for yourself.
So why should you choose Linux or technically a 'Linux based distribution' over Windows? Well the short answer is, why not? Seriously, if you've got an ounce of technical knowledge and can read words off a screen and click a mouse, then you can install and use Linux. Some points why to give it a go:

• It's compatible with most things. Back in the early 2000s many Linux distros weren't compatible with anything. This is because, since Windows has such a large share of the OS market, that is what computer manufacturers design their products for. But now the distros have changed and are compatible with most pieces of hardware.
• Choice. There are, literally, hundreds of distros to choose from. Depending on your needs you will pick a different distro. I'll mention a bit about choosing a distro in my next post. There is something suited to everyone out there. As well as this new updates and releases are released incredibly often - some every 4 or 5 months or so. So if you want to be up to date with the latest stuff this is great. To find a distro go to DistroWatch. 

• And finally the price. Well, there isn't any. It's one thing in life where less is better. Linux distros are whats known of the open source. This means they are and always will be free. Also you can do what you want with them. Change them, sell them or reverse engineer them. It's, too borrow an opensource quote, free as in freedom, not free as in beer.

So why not give Linux a go? There's tons of tutorials out there or check back here and I'll have posted up a tutorial on installing a few distros. Good luck on picking one!
DistroWatch
Linux.org