The Linux installation experience has changed tremendously in the past decade. What once required a computer science degree or lots of dedication has now changed to an installation that is comparable to that of the Windows operating system.

Wubi, a Windows application that makes it possible to install Ubuntu right from within Windows, simplifies the installation of Ubuntu Linux even further. We reviewed Wubi back then when it was released publicly by the developers for the first time. It has been updated regularly since then to keep up with the Ubuntu development cycle.

Wubi 9.10 has now been released so that users of the Windows operating system can install Ubuntu 9.10 from within their operating system. A dual-boot environment will be created by the installer so that it is possible to boot either into Windows or Linux once the installation completes. Users who would like to download and use Wubi can find additional information and download links at the Wubi website. Those who prefer a direct installation can download Ubuntu at the website of the Linux distribution.

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When Linux Mint was originally launched, it was a version of Ubuntu that offered integrated media codecs. Founded and developed by Clement Lefebvre, Linux Mint boasts as one of the most user friendly and reliable distributions that can be found in the market. Lefebvre started out as just another Linux user in 1996. As he became more experienced in the usage of Linux he felt he wanted to give back to the Linux community which led to the development of Linux Mint. The idea came from a mixture of different Linux distros that he got from what he calls “distro-hopping” which is basically trying out different Linux distributions. “I enjoyed many different distributions and for different reasons,” says Lefebvre. Linux Mint is a mixture of many different popular features in varied distros in Linux.

Features of Linux Mint

The features that Linux Mint boasts of are as follows:

• Custom desktop and menus
• Several unique configuration tools
• Web based package installation interface
• Several different editions to fit individual user needs

Because of these features, many users have found this Linux distribution among the easiest to use Linux distros.

Linux Mint also has WiFi cards driver in the file system, multimedia support and screen resolution features which focus on allowing things to work outside the box. Users are not limited to working just within the box when they have this system, which is a testament to the operating system’s reliability.

There are a collection of packages and software that users can get from the distribution that make it quite compatible. The system also uses the Ubuntu repositories. Ubuntu is known for having one of the easiest to use package manager systems, making Linux Mint even easier to use.

Linux Mint is available in ISO images which can be used to create Live CDs and Live USBs. As is is Free software, it can legally be handed out to friends, relatives, etc.

Linux Mint Editions

As already mentioned, there are several different versions of this operating system. These include the main version which is GNOME, x86-32, the 64-bit Edition, the Universal version, and a handful of community editions.

Some of the configuration tools that can be found on the system are MintInstall, MintUpdate, MintDesktop, MintConfig, MintAssistant, MintUpload, MintSpace, MintMenu, MintWifi, MintNanny, MintMake and MintWelcome. These help users perform most of the functions that they expect to have with the OS.

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The tool will setup Fedora on the USB stick giving the user the option to either select an already present Fedora distribution on the local computer system or to download one of the available Fedora distributions from the Internet. Available distributions include the latest Fedora 11 Beta, Fedora 10 and 9 as well as Sugar On A Stick. The Fedora 11, 10 and 9 editions can be installed as both 32-bit and 64-bit versions.

Sugar On A Stick has been designed to give children access to a computer system. The downloads can take a while depending on the connection speed of the local computer system and the selected Fedora distribution. Another interesting option is the allocation of persistent storage on the USB device which can later be used to store data on the USB device itself.

The tool will automatically detect connected USB devices that are suitable for installation. The Fedora Live USB Creator is available for both the Linux and Windows operating system. Jack posted an interesting article a while ago about Linux Live CDs that is a good read for users starting to discover Linux.

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The Linux distribution can be downloaded directly from its Sourceforge page. It comes as a 438 Megabyte self extracting executable that requires 1.86 Gigabytes on the computer’s hard drive after extraction. Users can then immediately start Ubuntu in Windows by clicking on the run_portable_ubuntu.bat file that is located in the root directory of the software program. Starting portable Ubuntu in Windows will open a command line window which will remain open all the time. This command line window contains information about background processes and the state of the Ubuntu system.

The Ubuntu dock at the top center of the screen will be opened and displayed giving users access to Applications, Places, System and applications like Firefox. Talking about applications. The usual add / remove applications menu can be accessed in portable Ubuntu to install additional applications on the computer system.

One could think that running an operating system inside another operating system would surely demand lots of system resources. This is surprisingly not the case. Running Ubuntu portable requires less than 50 Megabytes of computer memory that are occupied by its processes.

Main question however is why someone would use Ubuntu portable instead of the other options outlined above. One of the main reasons is that it is the least complicated to use. It cannot get easier than extracting and running the Linux distribution. Even Live CDs might require changing the boot sequence from hard drive to CD in order to run the distribution that way.

The portable application gives access to many Ubuntu applications and features which can be a great way of taking a look at the options the distribution offers.

It comes close to the Linux user experience but does not provide it fully. There is still the Windows Taskbar, icons and wallpapers that make the system look much more like a Windows system than a Linux system. Interested users can download it right at the developer’s website at Sourceforge.

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The drawbacks of netbooks are their screen resolutions and hardware that was used to build them. Easy Peasy has been optimized for those limitations to provide the user with a better working experience.

The Linux distribution can be downloaded directly from the Easy Peasy website or by using the Bittorrent protocol. It comes with optimized software, settings and drivers.

Easy Peasy makes use of a net interface called Netbook Remix Interface that has been specifically designed for screen resolutions of netbooks.

It does provide the means to change to regular desktop mode if that mode is preferred by the user. Easy Peasy does come with several non Open-Source software programs preinstalled such as Skype which might be controversial in the eyes of the Linux community.

While it has been designed with the EEE PCs in mind it should run fine on many other netbooks such as Acer’s Aspire One.

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An alternative to burning Live CDs would be MobaLiveCD which is an application for Windows operating systems that emulates the process using Qemu. This essentially means that Windows users can run Linux live CDs in Windows without having to burn them to CD first and boot the computer from the CD afterwards.

This means it offers a quick way of testing a Live CD without having to boot the computer. It actually takes only two clicks to start a Linux live CD in Windows with Moba Live CD. This obviously requires a Live CD in ISO format on the computer. A good repository for Linux Live CDs is the LiveCD List.

The live CD is loaded in a window and the user can interact with that Linux distribution normally.

Emulation has the downside that running the Linux live CD in Windows cannot be used to determine hardware compatibility. Another problem is that emulation is always slower than booting from the live CD directly. Speed is probably the main concern for most users especially for those with older hardware. If a user keeps those two aspects in mind he should be able to get the full experience from Moba Live CD.

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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.

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The first question, why is it Ubuntu 8.04 and not Ubuntu 8 ? There better be a good reason for the .04 at the end of every release. Second, what’s with the “funny” codenames ? I personally would like to see a release named Ubuntu 8 which would perfectly be enough. It’s short and everyone knows what it means.

The releases are available as torrents which should be used to take away some load from the main website and servers. Here is the torrent link for i386 and AMD-64. Those torrents can be downloaded with full speed, at least that’s the case currently.

The Download Squad collected information about some of the changes in Ubuntu 8:

* Firefox 3 beta is the default web browser
* Install Ubuntu from within Windows using Wubi
* Updated Linux kernel and new versions of Gnome and KDE desktops, with the option of using KDE 3.5 or KDE 4 as the default desktop for Kubuntu
* New BitTorrent Client
* New VNC client
* Virtualization software built into the kernel

Cybernet News have additional information about the other editions:

* Kubuntu 8.04 – A KDE version of Ubuntu. There’s now a “cutting edge” version available that includes KDE 4.0!
* Edubuntu 8.04 – Designed for the education setting, and includes iTalc classroom management software allowing for teacher sharing, monitoring, and control of networked workstations.
* Xubuntu 8.04 – Xubuntu uses the Xfce desktop environment which is geared towards less-powerful computers. Have an old computer sitting around? Put it to work with this Ubuntu variant!

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According to Techworld (and Dante) Ubuntu 8 can be installed and uninstalled just like any other software in Windows. This is thanks to Wubi which I have written about earlier already. There is no need for an extra partition and no change to the Windows bootloader. This is a fantastic opportunity to test Ubuntu for several days or even weeks before making a decision to switch completely to Linux or dedicate hard drive resources for a Linux partition.

Wubi will be accessible in the root of the Ubuntu CD. The new version of Ubuntu will be released in 21 days, currently a beta version can be downloaded from the homepage of the Linux distribution. I will finally make the switch to Linux when I have ordered and build my new computer. Linux will be the main system and I’m currently not sure if I will keep a Windows partition on another drive. Probably will because I need it to test new applications for Ghacks.

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The website displays more than one result, showing the best match at the top. It has a small paragraph explaining the distribution and a link to the homepage. It sometimes lists distributions that miss one of the parameters and this parameter is listed in the paragraph then.

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