You will need to download a copy of the ISO image that best suits your architecture. I you have a 64 bit machine you can install either 32 or 64 bit. My advice is to stick with 32 bit, otherwise you will have to wrestle with plugins for Firefox to the point where you will (after pulling out much hair) most like re-install with 32 bit.

Step One

The first thing you need to put the burned cd into your drive and reboot your machine (making sure it boots from the CD and not the hard drive.)

Selecting your language.

Use the up and down arrow keys to select the right language. One you have the right language chosen hit the enter key to move on.

Step Two

Now it’s time to choose your method. I want to boot into the LiveCD in order to show how simple this is.

Select from the boot menu

Since this is a LiveCD you can run the operating system from the CD (using the PCs RAM). Once the operating system is up and running you can install it from that point.

During the boot up process you will see the process bar for a while. Depending upon how much RAM you have and how fast your CD drive is, this could take a while.

Step Three

Once the LiveCD has finished booting you will be at the log in screen.

The Ubuntu log in screen.

Since this is a LiveCD you will be automatically logged into the desktop. So don’t enter anything into the Username area.

Step Four

It’s time to begin the actual installation. At this point you can either play around with the operating system or you can jump straight to the installation. Let’s install, shall we?

The LiveCD is up and running

As you can see above the GNOME desktop is up and running. But since we are installing we are going to go straight to the Install icon. Double click on that icon to being the install process.

Step Five

The first step is to select the language of your distribution. Select the correct language and press Forward.

Language Selection

Once you have selected the correct language, select Forward to move on.

Step Six

Now it is time to select your time zone.

Time Zone

If your exact location is not available, just choose the nearest region that shares the same time zone and click Forward.

Step Seven

This step requires you to select your keyboard layout. You can test the selected keyboard by typing sample text in the text area.

Keyboard layout

Once you are happy with your keyboard layout click Forward to move on.

Step Eight

The next step requires you to select a partition setup. If you’re unsure the best bet is to select a guided setup. If this installation is going to be the only operating system you can have the partition manager use the entire disk.

Partition your disk

Only choose the Manual option if you know what you are doing. Once you have made your selection press Forward

Step Nine

Now it is time to create a user. This user will be your standard user but will also have sudo rights. So choose a strong password. You can set up more users after the installation is complete.

User information

If you do not want to have to deal with logging in select the “Log in automatically” option. Once you have finished click Forward.

Step Ten

You have finished entering information. Now it is time to click the Install button to continue.

Ready to install

Click Install and your system will begin installing. You can either sit back and watch the progress bar go by or get a bite to eat. Believe it or not the installation doesn’t take long. Depending upon your machine the install can go as quickly as 10-15 minutes.

Final Step

Once the installer has finished it will prompt you to either continue working with the LiveCD or to reboot your system to start working with your freshly installed Linux operating system.

Final Step

And your done. As soon as your machine reboots (make sure you remove the CD from the CD drive when prompted) you will be using your brand new Linux system.

The modern Linux opeating system, as you can see, is one of the easiest to install operating systems available. I hope this walk through has made the choice to try Linux that much easier.

Little do the unwashed masses know that installing Linux is actually a very simple process. In fact, installing Linux is far easier than installing any flavor of Windows. Let me walk you through the typical Linux installation from a LiveCD disk. There might be some minor variation on the order, depending upon which distribution you use.

NOTE: A LiveCD is a version of a Linux distribution that allows you to run the operating system from CD and RAM. No changes are made to your computer unless you start the installation process.

• Insert CD of Linux distribution
• Reboot Computer
• Let the LiveCD boot to the desktop
• Double click the Install icon
• Enter the basic information (location, time zone, keyboard layout, etc)
• Select how to appropriate space on disk (If you are not dual-booting you can select Use Entire Disk)
• Enter user information and password
• Read the installation summary and then, if all is correct, move on with the actual installation.

At this point the installation will be completely automatic. When the installation is complete you will want to reboot your computer (remember, you are running from the LiveCD still). When the reboot is finished you will be at the log in screen. Enter the username/password you supplied during install and your desktop will start up. Congratulations, you have successfully installed Linux!

But will all of my hardware work?

This is often one of the more often asked questions regarding Linux. Generally speaking, the answer is “yes”. There are, of course, some hardware that might have trouble. One area that can give you problems is your video card. Linux does a great job of detecting hardware, and most likely your video card will be detected. There are, unfortunately, cards that simply aren’t supported. For a good list of supported video cards take a look at this page for a fairly comprehensive listing. The next piece of hardware that can cause problems is wireless networking. I have found most modern distributions are outstanding at finding wireless cards. But just in case you need to know for sure, here is an extensive listing of how wireless cards fare with Linux support.

Most other hardware shouldn’t give you problems. But in case you have one particular piece that doesn’t work “out of the box” you can always try a different distribution. As far as I have discovered Ubuntu, PCLinuxOS, and Mandriva are the best as discovering and automatically configuring hardware.

Final Thoughts

Installing Linux is a piece of cake. Seriously. If youc an install a piece of software on a Windows machine, you can install Linux. It’s that easy.

The process itself was designed with ease of use in mind. The user begins by picking a distribution and version from the top pull down menu, roughly 20 Linux Distributions are available currently ranging from Damn Small Linux to Open Suse and Ubuntu.

A homepage link and a short description of the selected Linux operating system is displayed below the selection. Inexperienced users will have troubles selecting a distribution and need to investigate them by going to their websites.

It’s great for users who know which Linux Distribution they want or who want to try different distributions in short time.

The last step of this process is the selection of a hard drive or USB device to install the Linux operating system to.

UNetbootin comes with a few additional features. Instead of picking a distribution from top the user can select an ISO image from his hard drive and install that. There is even a custom option to load kernels / Initrd.

The software program works on all Windows versions from Windows 2000 to Windows Vista and on Linux.