Ubuntu® Linux® Bible: Featuring Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Third Edition

Chapter 2. Installing Ubuntu

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Booting a Desktop CD

• Installing Ubuntu

• Test-driving Ubuntu

• Accessing existing partitions from a Desktop CD

• Creating bootable USB drives

• Installing Ubuntu without partitioning

This chapter discusses how to install or simply experiment with Ubuntu Linux on a new or existing 32-bit or 64-bit PC system. This book includes an Ubuntu 10.04 Desktop CD from which you can either install permanently on your system or simply test-drive Ubuntu 10.04 without making any changes to your current system. Test-driving Ubuntu provides a great way to experiment with a preconfigured Ubuntu installation without actually modifying your hard drive or going through the installation process. You can also use a Live CD as a portable Ubuntu installation that you can take with you, temporarily converting other computer systems to Ubuntu Linux systems regardless of whether the machine is currently running Microsoft Windows or another Linux distribution. The Live CDs also offer an impressive Live CD Persistence function that enables you to save work and system configuration done while using the Desktop CD to removable media that you can then reuse the next time you boot from the Live CD. In most cases, you can also access your existing disk storage after booting from the Ubuntu Desktop CD, so that you can even do real work while using the Live CDs and save it on a USB stick or to the disk storage used by your existing operating system(s).

The Ubuntu Desktop CD takes the traditional ...