Welcome to this how to on installing Ubuntu 10.04 LTS. I will use a IBM Lenovo Think Pad T60 (1951AH4) with an internal WiFi network adapter, 60GB HDD, 1GB RAM, and a Intel Core Duo 1.83MHz processor.
Ubuntu GNU/Linux has become one of my favorite Open Source operating systems. It is free, easy to install, secure and at the time of this writing has over 29,000 free software packages available which can be easily installed and removed using its GUI software package manager.
If you have some other type of laptop you are advised to check at linux-laptop.net for reports of successful installations of GNU/Linux on it. I would further advise that you should install the distribution of GNU/Linux on your laptop that has the best reports of successful install posted at linux-laptop.net. Another good resource for checking Ubuntu hardware comparability is UbuntuHCL.org. Or the Ubuntu Laptop Testing Team. If one can successfully install older versions of Ubuntu onto a particular laptop then they should see good results installing Ubuntu 10.04.
Step 1: Download the Ubuntu 10.04 installation CD from the Ubuntu 10.04 download page. Visit that page and click “Begin Download”. This will begin the download of a .iso file.
Once the download is complete check the size of the .iso file. If the size of the .iso file is not around 699MB in size it will not work and you will need to use a BitTorrent transfer client to download the file instead.
The latest version of .torrent seed files can be found here. Once the .iso.torrent seed file has downloaded add it to your BitTorrent transmission client and download the .iso with the BitTorrent client. If you don’t already have a BitTorrent client you can get one here. BitTorrent offers more reliable downloads of large files, is sometimes faster and I recommend its use.
Step 2: Once you have obtained a good .iso file you must “burn” the .iso image onto a CD. Simply copying the file to a CD is not sufficient. Instructions on how to burn the .iso image can be found…
Step 3: Connect the network port on the computer to your router. Insert the CD created from Step 2 into the CD drive of the computer you wish to install Ubuntu 10.04 onto then restart the machine.
When the machine boots to the install CD one will be presented with a language chooser that allows them to select the language of choice for the install. Choose “English” and press “Enter” on the keyboard. Next the Ubuntu installer will present five options for one to choose from. One may select any option they desire here, however, we will choose the first option “Install Ubuntu” and press “Enter”.
Next one will be presented with another language chooser we will again choose “English” and press the “Enter” key. Next one will be asked to select their location. Select your location and press “Enter”. Next you will be asked if you want to check your key-board layout. Accept the recommendation (ours was “No”) and press “Enter”. Next you will be asked the origin of your keyboard. Here we select “United States” and press “Enter”. Next you are asked to identify the keyboard layout. We will select “USA” and press “Enter”.
After some software loads from the CD you will be asked to select the primary network interface. Select eth0 and press “Enter”. When the network is successfully configured you will be asked to provide a “Hostname”. Choose a hostname for the computer or simply accept the default “ubuntu” and press “Enter”. Next a time zone chooser will appear. Select your time zone and press “Enter”.
Next you will be presented with partition options for the install. We will choose “Guided – use entire disk”, however, one can choose any they wish. Next you will be asked to choose the disk to partition we will choose “SCSIx …” and press “Enter”. You will be asked if the new partition scheme is okay. Select “Yes” and press “Enter”. Now the base system will be installed.
Next one will be asked to enter their full name. Enter your name and press “Enter”. Next you will be asked for a user name that will be your login name. You may accept the recommendation or choose your own but it must be all lower-case. Next you will be asked to choose a password and then reenter the password to confirm it. Do that and press “Enter”. Next you will be asked if you want to have your home directory encrypted. Accept the recommendation and press “Enter”.
Next one will be asked if a network proxy is required. We will leave this blank because I do not use a proxy at my location and press “Enter”.
Next the installer will continue and install the required software. This can take some time.
When the software has been installed one will be asked if this is the only operating system on the computer and if they want to install the GRUB boot loader to the master boot record. If you followed these instructions then it is and you should accept the recommendation of “Yes” and press “Enter”. Next one will be asked if the system clock is set to UTC. Select “Yes” and press “Enter”. After this the installation is complete. One will be asked to remove the CD from the tray and reboot the machine. Do this when asked to. Select “Continue” and press “Enter”.
When the machine reboots to the new Ubuntu installation login to your new account.
After one has joined a WiFi network one can now disconnect the network cable from the computer and the router.
At this point one should follow the instructions here to activate all of the multi-media functions.
Now all the Ubuntu 10.04 software is installed and ready for use and the multi-media functions are enabled.