Installing Kubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft

1. Go to http://www.kubuntu.com/

2. On the top navigation bar, click on Download and then click on the link, Download Kubuntu 6.10 (Edgy Eft)

3. We need to first download an ISO image. There are a few options being either CD or DVD images. Decide which medium you will use and pick the closest location North America than United States than I choose Portland State University and than click on CD Image for desktop and laptop PCs and save the down load to a good location on your hard drive.

4. The download is 694MB and does take about 5-7 hours to complete.This is a good time to read some of the documentation on the Kubuntu website. The Wiki is also a great place to search and learn more about Linux. Once the image is downloaded, the ISO image needs to be transferred to a disc.

5. I currently use The ISO Recorder by Alex Feinman, a great product available here isorecorder.alexfeinman.com Make sure to use an ISO recorder to make the disc or it will not work. Okay burn the image to disc! Than, once the disc is made and ready. Make sure the boot order on the computer is set with the CD first. If not sure? Enter BIOS by taping the access key at boot up, and make sure it is set this way.

6. With the CD set to boot first, put the Kubuntu disc in the computer and turn the computer off!

7. Turn the computer back on and the disc should boot up. It will take you to a screen with some boot options. I recommend pushing on F1 to read about hardware limitations and the different ways the disc can be used. There are some settings that can be altered at the initial boot time. And if your computer is older hardware than some parameters may need to be added to the start up prompt line or X windows system will not work.

8. Select and highlight Install or Run Kubuntu on the menu and push enter. This will take you to the very eye appealing, Kubuntu splash screen. If once at the splash screen and it just sits there idle for very long and the bar graph meter is not loading, this is because the start up line parameters are not set right. This was one of the most difficult areas in my installation of Kubuntu. I had to keep trying different inputs over and over, on the start up line. Only after a nice research session on the Ubuntu Community Forum, did, I finally find out a way to make it work on my computer. I had to take the words quite splash out of the string and add the word live at the front of it, and presto, on to the next challenge, the splash screen actually loaded and after that the desktop appeared. Welcome to the world of Linux!

9. With the desktop loaded up, Kubuntu is designed and can operate in live disc mode. This is great for checking out your hardware, sound, graphics, modem connection and other media devices. Play around and have some fun exploring of Linux. The operating system does not have to be completely installed, remember? So, when you are done using the system for the time being, click on the menu icon at the far left and log out, the disc tray will open, than remove the disc and push enter. If it has been decided to fully install Kubuntu, there is an Install Kubuntu icon right on the desktop. Click on that icon and it will begin the full install by displaying some menus and asking for some information.

10. Choose your Language of preference and time zone, push continue.

11. Chose a screen name and a password. Make sure not to forget the screen name and password!

12. The disk partition section of the install is important. There are certain factors that will determine how to proceed at this point. Take your time here and make sure to read the menus carefully. I had my disc already partitioned with 9GB of free space to use for the Kubuntu install. If you are planning a dual boot with another operating system than check the appropriate boxes too not erase that system. You can choose to have Linux make the partitions or make them up custom.

13. Make sure that at least two partitions are free for the Linux install. There needs to be a mount point / for the main directory and at least 256MB of disc space for a swap partition. A good rule to follow is to actually make the swap partition two times the amount of onboard memory. I had 512MB of RAM and made a 993MB partition for the swap partition and allotted around 8GB for the Linux, eth file system partition.

14. Make sound decisions and once satisfied push on the Install button. The install will take about an hour and will reboot at one point.

15. When the splash screen is done loading this time you will need to login with you screen name and password. This password is also used on Kubuntu as the root password.

16. If there is a live internet connection established, there will be some updates to get you started with. Click on the update icon, type in your password and make sure the updates complete okay.

17. There are many command words that you will get to know well. One of the most used command words with Kubuntu is sudo To start out, open up a console and type sudo apt-get than push enter! Or, type man sudo and hit enter. Welcome to your new operating system, Kubuntu 6.10 Edgy Eft. Have a great time!