The Official Ubuntu Book (2011)

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Before you begin, you should prepare the disk for your partitions. If you want to completely wipe a disk, right-click on the name of the device (/dev/sda in Figure 2-6), then click New Partition Table. You’ll be asked if you’re sure, so click Continue. The disk is now filled with unallocated data. Now you can add your Ubuntu partitions.

To add a partition, click a free space entry in the list and then click the New button. A new window appears like that shown in Figure 2-7.

Figure 2-7 Configuring a partition

Set the values according to your requirements. The Use As combo box lets you select which one of the many filesystem types you want the partition to use. The default filesystem included with Ubuntu is ext4, and it is recommended that you use ext4 for any Ubuntu partitions. Although ext4 is a good choice for Ubuntu, you cannot read an ext4 partition in Windows. If you need to create a partition that is shared between Windows and Ubuntu, you should use either the FAT32 filesystem or NTFS.

Use the Mount Point combo box to select one of the different mount points, which tells Ubuntu where the partition should be used. You need to have a root partition, which has a mount point of /. Click OK to finish configuring this partition.

Once you’ve completed configuring all your partitions, click Forward to proceed with the installation. Please note that if you have read all of these comments on partitioning and feel a bit overwhelmed or confused, you don’t need to worry. You may simply use the default settings given by the installer and all will work well.

Installation Begins

At this point, the installation begins. While it progresses, you will be asked some questions to customize your installation appropriately. Doing this concurrently saves time and is a new innovation for 11.04.

Tell the installer where in the world you live (Figure 2-8).

Figure 2-8 Click the map to select a location.

You can select your location in one of several ways. First, you can hover your mouse over the time zone on your part of the world map to select your location. When you are happy with the time zone selection, click it, and select the city nearest to you. Alternatively, use the Selected City drop down to find the city nearest to you.

When you are done, click Forward to continue.

Configuring Your Keyboard

The next screen (shown in Figure 2-9) configures your keyboard.

Figure 2-9 Select the correct keyboard to ensure the symbols on the keys work correctly.

The installer will suggest a keyboard option for you based on your location choice, but you may choose a different one if you desire. You can also use the box at the bottom of the window to test whether your keyboard layout works. Try typing some of the symbols on your keyboard (such as “, /, |) to make sure they work. If you press a symbol and a different one appears, you have selected the wrong keyboard layout.

Identification

The next step is to enter some details about you that can be used to create a user account on the computer (Figure 2-10).

Figure 2-10 Enter your personal details to create your user account.

In the first box, enter your full name. The information from this box is used in different parts of the system to indicate who the user is behind the account.

Enter a computer name in the last box. Also called a “hostname,” this is a single word that identifies your current machine. This is used on a local network so that you can identify which machine is which.

Hostnames can be great fun. Many people pick themes for their hostnames, such as superheroes, and name each computer on their network after a superhero (Superman, Batman, Spiderman, and so on). Think of a fun hostname theme you can use. For many people, this ends up being the hardest part of the install!

In the next box, set a username for yourself (the installer will provide a suggestion based on your full name). Your username should be something easy to remember. Many people use either their first name or add an initial (such as jbacon or jonob). Each username on your computer must be unique—you cannot have two accounts with the same username. Usernames must begin with a lower case letter only lower case letters and numbers are permitted after that.

In the next two boxes, add a password and then confirm it. This password is used when logging in to your computer with the username that you just created. When choosing a password, follow these simple guidelines.

• Make sure you can remember your password. If you need to write it down, keep it somewhere secure. Don’t make the mistake of putting the password somewhere easily accessible and known to others.

• Try not to use dictionary words such as “chicken” or “beard” when choosing a password. Try to input numbers and punctuation and to not use “real words.”

• Your password should ideally be longer than six letters and contain a combination of letters, symbols, and numbers. The longer the password and the more it mixes upper and lower case letters, numbers, and symbols, the more secure it is.

When you have added all the information, click Forward to continue.

To learn more about the cool things in your new operating system, view the slide show that appears as installation finishes (Figure 2-11).

Figure 2-11 Slide show users can watch as installation finishes to find out more about Ubuntu.

Migration

Ubuntu also provides a migration assistant, which aims to ease your transition to your new OS. If a supported OS is found during installation, you will be presented with a list of accounts and the features that can be migrated. If you choose to migrate anything, you will need to provide details for the new user to whom the features will be migrated.

Finishing Up

From here, as the Ubuntu software continues to be installed on your computer, you will be shown a slideshow containing useful and interesting information about the operating system. At the end of this process, you are asked to reboot your computer. You are now finished and can skip ahead to Chapter 3 to get started with using Ubuntu.