Installation of Ubuntu...

Many of us are unaware off installing Ubuntu alongside other operating systems such as Windows 7... So I thought my experience of installing Ubuntu in various computers of my friends will be helpful for my readers. First of all ,let me answer the question that everyone who is new to Linux asks.. Why should I install Ubuntu along with Windows? What is more in Ubuntu than Windows..?In my view , Linux is a platform where you can play without fearing licence. U r a free bird in Linux environment..U can make any changes to ur OS.actually it will be your Own OS... U control what U do... Almost everything is reversible in Linux.. and you get a good support from ubuntu forums.So that even if you entered in any dilemas, there is always a solution other than formatting...

   Now to the main part of this post..Installing Ubuntu..(Other Linux OS are similar to this type of installation..So it will be nice if u experiment with other OS suvh as linuxmint, pinguy,etc).. There are two types of installation of Ubuntu with Windows 7.

Install inside Windows (wubi)

install in other partition..

In wubi, Ubuntu is installed inside windows..that is just like installing a software.. U dont need to know partitioning and all.. just insert ubuntu  disk, choose install inside windows. set username and password, Select boot point as / and install...so easy.. Now when you reboot ubuntu will be there in windows bootloader.. 

  but wubi had shown some problems in my experience.. I dont know the actual reason for that.. the ubuntu option may get removed from bootloader so that u cannot access ubuntu. But thi problem has been seen only in few..

  So inorder to install along wiith windows. Insert ubuntu disk and boot with CDRom.(Press f12,f2 or whatever it says at the time of booting and boot from cdrom) now, I prefer partition manually using GParted which is there in system->administration of Ubuntu live. In GParted, You can see the current partitions in your computer. 

                                         There are two types of partition.. Primary partition and logical partition.. Only 4 primary partitions can be made.. Inorder to make more than 4 partition you have to make one of them logical partition and then create extended partitions from that logical partitions. Any number of logical partitions can be made.

   Now select a partition that have larger size and right click on it and select resize. In the window that comes 15GB free ( i prefer 15 GB but U can allocate as much as u like from 10GB) you will have to mention the size in MB. and click ok. right click on that and choose format. select ext 4 journal file system. and press apply (green tick marl on the top). Otherwise it will just show as partitioned but not actually done.After thet again click on the largest partition and then resize. this time U are creating Linux swap.. To install linux you should have swap partition.Swap is just like temp. If there is not enough space in primary RAM ,computer takes space from linux swap.. Linux swap should be minimum size of your RAM otherwise you cant get the option to hibernate your system. If there i only 1 or gb ram and if you hav 320 gb harddisk, It is advisable to take double the size of RAM as swap.Otherwise swap as much as of RAM is necessary... To create swap, right click the resized partition ,and format. select SWAP from the file system. click apply tick mark. Now partitioning is over. Now click on install ubuntu icon on the desktop. choose setup manually. Select the ext4 filesystem. click format. Set / as mount point and forward... read the instructions and continue the rest...

  Installation is completed...

                                    KNOWN ISSUES

In dell laptops, a software called datasafe online rewrites the GRUB of ubuntu so that if u restart the system after working on windows , GRUB (where you select which operating system will be missing). For this the solution is insert live disk of Ubuntu ,mount the drive you installed ubuntu (by clicking that drive in places). Now take terminal and reinstall the grub..(https://help.ubuntu.com/community/RecoveringUbuntuAfterInstallingWindows) and boot into the windows .now remove della datasafe from windows using adfd or remove programs in control panel.. And restart the system.. if there is no grub insert live cd and install GRUB once again.

Important thing to note when switching from WINDOWS to UBUNTU..

Recently UBUNTU has gained much popularity among college students and others than the past... Many are willing to try UBUNTU who had been get used to with WINDOWS. Actually I am such a person, and took some time to get tuned with UBUNTU... So this post is for all migrators to UBUNTU from WINDOWS .
    Just keep in mind some things and U will find Ubuntu lot more interesting..

.EXE Files in windows and packages in UBUNTU
                   Windows software comes in .exe files, which you are expected to get from the web or from a store. Ubuntu software comes in packages, which are installed and updated through a centralised system, like a more powerful version of Windows Update and Add/Remove Programs. Application packages will usually appear in the Applicationsmenu, configuration tools will usually appear in the Preferences orAdministration menu.In the same way that Windows only runs software designed for Windows, applications must be made for Linux to be able to run on Ubuntu. Most Linux software is available for free over the Internet.

Firewalls and antivirus software

Ubuntu's main firewall program is called ufw (click here to install gufw). There are currently very few Linux viruses in the wild, so Ubuntu doesn't come with antivirus software installed.

The Terminal

Linux includes a text-based interface like cmd.exe, called the terminal. Many Linux guides ask you to run commands in the terminal, which should be available from Applications > Accessories > Terminal. 

Task Manager

Ubuntu's System Monitor is the closest equivalent to the Task Manager in Windows. It's available through System > Administration > System Monitor.

Where To Put Your Files

Linux doesn't use drive letters, so there's no C: drive and no D: drive. You'll get used to Linux's filesystem gradually, but for now here are the most important locations:

/home/

This is your home folder, which is fairly similar to My Documents in Windows. You can access this folder by clicking Places> Home Folder. Because this folder is used so often, many programs refer to it as "$HOME" or "~" ("tilde", pronounced "till-der". For example, saving a file as ~/my-file.txt is the same as saving it as /home//my-file.txt

/home

This is folder contains everybody's home folders, and is fairly similar to Documents and Settings in Windows. The main thing to remember is that despite the name, this is not your home folder. If somebody tells you to go to your home folder, they mean /home/.

/media

This folder contains CD-ROMs, memory sticks, and other removable media. Individual drives will also appear in the Places menu item and on your desktop.

/tmp

This folder contains temporary files, and is cleaned out when you reboot.

Safely removing drives

When you are finished with a removable drive, right click on the drive's desktop icon and select Unmount volume or Eject, depending on what type of drive it is.

Dual-Boot

When you are looking to switch to Ubuntu one option that may make the transition a little easier is setting up a dual-boot. In a dual-boot, during the boot process, a menu will appear, allowing you to choose from one of two OS's. This allows you to try out Ubuntu while keeping your Windows installation.

Traditional

In a traditional dual-boot Windows will be installed along side of Ubuntu each having it's own partition. If Windows is already installed, this option does pose some risk. To enable each OS to have it's own partition you will need to edit the partition which has the risk of data loss.

Wubi

If you are not ready for this, another option would be Wubi. Wubi is a special installation that will install Ubuntu within Windows similar to any other program. When installing Wubi, you specify how much of the hard drive to devote to Wubi. Not changing the partitions removes the risk of data loss.

                                                                                        SOURCE : www.help.ubuntu.com